Girlfriend of Slain Businessman Sues Over His Estate : Courts: Nanette Johnston contends that she and William McLaughlin had verbal agreement to share assets. Police have named her as a possible suspect in his death.

The girlfriend of slain entrepreneur William F. McLaughlin has sued his family for more than $1 million, alleging that she owns half of his multimillion-dollar estate.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court, Nanette A. Johnston, 29, contends that, although they were not married, she and McLaughlin had a verbal agreement to “treat all earnings, income and property acquired or gained by them while they lived together as joint assets.”

McLaughlin, 55, died of six gunshot wounds to the chest. His son, Kevin, found the body at the home where Johnston and McLaughlin lived in Newport Beach’s Balboa Cove. Police have named Johnston and a friend, Erik Naposki, a 28-year-old former professional football player, as possible suspects, but no arrests have been made.

Johnston and Naposki have denied they had anything to do with the death.

Meanwhile, a $100,000 reward raised by McLaughlin’s family is still offered for information about the slaying.

During the four years they lived together, the lawsuit alleges, McLaughlin had either bought property or shared it with Johnston, including stocks, luxury cars and bank accounts worth about $9 million.

Since McLaughlin’s death on Dec. 15, 1994, Johnston has gained custody over the Newport Beach house where they lived, the documents said. His family has maintained custody of the other assets.

Neither Johnston nor her lawyer could be reached for comment.