Who killed Steve “Air” McNair? Netflix documentary examines the gruesome murder of an NFL football star

The murder-suicide of former NFL player Steve “Air” McNair in 2009 is the subject of the latest episode of UntoldNetflix's anthology documentary series, which began its fourth season on August 20, tells dramatic stories from the world of sports.

The 58-minute documentary examines McNair's NFL career, including his incredible run to the Super Bowl with the Tennessee Titans in 2000. The film also addresses unresolved questions surrounding his death, including whether Nashville police were mistaken about McNair's cause of death.

“One of our main goals was to present all the information as objectively as possible and to show his entire life, including his death,” Untold Co-producer Taylor Ward told The Tennessean: “It's a little mysterious and people find it fascinating… There's as much screen time devoted to his life as there is to the investigation into his death.”

Co-producer Rodney Lucas added that they were grateful that McNair's family was involved in the documentary's production. “We were fortunate that enough people were in contact with Steve who knew we were serious and not just looking for the juiciest hit,” he said. “There was a real care taken here.”

Read on to learn what happened to Steve “Air” McNair and why a private investigator still questions police conclusions about his killer.

What happened to Steve “Air” McNair?

A few years after McNair retired from the NFL, he began an affair with waitress Jenni Kazemi. The 39-year-old former football player met the then 19-year-old when she worked at the Dave & Buster's restaurant, which often hosted football teams.

Kazemi, whose mother was murdered when she was nine, immigrated to the United States from Iran at age 13, according to The Tennessean.

“They started to really fall in love with each other and it was real,” Emily Andrews, a friend of Kazemi's and her roommate at the time, said in the documentary. “They talked about adopting children together one day and really building a life together.” They had also reportedly looked at houses.

During their relationship, McNair was still married to Mechelle, whom he had been married to for over a decade. But it seems McNair did not hide his affair with Kazemi; they vacationed together in Las Vegas and Florida, visited McNair's farm in Mississippi and got to know each other's families, according to their friends.

Kazemi told friends and family that McNair wanted to divorce his wife and marry her, according to investigative documents obtained by The Tennessean. He even signed off on the purchase of Kazemi's black Cadillac Escalade.

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One day, Kazemi saw another woman leaving McNair's apartment. Her roommate told police that Kazemi confronted McNair and that he assured her she was the only one. Just days before her death, on July 1, Kazemi told a friend that she had found used condoms in McNair's apartment.

That same day, she reportedly approached a man she had known for only a few weeks and asked him to buy a gun. While Metro Police initially believed Kazemi barely knew the man, Adrian Gilliam Jr., The Tennessean later reported that they had known each other for weeks.

On July 2, Kazemi was arrested for drunk driving when she was pulled over with McNair and one of his friends. She refused a breathalyzer test and was arrested while McNair and his friend were allowed to leave the scene. According to The Tennessean, McNair did arrange her bail, but witnesses said she was angry with him for not giving her a ride.

The day before her death, July 3, Kazemi texted McNair several times and began to panic. She was experiencing physical symptoms due to the stress in her life. That afternoon, she texted McNair asking to meet with him after she arranged to purchase the gun.

That evening at work, Kazemi reportedly told her shift manager, “My life just sucks and I should stop it.”

Who killed Steve Air McNair?

Investigators concluded that Steve Air McNair's death was a murder-suicide committed by Sahel “Jenni” Kazemi, the former NFL star's girlfriend. The Metro Nashville Police Department determined that Kazemi shot McNair four times and then shot herself in a Nashville apartment.

The police said the waitress's motive was relationship and financial problems. Kazemi had money problems and was being called by debt collection agencies, she told friends.

“I know she was stressed,” her ex-boyfriend Keith Norfleet told police at the time. “I know Jenni and she was never this stressed.” Kazemi's relationship with Norfleet ended the same month Kazemi met McNair. But Kazemi and Norfleet began dating again in the months before her death.

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Police questioned Norfleet after he posted a cryptic quote on his MySpace profile: “Never let anything or anyone come between you and the person you love, because when that happens, you lose everything.”

Norfleet admitted he was in love with his ex-girlfriend, but it broke his heart that she was “going to be with my favorite player of all time,” he recalled in UntoldDuring the investigation, he told police he had no knowledge of the apartment where McNair and Kazemi were found dead.

What doubts are there surrounding the death of Steve “Air” McNair?

Private detective Vincent Hill appeared in Untold: The Murder of Air McNairto point out some inconsistencies in the murder investigation. “The police made a lot of mistakes,” Hill claimed in the Netflix documentary.

The doubts revolve around Adrian Gilliam Jr., the man who sold Kazemi the gun found at the crime scene. Cellphone records show that Kazemi and Gilliam exchanged 203 phone calls and text messages in the three weeks before the murder.

Gilliam was also reportedly one of the last people to speak to Kazemi at 12:02 a.m. on July 4. He told police he was on his way to a friend's house at the time of the murders, but in an earlier recording released in Untoldhis alibi said that this was not true.

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Hill published his theories in his book Playbook for a murder. The private investigator also requested a retrial in 2010, but according to The Tennessean, a grand jury found that there was insufficient evidence.

“She didn't do it,” Hill said at the time of the verdict. “It's unfortunate that they decided to keep the file secret. The only person who had that gun was Gilliam, his alibi was disproved, (but) he was acquitted as a murder suspect.”

But Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron said the department stands by its findings and pointed out that Hill was never a detective. Hill left the force after a disciplinary dispute two years before McNair's killing.

Untold: The Murder of Air McNair is streaming on Netflix.

Check out the official trailer for Untold Season 4 below.