To all appearances, Olympian Oscar Pistorius and model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp had shared a short but outwardly happy relationship, people who knew the couple said on Thursday.

Steenkamp was confirmed dead by her publicist on Thursday after police in South Africa said a shooting had claimed the life of a 30-year-old woman at Pistorius’ residence in a gated community near Pretoria. Pistorius, 26, appeared in court Friday accused of "premeditated" murder.

The model's publicist Sarit Tomlinson told TODAY Thursday that Pistorius was a "charming, great guy," adding that the couple “seemed happy” without any sign of trouble.

“I can’t comment on the intimate relationship that they had behind closed doors, but they looked happy as any couple would, so no, I didn’t see anything,” Tomlinson said. “It’s devastating and very shocking for us, too – for everyone.”

The couple was first spotted together at the South African Sports Awards last December, according to the Mail & Guardian, a South African paper. Steenkamp said the two were just friends at that time, the paper reported.

“We’re just friends,” Steenkamp told local newspaper the City Press at the time, saying it was a coincidence she was seated at the event with Pistorius and had arrived in the same car. “I promise I’ll tell you if there’s anything more.”

South African sprinter Pistorius came to international prominence during the 2012 Olympic Games in London, when the runner competed on the carbon-fiber prostheses that earned him the sobriquet “Blade Runner.” He was the first double amputee to run on international sporting’s biggest stage. Pistorius won the 400-meter Paralympic gold last September.

'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius charged with murder

“He was an icon for South Africa,” coach Hennie Kotze, who helped Pistorius prepare for the London Games, told The New York Times. “It was the way he handled his disability with such character and discipline. It is a big shock for everyone.”

“Obviously we are shocked,” father Henke Pistorius told Agence France-Presse. “He is with the police and the matter is in the hands of the authorities.”

“Our thoughts are with the family of the woman involved in this tragedy,” Henke Pistorius said.

While some media outlets initially stated that Pistorius may have mistaken the victim for an intruder, South African Police spokeswoman Denise Beukes said that she was “very surprised” to hear speculation that the shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Reeve Steenkamp poses during a photo shoot in Johannesburg.

There were no signs of forced entry at Pistorius’ home, according to police. Reports about previous disturbances at Pistorius’ home had drawn police on “allegations of a domestic nature,” Beukes said.

“There are witnesses and we have interviewed them,” Beukes said. “We’re talking about neighbors and people who heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place.”

Steenkamp was a model and budding television personality who had appeared in men’s magazine FHM, earned her law degree at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, and was slated to appear in the upcoming season of a South African celebrity reality show. She was the South African face of cosmetics maker Avon and had appeared in advertisements for clients such as Toyota.

“She was a vibrant, friendly, diligent, and motivated student who was popular with and respected by staff and peers alike,” Greg Stokell, the headmaster at the Port Elizabeth school Steenkamp attended as a child, told South Africa’s The Times newspaper on Thursday. “She set high goals for herself in everything she did and she consistently converted opportunities into success.”

“It’s a beautiful day!” Steenkamp tweeted on Wednesday. “Make things happen. Starting my day off with a yummy healthy shake from my boo :) #healthyliving.”

She posted a black and white photo of Pistorius on Feb. 1: “He certainly doesn’t need more followers but he’s beautiful to look at & says some smart stuff too ;)”

Reeva Steenkamp was model, budding TV star

“Our thoughts and prayers go to the Steenkamp family, who have asked to have their privacy respected during this difficult time,” the model’s publicist said in a statement. “She was the kindest, sweetest human being; an angel on earth who will be sorely missed.”

Pistorius is a reported gun owner who had spoken in past interviews about his fear of intruders. In an extensive January 2012 New York Times profile, Pistorius described grabbing his gun one night and creeping through his darkened house after a security alarm went off. The alarm turned out to be nothing, but Pistorius took the reporter to a nearby range to fire his 9mm handgun, the article states.

Many well-to-do South African homeowners keep guns in the house in a country where violent crime is a major issue and the South African Police Service warned two years ago that home invasions occurred at “an alarmingly high rate.” Police statistics for the Guateng province, which includes Pistorius’ home city of Pretoria, tallied 7,039 home invasions in 2011.

In a 2011 interview with The Telegraph, Pistorius recounted how his shooting hobby got him held up at airport security in 2006.

“I was in Holland, and I’d been shooting a few days earlier so I had gunpowder residue on my prosthetic legs,” Pistorius told The Telegraph. “I think they really thought I was a terrorist. I ended up in a holding cell in a police station for six hours.”

On Nov. 27 of last year, Pistorius posted a Twitter message after another false alarm at his house.

“Nothing like getting home to hear the washing machine on and thinking its [sic] an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry!” Pistorius wrote.

While police have not named the victim of the shooting at Pistorius’ residence on Thursday, tributes poured in for Steenkamp.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic circumstances that occurred today at Silver Woods,” the Silver Woods Country Estate said in a statement published on its website early Thursday. “Our sincere condolences, thoughts, and prayers go out to Reeva Steenkamp’s family and friends.”

NBC News’ John Newland, Jason Cumming, Cecile Antonie and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Thu Feb 14, 2013 5:27 PM EST

NEW DELHI -- Six suspects held in connection with the rape of a woman in India have been charged with murder after she died on Saturday of injuries sustained in the attack, police said.

"They have been charged (with murder)," said Rajan Bhagat, a spokesman for New Delhi police.

The woman, who was gang-raped on a New Delhi bus on December 16, died in a hospital in Singapore. The attack has sparked protests and a national debate about violence against women.

The suspects in the rape -- five men aged between 20 and 40, and a juvenile -- were arrested within hours of the attack.

Many Indians have called for the death penalty for those responsible.

Rafiq Maqbool / AP

Indians hold placards during a gathering to mourn the death of a 23-year-old gang rape victim in Mumbai, India, on Saturday.

India gang-rape victim dies in hospital; case focused attention on sexual violence

Bracing for a new wave of protests, Indian authorities closed 10 metro stations and banned vehicles from some main roads in the heart of New Delhi, where demonstrators have converged since the attack to demand improved women's rights. About 100 people staged a peaceful protest on Saturday morning.

The 23-year-old medical student, severely beaten, raped and thrown out of a moving bus in New Delhi two weeks ago, had been flown to Singapore in a critical condition by the Indian government on Thursday for specialist treatment.

Her body arrived back in India in the early hours of Sunday morning and cremation services almost immediately began, police sources told the Agence France-Presse.

The attack has sparked an intense national debate for the first time about the treatment of women and attitudes toward sex crimes in a country where most rapes go unreported, many offenders go unpunished and the wheels of justice turn slowly, according to social activists.

"We are very sad to report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4:45 a.m. on Dec 29, 2012 (3:45 p.m. ET Friday). Her family and officials from the High Commission (embassy) of India were by her side," Mount Elizabeth Hospital Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Loh said in a statement.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was deeply saddened by the death and described the emotions associated with her case as "perfectly understandable reactions from a young India and an India that genuinely desires change.

"It would be a true homage to her memory if we are able to channelize these emotions and energies into a constructive course of action," Singh said in a statement.

The woman, who has not been identified, and a male friend were returning home from the cinema by bus on the evening of December 16 when, media reports say, six men on the bus beat them with metal rods and repeatedly raped the woman. The male friend survived the attack.

Body to be returned home
T.C.A. Raghavan, the Indian high commissioner to Singapore, told reporters hours after the woman's death that a chartered aircraft would fly her body back to India on Saturday, along with members of her family. The woman's body had earlier been put into a van at the hospital and driven away.

PhotoBlog: Police try to temper outrage over gang rape

Indian media had also accused the government of sending her to Singapore to minimize any backlash in the event of her death but Raghavan said it had been a medical decision intended to ensure she got the best treatment.

"She was unconscious throughout," Raghavan said of her time in Singapore. "She died because of the severe nature of the injuries."

Some Indian medical experts had questioned the decision to fly the woman to Singapore, calling it a risky maneuver given the severity of her injuries. They had said she was already receiving the best possible care in India.

On Friday, the Singapore hospital had said the woman's condition had taken a turn for the worse and she had suffered "significant brain injury." She had already undergone three abdominal operations before arriving in Singapore.

Ajit Solanki / AP

Indian schoolgirls hold placards during a prayer ceremony to mourn the death of a 23-year-old gang rape victim, at a school in Ahmadabad, India, on Saturday.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told Times Now television on Saturday the government was committed to ensuring "the severest possible punishment to all the accused at the earliest."

"It will not go in vain. We will give maximum punishment to the culprits. Not only to this, but in future also. This one incident has given a greater lesson," Shinde said.

He said earlier the government was considering the death penalty for rape in very rare cases. Murder carries the death penalty.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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One of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives was arrested in Mexico and returned to Los Angeles Friday night to face charges of murder, kidnapping and rape, U.S. officials said.

Reputed Los Angeles gang member Joe Luis Saenz was taken into custody in Guadalajara late Thursday following a joint operation with the Mexican government, Bill Lewis, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said.

Investigators said Saenz shot and killed two rival gang members in July 1998 to retaliate for an assault on one of his associates.

Saenz suspected Sigrieta Hernandez, his girlfriend and the mother of his daughter, was going to tell police about the slayings, investigators said.

He is accused of kidnapping, raping and killing her less than two weeks later.

Videotape murder
Saenz also is believed to have killed Oscar Torres at his home in suburban Whittier in October 2008 because he failed to repay $600,000 in drug money after police seized the cash during a traffic stop.

Authorities said they have videotape from a surveillance camera at Torres' house that shows Saenz killing Torres and wounding another person.

Saenz was still listed on the FBI’s most-wanted list early Saturday, but with a red caption on his photograph reading “CAPTURED.”

Born in Los Angeles, Saenz was known to travel between the United States and Mexico.

Saenz, who is about 37 years old, was believed to be hiding in Mexico, working as an enforcer and hit man for a Mexican drug cartel.

He had a number of aliases including Zapp, Peanut Joe Smiley and Honeycutt, it added.

Saenz had been on the FBI's most-wanted list since 2009, putting him among the ranks of Osama bin Laden, Boston crime lord James "Whitey" Bulger and other notorious criminals.

There was a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest.

The Associated Press, Reuters and NBC's Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

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Dieter Nagl / AFP - Getty Images

Estibaliz Carranza, seen here with her lawyers, is accused of murdering her husband and lover and setting their sawn-up body parts in concrete in the cellar of her ice cream parlor.

VIENNA - A former ice cream parlor owner confessed in court on Monday to shooting, sawing up and freezing both her ex-husband and her lover, and burying them under the cellar of her store in Vienna.

Estibaliz Carranza, a 34-year-old Mexican-Spanish woman dubbed the "Ice Lady" by Austrian media, told a court that both men had "demeaned" her; her ex-husband by yelling at her and making fun of her poor German, her lover by being unfaithful.

In both cases, she said she had shot her victim with a .22 caliber Beretta pistol, chopped up the body with a chain saw, put it in a freezer at the parlor, and eventually buried it downstairs in the cellar, the Austria Press Agency reported.

Prosecutor Petra Freh described the defendant, who appeared before a packed court wearing a grey dress and flanked by prison guards and her celebrity defense lawyer Rudolf Mayer, as "ice-cold" and a "ticking time bomb".

"It's clear that the defendant has two faces," Freh said, warning that Carranza could kill again.

Carranza told the court the nature of her husband, Holger Holz, had completely changed after their wedding, and that matters had got worse when they were evicted from their apartment and moved into the ice cream shop, and Holz joined the Hare Krishna movement.

"He slept until 10 o'clock and came at 11 o'clock. We had no ice cream. He did nothing. He didn't want to get a grip," she said.

Even after she started a relationship with ice cream machine salesman Manfred Hinterberger and divorced Holz, he refused to move out, she told the court on Monday.

One Sunday, after an argument about the issue, she said she had shot Holz twice in the back of the head and once in the temple as he sat at his computer.

'Behind the facade'
Mayer, who unsuccessfully defended Austria's most notorious living criminal Josef Fritzl in 2009, said the psychiatrist's report on Carranza showed that her danger to society could be reduced "to zero" with proper treatment.

He warned the jury not to be influenced by negative portrayals in the Austrian media, which have had a field day with the story of the Hispanic immigrant and her many lovers.

"The defense is determined ... that the jury do not accept the picture that been has given of her as ice-cold, unfeeling, unscrupulous, capable of anything, but rather that they recognize what is behind this facade," he told journalists.

Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment for incarcerating his daughter in the basement of his family home for 24 years, during which he physically assaulted and raped her, fathering seven children.

Hinterberger left Carranza shortly after her divorce but turned up on the doorstep of the salon with a suitcase a year and a half later after being thrown out by his girlfriend.

She said she had taken him back, but then found sex messages on his phone and his profile on a dating site.

'I was so furious'
On the way home from an evening out with friends, where he had flirted with another woman, she had wanted to talk about it but he had simply shouted at her and then gone to bed, she said.

"He turned to the wall and began snoring. He just turned around and that was the end of the matter for him. I was so furious," Carranza said.

She then described how she had reached under the mattress for the same pistol she had used to kill her ex-husband, loaded it, and shot him in his sleep.

Again, she chopped up his body, deep-froze the parts and eventually buried them under the icecream parlor, where they were found by chance during maintenance work last year.

Carranza was extradited from Italy, two months pregnant by another man, to face charges in Austria.

The trial is due to run until Thursday. 

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PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten -- St. Maarten police on Sunday arrested a suspect in the slayings of a South Carolina couple whose slashed bodies were found in their beachfront condominium on the tiny Dutch Caribbean territory.

Police spokesman Ricardo Henson said the male suspect was arrested before dawn Sunday and has not been charged yet.

Citing the territory's privacy rules, Henson declined to give further details about the suspect, saying police will issue a statement "as soon as more information can be divulged."

The bodies of Michael and Thelma King were found Friday in their condominium at the Ocean Club Resort on St. Maarten, a 16-square-mile territory with about 50,000 inhabitants that shares a small island with the French dependency of St. Martin.

Tied to a chair
Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos said both Americans appeared to have suffered fatal stab wounds. The woman was found tied to a chair, and the man was lying on the floor, partially over an overturned chair. Both were in their 50s.

Autopsies were expected to be conducted Monday, according to Mos. Relatives of the slain couple have arrived in the territory.

Friends said the Kings were part-time residents of St. Maarten and owned several homes. They also owned a condominium in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Watch video from NBC station WCBD:

Terry Tamblyn, a resident of South Carolina's coastal city of Isle of Palms, told The Post and Courier newspaper that King was a retired insurance executive who later started a successful printing business that he sold. He said King also owned a couple of restaurants on St. Maarten.

Local restaurant owner Topper Daboul has told The Associated Press that he and Michael King were building a rum factory together on the territory.

'Pains everyone'
Daboul said he last saw King on Wednesday afternoon and "some other friends had drinks with them that night."

He said he wasn't able to reach the Kings on the phone Thursday so he drove to their house the next day and banged on the door. He said he asked a person on the premises to climb over a fence to see if anyone was in the house.

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Daboul said the person reported a lifeless man leaning over a chair inside the house.

Shortly after the slayings were announced, the St. Maarten government said "every government resource is being brought into play to investigate and solve this case."

Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said she was "shocked" by the murders.

Police said roughly 25 officers were part of the investigative team.

The St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association said it's outraged by the murders, which "pains everyone in the community deeply."

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Updated at 4:27 a.m. ET: BEIJING -- China's ruling Communist Party took a big step towards sealing the fate of fallen politician Bo Xilai on Monday, when a court jailed his former police chief for 15 years over charges that indicated Bo tried to derail a murder inquiry.

The court in Chengdu in southwest China handed down the sentence against Wang Lijun after finding him guilty on four charges, including seeking to cover up the November 2011 murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood, by Bo's wife, Gu Kailai.

The verdict ended the career of one of China's most storied and controversial police officers and moved the party closer to a formal decision on dealing with Bo, whose downfall has shaken a leadership handover due at a party congress as early as next month.

"Wang Lijun exposed clues of major law-breaking and crimes by others," said the court verdict, according to the Xinhua news agency. It did not say who those other people were.

"He rendered a major contribution, and according to the law he can receive a lighter sentence," said the court. Wang could have received life imprisonment, or even a death sentence.

The relatively mild sentence -- following official confirmation that Wang shared incriminating clues and that Bo beat him after Wang confronted him over the murder allegations -- added weight to predictions that the party will move to jail Bo too, said He Weifang, a law professor at Peking University who has closely followed the case.

"The legal net around Bo Xilai has been slowly tightening," said He. "He'll certainly face a criminal trial."

Wife of disgraced Chinese leader gets death sentence with reprieve

In August, Gu was sentenced to a suspended death sentence, which effectively means life in prison.

'I let you down'
Experts have offered divided views over whether the party will put Bo before a criminal court or spare him and the leadership that disgrace by simply meting out lighter disciplinary punishment within the party. Some still see that latter course as more likely.

Before Chinese authorities can launch a criminal investigation, the party leadership must first hear the results of an internal investigation and decide whether to hand Bo over. That could happen at a leadership conclave that must take place before the bigger party congress convenes.

The court said Wang, former police chief of southwestern Chongqing municipality, received the sentence for "bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking", according to Xinhua.

Wang would not appeal against the sentence, said his lawyer Wang Yuncai, who is not a relative. The sentence could be cut after he serves half his sentence, added Wang, the lawyer. "He accepted the sentence," she said. "He's doing okay."

Xinhua has portrayed Wang as being contrite. "I acknowledge and confess the guilt accused by the prosecuting body and show my repentance," Wang was quoted as saying in court last week. "For the Party organizations, people and relatives that have cared for me, I want to say here, sincerely: I'm very, very sorry, I've let you down."

Read more China coverage in our Behind the Wall blog

The scandal that felled both men erupted after Gu murdered Heywood in a hilltop hotel villa in Chongqing, the city where Bo was the flamboyant party chief. Officials have said the murder arose from a business dispute in Chongqing, which Bo and Wang ran as their fiefdom.

Wang had at first helped Gu evade suspicion of poisoning Heywood, hushing up evidence of the murder, according to the official account of Wang's trial.

Slap that 'changed history'
However, in late January, Wang confronted Bo with the allegation that Gu was suspected of killing Heywood. But Wang was "angrily rebuked and had his ears boxed."

"That was a slap around the ears that changed history," said Li Zhuang, a Beijing lawyer who opposed Wang and Bo for mounting a sweeping crackdown on foes in the name of fighting organized crime. "Otherwise, Bo might still be in power and hoping to rise higher."

Days after the confrontation, Bo stripped Wang of his post as Chongqing police chief. The court verdict said several of Wang's subordinates were "illegally investigated."

Wang, fearing for his safety, fled to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu where he hid for more than 24 hours until Chinese officials coaxed him out.

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Wang was found guilty by the court of defecting to a U.S. consulate -- along with taking bribes and conducting illegal surveillance -- but only two years of the 15-year sentence were that offense.

It was then that Wang exposed Heywood's murder first to American diplomats and then to Chinese authorities, handing over evidence used to convict Gu last month.

"When mafia members break up with their bosses, they can attempt to seek police protection. But in Chongqing and for the former police boss, there was nowhere to turn," prominent editor Hu Shuli wrote in a commentary posted on the website of her magazine, Caixin. "And this perhaps encapsulates one of the greatest embarrassments of the country's current legal system."

In March, Bo was sacked as Chongqing party boss, and in April he was suspended from the party's Politburo, a powerful decision-making council with two dozen active members.

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So far, Bo has been accused only of breaching internal party discipline, and his defenders have accused foes of exploiting the charges against Gu to topple Bo. He had not been given a chance to defend himself publicly since his fall in March.

Ding Xueliang, a China expert at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology, said those in the party leadership who wanted Bo out might push to reward Wang for exposing the corrupt and lawless inner workings of Bo's administration.

"Despite the many terrible things that Wang Lijun did before, he, in my view, contributed enormously to the legitimacy of the Communist government," Ding said. "This kind of local emperor style of Bo Xilai, it is a cancer of the system, and Wang Lijun helped the top leadership to deal with the fundamental disease before it's too late."

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