Vermont man accused of murder-on-the-high-seas off RI coast dies awaiting trial. What we know.

The Vermont man accused of murdering his mother during a fishing expedition off Block Island in a scheme to secure a multimillion dollar inheritance has died while awaiting trial.

Federal prosecutors on Thursday filed a motion to dismiss the murder-on-the-high-seas case against Nathan Carman, of Vernon, Vermont, noting the government had  “received information from the U.S. Marshal that Carman died on or about June 15, 2023.”

Carman, 29, was discovered at 2:33 a.m. at the Cheshire County Jail in Keene, New Hampshire, where he was being held in federal custody, according to Doug Iosue, superintendent of the Cheshire County Department of Corrections. He didn't provide a cause of Carman's "unexpected and untimely" death, but said it is under investigation by the Keene Police Department and would be determined by the medical examiner.

A spokesman for the Keene police declined comment.

Nathan Carman faced murder charges after his mother disappeared when their boat capsized

Carman was facing fraud and first-degree murder charges related to the death of his mother, 54-year-old Linda Carman, on a fishing trip off the Rhode Island coast in 2016. While his mother was never seen again and is presumed dead, Nathan Carman was found in a life raft days later by the crew of a passing freighter ship. 

More on the case: Nathan Carman is charged with murder on the high seas. What does that mean?

Carman also suspected of killing his grandfather

Carman had been long suspected by his family and others of killing his mother and shooting to death his grandfather, wealthy real estate developer John Chakalos, in 2013, in a scheme to inherit part of the $42 million Chaklos left to his four daughters.

A federal grand jury last May indicted Carman on eight charges accusing him in his mother’s death as part of an effort to defraud insurance companies. The indictment accused Carman shooting his grandfather at his home in Windsor, Connecticut, but did not charge him with murder in his death.

He had been held in federal custody since his arrest and had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Carman's trial had been due to start Oct. 10.

His lawyer, David X. Sullivan, didn't respond to inquiries.

Family saddened

Carman's family, who were among his accusers and sued to block him from his inheritance, said they were stunned by news of his death.

"We were deeply saddened to hear of Nathan’s death this morning.  While we process this shocking news and its impact on the tragic events surrounding the last several years we ask for your understanding and respect relative to our privacy," the family said through lawyer William Michael, Jr.

Carman was found on a life raft a week after his boat sank with his mother on board

Carman's case has proven captivating since his dramatic rescue by a freighter crew a week after his 31-foot boat Chicken Pox vanished in September 2016 after departing Ram's Point Marina in South Kingstown.

That ill-fated journey was dissected at a trial before U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in 2019.

In testimony, Carman described discovering water in the bilge, turning the engine off, and asking his mother to pull in the fishing lines. He readied a life raft and grabbed three packages of survival gear from the pilothouse. The floor felt spongy and seconds later the boat went under, he said. He did not place a distress call or alert his mother that they were in peril, he said.

“But you didn’t shout out to your mother to be prepared?” McConnell asked at trial.

“I didn’t know the boat was going down until I was in the water,” Carman answered.

“I treated my mother like a passenger,” Carman said. “She was more of a problem than a solution.”

Carman said he got into the life raft, which was equipped with 30 days of food, and called out for his mother but got no response. He was rescued, still aboard the raft, by crew of the Orient Lucky on Sept. 25, 2016, a week after he said his boat went down.

Carman filed an insurance claim weeks after the boat vanished. The insurers denied his claim after reviewing the case. Carman sued to recoup the boat's losses.

McConnell ruled in favor of the insurers in finding that it was Carman’s own faulty modifications – including removing a bulkhead and trim tabs by drilling four half-dollar-size holes in the back of the vessel – that likely led to the boat's sinking.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Nathan Carman dies before murder-on-the-high-seas trial in mother's death