Netflix announced documentary on Steve McNair’s mysterious murder – but who was he and what actually happened?

Steve McNair was one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks of his day, but his tragic and mysterious murder continues to hang over his legacy.

He became the fifth player in NFL history to pass for over 20,000 yards and rush for over 3,000 yards and was known as one of the toughest players in the sport.

But an upcoming Netflix documentary – ‘Untold: The Murder of Air McNair’ – is set to look into his murder further.

Initially ruled a murder-suicide, suspicions still linger over whether it was a double execution instead.

15 years on from his death, DailyMail.com looks back on the life of Steve McNair and his tremendous accomplishments on the field.

Born in 1973 in a tin-roofed house in Mount Olive, Mississippi, Steve McNair was raised in a low-income household by his mother who had five children – including Steve.

He once said about his mother that she ‘scratch(ed) for every penny. To make us happy, she did without.’

‘It was hard seeing my mother work from 11 pm to 7 am I remember seeing her closing her door and crying because she didn’t think that she was doing a good job of raising us, and feeling like she didn’t have enough income to take care of us.’

With Mount Olive High School, he led his hometown team to a state championship in his junior year in football but was a four-sport athlete. In addition to football, he played basketball and ran track – but was an exceptional baseball player, being picked in the 35th round of the 1991 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners.

But it was in football that he truly excelled – being named an All-American and excelling on both sides of the ball. He racked up a career total of 30 interceptions as a cornerback – tying the state record at the time.

Despite holding offers as a cornerback from schools like LSU, Miami, Nebraska, and Ohio State, McNair wanted badly to play quarterback. So he decided to stay close to home and attended Alcorn State University – an HBCU Division I-AA school.

In college, he stunned through the air and on the ground throughout all four years – but was especially strong in his senior year – running and passing for a combined 6,281 yards and 56 total touchdowns.

His phenomenal performance saw him place third in Heisman Trophy voting. Since then, no I-AA athlete has even cracked the top ten for the prestigious award.

McNair was picked third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers – who signed him to a seven-year contract.

After spending two seasons as a backup to Chris Chandler, McNair started for the Oilers in their first season in Tennessee in 1997.

Despite going 8-8 and missing the playoffs that year, McNair’s 2,664 passing yards were the most for the team since Warren Moon’s mark in 1993. He also led the team in rushing touchdowns with eight.

In 1998, the Oilers’ first season in Nashville and their last before being renamed the Tennessee Titans, McNair improved on those passing numbers and only tossed ten interceptions.

The 1999 season was by far his best – despite missing five games due to an inflamed disk. The Titans finished the regular season at 13-3 and made the playoffs for the first time in his career as a starter.

Tennessee needed a ‘Music City Miracle’ to beat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card game and then would beat the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts before handling the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship game to reach Super Bowl XXXIV.

There, they would meet the St. Louis Rams and the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ led by quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk, and wide receiver Isaac Bruce among others.

Despite a late rally thanks to McNair, on the final drive, his pass to Kevin Dyson came up one yard short as time expired and the Rams won a title.

McNair would never again return to the peak of the sport, but that doesn’t mean he turned in poor performances.

He reached the AFC title game again in 2002, but fell to the Oakland Raiders.

His following season, 2003, was one of his best – throwing for 3,215 yards, a career high 24 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. That year, McNair was named co-MVP alongside Peyton Manning.

McNair’s time in Tennessee ended after a 2004 season where he played only eight games due to injury and a 2005 season where the Titans missed the playoffs for a second straight year.

In 2006, he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens for a fourth-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. He would immediately show the Titans that they made the wrong move.

While Tennessee went 8-8, McNair turned the Ravens around to a 13-3 record and an AFC North division title in his first season with the team. He would fall to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Colts in his final playoff game.

2007 saw McNair play only six games and in April of 2008, McNair announced his retirement.

Despite McNair being married to Mechelle McNair from 1997 until his death, he was also romantically involved with a younger woman named Sahel Kazemi.

On July 4, 2009, McNair was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds – along with the body of Kazemi in a Nashville condominium that McNair was renting.

Earlier that day, the pair exchanged romantic text messages and also spoke about financial issues. McNair transferred $2,000 to Kazemi after she said she was ‘stressed’ and needed to pay her phone bill.

That evening, after putting his children to bed, he texted Kazemi ‘on my way’. He was believed to have been asleep on the couch when he was shot twice in the body and twice in the head.

It’s believed that after killing him, Kazemi sat on the couch next to McNair and then shot herself in the temple. Their deaths were ruled a murder-suicide with Kazemi as the perpetrator.