Six months ago, former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair exchanged phone numbers with Sahel Kazemi, then 19 and working at Dave & Buster's restaurant.
Saturday, the relationship ended when they were found dead in a Nashville condo. McNair's death has been ruled a homocide; Kazemi's is still being investigated.
Police continue to investigate the circumstances of the events leading up to the deaths, but according to friends of Kazemi, she was smitten and so was McNair.
Steve McNair and Sahel Kazemi were kind of an open secret, it seems.
He bought her a black Cadillac Escalade for her 20th birthday this past May. Her family met the former NFL star over a sushi dinner that same weekend.
"We met him because I don't watch football and didn't know who he was," said Farzin Abdi, Kazemi's nephew, who was in town from Jacksonville to retrieve the body.
Kazemi's family and friends pieced together a portrait of their relationship - one they were leery of because of her age - as officials confirmed Sunday that McNair was shot four times in the early morning hours of July 4.
Police say Steve McNair was murdered.
They have yet to classify the death of Sahel Kazemi, who died of one gunshot wound to the side of the head. Police found a gun beneath her body.
Before the clandestine couple was found dead of gunshot wounds early Saturday, Sahel Kazemi had told her nephew that Steve McNair "owned multiple guns."
According to The Tennessean, Kazemi had discussed visiting a shooting range with Farzin Abdi, and had mentioned that she was unhappy living alone.
They discussed the potential for Kazemi acquiring a gun permit, but according to Abdi, "She told me she didn't have to because Steve had lots of guns."
Steve, 36, married Mechelle McNair in 1997, and no accounts of the couple's separation have been reported. The McNairs have four children together.
Soheyla Kazemi, Sahel's sister, rejected theories that her sister may have orchestrated a murder-suicide, killing the former football great and herself.
"It’s not true. She loves Steve too much," Soheyla Kazemi said in an interview with the Florida Times-Union. "She said they were planning to get married."
Nashville police have solicited the help of the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to trace the origin of the gun they found at the crime scene Saturday.
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42 Comments
July 6th, 2009 5:36 PM
I feel so sorry for the wife he left behind and his children. They are the ones who will hurt the most.
July 6th, 2009 5:50 PM
I have followed his football career & thought so much of him, but now, I feel he is a skunk for doing this to his wife & poor children - what interrest could he possibly have with a 20yr old except SEX, lol
July 6th, 2009 8:35 PM
How stupid and ironic to say that Kazemi thought they were "getting married." You can't marry a man who's already married, stupid girl!It is against the law! Then again, so is adultery- it is against the laws of marriage. Dumb people, dumb ending to lives with dumb decisions.
July 6th, 2009 11:47 PM
It pretty much sounds like she killed him and then herself. He's out there cheating on his wife knowing he has a family. She's out there with a married man and I'd be hard pressed to believe she didn't know he was married. Nothing good was bound to come of this affair. She had no right to expect anything, and he had no right to promise her anything.
Now there are two lives wasted, and families left to mourn. A very sad situation for all involved.
July 7th, 2009 2:18 AM
this story saddly says it allll... for the scriptures tell us we reap what we so".
my deepest sympathies to all those left behind.
July 7th, 2009 4:13 AM
so sad...such a waste...please remember, you young girls dating these sports figures...there usually is no future in it. i dated one 25+ yrs ago and all i got was a STD. please do not be duped into thinking they will actually commit to you. the heat of the moment only lasts but a moment...the other writer is right. "A [wo]man sows what he reaps." usually heartache & pain.
July 7th, 2009 8:41 AM
Well you meant someone who knocks you right off of your feet! Goody Goody, well you meant someone and Now you know how it feels! Goody Goody! The words give or take of that singer from the Fifties, Frankie something or another, who lived and died a in a tragic manner. In my opinion, the problem is that rich men thing that they can have all of the booty (Pretty Girls), one way or another, especially Pro Jocks. Also, entertainers and rich men in general, fail to realize that this behavior gets them in trouble all of the time, dead and/or wounded some of the time. The facts are, that young women in this country, and especially Atlanta, New York, and LA, specifically get jobs in sports bars, bar and grills, and other restaurants and establishments, where they know rich men frequent, in order to catch the eye of some scumbag millionaire. Many spend months’ un attached, hopelessly waiting for Mister Good bar, and in the interim pass up many good men. To think that our young brave boys are dying in foreign lands, fighting Illegal wars, and our young women are hopelessly throwing themselves at scumbags with money. What the hell are they fighting for, what the hell are they dying for, when scumbags like McNair, Larry King, Mick Jagger, Jeff Gordon, Charlie Sheen, Alex or A Rod, and I could go on and on, get first choice at all of the best women. The facts are, rich and famous men pick and choose the best looking women, or screw them over, and then they leave the rest for the average guy.
Goody Goody…. for you, Goody Goody…. for me.
July 7th, 2009 8:55 AM
I am thinking a couple of things here...1st - he wasn't cheating on his wife, he was living with his roommate, so obviously he was seperated from his wife, just because there wasn't anything on paper doesn't mean that he and his wife weren't seperated...2nd - he may have second thoughts and wanted to give his marriage another try, she was hurt and killed him and herself...3rd - this could have been an honor killing, it happens even here in America...I have an Arabic friend who's father almost had her killed in the name of their beliefs...4th - what if the wife killed them...5th - why was there so time before the roommate called the police...hmm...bottom line is I don't feel that he was cheating, when you are no longer with your husband and wife, even without papers, you aren't cheating...hell, I am with my boyfriend now for 4 years and still married...I am not cheating...still married because i need the insurance...it's sad to see and let's not forget that there are two families mourning despite how people feel, again, this wasn't adultery...please stop judging this man and woman...
July 7th, 2009 10:54 AM
I thought these Central Asian girls didn’t date and marry Black men, and that their parents think that they are better than Black Americans. Oh! I guess that only applies to poor black men. Also, didn’t some Indian guy in Atlanta, pay for hit men to Killed his black daughter-in-law. This was done to protect the family’s heritage! Goody… Goody, for you, Goody… Goody, for me.
July 7th, 2009 3:42 PM
I believe it was adultery, separated or no. However, I don't think that that needs to stain his reputation for being good at what he was good at.
There's a story at http://www.newsy.com/videos/mcnair_superstar_or_adulterer that I think does a good job of balancing the story between his good and bad points. We all have them, and I think we need to remember that.