A Vermont man who was rescued at sea this week has denied any wrongdoing in the boating incident that led to his mother’s disappearance and presumed death.
Nathan Carman, 22, told reporters in Boston on Tuesday that he hadn’t seen or heard his mom in the minutes before their 32-foot aluminum boat sank off the coast of New York on Sept. 18. A week later, a passing freighter discovered him floating alone in a four-person lifeboat near Martha’s Vineyard.
Advertisement
“I know I wasn’t responsible for the boat sinking,” Carman told ABC News. “I know that I wasn’t responsible for anything that resulted from the boat sinking. I know I wasn’t responsible for my mom’s death.”
He said his 54-year-old mother, Linda Carman, was in their boat’s cockpit and he was at the front when the vessel began taking on water. He didn’t activate a distress signal, he said, because everything happened so quickly.
“I didn’t know that we were sinking,” he told ABC. “I knew that we had a problem but I didn’t know that we were sinking until we sank.”
Authorities retrieved three items, Windham County Sheriff Keith D. Clark told The Huffington Post on Thursday: a modem, a GPS SIM card and a letter written by Carman. The sheriff declined to say what the letter was about.
The warrant lists Carman as under suspicion for reckless endangerment resulting in a death, news station WMUR reports. It asserts that the boat was in need of repair and that Carman could have made it unsafe ahead of his trip with his mother. Carman told ABC that he had done repairs on it but believed it to be safe.
Police believed Carman was the last person to see his grandfather alive. John Chakalos, 87, was found dead in his Windsor, Connecticut, home on Dec. 21, 2013.
Advertisement
Police reportedly said Carman couldn’t be accounted for between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. that day. His accounts of his activities around that time included “several inconsistencies,” and allegedly he discarded his computer’s hard drive and the GPS unit that he had used on the morning his grandfather’s body was found.
At the time, police requested a warrant for Carman’s arrest but it was returned unsigned by a prosecutor who requested more information. Windsor police did not immediately respond to a request about the warrant.
Chakalos’ home was worth about $40 million, according to the Courant. His four daughters, including Linda Carman, were beneficiaries of about $21 million. Chakalos’ wife had died from cancer weeks before he died.
Advertisement
Carman on Tuesday again denied any involvement in his grandfather’s death.
“He loved me very dearly,” he told the Courant. “I was like a son to him; he was like a father to me.”
“He was not involved with his grandfather, with his mother. It’s pure accident. He could never do anything like that,” he told WFSB-TV.
Support HuffPost
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully fact-checked news that is freely accessible to everyone.
Whether you come to HuffPost for updates on the 2024 presidential race, hard-hitting investigations into critical issues facing our country today, or trending stories that make you laugh, we appreciate you. The truth is, news costs money to produce, and we are proud that we have never put our stories behind an expensive paywall.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you’ll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.