the sound of bagpipes, a solemn line of mourners as families, friends, soldiers and veterans give a final salute to a new york air national guard sargeant killed in afghanistan. and human remains found

investigators have to determine who the victim is and what started the fire. good evening. i'm sandra bookman. >> i'm joe torres. we begin with that final salute to a fallen american soldier. louis bonacasa was killed four days before christmas when a suicide bomber struck near bagram airbase. >> mourners gathered at new beginnings christian center for a solemn funeral service. sergeant bonacasa's five-year- old daughter wearing a pink jacket and clutching a stuffed animal, watching her father's casket. her hero had tattooed a poem that he wrote for the little girl on his left rib cage. eyewitness news reporter mallory hoff was in for the emotional service. >> reporter: mourners gathered for the funeral service for new york air national guard member 31-year-old staff sergeant louis bonacasa. his wife deborah and five-year-

stuffed animal, paid their respects as his casket was carried into beginnings christian center in coram, long island. >> very emotional. sad to see that young man, but we thank him for his service. and the sacrifice. >> reporter: the ultimate sacrifice that will be felt most by his family, deborah read a poem for his -- for her husband of 11 years. >> i'm so proud and honored to be your wife. thank you for sharing with me this beautiful life. >> reporter: she spoke about the natives desire to serve, sergeant bonacasa was assigned to the new york air national guard 150 airlink wing. he had promised his family that his fourth tour of duty would be his last. >> louis was good at his job and he loved what he did and he loved what he did because he wanted nothing more than to protect his family, his brothers, his brothers in arms and his country. >> reporter: he was one of six

patrol in afghanistan. he is being called a hero. major general patrick murphy described the staff sergeant dedicated to a cause. >> he was drawn together with other airmen with a common purpose and an unquestionable set of values. personal courage, selfless service, duty, honor, respect, and loyalty. >> reporter: a description of a man that will undoubtedly be shared many times over with his daughter in the years ahead. knee airmen dedicated to protecting the country he loved. in coram, long island, mallory hoff, channel 7 eyewitness news. new tonight a disturbing discovery at a health -- a house fire in new jersey. human remains found inside the burned-out building. now detectives are trying to unravel the mystery. reporter tim fleischer is at the scene in clifton. tim? >> reporter: neighbors tell me that this house went up in

look behind me, you can see it has been destroyed by this fire, now boarded up but it is also the focus of an investigation after a disturbing discovery inside. >> called the fire department. the house was fully engulfed. >> reporter: mike hurried to his neighbor's house only to find it fully engulfed in flames. it took just a matter of moments. >> sounded like something exploded in there. like a propane tank or something went off. but as far as we knew, i didn't know if there was anyone in there or not. >> reporter: litton firefighters were quick to arrive at the home. they began working to knock down the fire which neighbors say had moved up to engulfed the second floor. >> it was just unbelievable to see how the flames worked so fast. it was really scary to watch that. >> reporter: the fire began shortly before 2:00 in the afternoon on new year's day and to the attention of a number of neighbors who are now hearing

fire. >> someone was found inside? >> that's all we heard. someone was found inside. which is a shame. >> reporter: police say that during the investigation of the fire, human remains of an individual were discovered inside. they are not revealing the age or gender of the person. the cause and origin is also being investigated by police, fire and the prosecutor's office. >> i know that people were running around frantically trying to figure out if someone was inside. >> very sad, that's for sure. very sad. >> reporter: one neighbor laid a bouquet of flowers and silently spent a few moments amid the charred debris on the front steps. the medical examiner is also expected to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death. life in clifton, tim fleischer, channel 7 eyewitness news. new tonight police on long island arrested two teenagers in a highway brick tossing incident last weekend. andrew denton of east meadow and 17-year-old jacob palat face assault and other charges.

overpass hit two vehicles on the meadowbrook parkway last saturday night. two people suffered minor injuries. in brooklyn a teenager arrested after opening fire on a fleeing crowd. this handgun was found at the scene. three police officers sitting in an unmarked patrol car in bed sty solid teenager shoot at the crowd. they cut out and chased him down. the suspect was not identified. he's being charged as a juvenile. no word on any injuries. a manhunt is on for the suspect in a deadly shooting outside a bar in tel aviv. officials say he is from an error village. family members who recognized him from surveillance video say he is a troubled young man. yesterday he pretended to shop in a store before putting down his backpack and opening fire on a bar next door. two people were killed, seven hurt. also new tonight, weapons

major sporting event, a connecticut man arrested. police in the boston area say that matthew bromson of north granby had items in his car outside the winter classic in foxborough including a sword, a meat cleaver, a crossbow and a stun gun. investigators say this was an isolated incident at the hockey event. bromson faces charges including assault with a dangerous weapon and is scheduled for arraignment on monday. we didn't just say goodbye to 2015. we also said farewell to the unseasonably warm weather. you could really feel the difference in the temperature today. you could see the change as well. people walking around in columbus circle were noticeably bundled up against the chill. jeff smith joins us with the exclusive accuweather forecast. jeff? >> after we obliterated the record for the warmest december on record, temperatures near- normal are a shock to the system.

a degree or two above normal in this area this time of year. temperatures stayed in the upper 30s. still sitting in the middle and upper 30s, 37 and 36 respectively, down to 37 in new york city proper, 28 in monticello, down to 28 down the jersey shore, middle and upper 30s on the island. the big story is this cold air paint off to our north, well north of the us canadian border, that's going to make a direct shot at the tri has -- at the tri-state area. that will be our coldest air since last winter. in the meantime overnight tonight we get down to low 30s in the city, 20s in the suburbs. tomorrow, sunny but breezy. a little milder during the afternoon, it won't feel that great. much much colder monday and tuesday. we will decay -- detail that coming up. sandra? early-morning earthquake rattles northern new jersey. more people living near ring would say they felt shaking at around 1 am.

registered about 2.1 on the richter scale. that didn't keep rattled residents from calling the police department. >> usually people call in with their damage. we had no damage recorded. we do contact on observatories and they will give us a full report monday or tuesday. exactly what happened. >> the quake hit five miles underground a run -- along the ramapo fault line, which is one of the longest on earth. again, no damage or injuries were reported. we take you to the midwest, high river water is receding in some areas while it rises in others. the mississippi river remains high. on the missouri side, some parts of st. louis area are under 16 feet of water. downriver, bridges, roads and homes already are submerged. across the river in illinois, the governor says the levees are holding but some areas have been evacuated.

for 24 deaths. for train commuters in southwestern connecticut, the new year brings a fare hike. the new haven line has been raised by one percent, into effect yesterday. official save money from the increase will help pay for the new railcars being put into service. one percent hike is scheduled for 2017 and 2018. a wild and frightening chain of events at a gas station captured on camera at a woman carjacked finds a way to get free. what the drama -- but the drama

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a woman carjacked and kidnapped makes a daring break for safety when the car pulls over for gas in pennsylvania, she gets out and grabs the attention of the customers. the victim then hides behind a man as the carjacker drives around the pump looking for her. >> jumped from the car at the pump. she tried to run around everywhere. she's screaming outside. >> i'm glad the female from last evening was safe. >> as the suspect sped off, a good samaritan tried to chase

and kept driving until he was stopped by an accident. that's when police arrested him. he wound up driving nearly 150 miles through pennsylvania. just as blue bell puts ice cream back on the shelves, following that listeria outbreak, the justice department is launching an investigation. you may remember three people died after eating bluebell ice cream and the bacteria was traced to 10 cases last year. the doj investigation will partially look into whether the company knew it was sending out contaminated product and bluebell has started to put limited flavors back on some store shelves in texas and alabama. lottery ticket sellers are buzzing tonight powerball drawing as the jackpot nears historic levels. hopeful winners bought up their lucky numbers today in midtown, right now the jackpot stands at , drumroll, $334 million. the 12th largest in the the game's history.

lose -- you can choose the lump sum of $205 million. >> we're going to split it, right down the middle. >> 50-50? >> [laughter] did she give you a contract in writing? >> not yet. we're going to draw one up tonight. >> that will make for a nice evening. you can watch the drawing tonight right before eyewitness news at 11, right here on channel 7. a very close call on the road coming up on eyewitness

look at this highway ice, suv off the road yesterday in utah, the vehicle ended up teetering on the barrier of interstate 80 in salt lake city area. if it had trouble just a few feet more, might have gone down the hill into a ravine. a state trooper says the driver was wearing a seatbelt and that kept him from being a -- from being ejected. tense moments there. >> all the way around. i'm happy to say that we don't have that issue around here anymore. the temperatures are slowly inching their way down. >> temperatures are going to be plummeting but we don't have much in the way of moisture to combine with cold temperatures. so a round of applause

>> from me. >> not looking for big-time winter storms in the next seven days but it will feel very cold, very harsh out there monday and tuesday, a live look toward the empire state building still in the holiday spirit, 37, that wind from the northwest at six, gusting up to 17, a little bit breezy out there right now, even windier during the day tomorrow, ahead of that arctic front. the high today up to 40. like i was saying earlier, that was a shock to the system considering how warm it was during the month of december but still above average. average high this time of year, 39. average low 28. we did get down to 32, freezing this morning only for the second time this bright but breezy tomorrow, mid 40s. won't feel that warm because of the wind out there. the arctic air arrives during the day on monday. monday might be a day where we get our high before dawn. then the temperature tumbles during the day into the 20s. it will feel like it's in the teens. the coldest so far this season, since last winter. this will last into tuesday and

quickly after that. 34 in middletown, 28 at monticello, 37 at poughkeepsie and kingston in ulster county, 30 system at west orange, 37 on the island right now, we've had some clouds around during the day today especially from the city and points north, we cleared out for a time nicely during the afternoon but we have clouds over the area. in general, the trend will be for clearing skies overnight tonight. that will allow temperatures in the suburban areas to fall pretty low, down to 24 in sussex, 28 or so at white plains, down to freezing again in new york city before recovering to 44 during the afternoon. a few degrees warmer tomorrow than it was today. it won't feel mild because of the wind out there. than the arctic air arrives monday into tuesday. look at how far south the front sags by tuesday, that's going to open up the floodgates for a direct shot of cold air from

tonight, mainly clear, down to 32, 20s in the suburbs, breezy tomorrow, 44, clear tomorrow night, first little bit of arctic air moving in, 27 in the city, much colder monday up to 32 if we're lucky. temperatures can fall throughout the day, blue jeans will -- wind chills will be in the teens. there could be a snow shower or fleury north and west, bright but bitterly cold on tuesday, only in the 20s despite a little sunshine. not as harsh on wednesday, saturday, by the time a system comes in late friday into saturday, it would more than likely be in the form of rain, despite the fact it gets so cold monday into tuesday. >> all right. winter is here, january, goes together. starting with a little basketball, the 2016 portion of the nets season didn't go as planned.

may be the nets picked up some clam chowder before the game. >> they always do well in their first game of the year. extra incentive to win.

so each nets win helps decrease its value a little. celtics and nets with the first of a home and home. brook lopez just getting started, hits the shot plus the foul. season-high 30. this one got physical in the third, lopez going to the hoop, gets tackled by jared sullinger. jarret jack jumping to his defense. a horrible moment for jack, his knee gives out. he goes down in pain. did not return. the team is calling it a knee sprain. nets trying to hold on, joe johnson turnaround jumper. the celtics made this interesting but they didn't come close enough, 197, nets. knicks are back in action tomorrow against the hawks when they attempt to wipe away the memory of last night's new year's opener in chicago, just eight points total in the fourth quarter. that's the lowest scoring total in franchise history. not exactly the way the knicks wanted to ring in 2016. >> i don't know what exactly it was. we just didn't have it.

offensively, the same. we didn't have it tonight. by tomorrow, we will know if the jets season continues for one more week with either a gangrene win over the bills or a steelers loss to the browns, the jets are in the postseason. new york controlling its own destiny, something they've been hoping for all season long. people expected their defense to be a big -- a big refunds -- a big reason why. but it's the offense that had made the difference. >> we have a running offense. so this has been a gift for us to put together in the passing game and try to make a complete offense. then there's the giants who have been preparing for their season finale all week. rumors swirl around them, big blue officially out of the playoffs once again. the once job is really safe, especially tom coughlin, who may or may not be able to coach his last game with new york.

on this week. they are doing their best to avoid them. >> i don't even know the record. i don't need to know what the score is. we go out there and fight for every yard, every single play. that's the attitude you got to have. big -- biggest opener, second chance at the opener -- 's toughest competition so far this season, the jon niese headed to providence to face the 12th right fires. just a three-point game, this won't help. st. john's with the turnover, randy bullock, the dunk. providence pulling away, chris done, the jam right there. 83-65. st. john's balls. then seton hall hosting depaul, trying to stay perfect. rodriguez, depaul would cut it to one, but seton hall finding a way to hang on. tough shot, their seventh game in a row, also today syracuse

started well for the orange. the drive and the big-time slam, they led by eight at half, second half, totally different story. all miami. angel rodriguez, the hoop and the foul. the orange outscored 47-26 in the second. syracuse drop it second straight. rutgers in medicine, they beat the badgers. scarlet knights trying to keep pace. mike williams the jumper with the hand in his face. wisconsin, just too much. zach showalter had himself again. 8-8 from the field, 21 points, 79-57.