A Wealthy Woman Vanished at Sea, Her Son Miraculously Survived. Now a $50M Fortune Looms — and So Do Murder Suspicions

Nathan Carman died by suicide in his jail cell in 2023 as the prime suspect in his mother’s mysterious 2016 drowning death at sea — and in the 2013 shooting death of his wealthy grandfather.

The Vermont resident maintained his innocence until his death at age 29, in spite of damning allegations from his three maternal aunts, as well as police and prosecutors.

They claimed Nathan shot and killed his grandfather, John Chakalos, 87, at his Windsor, Conn., home, and murdered his mother, Linda Carman, 54, by purposefully sinking their fishing boat off the coast of Block Island, R.I., all to gain access to a hefty slice of the family’s nearly $50 million trust.

Nathan was never charged with his grandfather’s killing. But in 2022 he was charged with fraud and first-degree murder in connection to his mother’s death and died in jail awaiting trial.

Now, New York Times bestselling true crime author Casey Sherman has unearthed shocking revelations in his new book, Blood in the Water: The Untold Story of a Family Tragedy. Out April 8, the book sheds new light on a case Sherman likens to a Shakespearean tragedy.

Sherman, whose 2009 bestseller The Finest Hours became a 2016 feature film, says he went into this project with an open mind. Finding evidence that points to both Nathan’s innocence and guilt, Sherman tells PEOPLE, “If I were on the jury, I would vote to acquit.”

Nathan, he says, only loved two people, his grandfather and his mother. “He was accused of murdering both, allegedly to get his hands on this $50 million family fortune which he was going to be getting a big chunk of anyway.”

After Chakalos’ murder, Nathan’s three maternal aunts “immediately pointed the finger in his direction,” Sherman says. “I think they hated him because John doted on him. Whereas they were vying for John’s love, attention and his money, Nathan was showered with affection and love and wealth by John, who didn’t treat him as someone on the Autism Spectrum.”

“He overlooked any mental challenges that Nathan may have had and treated Nathan as an equal,” Sherman says.

He adds that of the four daughters and eight grandchildren, “Nathan was the golden child.”

Did Nathan Die a Murderer?

One of the bombshells in the book, says Sherman, comes from his three-hour interview with Joy Washburn, the longtime caretaker of Chakalos’ 88-acre New Hampshire estate.

Washburn had a front row seat to the goings on between John and his brood — “an incredibly complex and volatile family worth $50 million that was almost Shakespearean to me,” says Sherman. “It was almost King Lear-esque the way he pitted them against each other.”

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Washburn, a longtime hunter, told Sherman that in 2013, “an associate of the family” — who was not Nathan — “contacted her and said, ‘Well, the entire family hates John. Can you take John out to the woods, shoot him, kill him, make it look like a hunting accident and we’ll pay you $10,000?’”

Sherman says that “Joy dismissed it as somebody just venting.”

But two weeks later, Chakalos was killed in his bed.

Wanting to confirm Washburn’s account, Sherman reached out to FBI and Coast Guard investigators, who said she told them the same story. “They deemed her incredibly credible,” he says. “That story elevated itself to a 302 report in the FBI, which meant it would’ve been brought up in this criminal trial.”

Another piece of evidence that may have made it to trial is a text one of Nathan’s attorneys, Martin Minnella, claimed that he and his team had discovered from Linda to another family member threatening to “blow her father’s f—ng head off,” Sherman writes in the book.

Noting that no one took Linda’s threat seriously, Minnella continued, “Before John was killed, he made his family all sign promissory notes to pay back at least $30 million dollars they had taken out of family trusts.”

Sherman’s gripping book details more evidence he found, which makes him question why authorities focused their attention solely on Nathan.

Stressing that there are no easy answers, he says, “This is going to be a mystery that endures.”

Blood in the Water: The Untold Story of a Family Tragedy is available now wherever books are sold.