When the Houston Oilers moved to Nashville in the late 1990s, it became one of the few sports teams to ever change names, rebranding as the Tennessee Titans. Young quarterback Steve McNair became the new team’s first superstar. In 1999, he directed the team to a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl appearance. Four years later, the Associated Press would name him the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. McNair retired in 2007 after a stint with the Baltimore Ravens, but he returned to Nashville.
On July 4, 2009, McNair’s deceased body, shot several times, was discovered in a Nashville rental condominium. Next to him, and also dead: Sahel Kazemi, laying near a pistol. Police concluded that the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide. McNair, 36 and married, and the 20-year-old Kazemi had been a couple for several months, having met while she was working as a server at a Nashville Dave & Buster’s. Kazemi’s former partner, Keith Norfleet, claimed that the relationship was in its final stages and that she was in a state of stress and anxiety over the affair.
In October 2009, Nashville police made McNair and Kazemi’s text exchanges public information. On July 3, Kazemi told McNair that she feared a mental breakdown over financial worries, and asked for money to pay off some bills. McNair set up a funds transfer, and then arranged, via text, a meeting at the condominium. He told her he’d meet her there, and asked that she leave the door open.
