and know that's where you ended up. but i know you guys are all in a better place. your altogether. you're helping each other. you can rest now. and i can take it from here. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline". i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". >> she can lie to you, make love to, kill you, all in the same week. and not even cry at the funeral. >> she was living that dream california lifetime. you talk about housewives of orange county, she could've been on the show. she wrapped him around the figure, just like europe so many men around the figure. >> she had all. waterfront home, fancy cars, millionaire boyfriend.

quite the life, until -- >> the shots were sets of two. he saw his attacker. >> her lover gunned down who wanted him dead? >> nanette johnston would not have done it, because there was no financial gain for her. >> what about her secret friend? the mystery was unsolved. then came the former nfl linebacker. a prosecutor who took on big waves and prosthetic -- could he found the key to this? when >> the key to this is motive, and that's a motive on steroids. >> you lie to them, for one thing? >> hello and welcome to dateline! a gated community and the glamour is setting where the residents could feel safe. but it was not safe for one multimillionaire, murdered in the kitchen of his waterfront house. police had

circumstantial. the case grew cold, could it be that the key to the mystery, or rather two keys were right there at the front door? here is keith morrison with deadly trust. >> there is a place, call it a pot of gold at the end of ambition at the american dream. a place where the few in the lucky bill they're mentions 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 that is as secure as this area. >> let alone involving people like this. attractive, charismatic, living large. like nanette johnston packard mcneal. >> she had a beautiful home. she drove an expensive car. she was living that dream

california lifestyle. you talk about "real housewives of orange county", she could've been on the show. >> yes, in fact she told french she turned down an offer to be on that show. about over the top access in orange county. though she did end up on a tv show called "american thunder". about motorcycles. showing off her own access. including a bike she bought for $50,000. >> what's your say favorite part of the bike? >> i love the way it looks. >> and then there was eric naposki. ex football player, personal trainer, wannabe actor, who starred in and never aired reality show called "newport 40". that here is where the show ends and the real begins. because of what happened in that house, behind the gates, a long time eagle. it was december 15th, 1994. 9 pm. >> the shots were pattern in sets of two. two shots. two shots. a pause.

and then two shots. >> detective tom voth arrived to find a millionaire dead on his floor. his name was bill mclaughlin, 55 years old. nice guy, deeply religious. and a true believer in the american dream. a man who had made his to come through. kind of a self made guy, right? >> absolutely. yes. >> bill, said his daughter jenny, was the first in his family to go to college. the first to found a company. first to end up with millions. not someone you think would wind up murdered. but here he was. >> >> you could tell, said voth, bill mclaughlin saw a coming. saw his. color >> one if 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. >> now voth needed to figure out who was that last person bill mclaughlin saw? >> you are trying to take everything in and you're trying to remember as much as you can. right down what you feel is important. what is going to come up in the investigation. >> what was important, what was in? it was hard to know in those first few hours. as you can see in this video, the police shut the night of the murder, a house was as neat as a pin. except for a glass on a peep table. some tables askew unaided table. and six bullet casings on the kitchen floor. and one more thing, a post-it note from his girlfriend, nanette stuck to the side of. olympic should be home late. her son had a soccer game. nanette johnston, and she was known back then. before reality shows and a couple more marriages, had been bill's girlfriend for more than three years.

and they seem to happy despite the almost 30 year each difference, said his daughter kim. >> they seemed to be good can companions -- >> she's like, your age? >> she was my age. yes. >> nanette health bill look after his disabled son kevin, who suffered a severe head injury after be being hit by a drunk driver. and she help with some business ventures. >> he found that interesting about her. that he could have possibly a romantic relationship, but also a mentoring relationship. possibly a business partner. >> he had hopes for this? >> i think he. did >> they live together in bill's house on the newport bay. as did her little ones part of the time. she brought some children? >> correct. >> did he like that? >> yes, he thought that was important. he thought that it showed she was compassionate. >> on the night bill was killed, nanette was with her children at her son's soccer game. the kids went to their dad's 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. >> so, voth questioned nanette and bill's own grown kids. couldn't eliminate anybody yet. >> we looked at the girlfriend and we also looked at the daughters. because anyone that stands to gain money in this situation is a potential suspect. >> bill's ex-wife was way off in hawaii. there's been divorced divorce for years. still, the detectives talk to her. when there was kevin, i bill's disabled son, and the only other person in the house at the time of the murder. >> newport beach emergency, police, fire. how can help? yes >> it was shortly after 9 pm when kevin heard the gunfire. he was upstairs. still debilitated by it's a car accident injuries. and he labored to make his way down to the kitchen. where he found his father.

>> my dad was -- shot. >> i can't understand what you're saying? >> too disabled to explain that he needed help. >> somebody is dying? >> someone was dead. >> kevin was a suspect. 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 he had his physical disability. >> but a suspect? they checked his hands for gunpowder residue. negative. >> you have to look at everybody unfortunately. sometimes it hurts feelings, but you have to get down to the facts. >> but facts can be tricky things. and in this case, far more elusive than anyone might have imagined. >> some clues were lucid, but some were right on in the front. like the two that dramatically narrowed down the circle of suspects. coming up -- >> those are huge. it eliminates everybody down to

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but we can help you compare rates on home insurance with homequote explorer. we've got a lot of work to do. >> in the days that followed bill mclaughlin's murder, his children wondered, overwhelmed through the essential events that followed a southern sudden death. that futile funeral must have been -- >> the funeral was horrible because, we were in shock and we had to hold up. i don't remember much but i do

remember nanette sitting in the front with each chelan either and. and they were both balling at the top of their lungs. and then i remember my brother speaking, to, at the funeral and telling everybody what an amazing man he was and what a great dad he was for him. >> bill's girlfriend, nanette, moved out of the house to another house she owned right on the beach. kim and her sister moved back into the family home with her brother. they clung to each other for dear life. >> we cried on each other shoulders and did a lot of counseling and therapy. and grieving. >> what made it worse was the 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 a really an execution style killing. this was obviously somebody who intended to kill your dad. it must immediately have wonder who? >> right. well you wonder if this is completely random act. some stranger and it was a mistake. or you developed a list of people that might have a reason to have shot him. >> two police, it did not look random. nothing was taken. that killer struck with precision accuracy and got cleaned away. but there was something that intrigued detective voth that night. it was a clue they found in bill mclaughlin's closet. >> we do a search of the house with permission of kevin and were told their weapons in a closet upstairs. and when you come across a lot of weapons like that, it's surprising. >> in a few years before his death, bill had become an avid gun collector. he kept dozens of them in his newport beach house. but not just antiques. there were pistols, revolvers, semiautomatic weapons. including including and 16 rifles. dangerous stuff in the wrong

hands. >> we didn't know if somebody was maybe upset with a seal he had done. or something. >> he nanette was worried about that. to >> nanette told us that bill was dealing with a lot of shady people. >> and that was one theory. that was something else, to. a rather, someone else. >> they only person that we knew was frustrated with him was his business partner he was in a lawsuit. with >> all of them, bill's kids and nanette, told detective voth about that business business partner. >> because he and mr. mclaughlin were in a heated multi year lawsuit about the invention of a device. >> a device? >> bill had made his millions from a revolutionary medical invention. and the sheen that separates plasma from blood. it's still in use today, worldwide. just the sort of thing bill wanted. to do something useful, helpful. and make lots of money, to. >> he enjoyed learning new things, discovering a new thanks. and especially if it helped people. benefited people.

he could make money off of an idea. >> how had hal fischel worked with bill on an early phase of the machine. it was after fischel left the company that the money came rolling. in fischel thoughts his contribution to the invention deserve more than what he got, so he sued his former friend and partner, bill mclaughlin. and here's the thing. it was just two weeks before the murder that the courts decided for bill, any day he was to get a 9 million he and fischel had been fighting over four years. so, was a revenge killing? sounded at least plausible. except for something that killer left behind. something fischel didn't have access to. no, it was in 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 locker right here. in addition to that, there was a key on a matte laying right

next to the door here. >> two keys. too close. one was a brand-new copy of the front dorky. the other was a key to the community pedestrian get. 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. >> the circle of suspects was getting smaller. >> coming up -- police focus on one particular suspect who did have access to those skis and to something else. >> he bought a 9 mm in the summer. e beretta 92f. >> you lie to them, for one. thing >> i did. >> when "dateline" continues. en when her bladder makes a little drop-off. because candice has poise, poise under pressure and poise in her pants. it takes poise.

(cto) ♪ i want the world ♪ (production manager) ♪ i want the whole world ♪ (supervisor) ♪ i want to lock it all up in my pocket. ♪ (ceo) ♪ i want today. ♪ ♪ i want tomorrow. ♪ (warehouse worker) ♪ presents and prizes and sweets and surprises... ♪ (driver) ♪ of all shapes and sizes. ♪ (dispatch) ♪ i want it noooooow! ♪ (vo) t-mobile for business has 5g that's ready right now. >> 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 him outside. the person who killed bill had obtained those keith 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. >> and that is how they found eric naposki. who, they learned, was living in a studio apartment in one of

those southern california "melrose place sort of complexes. just not quite as nice. had naposki played football, but his promising career as a nfl linebacker had fizzled. too many injuries. too many hours on the bench. by the early nineties, 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. >> it kind of nirvana for a guy like you. >> it was. >> big, good-looking ex football player like him. it was easy to get work. and women, in southern california. like nanette. he met her while working one day at this gym. what did you think when you saw her? >> i thought she was a snob when i first met her. >> eight up? >> yeah. a little stuck up. she had the sunglasses on. she was a little snobby. >> well, at least she was at first. but -- >> so what made your friends?

>> proximity. she was a fun girl. we worked out together. i'd say we probably worked out together than we did anything else together. >> 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. >> in 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 loss for money. as she talked about things and as she drove her new cars, as she footed the bill for everything we did together. >> so, what did eric know about bill? and bill's relationship with nanette? >> i never met bill. >> do you know who he is? >> i just knew of him. i knew of him and his, you know, his partnership with nanette.

as far as business goes and stuff like that. >> eric told us nanette said she invented things. medical equipment, blood separators. sound familiar? and bill, she told eric, guided her through their process. >> that was her mentor. that was her business partner. and she could make her own schedule. she can work out all morning, grab lunch, do whatever she has to do, pick up the kids, take them to practice. and be the mom. >> pretty nice job. eric and nanette spent time out 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 in the upstairs bedroom. a blown up -- >> kind of a glimmer picture? >> kind of a glimmer shot, yeah. >> it never occurred to him, he said, that nanette and bill did more than just business together. >> it was a business

relationship. and if you looked at nanette and took into account her age, then you looked at bill and took into account his age, why would you think -- >> orange county, california? hello? >> i guess i'm a rookie to orange county. >> when it comes to murder and relationships, sometimes to's company, three is a motive. if eric found out that bill was much more than just nanette's mentor, was it a motive for murder? 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 off and took off. and i got dressed and went to work later on, probably around 9:30. >> curious thing about eric's jobs. he was a bouncer up a nightclub about a football field and a half away bill mclaughlin from's house. not that far for a nfl linebacker. so the cops asked a few more questions. >> did you do any armed work? >> no.

>> no, that didn't mean he didn't own any guns, just took him a while to tell the detective that. >> okay, you said you don't own any firearms at all? >> no i i -- bought one i haven't seen it in so long. i bought one in dallas that i gave my dad. >> we first asked him if he owns any weapons. he says, he doesn't own any. and then he says, oh, that's right i did buy one in texas. a little. 380. but i sent it to my dad in new york. and then we talk a little bit longer and he says, oh i bought another. 380. >> did you have to register or anything in dallas? >> i basically just signed registration. >> the light must have gone off in his head that we were going to find out by checking registration, because a few minutes after that he says that he bought a 9 mm earlier in the year in the summer. a beretta 92f. >> no that was interested. a 9 mm was what killed bill mclaughlin and no one knew that at the time but the cops and the killer.

there are a lot of 9 mm guns around but why did eric naposki seem so dodgy about him. >> where is your 9 mm? i >> have no idea. >> that's my statement. >> if he thought he was helping himself, he wasn't. >> where is your 9 mm? i >> have no idea. >> that's my statement. >> if he thought he was helping himself, he wasn't. why did you ask for a lawyer? >> i didn't think i needed. one innocent people don't need lawyers, do they? >> you said some things that didn't help you out. that's for sure. >> absolutely. >> you lie to them, for one. think >> i did. >>, of course line does not make you a killer. but jealousy? maybe. did naposki know he was in a love triangle? did he want bill out of the week? and if so, did nanette quite literally hold the key?

>> at the center of this case, the younger girlfriend with the shady past she was trying to hide. coming up -- >> in the big bold print it was basically looking for wealthy men. i'll take care of you, if you take or me. >> when "dateline" continues. ion against fleas and ticks. it's effective and vet recommended. seresto. learn more at seresto.com. ♪ ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ get fast relief of your worst allergy symptoms, learn more at seresto.com. including nasal congestion, with powerful claritin d, so you can breathe better. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin d. how did olay top expensive creams? like this with hydration that beats the $100 cream in every jar of regenerist retinol24 collagen peptide new vitamin c and the iconic red jar can't top this skin

shop now at olay.com here's candice... who works from home, and then works from home. but she can handle pickup, even when her bladder makes a little drop-off. because candice has poise, poise under pressure and poise in her pants. it takes poise. --

died after being hit by a dump shock near fort lauderdale. florida highway patrol says he was trying to cross the highway on foot for unknown reasons when he was hit. he was 24 years old. federal jury acquitted two men accused and a plot to kidnap michigan governor -- and miss child was declared for the two other defendants. americans are, quote, living through the normalization of political violence. now back to dateline.

>> welcome back to "dateline" i'm natalie morales. >> who shot millionaire inventor bill mclaughlin? investigators were talking to his girlfriend, nanette, who was cheating on bill within other man. and when the interviewed him, he was deceptive about whether he owned a gun. meanwhile, bill's daughters were trying to get their fathers affairs in order. what they were about to find that things weren't adding up. who else had access to bills accounts? here's keith morrison with more of "deadly trust". >> on the afternoon of the day he was murdered, bill mclaughlin drove from a house he kept in las vegas two mccarran airport. he climb into the little air playing he own, flew up above all his troubles. this is where he was free and happy. pure joy up here. just around sunset he landed at john wayne airport in orange county. called nanette to tell her he

was back and drove home to newport. to the place he was about to die. but for all their efforts, investigators can find not one bit of evidence in those movements of his. nothing that could lead him to the man who is fast becoming their prime suspect, eric naposki. back at the house, bill's daughters took it upon themselves to sort through all their debts financials. maybe there would be a clue there. we had to figure that all out yourself? >> yes. >> must of been very complicated. >> it was very complicated and we did not trust many people at that point. >> understandably. so, bill's poured through it all. the little stuff and the big stuff. there's been the feel real estate deal in the desert.

two houses to deal with in nevada. soon money would be coming in, but when he died, millionaire bill mclaughlin was low on funds. and things were missing. bills and bank statements, check registers, that kind of thing. the sisters turned to nanette for help because she was the person who handled bill's day-to-day money matters. in fact, she was the trustee of the trust that held most of bill's money. but every buddy greaves in his or her in her own way. it nanette was very hard to reach. she just disappeared? >> yes, we contacted her over something missing and sometimes she would return our calls and sometimes she wouldn't. >> she was not far away, mind you. just in the house on the beach. in his, well bill left nanette quite a consolation prize. 1 million dollars in life insurance. $150,000 in cash. and the use of the beach house for a year. but it was hardly enough, frankly, to fund the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed. didn't he pay for everything for her? cars, even plastic surgery? >> he treated her very well. he provided a very posh lifestyle for she and her children. >> which made bill's daughters move nanette down the list of

suspects. >> i said in front of her, i believe, of course nanette would not have done this if this were no financial gain for her in this. >> after all, had bill survive, nanette and her two children might have live very well, indeed. and then bill's daughters notice something odd about his books. i >> notice in one of his business accounts a 250,000 dollar check that was written. >> that's a lot of money. >> a heck of a lot of money. >> the czech dated december 14th, one day before bill was murdered, was made out to nanette nanette johnston trust. >> you saw the signature? >> yes. >> does it look like your father signature? >> no. and i showed it to the police. >> detective voth didn't like the looks of it either. >> oh, hi nanette, this is jenny. >> the detective told the daughters to give nanette a call and recorded. >> first of all, a lot of checks, there are a lot of times that i signed for him on many things.

>>. >>. >>? >>? >>,. >>. >> nanette. , bill's. . nanette. voth. . ,. . . married at 18. two kids by 22. divorced at 23. and determined to leave dusty arizona behind for the coast of california. in particular, newport beach. >> so this was the play she wanted to move into and said -- >> i found a place. >> it was an even finished being built.

it >> it turns out, before bill, before eric naposki, there was tom. he met at nanette a nightclub and six weeks later he found himself moving them both into a brand-new town house in the heart of newport beach. she had actually found the place before she even met him. what was attractive, do you, about her? >> smart, intelligent. definitely very determined. forging ahead on her own two feet. wanting to make things happen. >> oh, and she did. she just happened to like shortcuts. which tom discovered when he found something nanette had been hiding. and ad. >> in the big, bold print it was basically, looking for wealthy men. i'll take you care of you, if you take care. me >> did you confront her after you found? this >> absolutely. >> nanette denied it was her.

but soon enough she had moved out and up and in with bill mclaughlin. it was clear to detective voth that was nanette johnston greedy. i was stop at nothing for money. it was clear to him that she has been cheating on bill. it was also clear to him that she been cheating on bill with eric. he even knew that her key to the community pedestrian gate was missing. and remember, there was one found. could have been a, on the map at the murder scene. but did all of that make hurry color? she and her lover, eric? do you remember what you thought at the time? >> i thought the police would be able to have a closed case. >> wishful thinking, isn't it? >> probably naive. >> in fact, it looked like someone or, to someone's, might just get away with murder. >> -- if that's what the thought. >> and without the story from a new witness. >> she said, i don't even want

to know if you had anything to do this. >> he said, maybe i did, maybe i didn't. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis.

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make every day a pataday. see for yourself. here's candice... who works from home, and then works from home. but she can handle pickup, even when her bladder makes a little drop-off. because candice has poise, poise under pressure and poise in her pants. it takes poise. >> detective voth thought he had a case, there were the keys, the laws, the other lover. circumstantial, yes. but he thought that naposki and

nanette committed murder together. >> i thought we had it solved as far as who were the responsible parties. where it was just a matter of if we felt comfortable filing the case. >> two times newport beach police brought the case to the da's office and two times the da's office said that 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 in spending lots, and lots, of money and expensive clothes and hairdos.

and then? she met someone else. another bill. so she divorced the real estate mogul and agreed to receive $17,000 a month and child support. was that her idea all along? the new bill did not have millions and when he married nanette he signed a prenuptial agreeing that she would keep herself all the money that she got from husband number two. or was that number three? anyway, the real estate mogul. eric naposki won back east, got married, had, kids got divorced. made that reality show that never got going. he was meant to play a big scary bad guy. and what's of bills kids? they tried to live how their father would've wanted them to. the opposite of nanette. >> he really wanted us to make the world a better place so he encouraged us to do things in the community, the three of us kids would go to nursing homes and put on talent shows for the elderly. >> how unusual? >> you have to understand where

my gut came from. a very low income family, as we call today. so he always appreciated what he had and worked very hard for. it >> builds children worked hard to, supported libraries in the third world, orphanages in africa, gave wheelchairs to the poor in latin america. rewarding work, but as time passed, they began to think that the fairytale had it all wrong. it seemed like this evil stepmother who got to live happily ever after, certainly not them. five years after the murder in 1999, the sisters lost their brother, kevin, in a drowning accident. he never recovered from the drunk driver or the trauma of his mouth murdered father. hope for justice? it faded away. >> we thought, those two will get arrested next week for killing my dad and when it did not happen month, after month, after month, and you then year, after year after year, we had

to actually release the pain and the anger we felt from it. >> i'm conscious of the fact that you had to work on that? >> very conscious of the. fact >> and that might have been the end of the our story. the before, him. look ♪ ♪ ♪ this is matt murphy, surfer and prosecutor with just possibly an excessive confidence in his ability to prosecute in favor of mclaughlin all those years ago. >> when you have is an old old case, pretty circumstantial stuff. a lot of evidence had been lost it degrades over the time. were you a little nervous about that? >> you're always nervous when you try an old case. >> but not a foregone forgotten. one cold case investigators kept digging. they found a real estate agent who showed nanette had -- the pair said they're about to come into some money. they found a businessman who

heard from nanette before the murder that she was about to have lots of money to invest. and they found a neighbor of eric's from that "melrose place type plays building, a woman who was too afraid to come for it at the time of the murder named suzanne kogan or. >> she was important because she gave the best comprehensive understanding of the way nanette meant knit you laid it naposki into committing the murder. >> susan told the prosecutor how she and eric would chat by the pool. how in 1984 that eric was angry meaning saying that -- >> totally untrue. they're engaged to be married. they had been living together. and naposki was enraged about. it >> after the murder, said susan, eric sought her out, saying if the police came

around, tell them i'm a nice guy. >> she said, oh my god eric, i don't even want to know if you had anything to do with this or not. and he smiled and he said maybe i did, maybe i didn't. think about, it york used of a murder you never committed, how are those words gonna come out of? >> incriminating but hardly one of those intangible facts that could get someone sent a way for life. >> this is one where every little piece of evidence had to be considered in light of all the other pieces of evidence. >> in fact just the type of challenge met murphy was after so in may 20, 2000, nine after mclaughlin was shot in his kitchen. nanette was charged with murder. we nanette proclaimed her innocence and her orange county friends took by her. >> i'm just gonna tell you that she is my friend, she is a good person, she has been generous and kind, and a wonderful

mother, and a wonderful neighbor. >> across the country and connecticut, police picked up eric naposki and accused him of murder to. eric was also defiant. >> it was not eric naposki who shot bill mclaughlin this is a fact. he is wrong. >> did eric kill bill mclaughlin? did he conspire with nanette? or was met murphy in over his head? we up to the jury soon. >> coming up, first they had to face trial where nanette the's lawyer had an unusual defense. >> in court you called your client (bleep). >> i'm sure i did. just because you treated people poorly in your life doesn't mean you are a murderer. >> will the jury agree? when dateline continues. uhh, i mean the whole turning people to stone thing

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>> good afternoon. >> 17 years after bill mclaughlin's life was brought to such a violent, early and, eric naposki when on trial here in the orange county courthouse. >> what i want to do at this point, i want to take you folks through an overview of the evidence. >> prosecutor matt murphy told the jury eric naposki volunteer to be nanette johnston's deadly trigger man. they have been copying keys in november. doing target practice.

and -- >> on august 2nd, mr. naposki purchase are very expensive beretta 9 mm. >> then a few months later, it nanette was's turn. >> matt murphy told a second jury that nanette's greed was insatiable. she wrongly thought that as trustee of bill stress that she controlled the money. and that her stealing escalated as the murder date got closer. >> she steals $48,200 in the month of october alone. so, in the month of october alone, she has beaten a previous nine months combined. with her theft. >> and so, the prosecutor argued, she asked eric to kill bill before he caught on. eric's attorney told the jury to things. one, eric couldn't have done

it. 18 minutes before the murder he was on ap phone at this danny's, which is an even newport beach. true, the phone bill which might have proved it had been lost. but the point was, said his lawyers, he couldn't have made it all the way to newport beach in time to commit the murder. and anyway, they said, nanette did it. >> the evidence in this case and at this trial shows that nanette johnston is the person most likely to have committed this murder. eric naposki was merely the patsy. >> but at nanette's trial, her attorney said she was innocent and it was eric who committed the murder. >> over the course of this trial, the evidence is going to show that he murdered mr. mclaughlin, out of jealousy, out of greed and on his own. part >> mutual finger-pointed. the nanette's attorney, michael hill had to agree, his client was an exactly -- >> eight her as much as you want for being a thief, a liar, a cheat. (bleep). >> (bleep) >>.

. just because you're treated people poorly doesn't make your murder. >> if she thought she was getting 1 million dollars out of a life insurance policy, 1 million dollars is a lot of money. >> 1 million dollars is a massive amount of money to people like me. but 1 million dollars for her, that is pittance. he was worth 55 millions when he died. so, her long term plan is not to be with a deadly a deadbeat loser, want to be nfl linebacker. >> that's harsh. >> it's true. >> it which was the -- she's getting a little bit of money for a lot of money from. him she could it can cheat at the same. time but come on, why would she kill him? >> the problem is, if he lives, he either finds out she's cheating or she finds out she's stealing. best-case scenario for her, she

winds up with nothing. worst-case scenario, she goes to jail. so, this isn't just a motive, it is a motive on steroids. >> in the end, murphy got his verdict. >> guilty. >> guilty of the crime of felony. >> then after conviction, the oddest thing happen. an epilogue, if you like. but eric called up matt murphy from jail and said, if he was finally ready to tell the truth. of course, he told us, to. >> first thing i wanted to do was clear up with math that i didn't do the crime. but i also wanted to share some other information with him that i hadn't shared with anybody in 17 years. >> had eric a new story. >> if nanette wanted bill

mclaughlin dead, then bill mclaughlin was as good as dead. whether it's to get me to do it, whether to pay someone else to do it. >> eric's story now, that nanette asked him to kill bill mclaughlin and he refused. but put her in touch with someone who could do it. and they use the beretta, which, said eric, wasn't his after all. he had given it to nanette as a gift, he said. and she supplied it to the hitman. so, what did matt murphy think of eric's new story? >> it doesn't make any sense. here's the problem. the first story had was i had nothing to do with it. then he messed up and said, nanette it's totally innocent and i'm innocent. then we get to trial and it changes to, nanette is not innocent, but i'm innocent. and i had nothing to do with anything. we interview him afterwards and it changes again to something radically different. >> michael hill didn't buy it either. >> have you ever heard of hiring a hitman, but he goes yeah, i'll take the job, but you know what, i don't have a gun. can you lawyers? >> so, eric sits in jail and contemplates that long ago love affair with nanette. >> nanette johnston is the worst type of person. she can lie to you, make love to you, kill you, all in the same week. not even quite a few to. it she was my girl heard. and what's going.

>> it's for bill's me. they say they're grateful. believing nanette and eric a right where there belong. how do you make sense of all this stuff? >> there is no sense of it. they are just very sick. the most. selfish, people. when we actually started learning how nanette's mind worked, it was really hard to comprehend. in a very dark police to unravel. >> and so she does what her father taught her. she lives for others as well as herself. she flies, like he did. and she looks at the light. >> when it comes down to it, our dad taught us, pass our goodness forward. make this world a better place and give it to others who are less fortunate. and so, we do that. my sister and i both knew that today. that's part of our mission in

life. and we go about with my dad, our dad as an angel. and my brother as an angel on the other shoulder. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline". i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. tonight the war in ukraine has been devastating but not for other factors. we take a closer look about how defending ukraine has been big business for defense contractors. and jordan clothes of love it on hollywood's new -- . plus, what is it you ands climate report the league everywhere? while we're shouting our show with a right now. welcome to the