Nathan Carman (pictured) has been accused of murdering his wealthy grandfather in 2013
A 24-year-old man accused of shooting his grandfather dead for inheritance money said there’s no way he would have done it because the elderly man was already supporting him financially.
Court documents unsealed on Wednesday reveal Nathan Carman, 24, had his rent, utilities and education paid for by his grandfather John Chakalos up until the 87-year-old was murdered in December 2013.
He has been accused of killing Chakalos by his three aunts, who are in a bitter court battle over the multi-millionaire property developer’s estate.
His aunts filed a ‘slayer action’ against him, a legal instrument designed to ensure someone who kills can not profit from their victim’s estate.
But Carman, who has maintained his innocence throughout the bitter feud, says the generous financial support he had been receiving provided him with no reason to murder Chakalos.
In court documents served to a New Hampshire judge, Carman says if anything, he has lost out financially as a result of his grandfather’s death.
Carman says as well as the ‘love and personal support for each other which my grandfather and I shared in our [familial] relationship’, he had been bestowed with countless financial and social benefits.
The 24-year-old wrote in newly released court documents he had no incentive to murder the man, who had been very generously supporting him financially with housing, schooling and spending money
John Chakalos (right) paid Carman’s rent, utilities, furniture renal and provided a credit card with a $5,000 limit on it, which the 87-year-old paid off monthly. Chakalos was a multimillionaire property developer
‘My relationship with my grandfather represented the best personal opportunity for personal and professional growth which I had ever had,’ he wrote.
‘It held the promise of future opportunities to receive financial support if I should ask or should the need arise, as well as opportunities to be introduced to and develop relationships with high level business leaders and other distinguished individuals.
‘These benefits were ongoing at the time of my grandfather’s death.’
Carman had his rent of $2,400, as well as the lease of his furniture – totaling more than $1,000 a month – and utilities including cable television, paid by Chakalos every month.
The young man was given a credit card with a $5,000 limit which was paid off every month, and gifted a Nissan pickup truck worth $20,000.
He claimed Chakalos had also offered to pay his living and educational expenses for the remainder of his schooling before his death, a promise that went unfulfilled as a result of his shooting.
Carman revealed in his statement that his grandfather had initially offered to purchase him a brand new Ford F-150 pickup truck, with a value of $50,000.
Chakalos was shot dead in 2013 on the same night he had dinner with Carman, but the 24-year-old was never criminally charged over the death
Carman has also been accused of drowning his mother Linda in 2016 after their fishing boat sank and he was the only person to make it to a life boat
He claims the offer was retracted after ‘angry and persistent criticism from my aunts Valerie and Elaine’, who were upset the value of the car far exceeded the value of a car purchased by Chakalos for his cousin.
Carman is also the sole heir to his mother Linda Carman, 54, who went missing after the pair went on a fishing trip in September 2016.
He claimed the boat ‘Chicken Pox’ sank and he had spent a week floating in a life raft in the North Atlantic sea. Neither his mother nor their boat were ever found.
Carman has denied killing both his mother and his grandfather, and has not been criminally charged over their deaths.
As police executed a search warrant on his apartment in 2014, one neighbor told police Carman was ‘a time bomb waiting to go off’, and another referred to him as ‘murder boy’, based on their personal experience with him.
One officer also spoke with family members, who claimed they were so concerned for their personal safety they had hired private armed security details for their homes.
The pair had gone on a fishing trip together and neither Carman’s mother nor their boat has ever been found
Pictured: Carman’s mother Linda holding a fish