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this week i sat down with the host of "the colbert report" for a rare, behind the scenes look at the man and the character from his office in new york. stephen colbert, welcome back to "meet the press." >> it is a thrill. i cannot wait to meet the press. bring them in! bring all of the press in. >> let me ask stephen colbert the character -- >> hold on. hello! i'm stephen colbert! go ahead. >> who has the edge in this race right now? >> romney, obviously. did you see him the other night? that guy is on fire. he was on a rocket ride to plausible at this point. did you what up? >> i did. it was a strong debate. >> what was it like? i didn't see it. i don't really watch the news so much. i come in around 6:30 and just say the opposite of whatever rachel maddow says the night

before and i'm usually good. >> what does the real stephen think? >> what? >> what does the real stephen think about the race? >> don't yank my string around. the real stephen is actually pleased at the performer that mitt romney got his [ bleep ] upon. because i model conservative punditry. and if he doesn't -- if he's not someone i can follow, then i'm lost. and i have to say up until wednesday night, i just thought, i don't know what i'm going to do for the next month. >> because why? >> he was just a walking, shambling mound of weakness. you know, even the people who liked him didn't seem to be behind him that strongly. people were, you know, stepping out of his boat. you know, all saying, hey, that's the guy? i'll be right there. no, i'm just trying the life jacket on right now. do i have to self inflate or do i pull the cord? >> and that all changed. >> now he's the man. now he's got these long luscious coat tails and everybody is jumping onboard. >> is it hard for guests to

adapt to you in character? what do you like to tell them before hand? >> i say the same thing. i said it to you. which is, listen, thank you so much for coming. because i'm grateful. i know it must be kind of a tough booking sometimes because it's not like going on charlie rose, you know. you don't know necessarily what i'm going to say or what i'm going to ask because i'm an active idiot. and as i say to the guests, i say thank you for coming. have you ever seen the show? i do the show in character. he's an idiot. he is willfully ignorant of what you know and care about. please disabuse me on my ignorance and we'll have a great time. but sometimes they forget. i had senator bob kurie on. it was the 9/11 commission report. very early on, about four or five months into the show, and i said that backstage. about three minutes into a seven-minute interview, i don't know what i said, but he turned to me and he said, what the hell are you talking about? but in the middle of the

interview, i couldn't explain to him what it was. and then he just took the mic off and left as soon as the interview was over. i hope at some point someone explained to him that i was just fooling around and i'm very sorry. >> there's a course at boston university, professor rodriguez has a syllabus that we got a hold of -- >> i'm not familiar with what you're about to talk about. >> this is a course at boston university about american satire and it references heavily the colbert report. and this is what he describes. colbert satirically exposes hypocrisy inviting us to think more seriously about political issues. >> i do not get paid enough. i didn't realize i was that brilliant. i thought i was making the occasional poop joke. >> do you -- you are a performer, but you also do make a point. >> well, yeah. i'm a satirist. all satirists make points. satire is parody with a point. that's all it is.

and so if i was doing satire and didn't have a point of view, then that would be truly like schizophrenic. i always have a point of view. i care about the news. we do 160 shows a year. 161 shows a year. and you can't do that unless i guess you care a little bit about what you're talking about. or i couldn't. some people could, but i can't do that. and i'm interested in the news. and people often think that i'm an idealogue or that i have a political intent. when john and i did the rally two years ago, they thought that had a political intent. but i comment on things that are in the new. i am not a newsman. i rally admire newsmen and i enjoy good news and i'm not a politician. but i like playing political games to see what really happens in them. that's why i formed a super pac.

that's why i ran for president or formed an exploratory committee. >> what did you expose about politics by testifying about immigration on capitol hill, which some people were critical of, or -- >> i would say that everyone was critical of. you're being very generous. i would do it again in a minute. what an honor to be asked to go do it. once you're asked, you know, and to say, well, i'm only going to do it if i can do it in character because i've got no business doing something like that, but my character thinks he does. and through him, i can say things that are hopefully in a more palatable way than i could have. >> but that's where you're a performer making a point. what have you exposed about politics through those examples you just mentioned? >> well, that, the congressional one is that congress is like eighth grade recess. they are so nasty to each other. and i didn't think they could give a damn whether it was me but they saw it as a way to beat on each other. or the republicans saw it as a way to beat on the democrats.

and maybe it was a valid way to beat on them, but they sure knew a weapon when they saw one. the super pac was an act of discovery. an example. it was an act of discovery because i didn't intend to have a super pac. i intended to make a joke about tim pawlenty's unbelievably over the top ad, like a michael bay voice of god, you know, preaching to america from the surface of the moon, tim pawlenty saves our country, and i couldn't figure out how to end it. at the end it just said liberty pac.com. and i said let's put colbertpac.com on ours. and that led to one thing and then another, including a lot of lawyers. there's an entire industry that i didn't know that is not only raising money but built on raising money off the fact that there is so much money in politics. and almost no rules. >> a lot of what your character does, a lot of what you do

through the program, is similar to what you're talking about the super pac, exposing what's absurd or what simply doesn't work about politics and about our institutions of government, which i think a lot of your followers and your viewers believe. >> well, i don't know if i expose it. but i try to be aspects. i try to put myself in the news or embody the thing. john does what's called pure deconstruction, where he picks apart what's happened in the day's news and lays it out to you like a cadaver. but i falsely reconstruct the news. >> mitt will put the leaders of iran on notice. >> so that's a different way of doing the job. >> to make a point of absurdity, right? >> exactly. and if i do it, and something in the news is doing it, that thing, that real thing, is probably bull. because if i can go out and do it, and it is happening in the real world, the close ter is to me, the less you should trust

it. >> why do you think so many people think you and jon stewart are more effective at exposing hypocrisy, getting to real truths, than the news media is? >> i don't know if that's the case. >> well, i think certainly there are people who believe that. >> ok. they're entitled to their beliefs. i don't know. jokes make me palatable. i would say that. comedy just helps an idea go down. that's all. and just makes you listen for a minute. >> we've been talking some about the absurdity of politics, the political discourse. so here comes your book. >> about damn time. the qvc guys are coming in in a minute, order now and you'll get one. >> this goes right to what you're talking about in this campaign, "america again: re-becoming the greatness we never weren't," at a time when you write about america's perfect, now we should change

it. >> fix it. america is perfect and we have to fix it, ok? because america is an exceptional country. >> why write another book here? >> what? >> i mean, you've written others. >> you obviously haven't read it if you have to ask that question. hey, homer. "iliad" was good. why write "the odyssey"? god, why two testaments? one was fine. really? wow. you've already found someone to marry you, right? because you are rude. [ laughter ] >> i understand. >> you felt the need to rewrite this. >> well, i don't know how things are going up there in network town, but down in america, people are hurting, david gregory. this book has common sense answers to people's problems, you know? it tells you how to find a job. >> does the outcome of this election change anything significantly? >> well, sure.

sure. i'm not ralph nader. you know what i mean? i don't think that there's no difference. there is a difference. i don't know what the difference is, though, because i think there is a possibility that obama would be, say, more aggressive -- a more aggressive reformer or changer in the second act of this presidency, and i don't know how mitt romney would governor. he might govern as a technocrat. that sort of has been his career, like the guy from pepsi that comes in to run gm. he can't tell us what he'll do because he hasn't seen the books yet. but we don't know because he seems absolutely sincere as a moderate and also as a severe conservative. so that's not a dig. it's honest confusion. he's got a good shot at winning. and if he does, i hope he's a good president. and if obama wins, i hope he keeps some of the promises he didn't keep the first time. but i have no idea how it

changes for us. but i know there's got to be a difference between the two men, or we're all part of a huge cruel joke. >> stephen, any thought of running for political office yourself? >> no, no. absolutely none. i have said terrible things with a straight face on camera. can you imagine the political ads that could be run against me? can you imagine? >> stephen colbert. the full interview on our website, meetthepress@msnbc.com. mayor, the interesting thing about him, his comic genius, his work ethic, and his credibility as a satirist, what is the lesson, frankly, that politicians should take away from the reach that a colbert has and that a jon stewart has? >> first of all, you deserve combat papers. that was something. i would say it's authenticity. people want that on both republicans, independents, moderates. that's what i hear. and the people that will break through in the future are the ones that people believe.

when you say something, they believe what you say. that's why tom brokaw is who he is. and that's why his voice is so valued. i'm happy to meet you. but i think that's what people want. >> tom, you know both colbert and stewart well. and their impact is real in terms of shaping opinion, particularly how young people view the political process. >> jon came to me when he first started. i barely knew him. he was a stand-up comic at the time, and he said do you think the country is ready? i grew up with lenny bruce. and what i always thought was they brought people into the arena. what these two do so brilliantly is that they cut through the hypocrisy and say, hey, wait a minute, on both sides. and they do play it pretty much down the middle, you know. both groups will say they are more unfair to us than the other one, but they have lifted the idea that this is the greatest arena that we have, our political arena. and young people are now engaged in it. i'm not troubled by young people saying, hey, i think that's

where i get my news, because in fact they do get some news from that. you know, they roll the tapes. they point out the differences between what they said yesterday and today. so i never miss them. >> in a country that's atomizing itself into pieces, we want things to bring us together. and one of the functions of humor is that when we smile at the same things and laugh at the same things, guess what, that means we look at the world the same way. right now, that function used to belong to politicians who would bring us together. now it belongs to humorists. >> i want to ask both of you governors here with a little over a minute left, governor mcdonnell, moving back to the big showdown we'll see on tuesday, what's decisive here? not just in the debate but the final week, not just the economy. as voters look at these two men, what's going to make the difference? >> practically it comes down to about seven states and maybe 7% of the voters in those states. that's the way the math works out, including in virginia. i think back to the great

comments that were just made. people are hurting, and that's what stephen colbert was trying to say in a humorous way. so people will say, who has the uplifting vision? at the end of the day, it's not just going to be rhetoric but how do i make life better for me, my family, whether it's my gas prices, my job, my daily living? who really understands and will make it better? how do we make the great generation that tom brokaw wrote about, how do we get that spirit of american exceptionalism back into the consciousness of the american people? >> i think it's encapsulated in the vice presidential debate, when joe biden looked at the camera and said, who do you trust on these issues to fight for you? if people trust that that person is going to go to bat for them, and i think the decision will be clearly in the president's favor, frankly. >> all right. we'll leave it there. thank you all very much. much to watch for here on tuesday. and beyond. stay with nbc news for full coverage of the big showdown this tuesday night. obama versus romney, the

rematch. it all starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern. i'll join brian williams and our nbc news team for full analysis. and remember it's just a few days later, the following monday, that we have the final debate with a focus on foreign policy. so a lot to watch for. 23 days away. so a lot to watch for. 23 days away. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life.

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the more you know.

she can lie to you, make love to you, kill you, all in the same week and not even cry at the funeral. >> she was living that dream california lifestyle. you talk about housewives of orange county. she could have been on the show. she wrapped him around her finger just like she wrap sod many men around her finger. >> she had it all, waterfront home, fancy cars, millionaire boyfriend, quite the life. until -- >> the shots were in sets of two. he saw his attacker. >> her lover gunned down. who wanted him dead? >> and annette would not have done it because there was no financial gain in her for this >> what about her secret friend, the former nfl linebacker? >> you laid to them, for one

thing? >> i did. >> 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 isn't just a motive, it's a motive on steroids. >> keith morrison with deadly trust. welcome to "dateline" everyone, i'm lester holt. a gated community august glamorous setting where the wealthy residents he is could feel safe. but 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. turned out the key to the mystery, or rather two keys, were right there at the front door. here's keith morrison. >> reporter: there's a place, call it a pot of gold tend of

ambition, of the american dream, a place the few and the 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 that's as secure as this area. >> reporter: let alone involving people like this, attractive, charismatic, living large, like nanette johnson packard mcneil. >> she had a beautiful home. she drove an expensive car and she was sort of living that dream california lifestyle. you talk about housewives 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 over-the-top excess in orange county. though she did end up on a tv show called "american thunder" about motorcycles, showing off her own excess, including a bike

she bought for 50 grand. >> what's your favorite part of the bike? >> well, love the way it looks. >> reporter: and then there was eric naposky. >> we eat housewives for breakfast. >> reporter: ex-football player, personal trainer, wannabe actor who starred in a never aired reality show called "the new port 40," but here's where the show ends and the real begins. because of what happened in that house behind the gates, a long time ago, it was december 15, 1994, 9 p.m. >> the shots were patterned in sets of two. two shots. two shots. a pause. and then two shots. >> reporter: the detective arrived to find a millionaire entrepreneur dead on his kitchen floor. his name was bill mclaughlin, 55 years old, nice guy, deeply religious.

and a true believer in the american dream, a man who made his come true. kind of a self-made guy, right? >> absolutely, yes. >> reporter: bill, said his daughter, jenny, was the first to go to college the first to found a company, the first to end up with millions. not one you would think would wind up murder bird here he was. >> could you tell there was not a physical drug strug, weren't things knocked off counters or things like that. >> reporter: you could tell, bill mclaughlin saw it coming, saw his killer. >> one of his movements was to put his hand up and try to block a shot and 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?

>> you're trying to take everything in, and you're trying to remember as much as you can, write down what you feel is important, what's going to come up in the investigation. >> reporter: what was important? what wasn't? it was hard to know in those first few hours. as you can see in this never-before-seen 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 brought by an ex-busins partner, and six bullet casings on the kitchen floor. and one more thing, a post-it note from his girlfriend, nanette. she'd 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 30-year age difference, said his daughter, kim. >> they seemed to be good companions. >> she was like your age, wasn't she? >> she was my age, yes. >> reporter: nanette helped bill

look after his disabled son, kevin, who had been 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 they did. >> reporter: they lived together in bill's 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 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. >> reporter: 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 who stands to gain money in this situation is a potential suspect. >> reporter: bill's ex-wife was way off in hawaii. they'd been divorced for years. still, the detectives talked to her. then there was kevin, bill's disabled son, and the only other person in the house at the time of the murder. >> newport beach emergency. police, fire or paramedics? >> 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 can't understand what you're saying. >> reporter: too disabled to explain that he needed help. >> somebody's 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 gunpowder residue. negative. >> you have to look at everybody, unfortunately. sometimes hurts feelings, but you have to get down to the facts on it, too. >> reporter: but facts can be tricky things. and in this case, far more elusive than anyone might have imagined. when we come back, some clues were elusive, but some were right out in the front, like the two that dramatically narrowed down the circle of suspects. >> those are huge. it eliminates everyone down to except those who have access to those two keys.

>> reporter: in the days that followed bill mclaughlin's murder, his children wandered, overwhelmed, through the essential events that follow a sudden death. that funeral must have been -- i don't know. >> 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 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: bill's girlfriend nanette moved out of the house 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 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 didn't 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 mclaughlin's closet. >> we do a search of the house with the permission of kevin. we're 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, including seven modified m-16 assault rifles. dangerous stuff in the wrong hands. >> we didn't 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, bill's kids and nanette, told detective voth about that business partner, hal fischel. >> 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. it's 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 now things, discovering new things, and 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

what he got, so he sued bill mclaughlin, his former friend and partner. here's 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 for something the killer left behind, something fischel didn't have access to. no, it wasn't 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.

>> reporter: two keys that demand 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's a pretty good friend of mine. >> reporter: and that's how they found eric naposki, who, they learned, was living in a studio apartment 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, too many 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. >> reporter: 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 at this gym. what did you think when you saw her? >> i thought she was a snob when i first met her.

>> snob? >> snob. 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. i'd 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, 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 -- 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. it was an upstairs/downstairs, fully furnished.

she had a picture of herself in the upstairs bedroom, blown up. >> kind of a glamour picture? >> kind of a glamor 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, you know, why would you -- >> orange county, california? hello? >> i guess i'm a rookie when it comes to orange county. >> reporter: when it comes to murder and relationships, sometimes two's company, three's a motive. if eric found out that bill was much more than just nanette's 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 eric's 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 don't do any armed work. >> reporter: no, but 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, little .380, but i sent it to my dad in new york. and then we talk a little bit longer, and, oh, i bought another .380.

>> did you have to register it or anything in dallas? >> i basically just signed -- 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 said he bought a 9 millimeter earlier in the year, in the summer, a beretta 92f. >> reporter: now, that was interesting. a 9 millimeter was what killed bill mclaughlin, and no one knew that at the time but the cops and the killer. there are lots of 9 millimeters around, but why did eric naposki seem so dodgy about his? >> where is your 9 millimeter? >> i have no idea. >> you have no idea? >> that's my statement. >> reporter: if he thought he was helping himself, he wasn't. why didn't you ask for a lawyer? >> i didn't think i need one. innocent people don't need lawyers, do we? >> but you said some things that didn't help you out, that's for sure. >> absolutely. >> you lied to them, for one thing? >> i did. >> reporter: of course, lying doesn't make you a killer. but jealousy? maybe. did naposki know he was in a love triangle?

did he want bill out of the way? and, if so, did nanette quite literally hold the key? when we come back, the young girlfriend on the make with a shady past she was trying to hide. >> in the big bold print, it was basically, looking for wealthy men. i'll take care of you if you take care of me. follow the wings.

so anyway, i've been to a lot of places. you know, i've helped a lot of people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep?

(sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. with head & shoulders? since before jeans were this skinny... since us three got a haircut. since my first twenty-ninth birthday. [ female announcer ] head & shoulders. live flake free.

>> reporter: in the afternoon on the day he was murdered, bill mclaughlin drove from a house he kept in las vegas to mccarran airport.

he climbed into the little airplane he owned and flew it up above all his trouble. 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 could find not one bit of evidence in those final movements of his. nothing that would link him to the man who was fast becoming their prime suspect, eric naposki. back at the house, bill's daughters took it upon themselves to sort through all their dad's financials. maybe there would be a clue there. you had to figure all that out yourself? >> uh-huh. >> very complicated. >> it was very complicated, and we did not trust many people at that point. >> reporter: understandably. so bill's daughters pored through it all, the little stuff and the big stuff. there had been a failed 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. 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 everybody grieves in his or her own way, and nanette was very hard to reach. she just disappeared. >> yes. we'd contact her over something missing and sometimes she would return our calls and sometimes she wouldn't. >> reporter: she wasn't far away, mind you, just at the house on the beach. in his will, bill left nanette quite a consolation prize -- $1 million 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 had become accustomed. didn't he pay for everything for her, gave her a couple of cars,

even plastic surgery? >> well, he treated her very well. he provided a very plush lifestyle for she and her children. >> reporter: which made bill's daughters move nanette down the list of suspects. >> in front of her, i said, well, of course nanette would not have done it because there was no financial gain for her in this. >> reporter: after all, had bill survived, nanette and her two children might have lived very well indeed. and then bill's daughters noticed something odd about his books. >> i noticed in one of his business accounts a $250,000 check that was written. >> that's a lot of money. >> a heck of a lot of money. >> reporter: the check dated december 14th, one day before bill was murdered, was made out to nanette johnston trust. you saw the signature? >> yes. >> did it look like your father's signature? >> no. and i showed it to the police. >> reporter: detective voth didn't like the looks of it either. >> hello? >> oh, hi, nanette.