She wouldnt have done it because there wasnt any financial gain for her in this. Reporter what about her secret friend, the former nfl linebacker . You lied to them. I did. Reporter the mystery was unsolved. Then came a prosecutor who took on big waves and cold cases. Could he find the key to this one. This isnt just a motive. Its a motive on steroids. Hello. Welcome to dateline. A gated community, a glamorous setting where the wealthy residents could feel safe. It was not safe for one millionaire murdered in his waterfront house. Police had suspects but the evidence was only circumstantial and the case grew cold. Could it be that the key to the mystery, or, rather, two keys, were right there at the front door. Heres Keith Morrison. With deadly trust. Reporter theres a place, call it a pot of gold at the end of ambition, of the american dream. A place the few and lucky build their mansions by the sea. Newport beach, Orange County, california, where the most unexpected event would be murder. Things like this rarely happen in Newport Beach, let alone in an area as secure as this area. Reporter let alone involving people like this, attractive, charismatic, living large. Like Nanette Johnston packard mcneal. She had a beautiful home, drove an expensive car. And she was sort of living that dream california lifestyle. You talk about housewives of Orange County, she could have been on the show. Reporter yes, in fact, she told friends she turned down an offer to be on that show. About excess in Orange County. She ended up on a show called American Thunder about motorcycles, showing off her own excess, including a bike she bought for 50 grand. Whats your favorite part of the bike . I love the way it looks. Reporter and then there was eric naposki. Exfootball player, personal trainer who starred in a neveraired reality show called newport 40. But heres where the show ends and the reality begins. Because of what happened in that house behind the gates a long time ago. It was december 15, 1994, 9 00 p. M. The shots were patterned in sets of two. Two shots. Two shots. A pause. And then two shots. Reporter detective tom voth arrived to find a millionaire entrepreneur dead on his own kitchen floor. His name was Bill Mclaughlin, 55 years old, nice guy, truly religious and a believer in the american dream, who made his come true. Kind of a selfmade guy, right . Yes. Reporter bill, said his daughter jenny, was the first in his family to go to college, first to found a company, the first to end up with millions. Not someone youd think would wind up murdered. But here he was. You could tell there was not a physical struggle. There werent things that were knocked off counters or things like that. Reporter you could tell, said voth, Bill Mclaughlin saw it coming, saw his killer. One of his movements was to put his hand up and try to block a shot. He got shot through the underside of a finger. So he saw his attacker. Reporter now voth needed to figure out, who was that last person Bill Mclaughlin saw . Youre trying to take everything in, and youre trying to remember as much as you can, write down what you feel is important, whats going to come up in the investigation. Reporter what was important . What wasnt . It was hard to know in those first few hours. As you can see, in this video the police shot the night of the murder, the house was as neat as a pin, except for a cup on a table, papers regarding a lawsuit, and six bullet casings on the kitchen floor. And one more thing, a postit note from his girlfriend nanette. It was stuck to the side of the lamp. Shed be home late. Her son had a soccer game. Nanette johnston as she was known back then, before reality shows and more marriages, had been his girlfriend for years. They seemed happy, despite the almost 30year age difference, said his daughter kim. They seemed to be good companions. She was like your age, wasnt she . She was my age, yes. Reporter nanette helped bill take care of his disabled son who suffered a head injury after being hit by a drunk driver and helped with business ventures. He found that interesting about her, that he could have possibly a romantic relationship but also sort of a mentoring relationship and possibly a Business Partner. He had hopes for this. I think he did. Reporter they lived together in bills house on the newport bay, as did her two little ones part of the time. And she brought some children. Correct. Did he like that . Yes. He thought that was important. He thought that it showed she was compassionate. Reporter on the night bill was killed, nanette was with her children at her sons soccer game. The kids went to their dads house afterwards and nanette headed to the mall to go christmas shopping. She arrived home to a crime scene and to detective voth. Anybody involved has a possibility of being the murderer. Reporter so voth questioned nanette and bills own grown kids, couldnt eliminate anybody yet. We looked at the girlfriend and also looked at the daughters because anyone who stands to gain money in this situation is a potential suspect. Reporter bills exwife was way off in hawaii. Theyd been divorced for years. Still the detectives talked to her. Then there was kevin, bills disabled son, and the only other person in the house at the time of the murder. Newport beach emergency. Reporter it was shortly after 9 00 p. M. When kevin heard the gunfire. He was upstairs, still debilitated by those car accident injuries. He labored to make his way to the kitchen where he found his father. [ inaudible ] i cant understand what youre saying. Reporter too disabled to explain he needed help. Somebodys dying . Reporter someone was dead. Kevin was a suspect that we needed to find out the validity of his statements, whether he had gunshot residue on his hands, whether he was even able to shoot a gun, given his physical disabilities. Reporter but a suspect . They checked his hands for gun powder residue. Negative. You have to look at everybody, unfortunately. Sometimes hurt feelings, but you have to get down to the facts, too. Reporter but facts can be tricky things. And in this case far more elusive than anyone might have imagined. Some clues were elusive, but some were out in the front. Like the two that dramatically narrowed down the circle of suspects. Coming up those are huge. You eliminate everyone down to except those who have access to those two keys. When dateline continues. Car vending machines and buying a car 100 online. Vented now weve created a brand new way for you to sell your car. Whether its a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. 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Hey, next time lets do a face call its very common to havehave sensitivity on car and motorcycle insurance. A gum Health Concern as well. You know, i talk to dentists every day and theyre able to recommend new sensodyne sensitivity gum. Its really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product that can address two conditions. Reporter in the days that followed Bill Mclaughlins murder, his children wandered, overwhelmed, through the essential events that follow a sudden death. That funeral must have been i dont know. The funeral was horrible because we were in shock, and we had to hold up. I dont remember much, but i do remember nanette sitting in the front with each child on either 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 bills girlfriend nanette moved out of the house bill was killed in to another house he owned on the beach. Kim and certificate sister moved back into the family home with her brother. They clung to each other for dear life. We cried on each others shoulders and did a lot of counseling and therapy and grieving. Reporter what made it worse was they didnt know who did it. Or why. Any more than did the Newport Beach police. When a thing like this happens, i mean, its really an executionstyle killing. This was obviously someone who intended to kill your dad. You Must Immediately wonder who. Right. Well, you wonder if its a completely random act, some stranger and it was a mistake or an accident, or you develop a list of people that might have a reason to have shot him. Reporter to police, it didnt look random. Nothing was taken. The killer struck with precision accuracy and got clean away. But there was something that intrigued detective voth that night. It was a clue they found in Bill Mclaughlins closet. We do a search of the house with the permission of kevin. Were told there are weapons in the closet upstairs. When you come across that many weapons, it becomes surprising. Reporter bill was an avid gun collector. He kept dozens in his Newport Beach house. Not just antiques, revolvers, pistols, semiautomatic weapons, including seven modified m16 assault rifles. Dangerous stuff in the wrong hands. We didnt know if somebody maybe was upset with the sale of a gun or something. Reporter nanette was worried about that, too. Nanette told us that bill was dealing with a lot of shady people, gun dealers. Reporter and that was one theory. But there was something else, too, or, rather, someone else. The only person that we knew was frustrated with him was his Business Partner who he was in the lawsuit with. Reporter all of them, bills kids and nanette, told detective voth about that Business Partner. Because he and mr. Mclaughlin were in a heated multiyear lawsuit over the invention of the device. Reporter the device . Bill had made his millions from a revolutionary medical invention, a machine that separates plasma from blood, still in use worldwide today. Just the sort of thing bill wanted, to do something useful, helpful, and make lots of money, too. Reporter he enjoyed learning new things, discovering new things, especially if it helped people, benefitted people, if he could make money off of an idea. Reporter hal fischel had worked with bill on an early phase of the machine. It was after fischel left the company that the money came rolling in. Fischel thought his contribution to the invention deserved more that he got so he sued Bill Mclaughlin, his former friend and partner. Heres the thing. It was just two weeks before the murder that the courts decided for bill. Any day he was to get the 9 million he and fischel had been fighting over for years. So was it a revenge killing . Sounded at least plausible. Except there was something the killer left behind, something fischel didnt have access to. No, it wasnt dna, not fingerprints. Something more mundane than that. When we got here, the door on the right was open and there was a key stuck in the lock right here. In addition to that, there was a key on a mat laying right next to the door here. Reporter two keys. Two clues. One was a brand new copy of the front door key. The other was a key to the Community Pedestrian gate, not a copy. Those are huge because it eliminates everybody in the world from being a suspect down to only those people that have access to those two keys. Reporter the circle of suspects was getting smaller. Coming up police focus on one particular suspect who did have access to those keys and to something else. He had bought a 9 millimeter in the summer, a beretta 92f. You lied to them. I did. When dateline continues. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. 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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 thats how they found eric naposki, who was living in a Melrose Place kind of complex, just not quite as nice. Naposki had played football, but his promising career as a linebacker had fizzled, too many injuries, hours on the bench. By the early 90s he was trying to figure out what to do next. I was in seattle with the seahawks when i retired, when i left. And i drove down the coast and it was a great place to land. Kind of nirvana for a guy like you. It was. Big, goodlooking exfootball player like him . It was easy to get work. And women, in southern california. Like nanette. He met her while working at this gym. What did you think when you saw her . I thought she was a snob when i first met her. A little stuck up. She had the sunglasses on, you know, the expensive watch. She was a little snobby. Reporter well, at least she was at first. But so what made you friends . Proximity. She was a fun girl. We worked out together. Id say we probably worked out together more than we did anything else together. 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, nanettes 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 bills 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 separators. Sound familiar . And bill, she told eric, guided her through the process. That was her mentor. That was her Business Partner. And she could make her own schedule. She could work out all morning, grab lunch, do whatever she has to do, pick up the kids and take them to practice, be the team mom. Reporter pretty nice job. Eric and nanette spent time at what she said was her house, right on the beach. What did you think . It was beautiful. Beautiful house. Right on the beach, right in newport. Upstairs downstairs, fully furnished. She had a picture of herself up in the upstairs bedroom, blown up. Kind of a glamour shot. Yeah. Reporter it never occurred to him, he said, that nanette and bill had anything more than a business relationship. It was a business relationship. If you looked at nanette and took into account her age and looked at bill and took into account his age, why would you Orange County, california . Hello . I guess im a rookie when it comes to Orange County. Reporter when it comes to murder and relationships, sometimes twos company, threes a motive. If eric found out bill was much more than just nanettes mentor, was it a motive for murder . So in their interview, investigators got right to the point. What was he doing that night . I was with nanette at the soccer game. She dropped me off and took off. And i got dressed and went to work later on, probably around 9 30. Reporter curious thing about erics job. He was a bouncer at a nightclub about a football field and a half away from the mclaughlin house. Not that far for a linebacker. So the cops asked a few more questions. Did you do any armed work . No, i dont do any armed work. Reporter no, but that didnt mean he didnt own any guns. Just took him a while to tell the detective that. Okay. You sa