Nephew: Kazemi Hoped To Wed McNair

((HT: Tennessean/Howard-Echegaray))

By all accounts it was a whirlwind romance.

It started about six months ago, when former Titans quarterback Steve McNair exchanged phone numbers with Sahel Kazemi ((pictured, thanks Tennessean/family photo)), a then-19-year-old waitress working at Dave & Buster's restaurant at Opry Mills. Saturday, the relationship ended in tragedy, as the couple was found shot to death in a downtown condominium.

Police continue to investigate the circumstances of the events leading up to the deaths, but according to friends of Kazemi, she was smitten and so was McNair.

For her 20th birthday in late May, McNair got her a black Cadillac Escalade. Her family met him over sushi dinner that same weekend. Before that, Kazemi zipped around in his Bentley, telling family and friends about the generosity of her new beau — a former professional athlete.

"We met him because I don't watch football and didn't know who he was," said Farzin Abdi, Kazemi's nephew, who was in town from Jacksonville, Fla. to retrieve the body. "We went out to dinner and she was so happy and was having fun. Were we happy about the relationship? No."

Kazemi's family and friends pieced together a portrait of their relationship — one they were leery of because of her age — as police confirmed on Sunday that McNair was shot four times. Police have stopped just shy of calling it a murder-suicide at the Second Avenue condominium where both of them died.

"It's hard right now to imagine what people are saying," Abdi said. "I can't believe it because she was a sweet girl. This is hard on us."

There were trips, dinners, a promise of living together and ultimately marriage, according to Abdi, 27.

"I don't know if he had filed for divorce but I thought it wouldn't happen," Abdi said, adding that Kazemi was a child when adopted into the family after her mother died in Iran. Abdi's mother is Kazemi's sister.

McNair took Kazemi, known as Jenny to friends, on trips to Key West in Florida, Las Vegas, California, Hawaii and McNair's farm in Mississippi, with the couple seeing each other often, Abdi said. Pictures of the smiling couple parasailing were posted Sunday afternoon on the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com.

The rest of the article chronicling their relationship is here...