CONCORD, N.H.—An autopsy has determined that the death of a man awaiting trial on charges of killing his mother off the coast of New England in a scheme to inherit millions of dollars was not suspicious, the New Hampshire attorney general’s office said Wednesday.
Nathan Carman, 29, of Vernon, Vermont, was found dead in his cell in a county jail in New Hampshire on June 15. The attorney general’s office does not release the cause and manner in deaths that are not suspicious, according to spokesperson Michael Garrity. The U.S. Marshals Service in Vermont said it will not be releasing the cause of Carman’s death at the request of family.
The attorney general’s office confirmed that authorities consider a death to be not suspicious when they’ve determined no one else was involved, or if no crime was committed.
Carman pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda Carman, in 2016, and was scheduled to go on trial in October.
An eight-count indictment also said Carman shot and killed his wealthy grandfather John Chakalos as he slept in 2013, in order to obtain money and property from his grandfather’s estate. But the indictment did not charge Carman with his grandfather’s killing, and he had consistently denied any involvement in the two deaths.
In September 2016, Carman organized a fishing trip with his mother, who lived in Middletown, Connecticut, during which prosecutors say he planned to kill her and report that his boat sank and his mother disappeared in the accident.
He was found floating in an inflatable raft eight days after leaving a Rhode Island marina with his mother, whose body was never recovered. Prosecutors allege he altered the boat to make it more likely to sink. Carman denied that allegation.
His lawyers Martin Minnella and David Sullivan criticized the indictment—including allegations Carman killed his grandfather, saying he was never charged with that crime.
