Nathan Carman, a Vermont man accused by family members of killing his millionaire grandfather and possibly his mother, speaks in district court in Concord on April 3, 2018.
A Middletown native will be the subject of an upcoming Netflix documentary.
The media company announced Feb. 2 that production is underway for a documentary centered around Nathan Carman, a young man who was accused of killing his mother, Linda Carman, on a 2016 fishing trip in attempt to inherit her portion of the family fortune. In June, he died, likely by suicide, at 29 in a New Hampshire jail while awaiting trial on federal charges in connection with her death.
The film, directed by Yon Motskin ("Encounters," "Generation Hustle"), will also focus on the 2013 unsolved murder of Carman's wealthy grandfather, John Chakalos, the battle over the family inheritance money and the fraud and murder charges against Carman.
"With unprecedented access to family, friends and investigators, the film is a nautical thriller that explores intimate human mysteries about family, greed, perception, mental health and the unpredictable mind of an enigmatic young man," the film's logline reads.
Carman was accused of killing his mother while on board his boat, the Chicken Pox, in September 2016. Eight days after they set sail from a Rhode Island port, Carman was found alone on a life raft, and was rescued by a commercial ship. His mother was never found, and prosecutors alleged he sank the boat.
In 2022, prosecutors charged Carman with first-degree murder and fraud. Federal prosecutors claimed he killed his mother after depleting a $550,000 inheritance that he received after his wealthy grandfather, John Chakalos, died.
Prosecutors alleged Carman shot and killed Chakalos in his Windsor home in 2013, but he was never charged with the homicide. In 2017, Carman's three aunts filed a lawsuit in New Hampshire, asking that he be barred from collecting a share of Chakalos' estimated $43 million fortune. The women argued Carman was responsible for the death of their father and alleged he "left his mother behind" on the sinking boat.
In June 15, 2023, Carman was found unresponsive in his cell in New Hampshire, a few months before his October trial in the death of his mother. His death was likely a suicide, according to one of his lawyers. Court documents revealed in October show Linda Carman left her son out of the will three years before the fishing trip.
As of Monday, the title and release date of the documentary had not been announced. Motskin and Mary-Jane Mitchell are producing the film and Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing, Helen Estabrook, Sarah Amos and Andrew Whitney are its executive producers for WIRED Studios.Â