Orange Park woman, McNair exchanged text messages before shooting

In the hours before Sahel Kazemi shot Steve McNair and killed herself, the two exchanged a series of text messages about her growing money problems and meeting in the early morning of their final day.


Metro Police in Nashville, Tenn., released a report this week on the July 4 murder-suicide of the former NFL quarterback and Orange Park woman. Police said Kazemi shot McNair four times, then shot herself.


The report includes summaries of several interviews, including of the men who found the bodies and another woman who was also dating McNair.


In the text messages, Kazemi was begging McNair to transfer $2,000 into her account so she could pay cell phone and medical bills. On July 3 at 10:05 a.m., she wrote, “Baby I might have a break down im so stressed.”


Later that afternoon, McNair assured Kazemi the money was being transferred to her account.
That evening, McNair, who was married with four children, said he would join her at his condo after his kids fell asleep. He texted Kazemi at 12:38 a.m. to say he was on his way and 14 minutes later, he asked her to open the front door.


The two were found dead about 12 hours later by Carless Neeley, who said he rented the condo for McNair because he was looking for a place to “chill.”


Neeley said he didn’t realize McNair was the dead man in the condo. He first called and texted McNair, then he called another friend who came to the condo. That man, Robert Gaddy, saw the male victim and said, “Oh my God, it’s Steve.” He then called 911.


Neeley said he then left the condo and called a judge whom he knew. The judge told him to go back to the condo and tell police what he knew, which Neeley said he did.


Also interviewed was McNair’s security guard, Chris Wall, who said he was aware of the McNair-Kazemi relationship. He told police “McNair had slowed down seeing Kazemi and was becoming annoyed with their relationship.”


Wall said Kazemi was calling McNair when he was with his wife and children, “and that he was getting tired of her doing so.”


The report also includes an interview with Leah Ignagni, who was also dating McNair at the time of his death. She remembered seeing a woman in a black Cadillac Escalade when Ignagni left McNair’s condo and being followed by that same car to her apartment. Kazemi drove a black Escalade.


Ignagni saw that car several other times parked outside her apartment or circling the block in the week or two before McNair died. She said McNair stayed at her apartment the night of July 2.