The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

June 2009

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and CID/HOA board of directors and report the facts

Cold Case in the OC – Shooting Arrest of Ladera Ranch Resident

Posted by CotoBlogzz | 05/20/2009 7:00 PM |

NEWPORT BEACH, CA - Nanette Ann Packard McNeal and her former lover have been arrested and charged for the 1994 cold case shooting-murder of her benefactor boyfriend in his Newport Beach home.

McNeal, formerly Nanette Ann Johnston, 43, Ladera Ranch, and Eric Andrew Naposki, 42, Greenwich, CT, are charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder for financial gain. Naposki also faces a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a firearm. If convicted, the defendants each face a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Naposki was arrested leaving his home in Greenwich, CT, and will face extradition proceedings in Connecticut. Packard McNeal was arrested at her home and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday, May 22, 2009, at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach. The time and Department are to be determined. Both defendants are being held without bail.

In 1990 or 1991, Packard McNeal is accused of meeting Bill McLaughlin after he responded to a personal ad she had run, which read "I know how to take care of my man if he knows how to take care of me." The wealthy victim had a successful medical technology business and began dating and financially supporting Packard McNeal. Packard McNeal, who was divorced with two children, is accused of living in homes provided by McLaughlin, including a beach-front home he purchased for her to live in and with him in his bay-front home.

While in a relationship and being supported by McLaughlin, Packard McNeal is accused of having another boyfriend, Naposki. Naposki was a former National Football League player for the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Naposki worked as a bouncer at the Thunderbird Nightclub, which was located in Newport Beach only 484 feet from the victim's home.

Packard McNeal is accused of convincing Naposki to murder McLaughlin for financial gain. She is accused of providing Naposki with a key to the victim's home and providing him with information about McLaughlin's schedule and when he was expected to be at the house. Packard McNeal is accused of having a $1 million life insurance policy on the victim and having provisions in his will that she would receive $150,000 in the event of his death and would have the right to live in his beach house rent free for one year.

At approximately 9:00 p.m. on Dec. 15, 1994, Naposki is accused of entering McLaughlin's home using the house key and shooting the victim six times while he was standing in the kitchen. McLaughlin's son, a young adult who suffered brain damage as a result of being hit by a drunken driver, was upstairs listening to music and heard the gunshots. The victim's son found his murdered father and called 9-1-1.

Naposki is accused of fleeing the scene and going to work. Naposki was scheduled to work at 9:00 p.m. that night and is accused of showing up late to work.

On the day of the murder, Packard McNeal wrote a $250,000 check from McLaughlin's accounts and deposited it into her personal account, which posted the Monday after the murder. In 1995, Packard McNeal was charged with grand theft by the Orange County District Attorney's Office for stealing close to $500,000 from McLaughlin before and after his murder. Packard McNeal pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in jail on March 22, 1996, for writing checks from the victim's personal account without his knowledge, depositing them into her own accounts, and hiding the theft by altering the books to falsely show that the money went to business costs.

The Newport Beach Police Department and Orange County District Attorney's Task Force Review aimed at catching Killers, Rapists, and Sexual Offenders (TracKRS) Unit began re-investigating this case after new evidence became available.