"Blade Runner" arrested for killing girlfriend

South Africa's top detective was appointed lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius case Thursday, replacing a veteran policeman who was charged with attempted murder in the latest shock development to hit a case being watched closely by the nation.

The decision to put police Lt. Gen. Vinesh Moonoo in charge came soon after word emerged that the initial chief investigator, Hilton Botha, is facing attempted murder charges, and a day after he offered testimony damaging to the prosecution in Pistorius' bail hearing.

Botha was dropped from the case but not suspended from the police force, Phiyega said.

Botha also said that police had left a 9 mm slug in the toilet and had lost track of allegedly illegal ammunition found in Pistorius' home.

Botha's often confused testimony left prosecutors rubbing their heads in frustration as he misjudged distances and said testosterone — banned for professional athletes in some cases — was found at the scene, only to be later contradicted by the prosecutor's office.

The murder case involving Olympic star Oscar Pistorius took another unexpected turn Sunday with the news that his older brother, Carl, is himself facing charges for the death of a woman in a traffic accident.

Carl Pistorius faces a charge of unlawful, negligent killing for a 2008 road death, "in which a woman motorcyclist sadly lost her life," Kenneth Oldwage, the Pistorius family lawyer said on Sunday.

The accident happened in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg. The charge of "culpable homicide" was dropped and then reinstated and will be challenged in court, the lawyer told The Associated Press.

If Pistorius ends up in prison I don't imagine they would let him keep his blades. Those things look like they could be used as a pretty lethal weapon.