Kriti Mehrotra
Nearly three decades after the incident, ABC’s ’20/20′ is now profiling the brutal homicide of millionaire medical inventor William “Bill” McLaughlin in his home on December 15, 1994. Despite having leads and speculations, it wasn’t until 2009 — nearly 15 years later — that detectives re-examined the matter and finally made arrests. With this, Bill’s fiancée Nanette Johnston Packard and her then-boyfriend Eric Andrew Naposki were convicted and sentenced. So now that it’s been a while, let’s find out everything there is to know about Nanette, including her whereabouts, shall we?
Who is Nanette Packard?
Nanette Ann Johnston Packard McNeal was a single mother of two young kids when she met 55-year-old Bill McLaughlin through an ad he’d placed in a magazine. He was 30 years her senior, yet the duo still got along well, leading her to move into his luxurious Newport Beach home, located in an affluent community, with her children within months. From there, their link evolved, and he not only ended up becoming her fiancé but also a mentor, teaching her about business and finance. Bill even equipped Nanette with a generous allowance to experience a comfortable lifestyle.
However, in the early 1990s, Nanette came across Eric Naposki in the gym. The former professional football athlete had left sports by that point and was working as a nightclub bouncer and bodyguard in California. This pair started as mere friends, but it eventually grew into a romance as well. According to Nanette, though, neither male knew about her intimacy with the other. While Bill knew that Eric was a close friend of his fiancée’s, Eric was under the impression that the older man and his girlfriend were living together because they were simply business partners.
Surprisingly, Nanette did not necessarily try to cover her involvement with either man in public. While she and Bill went around on runs, took trips to local areas, and worked together, she and Eric often attended her son’s football games in each other’s company, went shopping, and even traveled to San Francisco. Except, this only made matters look bad for the couple when it got combined with Bill’s slaying and the fact that Nanette stood to benefit over a million dollars from his demise. She was the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy and was also included in his will.
Where is Nanette Packard Now?
By the time authorities reopened Bill’s case and executed a bicoastal sting operation to arrest Nanette Johnston Packard and Eric Naposki on May 20, 2009, they had broken up, and she had gone on to marry twice more while still dwelling in California. She consequently went to a jury trial for murder and was found guilty on January 23, 2012. In court, prosecutors indicated that Nanette masterminded the murder plot and convinced Eric to kill Bill so that they could receive the money under her name. On the other hand, the defense tried to maintain her innocence, but to no avail.
Nanette was handed a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and so, at the age of 56, she’s currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. She spends her free time training service dogs through a prison program called Little Angels. Nanette carries “a lot of guilt over what happened” and believes that Bill would have been alive today had she not had an illicit liaison.
Having said that, she claims to be innocent in the offense and adds that she doesn’t know if Eric had a hand in it either. Nanette also rebuffed the charges of financial benefits (a special circumstance of her conviction) by stating, “I only gained money if Bill was alive.” We should mention that she pleaded guilty to forgery and theft in 1996 after being accused of falsifying Bill’s signature of cheques to steal from his accounts.
Read More: Where is Eric Naposki Now?
