McNair case not easily resolved

NASHVILLE - Tennessee's state medical examiner said yesterday that investigators have been hesitant to conclude that Steve McNair's girlfriend killed the former NFL star and herself because she didn't appear to have a motive, but that murder-suicide was the most likely scenario.

After the couple were discovered shot to death Saturday, police were quick to label McNair's death a homicide. He had been shot twice in the head and twice in the chest, while 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi was dead from a single gunshot to the head. Under her body was a gun she had bought less than two days before the killings.

Investigators were waiting for ballistics tests on the weapon before issuing a ruling on Kazemi's death, which medical examiner Bruce Levy said could come in the next few days. Kazemi's gun purchase, which was revealed Monday, is a strong indication that she was responsible, he said.

"If we had known on Sunday about the gun, I think we would have been very comfortable in ruling murder-suicide," he said. "I'll be very surprised now if they rule it isn't."

Levy said an apparent lack of motive for Kazemi has made investigators careful about exploring every possibility, including the unlikely scenario that a third party could have staged the scene. Their relationship lacked typical indicators of trouble, such as concerned family members or police reports and protection orders.

"The thing we always hear is, 'We should have seen this coming,' " Levy said.

But Kazemi's family has said she was very happy.

"She just had it made, you know, [with] this guy taking care of everything," Kazemi's nephew Farzin Abdi said Monday.

Levy said the 36-year-old McNair was shot in each temple and twice in the chest. Three of the shots were taken from a distance, but one shot to the temple came from just inches away.

The gun that killed Kazemi was in contact with her head when it discharged, he said.

Police spokesman Don Aaron said Monday that McNair wasn't with Kazemi when she bought the semiautomatic pistol found at the scene. Police have declined to release the caliber of the gun or the name of the person who sold it to her.