sat in court his hair still bright orange. his attorney said several times he was mentally ill when he allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 others at a batman movie premiere. outside court his victims reacted with anger. >> sitting next to my girlfriend. didn't seem too crazy when he ordered all the ammunition, months in advance, booby trapped his apartment didn't seem crazy to me. >> reporter: the biggest question for his victims whether it could have been prevented. >> i think if someone could have said six weeks beforehand "this man is a danger," maybe me and a lot of others could still have our loved ones. >> reporter: she lost her boyfriend in the shooting. he sacrificed his own life to shield her from the bullets. >> i would not be here to talk to you right now if john had nod saved my life. >> reporter: she was outraged to hear the psychiatrist reported

warning signs of his behavior nearly six weeks before the shooting but it appears the university never acted on it. >> i think that they messed up, you know. because then they could have stopped somebody. they could have had the possibility of saving lives. >> reporter: jennifer seager came face to face with holmes that night. >> reporter: you saw blood everywhere? >> yeah. yes everywhere. it was on me. was on the ground. it was in front of me. it was on people dying that were dead. >> reporter: much of the attention turned to dr. lynn fenton, who actually wrote the university's policy on threat assessment. sources say in early june she reached out to the same threat assessment team with concerns about holmes' behavior. and abc news learned that fenton contacted a university police officer going so far to break doctor/patient confidentiality. >> in a case where there is danger of imminent harm to

another person there is a mandatory requirement the report be made. >> reporter: on june 10th, holmes announce hed he intended quit the ph.d. program. >> under those circumstances, threat assessment teams would have gone into acts. it is hard to imagine why they wouldn't go into action when they get those kind of reports. >> reporter: the university admits tonight that holmes was still enrolled when the shooting occurred, but sources tell us that with the paperwork for withdrawal unmotion, the university's threat assessment team never had a formal meeting and never intervened. >> colorado statute says, report tight law enforcement, report it in a way that something could be done about it they suggest involuntary commitment of the dangerous person, simply reporting it and you know wringing hands and saying "there is nothing we can do about it because it is no longer a problem for the university of colorado" i think, falls short of what the responsibility was. >> reporter: the university of colorado isn't the first school to get into trouble for missing

warning signs. jared loughner who shot congresswoman gabrielle giffords and 18 others in an arizona parking lot had been a pima community college student. loughner had several run ins with faculty members and students. school officials told him to get a mental health evaluatioor not return. the student behind the massacre of 32 people at virginia tech was also known to university authorities after multiple people reported his disturbing behavior. the university settled lawsuits with the families of the victims. now in colorado, another set of families, another set of young victims, jansen young told us she is having trouble understanding how the man charged with killing her boyfriend was able to go so far without any one stopping him. >> even if it was ant bon't abo being the university's problem it is still a problem they should be involved in. because he was the entire city

of aurora's problem now it is the world's problem. all i think about how much i miss him. i miss him so much. i would give anything just have one more day with him, you know? even just an hour. >> reporter: for "nightline," i am mark greenblat in aurora, colorado. >> our thanks for that. and next up, can you really be addicted to food? we follow one woman on a 28-day plan to break free from a vicious cycle. >> announcer: abc news "nightline" -- brought to you by franklin templeton investments.

you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like,

small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today.

. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with cynthia mcfadden. americans spend an estimated $50 billion, that's right, $50 billion a year on weight loss

products. but what if much of that cash is being spent in the wrong ways. well, that's what one doctor says. claiming that food can be as addictive as heroin. and he claims the only way to break free is diet rehab. so, we put his 28-day solution to the test with the mother desperate to lose weight. here is abc's juju chang with an encore presentation. >> when i look at myself. when i look at my body, i am not happy. i just don't want to be big anymore. i don't want to feel uncomfortable in my own skin. >> reporter: khalia moss says she is an addict, a food addict. >> i feel like i abuse it. >> reporter: in one day she can eat an entire box of pasta. a typical meal includes huge portions of white rice and beans. >> feeling stuffed but still hungry kind of. it is weird. >> reporter: she is constantly

snacking. what kind of foods would you mindlessly eat? >> chips. my favorite, onion rings. i would sit there and not realize i would eat the bag. >> reporter: the plus-sized model gained 60 pounds of baby weight with the birth of her son zaire. at 30, khalia began to fear she was eating herself to death. what was the motivation for you to go on this diet? >> my son. i want to live a long life. i want him -- i don't want him to grow up without a mother. >> reporter: now after a lifetime of failed diets, khalia says she is ready to try a different approach by putting her brain on a diet. it is called "diet rehab" developed by dr. mike dow and designed to break food addictions in 28 days. >> heroin will kill you faster. but food addiction is killing a lot more people in this country. >> reporter: if somebody has been addicted to food, 10, 20, 30 years, how can you possibly cure that in 28 day sns?

>> 28 days is a gold standard. >> reporter: dr. dow, an addiction specialist agreed to work with khalia face to face. >> khalia. nice to meet you. >> reporter: the diet rehab begins. dow goes through her fridge identifying all the foods high in fat, sugar and processed carbs. >> we have white rice. low fat cheese. white flour. >> reporter: khalia hopes to lose ten pounds in 28 days, replacing her addictive foods with booster foods. produce the same feel good chemicals in the brain. >> love, love, greek yogurt. >> reporter: what do you replace the ding-dong and potato chip with. >> booster foods keep you very satisfied in the stomach and they actually give you sort of small, steady amounts of these brain chemicals. >> reporter: week one, eat as you always have, but add one booster meal and one booster activity per day. khalia swaps regular pasta for whole grain pasta and veggies.

>> it feels good to be preparing something healthy like this. >> reporter: week two, eat as you were, add two booster foods and two booster activities. khalia adds more fresh fruits and salad to her diet. >> my breakfast is like grits and home fries and biscuits and stuff like that. and i know that i can't eat that stuff. so today i am going to start off with a fruit juice. >> reporter: as week two nears its end, khalia hits a stumbling block. >> day nine and day ten has been rough. and i have 18 more days to go. >> reporter: week three is the hard part, where we start eliminating her addictive foods. just three servings a day. and increase booster activities, to three a day. >> my juice. my onion rings. >> reporter: she is still missing her fatty foods. dr. mike says after time her brain will crave the new healthier diet. so you are actually playing with brain chemistry? >> i am. diet rehab is actually tailored

to balance your chemical levels. food is giving us the neurochemicals. >> reporter: week four, cutback addictive foods even more. two servings a day. four booster active tetz. >> i'm serious. i want to do it. >> reporter: khalia powers through and 28 dates later is ready to step on the scale. >> i am anxious because i don't know what the scale is going to say. if i don't lose the the ten pounds. i know i am going to be upset. >> 233. one pound away. one. >> reporter: not quite, but all most to her goal. seven months later, we checked in on her progress. >> yeah, look at the swing. >> reporter: khalia has lost 15 more pounds. >> i feel amazing. i just have a new outlook on life. >> reporter: turns out 28 days was just the beginning. for "nightline," i am juju chang in new york.

>> thank you for that. just ahead we'll head to london where my co-anchor, bill weir will have all the latest results from the olympic as we take a dip with hollywood's underwater stars. >> announcer: "nightline's" olympic report its brought to you by franklin templeton investments. ♪

[ male announcer ] start with a simple idea. think. drink coffee. hatch a design. kill the design. design something totally original. do it again. that's good. kick out the committees. call in the engineers. call in the car guys. call in the nerds. build a prototype. mold it. shape it. love it. give it 40 mpg. no, 41. give it a huge display. give it a starting price under 16 grand. take it to the car shows. get a celebrity endorser. he's perfect. "i am?" yes, you are. making a groundbreaking car. it's that easy.

♪

well we are joined now by my co-anchor bill weir coming to us with the latest and greatest in olympic news. hey, bill. women rule at the olympics today. you know that. >> i tell you, it looks more and more like london 2012 will be remembered as a break out moment for women's sports. more medals are being won by females. tonight, man it was ladies' night of a different sort for team usa, our soccer team avenged the world cup loss, beat japan for another olympic soccer gold. water polo team won their first ever gold against spain. basketball team beat australia on their way to the finals. and rivalling, gabby douglas, clarisa shields, pride of flint,

michigan, the first woman to win gold in the ring. women pushed the u.s. to the top in gold and overall medals. there is one sport where american ladies need some catching up, synchronized swimming. america finished 11th out of 12 teams in the duet competition and didn't qualify for the teams. but as cecilia vega found out, dancing under water still makes for a pretty good living back home. >> reporter: the retro swimsuits, matching caps, the kicks, the splash. these ladies look like they swam straight out of a bygone era. but watch out esther williams, meet the team. synchronized swimmers for the iphone era. they are just about the hottest thing in hollywood. >> we think of ourselves as newt, old hollywood. >> i think audiences want to see something entertaining but also classy. >> reporter: their stage, poolside at some of the swankiest venues in los angeles, new york, miami. their performances -- everything

from this charity event filmed for a reality tv show to private gigs for the kardashians and justin timberlake. ♪ we found love in a hopeless place ♪ >> reporter: and then that appearance on that little show called "glee." >> can you work with katherine? misha is the personality behind this reinvented classic. she got the idea four years ago at a hollywood pool party. ♪ she took the magic of those old mgm musicals, added some hit music. skimpy swimsuits. and a few coats of lipstick. and success was born. in the water, they are lilies. but on land, by day. >> an actress. >> i teach snow boarding. >> i go to school to be a veterinarian. >> i graduated from law school. >> reporter: also katherine smith the headhunter. >> i love performing, i love swimming, i love the exercise, i love to watch people's reaction when we perform, it's just an

amazing feeling. >> reporter: swimming in unison isn't easy. this is an olympic sport that requires incredible strength. but here is the secret, that pointed perfection we see, it is a whole different story underwater. >> it's chaos under the water. just finding your bearings underwater with all of these legs and all sorts of stuff. >> one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. >> reporter: i got to experience the underwater chaos myself in an aqua lilies class. >> it was supposed to be underwater. >> no, a professional i am not. >> synchronized swimming when it looks easy on the surface, underwater you are working, either your hands are working to support you or your feet are treading water. >> you make it look easy. >> reporter: most aqua lilies were training since little girls, dreaming of their synchronized swimming hero. >> a lot of 25-year-olds have no idea who esther williams was? >> i have known of her my whole

life and every synchronized swimmer. she is special to us. >> ballet leg, sit up. >> reporter: when they're not swimming or studying for the bar exam, they're teaching amateurs. >> what are the best, two, three tips? >> smile. put lipstick on. it helps. it makes you feel much better. >> reporter: inspiring another generation to channel their inner esther williams. >> aqua-aqua lilies! >> reporter: and introducing others to a magic nearly lost. >> there is something theatrical, references a bygone era, full of romance, we are excited to be spearheading the movement to bring it back. >> reporter: for "nightline," cecilia vvega. >> i think i am hosting a pool party in the states. we'll see you here friday 2012 london wrap-up. until then, cherrio. >> cheers to you, bill. can't wait to see you in a bathing cap.

good evening, everyone. i'm carolyn johnson. >> i'm larry beil. jimmy kimmle live will begin in seven minutes. a heat wave is leaving much of california sweltering. the triple digit temps are taking a toll on california independence operator which controls the main power grid. >> cal iso issued a flex alert warning urging people to reduce power usage especially in the afternoon when the need increases. >> this is an intense heat wave and it is a long heat wave. so we are watching for the strain on the system, not just demand, but the impact on power plants. >> the flex alert lasts through sunday. bay area residents allowed to do whatever they can to beat the heat. they took advantage of the public fountain in downtown livermore this evening.

people in danville relied on ice cream and hand-made fans to help beat the heat. >> the inland areas are really feel the heat today. >> absolutely. here is sandhya patel with a look at what is on the way. >> we saw triple digit heat inland, 103 in livermore and 102 in fairfield. 90 in san jose. definitely a hot one in our inland areas. cooler at the coast. temperatures in the 60s as we head into tomorrow we will go with round two of triple digits inland. 102 in antioch and 101 in fairfield. into the mid90s and santa rosa and 91 in san jose. around the bay, 71 oakland and san francisco is 70 and 66 degrees in half moon bay. the fog will keep you comforted. around the monterey bay, and 100 in morgan hill. as we check out the accu-weather seven-day forecast it is a spare the air day. hot inland for friday and saturday with the triple digits. mid60s coast side. a little cooler as you notice