May 22, 2009
by Susie Pender
On Wednesday morning, Eric Naposki, a personal trainer who has worked with Greeley football players on speed and strength training, was arrested outside his Greenwich, Connecticut home on charges stemming from an almost 15-year old murder case in California. When he was arraigned on Thursday afternoon in Connecticut state superior court before Judge William Wenzel, he consented to extradition to California to face the charges.
As reported in the Greenwich Time online edition, “‘He looks forward to getting out to California to address the charges against him,’ said John Pappalardo, a Scarsdale, N.Y., attorney for Naposki. ‘He is 100 percent innocent.’”
Naposki was a star linebacker for the University of Connecticut Huskies. He played briefly in the NFL in the 1980’s, four games with the New England Patriots and one with the Indianapolis Colts and played for four seasons in Europe for the Barcelona Dragons in the 1990’s. As a personal trainer, he leased space at Prescriptions for Fitness in Chappaqua to train his clients, but eight months ago moved his training work to a sports facility in Mt. Kisco.
Murder allegations
Naposki and a former girlfriend, Nanette Packard McNeal, are each charged with one count of murder in the December 1994 shooting death of William Francis McLaughlin, an Orange County, California, millionaire. At the time of the shooting, Naposki and McNeal were suspects, but never arrested for lack of evidence.
It is alleged that McNeal, who was involved with both McLaughlin and Naposki at the time, persuaded Naposki to kill McLaughlin for financial gain. Authorities believe that McNeal gave Naposki the key to McLaughlin’s Newport Beach home. The millionaire was shot six times while standing in his kitchen. McNeal stood to collect $1 million in life insurance upon McLaughlin’s death. She was also entitled to $150,000 in the event of his death and the right to live rent free for a year in his beach house.
McNeal pled guilty in 1996 to charges that she stole nearly $500,000 from McLaughlin before and after his death by writing checks on his accounts. She was sentenced to one year in prison.
If convicted of McLaughlin’s murder, both Naposki and McNeal could face life in prison with no parole.
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