i thought we had it solved as far as who the responsible parties were. it s just the d.a. s office didn t feel comfortable with filing the case. reporter: two times newport beach police brought the case to the d.a. s office. two times the d.a. s office said the detective had not made his case. nanette was arrested in the spring of 1995 but not for murder. they got her for fraud and forgery. she pleaded guilty, spent a year in jail, and, though eric waited for her, by the time she got out, she was ready to move on. she married a real estate mogul, much richer than bill mclaughlin ever was. they had a baby girl. and, once again, nanette was driving a fancy car and living where rich people live, and spending lots and lots of money on clothes and lunches and hairdos. and then, well, she met someone else, another bill, so she divorced the real estate mogul
end, and they were both bawling at the top of their lungs. and then i remember my brother speaking, too, at the funeral and telling everybody what an amazing man he was and what a great dad he was for him. reporter: bill s girlfriend nanette moved out of the house where bill was killed in to another house he owned on the beach. kim and her husband move back into the family home with her brother. they clung to each other for dear life. we cried on each other s shoulders and did a lot of counseling and therapy and grieving. reporter: what made it worse was they didn t know who did it. or why. any more than did the newport beach police. when a thing like this happens, i mean, it s really an execution-style killing. this was obviously someone who intended to kill your dad. you must immediately wonder who. right. well, you wonder if it s a completely random act, some
believing the killer knew the millionaire so well, he had his house keys. but a new person entered the picture and detectives found his memory suspiciously hazy on one particular topic. here again is keith morrison. reporter: two keys that demanded attention. one of them was stuck in the front door the night bill mclaughlin was murdered. the other was dropped on a mat outside. the person who killed bill had obtained those keys somehow, which meant whoever it was, was in his inner circle or had access to it. now police began looking very closely for relationships, like maybe secret ones. what is your involvement or relationship? nanette is a pretty good friend of mine. reporter: that s how they found eric naposki, who was living in a studio apartment in one of those southern california melrose place sort of
eric was also defiant. it wasn t eric naposki who shot bill mclaughlin. this is a fact. and matt murphy s wrong. i m tell you right now on my children, he s just straight wrong. reporter: did eric kill bill mclaughlin? did he conspire with nanette? or was matt murphy in over his head? to a jury, soon. coming up first, they had to face trial where nanette s lawyer had an unusual defense. in court, you called your client i did. it doesn t make you a murderer. when deadly trust continues. ust continues. when you shop with wayfair,
reporter: he was impressed by her intelligence, by what she told him about herself. that she had a business degree, for example. she graduated early from high school and she graduated early from college. reporter: by february 1994, ten months before bill mclaughlin was killed, nanette s affair with eric was in full bloom, which, given that eric was not exactly flush, turned out to be just fine, because she had no lust for money, as she talked about things and as she drove her new cars and as she footed the bill for everything we did together. reporter: so what did eric know about bill and bill s relationship with nanette? the cops asked. i never met bill. you know who he is? i just knew of him. i knew of him and his, you know, partnership with nanette as far as business goes and stuff like that. reporter: eric told us nanette said she invented things, medical equipment, blood