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 it 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 former nfl linebacker. >> you lie 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 is not just a motive, this is a motive on steroids. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome to "dateline". a gated community. a glamorous setting where the wealthy residents could feel safe. but it was not safe from one multimillionaire, murdered in the kitchen of his waterfront house. police had suspects but the evidence was only circumstantial. that case grew cold. could it be that the key to the mystery, 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. of the american dream. a place the few and the lucky builder mentions by the sea. newport beach, orange county, california. were 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 would think would wind up murdered, but here he was. >> you could tell there was not a physical struggle. they wear things knocked off counters. things like that. >> you could tell, said both,. bill mclaughlin saw a coming. saw his. keller. >> 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 papers askew from a lawsuit brought by an ex business partner. and there were six bullet casings on the kitchen floor. and one more thing, a post-it note from his girlfriend, nanette stuck to the side of. a lamp. she would 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 was like your age? >> she was my age. yes. >> the nets helped build take care of 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 that 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. then there was kevin, bills disabled son, and the only other person in the house at the time of the murder. >> newport beach emergency, police, fire. how can help? >> 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 only those people that have access to those two keys. >> when "dateline" continues. ea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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. e. there's something going around the gordon home. good thing gertrude found delsym. now what's going around is 12-hour cough relief. and the giggles. the family that takes delsym together, feels better together. meet gold bond daily healing. a powerhouse lotion that moisturizes, heals, and smooths dry skin. with 7 moisturizers & 3 vitamins. and... new gold bond healing sensitive. clinically shown to heal & moisturize dry, sensitive skin. gold bond. >> 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? >> 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. who need h elp. girl: it is my first time having cancer. and it's the very worst. spokesman: saint jude children's research hospital works day after day to find cures and save the lives of children with cancer and other life threatening diseases. woman: it's scary to watch your kid battle and fight for their lives. spokesman: 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer in the us will not survive. woman: childhood cancer is hard. it's a long road. you just have to give. you have to give someone that hope. and especially with them being so young. spokesman: please, call, go on line, or scan the qr code for only $19 a month. families never receive a bill from saint jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. man: she grew up in this. so when we go to st. jude, she's happy, because that's her home. every time i take her to the doctor, she's excited because she gets to play. and that's all because of saint jude. spokesman: when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this saint jude t-shirt you can wear to show your support to help saint jude save the lives of these children. woman: [non-english speech] spokesman: let's cure childhood cancer together. >> i'm jessica layton. a look at the hour's top stories. hamas on sunday release 17 more hostages, including four year old american abigail, and in exchange israel released 39 palestinian prisoners. all of them are minors. and an attorney for former police officer derek chauvin, says his family has not gotten any updates on his condition. this since he was stabbed in prison on friday. as spokesperson for the minnes