Tim Worstall

July 06, 2009

Sahel Kazemi seems to be the latest young woman to fall foul of the bright lights of stardom and celebrity. Kazemi and Steve McNair, the ex-quarterback, were both found dead of gunshot wounds over the weekend.

As background, the football star McNair had retired from the game just over a year ago and had been married to his wife Mechelle for some years. Sahel Kazemi was 20 years old and working as a waitress at Dave & Busters when McNair met her. Things happened as things do when rich and famous men meet young women and the pair started dating. The relationship progressed over the four months to the point that a Cadillac Escalade was registered in joint names (we know this because of a police stop last week in which Kazemi was charged with DUI, although she claimed she was “high” rather than drunk).

While many might think this reprehensible it would be difficult to claim that it is uncommon. Rich men and young women have been swapping their assets for some millenia, after all. What came next is not so common. In what the police are currently calling a murder/suicide McNair died with two gunshot wounds to the head and two to the body: Kazemi of one to the head and the gun was found near her body.

What tangled webs we weave when first we set out to deceive.