And she was still alive at that moment. There are also then those rumors that sensed there was some sort of bloodied cricket bat. What was that used for . Well find out hopefully in court and we cant remember reeva steenkamp. Gets buried tomorrow, her parents, only child, friends have to say good bye to a young woman who seemed so beautiful and bubbly, and, of course, everybody here, asking that same question. Why . Why did he do it . What was the motivation . No answers on that one either. Well keep you posted. Back to you. Robyn, thank you very much. Thats all for us tonight. Anderson cooper starts now. Theres breaking news tonight in the sandy hook massacre, a possible motive emerging, a terrible explanation of why adam lanza chose the target he did. And there is this, a face in the crowd when president obama was speaking out about kids being gunned down in chicago, just hours later, her young life was forever changed. Also tonight, weve all been there, a crowded flight, a crying baby, but no matter how bad it gets who would ever, ever slap the baby . Well show you the man who allegedly did and talk to the babys parents. We begin with the breaking news. A chilling answer to why did adam lanza target Sandy Hook Elementary School in newtown, connecticut . Why that school to assault . Law enforcement sources telling cbs news bob orr tells us what it may lie overseas. Brevick murdered 77 people in norway. Just ahead, two criminologists on the mind of this killer and the one who may have tried to emulate him. Well be joined by them shortly. Lets get through some other important news. We begin with the explosive allegations against the United States senator and the kind of real, inperson, ontheground reporting that doesnt always get done in such cases. In other words, keeping them honest. The senator is new jersey democrat bob menendez who chairs the powerful Foreign Relations committee. The allegations made by a shadowy tipster concern a florida eye doctor friend of the senators, a Major Campaign contributor whos being investigated by federal authorities. The explosive part involves this eye doctors alleged role in hooking the teenager up with teenage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. Extraordinary charges, and they have been out there for months, that deserve extraordinary evidence. The question tonight, where is it . 360s exclusive investigation starts in the Dominican Republic. Drew griffin is ep couping them honest. Reporter a rundown brothel in Santa Domingo is hardly the place for serious journalism and yet here we are, knock on its door. Hola. And finding yet another mysterious clue leading to another closed door. Hello . Hello . And that may be exactly what the person or persons behind these emails had in mind. Could it be one big Slander Campaign aimed at baiting a scandal hungry press into saying or printing the name of u. S. Senator bob menendez, teenage prostitution, and caribbean sex parties all in one sentence . After all, these allegations have been flatly refuted by the senator. This is incredible. Reporter and now the senators Dominican Republic friends are trying to take that denial a step further. Demanding a full investigation to find the actual culprit who has been spreading internet rumors for months. Translator this is an artificial ghost created especially in order to damage senator menendez, melgen, and myself. Reporter benecio castillo, a fourth generation attorney himself, has been named as a party to the, well, parties, and says enough is enough. Translator this crime has damaged me and my reputation and my honor. And thats why i have the right to ask an investigation to find out who is behind this crime. Reporter the emails alleging teenage sex parties and the senator began circulating months ago. Even the fbi got ahold of them, but nothing could be confirmed. It appeared the matter was pretty much dropped until more emails began arriving. The author, someone calling himself Peter Williams even wrote to a cnn producer last month. I dare to respond only moved by seriousness of the media you represent, said the writer, as you can imagine, im deeply concerned about my security. Cnn responded asking Peter Williams to meet us anywhere, even here in Santa Domingo to give us proof that any of his allegations were true. We have since sent six emails to p. Williams. The response . Silence. We tracked down the source of the emails through a Technical School in Santa Domingo to this Internet Provider where we were promptly escorted into an office where the company denied the email came from one of its customers. Is there any way you would give us the background of this man . I cannot identify right now that name and also the ip address is not from here for us. Reporter the Dominican Republics District Attorneys Office confirms to cnn the office is about to investigate the source of Peter Williams and his damaging emails. But so far, internet only and unproven scandal, however, has brought more scrutiny on the very real business dealings of one of senator menendezs closest friends. Dr. Salomon melgen is a big political donor to the senator, has given senator menendez private jet rides to the Dominican Republic, flights which the senator should have paid for, 58,000 worth. After the flights were publicly reported, menendez quickly said it was an oversight and has since paid back the south florida eye doctor, and there is this, a lucrative Port Security contract in the Dominican Republic. Turns out the eye doctor and close friend of senator menendez has a controlling interest in a Port SecurityCompany Standing to make tens of millions of dollars if the government here gives the go ahead for a deal. Senator menendez aides acknowledge the senator had spoken to state Department Officials about the contract and in a Senate Hearing last july when his friends contract was in doubt, menendez questioned why the u. S. Government hadnt been more aggressive about Port Security in the Dominican Republic. Critics of the deal, including the head of the American Chamber of commerce in the Dominican Republic, question how a florida eye doctor with a powerful friend in the senate is suddenly involved in Port Security in the caribbean. I cant find anyone who is for the contract that doesnt have a direct financial interest in the contract. Its what we would call a cash cow. The mother of all cash cows, yeah. A sweet deal. Reporter but so far, none of that sweet deal is souring the reputation of senator menendez. Hes just been named head of the senate Foreign Relations committee, and until and unless the mysterious Peter Williams emerges to prove any of his outrageous allegations, the senators political future seems secure. And drew, youre joining us now. You couldnt get this tipster to meet you in person. Others who have investigated him couldnt even get him on the phone. Is it possible this is just one big hoax . There is no real Peter Williams . Well, it seems very plausible there is no Peter Williams. The question, wolf, is who is behind this, and what are the actual facts behind the allegations, specifically the prostitution allegations that person has made . The Dominican Republic, the District Attorney there, office said its going to investigate, but we checked again today. There doesnt seem to be any hot investigation going on to find it, but i will point out Pete Williams, harrison Pete Williams, as you recall, wolf, involved in a scandal from the senate, another senator from new jersey. So this could all be just baiting the press to try to get us to investigate these cases. Might be. All right, drew, hold on for a moment. I want to bring in the woman who first got those williams emails. Melanie saloon sloan, executive director of the group for responsibility and ethics. You said you and your organization were skeptical, but the more you dug, the more you thought perhaps there was merit to the allegations. Explain what happened . This tipster, Pete Williams, first reached out to us back in april. And in his initial email, he didnt mention anything about underaged prostitute, he mentioned prostitutes. Shortly thereafter, he mentioned underaged prostitutes, but we were skeptical because he said he had known about these allegations, had evidence since as early as 2008. Now were talking its the spring of 2012, shortly before senator menendezs reelection when the senate is still considered a tossup. So we thought the timing was suspicious. Add to that, no matter how many emails we had back and forth, Pete Williams never agreed to speak to us by phone. He wouldnt talk to us. He wouldnt talk to other news organizations we brought in, and as it turns out he wouldnt talk to the fbi either. All of that combined leads to me saying this was a setup, at least on that angle, of senator menendez. Let me bring drew back in. Drew, even if the prostitution allegations turn out to be false, theres still the matter of menendez allegedly steering that lucrative contract to his friend and donor. Is it possible the contract could still go to the company his friend owns . Wolf, i have to tell you, that contract is really now toxic politically speaking in the Dominican Republic. I dont see how it can get approved. It would be a contract between the government of the Dominican Republic and melgen, this big donor to the senator. The question is how much power does the senator wield down in the dr . No doubt about it, the senator was writing, was urging, was pushing for that contract, and for his friend, who has given him lots of money. That, in essence, and i think melanie would admit, is kind of icky business in washington, but it is business in washington. You know, politicians do favors for donors. If it was just that, i dont think we would be really talking about senator menendez. Its this allegation thats upping the ante with prostitutes and teenage sex thats getting all the buzz, and oh, by the way, hes also trying to help out with this business deal down there. And let me add i wanted to say, melanie, you point out that this story, this whole issue, really offers all of us a window into how washington really works. How so . Well, its so frequent that politicians are doing huge favors for their biggest donors. This is in fact why we have an earmark ban, because there was such a problem with appropriators using appropriations to give gifts to their Largest Campaign donors. Here we have new ways members of congress are finding to use their influence to help their biggest donors. And we also have senator menendez reaching out to health and Human Services when there was a medicare problem that this melgen was facing, and hes under fbi investigation for medicare fraud. So there are some real problems here, but i wonder if there are many senators who could withstand this kind of scrutiny because i think so many politicians are, in fact, giving favors to campaign donors. Its exactly why americans are so cynical about their congress. Melanie sloan, thank you very much. Drew griffin, great reporting as usual. Thanks to you as well. Up next, well get back to the breaking news were following this hour. A new theory on why the newtown, connecticut shooter targeted Sandy Hook Elementary School. Two prominent krimologicriminol help us get inside his twisted mind. Later, why prosecutors could be about to upgrade murder charges against the blade runner, Oscar Pistorius, and what newly revealed crime scene evidence could say about his girlfriends killing. Crafted j. Its like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. Just 4. 99. Its an epic breakfast sandwich. More now on our breaking news. Law enforcement sources telling cbss bob orr that adam lanza chose Sandy Hook Elementary School because he wanted to maximize the death toll because they say he saw himself as being in competition with another mass murderer. Joining us on the phone right now, northeastern criminologists, James Allen Fox and jack levin. Theyre coauthors of extreme killing, understanding serial and mass murder. Gentlemen, thanks for coming in. James fox, first to you, do the details about what he was doing with his time, who he idolized surprise you at all . Or are they fairly typical for individuals like adam lanza . No, this doesnt surprise me at all. When the question was raised, why did he go to that school, the clear answer always was that he knew when he got there there would be a lot of victims under his gun. And he could hurt society in a most profound way. Where else could he go where so many other people would be congregated . As far as him admiring another mass murderer, thats one of the problems when we constantly talk about records. The largest, the biggest, the worst. What that does is it challenges other people to try to break the record. After all, why do we keep records . Records are there to be broken. I think we should downplay that aspect of shootings. Fair point. Jack levin, theres that breivik connection, if you will, the copycat factor doesnt necessarily lead someone to kill but it can suggest the timing and method. Explain. It determines, for example, the type of weapon that is used. If one killer uses a semiautomatic weapon, the next one may use a semiautomatic rifle. Brevic himself was inspired by ted kaczynski, the unabomber, and the columbine massacre in 1999 inspired a number of school shootings, not only in the United States, but also in canada, finland, and germany. So, you know, we can talk about the copycat factor, and it does contribute, but the causal factor for adam lanza was probably the same causal factor we find in most school shootings. He was bullied severely. Brutally bullied when he was in Elementary School at sandy hook. That is a much more important causal factor than the copycat influence. Let me add this, wolf, in terms of how we talk about and how we cover these kinds of crimes. The big distinction between shedding light on a crime versus the spotlight on a criminal, all the publicity about sandy hook is fine. We want to know what happened and why it happened. But we sometimes cross that line when we focus so much on the perpetrator, making him larger than life, and making him a hero for a small group of likeminded people out there who would like to follow in his bloody footsteps. I just want to point out, we did reach out to the Connecticut State Police lieutenant paul vance, who is telling us this. On the record, on the cbs news report tonight, on this connection, alleged connection with norway, all of it is speculation, lieutenant vance says. Theres no basis to the cbs story. We have not established a motive. Its inaccurate. I talked with cbs, told them we are dealing with a deceased shooter and trying to rebuild history. The cbs story is not accurate whatsoever. Thats what hes saying on the record. He does say theyre investigating all sorts of suggestions. Theyre looking at all sorts of potential motives right now. Is it possible, james fox, that absorbing all this information, absorbing information about someone like brevic, for example, might actually lead someone to leave those fantasies in the realm of fantasy rather than act on them . Not sure i understand what youre saying. By learning everything we can about him, would it satisfy someone . I doubt it. In other words, if someone was really obsessed with breivik and had a lot of fantasies, would he necessarily or she necessarily act out those fantasies and start killing people . All the other characters have be there. If someone is satisfied with their life, if theyre mentally healthy and things are going well, sure, they can be fascinated with a mass murderer, but theyre not going to follow in that persons footsteps. It would require someone who is isolated, angry, frustrated, and wants to wreak havoc on the world. If he starts being fascinated with a mass murderer who has highlighted the news, he might indeed use this as a precipitating event. You know, publicity doesnt make someone into a mass murder. It doesnt necessarily take another killer, an infamous killer, to set off this killer. There have been School Shooters who were inspired by shakespeare, by short stories by stephen king. Just about anything, a motion picture. And jamie is right. Its not the attention that we give these killers. Its the excessive attention. And what we should stop doing is making celebrities out of these monsters. They dont deserve it, but its what they crave. They want the attention of the world on them. They want to be in the spotlight, and thats one thing we shouldnt do. And the spotlight also adds insult to injury when it comes to the victims and their families. I think a lot of people totally, totally agree with both of you guys. Jack levin, James Allen Fox, thanks very much to both of you for joining us. As always, for mo