Police: McNair shot dead in sleep by girlfriend

By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II, Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former NFL star Steve McNair was shot dead in his sleep last week by a 20-year-old girlfriend distraught about mounting financial problems and her belief that he was seeing someone else, police said Wednesday. Investigators may never know why Kazemi shot McNair four times as he dozed on a sofa early Saturday before turning the gun on herself, Police Chief Ronal Serpas said.

But interviews with friends revealed that she was making payments on two cars, her rent was doubling and she suspected the married McNair was having a second affair with another young woman.

She told a friend on Friday that "My life is a ball of s--- and I should end it," Serpas said.

Police earlier had labeled McNair's death a homicide, but waited for further tests and the revelations about Kazemi's personal problems before concluding that she pulled the trigger in a condominium McNair rented with a friend.

McNair, 36, a quarterback for the Tennessee Titans most of his career, met Kazemi six months ago at a restaurant where she was a waitress and his family often ate. She seemed happy and eager to build a life with him, but something went wrong.

"We do know that she was clearly sending a message during the last five to seven days of her life that things were going bad quickly," Serpas said, though there was no indication she told anyone she planned to harm McNair.

Serpas said detectives learned that Kazemi recently found out about another young woman she thought McNair was romantically involved with and had even followed that woman home, though she did not confront her.

Serpas said police believe McNair was asleep when he was killed because there were no defensive wounds. After shooting McNair in the head, Kazemi apparently shot him twice in the chest before shooting him again in the head and then shooting herself. The gun was found underneath her.

She sat next to his body and tried to position herself to fall into his lap when she died. She did, but her body slid to the floor and ended up at McNair's feet, Serpas said. The gun was found underneath her.

Kazemi's family told reporters that the woman was so confident McNair was divorcing his wife of 12 years that she was preparing to sell her furniture and move in with him.

But associate Mike Mu, who has worked with McNair's charitable association for years, said McNair's wife, Mechelle McNair, "didn't know who this girl is." No records of divorce proceedings have surfaced.

Two days before the shooting, police stopped Kazemi driving the Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicle that McNair had given her for her birthday in May.

According to an arrest affidavit, Kazemi had bloodshot eyes and alcohol on her breath. She refused a breath test and told an officer "she was not drunk, she was high." She was charged with DUI. McNair was with her but not charged. He later made her bail.

Serpas said that even though both her name and McNair's were on the Cadillac's title, she was apparently responsible for making payments. She was also making payments on another car after she couldn't sell it.

Michael Jackson's $25,000 Custom Casket

A $25,000, solid bronze, 14-karat gold plated, custom casket ordered for Michael Jackson.


Michael Jackson's $25,000 Custom Casket

The casket -- ordered from Batesville Casket Company -- is called a Promethean and will feature a flame blue velvet interior and a hand-polished, mirror finish.

This is the same casket used to bury James Brown... and is extremely rare.

Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. His Funeral and his final farewell was as regal as he was.

Television networks planning Jackson coverage

AP, Jul 5, 2009 9:32 am PDT

NBC executives changed their minds Sunday and decided to join other networks that will televise Michael Jackson's memorial service live this week.
NBC joins ABC, CNN, MSNBC and E! Entertainment in offering the ceremony live. It's set for 10 a.m. PDT (1700 GMT) Tuesday at Los Angeles' Staples Center..

NBC had initially planned only a one-hour prime-time special on Tuesday night, but said Sunday it would also cover the event live. It was not immediately clear who would anchor..

Charles Gibson will anchor coverage for ABC, which is setting aside its typical daytime programming..

CBS anchor Katie Couric will be at the Staples Center, although the network had not yet said whether it was offering live coverage of the memorial..

CNN has seen its ratings soar with the Jackson story, and it will show the memorial on the main network and HLN (formerly Headline News). CNN International will air the ceremony to the rest of the world. Anderson Cooper, Larry King and Don Lemon are the anchors for CNN coverage. Robin Meade, A.J. Hammer and Jane Velez-Mitchell will anchor at HLN. CNN en Espanol also will cover it..

Chris Jansing will anchor live coverage of the memorial on MSNBC. Fox News Channel hadn't announced its plans..

E! Entertainment will cover the ceremony on its television network and its Web site..
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Jackson Doc Mum on Administering Anesthesia

Posted Jul 6th 2009 1:48AM by TMZ Staff

The lawyer for the doctor who was at Michael Jackson's home the day he died tells TMZ he did not give Jackson OxyContin or Demerol that day, but he wouldn't say the same about the powerful anesthesia found at the singer's home.

Dr. Conrad Murray was interviewed by LAPD detectives a week ago Saturday. Law enforcement sources tell us the information Dr. Murray gave police regarding drugs at Jackson's home was enough for cops to secure a search warrant from a judge. A search warrant can only be issued if there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.

Law enforcement sources say when police searched the home, they found the powerful anesthesia Propofol. The drug was specifically labeled Propofol and there was no indication it had been prescribed to anyone.

Edward Chernoff reiterated to us his client did not administer Demerol or OxyContin to Jackson the day he died. But Chernoff would not take the same stand on Propofol. Chernoff told us, "I have no statement on whether the Dr. prescribed or administered Propofol."

Chernoff added, "We're confident whatever the doctor prescribed did not kill Michael Jackson."

As we reported last week, cops obtained a search warrant the day after Jackson died. A second warrant was issued two days after Dr. Murray's interview -- that's the one that led cops to the Propofol. The second warrant may have been necessary if the first warrant only covered prescription medications.

The LAPD and the DEA are on the hunt to determine how the Propofol ended up in Jackson's home. The drug should never be administered outside a hospital.

Dr. Murray's lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment.

Michael Jackson memorial tickets for sale online!

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Tickets for Michael Jackson's memorial were advertized for sale on the Internet as the winners of a hugely over-subscribed online lottery were notified.

Some 1.6 million people registered to enter the draw for the event, hoping to be among 8,750 lucky fans chosen at random by a computer to receive a pair of tickets for Tuesday's service.

Late Sunday, dozens of adverts offering tickets for sale had begun to appear on the popular craigslist.org website, although most were swiftly flagged for removal. Tickets were also offered on online auction house eBay.com with starting bids ranging from 200 to 500 dollars.

Authorities on Friday pleaded against ticket scalpers seeking to cash in on the event.

Ticket winners who beat the 183-1 odds of being chosen will be given a wristband to wear when they are issued with their tickets in order to make it harder for scalpers

The Miseducation of Michael Jackson

40 out of 50: The number of years Michael Jackson spent on earth as a public figure. 5: The (likely) number of years he remembered before becoming a star.

Then life changed. He was a poor kid from Gary, Indiana who suddenly had every thing a kid could want. Why did he have it? Because he was young and talented. Unlike most kids, charismatic youth didn’t merely get Michael his way; it allowed him to make a more than comfortable living in which people showered him with fanatic adulation. For Michael Jackson, idyllic childhood memories include working full time as the charismatic boy frontman of a band everyone loved.

But there were traumas as well. Some of the most significant include the fading of the Jackson Five, being told he was no longer the youthful star people once knew (and this doesn’t begin to take into account the affect his father had on his life). As he developed and aged within youth, he felt the sting of premature mortality otherwise known as adolescence. He stopped being cute and developed acne. Gone was the cute youngster. In his place was a young man going through an awkward phase. In life as he knew it, he had grown old and unloved.

And before he had a chance to live among us mortals, to go through the unique growing pains many child stars experience, Off The Wall happened and he was once again a superstar, handsome and loved. I think it’s this moment, just before he re-entered the stratosphere he decided: I’ll never experience anything like adolescence again. And here, Michael Jackson’s maturation was arrested forever.

He would cease to age. He would join the Lost Boys and reject biology, turning the aging process into a permutation of youth. In his mind, he’d allowed youth to slip from his grasp once and, in what can only be described as irony, was too old and wise to allow that to happen again.

Michael was addicted to youth. It wasn’t just the commodity he traded in his whole career; it was the fount from which he found salvation. In the youth embodied by children, “youth” as Michael understood it, there was love and there was truth. Like any addict, Michael craved it excessively. Does that mean he didn’t care about kids? Hardly, I think Michael was a genuine champion for children, but in that caring seemed to be an impulse that could only be described as covetous. And that, coupled with a mind that chooses to identify with the youth of a child and a body over whom the mind does not matter, led to increasingly bizarre–and possibly criminal–behavior.

It’s not enough to say Michael “missed out” on his youth. No; it was co-opted by individuals in the pursuit of profit. Early on he would learn the lesson that defined his life: Youth sells. As he aged–in many respects, it’s hard to say he “matured”–the prime directive was maintaining a youthful appeal accented by a dose of sex and, at times, righteous indignation. That prime directive will forever accent the darker regions of his legend.

Despite maturing magnificently as an artist, despite being on a short list of people known the world over, I doubt Michael Jackson ever escaped the shadow of little Michael and the Jackson Five. Millions of fans and millions of dollars could not return him to what he once was: Young.

Michael Jackson Memorial

Updated: Friday, 03 Jul 2009, 3:43 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 03 Jul 2009, 7:41 AM CDT

By FRANK CARNEVALE
(MYFOX NATIONAL) - A public memorial for Michael Jackson will take place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. There will be 17,500 free tickets available for the memorial service for fans. 11,000 tickets will be available for the Staples Center and then 6,500 other tickets will available for the Nokia Theater, where a simulcast will be screened.

Fans must register at staplescenter.com for a chance at the tickets. The Web site can be accessed now and will be available until Saturday. After 6 p.m. Saturday, 8,750 names will be randomly selected to receive two tickets each. Notifications will go out on Sunday. Those selected will obtain their tickets via Ticketmaster on Monday.

Officials said that no tickets would be sold for the event.

The organizers also hope ticket holders will not try to profit from the event. Ken Sunshine, Jackson family spokesman, said at the press conference, "Anyone who tries to take advantage of this system: shame on you."

Officials stressed that there would be no access to the area around the Staples Center without a ticket and wristband. They said that there would be no broadcast outside the venues. A worldwide video feed will be broadcast on television and online, though.

There will be no funeral procession. And there was no word on whether Jackson's body would be part of the memorial. Details about the memorial were not disclosed.

The Staples Center is a 20,000-seat arena. Jackson rehearsed at the center two days before he died last Thursday. Video footage of that rehearsal performance was released by AEG Live on Thursday . He was scheduled to perform in London for 50 sold-out performances.

MyFoxLA has more coverage on the service plans.


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In a famous scene from Michael Jackson's music video for "Smooth Criminal," the pop singer and his troupe of dancers are seen leaning forward at a 45-degree angle. How did he do it?

Also scams started cropping up as Jackson's death was still hitting the news. As days have gone by, they've gotten more sophisticated -- and dangerous.

A Michael Jackson tribute concert may happen before September according to one report. And the Patriots NFL football team can thank Michael Jackson for their recent success.

Michael Jackson's Last Supper Portrait

This portrait is said to be found in Michael Jackson's bedroom. Interesting...