Missing boater speaks to reporters after arriving home in VT

September 27, 2016 6:19 pm

Nathan Carman arrived back in Vermont Tuesday night speaking briefly with reporters.

"I feel healthy," said Carman. "Emotionally, I’ve been through a huge amount. My request is that I just be left alone to mourn naturally."

It’s been 9 days since the 22-year-old and his mom set out on a fishing trip from South Kingstown. Linda Carman is presumed dead, the coast guard is no longer searching for her. Nathan Carman says he was stuck at sea alone for 7 days.

Audio recordings were released by the Coast Guard Tuesday. They detail the conversation he had with authorities after he was found floating on a life raft by a freighter 100 miles from the Vineyard on Sunday.

"Myself and my mom were fishing at Block Canyon. And, there was a funny noise in the engine compartment and I looked and saw a lot of water,” said Carman in the recording.

Carman says the boat went under quickly. He’s heard in the recording asking if his mother has been found.

"I got to the life raft after I got my bearings and I was whistling and calling and looking around,” said Carman.

A search warrant was executed at Carman’s Vermont home last night where police were searching for evidence of reckless endangerment.

An affidavit from police in South Kingstown says they found Carman planned to go further off-shore than his mother intended. That affidavit also says that the boat was in need of mechanical repair and could have been unsafe.

Carman who lives with aspergers is no stranger to tragedy.

His grandfather was murdered in 2013. Court papers obtained by the Hartford Courant show he was investigated as a suspect in the unsolved homicide. No charges were filed.