With a beautiful face, a passion for empowering women and girls and an "angelic" demeanor, Reeva Steenkamp had a lot of good to contribute to the world. She was a model and law school graduate who was scheduled to give a speech encouraging girls at a Johannesburg school on Thursday. However, her 30-year-old life came to an abrupt halt when she was shot dead by her boyfriend, Olympic champion Oscar Pistorius, on Feb. 14.
In her short life, she accomplished so much and was an inspiration to many people. She was a former FHM model and the face of Avon cosmetics for South Africa. She was also a national celebrity and contestant on the reality TV show Tropika Island of Treasure 5 which was scheduled to debut this weekend.
Born in Cape Town, the freckled-face blonde bombshell later moved to Port Elizabeth in South Africa with her family. Her father, Barry Steenkamp, was a famous horse trainer who was affiliated with the Amos brothers--renowned South African trainers. According to her publicist, Sarit Tomlinson, the model was "the sweetest, kindest, just angelic soul."
Steenkamp met Pistorius, a celebrated global sports icon, in 2012 and the two had been only been dating for a few months. Yet, she expressed great enthusiasm for celebrating Valentine's Day on Twitter where she tweeted "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay" on Feb. 13.
On Thursday, news reports confirmed that she was found dead with four bullets in her head at Pistorius' home on a gated community in Pretoria. Though her publicist said that the couple had a "healthy, fabulous relationship," past reports point otherwise. Initially, it was believed that Pistorius shot her after he mistook her for an intruder. However, suspicion that this may have been a fatal case of domestic abuse has emerged as police confirm that there have been previous law enforcement complaints about domestic incidents at his home. He is currently awaiting trial for murder.