234. The Infamous Blade Runner Killer
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Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. So I'm not gonna lie to you. We attempted to film this episode yesterday and we just... Well, we is an understatement. We just could not...

Settle down. Peyton had the giggles, so we had to stop. And here we are the next day, recording again. Attempting it again. It'll be great. All right, I don't think we have any obligations or duties we need to talk about, so I think we can jump right into your 10 seconds today. Well, I don't know. I was trying to think. I don't have much. I will say, though, for anyone who did come to the Twitch stream,

on Thursday. We had some technical difficulties. It'll be fixed by next Thursday, so come. We'll be talking about Zach Bagans. And for my 10 seconds, all I got is that we got some new trees. We got a bunch of big trees. They're really expensive. Don't buy big trees. Not worth it. Actually, it's worth it 'cause they look great. But trees are so expensive. It's insane how expensive trees are. You can get small trees for pretty cheap, but mature trees, so expensive, but we bought them, we got them, we bit the bullet.

And they look great. That's my 10 seconds. It's a, I guess that means I'm slowly getting older and I like my trees. That's all I got. So let's hop into today's case. Our sources for this episode are CBS News, VanityFair.com, People.com, CNN.com, AP News.com, Reuters.com, The Independent, BBC.com, The New York Times, Oxygen.com, Sky News, NDTV.com, ABC News, and Wikipedia. All right, let's face it.

Fame does some pretty wild things to people. When you come from obscurity and then you find yourself the center of attention, I imagine that it could get to your head. I mean, how couldn't it? Just think people commenting about you all over social media, the news running stories and shaping the public's opinion about you, brand deals dictating how you should look, speak, even act. I mean, that's some pressure, especially when you're supposed to be playing the hero.

And I imagine all of these factors might change the way you see the world too. It might change how you treat people, how you prioritize your values and your morals. But today's case will have you questioning. Can fame really push someone to commit murder?

- This was the question asked when a 26 year old Olympic athlete named Oscar Pistorius accidentally killed his 29 year old girlfriend, Riva Steenkamp. Some who knew him said it was the pressure, the paranoia of fame that led to one horrific life ending choice. But after you hear today's story, I'm curious if you will feel the same. - Okay.

So today's story takes us on a journey around the globe to a city called Santon Johannesburg in South Africa. And that's where on November 22nd, 1986, a little boy named Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius came into the world. But shortly after Oscar was born, his future became a little less clear.

See, Oscar lived with a congenital defect, one that caused him to be born without his fibula bones in his legs. - Yikes, okay. - So when Oscar was around 11 months old, he underwent a heartbreaking surgery, one that required the lower half of both of his legs to be amputated. - Okay. - Now, shortly after his first birthday though, Oscar received his first pair of prosthetics.

And from that day forward, Oscar refused to let anything hold him back. And in fact, his mother, Sheila, always made sure to treat Oscar exactly the same as she did her other two children. In the Pistorius home, Oscar was never treated as though he had a disability. And this was something that Oscar seemed grateful for as he continued to live by a motto his mother set forth for him early. And it went like this.

"The real loser is not the one who crosses the finish line last. The real loser is the one who sits on the side and doesn't even try to compete." So it was these words of encouragement that actually inspired Oscar to take up sports at school. And by age 13, he was proficient in water polo, tennis, and wrestling. Now, Oscar's strength increased just as rapidly as his competitive nature.

But life continued to test Oscar, throwing him several devastating curve balls over the years. So the first began with the divorce of his parents. Oscar, his siblings and his mother then all moved to a smaller house and they spent a lot less time with their father. But around the age of 15, things took an even worse turn.

Oscar's mother, Sheila, who he loved more than anything in the world, passed away pretty unexpectedly. And as a way to cope with the loss, Oscar actually dedicated even more time to sports. He kind of used it as a distraction.

But a year after Sheila's death, Oscar was dealt another blow. He shattered his knee while playing rugby. So it took Oscar a long time to recover from that injury. But once he was well enough, his doctors recommended he try running to help his knee joint recover. And that bit of advice changed the trajectory of Oscar's life. So three weeks into running track, Oscar's knee was injured.

Oscar ran his very first 100 meter race and he beat the record for fastest double amputee out there.

And around the same time, Oscar was fitted with new prosthetics. They were carbon fiber blades called cheetahs, which certainly helped his athletic performance. The 17 year old Oscar entered the Paralympics that same year. And after traveling to Athens, Greece in September, 2004, he actually won the gold in the 200 meter race, which is insane considering he just barely started running. So that's when he earned a nickname for himself.

He became known as the Blade Runner. So Oscar continued to perfect his track skills while studying business management and sports science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. But Oscar's biggest challenge was actually still ahead because Sheila's words were constantly ringing in his head. He was never treated like he lived with a disability growing up and he didn't want to be treated as such on the track either.

which was why oscar began running against non-disabled athletes around 2007. interesting okay and this is actually gonna like flip you upside down because that actually brought up a pretty interesting question for the world governing body for athletics they're known as the international association of athletics federation they began to wonder

Did Oscar's prosthetics actually give him an advantage? I've seen this on actually other social media platforms and I don't know the science behind it. So I don't know the answer. So don't ask me for the answer, but I have seen this discussion quite a bit. I'm sure there is an answer, but it's interesting. Well, since he was placing, he was even winning some of these races.

they ultimately decided there might be an advantage. Like we won't know, but everyone should be on an even playing field, which was why Oscar was banned from competing in non-disabled competitions for a while. This was a decision he fought in the court of arbitration for sport.

And he ultimately won in 2007, which was how in 2012, Oscar Pistorius earned himself a place in the London Olympics. He was the first double leg amputee to ever participate. Representing South Africa, Oscar finished second out of five in the men's 400 meter and he advanced to the semifinals.

And while he finished last in the semifinals, he still solidified his place in Olympic history. And suddenly, Oscar was kind of everywhere. Brands were competing to make Oscar's face a part of their campaign. Reporters were falling over themselves to get interviews while he graced the covers of magazines. Oscar was being invited to lavish parties, movie premieres. He was rubbing elbows with celebrities all over the world.

And he began dating beautiful models like the 29-year-old Reva Steenkamp. So after the Summer Olympics in 2012, Oscar was introduced to Reva in November of that year. And they were both at a motoring event when a mutual friend made the introduction. That night, Oscar asked Reva, who was also a reality TV star at the time, if she'd like to be his date to an awards ceremony. Reva immediately

immediately said yes. And like Oscar, Riva was born and raised in South Africa. She started modeling around age 15, but also knew the importance of getting a good education because...

Riva wasn't just a pretty face, she was incredibly bright, impassioned and empathetic. She had a law degree from Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and was planning to actually take the bar exam. Riva also used her platform as an advocate against domestic violence. It was a cause that she worked hard at and truly dedicated herself to ever since she had experienced domestic violence herself at the hands of a former boyfriend.

So this was something that felt especially pressing in the country of South Africa, where actually in 2012 they had the highest rate of domestic violence in the world.

So Reva and Oscar likely bonded over another detail from their past. It was the fact that they both had traumatic injuries in their early years. Reva used to ride race horses, but she was thrown from a horse that led to two crushed vertebrae. And doctors weren't sure if Reva would ever walk again, but actually after six weeks, she made a full recovery. And it was this injury that put her

her life into perspective. She focused heavily on modeling and TV rather than being a lawyer. She believed that life was too short not to pursue her dreams and she became incredibly successful. She was actually the face of Avon, KFC, Toyota. I mean, you name it. After gracing the covers of magazines herself, Riva went on to be a contestant on the BBC show, "Baking Made Easy" and the South African show, "Tropica Island of Treasure."

But Riva's life would change entirely after agreeing to accompany Oscar to the South Africa Sports Awards that November 2012. The 29-year-old model and the 26-year-old Oscar publicly announced their romance shortly after they were seen together there. And over the next two months, Riva wasn't shy about sharing their relationship on social media.

So come January 2013, the couple seemed to be getting pretty serious. They were spotted together at a celebrity friend's party. One person even claimed they looked really happy together, maybe that they were falling in love even. And at the end of January, they went to dinner with a married couple they were friends with. It was the same ones that had actually introduced them. And they said everything seemed great between the two of them.

Oscar did mention though that he was a bit unhappy in his current house. He said he felt a bit unsafe even though it was gated, it was a high security community, and he was actively looking for something in a different part of town. Maybe even something he and Riva could one day share together. But even if Oscar didn't feel safe in his current house,

Riva seemed pretty secure in their relationship. A few days before Valentine's Day, she tweeted, I woke up in a happy, safe home this morning. Not everyone did speak out against the rape of individuals. Again, she's an advocate. So on the afternoon of February 13th, Riva spent the day practicing a speech that she was going to be giving to students at a local high school about sexual assault awareness.

And that evening, she planned to spend the night at Oscar's house, perhaps preparing to celebrate Valentine's Day the following morning together. Now, at around 10 p.m., Oscar said Reva did a bit of yoga and then climbed into bed with him, and the two of them fell asleep shortly after.

So now it is around 3.20 a.m. in the early morning hours of February 14th. Oscar and Reva are apparently asleep together. Oscar wakes up and says he went out to the balcony to get a fan. He said he came back in, closed the sliding door, but that's when he heard a noise in the bathroom. It sounded like a window was opening. Oscar said that's when he realized Reva

There were no burglar bars over the window in there, and contractors who had been working on the home had left a ladder up outside of that window.

So he took all of this into consideration. His heart started racing because he believed someone was like currently actively breaking into his home. Okay. Oscar at this point wasn't wearing his prosthetic legs since he had been sleeping, but he also didn't think to put them on. So instead he rushed for the pistol that he kept under his bed and he made his way towards the bathroom. Which, I mean, I'm sure we'll get into it later, but...

I feel like it's a red flag for me. I mean, this is from Oscar's side, I assume. And I say the reason that's a red flag is, and I guess I don't even know how much I can speak out about this because I'm not an amputee, but he's had prosthetics since he was one years old. So it seems like putting the mom to be secondhand nature. I don't know. Yeah, I'm wondering if in his mind, well, I mean...

- Hypothetically. Does it take too much time to get them on when you're worried someone's like actively coming into your home? - Yeah, I don't know. I don't, I have no idea. All right, we're jumping into a Skims ad and... - And I have to tell you guys something. Skims asked that I wear the product, but the product is a bra. And so trust me, I have the Skims bra on underneath this blanket. I am doing it for the people.

She wasn't going to wear a t-shirt, but we figured, you know what? Might as well just... I want her to see the bra.

And here we are. But you guys aren't going to. But you guys aren't. But trust. Sorry, not going to happen. I have actually always struggled with underwire bras. They were either too tight or they left me feeling uncomfortable by the end of the day. And what's the point of being uncomfortable all day? And that was really what changed for me when I found Skims. Their bras have totally transformed my experience. And now I actually look forward to wearing a bra because it's

It is comfortable, but also makes me feel confident. And when I was in middle school, I used to actually have to wear my push-up bra and then a sports bra over it because I wasn't getting the lift that I quite wanted. Have to is a stretch. And so I actually get that lift with the Skims Ultimate Bra. And let me tell you, it is not comfortable.

your average pushup. It just gives you that perfect lift. And the band is sturdy, unlike the flimsy ones that I usually wear. And it is true. Like the band actually feels like it's holding you in, not just there because it has to be. - It's true. - So shop Skims bras at Skims.com. They are now available in 62 sizes. So that's 38 to 46 H.

And if you haven't yet, be sure to let them know that we sent you after you place your order. Select podcast in the survey and select our show in the drop down menu that follows. Again, if you're going to shop from Skims, please let them know. Murder With My Husband sent you. It helps support the show. It lets them know that you guys are listening to these ads and loving them. Shopify, Shopify, Shopify. If you've listened to our ads before, we love Shopify. All

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So according to Oscar, he says he goes into the bathroom. It's pitch black. He can't see a thing. But he started screaming for the intruder who was shut in the toilet cubicle of the bathroom to get out of the house. So he says there's an intruder who was hiding in the toilet area and he was screaming at him to leave. He says that's when he yelled for Reva to call the police.

And then using his gun, he fired a shot through the bathroom cubicle door, then another and another and another. So that's four total shots that he fired through the door. And when, according to him, he again called for Reva to phone the police, he realized that she wasn't responding. So he rushed back to the bed and that's when he realizes Reva isn't in the bed. Reva's in the bathroom. Yeah.

that's insane that's insane yes okay according to him but this is according to him so riva was the one that he'd shot at through the bathroom door okay so oscar said at this point quote a wave of tear washed over him as he grabbed a cricket bat and started banging down the door only to find riva unconscious on the other side

He had hit her three out of the four times. One through the arm, the hip, and one through the head. Oh, there's already so many red flags that are being raised right now that even through his story, just don't even make sense. You know, sometimes when you listen to these stories and you're like, how unlucky could you be? I just...

I'm already confused though because he said he was screaming for the person to get out of the bathroom. She didn't respond. So she didn't respond. No way. There's no way she wouldn't have just not responded. So there's already like holes. Also you just happened to grab your gun. No. They just happened to be hiding in the bathroom. And honestly. And you happened to actually shoot before even seeing them. I think majority people wouldn't shoot until they saw the person. I wouldn't. Freaky. I wouldn't until I saw. I don't know. Let's keep going. Okay.

So that's when Oscar called the manager of his community, asking him to call the police. And then Oscar goes inside the bathroom and carries Reva down the stairs. And when police arrived minutes later, that's where they found a barely breathing Reva covered in bloody towels. Alongside her was an inconsolable Oscar who tied off the wound on her arm with a tourniquet in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Reva was only alive for a few more minutes and then she passed away before the paramedics could even make it into the house. So shortly after this, Oscar was obviously taken down to the police station. And the question for investigators was this, once they hear his story, was this actually an accident or do we need to look at this as an actual homicide?

Now, Oscar was adamant that it was an accident. He genuinely thought someone had broken into his home and he was trying to protect Reva and himself from an intruder. But there was sufficient evidence at the scene to suggest Oscar might've known exactly who he was shooting at. So for starters, Reva had been staying with Oscar for the last few nights.

Police felt he should have been used to her moving around in the middle of the night, getting up to use the bathroom. Like if you're sleeping with someone and you hear a noise, you would initially think that's the person that's in my house. It didn't make sense that he would just assume someone was breaking into the bathroom. Plus you have to admit, if he did think a third person was in the house, wouldn't he just have checked Reva's side of the bed before he goes firing gunshots through the toilet cubicle?

But there were a few things found on Reva too that made police wonder if more was going on. Like the fact that it was 3 a.m. when Reva was shot and killed, but Reva was fully dressed, like had full clothes on, not pajamas. And so they were like, was she leaving the house? Like, why isn't she wearing pajamas? She also had her cell phone with her in the bathroom cubicle. And look,

I'm glued to my phone just as much as the next guy. But if I'm getting up in the middle of the night, unless I need a light, I'm not usually just going to bring my cell phone in. So police are thinking, did Reva and Oscar maybe get into a fight? Did she get some sort of text from an ex-boyfriend? Maybe it set him off. Maybe she ran into the bathroom to hide. He came after her in a fit of rage. Well,

Well, apparently there were text messages sent from Riva to Oscar in the weeks before all of this happened. This suggested the couple was maybe not as stable as they were putting off. So in one long text, Riva called Oscar nasty and said, quote, I'm scared of you sometimes and how you just snap at me. Interesting. Apparently he even lost his temper recently while the two were out at an event. The

The fight was pretty public as Oscar supposedly criticized her in front of a group of people. And you have to wonder, since so many people said it seemed to be going well between the couple, was Reva maybe hiding the ugly side of this relationship from her friends and family? Which, I mean, that's normal. That happens a lot. Right. And I think we have to consider the fact, though, that Reva was a very public advocate against domestic violence. So, I mean, how would it come out if she was like,

advocating for it like against it but then you know what i mean there were plenty of people however who knew that oscar was prone to fits of jealousy and they come forward and tell police this and just 36 hours before her death it was confirmed that riva had met up with an ex-boyfriend for a coffee date so that text that sent him off theory could be kind of valid but there was more

Apparently, less than an hour before the shots were fired, neighbors actually heard fighting going on from Oscar's house. And they heard a woman's scream just before the murders. One neighbor would later go on to say, quote, her shouts, her screams were petrifying. I just knew something terrible was happening in that house.

And again, this goes back to your point, which is if she was screaming, he would have known it was her. No, not if it really makes sense at all, actually. Now, Oscar would later say that the screams the neighbor heard were actually his, that when he saw that he had shot Reva and not an intruder, he was the one who let out the high-pitched, like, blood-curdling screams. But I want to pivot a little, actually, because as more people are called in to speak with police about Oscar and Reva, the more they realize...

fame had kind of taken a toll on Oscar in a way that seemed important to the case. This is what they are learning from people who know Oscar really well. So we know that Oscar had a pretty good taste of fame by the time the murder was committed. I mean, it's safe to say like he was having his 10 minutes of fame at this point in his life.

And with that came a good amount of cash too. By 2013, he reportedly was earning about $2 million a year from sponsorships alone. He was sponsored by Nike, Oakley. He had car and perfume brands. But with that came a change in his friend group as well, the people that he was around. According to one source, Osser kind of stopped hanging out with his more wholesome group of buddies, his old group of friends, and began spending time with a...

let's just say more popular, edgier crowd. People who were known to resort to violence and criminal means because they felt that they were above the law. But it was sort of a chicken or an egg situation because Oscar himself hadn't been the same after the Olympics. It seemed that the pressure of fame had gotten into him and ever since then he had just been harsher and ruder to everyone. His diet consisted of a lot of energy drinks, he was taking a lot of caffeine pills, which

Which meant Oscar was also having a hard time sleeping at night. And according to one reporter who did an expose on Oscar, this led him to go to the shooting range multiple times in the middle of the night to blow off steam. Like this was his habit. When he couldn't sleep, this is where he would go. That's kind of insane. He liked guns. He was collecting guns and he practiced with any gun from his collection. He had three shotguns, a rifle, and two pistols. Okay. So let's just say Oscar knew his way around a gun. Yeah.

especially in the middle of night he was proficient when it came to using weapons like this but apparently this reckless side of oscar also wasn't necessarily a brand new thing it had just kind of escalated because i guess back in 2009 before he ever even competed at the olympics oscar was driving a speedboat with some other passengers in it and that day he crashed the boat into a pier and actually landed him in a coma for three days

Jeez. And when he emerged, he had a broken jaw, several broken ribs, a damaged eye socket, and there was also alcohol found on board. But luckily, no one was killed. And then there was another incident with a gun just a few weeks before Reva was killed. One witness claimed to see Oscar dining out with some of those rougher friends when one of them passed a gun under the table to Oscar.

Also, the gun was cocked and loaded and it literally went off right there in the restaurant. Like the gun went off. He's having dinner with his friends and a gun goes off. No one was injured, but another one of Oscar's friends had actually only missed the bullet by inches because it was a misfire.

But it wasn't just this careless attitude that police were worried about when they were learning about Oscar. It was also Oscar's history when it came to women. So back in 2009, there was one incident at a house party that Oscar was throwing where a woman named Cassidy Taylor Memory had gotten into a fight with Oscar and he slammed the door on her so hard that it actually left her with serious injuries. And Cassidy ended up pressing charges

But Oscar, even though he hadn't been to the Olympics yet, was kind of already becoming a famous athlete in South Africa. So literally, he signed a few autographs at the police station and then the case was dropped against him.

And then Oscar sued Cassidy for causing him to lose some of his sponsorships when his arrest came out in the news. So Oscar's biographer later recalled several instances from Oscar's love life where he would fight viciously with a girlfriend, usually because he was jealous of something small. And then he would love bomb them after to get them back.

So one girlfriend named Samantha Taylor had been dating Oscar right before he met Reva. In fact, she claims he actually left her for Reva, but she confirmed that Oscar had a violent side. He was obsessed with his firearms. She says there was one instance where they were pulled over by police and eventually let go. But Oscar was so mad after that, that he actually pulled a gun from the glove compartment and fired a shot out of the car's sunroof. Okay. This is getting to a point where...

I don't know how much more guilty he could look. The fact, I don't know, he obviously has anger issues and it's all coming to fruition. Which is actually interesting because Oscar...

Not only would deny that he killed Reva on purpose. Denies he's even angry. Yes. He denies that he has any. Usually. Have you seen anger management with Adam Sandler? No. They deny being angry. Yeah. Usually angry people like deny that. He's like, no, I don't have a violent temper. No, I'm not angry. I just slammed a door on an ex-girlfriend, crashed a boat into a wall. I think it's called anger management. It's a good movie. It's a comedy. Fired a gun through the sunroof. Yeah, but I'm not angry. I'm perfectly fine. Because I was mad I got pulled over. I'm perfectly calm. It's yeah.

- So in March of 2014, Oscar would have to tell that he didn't have a violent temper to a judge because in South Africa, the jury system had actually been abolished in the 1960s because legislators were so worried about the racial prejudices

of citizens in their country. So ultimately it's just up to the judge to determine Oscar's fate. So throughout his trial, I mean, cause he's going to go to trial either way because he accidentally killed her or he on purpose killed her, right? So throughout the trial, Oscar's team stood firm in the stance that Oscar had completely acted out of self-defense that night and that fame had created a specific sort of paranoia and Oscar just led him to a spur of a moment, life altering, deciding to shoot through the door crime.

Now, it's no secret that South Africa has its fair share of violent crimes, some of the highest rates in the world, in fact. And Oscar was definitely an outlier, probably even a target in a country where more than half of the population earns an average of $65 a month. Wow. And I told you how much he was earning. Yeah. Are you a professional pillow fighter or a nine to five low cost time travel agent or maybe real estate sales on Mars is your profession? It

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Monday.com for whatever you run. Go to Monday.com to learn more. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her, and she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is the kill list.

A cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders. The Kill List podcast is a true story of how one writer ended up in a race against time to warn those whose lives were in danger. Follow Kill List on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all of your true crime listening. So there's also the fact that police corruption is pretty rampant in the country. So relying on the police to help in a time of need.

It might just not happen. And Oscar made sure to make these details part of his testimony. He claimed that he had felt exceptionally paranoid since he had gotten famous and started making money. He's like, and I couldn't rely on the police to help me. He said he moved to a high security gated community. One that mind you was surrounded by electric fences and had managed to only have two burglaries in the last five years. Yeah.

Still, Oscar claimed that he hadn't felt safe since 2005 when he was living in a home that was previously broken into, which is why he was even sleeping with a pistol underneath his bed. So his team argued... Which...

I mean, normal. Reasonable. Yeah, reasonable. So his team argued that Oscar had a long history of anxiety that had definitely been increasing over time, especially with his most recent attempt in the Olympics. And on the night of Reva's murder, anxiety was the real thing to blame. This is what his team says.

Now this self-defense angle became the cornerstone of Oscar's testimony. So much so that the judge felt the only way to validate this and gain a better understanding of the truth was actually to postpone the trial for a month so that Oscar could undergo a psychiatric evaluation. And here's what they found. After a report that was drafted by four different mental health experts, which I applaud them for using four different people,

They concluded that Oscar had been living with depression and PTSD, that he needed continued psychiatric care or they worried for his eventual well-being. They also said that Oscar did not show signs of being abnormally aggressive or having an explosively violent personality. Interesting. So it was more the PTSD than anything. They said he did not show signs of clinical narcissism, which are often associated with men who have committed domestic murder. Yeah.

but that, quote, he was aware of right and wrong at the time of the shooting. So basically they said,

Yeah, Oscar knew that shooting his girlfriend was wrong, even in a fit of rage, but he didn't know that his girlfriend was behind there. He just has PTSD and high anxiety and depression. - Okay. - So while there was one witness who supported the defense saying Oscar had told him that one time prior to the murder, he heard his washing machine making noises and believed it was an intruder. So the defense has this person come in and say, yeah, he had told me something similar. He was on edge.

The prosecution had one very important piece of the puzzle to share with the judge. And they had found evidence that Oscar may have been lying after all, because they brought in the door from Oscar's bathroom as evidence to show the judge. Even though Oscar insisted he didn't have time to put on his prosthetics when he heard the intruder. Remember, this has been a story the entire time. They show that

that the shots were fired at an angle that seemed to be the height of a normal man. - Okay. - They were higher up on the door. And if Oscar had approached the bathroom on his residual limbs, as he claimed, those shots would have been shot lower and at an upward angle, right? - Mm-hmm. - He also said that Riva had to have been crouching behind the door when she was shot and killed, not using the toilet,

like Oscar said, she was probably in there doing so the way she was hit. She was actually in a crouched position, not going to the bathroom. They also said there was a delay between the shots again, enough time for Reva to cry out, confirm she was the one in the bathroom before suffering the fatal blow to the head. Cause the headshot was the last one.

So by the end of the trial, 37 witnesses had been called to the stand. And finally, the judge gave her verdict. Okay, let's hear it. Oscar was found. I'm going to assume not guilty. Not guilty of murder. Guilty of manslaughter. Yes, but guilty of culpable homicide. Okay. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Okay. I mean, manslaughter, it's... Yeah, no, it's pretty common. So the prosecution tried to appeal the sentence, which they felt was too light and, quote, inappropriate. But as they were filing appeals, Oscar actually became eligible for parole. He was released after less than a year and approved to finish his punishment out under house arrest. So...

Despite this, the appeal still moved forward. And in 2016, his case was actually sent to South Africa's high court. There, his original verdict was overturned and instead changed to murder.

Oscar was re-sentenced to six more years in prison. And in 2017, that sentence was actually increased to 13 years to get closer to the recommendation minimum in South Africa for murder, which is 15 years. But in March of 2023, Oscar became eligible for parole once more. And after serving a total of eight and a half years, he was released on January 5th, 2024. Holy crap.

Now, since his release, Oscar has been living a quiet life under house arrest at his uncle's lavish home in a suburb of Pretoria, South Africa, mainly because he sold the home where Reva was killed to pay for his legal expenses. And until his sentence expires in 2029, he must adhere to several rules. He's not allowed to speak to the media. He's not allowed to consume any alcohol. He's

He's also required to undergo therapy to deal with his issues around domestic violence. Oscar's future remains uncertain as do some of the other details in his case. Like,

Was he really suffering from anxiety and paranoia that comes along with wealth and fame? Or was this just the man Oscar really was? And unfortunately, that may be something only Riva will ever have the answer to. And that is the story of Riva Steenkamp. I think my opinion is he 100% did it on purpose.

Because he acted out of anger. Yeah, I think he did it. I mean, I think for sure. Yeah, I mean, I think for sure he had some mental health issues going on, but it doesn't mean he didn't do it. So yeah, I think he was guilty. I think he did it. I think that even the story he told from the beginning, it was just sketchy. Just didn't make sense. I don't know. You take all like the past evidentially. I don't know. I think he did it. So it's actually interesting you say that because I was going to say,

Even if he was suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD, that could easily lead him into a fit of rage. Yeah, for sure. Like irritability and fits of rage are not that uncommon with anxiety and depression. Yeah. And so I think if he was just naturally prone to kind of violent tempers,

And then was paranoid and everything. Like, I don't, I also think it's weird that everyone said he was a super jealous person and she just happened to have coffee with an ex. Yeah. And then according to the autopsy, she was crouching on the floor. Why would she be crouching on the floor? Unless she dropped her phone, there was no reason to be down on the floor. No reason. And so I don't, yeah. Yeah. No, it's, that's kind of a, that's interesting one. I'm surprised I haven't heard of it.

I don't know. All right, you guys, that was our case for this week. And we will see you next time with another episode. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.

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