Kriti Mehrotra
When John Chakalos was found heinously shot to death in the bedroom of his Windsor, Connecticut, home on December 20, 2013, it honestly left the entire community shaken to its core. That’s because, as explored in ABC’s ’20/20: Family Liar?’ the 87-year-old renowned real estate developer was a pillar of society thanks to not only his work ethic but also philanthropic practices. However, it’s imperative to note that while his demise was ruled a homicide long before a suspect was even publicly named, no one has ever officially been arrested, charged, or tried for it.
John Chakalos Was a Self-Made Man Through and Through
Born as the only son in a family of six kids in Keene, New Hampshire, on June 26, 1926, John Chalaos was the apple of his Greek immigrant parents’ eyes — Kalliope (Kyriazis) Charles “Costas” Chakalos. However, the family soon relocated to Middletown, Connecticut, where John primarily grew up and met the love of his life, Rita Baranowski. They were high school sweethearts who tied the knot in the 1950s, long after John had served in the army, graduated from the Bradford Durfee College of Technology with a degree in engineer, and established a career in real estate.
According to records, it was around 1944 when fresh high school graduate John enlisted in the US Army as a Private, shortly after which he managed to evolve into a paratrooper. In fact, during his years of active service, he spent most of his time in the Philippines during the Second World War, where he participated in numerous high-risk missions. He actually volunteered for most of them so as to serve his country to the best of his abilities, just to eventually be honorably discharged. It was after his return to civilization that he began attending Bradford Durfee College of Technology in Fall River, Massachusetts, from where he earned his textiles engineering degree in 1951.
However, John subsequently decided to kickstart a career in the world of real estate as a developer, which kicked off in the 1960s after he had settled down in Middletown, Connecticut. As per reports, a majority of his fortunate came from building retirement communities, nursing homes, and other care facilities across New England, all the while also sticking to his humble roots. He never once shied away from providing for his children or leading a comfortable life himself, but he preferred to spend more on the less fortunate and give back to society in any way he could. The fact that he never retired is only proof of this – he worked as a developer until he died at the age of 87 in late 2013.
John Chakalos’ Net Worth Was in the Millions
Considering the fact John rarely took time off and never even thought of retiring, it goes without saying that he managed to accumulate significant wealth over his years as a developer. The fact he primarily raised his 4 daughters – Elaine Chakalos, Linda Carman, Charlene Gallagher, and Valerie Santilli – in a modest house on a dead-end street definitely played a small part in it, too. However, it’s imperative to note that he did eventually splurge on an 82-acre mansion in his hometown of New Hampshire, but he still preferred to live in his split-level home alongside his wife, especially since they had shared it for over 5 decades. Moreover, as mentioned above, he didn’t mind spoiling his family.
According to reports, John’s motto was, “Without family, you’ve got nothing. Family is Everything,” so he provided for his daughters even once they became adults. From paying their expenses to giving them a monthly allowance to caring for their children, he did it all, even if he sometimes allegedly used it as a form of leverage to get them to do his bidding. It is believed that because of John’s hard work as a developer, investments in properties of his own, philanthropic activities and beliefs, and his comfortable lifestyle, he once had a net worth of close to $300 million. However, as per official records, at the time of his death, the 87-year-old real-estate tycoon and father of four was worth an estimated $44 million.
John Chakalos Was Found Dead by His Eldest Daughter Elaine
By all accounts, John led a happy, healthy, and loving life, but the end of it was more tragic and complicated than anyone could have ever imagined. While he was a proud family man, with his wife, daughters, and grandchildren surrounding him at every turn, he faced his first big heartbreak on November 21, 2012, when he lost Rita to cancer after 59 long years together. It was less than a month later, on December 20, 2012, five days before his favorite holiday, that he passed away too – he was shot thrice in the head and back, reportedly execution-style, while he lay in his own bed at home.
It was John’s eldest daughter, Elaine Chakalos, who had realized something was amiss after she hadn’t heard from him for a while, so she decided to go check on him at around 8 am. There was no sign of a forced entry, and nothing of value from his home had been stolen, so she didn’t realize anything was truly wrong until she saw him, following which she quickly dialed 911. First responders pronounced the 87-year-old dead at the scene, driving authorities to immediately begin their homicide investigation, canvass the area, and learn details of the developer’s personal life to hopefully find answers.
Despite Suspicions, No One Has Ever Been Charged For John Chakalos’ Murder
When detectives looked into John’s personal life to figure out if he was killed owing to some personal vendetta, they quickly realized that he and his daughter Linda didn’t have the best relationship. While he adored her son, Nathan Carman, considering he was his firstborn grandson, he and Linda often butted heads in terms of how to care for him, especially with his diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome. Furthermore, it wasn’t a secret that Linda and Nathan didn’t have the best bond, so the grandfather’s interference often did more harm than good – in fact, Linda once even attacked her father over this.
Yet, when investigators questioned Linda, she not only cooperated by giving them direct answers and allowing them to execute a search warrant into her home, but she also agreed to a polygraph. She passed this test without any issues, which, when combined with there being no confirmed alibi or concrete evidence against her, resulted in her name being cleared for good. However, her son Nathan then landed in the hot seat as he was the last person to see John alive before he vanished for a few hours. The two men had had dinner together, and the next thing you know, John had been killed.
According to reports, Nathan was unable to account for his whereabouts after dinner, that is, until 4 am when he met his mother Linda in Glastonbury for a fishing trip – he was an hour late. As if that’s not enough, when officials executed a search warrant at his home, which had been paid for by his grandfather, they could not find his computer’s hard drive or his truck’s GPS. Nevertheless, even with him having misplaced a gun he had recently bought, which just so happened to be of the same caliber as the one that killed John, he wasn’t arrested in connection with the case owing to a lack of any concrete evidence.
John Chakalos’ Daughters Believe Nathan Was Responsible For His Murder
After Linda mysteriously vanished during a fishing trip with her son Nathan in 2016, never to be seen or heard from again, her sisters filed a lawsuit to stop the distribution of both her and John’s estate. They claimed in their filing that they believed their nephew killed them both over a period of four years to inherit millions of dollars and profit from their deaths, unaware Linda had already “intentionally omitted” him from her will. In the end, despite Nathan maintaining his innocence at every step of the way, he was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of his mother, four counts of wire fraud, and three counts of mail fraud in May 2022.
A grand jury had ruled that it seemed like he had indeed “devised a scheme to defraud the estate of John Chakalos, its executor, the Dynasty Trust, and its trustees, and to obtain money,” which essentially alluded to Nathan’s possible involvement in John’s death without explicitly accusing him of it. However, the case was closed in the summer of 2023 without a trial because the young man died by suicide in his holding cell.
Read More: Nathan Carman’s Family History and Inheritance Battle, Explained
