>> and a difficult day on the stand for 8 on your side investigator steve andrews reliving the moment he foured for his daughter's life. >> venomous and deadly snakes may be living next-door, a story you'll want to see even though it may make your skin crawl. good evening. i'm jennifer leigh. >> i'm keith cate. thank you for joining us. new tonight these clearwater parents are in trouble with the law. they called police saying someone stole their car with their 3-year-old son still inside. the trouble is police say they made that whole story up. >> that's right. their car was never stolen and the child wasn't ever in the back seat to begin with. paul mueller joins us live at clearwater police department tonight and the big question, why make it all up? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. apparently the mother had her car stolen two weeks ago and when she called the cops to come over, apparently it took them too long. so this time she knew that if

back seat, they'd come right away. >> awful, awful, i thought i wasn't going to see my grandson. >> reporter: the grandmother of this little boy breathing a sigh of relief tonight now that grandchild. >> it brings me to tears. >> reporter: tears tonight and police. cops say the boy's mom called 911 this afternoon. someone she said had stolen her car from right outside of her house with her son inside. they arrested the driver stevie gamble, jr. about an hour later but still no sign of the child. >> there must have been 15, 20 police cars behind him that came in with their guns drawn because they still thought the kid was in the car. >> reporter: and he still wasn't, but the mother and father later told the cops they lied. tonight they told us -- no? your 3 and 4-year-old -- >> i regret you being in my face. >> reporter: do you think your two children are the victims here? >> i think i'm the victim. i got my car stolen twice in one month and i'm going to jail. >> reporter: police say this

>> unfortunately there was a ridiculous turn of events with some really irresponsible behavior. >> reporter: as for the grandmother, she's just grateful her grandchild is okay. >> now thank god almighty i'm getting my grand babies, i'm going home. they're going to be safe. they're going to be okay. >> reporter: as for that missing child who never went missing in the first place during this entire ordeal, he was at his daycare. keith? >> paul, i'm not sure i'm alone here. this whole thing seems confusing. what about the driver of the car? surely he would have noticed a toddler in the back seat. >> reporter: that guy was driving the car around about an hour today and, of course, he would know, right? and when cops arrested him, pulled him from the car, he said no, there was never a kid back there. turns out he was telling the truth. >> paul mueller live in clearwater tonight. thank you. right now residents are cleaning up after devastating destruction. you can see roofs of homes ripped right off.

of destruction in charlotte county, today's weather causing bay area. heavy rains led to floods in south tampa you see there. tonight homeowners across the area have a lot of debris to clean up and repairs to make on their homes, but again one of charlotte county. this video behind me is from the deal creek subdivision. subdivision. the winds were so strong a pool enclosure collapsed. we have team coverage starting with melanie michael. your heartbreaks for these recent past. does, jen. good evening to you. this is some of the damage left behind in charlotte county. i want to show you what happened. the wind all but ripped fences out of the ground and just shredded them and the people in duet further north in manatee county know exactly the emotions are all too familiar

>> man, it's coming again, you know. there's no way. it can't happen again. >> reporter: mike shoeman couldn't believe it. >> that's the most helpless feeling you ever had in your life. it was. i'm like what are we going to do? well, lord, protect us. what can you do? >> reporter: his heart sank when he realized what was happening. a tornado warning went out and duet was in its path again, the same path a deadly twister took just over a month ago on the same road where mike and his wife live. it was their neighbors who were killed when a raging storm shredded a mobile home. >> it still looks like a war zone just like you picked it up and you threw it about 100 feet and it just disintegrated. >> reporter: this time duet was spared, but that wasn't the case in charlotte county. >> there was some like pure black and all of a sudden spray looked like it was just spinning around an area and all

started falling from the sky. >> reporter: a tornado touched down leaving damage in its wake and a mess to clean up, mother her will. high winds ripped chunks off of buildings and homes in the area. eyewitnesses got up close and personal with the storm. >> you couldn't see across the road. the cars, the way it was it was just rain everywhere. you could barely see in front of you, cars pulled over on the side of the road. >> reporter: so tonight as you can see, still a lot of damage left behind, scenes like this really all over charlotte county, but the good news is tonight lives were spared. as for the folks in the community of duet, again those emotions are fresh and so are the wounds and scars. they have been reopened today with the storm. i'm melanie michael tonight in charlotte county. jen, back to you. >> thank you so much for that live report. our team coverage continues now with 8 on your side meteorologist steve jerve. we're in the clear now, right? >> absolutely. these storms have pushed well

this was just an early morning thing off in the gulf of mexico that eventually came in the morning hours. you've all been to an afternoon event as well. let's look at first what's happening. all the activity has cleared the activity, as i mentioned, maybe a few clouds left in the southern part of highlands county, but generally the thunderstorm and shower activity well to our east. the storm reports today, strong wind gusts in pinellas county, but tornado reports, the one in duet there in the northeast part of manatee county and these in charlotte county were significant earlier today. the murdoch tornado as they are calling it about 2/10 of a mile path, 100 yards wide, wasn't too bad for a florida tornado, but this one with 97 mile-per- hour winds enhanced fujita 1 on that scale with a 1 mile path 100 yards wide is not a typical florida tornado. the rotating storm we saw, very clear signature from the movement of this on our relative velocity earlier today and as it moved inland today,

verified with the radar data and showed damage on the ground. a quieter forecast, breezy, though. it's coming up. >> thank you, steve. remember, when storms like these move through your neighborhood, you'll want our 8 on your side weather max by your side free to download in your app store. we are hearing the 911 calls from terrorized motorists after zooming past a wrong-way driver on i-75. a sarasota county deputy was nearly hit as 21-year-old ryan fleury drove 6 miles south bound in the northbound lanes of the interstate. he got off on an on ramp before driving 6 more miles. listen to this terrifying call. >> the car is like going down the wrong side of the road on the interstate. >> one moment, please. where on the interstate? >> i just passed clark road and like everyone had to like slam on their brakes. >> fleury faces several charges including dui. his blood alcohol level was nearly four times over the

emotions were at an all time high today in the erin andrews peephole lawsuit case. her father 8 on your side senior investigator steve andrews took the stand in nashville. jen holloway joins us now in the tampa news center with his testimony. >> reporter: steve's daughter erin is suing nashville marriott claiming they were negligent and allowed a stalker to film her through a hotel peephole. today steve andrews described how he felt when the video of his daughter was posted online. >> there was no understanding. it was just she was telling me hysterically crying screaming on the end of the line that she -- images of her, video of her were up on the internet of her changing, her naked in hotel rooms. >> reporter: andrews says the family went right to work on the situation by hiring an attorney, but as a father andrews had so many helpless

>> first time in my life, sorry, as her father where i didn't know if she was safe or not. i feared for her life. >> reporter: michael barrett pleaded guilty to stalking and shooting those nude videos. he served 30 months in prison. now free he will testify in this case. it's a civil case and he'll do it by video. erin andrews is expected to take the stand to tell her side of the story as well. >> jen holloway in the tampa news center tonight, thank you. in the fight for your vote republican presidential front runner donald trump is leading the pack. he is racking up wins, three straight victories, in fact, with less than a week until super tuesday. trump won the nevada caucuses last night as you know, senator marco rubio a distant second followed by senator ted cruz. tonight there's buzz about a possible vp running mate for trump, some predicting the florida governor rick scott

>> we need a big change and donald is talking about it. >> i do want somebody that's political because i want to get lots of great legislation that we all want passed. >> days until the democratic primary in south carolina, senate democratic leader harry reid has endorsed hillary clinton. clinton leads rival bernie sanders by double digits in the palmetto state. new 8 on your side information about the zika virus, three pregnant women in florida are now infected after traveling to latin america. governor rick scott is asking the cdc to send more zika anti body tests to the state. the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases is working on a vaccine they expect to go into clinical trials by summer. still ahead the hurricane hunters from noaa are being forced to leave macdill. >> coming up next we'll snow you why and where they're trying to go -- show you why and where they're trying to go. >> plus this could very well be your neighbor, 8 on your side

(vo) making the most out of every mile. that's why i got a subaru impreza. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

at -- noaa's hurricane hunter at macdill air force base is looking for a new home. they were given notice they must leave their hangar air force base by 2017. they are making way for 135 tankers making their way to the base. it's believed the unit can relocate to the st. petersburg clearwater airport. >> frankly i think we could have a win/win in the bay area. when the 135s come in, that will add additional air assets to macdill and now we find where to put noaa assets. >> sounds like a good plan. jolly says noaa has been to the st. peter clearwater airport to look at the facilities. there is hangar space and office space for noaa's aircraft and employees. tonight 8 on your side where the wild things are. >> we are talking about cobras, rattlesnakes and pythons that people own as pets. pets like these may be closer

there are dozens of people around the tampa bay area permitted to keep even the deadliest of snakes in their homes. as mark douglas is about to show you, they may live in your neighborhood. >> reporter: some people just love them. >> i'd say it's the best pet i've ever had. >> reporter: others not so much. >> i think it's crazy. >> reporter: we discovered deadly vipers and constrictors of concern can be just about anywhere. >> but in all the years that i have been doing what i do for pinellas county, i've actually went and picked up three cobras. >> reporter: remember the king kobe ra that got away in orlando last fall? this lady does. it turned up a month later behind her clothes drier. >> the washer had run its whole cycle. so that probably woke it up, excited it. >> reporter: you just never know where a deadly cobra is going to turn up on the loose. it can happen anywhere, even in

neighborhood like this one in bellair. >> in a garage a guy knew who it was. he just said he couldn't wait till we got there. >> reporter: we located nearly 60 people and businesses with state permits for cobras, pit vipers and gila monsters all around the bay area. these are rattlesnakes and pit vipers. >> that's definitely interesting that someone could have that in their house in our neighborhood. >> reporter: shane mader has deadly vipers and gila monsters but insists they're securely locked in zoo habitats and tells me his neighbors have nothing to worry about. >> i believe people should be free to do whatever they would like to do in the privacy of their own home.

south tampa law office. she's tame, but a previous snake of his did eat his cat. verna lives in this st. feet living room locked behind glass for the safety of his daughter and docks. >> i encourage people to keep an open mind. if they're not into it, that's okay. i don't think it's something everyone has to like. >> reporter: oh, yeah. >> oh, yeah indeed. you should have seen the look on the photographer's face when that happened. you can check out our interactive map on www.wfla.com to see if there's a pet cobra or python living near you. >> the state just sponsored the big python hunt. i'm sure people wonder isn't the state ready to ban them at this point? >> if you have a python, you can have it as long as it

and pit vipers, that's not happening. >> thank you very much, mark douglas. we've been talking about this area of low pressure that caused all the thunderstorms today and is causing snow in the upper midwest now and rain in the northeast. 76 tornado warnings, a violent round of low pressure, 17 tornado warnings just in the state of florida. that's the way the skies looked today as most can agree. we did center some shorter sun periods and mostly cloudy skies -- have some shorter sun periods and mostly cloudy skies. cooler weather ahead carrying through the weekend. by next week, though, temperatures warm back into the mid-and upper 70s before long. 59 degrees overnight, starting to feel this cool air breezing into the area. it's kind of windy in some areas out there, 54 degrees at 7 a.m. note the few clouds here. a strong northwesterly wind can drag a few clouds off the gulf of mexico, maybe a drop or two of precip but not much with these. sunshine and clouds mixed in in

60 temple terrace now, 61 seminole, largo, palm harbor, 69 lakeland, 60 brooksville, 59 crystal river and the winds are strong with these gusts in the blue numbers indicating winds over 23 mile-per-hour gusts up in brooksville at this hour, lake placid over 20 miles per hour, tampa as well up to crystal river. so we are seeing strong gusts. it will likely continue to stay windy tomorrow, too. this area of low pressure is now in the northeast. you can see on the colder backside of the storm dragging colder air and snow, indiana, places like illinois, ohio through michigan. also you can see rain up and down the east coast, trailing cold front meaning a few showers ahead of it. most of the thunderstorm activity is well clear of the area and even portions of the mid-atlantic are seeing less severe weather activity at this hour. the rpm forecast computer model continues to move overnight, this area of low pressure farther to the north and drags this cold front through the bay

a few clouds early, cooper, breezy conditions for us with winds -- cooler, breezy conditions for us with the winds coming out of the west. breezy in the evening hours and thursday afternoon lots of sunshine, highs in the mid-60s, a fairly nice day, but note the emoji, chilly. when you talk about the highs upper 70s. so that's going to be quite a been. it's been a warmer feeling atmosphere especially with the friday afternoon breezy northwest winds 10 to 15 degrees below average, saturday a cold start to the day near 40 degrees. forecast lows tonight cooler, even be cooper the next night as you'll see in the seven-day forecast, 46 brooksville, 55 sarasota. highs in the afternoon clouds mixed with sunshine and windy, a cool feeling wind. so those highs in the 60s might feel cooler than the actual number itself. 65 degrees, again our temperatures really nice this evening. morning hours is what we're looking for here, 54 degrees

with a north wind 10 to 15 mile- per-hour. 62 degrees friday, 64 degrees saturday. note the overnight low temperatures are kind of cool there, back into the 40s, especially saturday morning. that's going to mean 30s in some of those spots. with building up a lot of moisture, humidity it's going to feel pretty different. plus you get into late february and march, spring training, you start to think warmer and plant flowers and sneeze from the pollen. we're not there yet. >> but soon. thank you. ism coming up next in sports an injure -- coming up next in sports an injured lightning player says he is close to returning to game action. gets underway. we'll hear from the bucs general manager on what the team may do this year. >> plus here's what you'll see tomorrow at 6 a.m. >> reporter: maybe you feel out of place at work. you're certainly not alone. i'm adrienne patterson and i'll introduce you to take local company trying to change that.

sports on news channel 8 is brought to you by your gulf coast honda dealers. the tampa bay buccaneers select jameis winston, quarterback, florida state. >> remember that? the buildup to the draft a year ago, it caught fire at the nfl scouting combine when jameis winston was pitted against marcus mariota in every category imaginable. what a debate the bucs had for months. now completely different, bucs own the ninth pick in the 1st

now the fun stuff on the field really gets going up in indianapolis in a couple of days. today bucs general manager jason light admitted that defense is the priority at the draft, but remember free agency begins in a couple weeks. the debate over defensive end or corner back may have a little more clarity when the bucs are on the clock at the draft. >> it is a strong group of players at certain positions that we do have a need at, but, you know, we've taken the approach the last couple years of best player available and we've felt really good about our last draft and even 2014. so we're not going to sacrifice a really good player just to fill a need. that's where a lot of mistakes are made. >> call that smoke screen. lightning defenseman jason garrison practiced this afternoon optimistic he can return from his lower body injury. this is jon cooper, by the way, talking about the upcoming road trip.

next week, cooper a little more optimistic. the lightning meanwhile hit the road friday for four games. they had back to back wins last week on the road. the rails as we've seen during the news casts, of course, the brunt of today's worst weather was felt in the port charlotte area. rays camp only experienced heavy rain, but it was enough to cancel practice and force players to complete their workouts in the indoor batting contains. >> get your work in best you can -- cages. >> get your work in best you can. would definitely be nice to go outside. everybody looked good. i don't really think it hindered too many people. and the 21st ranked usf women on the road tonight in tulsa. courtney williams, a measly 33 points for her tonight, the third time she's gone over 30 in a game this season and the bulls win a big one on the road, 72-66. they're home saturday for

we're getting ready for march madness and is in a team poised to go on a run. a lot of seniors playing really well. >> 33 points she scored tonight, man, only 33. >> she is the one leading that team. she's incredible. >> thank you. we'll be back with your winning

cash three, 2, 3, 9, play four, 7, 5, 2 , 4, fantasy five, 36, 30, 23, 6, 19, powerball 21, 31, 64, 65, 67 and the powerball is 5. in the morning, steve, i guess the worst is behind us. so it's smooth sailing going forward. >> it is smooth sailing. it's just a little cooler on the old boat. >> not bad. that's why they make jackets. >> and you move pretty fast because there will be a lot of wind in the sail. if 4 degrees, windy through the dale -- 54 degrees, windy through the day. maybe a blizzard outside, but a man still has to eat. snowy conditions didn't keep this grill master from doing what he does best. here's what dan lucas does. johnstown, pennsylvania. >> it was business as usual at this illinois barbecue pit despite mother nature bearing down bringing several inches of

i'm sure people were glad to have a hot meal to take their mind off the winter weather. >> looks like a packers tailgate. >> that looks delicious. thanks for joining us. jimmy fallon is coming up next. >> our next newscast at 4 a.m. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

[ cheers and applause ] >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the