Football Player and the Millionaire: Deadly Love Triangle

At 5:25 p.m. on Dec. 15, 1994, McLaughlin flew his small plane into Orange County Airport from Las Vegas. Johnston had left a note for McLaughlin that she was going to watch her son play in a soccer tournament. She rendezvoused with Naposki and they drove to the game, 40 minutes from Newport Beach.

The couple were seen at the game together, and then they left at 8 p.m. Johnston would later tell police that she dropped Naposki off at his home, about 10 miles away from hers. She then went Christmas shopping at a high-end mall in the area and made a few purchases.

Between 9:05 and 9:11 p.m., someone used a shiny new key to open McLaughlin's front door and pump six bullets into his chest as he was making a sandwich. McLaughlin's son Kevin, 24, was upstairs when the crime happened and came down to find his lifeless father, wearing a bathrobe and slippers, lying on his back in the kitchen.

Kevin called 911, and police quickly arrived and found the new key sticking out of the front door on a temporary key ring. Another key that allowed access to the gated community was on the doormat. Inside, they saw the victim in a pool of blood, his glasses and a piece of gum lying next to his head. Two casings from a 9 mm gun were present.

Johnston arrived home and told police she had no idea who would have wanted him dead. She said she and he had met through mutual friends and that she was his business partner and bookkeeper, handling his finances. She also mentioned that, a week earlier, McLaughlin had won a $9 million lawsuit against a former business partner in a dispute over proceeds from one of his inventions.