nikki burdine is there live with an update. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it's discouraging news to say the least when we heard yesterday about the latest in the search for little relisha rudd. police are out here right now but they're not going to start searching till sunrise. right now they're just posted out here to make sure nobody gets out into the park to tamper with what possibly could be a crime scene. police were out here yesterday searching this entire area. the new information we got, including this video of little relisha dancing in the homeless shelter where she was living. police say she was last seen on march 1 with kahlil tatum, the manual police say killed his wife and possibly abducted little relisha. police also say tatum bought 60 contractor size trash bags, a shovel, and lime or lye which is a chemical often used to treat bodies before burial. soon after the purchases, police say tatum was here at kenilworth park. while they are holding out hope, they have to consider worst-case scenario. >> we're not making any assumptions but i think

live in dc, nikki burdine, wusa 9. >> thanks a lot. >>> finally, a gorgeous weekend. lot of snow melting in neighborhoods across the area, including this one in germantown, montgomery county. can we keep the nice weather around for the remainder of the weekend? let's go to -- eric is not here! >> surprise! >> olga, hi. >> hi, bruce. we're definitely looking at the phrase "spring ahead," taking it literally today. temperatures at this hour, still at 63 for reagan national. hit a high of 67 today. clouds are slowly starting to move in. we'll be mostly cloudy overnight tonight. yes, an opportunity for a little sprinkle to move on in. right now, temperatures across the board are looking pretty good. still at 58 up in the northern portions of the viewing area. we're sitting in the lower 60s still south and west. but things are going to change. satellite and radar showing a lot of moisture starting to move on through. the front that passes through tonight is going to affect us. how long will we keep our springtime temperatures and will winter try to make a comeback? i'll gi

nikki burdine gins us live -- joins us live with the very latest. >> reporter: it's because of the constant downpour that we've had all day today that b divers and the ground crews are out here searching but i want you to take a look back here. those crews are just basically here to babysit the scene. they're making sure they have a presence here and to protect what could be a crime scene. and they've been out here all day long. now take a look at some of the video, this is the scene yesterday. and this morning as crews and volunteers searched the area and what they are calling a recovery effort for relisha rudd. also we can confirm that last night, police were searching the days inn on new york avenue in connection with the investigation. although it's not clear what they were looking for. police say kahlil tatum bought trash bags, a shovel and lime which is a chemical used to treat bodies before burial. the day after the last time relisha was last seen with tatum which was march 2nd. what brought police back to the backwash the fact he tent -- park was the fact he spent two hours here tha

nikki burdine joins us from the site with more. >> reporter: good morning. it's discouraging news to say the least. police are out here right now. they're waiting for the sun to come up so they can start searching once again in what they're calling a recovery effort for 8-year-old relisha rudd. police were out here all day yesterday searching this entire park. they had search dogs, f.b.i. agents, and police officers out here looking for any signs, any clues of little relisha rudd who has been missing since march 1. on march 2, police say that they -- that kahlil tatum, the man they believe may have abducted her bought 60 contractor size trash bags. they also say he bought a shovel as well as lyme which is a product often used to treat bodies when they are buried. all those police are trying to be optimistic and so is relisha's family, they can't help but think the worst, especially in a situation like this. >> we're not making any assumptions but i think it would be prudent for us at this point to make sure we search and this is a very large area, search thi

. >> nikki burdine is outside the 7-eleven on baltimore avenue in college park. do we know anything about the winner who bought a ticket in maryland? >> reporter: yes. so far we do not know where that winning ticket was sold or who they are. but we're hoping they're watching this broadcast and maybe they'll check their numbers and then have agent mercy on those folks -- [ no audio ] >> we're having a little problem with her live report. we'll get back to nikki in just a minute. >> she was at the 7-eleven in college park. again, two tickets were bought in maryland, one the megamillions jackpot they'll share with someone in florida. >>> the d.c. fire lieutenant who was in charge when a dying man collapsed nearby will go before a trial board. >> lieutenant killeen davis will appear at an internal hearing where she's facing punishment for her role two monthing ago. cecil mills had a heart attack right across the street from the station on rhode island avenue. neither davis or the four other firefighters responded to pleas for help from mills' family. >>> two student

we'll go outside now to nikki burdine. she's live in rockville, maryland. what have you seen? what are people saying up there? >> reporter: just in the past few minutes the rain has started to come down a lot heavier, but we are in rockville right off 270. i want you to look at the interstate. 270 looks really good now, cars moving just fine through there. of course, that's just because the roads are wet. it's just rain for now. of course, montgomery county and prince george's county are prepared for when that changes. we checked in with prince george's county earlier tonight. here's how they're looking. their salt supply is in good shape. they have 11,000 tons of salt available now, plenty for this impending storm. they used about 7,000 tons at that last big storm we had. the budget, however, is another story. this year's budget for operating costs was set at 1.5 million. so far they've spent 3.6 million. the biggest challenge will be the sleet, treating those roads between that and getting prepared for the first round of snow. there will be about 250 vehicles out there at on

nikki burdine reports. >> we are learning more about who died experch and everyone i spoke to said, they consider her family. >> she has so many friends. >> did she? >> i don't think anybody didn't like her. everybody liked her. >> her grandson lived in this home and the child's mother when she heard about the fire this morning, she rushed over, but it was too late. ella didn't make it. >> i think she may have -- everybody called her grandma. >> two adults and two children, five-year-old william and four- year-old justin were taken to the hospital. >> you know, don't know -- they want to calm down. >> family members say ella was fighting cancer and had just gotten home from the hospital. >> she had cancer. >> ella did? >> yes. they found out last night. >> with the children and two adults fight for their life, they will also be left to grieve the loss of miss ella. >> everybody loves her. she is a sweet lady. you tell her that you don't have nowhere to live or eat, she is the person to go to. she is a sweet lady. >> those who survived the fire, of course, lost everything. so if you would

nikki burdine joins us with a look at the candidates. >> reporter: we're in the home stretch. although a new poll out yesterday has mayor gray and councilman muriel bowser in a dead heat. that could all change tonight in a debate right here on wusa9. candidates have been hitting the streets to grab a big group of voters up for grabs, the undecided. if the race continues on its current track, it looks like the voter turnout will be a big difference maker. if voters come out in strong numbers, it looks like the election could break bowser's way. if voters stay home, it will likely work out in gray's favor. tommy wells' camp not giving up. hopefully before tonight and bowser is confident in what the voters want. >> we certainly see a lot more donation, a lot more energy from volunteers, and frankly the fact that the others have really fallen behind and now it's top -- i'm in the top three, i'm feeling very good that hopefully we've got thuf time for -- got enough time to pull this out. >> people have been concerned for the entire last year that we've been running and that's whyer

nikki burdine joins us with a preview of what we can expect tonight. >> reporter: it's getting down to the wire. a new "washington post" poll out yesterday shows to candidates in a dead heat, bowser and gray. but in the final debate tonight, that could all change. tonight's debate will feature the top four candidates. mayor gray, pure yell bowser, -- muriel bowser, tommy wells and jack evans. despite the corruption hanging over mayor gray, he's held steady in recent powells. bowser is soaring and still hitting the streets confident in her campaign, not the corruption surrounding her competitor. bruce johnson, our political reporter and moderator of tonight's debate says if the race continues on this track, it's the undecided voters who will make the biggest difference. >> people who are undecided are starting to decide. we talk to them a the low. people who even may have been with other campaigns are looking at our campaign long and hard. >> it's come down to a get out the vote effort. i think when you look at it, we have the most money left in our campaign. we've got over 700 voluntee

nikki burdine reports on how the community is reacting to the crime amidst all the change in the area. >> reporter: from construction signs to a crime scene, a man was found shot to death right here in the middle of a new development on sayless place and although new projects are usually a good sign, people are >> neighbors said it was just pow, pow, pow. then it stops and then it's pow, pow, pow. it's just been some crazy activity going on around here. >> reporter: for some people who live in this neighborhood like theresa brown what happened here last night is unfortunately not a surprise. every time she hears that sound she knows what to do. >> i slide off the bed onto the floor. >> reporter: why? >> because you never know which way them bullets going to come. bullets don't have no name on them, has no direction. you don't know which way they're shooting. >> reporter: police say 23- year-old demensio lewis was the victim. investigators are looking for four black men last seen wearing dark clothing and hoods and left the seen in a black honda sonata. >> black on black crime, why are

nikki burdine joins us live from northwest d.c. >> reporter: unfortunately situations like what happened today, tragedies like that, are a reminder of just how dangerous shoveling snow can be, especially for the elderly, those with disabilities or preexisting health conditions. if you are not one of the lucky ones that have a helpful neighbor, family or friend to shovel for you, there are resources to help you like a group called snowcrew.org. joining me now and literally working behind me now is joseph, the founder and a volunteer with snow crew. tell me what snow crew is. >> sure. snow crew is a web app that connects seniors and people with access and functional needs to volunteers who can and want to help them dig out from snowstorms. >> reporter: how do people sign up? what do they do? >> they go to snowcrew.org and can request shoveling assistance or volunteer to help out. you create a profile. >> reporter: how many people have you helped today? >> personally i think this is like seven or eight so far? there's about 100 some requests. we need a lot of volunteers to help dig out ever