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murdered her daughter. murder charged filed. after 32 years, a mother now knows what happened to her little girl. what sharon has to say about the man who allegedly kidnapped and murdered her daughter. >> murder charges filed in the kayla garrett case. why some say they wouldn't trust what that suspect has to say going forward. congress approving a pandemic relief package. when americans can expect to receive a stimulus check. i'm tracking a christmas storm. "abc7 news" at 11:00 starts right now. >> building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is "abc7 news." >> i never thought that it would happen. i had made peace with never knowing. >> it's been 32 years since sharon's daughter was kidnapped outside of the hayward market. today, authorities announced a convicted killer has been

charged with the disappearance and murder of michaela garrett. her body has never been found. the suspect is in jail, serving time for a prior murder conviction and awaiting trial for a separate double murder. >> reporter: the disappearance of the girl is a tragic story that's gripped the bay area for decades. 9-year-old michaela garrett disappeared in 1988, the day before thanksgiving. she was dragged into a car outside the hayward market. police say this is the man who took her, 59-year-old david mish. it wasn't until this year that investigators matched a partial palmprint found at the scene. he's been behind bars since 1989 after being convicted of another murder. he's also awaiting trial for a double murder in fremont in 1986. officials say they're happy to provide some peace to the family, and the community. >> it was one of the largest

manhunts in the history of the hayward police department. even though the case went cold, they never put her file on the closed file shelf. >> reporter: michaela's mother spent the past 32 years looking for answers about what happened to her daughter. kate larson spoke to her today about what she would still like to find out and what she wants people to know about her daughter. >> reporter: we spoke about her daughter's case and she read me an incredibly powerful and moving statement. take a listen. >> last year, i had come to a place of accepting that she was probably no longer alive. but somehow that acceptance was far more wrapped up in the idea of her sitting on fluffy pink clouds, walking streets of gold, dancing on grassy hills, soaring among the stars. what i did not envision is my daughter as a dead child. >> reporter: now sharon, who never thought her daughter's case would be solved, is faced

with the fact that this man, david mish, kidnapped and murdered her little girl, michaela gi a garrett. >> i asked the question how did he kill his victims. and they were not easy. i doubted if i ever wanted to know, but if she could experience, i could hear it. the thoughts of her pain and grief are overwhelming. >> reporter: in 1988, michaela disappeared after she rode her skootder to this market. sharon described how detectives were able to get a partial print. >> a palm and put it across something narrow like a scooter, you're going to get a slice of palmprint. so they had to manually go through and match it up to slices of the palmprint. >> reporter: she says she was like mish to tell them where her remains are. >> i don't want to meet him or

talk to him. he doesn't seem like a human to me. >> reporter: as for michaela -- >> please don't forget her now. she's no longer a case but is what she always has been, that is a bright and shining light. >> reporter: kate larson, "abc7 news." >> and the case is one of a number of kidnapping cases to hit northern california hard. reporter j.r. stone spoke tonight with a kidnapping victim turned advocate about the arrest. >> it has given me the chills, because we were just with michaela's family a couple of years ago in honor of the 30-year anniversary, and that day, no one had any answers. >> reporter: but that changed monday when the district attorney announced murder charges against david mish. mittsy sanchez was kidnapped and sexually assaulted as an -year-old. she escaped and says in this case prays for answers. >> i hope this man speaks up and finds it in his heart to say

what it is he did with her. >> reporter: those like mark class, whose daughter polly was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 12 and the killer is on death row, says he put no trust in what this newly named suspect has to say. >> everything that guys like him say, when they find themselves in these tight situations, is going to be totally and completely self-serving. it will be virtually impossible to figure out what's true and what's not true. >> reporter: for 30 plus years, we've seen pictures of michaela. class says when polly went missing years ago, he couldn't help but think about michaela. him and sanchez agree that this will be a tough time for her family. >> that thread has been broken. they know with certainty that michaela is dead. and that's a terrible reality to live with, whether your child has been gone 10 minutes or 30 years. >> reporter: j.r. stone, "abc7 news."

>> and we did send out an alert this afternoon so you could watch the arrest announcement live and be the first to know the break in the case. to get alerts like these in the future, download the "abc7 news" app. tonight, the pandemic is spreading out of control across california. more than 17,000 people in the state are hospitalized. icu numbers have jumped 61% with more than 3600 needing critical care. and the seven-day average for new cases reached nearly 38,000 over the weekend. here's a look at the current icu capacity. 2.5% beds are available statewide. southern california region has zero. the bay area has improved slightly to 13.7%. but because the numbers haven't improved, the governor expects to extend the stay at home order. >> you can see as it relates to the stay at home that we are likely -- i think it's self-evident -- going to need to extend those original dates.

>> the governor made the announcement while giving his weekly update on the covid response efforts. stay at home efforts were set to expire in one week. meanwhile, governor newsom said the state administered more than 70,000 doses of the pfizer vaccine last week and more than 100,000 doses of moderna's vaccine arrived today. there are concerns about a potentially more contagious coronavirus variant that has shown up in the united kingdom. it's led to multiple countries banning travelers from the uk, and has scientists racing to learn more about the new strain. the governor says california is paying chose attention. special correspondent dr. patel explains the variant. >> the reason this is getting a lot of headlines is it has over a dozen mutations. what has everybody kind of, i don't want to say concerned but paying attention is potential mutations in the spike proteins are what make it able to infect

people and potentially evade our immune systems. >> it is fairly common for a virus to mutate. joe biden received his first dose of the pfizer vaccine in delaware this afternoon. he said he wanted to receive the injection on live television to encourage public confidence in the vaccine. biden says he's giving credding to the trump administration's operation warp speed. we spent last week digging into the questions and concerns you have about the vaccine. find all of our stories on abc7news.com/vaccine. congress approves a huge coronavirus relief bill, including new stimulus checks. how soon they could go out. plus, meet the adorable ainsley. the role this pup will be playing for a police department. a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. the so-called christmas star, if you missed it tonight, you're not out of luck. >> that's right, you are not out

of luck. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. the first week of winter will include rain. that's coming up. first, a look at what's coming up on "jimmy kimmel live." >> i've been cooking this all day for you. you do it that fast in >> can't hear you.

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covered california. this way to health insurance. enroll now at coveredca.com breaking news out of san francisco. a man has died after a double shooting on highway 101, and the investigation is causing a big backup. all south bound lanes before the ceasar chavez off ramp are shut

down. it appears a car crashed after the shooting, which happened around 9:30. stay with abc7news.com and the "abc7 news" app for updates as they come into our newsroom. now to developing news. that will keep the government funded and provide $900 billion in much-needed economic relief. the bill is expected to be signed into law by president trump. the agreement includes a one-time payment of $600 for individuals making up to $75,000 per year. a family of four could receive $2400. it adds $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits and provides nearly $300 billion in aid to small businesses. plus, more than $8 billion for

contributing the vaccine. steven mnuchin saying those stimulus checks could show up in american's bank accounts before the new year. >> the good news is, this is a very, very fast way of getting money into the economy. let me emphasize, people are going to see this money at the beginning of next week. >> reporter: for this single mom, help can't come soon enough. >> every dollar matters to me. the more they give me, the more ability i'll have to get my life back in order. a little bit at a time. right now there isn't enough to support myself or my kids. >> reporter: as coronavirus cases continue to climb, forcing more business closures and layoffs, some fear the help could be too little too late. democrats who had initially demanded trillions more in aid, are calling the deal a down payment. >> the bill today is a good bill. today is a good day. but it is certainly not the end of the story. >> reporter: joe biden applauded the deal, but said congress'

work is far from over. abc news, washington. california and the bay area will see direct benefits from the legislation, including $26 million in emergency rental assistance for san francisco. a 15% increase in snap benefits and expansion to include food insecure college students. $819 million in transit funding for the region to keep workers employed and services blow i s . and more than $10 billion to protect the health and safety of teachers, students and school staff. the bill includes $15 billion for independent music venues, performance spaces and theaters. and 3,000 club and theater owners teamed up to create the national independent venue association. they have spent eight months lobbying congress for relief. >> you're talking about a whole bunch of renegade cowboys and cowgirls in this industry. i couldn't be more proud of everyone involved in this effort. >> the bill will help venues

cover experiences, including rent, maintenance costs and more. in the south bay, a police department has added a four-legged officer to the team. meet canine ainsley. the campo police department's very first therapy dog. ainsley is being trained to help victims and officers and act as an baambassador for the department. ainsley needs some training before she can hit the streets. >> we're going to want to make sure that she's able to be out there in the community with children, victims, witnesses, like i said. so she will have to have the right mannerisms for that. >> ainsley will be the first therapy dog at a law enforcement agency in santa clara county. welcome, ainsley. you may have glimpsed the christmas star tonight, or like me, you missed it. saturn and jupiter appearing closer to each other than

they've been in centuries. any time two celestial objects line up the sky, it happens every 20 years, but the last time these two planet were this close was 1623. the science center held a virtual stream of the event. >> tonight, they're practically on top of each other, and then tomorrow night, they will switch places. so saturn will be the one that's farther to the west and jupt it a little further to the east. >> the planets are still hundreds of millions of miles apart. so are you out of luck with catching the celestial light show? maybe not. let's check in with meteorologist sandhya patel. sandhya? >> yeah, not quite. you still have a chance to view tomorrow night, and of course, the positioning will be changing in the coming days, but you still have several more days. let's take a look at the rare

conjunction. jupiter, you will notice here on your left, saturn, very faint on your right. this was captured by our camera earlier tonight. if you missed it, there's still an opportunity. and tomorrow night, viewing conditions might be better. so let's take a look at what was problematic for some spots. it's the fog and it is dense right now, down to a quarter mile in napa. fairfield, three quarters of a mile of visibility. half moon bay, fog with six-mile visibility. we have a dense fog advisory. hazardous driving conditions as visibility will be a quarter mile or less. so give yourself time for commuting if you commute through that area. there is a cold front passing through the north. it will mix out the atmosphere and tomorrow, although we're seeing the clouds right now and the fog right now, it should clear out for a nice, sunny day. not as cold as it was for the first day of winter. mid and upper 40s around concord

and fairfield where the fog didn't quite lift. 39 degrees right now in fairfield. 50 in san francisco as we look at the air quality. moderate to poor tomorrow. another spare the air has been issued. a live look from our camera. this is what your view may look like tomorrow morning. a little murky because of the fog. dry pattern through christmas eve, and we do have rain returning christmas through early next week. here's a look at the fog forecast. 5:00 a.m., notice the fog is around not just inland but parts of the coast, as well. as we head into 8:00 a.m., still in the same vicinity, but by afternoon, it dissipates. so a change in our pattern from today. tomorrow morning, mid thirties to the low 40s. a few upper forts in places like san francisco. watch out for the fog, give yourself extra time. and tomorrow afternoon, a crisp winter day. all the way to 60 in concord.

62 in fairfield. 60 in san jose. 62 in santa rosa. level one storm coming in on christmas. the rain will spread first in the north bay, then going southward. light to moderate rain, up to 0.75 of an inch. so here's a quick glance at it. christmas afternoon into the evening, getting wet. the sierra begins to see snow. shower activity early saturday. and then sunday, here comes another storm going into monday. so that is a welcome sight. accuweather seven-day forecast, dense morning fog followed by sunshine. cold wednesday morning. and really increasing clouds thursday, leading up to the level one storm on friday. that will continue into early saturday before another storm comes in sunday into monday. so pair of storms over the next seven days. we'll take it. ama, you still have a chance to check out that rare conjunction tomorrow night. >> i love it. i'm so excited. and santa bringing gifts of

rain. thanks, sandhya.

three, two, one -- >> tonight, grace cathedral and rainbow world teamed up to hold their world tree of hope lighting virtually. the world tree of hope sits inside grace cathedral, although no one is allowed to visit because of the pandemic. the tree is decorated with hand olded origami cranes and stars inscribed with wishes for the future of

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good evening. the warriors tip off a new season tomorrow in brooklyn. james weissmann will play, draymond green will not because of a foot injury. major story line, the warriors facing their old teammate kevin durant who left the tydynasty. k.d. has down played the significant of the matchup, just another regular season game. but here's steph curry on facing his old buddy. >> it's a lot of excitement being back in the action. it will be cool to see him out there and all those pleasantries, and then get to just competing. i think that's what we all expect. >> after four games on the road, the home opener, january 1st against portland. they will unveil this giant new

video board court side just like we saw at the nba bubble in orlando. fans will have a chance to be at the game virtually and see themselves on tv. >> you do it on your laptop, 120 fans per game. you see 90 of them there. we have a great setup in the player tunnel. so when steph curry comes out on the court, we could have his wife and kids sit thing waving to him as he goes on to the court. so a combination of fans and our season ticket members. we'll add some community groups in here. >> this has been a disappointing season for the 49ers, but they had three players selected all pro. fred warner is the best in the leak right now. trent williams also named all pro. the steelers, what happened to them? facing the bengals. straight to the fourth, bengals up 17-10. ryan finley, untouched. bengals up 14. less than 6:00 to play, snell,

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