Millionaire killing argument: Suspect's 'gift' was manipulating men



Millionaire killing argument: Suspect's 'gift' was manipulating men


SANTA ANA – The Ladera Ranch woman at the center of a love triangle between her older, millionaire boyfriend and her younger, ex-NFL football-playing lover was a master manipulator of men who had a "gigantic motive" to commit murder, a prosecutor told an Orange County jury here Wednesday.

Nanette Johnson's power to manipulate men "was her talent on earth. That was her gift," Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said in his closing argument at Johnston's murder trial.

Murphy contended that Johnston persuaded her muscular, young lover to kill William McLaughlin, 55, in his Newport Beach home Dec. 15, 1994, so she could avoid detection for having stolen hundreds of thousands from McLaughlin's bank accounts and so she could collect millions from his life insurance policy and his will.

"She wanted Bill McLaughlin's money, but without Bill," Murphy said. "She is the person who put all this in motion."

Johnston, the prosecutor continued, was scandalous, promiscuous, arrogant and a heartless liar, cheater and thief who eventually became a murderer. He said she almost got away with it until she and Eric Naposki, her former lover who played linebacker for two NFL teams, were arrested in 2009 and charged with killing McLaughlin 15 years earlier.

"You have the opportunity to make it right," Murphy told the jury. "When you put it all together, (the evidence) is overwhelming."

Johnston, who is now 46, is charged with murdering McLaughlin for financial gain, a special circumstance that could lead to a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if she is convicted.

Deputy Public Defender Mick Hill is scheduled to deliver his closing arguments Thursday. Hill contended in his opening statements earlier this month that Naposki killed McLaughlin out of jealously on his own and without involvement from Johnston.

McLaughlin, 55, a multimillionaire healthcare entrepreneur, was gunned down in the kitchen of his Balboa Coves home in the early evening hours by an intruder who gained entrance with a freshly made house key and then fired six shots at near point-blank range into McLaughlin's chest.

Both Murphy and Hill agree that the shooter was Naposki, who was convicted of special-circumstances murder at a separate trial last year. He faces a life term in prison without the possibility of parole at his sentencing, which is scheduled for Friday. His sentencing, however, will be continued to a later date.

But Murphy also contends that Johnston provided the keys that allowed for Naposki to get inside the gated community and into McLaughlin's bay-front home so he could kill McLaughlin.

Johnston, also known in court records as Nanette Packard, was an attractive young woman with two small children in the early 1990s who caught McLaughlin's eye when she placed a personal ad 'for wealthy men only' that read, "You take care of me, and I'll take care of you."

Within months of that first meeting, Johnston had moved in with McLaughlin, who was rebounding after having gone through a nasty divorce after 24 years of marriage to his first wife. But by early 1994, Johnston was at the same time carrying on a secretive affair with Naposki, who worked as a fitness trainer, security guard and nightclub bouncer.

Murphy told the jury that had McLaughlin discovered either that she was cheating on him with Naposki or stealing from his bank accounts, he would have kicked her out of his life.

The jury in Superior Court Judge William Froeberg's court could begin deliberations Thursday afternoon.

Contact the writer: or 714-834-3784


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