Steve McNair
The autopsy report of Steve McNair — former NFL quarterback and 2003 NFL co-MVP, 1973–2009.
Early Life
Steve LaTreal McNair was born February 14, 1973, in Mount Olive, Mississippi. He played college football at Alcorn State University, where he became one of the most decorated players in NCAA Division I-AA history. In 1994 he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting — the highest placement ever achieved by a player from the I-AA level — after a senior season in which he passed for more than 5,000 yards. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
McNair was selected third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers, beginning a professional career that would span 13 seasons.
NFL Career
McNair moved with the Oilers franchise to Tennessee, becoming the face of the newly renamed Tennessee Titans in 1999. Known league-wide as “Air McNair,” he was celebrated for his toughness, his dual-threat play, and his willingness to play through injury.
In the 1999 season he led the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV, where Tennessee fell to the St. Louis Rams, 23–16. He guided the Titans to four playoff appearances in all and retired as the franchise's all-time leading passer. In 2003 he was named co-AP NFL Most Valuable Player, sharing the honor with Peyton Manning, and he was selected to the Pro Bowl on three occasions, in 2000, 2003, and 2005.
On June 7, 2006, after the 2005 season, McNair was traded to the Baltimore Ravens, where he spent the remainder of his career and led the Ravens to one playoff appearance. He retired in July 2008.
The Death
On July 4, 2009, the bodies of Steve McNair, 36, and his girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, were found in a condominium rented by McNair in Nashville, Tennessee. McNair had been shot twice in the head and twice in the chest; Kazemi then turned the gun on herself, dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the side of the head. Investigators ruled the deaths a murder-suicide.
McNair and Kazemi had met at a Dave & Buster's restaurant, where she worked as a server, and had been dating in the months leading up to the shootings. Days earlier, the pair had been pulled over in a traffic stop for which Kazemi was arrested for driving under the influence; the gun used in the shootings had been purchased by Kazemi after that stop. Text messages sent before their deaths showed that Kazemi, whose financial situation was worsening, had asked McNair to wire money into her bank account so she could pay bills, and that she believed he was involved in another extramarital relationship.
At the time of his death, McNair was married to Mechelle McNair; he had two sons with her and two other sons from two other relationships. He is buried in Griffith Cemetery in Prentiss, Mississippi. The official cause of his death was listed as a homicide with gunshot wounds to the head and torso.