Man who saw Nathan Carman hours before ill-fated fishing trip speaks out

Mike Iozzi has scrutinized his brief encounter with boater Nathan Carman over and over again. The Cumberland man was one of the last people to speak with Carman before he and his mother set out on a fishing trip that Carman says left him stranded at sea for more than a week and his mother presumed dead.

"Just kind of an eerie feeling,” said Iozzi.

The 71–year–old says he was relaxing at a friends boat right near where Carman’s boat was docked at Ram Point Marina.

"I saw him working around on his boat. So, I just said to him that’s a nice boat you have so it kind of started a conversation, but he wasn’t too talkative,” said Iozzi.

He says he saw the 22–year–old doing some repairs around 4pm that day.

"Then I saw him drilling a hole in his boat. So I said what are you doing? He says I am having a problem with my trim tabs. I wasn’t going to question him. I saw him putting some 5200 on the holes,” said Iozzi.

Iozzi did talk to Carman about his upcoming fishing trip, though he says he never mentioned his mother Linda and Iozzi never saw any fishing poles on board the boat.

"It was just strange. He wouldn’t look at you,” said Iozzi.

In the days since Carman was found floating on a life raft speculation has swirled around what could have happened at sea. A search warrant for his Vermont home showed police looking for evidence of reckless endangerment. A second warrant was executed at Linda Carman’s Connecticut home on Friday.

Monday, several state and federal law enforcement agencies met in Connecticut to discuss the latest developments in the case.

Iozzi says he’s been interviewed by the coast guard, police in South Kingstown and a special investigator out of Groton Connecticut.

So far no charges have been filed in the case.

(C) WLNE 2016