Case Closed?
Review of Netflix’s: The Carman Family Deaths. Woah. This new documentary from Netflix sparked my interest based on the preview, but honestly, I could have never predicted what was coming.
The story begins with Nathan and his mother, Linda, getting lost at sea on a fishing trip they took on their boat. Eventually, only Nathan is found on a raft and is rescued by a nearby ship. The Coast Guard searches for 2 weeks for Linda, and then ends the search as she is presumed dead.
So, it’s already weird, right? Because if the boat sank, there should have been enough time for both Nathan and Linda to put on life jackets and get onto the safety raft, but for some reason, only Nathan does this.
Now, the story does a crazy jump back in time. We flash from 2016, when is presumed dead, back to 2013. In 2013, Nathan’s grandfather (Linda’s father) was murdered. He was shot in the head by a large rifle in the middle of the night sometime. John was a huge real estate developer and had amassed many millions by this point. His 4 daughters were receiving $25,000 a month each at this time.
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Now, this was the same day that Nathan (side note: Nathan is autistic, and fishing is a fixation he has) was supposed to go on another regular fishing trip with Linda. He was supposed to pick Linda up around 2 AM, but he says he did not leave his apartment until after 3, and then proceeded to take the wrong exit and get lost on the highway. Grandpa John’s estimated time of Death is from 2–4 AM…
Additionally, the last person to see John is Nathan. John and Nathan went out to dinner the night before, and Nathan claims he last saw John around 8 PM the night prior.
Now, here is where we get more backstory that makes Nathan look even worse. Because of Nathan’s autism as well as an undiagnosed mental illness, Linda and John argued a ton. John did not think Nathan needed help or treatment, and Linda did. They tried to have him institutionalised and given extensive therapy, but John refused and pulled him out of the hospital. John began funding his life, until one day he cut Nathan off. He told him to get a job and go to college. Now, Nathan’s autism and most likely depression led to him being very unmotivated, and he did not want to do this. Nathan was definitely upset over being cut off, but to what extent?
Originally, Nathan was never charged with anything nor even arrested. Not until 2019, when he decided he wanted to file a claim for $85,000 on his boat that sank. Because of this claim, the insurance company had to do a ton of digging. Here, we found out that people at the marina saw Nathan drilling holes in the boat the day before his mother died at sea. Additionally, the US Coast Guard tracked the patterns of where Nathan was found and where he claimed the boat sank, and they proved his story is impossible.
Nathan was arrested and charged with the murder of both John and Linda in 2021. The prosecution took a very long time to compile everything because they wanted to take him down for both murders. He was set to be tried in October 2023. However, Nathan killed himself in jail while waiting. He hung himself, and it seemed only his father was shocked.
Now, I think there is way too much evidence against Nathan to prove that he did not do it. Nathan was after the money entrusted to both his mother and himself, especially because the amounts were much larger if he were deceased. Unfortunately, Nathan’s committing suicide also sort of seals the deal. If he were innocent, it would make no sense to commit suicide. They also found 0 other suspects throughout the whole search. They even investigated John’s murder as a mob hit, and found absolutely nothing.
Following Nathan’s death, John’s death was deemed a cold case. Linda was 100% confirmed presumed dead as well. Overall, this story was very sad and unexpected. In no way was I expecting 3 deaths overall. Unfortunately, this is an instance of money greed combined with mental illness.
