tonight new details on how an inmate got off death row. >> from bankruptcy to liquidation, how soon sales will start at some sports authority stores. >> when she had no license plate for her car, she got creative. 9news starts now. tonight's republican debate evolved into an epic free for all. donald trump called his opponents little marco and lion ted and there were changes in flexibility which led to yoga taunts and as there was a plead

trump boasted about the size of the anatomy. >> if anyone ever deserved to be hit that way, it's donald trump. he hit my hands. >> look at those hands. are they small hands. this little guy has lied so much about my record. >> here we go. here we go. >> breathe, breathe, breathe. >> the lion is dead. >> you can do it. breathe. i know it's hard, but just -- >> when they're done with the yoga, can i answer a question? >> you cannot. i really hope that we don't see yoga on this stage. >> well, he's very flexible, so you never know. >> cruz and rubio lit into trump as a raucous detroit crowd cheered and jeered. cruz repeatedly questioned trump whether he had told the new york times off the record that he's not serious about that plan to build a wall at the mexican border. >> what's been reported is that donald told the editorial board of the new york times what i'm saying on immigration, i don't believe. i'm not going to build a wall.

this is all just rhetoric for the voters. now if he didn't say this, he has an easy solution. simply release the tape. >> i would not do that. i have too much respect. if i deal with you off the record, if i deal with brett or chris off the record, i have too much respect for that process to say just release everything. i would not do that. >> governor john kasich didn't call anyone a name or brag about the size of his manhood. he did draw applause at 1 point when he said washington tends insiders. >> they want change and they keep putting outsiders in to bring about the change. then the change doesn't come. then they put more outsiders in because we're putting people in that don't understand compromise. they don't understand policy and people are getting more and system. >> so after all of that 9news political expert republican strategist kelly maher tweeted is this real life? she came in for 9news at 9:00.

team on trump worked. >> cruz and rubio actually did a good job of tag teaming together. they really did a good job of highlighting the trump university issues. i think that trump very clearly got very flustered much of the evening. i think that rubio certainly was a little off based off of what we usually see from him, but he did okay and cruz did very well, as did kasich surprisingly. >> kelly's democratic counterpart james mejia couldn't be with us but wanted to be sure we mentioned kelly received a special honor today recognizing the top 40 under 40 of the american association of political consultants. >> prior to tonight's debate the last republican nominee mitt romney blasted trump during a speech in utah today criticizing his morality, business practices and character and called him a phoney, fraud and bashed him

>> think of donald trump's personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the ab insured 3rd theatrics. >> donald trump lashed back saying romney lost because he was a poor candidate and said romney happily accepted his endorsement in the last election and even begged him for it. the war of words will likely continue tomorrow. on the today show mitt romney will join matt lauer for an interview right here on 9news tomorrow morning. meanwhile there are developments out of north korea tonight. north korean leader kim jong un reportedly ordered nuclear weaponing readied for use right away in apparent response to the u.n. security council's unanimous approval of sanctions against north korea this week.

by u.s. imperialists to impose gangsterlike economic pressure. the pentagon said it's closely monitoring the situation with allies in that region. a crime on the western slope defies description. inside a squalid home a man held a homeless woman for her. the suspect claude wilkerson was released from death row in texas four years ago because of a due process violation. 9news reporter tarhonda thomas tonight with the details including how that hostage was freed. >> reporter: a truly terrifying ordeal is finally over for the 26-year-old victim. authorities say she'd been homeless several years. wilkerson offered her a place to stay seizing on her desperation. >> she's been through hell and back. >> reporter: in an 18 phage arrest affidavit an unnamed 26- year-old -- page arrest affidavit an unnamed 26-year- old woman details numerous sexual assaults by this man,

it started in this area in rural gateway, colorado. >> it's definitely a place to hide away and be left alone. >> reporter: court records say she and a teenage run-away also living with him chained the victim's hands and legs and put a chemical soaked cloth over her face to drug her. the victim was allowed in the backyard a handful of times and to a nearby store twice. this woman said she'd seen the before. >> my impression was that i'm here and i'll do my thing and you can do yours, but it wasn't like we were going to interact. >> reporter: officials were tipped off to the case in february when the teenage run- away was reported found. the girl told another person about the kidnapping. when deputies arrived at wilkerson's home to check on the story, the victim walked outside casually but clearly afraid. the victim asked a deputy to arrest her on an outstanding $50 warrant. >> but he felt that something was wrong and he needed to get

find out what was going on. >> reporter: wilkerson has a criminal record in colorado and montana. kyle, those arrests and convictions include dui, assault and intimidation, criminal mischief and property damage. >> whitney wild, thank you. 9news psychologist dr. max wachtel red the arrest affidavit and noticed the victim -- read the arrest affidavit and noticed the victim quickly found a way to cope when she couldn't escape. >> there were times in the affidavit where she didn't even necessarily think some of the things he had done were wrong and not because she was brainwashed or anything like that. it was more like she had learned to go along with it to make things better for herself. >> dr. max says the recovery process will be a long one that may include bouts of depression and even misplaced feelings of guilt about what happened. >> the suspect in the case sat on death row in texas four years before his case was dismissed on a legal technicality. today a former investigator there spoke about wilkerson, as did the attorney who helped him

here's 9news reporter jonathan gonzalez. >> they held them hostage, taped them up. >> reporter: in 1978 the bodies of three jewelry store workers were discovered after a robbery claude wilkerson planned with three others. he said wilkerson worked there, but the robbery was foiled when a co-worker recognized his voice. >> because he had recognized their voice, they all get together and decide that they got to dispose of them. >> reporter: wilkerson had confessed to part of the crime. that was enough to help prosecutors convict him of murder. wilkerson spent four years on death row in texas until that confession was thrown out in 1983 by a federal court. >> they brought him down to try to talk to him after i invoked his -- after he invoked his right to a lawyer. >> reporter: wilkerson confessed without allurer

one -- without a lawyer present after he had asked for one and a result. unable to be indicted, wilkerson eventually moved to colorado a free man. >> he was very pleasant, very, you know, easy to talk to. he would call periodically. >> reporter: attorney stanley snyder helped free wilkerson different these days. >> he looked bizarre, his picture, the long hair, the scraggly beard. he looked different. >> reporter: he also says he won't be shocked to hear from wilkerson any time soon. >> i wouldn't be surprised if one day soon i got a collect phone call from the jail. >> snyder also says he expects wilkerson's new attorney to call him to find out details regarding the death row dismissal. all three death row cases from the murders were dismissed and charges dropped. turns out snyder and music became friends after this incredibly unusual case.

attorney, too. so that's part of it, so unusual. >> it's an unusual case and you just wonder what may have happened back then and it all led to him coming to colorado and now. this he said he wasn't surprised. the former prosecutor said he wasn't surprised to see this happened. the park county sheriff suspended his no. 2 man and another sergeant quit as a result of disciplinary action. the shake-up comes just one week after a park county deputy was killed and two others were shot during an eviction. sheriff fred wegener told 9news the discipline wasn't related to the shooting itself or the tactics in the incident. instead he said the undersheriff monte gore was suspended with pay for putting out an inaccurate press release. sergeant wells tonjes resigned after he was disciplined for yelling at employees after the shooting. deputies say the activist shot at them first.

tomorrow the start of liquidation stays at about 140 stores nationwide of the closings will impact around 1/3 of the locations. the largest number of stores are in texas, florida, california and illinois. liquidation is expected to last up to several weeks. there are three stores in colorado that are closing, the sports castle downtown, the store in greenwood village and the outlet in littleton. what a difference a month makes when it comes to the weather along the front range. a month ago we were digging out from nearly a foot of snow that fell in the metro the first two days of february of since then just a trace around denver. from february 9th until today we've had above average temperatures 23 of 24 days. today we were in the mid-60s and it should be warmer this weekend. this week is also the first time this season that colorado snowpack has fallen below average. the home is the storm next week could boost those numbers. the current base is almost

most areas about this time last year. last year a-basin as you may remember was able to keep a couple of runs open until the middle of june. not a bad couple of days for colorado, first of u.s. news and world report ranked denver as the no. 1 place to live in the country yesterday. today on this 3rd day of the third month of the year it's a chance to celebrate all that we love about the area code a lot of us call home. we got a lot of the ways to show you how to show your love on colorado on our 9news app. you can take a quiz find out which colorado icon you are, anything from red rocks to blucifer to rocky mountain national park. you can voice your opinion about everything from your favorite colorado beer to your favorite musician on our colorado facebook page as well. still ahead a woman tries to outsmart her state with a homemade license plate, nailed it. >> then boeing is redesigning one key seat on its airplanes. >> if you liked today, wait for the weekend.

you'll love those temperatures. we're only going up from here. >> and one of the best sailing teams in the world have a little trouble during today's training session. >> and we're going to help you figure out who is going to be the broncos quarterback next

. you know, it's a real shape police don't cut you slack for trying because -- shame the police don't cut you slack for trying because the woman who faked her license plate surely would have gotten off with a high five, but no, faking a plate is still against the rules. so 28-year-old amanda

boeing is working on some features some passengers only use when necessary. a restroom cleans itself after every use. everything operates by touch sensors. after someone leaves special uv lights kill 99.9% of germs. the light is not harmful to humans and will only turn on when no one is inside. to hold the iditarod in alaska you need a few things, great sleds, great dogs and snow. the first two have been ready to go and the weather not so much. city streets in anchorage look about like they do in denver snow free. that's why train cars delivered snow from other parts of alaska so the city's portion of the race could be held sunday on a shortened course through the streets. here's an interesting stat. anchorage has only had 27 inches of snow this year. we've had 11 inches more than that so far in denver. we still might be looking

this is our snowiest month on average and it has been unusually mild and unusually dry. i'm meteorologist kathy sabine. may, you're almost to the weekend. congratulations. you just about made it through the week. are you thinking about the weekend? well, fishing, why not? it will be great conditions for anything you might want to do up and down the front range and even in the high country, not a lot of fresh snow for skiing, but comfortable temperatures and good travel weather, 64 the high in denver today, 63 in trinidad, currently 46 at the airport. winds are southwest at 13 with rising air pressure. high thin clouds outside the 9news backyard with light winds and mid-40s here close to down down. winds haven't been a big factor for us today unless you're watching from the foothills. any amount of wind, low humidity values and above average readings are concerns for high fire danger and the current drought scenario. you'll notice colorado looking pretty good, harness changed a lot, but off -- hasn't changed a lot, but off to the west

continue from southern california up to the west coast even into the northern rockies. they'd certainly welcome a change this month. temperatures look to be above average for the west and northwest through the month of march but it looks like cooler, wetter weather for the second half of the month. for now all this moisture is going north and east over the top of the ridge. the best chance for moisture will be across the gulf coast and the carolinas. it will be rain and all snow up north, even the threat of severe weather outside houston and jacksonville. it's a fast moving system affecting the eastern seaboard and our system comes in basically as a dry front, races across the state from the northwest tomorrow and then warm air follows. it's the next system beginning to knock on the door of northern california that may bring us rain and snow early next week. in the meantime we're on the western fringe of this cold arctic air mass. highs remain above average, close to 60 again tomorrow. northwest flow bringing clouds

we'll call it partly cloudy tonight, partly sunny in the afternoon. the winds shift out of the northeast with the front that has very limited moisture. i put an isolated shower in the foothills, should not affect travel in the mountains. lows tonight 20s on the mountains, 30s on the plains, very mild evening. 66 grand junction, mid-40s in the high country, 59 in greeley to 74 in pueblo on a friday in march, not bad, 55 for a high in evergreen, 45 in nederland tomorrow. a quick burst of wind when the front comes through, but it won't be the wind event you experienced yesterday. partly cloudy, cool and dry, low 32. we'll be 60 tomorrow, a good 10 degrees warmer than average and it gets better. we'll go into the mid-60s on saturday, tap into the 70s sunday ahead of a storm that may bring rain in our snowiest month. cooler weather to kick off the new week, but we rebound

in the 50s and back to 70s with sunshine by the end of next week. so no big interesting storms looming on the horizon, but hey, it's still winter somewhere. you just got to go way up high up into the northern mountains to find a scene like that. >> just got to hunt for it. >> take a little trip. this week we are rediscovering colorado's national parks looking for new adventures off the beaten path. 9news photojournalist chris hansen and i spent months visiting all four of our parks across several different seasons. join us saturday night at 9 p.m. for an hour long special called colorado's national park. channel 20. two american cup captains capsized their catamaran during practice today. the oracle team usa crew was in the water off the coast of flipped. some of the six sailors on

from colorado sports leader here's drew soicher. >> hi, everybody. the avalanche made more noise tonight than all the republican candidates combined. avs beat the florida panthers, remarkable effort by gabriel landeskog who singlehandedly beat four players. avs win 3-2. rockies collected their first victory of spring training today. >> yes! >> rox beat the arizona diamondbacks in scottsdale, shortstop trevor story wants to make the major league roster. that will help. rockies win 6-5. broncos are still waiting

broncos insider mike klis tells us who he thinks has the best chance of quarterbacking the defending super bowl champions. klis and tell. >> peyton manning. >> zero. >> brock osweiler. >> i'd say 90 to 95%. >> trevor simeon. >> 100% as a backup or no. 3. >> robert griffin, iii. >> i would say he's got a 30% chance which is pretty high for a guy not on the team now and is under contract for the redskins, but he makes a lot of sense as a backup. remember, he married a local girl here. i'm sure denver is high on his list. >> colin kaepernick. >> i would say the only way kaepernick plays for the broncos is that if osweiler is not resigned. so the chances are remote. >> t.j. yates. >> i'd say 30% right there with rg3 because he is a backup. he was the backup for gary kubiak in houston. we all know how gary kubiak

>> john elway likes hall of fame quarterbacks. aaron rodgers? >> no chance he ever leaves green bay ever. >> eli manning. >> i don't think eli manning would want anything to do with following in his brother's footsteps any more than he already has. >> another quarterback from the colts, andrew luck. first elway and manning. this makes sense. >> sure. just have andrew luck follow peyton manning wherever he goes. elway would love to have the former stanford quarterback, but no chance indy lets him go. >> superman cam newton? >> that might be something. he might fit in that offense, but no. i think he's going to be playing for the carolina panthers for years to come. >> all seriousness, tim tebow. >> in all serious, over john elway's dead body. >> had to ask. hey, have i ever mentioned how much i love sports? >> yes, you have. >> well, i do now more than

seconds of last night's nuggets victory over the lakers kobe bryant took off his size 14 sneakers, autographed them and delivered the pair to the kids sitting near the team's bench. >> the young lady that was sitting in front of them, too, had a little contest going on. they wanted to know what the name of our pet dog was. i gave them a clue. i said it's in the potter film. so every time out they'd throw out like 15 names and the deal was if they got it, i'd give them my shoes and so they got it. >> he has a yellow lab and his name is crucio. ever heard of that name? >> no. >> it's from the potter movies apparently. crucio is one of three unforgivable curses that inflict excruciating pain upon the receiver. >> he named his dog that? >> yes.

>> it's probably a nipper. >> at your ankle. >> you have experience with that, kyle? >> dogs love me. >> the kids finally get that late in the 4th quarter. so he delivered the shoes as he promised. >> nice. >> we'll be right back.

lots of good news from the weather department tonight, not so sure about the sports department, but it's from the weather department. >> we've got sunshine and 60 tomorrow and 70 on sunday. >> drew, can you top that? >> fabulous, no. we can top it with this news of our good friend mark koebrich. >> he's retired. >> he really did. we sent him off yesterday with all this great big party and everything. apparently the state legislature decided to one up us and they give him a big round of applause and acknowledge his successful career and his retirement on

>> we acknowledge the distinctive and creative and he brought to us entertainment. >> he started at 9news in 1980, plans to spend more time with his lovely wife kathy, the kids and the grandkids and just have a good time. >> all i can think of is poor, kobe, first day had to put a tie on, put makeup on, too. >> we should have called him