Football Player and the Millionaire: Deadly Love Triangle

 

When Kimberly McLaughlin got a phone call from detectives saying that arrests had been made in her father's death, she screamed and cried, according to The Orange County Register.

"I was ecstatic. I never thought justice would prevail, but it has," she told the newspaper. She said she had gone on with her life, trying to let go of the anger, and wasn't expecting this sort of outcome.

"We didn't like her, and we had told him we didn't like her," Kimberly McLaughlin said of Johnston. "We always thought she was a gold-digger. But we didn't think she was evil enough to kill someone. "

McLaughlin told the Register that she didn't want to seek revenge because "we just felt they would get their due when they died and went to hell...I am really sad [her father] couldn't be at my wedding or my sister's wedding, or be there for us when my brother drowned years ago."

Kevin McLaughlin, who had been the one to call 911, had gone to live with his mother in Hawaii and drowned in a surfing accident in 1999.

As for Byington, he is retired, but still relishing this victory.

"She manipulated everybody in her life for her game, including Eric," the detective said. "And whether he was hands-on in the murder or hired someone, he did it at her behest. She was working him like everyone else. Her defense — which struck me as odd — was, 'He was worth more to me alive than dead.' Not 'I didn't do it.'"

Update: On May 18, 2012, Nanette Packard was sentenced to life in prison. Naposki, who was supposed to be sentenced on the same day, refused to leave his jail cell, so his sentencing was postponed to August 10. He also received life in prison.