MURDEROUS MINDS: Oscar Pistorius Pt. 2

After Oscar Pistorius fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013, he claimed he'd mistaken her for a home invader. But the authorities weren't so sure. As they looked into Oscar's past, they realized there were a lot of things people didn't know about him... and they wondered if he was capable of murder. Killer Minds is a Crime House Original. Follow us on social media, @crimehouse for more true crime content.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Vanessa Richardson?

  Hi everyone. Before today's episode, there's another show I want to tell you about. It's called What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Plus, Connor's infectious energy that'll make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on earth. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.

• 0:37Speaker 01

  This is Crime House.

• 0:42Vanessa Richardson?

  Fight or flight. It's an instinct that survived our evolutionary process for millennia. In a moment of life or death, it can show us who we truly are. Do we stay and face our greatest fears, or do we run in the other direction? Well, when it came to Oscar Pistorius, his entire career was centered around flight. He broke world records as the first ever paraplegic athlete to compete in track during the Olympic Games. So it was ironic when Oscar found himself in what he deemed an unsafe situation, because he didn't choose flight. Instead, Oscar chose

• 1:26Vanessa Richardson?

  to fight, a decision that led to the death of his girlfriend, Reva Steenkamp, which is when Oscar's true nature was called into question. Was the Blade Runner really who he said he was? Or was there another darker side to Oscar Pistorius, one that proved he had the instincts of a violent fighter all along?

• 2:04Vanessa Richardson?

  The human mind is fascinating. It controls how we think, how we feel, how we love, and how we hate. And sometimes the mind drives us to do something truly unspeakable. This is Killer Minds, formerly known as Mind of a Serial Killer, a Crime House original. Every Monday and Thursday, we'll be taking deep dives into the minds of history's most notorious serial killers and murderers. The show is still the same, the name just changed. And if you're interested in more true crime stories from this week in history, check out Crime House, the show. Every episode covers multiple cases unified by the same theme. So every week you get something a little different.

• 2:49Vanessa Richardson?

  At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. And to enhance your Killer Minds listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad-free, and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two-part series, you'll get access to both at once, plus exciting Crime House bonus content. I'm Vanessa Richardson.

• 3:24Tristin Engels?

  And I'm Dr. Tristin Engels. As Vanessa takes you through our subject's stories, I'll be helping her analyze what drove them to commit their crimes as we try to understand how someone can do such horrible things.

• 3:36Vanessa Richardson?

  This is the second and final episode on former track star Oscar Pistorius. In 2012, Oscar rose to stardom after becoming the first double-leg amputee runner to compete in the Olympics. But he fell from grace only months later when his girlfriend, Riva Steenkamp, was shot dead in his own home, and Oscar had fired the gun. Last time, we heard Oscar's version of how that fateful night played out. This time, we'll see how and why those claims of self-defense were called into question, and how others who really knew Oscar suggested they weren't surprised by his violent reaction.

• 4:20Tristin Engels?

  And I'll hop in to discuss things like how Oscar's history of verbal abuse in relationships painted a different picture about who he really was, how a near-death experience might have affected Oscar's way of thinking, and provide a little more context around the psychological analysis given during his trial.

• 4:39Vanessa Richardson?

  And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?

• 4:50Vanessa Richardson?

  Valentine's Day 2013, 3:20 a.m. Riva Steenkamp should have been sound asleep next to her boyfriend of four months, Oscar Pistorius. She should have been dreaming about chocolates, jewelry, a future with her new partner. Instead, she was bleeding out on his floor. Several of Oscar's neighbors, having heard screams and gunshots, rushed over to his home to help. One of them was a doctor who lived less than 100 yards away. When he asked what happened, Oscar didn't sugarcoat it. In between administering her CPR, he blurted out, "I shot her. I thought she was a burglar. I shot her."

• 5:35Vanessa Richardson?

  The doctor told Oscar there was no use trying to save her. With Riva's wound to the head, she would be dead in minutes. He was right. Riva took her last breath as Oscar let out a gut-wrenching sob.

• 5:51Tristin Engels?

  So Oscar appears to be responding to this very traumatic situation in a way that most would expect. He's showing shock or fear. He's being honest about being the person who shot her. He's showing that he's scared and seemingly remorseful, and he's showing distress. But that could also be performative. To this point, he's given a very detailed account of what happened. When someone is experiencing a perceived threat, like an intruder, one that made him so afraid he had to fire four shots, their bodies flooded with the stress hormones in response, like we talked about in episode one. So we're likely to see an impairment in the recollection of less critical details, since

• 6:36Tristin Engels?

  the brain is focused more on survival. And his account is very detailed. He recalls the order of events in detail, and they're not adding up. That being said, after the adrenaline wears off, a person experiences an influx of cortisol, which is another stress hormone. And this is when someone starts to feel any pain if they were injured. They are likely to feel fatigue after the adrenaline, and they're going to show emotional responses like shock and sadness, or relief even. And you start to have a clearer head. So this could also be what explains his response. It's as if the situation is finally really hitting him. Or if it was all performative,

• 7:20Tristin Engels?

  then this would suggest that this could have been very well rehearsed on his end.

• 7:26Vanessa Richardson?

  The situation did not look good for Oscar either way. Riva's blood was literally on his hands, on his clothes, on his towels, on his floor. And by the time detectives arrived a little less than an hour later, around 4:15 a.m., the once-spirited Blade Runner was just a shell of himself. As police flooded his home, taking photos and gathering evidence, Oscar rushed off to the kitchen to throw up. He told an officer the smell of blood on his hands was making him sick. He asked for permission to wash them, and they let him. Over the next 45 minutes, an ambulance would whisk Riva's body away. Meanwhile, police cordoned off the home with yellow tape,

• 8:11Vanessa Richardson?

  officially marking it as a crime scene. Oscar remained there, stunned, watching these strangers come and go with callous looks on their faces. For them, it was just another day at the office. But for Oscar, this was easily the worst day of his life. And it got a lot worse when an officer approached Oscar and told him he was under arrest for the murder of Riva Steenkamp. But they couldn't take him to the station just yet. First, they were taking him to a hospital where he'd undergo a comprehensive collection of evidence. They took samples from under Oscar's nails, searched his body for bruising and scratches,

• 8:54Vanessa Richardson?

  blood and urine tests to determine whether drugs or alcohol were present. But everything came back negative. Nonetheless, Oscar spent Valentine's Day in a tiny holding cell. The following afternoon, he'd be headed to court to face his charges.

• 9:14Tristin Engels?

  Oscar's probably been accustomed to being the target of people's attention in both negative and positive ways. Negative in the sense that with his physical disability, he likely struggled with unwanted stares or comments, especially as a child. It's an experience that is unfortunately not uncommon for individuals in the disability community. And it's positive in that as an adult, he is now widely admired and recognized for his accomplishments, even being called an eligible bachelor. He's successful. So to go from being on top of the world like that to a suspect of a crime, and if we are operating on the idea that he views the world in black and white, then this is no doubt a very difficult transition for him,

• 9:58Tristin Engels?

  as it would be for anyone. But let's also remember that black and white thinking, that could exacerbate his emotional response.

• 10:07Vanessa Richardson?

  What might this humbling experience do to someone like Oscar Pistorius, who's so famous and is also about to face a court of public opinion as well?

• 10:17Tristin Engels?

  So the court of public opinion has been positive for Oscar until this point. There's a lot of pressure for high-profile athletes and celebrities to maintain that court of public opinion. Oscar likely has his own management team that's helped him in this regard. But it's also in some ways inadvertently teaching public figures that image is what matters the most. They themselves become a brand that they have to keep. And much of their daily life decisions is based around maintaining that brand. So for someone like Oscar, this could go one of two ways. He could be scrutinizing every detail and thinking about ways to go on the defense to restore his image.

• 11:00Tristin Engels?

  Or he's going to react to this in negative ways, like with anger and resentment, because he doesn't like feeling scrutinized, like no one really does. Or he's lacking control over the situation. And that could be really triggering.

• 11:16Vanessa Richardson?

  While Oscar was probably replaying the scenario over and over again in his mind, investigators were back at his house trying to piece it all together. And the lead detective on the case, Hilton Buata, wasn't buying Oscar's self-defense plea. Buata had been a police officer for the last 24 years. He'd seen a lot of complicated crime scenes, and there were several things about this one that rubbed Buata the wrong way. As Oscar told it, he'd woken in the middle of the night to shut the balcony door, and that's when he heard a noise in the bathroom. Oscar thought an intruder had snuck in through the bathroom window and locked himself in the toilet stall. So he grabbed his gun and fired four shots through the door.

• 12:01Vanessa Richardson?

  It wasn't until afterward he realized it was Riva. But Buata found it strange that Oscar wouldn't have checked Riva's side of the bed before firing shots in his own home. To him, that meant there were details Oscar was leaving out. That was just the tip of the iceberg, though. Riva was still fully clothed at the time of her death. To Buata, it implied Riva was planning on leaving at some point in the night. Either that, or she and Oscar had stayed up late, maybe arguing about something. Which, to him, explained why Riva had taken her phone with her into the bathroom that night. She was holding it when she was shot three times through that door. Buata wondered if perhaps Riva had taken her cellphone

• 12:46Vanessa Richardson?

  with a clear intention to call for help after a violent argument.

• 12:54Vanessa Richardson?

  That theory started to gain more traction when Buata and his team spoke to other witnesses in the neighborhood, multiple people who seemed to hear a different version of the truth, one opposite from what Oscar was saying. Because they reported hearing, quote, "blood-curdling screams" right before the shots were fired. Another witness said they woke up to the sounds of Oscar and Riva fighting about an hour before that. And if that wasn't enough, there was one other perplexing detail in all of this, one that if Buata could crack, would be his smoking gun.

• 13:36Speaker 03

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• 14:09Vanessa Richardson?

  Oscar Pistorius insisted he had no time to think that Valentine's Day morning. He just reacted by grabbing his pistol. He certainly didn't have time to put on his prosthetics. He said he heard a noise and reacted without thinking. Only, Buata wasn't sure about that either. He noticed that the bullet holes in the bathroom door were slanted downward, which would indicate Oscar was taller and wearing his prosthetics when he fired the gun. Plus, when police showed up to the crime scene that morning, Oscar did have his legs on. He was photographed wearing them, covered in Riva's blood.

• 14:51Vanessa Richardson?

  Which to Buata meant one of two things. Either Oscar was lying about acting in the spur of the moment and did take time to put his prosthetics on before shooting through the bathroom door. Or Oscar put them on after he realized he'd shot Riva and then carried her down the stairs to administer CPR and get help from the neighbors. Either way, it definitely complicated his case.

• 15:18Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, either way, it sounds like, one, he's lying, or two, is forgetting a pretty critical detail, potentially? So let's go back a minute and recall how I said, when individuals in fight or flight or freeze mode have impairment in recalling less critical details during a life-threatening event. Well, remembering whether or not he got his prosthetic legs before shooting through the bathroom door... That would be considered a critical detail he's not likely to forget. His ability to have full mobility during a perceived threat is something I would imagine he would have first considered, but again, it's hard to say for sure, given that,

• 15:59Tristin Engels?

  you know, my brain does not have to consider any physical limitations when I'm also trying to get to safety in the way that Oscar does. So if he did consider that and decided not to take the time putting on his prosthetics to respond to the threat, then okay, that was his decision. Understandable, but I also don't see a way of rationalizing forgetting a detail like this altogether. So if I was evaluating Oscar, this would cause me to pay close attention to any inconsistent reporting, much like I'm sure Detective Boata will be doing. So whether or not he put his prosthetics on does not give me enough to really confidently say what his motive was, if there was a motive.

• 16:42Tristin Engels?

  But the inconsistencies in his reports and his recollection of critical details certainly does make me question whether or not this was rehearsed and possibly premeditated.

• 16:55Vanessa Richardson?

  Regardless of what Oscar was saying, the police had come to their own conclusions. And on the morning of February 15th, a little over 24 hours after killing Riva, Oscar was on his way to the courtroom. After only five minutes, the judge announced Oscar was being charged with premeditated murder. As he left the courtroom, a teary eyed Oscar was bombarded by newscasters and journalists from all over the country, wanting to hear his take on what happened to Riva Steenkamp. Overnight, he'd gone from Olympic poster boy to being charged with murder. And everyone in the world had an opinion on whether or not he was telling the truth.

• 17:41Vanessa Richardson?

  Now seen as a potential threat to the public, Oscar was ordered to return to that holding cell for another six days as he awaited his bail hearing. Finally, on February 22nd, he was told he could return home until his trial under several conditions. First, he'd have to pay 100,000 South African rand in bail, about 10,000 US dollars at the time. And second, he had to hand over his passport and any firearms he owned.

• 18:13Tristin Engels?

  This seems alarming, given what he's been charged with. But then again, since he is a public figure, he will have eyes on him wherever he goes. So the judge may have felt that that reduced his risk to the public and his risk of being a flight risk as well.

• 18:28Vanessa Richardson?

  Now, all there was left to do was wait for a trial date to be set. The investigation into Oscar Pistorius was just heating up, and it wouldn't be long until detectives found more incriminating evidence on the athlete, including text messages between Riva and Oscar, messages that indicated a possible motive for murder.

• 18:58Vanessa Richardson?

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• 19:43Vanessa Richardson?

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• 20:10Vanessa Richardson?

  By March 2013, Oscar Pistorius was out on bail awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Riva Steenkamp. At first, it seemed like it was all a giant mistake. Oscar believed an intruder had entered his home that night, and when he fired shots through his bathroom door, he had no idea that Riva was standing on the other side. But as Oscar's case gained more attention, and details of the crime scene came to light, a lot of people started to wonder if there was more to Oscar's story. Like the fact that Riva met up with an ex-boyfriend just 36 hours before she died.

• 20:53Vanessa Richardson?

  It was innocent, a quick meetup over coffee just to catch up and say hello. Whether Riva told Oscar about it before it happened or on the night she died is unclear, but that was part of the complex puzzle investigators were trying to piece together. Because if Oscar was a jealous man, as some who knew him closely had implied, well, that could lead to very dangerous consequences.

• 21:21Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, let's talk about jealous partners. Jealousy can manifest in relationships in so many ways. And experiencing mild and intermittent jealousy in a relationship can be common. But when it becomes dangerous and unhealthy is when your partner becomes possessive, obsessive, and controlling. There are four types of jealousy that's commonly found in relationships. First is romantic jealousy, which is jealousy about any interaction their partner has with others because they feel it threatens their own connection with their partner. Second is sexual jealousy, which is the fear of infidelity.

• 22:06Tristin Engels?

  Then there is power jealousy, which is when one partner is becoming more successful than the other. And lastly, there's suspicious jealousy, which is when a partner is constantly suspicious and monitoring their partner's behavior. This last one is something I have seen personally to an extreme in my practice, especially when I've been treating someone who has a delusional disorder of the jealous type. Individuals with this condition will go so far as to inspect their partner for signs of whether or not they've been touched, hugged, or romantic with anyone else. And even when they don't find any signs, and I'm talking inspecting their entire body,

• 22:48Tristin Engels?

  they will remain convinced that they were still unfaithful in some way. And thus, the delusion. But circling back to Oscar, it sounds to me, based on this, that it's possible he had been experiencing a combination, which is not uncommon, but a combination of romantic and sexual jealousy with Reva.

• 23:09Vanessa Richardson?

  How might someone identify these behaviors that come with a jealous, controlling partner in their own partner, so they can take the proper steps to mitigate the situation?

• 23:19Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, that's a really great question, and it's really important information to circulate. If your partner begins to exhibit jealousy over your friends and family to the point that you are being constantly questioned, or they begin to isolate you from your support system because they made it a condition, then you are likely experiencing early signs of intimate partner violence. So those are some behaviors that you can recognize early on. If your intentions are constantly being called into question, if you cannot have any privacy to include passwords or social media, if you have to respond to your partner's calls or texts right away, or are required to check in frequently, if you're avoiding social

• 24:00Tristin Engels?

  outings, like in this case, Reva, it's unclear if she even wanted him to be aware of this reconnection with her ex. Because in him knowing that, that could have been a conflict. So women or partners who are avoiding social outings to avoid conflict, that's an indication there might be intimate partner violence. If you need approval over what you wear, or if everything you want to do needs approval first, these are all signs that there could be intimate partner violence happening in your relationship. And if you think you or someone you know is in a relationship where there's intimate partner violence, please visit thehotline.org, which is the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

• 24:42Tristin Engels?

  There are so many resources on there, including how to recognize abuse, safety planning, and so much more. And it really helps people understand how to safely mitigate the situation.

• 24:57Vanessa Richardson?

  After learning about this jealous side of Oscar and this potential motive, police realized they needed to comb through the couple's text messages to one another. And let's just say, they weren't doing Oscar any favors. Quote, "You have picked on me incessantly. I'm the girl who fell in love with you. I can't be attacked by outsiders for dating you and be attacked by you, the one person I deserve protection from. I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and of how you will react to me." End quote. These are just a few of the messages that Riva sent to Oscar in the three short months of their relationship.

• 25:41Vanessa Richardson?

  At a time when they should still have been in the honeymoon phase, it appeared as though Riva felt threatened by her new partner. Then there was one instance at a friend's engagement party just a few weeks before her death. While the details are murky, Riva sent him this text after the event. Quote, "I was not flirting with anyone today. I feel sick that you suggested that and that you made a scene at the table and made us leave early. I do everything to make you happy and to not say anything to rock the boat with you. You do everything to throw tantrums in front of people." End quote. So it was no secret that Oscar Pistorius was the jealous type.

• 26:25Vanessa Richardson?

  The question now was, did something set him off that night? Or was his story about mistaking Riva for an intruder actually true? Well, as police sifted through the skeletons in Oscar's closet, they realized there were plenty of people who said they no longer recognized the Oscar they once knew. They thought fame had corrupted him. Money, magazine covers, women. It was enough to change the chemistry of even the humblest person. But Oscar was on a whole other level. He had become rude, irritable, which wasn't helped by his incessant consumption of caffeine pills and Energy drinks.

• 27:07Vanessa Richardson?

  At one point, he stormed out of a BBC radio interview because he didn't like a question that was asked. One journalist who'd interviewed Oscar several times, even before his rise to fame, said that they could sense he was no longer the same man. He was now distant, cold, standoffish. But there were other questionable changes in Oscar's life, like who he chose to surround himself with. Suddenly, Oscar was no longer hanging out with the, quote, "good old lads," as one friend called them. After the Olympics, Oscar had been surrounding himself with more dangerous people, partying with members of the Johannesburg criminal underworld, gangsters, drug dealers, people

• 27:52Vanessa Richardson?

  who solved their problems with violence. Police wondered, could that have rubbed off on Oscar?

• 27:59Tristin Engels?

  So, let's talk about this transition he had in social circles. Based on the text messages from Reva and his sudden gravitation to befriending gangsters and drug dealers, it seems apparent to me that this inferiority complex and this deep-rooted insecurity is still very strong. It's almost as if he has core beliefs about what loyalty and strength are, and he seems to think that they're synonymous in some way with power, likely power in emotional and physical ways. Someone who feels physically inadequate and is also preoccupied with safety would feel that they are the most safe and most powerful and in control when they're friends with

• 28:42Tristin Engels?

  people who are feared. I'm willing to bet that being in their circle allowed him to overcompensate for feelings of vulnerability or inferiority, all the things he's been taught not to feel and that he's been avoiding feeling. It's as if he wanted to be untouchable, or at least perceived that way. And hanging out with them certainly will change the way in which he views the world and the choices he will make. In fact, it's worth considering that he may have been involved in some nefarious acts with this crowd himself, which would explain the increased worry about safety and his preoccupation. With guns, he might have actually had a realistic fear for safety. But it's also worth noting that his preoccupation with guns could have also been

• 29:26Tristin Engels?

  a very intimate partner violence form of control over Riva using fear to instill obedience.

• 29:37Vanessa Richardson?

  Either way, it seems that Oscar fit in well with this dangerous group of people. Because Oscar was short tempered and prone to fits of violent rage himself. Even before he signed deals with Nike and made millions of dollars. Back in September of 2009, Oscar was arrested at his own party for slamming a door on a guest named Cassidy Taylor Memory. But this wasn't just an embarrassing moment for Cassidy. Oscar slammed the door so hard he injured her leg. He was charged with assault, though the case was later dropped. Other women who dated Oscar had similar things to say about his temper, that he could fly off the handle one minute, then love bomb them the next.

• 30:21Tristin Engels?

  It sounds like you're describing possibly a pattern of a narcissist.

• 30:26Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, one ex-girlfriend in particular had a lot to say about how Oscar treated her. Her name was Samantha Taylor. The two began dating back in 2011, when Samantha was 17 and Oscar was 25, which was legal, considering the age of consent in South Africa was 16. And they were on and off for the next year or so, right up until Oscar met Riva.

• 30:51Tristin Engels?

  Even if she was legal at that age, she's still vulnerable and prone to grooming. So it does say something about Oscar even having interest in someone so young.

• 31:02Vanessa Richardson?

  Samantha said behind closed doors, the relationship was a total roller coaster. That a lot of the time, Oscar could be kind, gentle, thoughtful, caring. But it only took the tiniest thing to make Oscar snap. Whether that was forgetting to make him a cup of coffee when he asked, or wearing clothes that he felt were too revealing. Oscar's rage was unpredictable, and Samantha said he'd verbally assaulted her.

• 31:29Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, there's definitely intimate partner violence occurring.

• 31:32Vanessa Richardson?

  Even when they weren't together, Oscar still tried to control her. He'd force her to send pictures of where she was so that he knew she was telling the truth. And when he wasn't in training, Samantha said he was drinking a lot. And the verbal abuse only got worse. Samantha said there were times she tried to distance herself from Oscar. But that's when the love bombing would start up again. Apologies, self-deprecating statements, anything to make her feel like he was sorry and that he was still in love with her, just to rope her back in and let the cycle continue.

• 32:10Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, it's a cycle of abuse. I've never met Oscar, so I've never evaluated him. And this is in no way a formal opinion and for educational and entertainment purposes only. What you're describing appears to be a typical pattern of a narcissist, which is to idealize, which is love bombing, devalue and discard. So why was Oscar, who seemingly had it all, so desperate to control his romantic partners? The symptoms of narcissism usually begin in childhood, or the core of it starts there, I should say. Recapping on that, Oscar was struggling with an inferiority complex, as we all do, but his being more complex than most because of physical disabilities.

• 32:54Tristin Engels?

  He likely dealt with compounding rejection from his peers growing up as a result of this. And his abilities were certainly questioned even by the Olympics. So these experiences can really cause deeply rooted self-esteem deficits and insecurities, especially when it comes to how he truly perceives his own value in the world. Now, his mother, by what was described in episode one, she did everything she could to ensure he had a "normal" of a life as possible. She would not even let his disability really be recognized in their home. But her attempts to empower Oscar and encourage ego strength may have inadvertently caused him to have an overinflated ego in the process, which probably became even

• 33:39Tristin Engels?

  more compensated for after her death, because without her doing that, it was up to him to do that. After she passed, he was recalling the things that she would teach him, and one of which seems to me like it was a very dichotomous view. It essentially taught him that you're either a loser or you're not. So it's possible that Oscar thinks in black and white, like we discussed. You either love me and do everything I want and need, or you don't, and therefore you have no value or are worth discarding. Of course, he became a very successful athlete who earned the admiration of millions of people, which likely served to inflate his ego and give him more superiority. But underneath all of this appears to be a core belief that he is less than, he is

• 34:22Tristin Engels?

  inadequate, he's inferior, and individuals with narcissism act superior and grandiose. They engage in manipulation and abuse. They're often paranoid and controlling because they don't want their core beliefs about themselves to be reinforced or confirmed by the people around them. So they need to be in control and have the power in order to feel secure in their own insecurity.

• 34:47Vanessa Richardson?

  What's even scarier, or adds to that, was Oscar's relationship with guns. Samantha told police there were a number of, quote, "gun-related incidents" during their time together, but perhaps none as memorable as what happened on September 30th, 2012. It was about a month before Oscar broke up with Samantha to be with Reva. Samantha claimed she was in the car with Oscar and another friend when they were pulled over for speeding. The officer noticed Oscar's gun in the vehicle, took it, and emptied the magazine onto the floor of the car. Oscar was not happy about it. As soon as the officer went back to his vehicle, Oscar reloaded the gun and shot a round through the open sunroof.

• 35:32Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, this is his attempt to regain control and power over that situation, but also, again, it's another form of power over Samantha. Imagine the fear she's having.

• 35:42Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, luckily, no one was injured and he didn't receive any punishment. Oscar certainly didn't learn any lessons that day because he found himself in another gun-related event in January 2013, just a few weeks before Riva's death. That night, Oscar was out at a trendy Johannesburg restaurant with a few friends. One of them pulled out his pistol to show Oscar, but while Oscar fiddled with it under the table, he accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting a round at the floor, which ricocheted up and hit his friend in the leg. Once again, Oscar was lucky there were no life-threatening injuries. Someone could have easily died that day, yet it didn't seem to rattle him whatsoever,

• 36:27Vanessa Richardson?

  which may be why, within weeks, he would be holding another pistol. This time, pointing it through a door at the woman he claimed was the love of his life. It was something Oscar would have to speak to when his day in court finally arrived a little over a year later, in March of 2014, and he was planning to take the stand in his own defense. But with a list of 107 different witnesses testifying against him? His chances at freedom weren't looking good. Having timeless staples in your wardrobe that you can rely on for any occasion is

• 37:11Vanessa Richardson?

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• 39:24Vanessa Richardson?

  March 3, 2014. A little over a year after killing Riva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius stood before the Pretoria High Court for the first day of his trial. There are no juries in South African courts. So for Oscar, his fate was in the hands of one person, Judge Tokazila Masipa. Oscar had manipulated his self-defense plea for the past year, and he wasn't about to change his tune now. He believed an intruder had entered his home that night, and he accidentally shot Riva in a moment of confusion. The prosecution painted a different picture.

• 40:05Vanessa Richardson?

  Of the 107 possible witnesses that might testify against Oscar and his true nature, 37 of them were called to the stand, including Oscar's most recent ex-girlfriend, Samantha Taylor.

• 40:20Vanessa Richardson?

  But before one of their star witnesses testified, there were other matters to speak to, like the nature of the text messages between Oscar and Riva. Although they weren't exactly the smoking gun the prosecution hoped they'd be, over 1,000 messages had been collected from the couple's devices. And while they did include a few lovers' quarrels and words from Riva like, quote, "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me," end quote. More than 98% of the exchanges proved Oscar's point, that the two were like giddy schoolchildren. Most of their texts were loving endearments to one another,

• 41:02Vanessa Richardson?

  things from Riva that said, quote, "You are an amazing person and you are more than cared for." But the question remained, could that evening have fallen in the 2% of times it wasn't good between them?

• 41:18Tristin Engels?

  Let's talk about those text messages. I don't really think that this proves his point, that they were like giddy schoolchildren, at least from my perspective. Because even though 2% of them were alarming, the 98% of the endearing ones, especially the one you shared, it doesn't sound endearing from my perspective. So we talked about the fight, flight, and freeze response in episode one, and we didn't talk about the fawn response. This is a trauma reaction often seen in relationships where there's intimate partner violence. It's a trauma coping mechanism, and I think that Riva is exhibiting this in her text messages to Oscar. Essentially, what fawning is,

• 42:02Tristin Engels?

  is a people-pleasing pattern that is done in order to avoid conflict or abuse. People who engage in fawning are seen as overly agreeable, struggle saying no or asserting boundaries. They prioritize the needs of their partner over their own. They respond to criticism with praise or admiration. And overall, it's a protective strategy. And it seems, based on the one that you shared, and I'm sure the rest of the endearing messages that they described. Are similar. Riva needed to constantly reassure Oscar of her devotion in order to avoid abuse or suspicion even from him. Even if that suspicion is completely not based in reality. That tells me she's trying to reassure his insecurity.

• 42:46Tristin Engels?

  And I'm guessing she had to do this over a thousand times during their relationship in order to maintain a status quo or to avoid conflict and maintain her own safety.

• 42:59Vanessa Richardson?

  Are texts considered an accurate and intimate look into a couple's life behind closed doors? It's so hard to tell. Also, keep in mind, this wasn't Riva's first abusive partnership. She was an advocate for domestic violence. Could that have any impact on how she handled future abusive relationships?

• 43:17Tristin Engels?

  I would say that these text messages are an accurate depiction into their intimate life. And I know some may disagree with me, and I'm not looking at it from a legal perspective so much as I am from the psychological perspective, because these texts are private and they're personal and they're not intended for others to see. At least when they're writing them, I'm pretty certain neither of them ever would have imagined they'd be showing in a courtroom. So I feel like they are a realistic depiction of what their conversations are like and maybe arguably an even milder depiction of that. Because, for example, we can't really discern the tone so much as they could.

• 43:57Tristin Engels?

  So we can't tell if they had been in person during these exchanges, those 2% that were not so good, if people were raising their voice, if things were being thrown, like that can't be determined. But in situations where there is suspected intimate partner violence, these texts could show a pattern that substantiates Samantha's recollection to the court as well. Because if we recall, she informed detectives that she had to constantly send pictures to Oscar of where she is and what she's doing. And even that, combined with these exchanges, could really establish a pattern of control and manipulation that Oscar has in romantic relationships. Onto your second question.

• 44:40Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, I want to discuss that because I think it's really important. The fact that Riva has been a survivor of intimate partner violence in the past could have put her at an increased risk of falling for Oscar's love bombing as a result. Because how he idolized her in the beginning could have been very disarming for her in comparison to maybe her past abusive experience. However, it also needs to be said that Riva, no matter what, is the victim. And it's too common that people blame the victim. And in this case, there might be some who blame or shame Riva simply because she'd been victimized before. And so they'll ask questions like, how did she not see this? Or why didn't she just leave?

• 45:21Tristin Engels?

  So the reality is, one in four women and one in nine men have been in a relationship where there's been intimate partner violence. It's prevalent and it can be very difficult to discern at first. And after manipulation is recognized, it's even harder to leave. And from what I can tell from those texts, it seems to me she was trying to assert her needs and her fears, although only 2% of them showed that. But she was probably distancing herself from him and if not, close to maybe even breaking it off entirely. But look what happened. So there's a reason why providers encourage safety planning so that women and men can leave with as minimal risk as possible.

• 46:02Vanessa Richardson?

  This is another great opportunity to remind listeners of thehotline.org to check it out for any safety planning. Now, for the defense, there was an even bigger thing for Oscar to prove, and it really didn't have anything to do with Riva. The challenge was convincing the judge that Oscar Pistorius, an Olympic hero, was constantly afraid for his life. Remember, just before the murder, Oscar had been looking to buy a house in a safer area of Johannesburg. And while his current neighborhood, which he'd lived in since 2008, was equipped with dozens of safety features, from CCTV footage to 12-foot walls, to alarms that triggered their own security team if anyone tried to come near the property.

• 46:45Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, Oscar claimed it wasn't enough. He still didn't feel safe. And apparently, that night with Riva wasn't the first time he'd mistaken someone for an intruder. One of Oscar's friends said, just a few months prior to the murder, Oscar believed someone had entered his home then too. Oscar told him he went into combat mode with his gun, sneaking around the house, only to find out the sound he heard was his washing machine. Now, Oscar's neighbors said there was no reason for Oscar to feel so unsafe in their neighborhood. One resident argued that the security was so good, it was almost frustrating.

• 47:26Vanessa Richardson?

  At one point, even her 70-year-old mother was turned away from their gates. But not everyone living there was an Olympic celebrity receiving death threats. As we mentioned last time, death threats were common, not just for Riva, who was dating a disabled Olympian, but for Oscar himself, who many felt didn't deserve to compete in the Games, and he claimed it made him more on edge than ever before. Although it wasn't just threats that made Oscar nervous, there was something else from Oscar's past, which the defense used to support his claims: a single event that had changed Oscar's perspective on life entirely.

• 48:09Vanessa Richardson?

  It happened back in February of 2009, four years before Riva's death. Oscar and a friend were out on a speedboat about 50 miles south of Johannesburg on the Val River. After spending the day on the water, it began to get dark. Oscar was at the wheel when they came upon a jetty, one Oscar didn't notice in time. The boat crashed into the jetty at high speed. While his friend was okay, Oscar's face slammed into the wheel. He had to be airlifted to a hospital, where they found he'd broken his jaw, several ribs, and the bone to his eye socket.

• 48:50Vanessa Richardson?

  He was then placed in a medically induced coma for three days while they did reconstructive surgery on his face. He woke up with 180 stitches. Doctors said it was a miracle that Oscar didn't have permanent brain damage. While police found empty alcoholic beverages on board the boat, they never tested Oscar's blood alcohol content. Instead, Oscar went right into physical therapy and got himself on the road to recovery. After two months, he was back training for his next competition. But the accident changed Oscar. Having come so close to death, Oscar said he'd now unlocked a new fear: dying young.

• 49:36Tristin Engels?

  This adds another layer of complexity to Oscar. Notwithstanding that someone who's already had to navigate the world with a physical disability, he also narrowly escaped death and escaped permanent brain damage. The impact of that realization could have been very traumatic for him, or it could have been exhilarating. If he has a sense of superiority and an overinflated ego, cheating death could add to that sense of grandiosity. He could now be thrill-seeking as a result of that. But let's circle back to the head trauma. According to what you shared, he was injured in the orbital area of the face. If it was severe enough to affect the frontal lobe, because that's what's right behind that,

• 50:21Tristin Engels?

  then he could have some impairment in executive functions like decision-making and planning. Though, according to what you said, Vanessa, doctors informed him he did not suffer from permanent brain damage. But that's not to say he didn't suffer a traumatic brain injury. He did have to be put into a medically induced coma, after all. If it's affecting decision-making and planning, then he's still being very successful at planning his training, at planning his athleticism. I don't see it impairing him in that area of his life. So it's not something that would be selective if there was an impairment there. It'd be general. To all areas. Could it affect how he behaves in romantic relationships or with other people?

• 51:05Tristin Engels?

  Well, maybe, but although from the story, all his abusive behavior with women happened after this accident occurred, at least from what we know with Samantha, with Cassidy, and now with Reva, his preoccupation with guns and safety predates this. Which brings me to my next point. What I find to be more concerning upon learning about this incident is that there seems to be a pattern of alcohol abuse that has not really been addressed. Samantha noted that he would drink a lot and he would drink in excess. And when he did, he became more verbally abusive and hostile after drinking. He shot a gun while at a trendy restaurant. Was there alcohol there?

• 51:48Tristin Engels?

  Not to mention, he's been using stimulants like caffeine pills and energy drinks, and he's hanging around people who sell drugs. So it wouldn't be surprising if he's abusing other stimulants. And now we have this near fatal accident where clearly alcohol was involved. So I wouldn't be surprised if alcohol is in some way connected to a lot of these gun-related incidents, including the first mistaken intruder incident. Alcohol abuse and certainly alcohol dependency will obstruct someone's judgment and their reasoning and their rationalization because it's disinhibiting. It can cause paranoia. It can cause aggressive or hostile behavior.

• 52:31Tristin Engels?

  I'm really surprised his toxicology screen was negative. I think it is more likely than not that if anything was impairing his decision-making or his judgment, it's not a head injury, it's alcohol and personality-driven factors.

• 52:49Vanessa Richardson?

  As you might imagine, after all that, Oscar's mental health became a huge point of contention during the trial, particularly when the defense called Oscar's psychiatrist, Dr. Merrill Vorster, to the stand. Dr. Vorster told the judge that, from her analysis, Oscar had a long history of generalized anxiety disorder, one that seemed to have gotten worse over the last few years. Well, Judge Masipa definitely wanted a second opinion on the matter, which is why she suspended the hearing and ordered Oscar to undergo another psychiatric evaluation. Which meant Oscar's fate hinged entirely on those findings. If they came back and confirmed Oscar had, in fact, been mentally incapacitated on that

• 53:33Vanessa Richardson?

  Valentine's Day morning, the trial would be over. Oscar would walk away with a not guilty verdict by reason of mental illness. But until then, Oscar became an outpatient at an institution in Pretoria. And once those 30 days of testing were up, four mental health experts revealed some pretty explosive findings. They stated that Oscar was not mentally incapacitated the night of Riva's death, that he was able to grasp the magnitude and wrongfulness of his actions that night, and that the trial should resume.

• 54:14Tristin Engels?

  As a forensic psychologist, this does not seem like explosive findings to me because I, just based on what I know already, without anything else, I likely would have drawn the same conclusion. So let's talk about what generalized anxiety disorder is, because it is a common anxiety disorder that affects an average of 6 million people. It's a condition marked by excessive worry and ruminations, there's difficulty controlling the worry, restlessness, sleep disturbances, irritability, and a difficulty in concentrating, most often because there's so much in their head, ruminating and worrying. This is not a condition that would meet the legal standard for the insanity defense

• 54:55Tristin Engels?

  because it's actually a high-functioning anxiety disorder, and it's not one that's going to impair an individual's ability to reason or appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions. So like I mentioned, it's not surprising to me that this was the determination, especially if this is the only diagnosis they concluded he had and wasn't comorbid with anything else. In fact, given his history of being worried about safety and expressing paranoia and hypervigilance, this also means to me that they ruled out other conditions that could explain those symptoms and behaviors, conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder, or mood disorders like bipolar disorder, and of course, ruling out psychotic disorders.

• 55:38Tristin Engels?

  So essentially, what they're informing the court is that at the time of the commission of the alleged crime, he did have the ability to discern right from wrong and was of rational mind, like you said. And typically, if experts have determined this, that they don't meet the legal standard and their opinions are the same, meaning like they all had the same conclusion and there doesn't need to be a tiebreaker, the defendant will withdraw their insanity plea. But there's also been instances where the defendant will refuse to do this. I've actually had to participate in testimony on something like that. If they refuse, even though all the experts have a consensus, and even if it goes against the advisement of their own counsel, the insanity trial will proceed.

• 56:21Vanessa Richardson?

  I'm so curious. How can a doctor retroactively tell if someone was suffering from a mental health condition on a certain date in history? Are there tests to determine that?

• 56:31Tristin Engels?

  Very good question. I get this question a lot, and I understand the curiosity. So when we are assigned an insanity case, what we are tasked with is assessing the defendant's mental state at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. So the legal standard to meet insanity varies by state, but generally, what we need to do is answer the following. Is there a mental disease or defect? That's legal terms, not clinical. Essentially, do they have a mental health condition that meets the criteria or the legal standard for insanity? And did that impair their ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions? Obviously, they also want to know, do they still pose a risk to the public?

• 57:12Tristin Engels?

  So in order for us to answer those questions, we're given all their records, including their arrest report, witness statements and affidavits, transcription or video of the investigation's interviews with the defendant.

• 57:28Tristin Engels?

  We get officer statements and nowadays we get body worn camera footage, which is crucial because it really shows us what their demeanor is at the time of the alleged offense. We get their medical and their mental health records and their history of arrests and prosecutions. So we then review all of that to see, is there an established history of mental illness and subsequent treatment and whether or not they had a history of being treated for a qualifying mental disorder for insanity? We'll interview family to get historical information and we interview the defendant. We also administer psychological tests and it's usually a battery of tests that are catered specifically to the individual and what we're trying to understand. With all

• 58:11Tristin Engels?

  of the psychometric data and collateral information, we are usually able to render an opinion, but it is a very long process. And sometimes the interviews happen with the defendant more than once. I've had to do several sometimes. And when it comes to Oscar, he not only did not have a mental disease or defect that met the legal standard, but recall that at the time of the alleged offense, he not only admitted that he shot at Riva, but he justified it by saying he thought that she was an intruder. So right there tells me that he had a rational mind. He understood what was legally appropriate and not because he called the police, right? He knew something wrong happened. He needed

• 58:53Tristin Engels?

  to inform the police. He admitted when it happened and he recognized that he made a mistake and error in judgment because he felt morally and legally justified to shoot what he thought was an intruder. So all of that alone, right there tells me that he had rational mind. He absolutely did at the time of the commission of the offense, understand and appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions.

• 59:17Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, one other thing they determined was that Oscar's mental health had changed in the aftermath of Riva's death. He now lived with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. They also recommended that he should continue to be treated for these conditions regardless of the outcome of his case.

• 59:37Tristin Engels?

  Now, remember this is after, right? So it's after the alleged crime. We can't take that information and use it for insanity because it's specific to the time of the alleged offense.

• 59:48Vanessa Richardson?

  There was one other detail they included that actually worked in Oscar's favor. They said there was no evidence that Oscar had a history of explosive violence or aggression, and that he did not exhibit the signs of narcissism that are typically associated with men who have been linked with domestic violence.

• 1:00:07Tristin Engels?

  But I would argue that he did. He's had two instances where he's shot a gun in public spaces.

• 1:00:14Vanessa Richardson?

  Yes.

• 1:00:15Tristin Engels?

  That alone, you know, at the restaurant and out of his car in the presence of a police officer, like, I would argue that there is definitely a history of explosiveness or aggression, because those are aggressive acts, even if he thinks he's being playful.

• 1:00:30Vanessa Richardson?

  Even with the mental health assessment, there were still a few giant question marks lingering in Oscar's case, like the screams. Neighbors who were called to the stand claimed to hear a blood-curdling scream coming from Oscar's home right before the shots were fired. But the defense had an explanation. Those screams didn't belong to Riva. They belonged to a terrified Oscar. They even had an acoustic engineer testify as an expert. He claimed, "It's not always easy to differentiate from a man or a woman's screams," and that it was hard to take those witness accounts as fact. But there was another major piece of evidence, one that would help the judge determine whether

• 1:01:15Vanessa Richardson?

  the shooting was premeditated or not. Was Oscar wearing his prosthetic legs at the time of the murder? This was the smoking gun the case needed. If the prosecution could prove Oscar was wearing his legs when he shot Riva, despite what he claimed, it would mean he wasn't rushing around trying to find an intruder. Instead, it would suggest he took his time putting them on, or maybe never even took them off that evening in the first place, due to a long fight with Riva. But most importantly, it would prove he was lying.

• 1:01:54Vanessa Richardson?

  The answer to the question was in that bathroom door. And that bathroom door now stood in the middle of the courtroom. It all hinged on the trajectory of those bullets and the height at which they were fired through that door. Was it at the height Oscar was with or without his prosthetics on? Well, with the help of a forensic expert, the defense was able to prove their point. The experts concluded they had penetrated the door at the height Oscar was without his prosthetics. Doubling down on Oscar's story, his lawyers even had him parade around the courtroom without his prosthetics on to show how unstable his balance was without them, and how it

• 1:02:38Vanessa Richardson?

  might have heightened his sense of fear and panic that night and led to the shooting.

• 1:02:45Vanessa Richardson?

  It also showed that Oscar did not have the force and stamina to batter down the door with the cricket bat until his legs were on, which explained why he did have them on when the police showed up to the crime scene an hour or so later. Ultimately, the evidence worked in Oscar's favor, and it showed that he may have been telling the truth about his prosthetics after all. Finally, on September 11th, 2014, six months after the trial began, Judge Masipa was ready to deliver her verdict. She claimed that the prosecution had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Oscar had premeditated this murder.

• 1:03:29Vanessa Richardson?

  Instead, she found Oscar guilty of culpable homicide, or in other terms, manslaughter. In October, Oscar received a sentence of five years, only 10 months of which he'd have to serve behind bars. The remainder would be under house arrest. But it wasn't over for Oscar, far from it. After being released for house arrest in October 2015, prosecutors filed an appeal, stating the punishment for his crime was "shockingly lenient." His case was brought before an appellate court who agreed with the prosecution. They overturned Oscar's culpable homicide verdict and instead convicted him of murder.

• 1:04:17Vanessa Richardson?

  Which meant in late 2017, Oscar was heading back behind bars for another 15-year sentence, though with good behavior, Oscar only served nine of them. On January 5th, 2024, Oscar Pistorius was released from prison. But life is not back to normal for him, not by a long shot. Until 2029, Oscar will be living under strict rules for his parole: no alcohol, no speaking to the press, not able to leave his home at certain hours of the day. But more importantly, Oscar is obligated to attend anger management classes, particularly

• 1:05:00Vanessa Richardson?

  regarding violence against women. Though there's one thing many people are left wondering: can Oscar Pistorius sleep at night? Well, back in 2016, the Blade Runner sort of answered that for the press when he said, quote, "I did take Riva's life, and I have to live with it. I understand the pain people feel that loved her and miss her. I feel that same pain. I feel that same hate for myself. I feel that same difficulty in understanding this. And I look back and I think, I always think, how did this possibly happen?"

• 1:05:45Vanessa Richardson?

  End quote. And that is one question we may never have the answer to.

• 1:06:02Vanessa Richardson?

  Thanks so much for listening. Come back next time for a deep dive into the mind of another murderer.

• 1:06:08Tristin Engels?

  Killer Minds is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media at @CrimeHouse. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

• 1:06:30Vanessa Richardson?

  And to enhance your listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of Killer Minds ad-free, along with early access to each thrilling two-part series and exciting bonus content.

• 1:06:46Vanessa Richardson?

  Killer Minds is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and Dr. Tristin Engels, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Killer Minds team: Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Laurie Marinelli, Natalie Pritzowski, Sarah Kapp, Sheila Patterson, and Carrie Murphy. Of the many sources we used when researching this episode, the one we found the most credible and helpful was Chase Your Shadow: The Trials of Oscar Pistorius by John Carlin. Thank you for listening.

• 1:07:27Vanessa Richardson?

  If you're looking for your next podcast, check out What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at WhatTheFactPod.