>> he was a hero on the track. she was a beautiful model. they had it all. until valentine's day, 2013. oscar pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. lawyers argued whether it was a mistake. >> is the state saying in a dramatized state of mind he worked out this grand scheme. doesn't make sense. >> or murder. >> deceitful witness . >> now the world finally has a verdict. >> there is a reasonable doubt, concerning the accused's guilt. >> from love to loss. a saga that unfolded for years. now the story of oscar pistorius, the trial, the

trouble, the verdict. cnn spotlight, the oscar pistorius trial. april 2014. oscar pistorius on the stand but not on camera. >> i can't mention the pain and the sorrow that i have caused you and your family. >> his first order of business apologizing to the reeva steenkamp family for killing his girlfriend, reeva. >> i would look to apologize, there hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that i haven't thought about your family. >> it had been over a year since the steenkamps lost reeva and the first time pistorius talked of the night she died. >> i was simply trying to protect reeva. i promise that when she went to bed that night she felt loved. >> she felt loved, pistorius said because it had been a lovely comfortable evening.

we ate some, sat at the dining room table. we chatted about my day. we chatted about the contract sunny was about to sign with a new management company. we usually ate dinner. we would have watched tv downstairs. but i think we both had a taxing day, so we decided to go upstairs. >> pistorius testified to the judge there is no jury in this trial. that he then drew the curtains and prepared for bed. >> and i closed the bedroom door. i locked the bedroom door as i do every night. i sat on the bottom right-hand side of the bed, took my prosthetic legs off. i took them off so that they could get some air. earlier on in the evening, when i got home, when i got upstairs, i had taken my firearm and i placed it under the bed. >> pistorius says he had been a victim of burglaries and even received death threats but was acute plea aware of violent crime here in south africa. he says that's why he slept with

a .9 millimeter pistol under his bed. pistorius said he woke up in the early hours of the morning, and noticed his balcony door was ajar. so he got out of bed to close it. >> at this point that i heard the window open in the bathroom. sounded like a -- like the window sliding open. >> what did you thing at the time, mr. pistorius. >> my lady, that's the moment that everything changed. i thought that there was a burglar that was gaining entry into my home. i think initially i just froze. i didn't really know what to do. >> pistorius claimed he was on his stumps and unstable as he walked back to the bed, reached underneath and pulled his gun out of its holster. >> just myself, actually, said reeva as i left my bed. i whispered for reeva to get

down and phone the police. he says he crept through the bathroom hallway. >> it was that point i was overcome with fear. i started screaming and shouting for the burglar, intruders to get out of my house. i shouted for reeva to get on the floor, i shouted for her to phone the police. >> he said he then made his way into the bathroom. >> then i heard the noise from beside the toilet. what i perceived to be somebody coming out of the toilet. before i knew it i fired four shots at the door. >> according to pistorius, he then returned to the bedroom. checked the bed and the floor. there was no sign of steenkamp. that's when he says he began to suspect the worst. >> i shouted from the balcony for help. screamed help, help, help, help. i put my prosthetic legs on. i ran as fast as i could back into the bathroom. i ran into the door.

i didn't move at all. i leaned back and tried to kick the door, nothing happened. pistorius says he grabbed his cricket bat. >> i hit the frame of the door. and again, the small piece opened. at that point all i wanted to do was to look inside to see if it was reeva. >> after hitting the door three more time, pistorius says he removed a chunk of wood from the door, unlocked it from the inside and gained access to a bloody steenkamp. >> i flung the door open, i threw it open. i set over reeva and i cried. and i -- i don't know how long. i don't how long i was there for. she wasn't breathing. >> pistorius said he picked up steenkamp carried her down the stairs and then sat with her. >> i felt helpless.

i wanted to take her to the hospital. i had my fingers in her mouth to help her try to breathe. i had my hand on her hip. i was trying to stop the bleeding. paramedics were on the way, but it was too late. >> reeva had already died. whilst i was holding her. before the ambulance arrived. i knew there was nothing they could do for her. >> coming up, prosecutors challenge pistorius' story. >> i could be ruthless and say you lied and now you are fixing up a lie. >> but next, the sexy cover girl and what turned out to be a fatal attraction. ♪ ♪ imagine the luxury...

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back in 2008, before there

was pistorius the blade runner. >> good morning. >> hello. >> it was oscar the olympic hopeful. 21 years old he invited me into the very house that five years later would become an infamous crime scene. >> thank you. >> so are you ready for the olympics, do you think you are going to make it? >> i think if i am going to make it, we're training as hard has we can. >> training hard to compete against able-bodied athletes as a sprinter with no legs. this is your prosthetic leg? >> yeah, these are the ones i use on an everyday basis. >> walk, run -- >> not sure you are suppose to walk on them. a very high performance foot. not that great for walking. very good for running and jogging. >> this is still, your own leg. >> yeah. >> this is where you had a birth deformity. >> how old were you when you got them amputated?

>> 11 months old. >> despite his vulnerabilities, his parents raised him to take on life at full speed. pistorius found purpose on the track. he met the coach who transferred oscar from an awkward 17-year-old schoolboy into a world class athlete. i talked to the coach on the track where he spent countless hours training pistorius. >> oscar is very strong minded. he will even push harder than i want him how to push in the last repetition. >> but pistorius apparently had a dark side say some. mark bachelor, a south africa soccer player who social ied in the same circles said pistorius

had a temper and once tried to pick a fight with him. >> he would get violent, angry, fight with people and cause a lot of problems. the answer with me and him, because he was drunk and a party, started shouting. >> one phone call. >> he admits the athlete he sees as a son isn't perfect. >> i have been asked plenty times the question of temper. if you, i call it temperament. if you haven't got a temperament. you can't become a national champion or world champion. forget it. >> you have to have the fire in you? >> you must have. >> that fire means you sometime have a bad temper. >> when you work with any champion, any distraction upsets them. >> he qualified for the 2012 olympics where he made it to the semifinals, his relay team finished last in the finals, he would shine in the paralympics. he was south africa's golden

boy. and was about to meet one of south africa's up-an-coming models, reeva steenkamp. she was known as one of south africa's sexiest women. this video shows reeva posing for the cover of a monthly magazine. the editor of the south african edition. >> she had beauty and intelligence which is the double whammy. >> hi. this is reeva steenkamp. lovely tangerine number. have a good christmas. >> she got the magazine cover and that gets you noticed. gets you a bit more commercial work. tv work. >> her life was becoming more and more glamorous. going from magazine cover girl. >> my name is reeva. i am a model. >> to starring in a reality tv show. >> it is a really, really fun production. it is in its fourth season now. yeah, watch this space.

>> a mutual friend would introduce the cover girl to pistorius at a motor racing event. there, reeva steenkamp accepted pistorius's invitation to accompany him to the south african sports award ceremony. >> the impression i got from messages we exchanged and few conversations that she was very happy. >> she was always very friendly, always very excited to be around him and with him. she spent a lot of time at the track, jogging and running to keep in shape for all her modeling stuff. >> steenkamp was looking forward to spending valentine's day with pistorius, tweeting what do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow. south africa's newest it couple appeared to be taking their relationship to the next level. >> on the eve of valentine's day, a smiling steenkamp drove through the security checkpoint at the entrance to the gated community where oscar pistorius lived.

>> roses are red, violets are blue -- >> with her the valentine's day card that pistorius read aloud during his last day on the stand. >> i think today is a good day to tell you that i love you. >> a card that she would never get to give him. she signed it with her name. smilie face and kisses. >> by the time the sun rose on valentine's day, reeva steenkamp was dead. and pistorius was charged with killing her. >> coming up, the prosecution goes on the attack. >> say yes. i shot and killed reeva steenkamp. so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates.

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mr. pistorius, did you at any time, intend to kill reeva. >> the lawyers for oscar pistorius insisted her death was a mistake. on the stand at his murder trial, pistorius broke down. insisting reeva steenkamp's death was a grave mistake. he thought she was an intruder. >> i did not intend to kill reeva, my lady or anybody else for that matter. i don't have time to think. i discharged my firearm i didn't shoot at anyone. i didn't intend to shoot at some

one. i shot out of fear. >> mr. pistorius, please. >> the prosecution told a very different story. several neighbors testifying off camera set the stage by describing what they heard that night. >> the fear in that woman's voice. is what you have to explain to the court. i was traumatized through what i heard that evening. the absolute petrified screams and shouts. >> then pistorius' ex-girlfriend samantha taylor said, pistorius feared an intruder had entered his home on another night. >> there was one occasion where something hit the bathroom 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. >> but that night with reeva would be different. pistorius fired his gun and neighbor michelleberger said she heard the fatal gunshots. >> could you give us a demonstration by using bang. >> bang. bang. bang. bang.

>> on day four of the trial, next door neighbor physician took the stand. the first to arrive at the pistorius home that night. >> i remember the first thing he said when i got there was, "i shot her. i thought she was a burglar. and i shot her." while he tended to reeva steenkamp's lifeless body, pistorius was distraught and rependant. >> he was crying. he was praying. he was talking to god, telling god to please let her live. please don't let her die. he was making promises to god. he was trying to maybe get atonement. very, very distraught. >> his account left pistorius distressed, perhaps convulsing according to one courtroom observer. >> you have prepared a report? >> the prosecution then turned to its forensic experts and evidence.

first up, the police colonel and pistorius' bullet holed toilet door. >> just hit from where you are standing. hit. trying to chip away at pistorius' version, the prosecution attacks his claim that he wore prosthetic legs. >> my observation is that mr. pistorius was not on his legs. he was on his, on his stumps. >> pistorius says blood covered stumps, the bathroom floor, and other photos, were displayed in court as part of the prosecution's detailed forensics testimony. at one point the accidental display of reeva steenkamp's dead body caused pistorius to become ill. he sat with a bucket at his feet in case he vomited. >> the deceased sustained wound while being in the toilet. three of the wounds, which the deceased sustained could have resulted in a severe beating.

>> then a dramatic turn in the trial. prosecutors presented text messages from reeva to oscar. depicting a stormy relationship. >> i just want to love and be loved. be happy and make someone so happy. maybe we can't do that for each other. because right now, i know you aren't happy. and i'm certainly very unhappy and sad. >> another message was even more chilling. >> i'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and of how you will act to me. >> the defense countered reading 1,700 messages they said were loving and affectionate. >> and the response, reeva to mr. pistorius' okay, angel. sweetest of dreams. i will message when i get home. cross, cross, cross. >> and showed a video of the happy couple in a convenience store, ten days before reeva steenkamp was killed. but the state's biggest

opportunity came when prosecutor harry nell got his chance to confront pistorius directly. >> i took reeva's life. >> you killed her you. shot and killed her. won't you take responsibility for that. >> i did, my lady. >> say yes, i shot and killed reeva steenkamp. >> i did, my lady. >> he played video of pistorius at a shooting range. pointing out oscar's apparent delight at the damage inflicted by his high powered weapon. >> oscar pistorius. >> it exploded. am i right? >> that's correct, my lady. >> you know the same happened to reeva's head. it exploded. >> the prosecutor, nicknamed the bulldog, hammered pistorius. >> mr. pistorius this is the biggest indication of you tainting the evidence. >> he was relentless in his

effort to poke holes in pistorius' story. >> mr. pistorius you are in the room you shot, and three minutes, that particular door. there is no way you will convince the court she stood there saying that. why? why would she not say a thing? that's not true. the only reason is that it's not true, mr. pistorius. she would have responded. >> she would have been terrified, my lady. but i don't think that would have led her to scream out. >> she wasn't scared of anything, except you. she wasn't scared of an intruder. sunny was scared of you. >> nell attacked pistorius saying he was lying. >> your version is not only untruthful but it is so improbable that it cannot be reasonably possibly true. >> and insisted the blade runner intended to kill his girlfriend. >> she locked herself into the

toilet. you armed yourself with the sole purpose of shooting and killing her. >> that's not true, my lady. >> and that's what you did. >> in closing, prosecutors said the former olympian had dropped the baton of truth. >> without the baton of truth -- it is the state's case the accused was a deceitful witness. >> reminding the court that pistorius who lost his legs when he was a child suffers from anxiety and like some abuse victims, suddenly snapped. >> we say there he is without legs, facing the door, hearing the sound, and he fired the shots. if you find it was reasonable, you must acquit him. >> and one month later, a decision from the judge that surprised many observers. oscar pistorius was found not guilty of murder. >> the state clearly has not

proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder. >> but the judge did rule that pistorius was guilty of culpable homicide. what's called manslaughter in the united states. >> i am of the view that the accused acted too hastily and used excessive force. it is clear that his conduct was negligent. >> what's not clear is how long oscar pistorius will spend in prison. >> there is no mandatory minimum or maximum sentence. that gives the judge a wide degree of latitude. some of the previous sentences she has handed down in cases where there were violence against women were extremely tough. >> but for now, he is a free man. out of bail.

cheers not for a gold medal blade runner, but a killer whose future lies very much in the balance. tonight on unguarded with rachel nichols. the question whether roger goodell should still be running the nfl has reached the u.s. senate. >> what will the nfl do to impose stringent punishment. >> boxer floyd mayweather faces tough questions on his domestic violence history. >> ray rice's friend, weighs in. >> in a week when racism again tarnished the nba, doc rivers tells his story. off awe someone broke in our house. welcome to unguarded. a week ago it would have been