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The upcoming episode of 20/20 will shed light on the murder of Linda Carman, who went missing after she went on a fishing boat with her son, Nathan. While Nathan was found floating on a lifeboat a week after he went with his mother, Linda was never found. The heiress of a wealthy family, Linda Carman, was never found and declared dead.
An investigation into the case was launched, and Nathan Carman was eventually accused of killing his mother, Linda. He was also accused of having killed his grandfather, real estate tycoon John Chakalos, three years before Linda.
The latest episode of 20/20, set to be released on April 4, 2025, will cover the case. A brief synopsis of the episode reads:
"A family drama unfolds when a multimillionaire father and his daughter both die under mysterious circumstances; a trail of greed and heartless brutality leads to an unlikely suspect."
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Ahead of the episode's air time, let us go over what happened to Linda Carman.
Who was Linda Carman and what happened to her?
Linda Carman was one of real estate tycoon John Chakalos' four daughters. Linda married Earle Clark Carman and had a son, Nathan Carman, who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was a child. Nathan also had problems socializing and making friends. Linda and Earle split when Nathan was young, and Linda started taking care of Nathan by herself. Nathan had several issues and had even run away from home once before.
John Chakalos reportedly helped with Nathan's expenses and had convinced Linda to make Nathan her beneficiary for the part of the estate she would receive from him.
However, on December 20, 2013, one of John's daughters went to his Connecticut home and found him shot to death in his bed. This kickstarted an investigation, and while Linda Carman was initially a suspect in the case, she was cleared soon after. It is worth noting that Linda had previously been arrested for assaulting John Chakalos.
By September 2016, since Nathan was no longer living with his mother, he and Linda decided to go on a fishing trip together. However, their 31-foot fishing boat never made it back.
A week after they disappeared in the sea, Nathan Carman was found on a lifeboat by a commercial Chinese freight ship, the Orient Lucky. Nathan told the Coast Guard that his boat began to sink quickly, so he grabbed some food and got into the lifeboat. He claimed that he could not find his mother.
Why was Linda Carman's death suspected to be a murder?
Initially, Linda Carman's disappearance and potential death seemed like a freak accident, but the investigation revealed that her son, Nathan, might have killed her.
When Nathan filed for insurance for his boat, it was denied because the company claimed that the sinking of the boat was not accidental and there was potential for criminal wrongdoing.
Investigators also noted other signs including the modifications on the boat that seemed like it was deliberately set up in a way that it would sink.
Nathan had also taken his mother to a different location from the one they had planned. Moreover, it seemed suspicious that Nathan had the time to stock up a lifeboat and escape unscathed but could not find his mother.
With all this in mind, authorities began suspecting that Linda was indeed murdered. It would be some time before her son would be accused of the crime. But the case was never really solved.
The upcoming episode of 20/20 will cover this case in more detail.
