away with murder. dj creato's guilty plea comes two years after his son's body was found in the woods. >> prosecutors say creato murdered the boy because his girlfriend didn't care for kids. but his first trial back in may ended in a mistrial when jurors failed to reach a verdict. he was set to be retried next month. bureau reporter cydney long is joining us live in the park where the boy's body was found. you're hearing strong reaction from people. >> reporter: we definitely are. people here have mixed feelings. they consider today's plea deal a blessing and a curse. many are relieved there will not be a second jury trial and a second chance at freedom. others are outraged and they consider today's deal a slap on the wrist, not justice. by recklessly depriving his son of oxygen, that's how dj creato killed his boy in 2015.

the charge, first degree aggravated manslaughter. >> you have to be mentally sick. >> he's getting away with murder. >> residents of neighboring towns ared and saddened. >> clearly he's the only human being that could have done that. i think he was definitely guilty. >> but mostly stunned that a deal will send him to prison for less than ten. they still wonder why he did it. >> we don't have the necessary facts to convict the guy. do you blame the prosecutor or police for not collecting information? ien don't know. >> reporter: with credit for already served, now 23 could be released from prison before his 30th birthday. >> as soon as we broke news of the plea deal, we asked the prosecutor to talk on cam rarks but she declined. >> the girl from the salon, she shared a tweet that nbc that said it was guilty.

>> this was footage back in may. the hairstylist followed the trial closely. today without tv cameras there, he was well gloroomed with no beard or point tail. the unthinkable crime still rocking this small community. >> even though justice was somewhat served today because we got an answer, could have been fully served a long time ago. >> my prayer would be he got some help. >> reporter: a local resident who built a memorial posted this note on the tree this afternoon calling brendon forever adopted son. no family including the mom or grandparentsen commented today and neither would his defense attorney. we can tell you that dj creato will be formally sentenced on september 29th. i'm cydney long, nbc 10 news. new details tonight about the train accident that injured nearly three dozen people. today we learned some of the passengers on the train that crashed early yesterday are

filing a lawsuit. the train slammed into another parked train in upper darby. one attorney said his client has a head injury and called it a preventable accident. we asked about the crash today and he says we have to invest wisely to help prevent future accidents. >> i suspect one of the things we're going to find is invest in mass transit. e we need to invest in infrastructure and redouble our efforts. we are making up for lost time. >> that video is at headquarters in washington where it will be analyzed. lining up to take their shot at tonight's powerball prize.

this is in atlantic city. we're seeing millionaire hopefuls all over the area. $700 million up for grabs. nbc 10 bureau reporter tim furlong is live for us. >> this is the second largest powerball prize ever. at 4:00 you talked about some incredible house. >> you're going to see it. i'm going to buy tickets. i want everybody to know if you did one of the collections at the i was a and i wasn't there for it, don't forget your boy. keep me in mind for this prize. hopefully one of us is going to win that. >> it's a $2 ticket to paradise.

>> if i win, i'm buying this $4.5 million crib. it's right in the heart of the river valley. i'm also buy iing more time wit my family in it. jim wants a boat. >> beers and boats, both fine with me. he has the same chance of winning the jackpot the rest of us do. >> what if you win with them and not her? >> she's a good friend. some to share. >> you got that on video, right? >> reporter: if i can't win, i want somebody to win because i can't do anymore of these what

would you do with the money stories. if i hear one more person tell me i'd help my family and pay bills, i want to hear the whacky stuff like make a life-size fire or something. it's stupid but funny. >> think of how many of those houses you could buy. >> i'd go for the boat. >> reporter: 4.5 million. jim is a party. >> he's the second kolest gym i kn know. >> it would be several days before a fugitive arrested is brought back to this area. >> the random killing shocked the community. he also allegedly fired shots at two people in philadelphia's overbrok neighborhood hours before the murder. there till needs to be a hearing.

the controversial statue of confederate general robert e. lee is draped in black tonight. workers covered it along with a second statue as a way to mourn the woman who died there earlier this month. she was killed during a protest. his words stand in stark contrast to remarks last night in phoenix. during that speech the president lashed out against the media. coverage of the speech and today's developments in charlottesville continue on "nbc nightly news" with lester holt ahead at 6:30. cheney university is fighting to keep its doors open as it welcomes a new class of students. the nation's oldest black college has until september 1st to prove why it should keep its

accreditation. students could lose financial a id. but the school has to slash the budget for that to happen. >> i heard about that. i still wear them. they have other requirements to maintain the accreditation. freshmen are busy unpacking and putting their new rooms together. >> 5100 of them are enrolled to temple this fall. to accommodate all of them, the move-ins will be staggered throughout the entire week. students represent 60 countries in 45 states. classes begin monday. in south jersey officials cut the ribbon on a brand new development project. the rowan boulevard project features luxury apartments for students and nonstudents.

it's made possible thanks to a partnership between the city and the university. >> $350 million economic project has brought people to downtown and created a downtown. more than 750 kids from kindergarten through eighth grade got to check out the new digs this morning. the new school has classrooms and separate gym and cafeteria and a library and digital resource center. the operations officer tells us the school has a lot to offer students.

>> the building will be used for continuing. thrills and thunder high above the jersey shore today. the atlantic city air show drew big crowds to the beach and boardwalk. 425,000 spectators focused on the skies for the 15th year. a slight increase compared to 2016 and didn't disappoint. >> we like being here at the ocean. >> organizers say the air show provides an economic boost of $26 million for the local economy. an explosive scare in delaware today. an m-80 fire cracker forced police to close woodland avenue. sky force 10 over the scene as police roped off that area. a resident found the fire cracker in the garage and

thought it was a stick of dine mi mite. delaware's popular pumpkin flinging competition b won't happen this year. today organizers of the annual championship cancelled the competition. the move follows the filing of a federal lawsuit by woom critically injured at last year's event. organizers say landowners who donate the property are reluctant to host it this year in light of the lawsuit. pennsylvania governor tom wolf met with business leaders in this chester today. it was part of the governor's jobs that pay tour. he met with members of the power home remodelling group. he praised the organization for its commitment to workers in the state. all new on nbc 10 news at 6:00, messages of hate, stores and cars covered in one community. the story at 6:00. look at that sky in the lehigh valley. clear skies, comfortable

conditions and how long is this weather going to stay with us? i'll have the answer next in my first alert forecast.

a rude awakening for people in one community. stores and cars covered in.

racial slurs and swastikas. deanna durante spent the day in coatesville as police searched for whoever is responsible. >> cameras like these are ul over the city of coatesville. tonight police are sifting through dozens of camera angles to trying to see if. they have images for a man responsible for the crime spree who targeted people's belongings and city streets while people here were sleeping. here he is armed with red spray paint. we can only show you parts of what was left behind. here near charles street. the images whatever they want to. >> reporter: his daughter works the night shift and came home to find the racist graffiti on the car. >> my daughter moved here two weeks ago. already she's subjected to this had. >> we have some good leads we're following up on. >> workers painted over the

graffiti, but they held on to the video that shows the man responsible for it. you also get to see the car he used to drive away. hfs 3:00 a.m. on tuesday when he struck here and when people woke up tuesday morning, the calls and social media posts came in. as police responded to nine calls on tuesday morning, officers tried to cover up what they could. and police are working to identify the man, but they are asking if you have any images on your phone or home surveillance cameras that you share it with police. any tips that come in can be anonymous. deanna durante, nbc 10 news. despite everybody else, that sunshine and lower humidity. i'm sure you felt that. it's quite a change from yesterday. 81 degrees and lots of sunshine now. you had some high clouds. the average high is in the mid-80s.

so temperatures are below average and are going to continue to go down. the high was 84 today. it's 81 at the airport now. 83 at penns port. and 1 in chestnut hill. it's actually going to get cooler over the next few days. see all the clouds in southern half of delaware and extreme south jersey. cape may county, a lot of sunshine elsewhere. the clouds are left over from the front that hit last night with those storms. and that's going to be moving out. those areas will be seeing a lot more sunshine during the day tomorrow. 81 in fairmont. 9 f79 for the high tomorrow wita low tonight of 59. not going to need the air conditioners for awhile. 80 in swanksville. lots of sunshine through the area.

just a beautiful day, one of several on the way. last week's eagles game was kind of warm and humid for football. but not tomorrow night. it's going to be pretty much ideal. not a lot of wind either. and as we go through the rest of the week and into the weekend, the temperature actually starts coming down. we were 84 today. 81 tomorrow. we're talking with sunshine and high temperatures still only in the 70s. that's an unseasonably cool air mass. allentown, that's four days in a row of highs in the 70s. but nice and low humidity. now at the beaches, the ocean is kind of warm. the air will be not quite as warm. same thing in wildwood. water temperatures, 79. for high temperatures both days, low humidity. the only problem you've got is

you go in the water and you come out and you freeze real quickly because of the cooling from the low humidity. got high humidity in the gulf of mexico here. this is the remnants of harvey. also watch what's going ob off the coast of florida. that could develop into something affecting parts of the southeast. this is going to be a disaster in texas. multiple inches, maybe a foot or more of rain with a slow-moving storm. but eventually some of the moisture could come up this way toward the end of next week. ed. i'm john clark. eagles tackle johnson guarantee a win to start the season. great quotes coming up. plus the fastest home run start in phillies history. that's next.

i'm john clark from csn. lane johnson is very confident about this birds team. he penned an open letter to eagles fans on the website the players tribune. sounds like a guarantee. let me tell you what's going to happen in a couple weeks. this team is going to down and whoop some bleep. that's where the momentum is going to comp. and the hoip train is going to get bigger as the league realizes that the eagles are back. the nfc east is the toughest in football and it's going to get tougher this season because nobody is going to want the to face us. i'm not saying this to blow smoke. i'm telling you guys this is how it's going to go down. here's what we're going to need from you. fly with us and just be you. come out to the games, drink

some beers, raise some hell and make this a place or team loves to play and everybody else hates, especially cowboys fans. the starters will see the most action tomorrow night. coach says they could play to the second or third quarter. all eyes on the running game. wendell smallwood for the first time this season. he wants to show he's got it. >> it's exciting to be able to show the things i could do. knowing what i could do. just frustrated with the injury and had the setback. can't do anything not on l field. i'm back and it's time to pick up where i left off. >> he's bounced back from injuries and looked good so i'm comfortable where he's at. >> and the high school blitz is back. we need you to choose our game of the week.

phillies desperate for a win tonight against the marlins. the best part is rookie reese hopkins. he hit his sixth home run yesterday. fastest rookie ever to six home runs. he had the most homers in the national league over the last week and a half. his first homer last week his teammates gave him the traditional silent treatment. he laughed about that today. >> i thought it was going to happen when i was running back to the dugout and he kind of sunk hold of me. and there was no e reaction from him. this is probably going to happen. sure enough, guys are paying attention to the game. thought it would be pretty funny to give the air five and hit everyone in the dugout. >> we don't deserve the silent treatment at all.

>> thanks, john clark. now for a look at what's coming up tonight at 11:00. >> talking about this walking. it turns dangerous. how it sent a student to the hospital. that's tonight at 11:00.

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one, get your free online valuation. two, drive to your local car buying centre. and three, walk out with your check in as little as 30 minutes. so don't wait. get your free online valuation now. ♪ find out how much your car's worth ♪ ♪ at webuyanycar.com more and more tax money tosends trenton, ♪ find out how much your car's worth ♪ but gets less and less back thanks to steve sweeney and chris christie. here's the sweeney-christie record eight years of underfunded schools. huge tax breaks for themselves and their rich friends while we pay more.

and homestead rebate funding for seniors cut in half next year. don't believe the fake news from his wealthy donors. steve sweeney stands with chris christie, not with south jersey. a beautiful stretch of weather. >> we haven't had one o of these this summer. it's been a pretty wet summer. it's not going to be wet. wash the car, don't worry about it. for the next five days at least. through monday temperatures below normal. the humidity way below normal. more sunshine than normal. then it's possible that the remnants of hurricane harvey that's about to slam into texas the next few days could bring some of the moisture this way. that's going to be a real big national story. >>. i was thinking last night was my car wash with all the rain.

>> you could do it professionally. >> that's our news at 6:00. thank you for watching. i'm jim rosenfield. >> and i'm jacqueline london. "nbc nightly news" is next. tonight, whiplash. in between his own calls for unity, president trump goes on an angry tirade attacking the media and fellow republicans and threatening a government shutdown. hurricane watch. a massive storm gaining steam barreling toward the u.s. gulf coast where they're bracing for impact. al roker will join us. crisis in the mail. an eye-opening new look at how the opioid epidemic and drugs ravaging so many families are flowing into the u.s. from china. shopping wars. google teams the up with walmart taking aim at amazon. how this new competition among giants could save you money. and a $700 million jackpot. one of the largest in history. the drawing just hours away. are you feeling lucky?