Gaddy: McNair Not Getting Divorce

((HT: Tennessean/Jim Wyatt))

Steve McNair and his wife were selling their Nashville home to buy another one, not to prepare for a divorce, said the longtime friend who called 911 after McNair's bloodied body was found Saturday.
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Robert Gaddy ((pictured, thanks Tennessean/Bill Steber)) said talk that the former Titans quarterback and his wife, Mechelle, were splitting is off base.

"People need to quit talking about what they don't know. Mac never said anything to me about he was going to get a divorce, and ever since this has all happened everybody is trying to paint a certain picture and they need to talk about what they know," Gaddy said Tuesday. He has been friends with McNair for nearly 20 years, dating to their playing days in college.

Gaddy said the McNairs' house in the Green Hills section of Nashville is on the market because they were moving somewhere else together. A local real estate agent said he showed another house to the McNairs more than six months ago.

"People can have all the theories they want, but we haven't even put my man to rest yet or put him in the ground," Gaddy said. "Show some respect for the family. It's crazy.''

Gaddy also defended another friend's decision not to immediately call police after first arriving at the crime scene on Saturday. "The man just panicked," Gaddy said of Wayne Neely, who rented the condominium with McNair.

McNair was shot twice in the head and twice in the chest and died early Saturday. Sahel Kazemi, the 20-year-old woman McNair had been dating, died of a single gunshot wound to the head, and a semi-automatic pistol was found on the floor under her body.

Police aren't classifying the deaths as a murder-suicide, though state medical examiner Bruce Levy has said it's a likely scenario based on the evidence.

Police say Neely called Gaddy after he discovered the bodies around 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Gaddy called 911 around 1:35 p.m.

Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron said Monday that detectives were concerned about the length of time it took for police to be called.

Aaron said police do not believe the bodies were moved. When asked if other evidence may have been moved, he said he couldn't comment.

Gaddy said he called police within 60 seconds of walking in the room and seeing the bodies.

He said Neely reacted like others might have. In a panic, Neely called Gaddy three more times while he was en route to the condominium, Gaddy said.

"You have to understand, it freaked me out so, with Wayne being the person he is. He saw (the bodies) and didn't know what to do. He was nervous about it,'' Gaddy said. "Maybe he should have called 911 first, and I wish he had, because then I wouldn't have seen what I saw. Because that is not how I want to remember my best friend.

"Wayne thought he was doing the best thing. A lot of people don't think so, but at the time and the moment, who can question what anyone would have done in that circumstance?''

Police and emergency officials have declined to release the tape of Gaddy's 911 call, citing the ongoing investigation.

Gaddy was questioned by police on Saturday. He said Tuesday that he doesn't know what's going on with the investigation.

He was not with McNair on Friday night. He said he knows very little about Kazemi, whom police say McNair had been dating for several months.

"I told (detectives) what I knew about the young lady, which wasn't much," Gaddy said. "I just want to know the truth. I just can't fathom what went through that young lady's head.''

When asked if he'd ever met Kazemi, Gaddy replied:

"I am not talking about that young lady. I have a best friend's wife I am more concerned with than that. Don't ask me nothing like that, because I care not to comment.''

Gaddy, a former player for the Nashville Kats of the Arena Football League, said he and McNair remained in close contact, last talking the Tuesday before the slayings.

Kazemi's family members have said the 20-year-old told them McNair had plans to leave his wife, something Gaddy disputes.

The McNair home is on the market.

Sean Simons, an agent with Shirley Zeitlin & Co. Realtors, said he showed Steve and Mechelle McNair a home on Two Rivers Road in Franklin at the end of 2008.

"Steve was there, so was Mechelle and the boys,'' Simons said. "It had 9 acres, too. … Their agent said they were looking at two other properties but I never heard back after that. But they looked happy. Everyone was out there together.''
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Mechelle McNair has not spoken publicly about the death.

Kazemi's family has said she believed McNair was in the process of divorcing his wife when they met at her job at an Opry Mills restaurant several months ago and began dating. There is no record of a divorce filing for the McNairs.

Gaddy said if they had plans to divorce, he would have known.

"That's one thing that I can get straightened out," he said. "Steve and Mechelle both put that house for sale. He was getting ready to sell that house, and they were going to buy another house. They have been house-hunting for some time now. ... Steve and Mechelle were fine.''

Gaddy, however, said he isn't. He said he hasn't slept since Saturday's discovery, his mind filled with guilt and an image he believes will haunt him forever.

"All I do is picture what I saw and what could have transpired to cause it, and all I think about is what I could have done to prevent it,'' he said.

"I am constantly beating myself up, thinking what I could have done. I wasn't there for my man."

Sunday Early Update: McNair Shooting

((HT: ESPN))

Kevin Neghandi and Bob Holtzman have your dayside back and forth on the shooting death of Steve McNair and Sahel Kazemi.


Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair's death has been classified a homicide, but the death of Sahel Kazemi, the woman found alongside him in his downtown condominium, remains unclassified, Nashville police said.

Autopsies were conducted early Sunday, and McNair was found to have suffered four gunshot wounds -- two to the head, and two to the chest, police spokesman Don Aaron said during an afternoon news conference.

Kazemi, 20, had one gunshot wound, to the head, according to police. A semiautomatic pistol was found under her body later during processing of the crime scene, and there was no sign of forced entry, police said.

As for the victims' connection, "They apparently were involved in a dating relationship over the past several months," Aaron said.

Police said they believed the two died early Saturday, long before the bodies were discovered.

Mechelle McNair, mother of two of his four sons, was expected to collect her husband's belongings from authorities. Funeral arrangements were not expected to be finalized until Monday afternoon at the earliest.

"She's still very upset, very distraught," said McNair's agent, Bus Cook.

"I'm still in shock since hearing the news yesterday. I spent all afternoon and night thinking about my life on and off the field with Pops," Titans quarterback Vince Young said. "Since I was a teenager, he was like a father to me. I hear his advice in my head with everything I do. Life will be very different without him."

"Steve and I had a mutually respected friendship. He was one of the great warriors to ever put on a football uniform at any position," former Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon said. "His competitiveness and toughness were unparalleled. He was always a gentleman, and very giving off the field. One of the great people in our league was taken from us way to soon."

Said former Titans safety Blaine Bishop: "Steve was an absolute warrior as a player and brought that mind-set to the team. Whether he was hurt or not, he was going to give us everything he had. He was the toughest player that I ever played with . . .The thing I will always remember about him was whether it was a good or bad on the field, the whole team -- both offense and defense -- believed he would lead us to victory if we could just get the ball in his hands at the end of the game."

Friends declined to describe the relationship between McNair and Kazemi, who was a waitress at Dave & Buster's, a sports bar and entertainment restaurant in Nashville, where the two apparently first met.

A man who answered the door at a house in the Jacksonville, Fla., suburb of Orange Park said it was the home of Kazemi's family, but said her relatives did not want to comment.

"We don't have anything to say, please leave us alone," the man said.

But a Nashville neighbor saw McNair, 36, at Kazemi's apartment so often -- two to three times a week -- that he thought McNair had moved in. McNair never tried to hide his presence, but he did keep to himself.

Neighbor Reagan Howard said Kazemi often was dropped off in the early morning hours by a limousine, and recently had upgraded from her Kia to a Cadillac Escalade.

"It was pretty obvious that she was taken with him," Howard said.

McNair and Kazemi had been together just two days earlier, when she was pulled over while driving a 2007 Escalade registered to her and McNair. She was arrested on a DUI charges; McNair, who was a passenger in the car, was allowed to leave in a taxi.

According to The Tennessean, McNair later bailed Kazemi out of jail.

The bodies were discovered Saturday afternoon by McNair's longtime friend, Wayne Neeley, who rents the condo in the upscale Rutledge Hill neighborhood with McNair.

Neeley then called Robert Gaddy, who had been friends with McNair since they played at Alcorn State. Gaddy was the one who alerted authorities.

"People have certain things that they do in life," Gaddy told The Associated Press on Sunday. "We don't need to look on the situation at this time [but] on the fact we just lost a great member of society."

Cook, McNair's agent, said he was not aware that his client was seeing Kazemi, a woman whose name he learned about through reports of the shooting.

"It doesn't make any sense. I don't know what to say," Cook said.

Police said a witness saw McNair arrive at the condo between 1:30 and 2 a.m. local time Saturday and that Kazemi's vehicle was already there. The condominium is located within walking distance of an area filled with restaurants and nightspots, a few blocks from the Cumberland River and within view of the Titans' stadium.

Fred McNair, Steve McNair's oldest brother, said some family members likely would travel to Nashville on Monday.

"It's still kind of hard to believe," Fred McNair said. "He was the greatest person in the world. He gave back to the community. He loved kids and he wanted to be a role model to kids."

McNair and his wife split their time between Nashville and their farm in Mount Olive, Miss., according to a statement from the Titans.