Sunday, July 5, 2009

Kazemi's Sister: "I Believe There Is A Third Person Involved."


((HT: Tennessean/Kate Howard))

The sister of Sahel Kazemi ((pictured, thanks Tennessean/family photo)) says she was a young woman who wanted to have fun and couldn't have hurt anyone - not herself, nor anyone else.

Kazemi was actually the aunt of Sepideh Salmani, but they were raised as sisters. Salmani's mother adopted her when she was 9, after Kazemi's mother was killed in their native Iran. Salmani talked to her sister every day, and said she was very happy in her relationship with Steve McNair.

She doesn't believe her sister killed McNair, or herself.

"She was one, young girl who had so many dreams that they never came true," Salmani said. "She would never kill anyone, ever. Or anything. Not even a little bug. I want people to know that."

An autopsy has been ongoing this morning. A press conference is scheduled this afternoon to discuss the findings.

Metro police have said that McNair was found sitting on the sofa, shot several times. Kazemi was lying on the floor with a single gunshot to the head and a pistol near her body.

Disbelief was also building near Kazemi's Hermitage home, where police were interviewing neighbors Saturday.

Regan Howard said when Kazemi first became her neighbor, she didn't know if it was Kazemi or McNair who moved in since he was there so much.

"She was such a nice girl," Howard said. "I can't believe she would do that."

When McNair got her the Escalade, Howard said, she had to help her figure out how to use the remote starter.

Salmani said she talked to her sister nearly every day, and that she'd been hearing about McNair for several months, since he started coming to Dave & Busters and chatting her up.

"He started to talk to her a little," Salmani said. "They exchanged phone numbers, and started dating from there."

Kazemi told her sister that McNair was in the process of divorcing.

"That's why she was like, 'OK, now you're divorcing. We can date,'"
Salmani said. "He told her, it was going to be finished, the whole divorce was going to be done, two weeks from yesterday."

Although a check of Davidson County's court records shows there is no divorce pending — at least in Nashville — McNair's house is for sale. His wife, Mechelle McNair, hasn't spoken to the media. Police said she is distraught over his death.

Salmani said her sister believed that she and McNair would move in together once the divorce was final, and eventually marry.

"All she was trying to do was have fun,"
Salmani said. "Nothing else. I believe there is a third person involved."

Kazemi first came to Nashville nearly four years ago with her then-boyfriend, Keith Norfleet. They broke up about five months ago, and she started seeing McNair soon after.

She probably didn't know who McNair was, Salmani said, until her colleagues at the restaurant told her. Salmani now fears McNair was using her sister, because she was a young woman with a pretty face. She fears jealous people in his life are the reason her sister is dead, and won't live out her dreams.

Her greatest dream, Salmani said, was to be famous.

"I think she is now,"
she said. "She is everywhere."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you really think he was really leaving his wife? Men will tell you anything to get what they want. Just think how much child support he would have to pay plus alimony.

Dawntae Jackson said...

Her greatest dream was to be famous. That tells you that she knew who he was when she started dating him right there. Are we all stupid??? That we are suppossed to believe she didn't know Air McNair and she's been there for four years? Plus she worked at Dave and Busters where he frequented with his wife and kids. Wow. What kinda sister doesn't tell their sis to stay away from it, he married he ain't good for you.