On July 4, 2009, police discovered the body of Steve McNair, former quarterback of the Tennessee Titans, in a condo in downtown Nashville. With him was the body of 20-year-old Shahel “Jenny” Kazemi, who was believed to be his mistress. She had been a former waitress at a nearby Dave and Busters.
Police concluded after an investigation that McNair it had been a murder-suicide. But McNair had been married for the past 12 years to his wife, Mechelle. They had two daughters together and he had two sons from a previous relationship. Less than a decade earlier, the Titans came so close to winning the 2000 Super Bowl in one of those plays that will always be remembered because they were a yard away from scoring a touchdown before the clock ran out. The final score was 23-16 with the St. Louis Rams. A year prior to his death, McNair had retired from the NFL after go to the Baltimore Ravens a few years earlier.
The murder was a shocker as 2009 had already its history of surprise celebrity deaths. Michael Jackson had died on June 25 of that year from a drug overdose that was administered to him from a doctor he had in his employ. Earlier that day, Farrah Fawcett died of anal cancer. Patrick Swayze was reportedly in his final weeks as he was sick with cancer. He would die on Sept. 14, 2009 causing Family Guy to pull an episode at the last minute mocking Road House the day before his death.
The case even stirred up memories of another murder-suicide from a decade before where Phil Hartman, of Saturday Night Live and News Radio, would be murdered by his wife, Brynn, before she would take her own life. It seemed odd especially after the details came out about McNair’s relationship with the younger woman.
You could probably save yourself an hour and read about this case on Wikipedia. The Netflix documentary by Rodney Lucas and Taylor Alexander Ward doesn’t even know if it wants to be a documentary on football or McNair’s murder. Jeff Fisher, the famed coach of the Titans during their 2000 Super Bowl game, is interviewed at length. But his interview or at least all we see don’t seem right for a true-crime documentary.
There’s also a brief moment where Vincent Hill, a private investigator who wrote a book, Playbook to a Murder about the case, argues it wasn’t Kazemi who killed McNair. He claims it’s Adrian Gilliam, a felon who sold Kazemi the gun. Gilliam isn’t interviewed and Hill’s accusation is easily debunked by other law enforcement who actually worked the case.
We see police interview footage of Wayne Neely, who called 911 but left before the police arrived and Kenneth Norfleet, who was Kazemi’s boyfriend before her relationship with McNair. Norfleet is interviewed to give a little insight to who Kazemi was. But we really don’t know much. And Fisher and those who were friends with McNair don’t offer any details except how he was on the field and around them.
McNair and Kazemi didn’t keep their relationship hidden. They were seen in public together. Two days before their deaths, they were pulled over as Kazemi was arrested for DUI. McNair was in the passenger seat. The documentary leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Was Kazemi wanting more money? Did his wife know about it? McNair divided his time between Nashville and property they had in Mississippi. That’s a long way for a partner to be gone from without getting suspicious.
The biggest question the filmmakers don’t ask is how many of McNair’s friends and former football buddies knew about it. People tend to keep their extra-marital affairs private as possible. Maybe there is some truth to what we’ve seen in Any Given Sunday and shows like 1st and 10 where football players are not coy about fooling around because it’s too be expected.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 