Nanette Ann Packard Gets Life Without Parole for '94 Murder of Boyfriend William McLaughlin

Orange County Register pool photo

The former girlfriend of a wealthy Newport Beach man was sentenced today to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for the 1994 cold case shooting-murder of him that has also been pinned on a former NFL linebacker. Nanette Ann Packard (formerly Johnston), 46, of Ladera Ranch, was found guilty by a jury in January of special circumstances murder for financial gain. That was the same verdict reached in July 2011 for her other former boyfriend, New England Patriot and Indianapolis Colt, Eric Andrew Naposki, 45, of Greenwich, CT.

While McLaughlin made a sandwich in the kitchen of the Balboa Cove house at about 9:10 p.m. on December 15, 1994, his killer entered, fired six shots into McLaughlin's torso with hollow tip 9mm bullets meant to cause as much destruction as possible and then fled before police, who were nearby, arrived.

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The prosecution successfully proved for juries that Packard, who was living with McLaughlin at the time, and her one-time boyfriend Naposki killed McLaughlin for financial gain.

Packard had a $1 million life insurance policy on McLaughlin and provisions in his will that stated 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. A day before his murder, Packard wrote a $250,000 check from one of McLaughlin's accounts and deposited it into her personal account, which posted the Monday after the murder.

For that she wound up getting year in jail for grand theft.

As her ultimate fate was being sealed today, Packard received earfuls from McLaughlin's two daughters, in the form of victim impact statements read in court.
 

The McLaughlin family

"[Packard] said in one of [her] interviews with the police that [she] 'didn't want Bill's kids' to know about [her] 'other life.' Well, now we know so much more than we could have ever imagined in our worst nightmare," related Kim McLaughlin. "And now, so do so many others in your life from whom you thought you could keep all your secrets, including your parents, your children, and ALL of your ex-husbands. The destructive trail of deceit is astounding. The fact that you destroyed so many lives, including my dad's, is vile. Finally, your web of lies has caught up with you and your true nature has been revealed."

"I feel very grateful to have had such a wonderful father in my life for as long as I did," commented Jenny McLaughlin. "I wish he could have stayed with us longer and that God would have chosen his time to leave, rather than a person with a gun and a greedy heart."

Naposki will get to hear about his impacts on the victims at his scheduled Aug. 10 sentencing in Santa Ana.

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