rescued from their flaming boat after the engine exploded, how the planted rescuers -- plan to think there rescuers. and local companies claim to get you cash for a fee but you can get it for free. a lie left usf student and their families terrified. turns out according to police, a 19-year-old foreign-exchange student concocted a crime and falsely told police she was robbed on campus. melanie michael is live at university of south florida. truck good evening. when we first broke this story last night at 11:00, we thought the outcome was bizarre and couldn't get much worse but boy were we wrong. it was the lie heard around the campus followed by the confession heard around the cop shop. a teenager with a terrifying truth, but her fear was phony and her story was the tallest

all of this, according to the police chief. >> it is very frustrating and it's disappointing because the whole thing is unnecessary. >> reporter: at 19 years old, this foreign-exchange student from senegal couldn't wait to start her college career at usf, a campus known for inclusion. >> we are known for being one of the most diverse campuses in florida. >> reporter: but on election day, the diversity was destroyed according to usf police. someone shoved malicious mess door of fatou gueye and she was one of four to get those notes. >> the notes concern me because it shows not everyone is open-minded. >> reporter: fast forward from the election, a week later to the day, is when this teenager made a massive mess. she managed to scare an entire campus with her claim that she was robbed while working in a popular spot. she even gave the cops a

it was all an epic lie, one that left this police chief disappointed. >> this is really not something that is excepted in the community. we want to get this resolved, get people healing and moving forward and enjoying usf for what it's supposed to be. >> reporter: so where does the case stand? the 19-year-old bonded out overnight on the misdemeanor charge and the police chief tells me she was not remorseful at all. layers. are police planning to release the content of the letters? >> reporter: that remains a mystery. not just yet, they are part of evidence. but you can bet students are still worried and concerned. >> melanie michael at the usf tampa campus. fhp continues to investigate what caused a motorcyclist to lose control last night. joel schubert was a headed

he was propelled into the northbound lanes and moments later, he was hit by an off-duty pinellis county deputy. >> what we can say for sure before the investigators wrap up their investigation, is that the driver lost control. the specific reasons why some of those again are still pending their investigation. >> reporter: schubert was killed in the accident. representatives with the sheriff's office say the deputy involved may take some time off met with president-elect trump today. the governor tweeted these pictures of himself. the meeting is fueling speculation that governor scott may be offered a position in the administration but it seems more likely that pam bondi will be offered a spot. if pam bondi were to take a job in the trump administration, governor scott would have to name her replacement. former nominee mitt romney will meet with trump this

state. this is despite harsh words like phony, fraud, and loser hurled tween the two during the election. democrats in disarray. a week after some major losses in the summit, some are wondering what's next for the kennedys, clinton's and obama's. mark meredith joins us from our dc bureau. we have some breaking news in the midst of all this soul- searching. >> reporter: we are watching a develoen a congressman from ohio who is officially putting his name in the rain to challenge nancy pelosi for role of minority leader. this may just so my politics but it could have huge implications not just for the party but for the country as well. first came the voters, now comes the impact on capitol hill. >> it's hard to accept the results but except we do. >> reporter: nancy pelosi, -- for nancy pelosi, the future is

for the party, there is a new debate. should nancy pelosi stay in her role or should someone else step up? >> house democrats must be unified, strategic and unwavering. >> reporter: members we spoke with say they are confident any debate set to happen after thanksgiving won't turn hostile. >> i think our current leadership team is strong and will likely be supported by the vast majority of members of our caucus. >> reporter: democrats admit it's time for soul-searching in this, you can't flinch. you can't ignore it. you need to look it right in the eye and ask why. >> reporter: now democrats are turning to a familiar face, remand -- vermont senator bernie sanders. it won't be easy and some democrats hope instead of celebrities, the attention refocuses on something else.

it's really what we're doing for the american people. >> reporter: one of the big questions going forward is who democrats will have as their party leader. it has been a rough year for the democratic party with scandals including wikileaks and the convention in philadelphia. they have to fill that chairperson role pretty soon. >> not really uncommon. after every election everybody is like what's happening? democrats are trying to decide what to do here but republicans are putting forward the message of unity. of course, they won. they are also getting messages from friends in mike pence, the vice president- elect. he met with house and senate republicans. they rather -- they were really trying to push forward this message of unity.>> thank you. a daring rescue on the water. we told you about some good samaritans who saved a group of voters from a dangerous fire

out. john rogers joins us from longbow with their story. >> reporter: earlier this week, we introduced you to the whitmer family, the good samaritans that went out of their way to rescue these boaters from that dangerous fire. now, the boaters want to say thank you. >> we know that water was probably filled with bull sharks. >> reporter: when you meet mr. and mrs. nguyen, you are shocked about how happy they are. >> >> we were shaking. >> reporter: they are just happy to be alive. after sunday, they had finished a fishing trip and were heading to sure when their engine exploded. >> we heard a big boom. we thought we hit a rock or something.>> but then the flames started to spread. there was no way to escape. >> reporter: the called for help and gathered on the deck. they were unsure if they could swim to shore. >> were you guys scared?

i had to remain calm. >> reporter: they point out other boats nearby did not come over and it was taking first responders a long time to arrive but just in the nick of time, the whitmer family arrived, navigating their small boat to the fire to rescue them.>> net many people when they see a accident, they stay away, stay distance to put this family actually came to us to help us. that is very nice of them. >> reporter: the boat was soon destroyed in the fire but the whitmer family saved their lives and they are eternally grateful.>> god sent them to us. this wonderful family. >> they acted like you know guardian angel. >> reporter: the whitmer family was out of town today so the two families could not reunite. they have not seen each other since the incident but the nguyen family hopes to properly say thank you in

john rogers out there for us. thank you, john. >> how pretty is that tonight? tonight, the bay area is experiencing the teach in, when professionals show students what it's like to do their jobs. shannon behnken spoke to her daughter's class at mitchell elementary school about what it's like to work in journalism. these people knew they needed someone to come so they knew they better call behnken. she delivers. still to come, claiming your money shouldn't cost a thing. >> but there are plenty of companies that will tell you otherwise. we will show you the lesson a tampa woman learned. and a man made famous by a netflix series was set to get out of prison this week. what has now changed. better call behnken has done it again.

with $2.3 million in unclaimed cash. >> shannon behnken is live at our phone bank. >> what are some of the biggest claims so far? >> we had a $20,000 claim at a polk county.>> shannon behnken was on your side whole might helping you catch -- cash in on money you never know was yours. >> reporter: we helped people cash in on over $7 million. >> there's a new reason to choose the station that's

storm team 8 coverage is brought to you by your suncoast dealers. visit your local hyundai dealer or shop www.buyanissan.com. dramatic video footage shows a train smashing into a car that was crossing the tracks in massachusetts. look at the highlighted the goal at the top of your screen. the train hit the car and basically split it in half. surprisingly, no one was hurt. the driver and the passenger are walking away from th here. police are interested in talking to them. a man featured on the show making a murderer will have to stay behind bars even though his conviction was overturned. brendan dassey was convicted of raping and killing teresa halbach in 2007 but a federal judge overturned the conviction saying investigators coerced a confession. the george ordered him released by friday at 8 pm but the state asked for a block of the release.

the university of houston was last seen by his roommate tuesday at 6 pm. investigators report clothes and other items were later found missing from the apartment. congressman conyers says it is not like his son to disappear. here is a live look at the sun setting on longboat key and sarasota county. this is a beautiful shot. i would love to get the live images. you can see how clear the these boys -- days are much shorter now. the 70s across most of the area. we will see a fairly cool evening but cooler changes are coming this weekend thinks to jim for that shot. the climate prediction center has come out with their temperature and precipitation outlook for december, january and february. part to the north of us, that jet stream puts us on the southern end which is a warmer than average winter.

the dividing cooler and warmer air, cool air north, warm air south, but it also tracks low pressure. they are tracking further to the north. we don't get typical stronger storms or frequent -- frequent precipitation so without active jet sing to the north, likely a higher chance for a drier than average winter. that is from the climate prediction center. this is from the plantation crystal river. 73 degrees and wind. in polk county, 75 degrees. we have a northeast wind up for meet me. we have old glory moving around and a little bit of rain overall. a little bit of a wind i should say. 76 degrees, no rain. looking at the sun with our hd cameras. we are able to do that and see the same look at that location. the lows are at st. pete beach. 71 degrees our current

our forecast for the evening, mostly clear skies, 65 degrees at 9 pm, overnight clear conditions, 59 degrees, slightly below average temperatures. high temps are 80 degrees for tomorrow. we're looking for another warm and sunny day with a north easterly flow and a bit milder because we are working moisture back into the atmosphere. 75 largo, pinellis park, odessa 73 -- 73 degrees, 75 degrees in lakeland and frostproof. 73 crystal river. arcadia 77 degrees, sarasota 78 degrees, high above when you start to see the yellow and orange, you know it's dry. high pressure dominates. across the rest of the country, some snow going on. rapid city south dakota of -- dakota into denver, colorado. this snowstorm is moving across the central part of the country. this will mean snow for northern minnesota back into south dakota and northern parts of nebraska. winter is on for these folks. maybe a foot of snow.

southern portion of the caribbean. this system is kind of moving all over the place so we will continue to watch it and see what the computer model forecasts call for but a northerly movement would be unlikely. high pressure continues to the north. that's spinning across georgia, alabama, northeasterly friday and a few more clouds in the area for tomorrow. another beautiful day, certainly dry. rain chances are low. weekend looks good. cold front on saturday. a breezy 68 degrees on sunday and beautiful into next week. if you've been cheated, when you need help, she is on your side. better call behnken. millions of dollars and some of it could belong to you but you want to be careful because there are people out there who wants to take advantage of you and take your money. our better call behnken phone

stumbled upon a company, somebody else that demanded to be paid to help her collect. that's when she knew she better call behnken. you don't want to fall for this. >> reporter: you definitely don't. the state of florida wants to reunite you with their dish with your cash. they want to do it for free. i found companies out there charging for what should be free. carol stumbled across a website but claimed it could reunite her with lost she called to find out more -- >> they tell me i have to pay $4.19 membership fee. for unclaimed money. >> reporter: the site, www.unclaimedmoneydb.com even offers a monthly or yearly subscription for a price. for carol, she was led to believe her late mother, helen barbara had unclaimed money but first, carol was told to pay a

>> so they wouldn't even tell you if your mother had money? >> no, but they had my mother's address. >> reporter: carol was too smart for that. she called me. i found many sites like this one charging for something state officials will give for free. the real website is www.floridatreasurehunt.org. i looked up carol's mother and found nothing. >> so and tell you sorry because there is nothing here. >> reporter: no good news for carol but at least she didn't have to pay to find out. officials at the cfo office do have millions to turn over. you can find out if you have money by searching www.fltreasurehunt.com lord. our recent better call behnken unclaimed cash phone banks helped viewers reconnect with $2.3 million. >> we had a $20,000 claim in polk county, $25,000 out of

prevent you from paying for what should be yours for free. >> so now i can rest assured that mom has no money. >> reporter: state officials tell me there are many sites like the one carol found but some really do connect you with your lost money like they say. but paying them is totally unnecessary because the state will help you reunite with your money for free. >> that's the weird part because go through the state to get the money? >> that's the thing. they do exactly what you can do on your own. they are just the middleman. there is nothing you need to pay them for. if you have a problem you think needs solving, you better call behnken. the telephone number 1855 bank

manufacturers have finally mastered a feature on boosr long time. a seat that provides good safety belt fit. of the 53 new booster seat models evaluated, 48 earned the agency's highest rating of best but. on 2008, only a quarter of the seats evaluated earned that designation. j.p. morgan chase will pay $264 million in fines to settle

chinese officials to gain access to banking deals in the country. the bank will avoid criminal bribery charges. the number of new account openings at wells fargo is way down. they plunged 44% in october. the bank suffered serious backlash over revelations that 2 million unauthorized accounts were open in customer's names. the new head of community baking -- banking says they realize they have work to do. disney will be lighting up the sky with is -- intel, disney is producing the show. it will feature 300 shooting star grounds in each performance. that is impressive. the drones are equipped with four led lights. they can create more than 4 billion different color combinations. that's where i'm not impressed. from a distance. of now it's moving.

starbright holidays will take place at the disney shopping and entertainment district near orlando. i could watch that for a while. signing up for amazon prime is getting cheaper for one day only. if you sign up tomorrow, as in friday, a yearly membership will only cost you $79. it's usually $99 a year. amazon is offering the deal to launch its new prime only tv show the grand tour. the cost of thanksgiving dinner is down to less than ve josh benson couldn't be happier now that he has a growing family. >> reporter: this is according to the american farm bureau survey. the annual feast cost is $49.87. that's $.24 less than last year. a 16 pound turkey is $.30 last at about a dollar 42 a pound. i didn't mean you are going physically, i mentor family.

lightning. coming up next, how long steven stamkos to is expected to be out. and tigers travel cross- country to make the bay area their home.

right now on news channel 8 at 5:30 pm: >> it evening, i am some bad news for the lightning. steven stamkos is headed for surgery after a lateral meniscus tear. >> reporter: early predictions are that he could be out for at least 50 games. we checked out with local experts to see what he might be in for. >> not sure if a skate came up and got him or if that was a