Smells Like a Murder-Suicide To Me (Either That, or Mechelle Shot 'Em)

Nashville police say that the death of NFL great Steve McNair is a homicide. His body was found about 1:30 PM central Time (11:30 AM Pacific) Saturday by a roommate, Wayne Neeley, at the condo he and McNair rented in Nashville's city center. A woman's body, 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, was found next to McNair's body, with a gunshot wound on the side of the head. McNair had two wounds to the chest and two in the head.

Only two conclusions come to mind:

• My first impression is that Kazemi had killed McNair, then herself- the one bullet hole in her head, and the fact that a semi-automatic pistol was found under her seems to point in that direction. For all anyone- including myself- knows, McNair and Kazemi had a lover's spat (sources say that the two had dated), and Kazemi just went off the deep end and shot him. Or perhaps McNair wanted to break things off with Kazami, and reconcile with his wife, Mechelle, and Kazemi did not take this very well.


• But, then again, perhaps the person- or persons- who shot McNair and Kazemi may have planted the gun under Kazemi, just to make it look like Kazemi herself had shot McNair. Could that person be Mechelle? And if so, was she so fed up with Steve's infidelities that she decided that killing him would be cheaper than divorcing him? I haven't seen anything in the media- inside or outside of Nashville that say that she is mourning. Her whereabouts are unknown at this time. Then again, it could be a jealous ex-boyfriend (or girlfriend) of Ms. Kazemi's who did this

However, according to a Nashville police spokesperson, no other suspects are sought out at this time. That said, Nashville Police confirm that McNair was murdered, while they're working to classify Kazemi's death.

Two days before their deaths- on July 2- Kazemi was arrested for DUI. McNair was a passenger in the 2007 Cadillac Escalade he and Kazemi owned. (see the arrest report by clicking here for the report from WTVF-TV, http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=10644821 ).

All I can say is that this is the latest turn of tragic events involving celebrities in the last two weeks.

(C) 2009 by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.