Nathan Carman, the real estate heir who was facing an upcoming murder-on-the-high-seas trial in his mother’s death, has died in his jail cell.
Carman, 29, is believed to have died “on or about June 15, 2023,” according to a notice of dismissal filed Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont. He was being held in pretrial detention at the Cheshire County Department of Corrections in Keene, New Hampshire, at the time. The filing did not say how Carman died.
Carman was set for trial in October in the murder of his mother, Linda Carman, who died while on a fishing trip off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016. Nathan Carman had pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and fraud.
The Vermont real estate heir had also been suspected of killing his grandfather, John Chakalos, for millions in inheritance money in 2013, although he never faced charges. Prosecutors said the killings were part of a scheme to obtain money and property from Chakalos’ estate and related family trusts.
Cheshire County officials said in a news release that Carman was found unresponsive overnight in his cell on a routine round completed by correctional staff. Carman was the sole occupant of the cell, the news release said. Keene police officers, overseeing the initial investigation, processed the scene, but the manner of death was deemed undetermined.
An autopsy is expected to determine how Carman died.
Hellbound and Down 