Most of the CBS investigation into the murder-suicide centered around the gun that was allegedly used to commit the crime. When they first announced a resolution to the case back in July, police said that Sahel Kazemi left work for two hours on Thursday, July 2, and bought a handgun from a man she barely knew. Keteyian reported yesterday that she actually left work on July 1, so that theory could not be correct. Then today, they unveiled phone records that show that Kazemi and Adrian Gilliam, the man who allegedly sold her the gun, were more than just acquaintances. There were over 200 cell phone calls and text messages between the two in the three weeks before the murder, including 49 the day before she died.

So now you're probably thinking—Gilliam did it! He told both the police and CBS News that he barely knew Kazemi and that was clearly a lie. He also told CBS that he sold Kazemi the gun on Friday, July 3, which contradicts the earlier police statements. In fact, the only reason to believe that any gun sale ever took place at all is because Gilliam said it did.

However, late last night the Nashville PD—knowing what CBS was about to report—released a 14-page "case summary" (you can read it here) that basically claims that none of this is news to them. Gilliam had already changed his story weeks ago. Police had already seen the cell phone records, they already knew that Gilliam and Kazemi were friends, and they already knew that the gun was sold on Friday and not Thursday. They just didn't bother to tell anyone else, because Gilliam is on trial for illegal weapons charges and they didn't want any interference with that case.

So the claim that CBS has "blown open the murder case" is a little suspect. There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that seems to suggest that the police investigation was not entirely thorough and their explanation of what happened in that week is definitely not airtight. There's probably some evidence and some people that could use another look. But nothing that's been dug up here directly contradicts the larger narrative of the case and there's still no alternate theory for how McNair and Kazemi could have been killed. Furthermore, the police summary also reveals the name of another McNair girlfriend who claims she was being followed by someone driving a car that could have been Kazemi's. They also released a string of text messages sent to McNair just before his death where Kazemi repeatedly complains about "stress."

Kudos to Keteyian for raising these questions—and getting the answers—but when it's all said and done, we're really just right back where we started. We'll probably never be able to see the full picture of what happened to Steve McNair, but unless police are hiding even more from us, it seems very doubtful that anyone else will ever be implicated in his death.

New Evidence in Steve McNair Murder [CBS News]
McNair Case Summary [Nashville Police]
Previous: Armen Keteyian Will Solve This Steve McNair Business Himself [Deadspin]

Jack-of-all reporting trades Armen Keteyian did a little crime scene investigating of his own into the Steve McNair murder case and discovered that the numb3rs don't add up. If you'll recall, the big bang theory was that McNair's girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, distraught over money problems and the fear that McNair would soon leave her, shot him four times while he was sleeping and then took her own life. However, after three months of investigating, Keteyian says the Nashville Police—who only worked this mystery for 48 hours (x2)—may have botched the investigation.

Most of the piece (which you can watch here) is filled with testimony from Kazemi's friends saying that she was never angry and never violent and never owned a gun before, so she couldn't possibly have done this. These are the kinds of things that I hope my friends say to reporters if I ever go off the rails. He also dug up some footage from big brother security cameras that show Kazemi on the night of her DUI arrest—two days before the murder—and she is not acting like a lunatic soon-to-be shooter. On the other hand, lots of murderers seem perfectly normal right up until the moment they accidentally on purpose kill someone, so this is hardly "evidence" of anything.

However, there is one discrepancy he discovered that does need explaining. Police say that on the afternoon after the DUI arrest, Kazemi left work for two hours to buy the gun that was used to kill McNair. Unfortunately for them, her time sheets show that the two-hour absence from work took place the day before. Since the DUI arrest was part of the police theory for why she snapped, that's a big red flag that suggests they didn't do their homework very well. It doesn't prove that she failed to buy the gun, but that's a pretty glaring error in the timeline of events for the police to miss.

Keteyian says there's one more BIG mistake that police made concerning Kazemi and the purchase of the murder weapon ... but you'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out what it is! Aww, man. That's no fair! I hate cliffhangers! If only I had a ghost whisperer to provide me with spoilers.

(Seriously, the police may have done a terrible job on this. Or not. We'll find out tomorrow, I guess.)

Steve McNair Death Probe Questioned [The Early Show - CBS News]

Kings Island in Ohio gave a local news station a sneak preview of their annual Halloween Haunt, and they brought back pictures of a haunted graveyard filled with "celebrity skeletons" like Michael Jackson and Ted Kennedy. And that display up there.

Yep, that's a skeleton holding a Titans helmet, with the top blown off. A gun rests at the foot of the couch. The two skeletons assume the positions that Steve McNair and Sahel Kazemi were found in after their murder-suicide.

The shitstorm formed early on this one, stoked by Cincinnati area talk radio. Kings Island might have thought they caught this before it went national, but they didn't count on Clay Travis:

When reached by FanHouse, a spokesperson for Kings Island, Don Helbig, said the following, "There will not be a scene at our Halloween event that features Steve McNair or anyone that resembles him."

With video and pictures of the skeletons circulating online, Helbig at first declined to acknowledge that they had ever existed. "There was no reference to Steve McNair at all. No jersey, nothing." Upon being informed that the pictures and video were already online, Helbig again insisted that the skeletons would not be featured on Friday when the event opens. Pressed as to when the skeletons were removed from the park, Helbig stuck to his talking points. "Our event does not open until Friday," he said, "We meant him no disrespect."

I'm not sure how this was supposed to entertain and/or scare children. On the other hand, it might be used to scare athletes straight, alongside a reenactment of Left Eye burning down Andre Rison's house and a loop of Barbara Hershey's scene in The Natural.

Kings Island Pushes Boundaries For Halloween Haunt [WLWT]
Skeletons Depicting Steve McNair, Sahel Kazemi Pulled After Uproar [FanHouse]

Author Lisa DePaulo, who also chronicled the short-skirted hoochiedom of NBA groupies for GQ, reveals that once news of McNair's death-by-mistress story broke she instantly knew that the 20-year-old violated the tramp laws. So she summoned Brenda Thomas, her groupie expert source from the GQ piece, to spell-out where both Kazemi and McNair screwed up. Here's what this person had to say:

On Falling In Love: "You don't fall in love, okay? And you don't let them know you're in love with them. Because then they begin to push back, they know at that point, you're gonna be needy, you're gonna want them to leave the wife… They want something that's stress free. They don't want nobody saying, ‘Where you going?' Cause they can get that at home."

On Buying Trucks For Your Mistress:"You don't buy a truck, with the girl, in both of your names. And you send somebody else to pick up the girl from the police station after she gets arrested for drunk driving. You don't do that all stuff."

Kazemi Should Have Had The Good Sense To Eschew Birth Control:"If she played by the rules, she would have just gotten knocked up. And then she would have had child support payments for life. But she got in too deep. I mean, thank God that other women that she followed, she didn't knock her off too! "

Dummy. Now of course the Jezebel ladies had a field day with this piece, but the Daily Beast had a horrified male commenter who was even more screechy and appalled:

I guess Lisa's telling the truth. Makes me sad though. 80-90% of pro athletes cheat. OMG!? As the father of two daughters, I wonder what makes women think this horrible self-distructive behavior is a good thing. I used to be jealous of men who attracted sexy women. Now I just feel dirty knowing the 'rules' exist.

$100 says that guy's wife is cheating on him with a professional athlete.

The Secret Code Of Sports Mistresses [The Daily Beast]

The main points are summed up in this video. Kazemi had a motive, she had the means, and all the physical evidence points to exactly what they thought it would. Kazemi shot McNair in the head, presumably in his sleep, then turned the gun on herself.

Serpas also addressed some of the conspiracy-worthy elements of the case, like our friend Mr. Norfleet (not a suspect), the mysterious 45-minute wait to call the cops (happens all the time), and the seeming illogical nature of the whole crime (murders are never rational.) They're convinced, and there's no reason anyone else shouldn't be too.

UPDATE: I stand corrected. Florio's not buying.

Police confirm murder-suicide in Steve McNair case [Tennessean]
Audio of the 911 call [mp3 file; Tennessean]

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,"

Thank you, Robert. What is now known: the state medical examiners are even more confident it was a murder-suicide. Press conference is set for 2:45 CMT. The Tennesseean is live-streaming it, which for a short period of time also had an unmonitored message board. They wisely shut it down, sparing those interested from comments like this while people fiddle around with microphones on the dais:

Steve McNair: I'm chatting from hell

Other various items of McNair Murder Minutiae:

• Bizarre ex-boyfriend Keith Norfleet is not a suspect. His rap song "Closed Casket" is not about Steve McNair. Cops checked. Nope, just your average bravado-filled rap song performed by a white dude about putting bullet holes in people who step to him or something. But he did once throw a phone at Sahel Kazemi. He kept it real.

• Just because he was shot four times by his mistress does not make Steve McNair a Hall Of Famer, football writers say. Here's the overriding sentiment summed up by John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (not the one who thwarted a terrorist attack at Nakatomi Plaza): "He was real good most of the time and great some of the time. But I don't think he was great enough long enough."

• Kazemi was planning on redecorating. She tried to sell her furniture via Craig's List the day of the murder:

Strap in.

PHOTO: TMZ

If this is at all relevant to the McNair case, then I'm Sam Spade. It's not just CBS News, though. Dumbassery is at high tide out there. Yesterday, apropos this post and especially this one (that latter is straight-up libel, no chaser), The Sporting Blog's Spencer Hall loosed some awesome righteousness:

Consider the colossal stupidity of this, the Nancy Grace-style inanity of turning a horrid murder and possible (hey, look! qualifiers based on reported evidence! Go figure!) second murder into a guessing game for your own amusement. Those are real people, with names, and addresses, who you just suggested had a hand in murdering someone. Even if turns out they did, suggesting this is wrong in three planes, an ethical, legal, and intellectual face-plant into a steaming dungpile of braindead irresponsibility. I, a whore who writes for money on the internet, am appalled. That's like making a coroner queasy: It's not easy to do, and when done requires something spectacular.

At least Brooks is just speculating wildly and posting pics of a dead girl in a bikini seven times a day. That's merely being exploitative, which is distasteful but stops shy of betting someone is involved in a murder.

To which I can only add that it's ever so nice of CBS News — Cronkite's old mothership, no less — to jump in the dungpile, too, thus demonstrating once and for all that the blogosphere hasn't cornered the market on hairy-palmed prurience.

*******

Thanks for your continued support of Deadspin. Trash, go pick it up.

The report comes third-hand, from a relative of Kazemi's who says he learned this info from the police. The information is not confirmed (or denied) by those same police, but would certainly fit with the current hypothesis of murder-suicide. Investigators have not officially ruled her death a suicide, but they also don't appear to be chasing any suspects. That could change, of course, because this whole thing is still hovering in the realm of the insane.

A public memorial will be held for McNair in Whites Creek, Tennessee, on Thursday.

Relative: Police say woman with McNair bought gun [Yahoo]
Relative: Woman with Steve McNair bought gun, cops say [ESPN]

The Tennessean has gone into full-court press covering this story since the first police report hit the scanner, offering updates every hour new information was available. But there's still a back-story that's missing here: Either McNair had a very open relationship with his wife, or a very open affair going on with a disturbed 20-year-old Dave & Buster's waitress for the past few months. The fawning tributes aside — and much deserved: McNair was brute on the field and a nice guy off of it — there are so many shady details that have still yet to materialize. One, I find it a little questionable that Sahel Kazemi's ex-boyfriend, Keith Norfleet, is so readily available with intimate knowledge of this relationship:

Keith Norfleet, who said he dated Kazemi for four years before they broke up five months ago, was worried about her dating McNair, a married man. She met McNair while she was a waitress at Dave & Buster's Grand Sports Cafe, he said.

Norfleet said he moved here with Kazemi from Jacksonville, Fla., where her family lives. She was raised by a sister. Her mother, a native of Iran, was murdered when Kazemi was 9, Norfleet said.

"She is the sweetest girl, and she did not deserve this," Norfleet said upon learning of her death. "He was making her believe they were going to be together and everything would be perfect."

Norfleet said they'd been speaking a lot recently and she planned to break it off with McNair. He said she banged on his apartment door early Saturday morning, but she left before he could get to the door. He spent much of Saturday afternoon looking for her and trying to find out if she was the woman who died with McNair.

"She was a very strong, independent girl. A hard worker," said Norfleet, who had hoped to get back together with her. "She had a huge heart. She was very caring, very loving."

Up until the moment she (allegedly) shot Steve McNair, that is, but with one bullet-riddled ex-NFL quarterback on a couch and his mistress in close proximity with a single gunshot wound to the head and the gun laying next to her, the chances of this being an elaborate double homicide seem slim. But Kazemi's family is adamant she didn't kill McNair:

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

How about a big bug? Like a Chinese flying cockroach? Would she kill that? Because that's a crucial detail in order to implicate a person with homicidal tendencies. So I've heard.

McNair was beloved in Nashville, deified by the NFL for his resiliency, and seemed to have a happy post-NFL career going for him. Hopefully, the sordid details released about McNair and Kazemi's relationship won't overshadow those parts of his life, but, right now, it doesn't seem likely.

Steve McNair Blanket Coverage [The Tennesseean]