Sports Illustrated, in partnership with Cadence13, debuts its first narrative podcast, Steve McNair: Fall of a Titan on Wednesday, October 17. The nine-part true crime series will be narrated by Sports Illustrated NFL writer Tim Rohan, who investigated the case for 15 months. The series debuts will be on all major podcast platforms, with new episodes every Wednesday.
Fall of a Titan examines the July 4, 2009 death of 13-year NFL quarterback Steve McNair. McNair was found slain in his Nashville condo having been shot four times. His mistress Jenni Kazemi was dead at his feet with a single gunshot wound to her head. After just four days of investigating, Nashville police announced their findings: Jenni killed Steve, and then herself. Murder-suicide. But mystery still surrounds the dual deaths and a private investigator remains on the case.
Says Rohan: “The thing that appealed to me and my editors is that when we started looking at this story, we found that the matter of the Steve McNair murder was very much still alive. Not just with the friends and family of the victims, but there was even a private detective working this case, all these years later. When we began talking to people, we could tell immediately that there was a lot of emotion still surrounding the case — pain, frustration, a real need for answers. We felt these voices would really jump out at you through a podcast, even more than on the written page.”
A trailer for the podcast can be found at SI’s digital hub at SI.com/mcnair, which will complement “Steve McNair: Fall of a Titan.” Starting Wednesday, October 10 the hub will be updated weekly with new episodes of the series, as well as documents and media — from autopsy sketches to surveillance footage — to give listeners a full understanding of the case.
