at least people are beginning to see aaron in a multidimensional way. cramer: he had lost his fortune. he had lost his career. he had lost his freedom. just the realization of the waste that your life had become had to have been profound. ♪ no one will ever know exactly why aaron hernandez ended his life when he did, but those closest to him place some of the blame for his suicide and his erratic behavior on the brain damage he clearly suffered from the game of football, and here's an ironic twist -- in massachusetts, if a convicted felon dies before his appeal has been heard, then his original conviction is thrown out. so in the eyes of the law, aaron hernandez died an innocent man. i'm hill harper. thanks for watching.

♪ [suspenseful music] [dramatic music] hello, and welcome to how it really happened . i'm jesse l. martin. the shocking shooting death of reeva steenkamp at the hands of olympic superstar oscar pistorius

pulled the curtain back on the storybook romance of a favorite celebrity couple. it started as a charming love affair between a world famous athlete and a fashion model with brains and beauty and ended with four hollow point bullets fired through the bathroom door. tonight, was it a terrible accident or a callous murder? this is how it really happened . [suspenseful music] [cheers, applause] scott roder: if you take the celebrity of lebron james and you combined it with the appeal of leonardo dicaprio, that was what oscar pistorius was. reporter: he is known as the blade runner, the fastest man with no legs. michael sokolove: he was strong. he was fast. he was explosive.

reporter: a moment of history to see the first paralympian competing in track and field at an able-bodied games, and he got through his 400 meters heat. john carlin: oscar pistorius was at the absolute peak of his celebrity, wealth, and success. michael sokolove: oscar was named south africa's sexiest man. and it wasn't only the looks. it was this persona that he exuded. he was enormously likeable. oscar pistorius: being an international sportsman, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that. so having to toggle that and remembering that there are kids out there especially that look up to you is definitely something that you need to keep at the back of your mind. oscar, at that point, was one of the most famous athletes in the world. it's just been one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life. randi kaye: it was a few months after the london olympics when oscar pistorius met reeva steenkamp. reporter: reeva steenkamp, a model and law school

graduate who recently appeared on the cover of the men's magazine fhm. you're putting me on the spot. randi kaye: i mean, she was this beautiful up and coming model. she had this great compassion for social issues. and they were just a striking couple. hi. i'm oscar's date tonight. he needed a date at the last minute. so it's like, reeva, just throw your stuff together, and come and be my date. mandy wiener: their friends and their circle knew that the relationship had developed very, very quickly. randi kaye: after oscar and reeva had their first date, there was this huge sunday spread about them in south africa. and people were really just enamored with the idea of their relationship. oscar's agent asked him about reeva. are you serious about this girl? and his reaction was, yes, i am. i am very serious about this girl. he made it very clear that they were very much in love. reporter: her last tweet on the 13th of february said,

"what do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?" in a valentine's card to oscar pistorius, reeva wrote, "i think today is a good day to tell you that i love you." randi kaye: oscar described the night of february 13 as really just a very normal night for the two of them. reeva steenkamp arrived at oscar pistorius's home, and you see her on camera arriving. and she has a great big smile on her face. [soft music] they had had dinner. they went to bed around 10 o'clock. oscar was on his phone. at some point, reeva went on the floor and was doing yoga. michael sokolove: according to oscar, their relationship was in a very good place. it was deepening. they were in love. they had just had a great evening. and then they go to sleep.

[foreboding music] randi kaye: a few hours later, oscar pistorius hears this frightening noise. [bang] early in the morning of february the 14th, the neighbors woke up to, bah-bah-bah, bah-bah. [tense music] randi kaye: the first people who arrived found a really gruesome scene. robyn curnow: they saw a man carrying a woman down the stairs, and he was hysterical. he laid her body at the bottom of the stairs on the tiles. john carlin: he was bathed in blood and shrieking and howling and crying.

oscar pistorius tried to save her. others there tried to save her. but there was nothing that they could do for her. we begin this hour with breaking news from south africa. randi kaye: people all over the world woke up to this tragic news. nobody could believe it. michael sokolove: so unexpected. they shoot this beautiful, promising young woman and kill her. it's awful. reporter: the shooting took place behind the walls of this gated community. oscar pistorius, a double amputee, invited cnn into the house a few years ago and showed us his prosthetic legs. but it was somewhere in this house that pistorius allegedly fired a pistol. robyn curnow: there was early rumblings that oscar pistorius thought she was an intruder.

michael sokolove: it wasn't like the first time that he had mistakenly thought there was an intruder in his house. oscar had a gun under his bed and seemingly quite frequently was always hearing noises in his house and thinking that he had to go look around with his gun. i thought it was obsessive how unsafe he felt in his home. but he was not the only person in south africa or extended johannesburg that would have felt that way. robyn curnow: it is a rational, real fear that you can be attacked in your home in the middle of the night. randi kaye: early on, there were reports that maybe this just was a tragedy, just an innocent accident. barry bateman: but the police came out and totally destroyed that version. as far as they were concerned, they were investigating a murder. there has previously been incidents at the home of mr. oscar pistorius of allegations

of domestic nature. mandy wiener: hang on a second. could he have intentionally killed her? robyn curnow: was oscar a woman beater? and now he had killed his girlfriend? randi kaye: all of a sudden, the coverage flipped from accident to homicide. reporter: oscar pistorius, as of now, is at a police station. we started to hear reports about performance-enhancing drugs or steroids being found. and then that just started all kinds of rumors. people started to believe that this possibly was some sort of steroid-induced homicide. robyn curnow: almost immediately, oscar's brand, his image crumbled. scott roder: he went from this handsome, tall, olympian, gold medal-winning icon to a pariah. i'll never forget that oscar pistorius was on this billboard. it was advertising an oscar campaign, said,

"every night is 'oscar' night." within a few hours of the story breaking, they started rolling down the billboard. robyn curnow: he'd been the face of nike. and the tagline had been, "i am the bullet in the chamber." that came down pretty quickly. reporter: this is a man who is usually basking in the glory of his achievements. today, he was hiding his face from the world. randi kaye: there was a great sadness around the world and a great sadness certainly within south africa. reporter: of course, now facing a possible jail term for murder.

just please let us make-- let us-- let us-- robyn curnow: i had very sharp elbows that day. and i literally physically got myself into the courtroom. it was a zoo. randi kaye: he not only had to make his way through a gauntlet of media, but then he had to answer to the charges against him for the first time. michael sokolove: the oscar in court was not the oscar that anyone had ever seen. mandy wiener: he looked hollow and just totally broken by what he had experienced. reporter: the world-renowned olympian oscar pistorius has been charged with murder

in the death of his girlfriend. randi kaye: the state believed that this was premeditated murder. one of the leading witnesses for the state said that they had found what they described as a suspicious substance next to the bed. kelly phelps: that they had found an illegal substance with needles. and clearly, the suggestion there was that he was in some sort of testosterone-fueled rage. [tense music] robyn curnow: the main investigating officer testified that the neighbors had heard terrible screams before the gunshots. the state believed that that meant that oscar pistorius would have known that reeva steenkamp was there, possibly hiding in that bathroom cubicle, and that there was some type of heated argument going on just before the shooting occurred. they said that oscar had picked up his gun.

he had walked about seven meters to a bathroom, where his girlfriend was locked inside. and he had shot four bullets through there as she was hit three times. oscar denied the charges that this was murder of any kind. kelly phelps: the defense provided an extremely thorough affidavit from mr. pistorius explaining his version of what happened that night. randi kaye: oscar pistorius said in the early morning hours, he had opened the balcony doors to bring the fans in. he believed reeva was in bed. michael sokolove: and this is when he hears the noise, as he tells it, that he believes is an intruder. scott roder: he felt his life and reeva's life were in danger. randi kaye: so he quickly grabbed his 9 millimeter handgun, he said, which was next to the bed, and moved through the dark. robyn curnow: and he walked on his stumps yelling, get the eff out of my house.

get the eff out of my house, yelling. actor as oscar: get out of my [bleep] house! get out! he ascertains that someone's behind the bathroom door, which is locked-- [creaking] --and fires four shots through the door. [gunshots] robyn curnow: he said that he went back into the bedroom and realized reeva was not in bed and had a sinking feeling that she might be in the toilet. michael sokolove: he puts on his prosthetic legs. he fetches his cricket bat. scott roder: he runs back into the bathroom and starts beating the bathroom door with the cricket bat until he's able to open the door. and he sees reeva bleeding on the ground by the side of the toilet. reporter: pistorius was sobbing through the entire bail hearing. his side, though, the defense attorney said that the shooting was not premeditated. he said that pistorius shot his girlfriend believing that she was a burglar. reporter: still, so many unanswered

questions, such as, how did reeva enter the bathroom unnoticed? what people didn't believe is that you claim that you're defending not only yourself but the woman that you love from this intruder, but you don't confirm where she is. she was lying next to you in the bed. how can you not know that she's no longer there? would you not check where she is before you go and fetch a firearm and go and use it? why had she locked the door? did she think there was an intruder in there, or was she trying to protect herself from oscar pistorius? the world was divided over this story, and there were people who really believed him, really wanted to believe him. and other people thought they did have a fight, and he had this dark, angry side and had a temper. but the point of these early court proceedings was to decide if oscar pistorius could get out on bail. of course, we are all talking about it. oscar pistorius out of jail. the olympic track star granted bail today in pretoria. [soft music]

i know my brother, and i know his fears. there has been a consistent theme in his life-- being safe-- that has always been a concern because of the practical vulnerabilities that he has. john carlin: oscar pistorius was born in 1986. it was discovered that he had this congenital deformity of his feet. and his two legs were amputated just below the knee. robyn curnow: he was very brave in terms of breaking physical boundaries. i grew up in a family where disability was never an issue, not because it was a topic that was taboo, but it was just never an issue. [light music] john carlin: and he becomes a superstar in the world of paralympics. and he's good-looking. he's got a certain greek god kind of demeanor.

i think he saw himself as superhuman. and, you know, look, it was well earned. i mean, he achieved these things on the track that no one could believe he achieved. and that must be a really, really powerful thing to feel when you are born or have the disability that he had. behind that public persona, oscar did have a very real physical limitation. robyn curnow: because off his prosthetics, he is a fundamentally disabled man who can barely walk. he almost looked scared because he was vulnerable. michael sokolove: i did sense paranoia. you know, for someone who saw himself as so physically accomplished, he was also afraid. robyn curnow: this is not the person that he wanted to share with the world. he hid that vulnerability. but in the end, that is who he was.

hmm. i'd probably go for the rugged guy. i don't like a man who takes longer than me in the bathroom to get ready. no. [gentle music]

they phoned me at 6:00 am, and they said, do you have a daughter reeva? said, she's passed away. it was the worst day of my life. i was hysterical. i just wanted to die myself, honestly. i-- i didn't want to live without her. everybody i spoke to about reeva loved her, across the board. i'm at the lady gaga concert. i wasn't going to come, and then i got roped in two days ago. so i had to kind of, like, throw something together. june steenkamp: she was such a blessing, a gift from god. very clever and always laughing, always laughing. randi kaye: she came from a really close-knit family. her father was a horse trainer. her mother ran a restaurant at the track. they spent a lot of time together. charleen hoffman: she really cared about her parents and absolutely loved them. kim martin: when you were with her, you were like-- you felt like you were

a teenager because she was just so vibrant, so full of life, so bouncy. she was just always laughing, joking, fun. [shouts] yeah, it's crazy out here. she could get on with anyone. she was 14 when she started modeling. she wasn't very tall. she didn't have her blonde hair. but she loved it. mark west: i met reeva steenkamp because she had entered a talent search competition that i was the official photographer for. she was a very special person right from the start. and her smile just lit up the room. i don't know how to explain it. some people have just got that x factor, and she was one of those. randi kaye: she was stunning. but she had some smarts, too. she went on to get her law degree as well. she had a real passion when it came to the issue of domestic abuse, domestic violence. she really wanted to elevate that. june steenkamp: she wanted to be a public figure, and then she would be able to help people.

mark west: she transformed herself to an absolute stunning blonde. charleen hoffman: reeva was one of the superstars. super kind and wasn't fake. wasn't fake. there was no divaness about it. hi, my name is reeva, and i'm a contestant on tropika island of treasure 5, which we just shot in jamaica. randi kaye: reeva had filmed a reality show called tropika island of treasure. reeva steenkamp: we were in jamaica this year. be jealous. you can be jealous. [laughs] she loved it. she was really starting to take off as a celebrity. reeva steenkamp: it's a really, really fun production. and it's in its fourth season now. and yeah, watch this space. mike steenkamp: it was such a devastating shock that her whole life of what she could achieve never

came to fulfillment. [engine roars] randi kaye: reeva met oscar at the race track in 2012. immediately, she was swept up into this adrenaline-filled lifestyle of his. oscar lived fast. oscar lived recklessly. oscar saw himself as an action hero and played that part. barry bateman: in the wake of the shooting, people started looking into oscar pistorius a little bit deeper. [growls] michael sokolove: he kept african tigers that he would pet like it was a cat. he drove dirt bikes at excessive speed, almost killed himself crashing a boat, and then his driving of his own personal cars, which were like indy cars, at 155 miles an hour. that's a mark of somebody who's not completely healthy in some way. there was clearly seeds of some trouble.

they were demons that were driving this young man, oscar pistorius. reporter: there was an assault charge against him. debora patta: the incident in 2009 involved a former girlfriend and another woman in which a door was kicked down at a party. he'd been accused of violence. he'd laid a counter charge. and eventually, the whole thing was dropped. john carlin: and of course, people made quite a lot of his fascination with guns. reporter: pistorius was armed nearly everywhere he went. randi kaye: he had misused guns at times. and the prosecutors really pounced on that. and in fact, they added charges before the trial. debora patta: this new indictment includes two extra charges relating to allegations that pistorius discharged a pistol in a restaurant and out of the sunroof of his car. barry bateman: a picture started to emerge as somebody with violent tendencies.

at the very least, oscar pistorius displayed a significant amount of aggression and that there were not people around him who were sort of grounding him and pulling him back to earth as it got closer and closer to trial, there was information coming out that he had been hanging around with the wrong crowd. mandy wiener: some of the people that he was hanging out with had pretty much bad boy reputations. robyn curnow: there were one or two who were directly involved in assassinations. i think that raised a lot of eyebrows. [suspenseful music] my role was a consultant to the legal team, do a crime scene reconstruction report, and also provide a forensic animation so that you could see the evidence as it laid out in full contextual relationship. i went there, and i set up that house

so that i could experience everything that oscar heard, everything that oscar could see. could he have seen her out of bed? could he have not have seen her get out of bed? could the neighbor have heard what they heard? or maybe were they mistaken? what is it like to hear that sound in the pitch black of that house? [creaking] those videos we never saw in court, but they were leaked to an australian network. scott roder: oscar told me what he recalled happened the night reeva died. it was a very warm night. and he had set up out on the patio two really big fans. and he woke up. it was midnight. and he gets out of the bed and starts bringing the fans in one by one, closing the doors, closing the drapes. he said he heard a noise coming from the bathroom.

[bang] [tense music] actor as oscar: get out of my [bleep] house! get out! get out! get out! as he was screaming, his voice was getting louder. he was getting closer to that bathroom. the number one question i always get on this case-- why didn't reeva just say, hey, oscar, i'm in here? i believe reeva thought he had an intruder at gunpoint, and he thought she was the intruder.

actor as oscar: reeva, call the police! i truly believe the physical and forensic evidence is consistent, supportive, and confirming that this was a tragic accident.

♪ ♪ [sfx] water lapping. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [sfx] water splashing. ♪ ♪ [sfx] ambient / laughing. ♪ ♪

[sfx] ambient / laughing. after her passing, reeva steenkamp's parents discovered some paintings reeva made in her early teens. in one startling picture, a brown-haired woman with wings stands next to a ladder going up to the heavens. in the background is a shadowy man holding what appears to be a shotgun. reeva's family believes the chilling artwork was a premonition of a woman who would be gunned down by her boyfriend years later on valentine's day. [tense music] randi kaye: oscar pistorius finally went to trial just over a year after reeva steenkamp was killed. the scene at the courthouse on the first day was pandemonium.

open up, open up. open up. we knew who the killer was. so there was no argument about who pulled the trigger here. the question that lingered over the trial was, did he know reeva was behind that door or not? the pistorius trial was the first trial in south african history to ever be live broadcast. david mckenzie: many of the witnesses chose not to be on camera. so you hear their voices, but you don't see them. kelly phelps: the biggest difference between the criminal justice system in south africa and a criminal trial in the united states is the absence of a jury. randi kaye: so it was really up to a sole judge to decide if oscar pistorius was guilty or innocent. barry bateman: judge thokozile masipa was appointed to handle this case. judge thokozile masipa: how do you plead? not guilty, my lady. [dramatic music] randi kaye: in going after premeditated murder, the state had to prove that this was the result of some angry rage, a jealous partner,

that there had been a reason, that there was an intent to kill. to support their case, we had whatsapp messages that were downloaded from oscar's phone. kelly phelps: the state put forward four messages in particular that showed arguments between ms. steenkamp and mr. pistorius. one message that really stood out where reeva steenkamp wrote to oscar pistorius that she was scared of him. the defense's answer to those text messages was to present the full picture to try and show that the state had really just hand-picked the worst of the worst. kelly phelps: the defense put forward over 1,700 messages that were taken from the same devices that showed a loving and affectionate relationship. randi kaye: the defense punched huge gaping holes in the state's case. it became clear that the substance

that they had found next to his bed was actually not steroids at all. in fact, it was a legal herbal remedy that he had. it was really just sloppy work by the investigator on the state side. i mean, they had never even tested the substance. [suspenseful music] what really was important in the end in the trial was not what people saw, as it is in most cases, but what people heard. john carlin: in the absence of any eyewitnesses, the prosecution had to rely on what became known as ear witnesses. randi kaye: there were neighbors who the state put forward who believed that they had heard shouting and screaming at the time that the shooting was taking place.

the state argued if a neighbor could hear reeva steenkamp screaming, then mr. pistorius could certainly hear her screaming. and if he fired at her anyway, then he must have meant to kill her. randi kaye: the defense disagreed with the state's version of events. robyn curnow: they agreed that there had been gunshots and that there had been screams. but the defense was trying to prove that the gunshots came first. the defense claimed that there was the gunfire that took place first and then there was screaming. john carlin: and then at that point, the defense argued that these shrieks were not reeva steenkamp, and they were actually pistorius, who was just absolutely sort of going wild with horror at what he'd done and making sounds that could quite easily have been made by a woman too.

actor as oscar: help! help! randi kaye: and the banging that the neighbors said they heard was actually not the gunshots, the defense claimed. that was oscar pistorius using that cricket bat, banging on that door of that cubicle. kelly phelps: the defense argued that the state's witnesses had to have been mistaken. scott roder: the neighbor that said they heard the screams and the argument and the different shot sequences was around 400 yards away. an american football field is 100 yards.

so if you're 375 yards away with trees and houses and somebody screaming from a balcony or shots are going off or somebody hitting a door with a cricket bat, i'm going to say you're going to hear something. but are you're going to hear and be able to identify it without any doubt? i don't think so. john carlin: the defense was able to poke enough elements of reasonable doubt into the testimony of the various witnesses so as to basically neutralize that side of the prosecution case. randi kaye: the defense really thought things were going their way. they had been able to knock down a lot of what the state had put forward. kelly phelps: but the real start of the defense case was mr. pistorius taking the stand.

randi kaye: there was a lot of anticipation about how oscar pistorius would hold up on the stand because he'd been very emotional during a lot of the testimony in court. robyn curnow: it was early monday morning when oscar pistorius took to the stand. i was in court. he looked nervous. he looked small, sitting in the witness box.

kelly phelps: oscar started his testimony with an apology to ms. steenkamp's family. randi kaye: and then he very methodically, with his defense lawyer, walked through all of what he said happened that night. kelly phelps: he gave a very lucid and full account

of his version of events. that, however, was in complete contrast to his performance in cross-examination. [gunshots] the prosecution presented video that had appeared on sky news of oscar at a gun range. [gunshot] oscar pistorius: [laughs] video of oscar pistorius shooting at a watermelon and oscar sort of seemingly delighting in this watermelon exploding. and right after that, the state showed a picture of reeva steenkamp's head following the shooting. [heavy music]

robyn curnow: you could see the bullet wound in her head. you could see what it had done to her. gerrie nel: you know that the same happened to reeva's head. it exploded. have a look. he said to him, you look at this. you did this. you cannot escape from this. and it immediately completely unraveled mr. pistorius on the stand. john carlin: gerrie nel just kept saying, yes, but you knew it was her. and he'd say, no. and it was like some kind of shakespeare tragedy. he was just reduced to this sobbing, helpless person. and that was awful to watch. randi kaye: oscar was really unraveling on the stand, and it got so bad that the judge had to actually stop the court proceedings. randi kaye: the prosecutor relentlessly

attacked him for claiming that reeva steenkamp did not make a sound. robyn curnow: he seemed to get himself tied up in knots. i have no other way of describing it, about where he was, why he was there, what he did first. and he started to look and sound like he was being evasive. after a week on the stand, oscar pistorius, i don't think, had done himself any favors.

you ready? -showtime. this is gonna be epic. [ barking ] it's what the poster said. do you want to make out or? nope. i meant yes. he's a bon garçon.

i give amazing sponge-baths. can i get a room? [ chuckling ] ♪ ♪ chef's kiss. piers morgan: it's a case that's now gripping the whole world. and it really comes down, i guess, to whether you believe oscar pistorius.

mandy wiener: the conclusion reached by judge masipa was that it was not premeditated murder, that oscar pistorius did not intentionally kill reeva steenkamp. randi kaye: oscar pistorius is found guilty of culpable homicide, and he was sentenced to five years in prison. [heavy music] scott roder: involuntary manslaughter essentially is an accident because of poor judgment. and in this case, i do believe oscar exercised poor judgment. it was really the best case scenario for him because he was staring down a charge of premeditated murder. the prosecution wasn't happy with the judge's sentencing and appealed the verdict to a higher court. kelly phelps: the state argued that if it wasn't premeditation, that it was nonetheless murder. barry bateman: that, in fact, there was intention by oscar to kill somebody, not necessarily

his girlfriend but at least the intent to kill somebody who was behind that door. [suspenseful music] reporter: south africa's supreme court of appeals upgraded his original conviction from culpable homicide to murder. john carlin: they decided that it was murder but never of that sort of first degree murder, never of knowingly killing reeva steenkamp. and with that murder conviction came a new sentence for oscar pistorius of six years. but that's not where it ended. the prosecution then appealed that six-year sentence to the supreme court. they argued that the sentence was shockingly inappropriate in the circumstances, and the supreme court of appeal decided to substitute it with a sentence of 13 years and 5 months. [soft music]

reporter: the parole hearing of oscar pistorius will be held in pretoria today. the correctional supervision and parole board for the kgosi mampuru prison will meet to consider whether he is suitable for social integration or not. this is the second time the parole board is meeting to decide whether oscar pistorius should be released on parole. kelly phelps: parole in south africa can be considered when a person has served 50% of their sentence. the parole placement for mr. oscar pistorius has been confirmed. as of january 2024, oscar's out of jail. robyn curnow: oscar pistorius was released, quietly, smuggled out, under the cloak of darkness. nobody saw him leave prison. nobody saw him arrive at home. michael sokolove: two lives were lost. her life was lost. his life has been wasted. scott roder: i think with, you know, the grace of god, he can be successful in some capacity

and be a positive member of the community. and that's my wish for him. barry bateman: to this day, there's still no agreement on what happened that night. people are still polarized. this court case didn't settle anything. in many respects, it just fueled the argument. michael sokolove: was it intentional or not? you know, he meant to shoot at that door. he knew somebody was behind it. did he know it was reeva? i-- i don't think anyone knows except oscar. john carlin: it may perfectly be true that his version of events is true. it may perfectly be true that he thought he was defending himself and his beloved girlfriend from a dangerous intruder. whichever version exactly is true, he will live with regret all his life. he'll be dogged by that to his dying day.

june steenkamp: she had so much to give. so much. tania koen: she would have done amazing things. and she was so kind and passionate and compassionate. and the world was a better place with reeva in it. more than 11 years after killing reeva steenkamp, oscar pistorius began the next chapter of his life when he was released from prison on parole. the conditions of his parole include restrictions to his movements, mandatory classes on gender-based violence, therapy, and anger management, he is not allowed to drink alcohol or speak to the media while he serves out the rest of his sentence, which will expire in december 2029. responding to oscar's release from prison, reeva steenkamp's mother, june, said, "no amount of time served will bring reeva back. we who remain behind are the ones serving a life sentence."