In September 2016, 54-year-old Linda Carman and her 22-year-old son, Nathan, set off on an overnight fishing trip from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. When Linda failed to contact a friend the next day, the two were reported missing, sparking a Coast Guard search that swept roughly 62,000 nautical square miles. Eight days after their disappearance, a passing freighter spotted Nathan drifting alone in a life raft about 100 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and rescued him. His mother, Linda, was never found.

As Nathan recovered, he detailed a harrowing story of survival at sea and expressed shock at the loss of his mother, which was widely covered by national news. But investigators and relatives soon began to question gaps in his account, including skipped safety steps and a risky route offshore. His demeanor also puzzled authorities; diagnosed with autism as a child, Nathan could appear detached and calculating during interrogations, relating selective events in ways that deepened suspicions. These mounting doubts collided with a fraught family history: three years earlier, Linda’s millionaire father, developer John Chakalos, was found murdered in his bed. Nathan was the last known person to see him alive. 

Courtesy of Netflix

The Carman Family Deaths examines how a missing-person case at sea unraveled into a far-reaching investigation. The film is directed by Yon Motskin, produced by Mary-Jane Mitchell, executive produced by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, and produced in partnership with Wired Studios.

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What is The Carman Family Deaths about?

The documentary first examines the 2016 disappearance of Linda Carman and the rescue of her son, Nathan, at sea; it then follows the widening investigation that looked at Nathan’s relationship to the unsolved 2013 murder of his grandfather, millionaire real estate developer John Chakalos. Through interviews, footage from the family archive, and expert testimony, the film examines the competing narratives around Nathan’s actions and his possible accountability in the deaths of his mother and grandfather. Tracing the family rifts that followed, the film also confronts the high-stakes questions of motive and money that ultimately closed in around Nathan.

Courtesy of Netflix

Who was Nathan Carman? 

Born in 1994 to Linda and Clark Carman, Nathan Carman was the first grandson of millionaire real estate developer John Chakalos, making him a favored heir in a wealthy, tight-knit family. Though under his grandfather’s doting eye, longstanding tensions over control and reports of abuse within the household meant that Nathan’s childhood was marked by instability along with massive privilege. Diagnosed with autism as a child, he struggled to make friends but forged a close bond with a cherished horse named Cruise. As an adult, Nathan bounced between jobs and living arrangements while remaining closely tied to his mother, Linda. After he was rescued at sea in 2016, Nathan’s interviews and legal battles placed him at the center of overlapping investigations into Linda’s disappearance and his grandfather’s 2013 murder.

Courtesy of Netflix

Who is interviewed in The Carman Family Deaths?

The film features interviews with Nathan’s father and Linda’s ex-husband, Clark Carman, one of Linda’s sisters, and investigators from the Coast Guard, local police, and the FBI. Wired journalist Evan Lubofsky also weighs in on the case. Alongside input from additional friends and relatives who illuminate long-standing tensions and divided loyalties, these interviews probe how competing narratives of grief, wealth, and suspicion hardened into a devastating rift that forever scarred the Carman family. 

What’s this doc like? 

The Carman Family Deaths is a twisty, ripped-from-the-headlines account of a young man suspected of murder, and how this fractured his wealthy and dysfunctional New England family.

• Watch out for sensitive topics like discussions of suicide and self harm, as well as discussions of stereotyping individuals on the autism spectrum.
• Could be described as the investigation of inter-family violence found in A Deadly American Marriage meets the captivating, unraveling mystery of The Staircase.