sunday, and you wake up tired, you know why. i'm jim sciutto in washington, and stay with cnn and cnn.com to get the latest on the missing plane and ongoing developments in ukraine. a and now we have the latest on the oscar pistorius trial. oscar pistorius who sprinted into the olympics went into the south african courtroom charged with murdering his girlfriend reeva steenkamp, a stunning up and coming model. we speak to those who were there that fateful valentine night. you could hear him crying? >> yes, i know. you could hear it. >> reporter: we hear from those who saw oscar away from the track. >> you get violent, and you get too far with people.

>> reporter: and we take you into courtroom. >> i was traumatized to what i heard that evening. that petrified screams and shouts >> reporter: and then -- >> bang, bang, bang. >> reporter: "cnn spotlight, the oscar pistorius trial." >> make way. make way! >> reporter: making his way through the flashes of the international media gauntlet. >> make way. make way. >> reporter: oscar pistorius has gone from world famous to infamous since the night he shot and killed reeva steenkamp a year ago on valentine. and now the trial for premeditated murder. he claims that he mistook her for an intruder and shot her by accident, but the prosecutors say that he kill her in cold blood. >> how do you plead? >> not guilty, my lady. >> reporter: back in 2008 before there was pistorius the blade

runner, there was oscar the olympic hopeful. just 21 years old, he invited me into the very house that five years later would become an infamous crime scene. >> thank you. >> reporter: so are you ready for the olympics? are you going to make it? >> well, if i am going to make it, and with we have been on the right course, training as hard as we can. >> reporter: training hard to compete against able-bodied athletes as a sprinter with no legs. this is your prosthetic leg? >> yes, this is the ones i use on the everyday basis. >> reporter: you walk, run, jump. >> i am not sure that you are supposed to walk on them, but they have a high performance fo foot, and it is not good for walking, but good for running and jogging. >> reporter: and this is your own leg? and where you had a birth

deformity? >> yes. >> reporter: how old were you when they were amputated? >> 4 years old. >> reporter: in an exclusive interview before the london olympics. >> he was younger. >> reporter: i visited pistorius's grandmother in pretoria where she spoke in her native language. his first pair of prosthetics came when he was 13 years old. [ speaking foreign language ]

>> reporter: despite the vulnerabilities, his parents had raised h him to take on life at full speed. pistorius found purpose on the track. he met coach ampi lowe who tr s transformed oscar from a 13-year-old schoolboy into a world class athlete. i talked to lowe on the track where he spent countless hours training pistorius. >> oscar is strong minded, and he would push harder than i wanted him to push. >> reporter: pistorius took his training seriously. and so you must drink milk and not alcohol? >> well, the last time i drank alcohol was two months ago. if you are going to be be an elite sportsman, you have to be aware of how many times you socialize on that level. >> reporter: but pistorius had a dark side as many said, and said

that pistorius had a temper, and once tried to pick a fight with him. >> he would have a angry and violent and fight with people, and it would cause a lot of problems. and the incident with him and me is that he was drunk at a party, and started to shout to me. >> reporter: and he admits that the athlete he sees as a son is not perfect. >> i have been asked plenty now the question of temper. if i said yes, he must have, i call it temperament, because if you don't have a temperament, you cannot become a national champion or world champion. >> reporter: so you have to have the fire in you, and that fire could mean a temper? >> when you work with any champion and any distraction upset upsets them. >> reporter: is oscar reckless? does he have a bad temper? >> if you are a top sportsman and you are focused and

sometimes things happen that e agitate you, and you are going to lose your temper, and you are going to have words with people, and i can testify to the fact that i was witness on a couple of occasions where he did lose his temper, but he was always, also the first one to apologize for his behavior. so, that is part of the makeup of the man. >> reporter: he qualified for the 2012 london olympics where he made it to the semifinals of the 400 meters. his relay team finished last in the finals. n next, he would shine in the paralympics earning three medal s, two gold and one silver. and he was south africa's golden boy, and about to meet one of south africa's top models, reeva stein kemp. next, the sexy cover girl, and what turned out to be a fatal attraction.

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>> reporter: reeva steenkamp was known as one of south africa's most sexiest women. this video shows reeva posing for the cover of a monthly magazine. this man was the editor of the south african edition. >> she had beauty and int intelligence, and that is the double whammy. >> we are shooting the descembe cover, and lovely. i remember. so have a good christmas. >> she got the magazine cover, and that is going to get you noticed and a little bit more commercial work, and probably leads to better tv work. >> reporter: she was becoming the next big thing, but to family and friends, she was the same old reeva. cnn's drew griffin talked to

mike steenkamp and mike martin. >> when you were with her, you felt like a teenager, because bouncing and joking and fun and the media side of her career, we never really saw that. we knew that she was a model and doing things with the media, but she never brought that into the family. >> and so she does not sound like she was enamored with the gl glamour life? >> no, no, no. >> not at all. >> reporter: and the life was becoming more and more glamorous going from the magazine cover girl. >> my name is reeva, and i'm a model. >> reporter: to starring in a reality tv series. >> it is a really, really fun production and it is in fourth season now. and yeah. >> reporter: a knew chul friend would introduce the cover girl to pistorius at a motoring event, and steenkamp accepted his invitation to accompany him to the sports ceremony and reeva

had entered life in the fast lane literally. >> and one day, she was in oscar in the car traveling on the highway, and she phoned her mom, and she said to her mom, mom, oscar is speeding. so june takes the phone, and said, let me speak to oscar. and she did. she said to oscar, hey, that is my precious, and my only daughter, and that is everything. my angel, and you better slow down. and reeva said afterwards, mom, he slowed down. >> reporter: the second week of february, 2013, oscar pistorius was making plans for the annual training trip to italy, but this year was different. he wanted to bring along reeva steenkamp. >> and we were looking at the schedule, and looking at opportunities to visit him, and

my reaction was, i have never seen you ask me for something like that, and are you serious about this girl? and his e reaction was, yes, i am very serious about this girl. >> and from the messages that we exchanged and the few conversations is that she was always happy. >> she was always very excited and happy to be around him and with him. she spent time at the track to run and jogging to stay in shape for the modeling stuff. >> reporter: and they were looking forward to spending valentine's day with pistorius, and she said, what do you have up your sleeve? they appeared to be taking the relationship to the next level. on the 'of valentine's day, a smiling steenkamp drove through the security checkpoint to the entrance of the gated community where oscar pistorius lived, and less than 12 hours later, she

was dead. in a courtroom no cameras allowed, oscar's version of what happened next was presented in the affidavit. it is in this document that pistorius lays out the events that started on the evening of february 13th. >> we were content to have a quiet dinner together at home. she had given me a present for valentine's day, but asked me only to open it the next day. >> reporter: we had another voice read the affidavit. >> in the early morning hours of morning of february 2013, i went on to the balcony to bring in the fan, and close the sliding doors and the blinds and the curtains. and although, i did not have on my prosthetic legs, i have mobility on my stumps. >> reporter: pistorius says that he heard a noise in the bathroom, and he realized that

con tr contractors had left a ladder outside. >> i felt a rush of terror over me. i felt that somebody had entered the house. i was too scared to switch on the light. i grabbed the 9 millimeter pistol from under my bed. >> reporter: he said that he was acutely aware of the violence here in south africa, and that is why he slept with the 0.009 pistol under his bed. he says he screamed for the intruders to get out, and then called reeva to call the police. >> i was filled with fear of intruder or intruders to binside of the toilet, and i did not have my prosthetic legs on, and i felt extremely vulnerable, and i knew that i had to protect reeva and myself. >> reporter: and he said in the affidavit that he felt vulnerable, and many nights he did. you had the idea that he was a

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♪ early morning, a tragedy at the home of oscar pistorius. he thought there was an intruder in the bathroom, according to his affidavit. >> i fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to reeva to phone the police. she did not respond. when i reached the bed, i realized that reeva was not in bed. >> that's when pistorius says it dawned on him that it could have been his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, on the toilet. >> i put on my prosthetic legs, ran back to the bathroom and tried to kick the toilet door open. i went back into the bedroom and grabbed my cricket bat to bash open the toilet door. >> when he finally got the door open, he said he saw reeva slumped over but alive. >> i carried her down stairs in order to take her to the hospital. she died in my arms. >> in the dead of the night, the coach's phone rang. it was oscar's agent. >> that night i forgot to put the phone off and it rang between half past 4:00 and 5:00.

and i thought, this is funny. and i answered the phone and i said, yep? he said to me, get in your car, pistorius, there's problems at the house. >> by the time they arrived, police were already on the scene. >> when we arrived, it was already flooded with police, and everything was cordoned off and couldn't have access to oscar at all. >> i was just in shock. because when i arrived at house and you see all the police cars and lights, i was standing outside. oscar was inside. i could hear him crying in the garage, and reeva was at the entrance. i just saw the bottom piece and the legs because the police was in and out the door of the front door. >> and you could hear oscar crying? >> yep. >> loudly? >> yeah, because i know him. you can hear it. it's terrible. >> police then took oscar into custody. >> i got to see him late that

afternoon of the 14th at the police house. >> and what was he like? what kind of state was he in? >> a totally shattered and broken man, like i've never seen him before. never seen him like that before. >> at his bail hearing, a judge voiced skepticism about pistorius' version of what happened. >> i have difficulty in appreciating why the accused did not ascertain the whereabouts of his girlfriend when he got off the bed. i have difficulty also coming to terms with the fact that the accused did not seek to verify who exactly was on the toilet when he could have asked. >> when the bail hearing's dramatic five days were over, the magistrate made his judgment. >> i come to the conclusion that the accused has made a case to be released on bail. >> yes! >> after a little more than a year out on bail, pistorius arrived back to a courthouse

amidst a media frenzy as his murder trial began. there was even a drone equipped with cameras hovering above the crowds of spectators. all trying to catch a glimpse of the blade runner as he made his way into court. pistorius is charged with murder and three gun charges. >> do you understand the charges, mr. pistorius? >> i do. i do, milady. >> how do you plead? >> not guilty, milady. >> at the start of day one, the defense read a statement from pistorius, backing his plea. >> at the time of the tragic accident which led to reeva's death, we were in a loving relationship. while i admit i inflicted the fatal gunshot wounds to reeva, this occurrence was indeed an accident. >> the defense advocate ken aldrich also laid out the defense's case, not only

claiming oscar believed he was shooting an intruder and not steenkamp but denying claims there had been friction in their relationship. he also asserted the police investigation was sloppy. >> it will also be demonstrated that the scene was contaminated, disturbed, and tampered with. >> the prosecution started its case with a series of earwitnesses, all neighbors of pistorius. deciding not to appear on camera, they testified to hearing screams emanating from pistorius' home. >> the fear in that woman's voice is difficult to explain to the court. i was traumatized to what i heard that evening, the absolute petrified screams and shouts. >> the defense argued it was likely pistorius, not steenkamp, whom the neighbors heard screaming for help. >> all i say is, when he's anxious, his voice when it pitches, it sounds like a woman screaming.

and what i put to you, that's what would explain why you would hear like a woman screaming and you ought to hear a man scream. >> pistorius' ex-girlfriend, samantha taylor, later testified to the contrary. >> that is not true. he sounds like a man. >> she also said that night wasn't the first time pistorius had feared an intruder had entered his home. >> there was one occasion where something hit the bottom window and oscar woke me up and asked me if i had heard it. and so he got up with his gun and he walked out of the room. >> that night with reeva would be different. oscar fired his gun, and neighbor michelle burger said she heard the gunshots. >> can you give us a demonstration using bang? >> bang. bang, bang, bang. >> three out of the four bullets

hit the victim. >> the first bullet hit the deceased in the right side. the second bullet hit the wall marked "f." it missed. the third bullet hit the deceased as she was still seated on the magazine stand, and that was a bullet in the shoulder. the fourth hit her in the head, and she then died. >> on day four, the next door neighbor took the stand. dr. stipp was the first to arrive at the pistorius home that night. >> i remember the first thing he said when i got there was that i shot her. i thought she was a burglar, and i shot her. >> he testified while he tended to steenkamp's body, pistorius was distraught and repentant. >> and he was crying. he was praying and talking to god, telling god, please let her live. please don't let her die. he was making promises to god. he was trying to, i don't know, maybe get atonement, but he was very, very distraught, severely

so. >> stipp's testimony left pistorius visibly distressed, perhaps convulsing according to one courtroom observer. as the first week of the trial ended, the defense had yet to present its case. whether oscar pistorius will ever run another race, what his future holds will be determined in court. and if convicted, he's facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison. meanwhile, friends and family of reeva steenkamp are left only with images of the past. reeva had a tattoo on the back of her neck that said "only god will judge me" in italian. do you know why she had that specific tattoo? >> that was something her grandfather had always said, and he was close to her. only god can judge, that's what everyone is saying. and, yeah, ironically she said

it as well. and hopefully that does happen. cnn's original series "chicagoland" is proudly presented by alstate. are you in good hands? >> chicago is a quintessential american city at the crossroads of change. it's a story that could be told in many cities all across the country. welcome to the premiere episode of "chicagoland." you want to see america, you come to its heartland. and what is the capital of that heartland? chicago. >> everybody! >> they call it a blue collar town because you work hard had, you play hard,