>> it's a tragedy in so many ways. leon: a family tragedy, a child found dead on a playground swing. tonight his grandmother speaks out. plus trial twist, why today's decision is considered a victory for an accused serial killer and -- >> he absolutely fooled everybody. leon: charges filed decades after an alleged sex abuse, the accusations against a former a.u. professor next.

>> now abc 7 news at 11:00 on your side. leon: and first at 11:00, the case stunned the region, a 3-year-old boy found dead in a playground swing, his mother charged with manslaughter. alison: police believe that the child had been in that swing for up to 48 hours. new tonight, the grandmother of that little boy is speaking up about what she calls a tragedy for the entire family. richard revis is live. rich charred: she should have never been criminally charged. her grandson is dead, her daughter is in jail, she is speaking out in hopes that prosecutors and the court take a look at the charges and the evidence. this may be the saddest of criminal cases in charles county. >> it's a tragedy in so many ways. richard: police say the 3-year-old was found dead of hypothermia and dehydration last

may 22. prosecutors say his mother pushed him on a swing for nearly two days, perhaps 10 hours after he had died. >> when detectives arrived on the scene, ok, they visibly saw that she wasn't in the right mindset. she was in some type of mental state. richard: she says months before in february her daughter had a mental break. doctors diagnosed her with paranoid schizophrenia and taking medicine and getting headaches from it. >> at no time did i ever see any intentions or actions towards my grandson. she wouldn't even spank him. richard: police questioned the 24-year-old mother but never arrested. then this past monday, prosecutors announced an indictment charging her with manslaughter, child abuse causing death. >> i'm not going to get into making comments that might impact her fair trial.

richard: simms believes her daughter is mentally incompetent and shouldn't have been charged. >> i would like to see my daughter declared not criminally responsible. richard: simms thinks political or public pressure led to the charges. we were unable to reach the state's attorney for comment tonight, he told reporters monday a lengthy preindictment investigation was necessary in order to get the information he needed. simms he's her daughter is receiving medication in jail but no counseling. she goes to trial in january. she faces a possible 45ier jail sentence. live in the newsroom. darrelle revis, abc 7 news. leon: heartbreaking at every level. developing now, police are investigating a deadly crash involving a tour bus. our news chopper 7 was out there over the scene in the 9600 block of fort meade block in laurel. the crash involved the bus and another truck. the person inside the truck has died we have been told. seven people on the bus had

minor injuries. no word on what triggered that crash. >> a d.c. family launching a lawsuit after their loved one was hit and killed by a street sweeper. he was killed in northeast washington over the summer and tonight, family members say the cameras and equipment on that street sweeper were not working properly to warn the driver that someone was standing there. the sweeper was operated by for the meyer construction. they are seeking damages totaling $12 million. new at 11:00, a felony charge filed against a former a.u. professor, he is accused of raping a child decades ago. only on 7, kevin lewis spoke with the elderly suspect's family and the alleged victim. victim, a troubling amount of time frame went by after this crime. kevin: yeah, essential, alison, 39 years to be exact. the alleged victim says she reported the crime for years but no one would take her seriously. that was until this summer when

a takoma park detective opened an investigation. >> we're here regarding the charges that were filed against you. kevin: police say this man, 94-year-old man raped a young girl during the 1970's. the repeated abuse reportedly took place in his takoma park home. today we spoke with the alleged victim now 47. >> what he would do with your wife or what a wife is with her husband, that is exactly what he did to me. >> i know he didn't do it. there is no way. there is no way. kevin: however, his daughter who spoke to us off camera defended her elderly father who is battling dementia. kevin: you're standing beside your dad? >> i say that this woman, i don't know where she is coming from. i don't believe the charges. she has never been at this house as far as i can remember i was 6 years old.

kevin: american university said he was a member of their psychology department. he is still listed on the a.u. website as a professor emeritus. >> he is 94. he shouldn't be put in prison, it should have happened decades ago. i want it on the record that he is guilty. i don't want that man dying with his reputation intact. kevin: now, he has faced allegations of child sexual abuse in the past, but those charges were dropped. it is worth noting that the state of maryland has no statute of limitations when it comes to child sexual abuse. one last thing to point out, he turned 95 this saturday is due in court next month. live in takoma park, i'm kevin lewis, abc 7 news. alison: thank you, just in tonight, cell phone videos shows a brutal assault inside a baltimore area high school and now a 17-year-old student is charged with attempted murder. this happened at frederick douglass high school.

police say sean johnson knocked his football teammate unconscious. no word on the condition of the victim and he is expected to undergo surgery. leon: we have a new twist in a high profile case we have been following for years. an accused serial killer gets a bit of a victory. charles goes on trial for a series of kigs that put alex andrea on edge for years. another of blame the murders he was accused of. jeff, what's the story? jeff: well, it's the 2003 murder of nancy dunning. her husband jim dunning, the former sheriff who died in 2012 was never charged in the crime, but questions always lingered about his involvement. now those questions will be central to the trial. in del rey, it is hard to find any locals who don't know about the 2003 murder of nancy dunning.

>> i think that's very unpleasant to think about. jeff: she was murdered in the neighborhood, prosecutors say by charles. a judge's ruling today allowing the defense to accuse jim dunning of killing his wife nancy seems to miller unfair to the family. >> it's an attempt to divert and dig into very negative painful things. jeff: defense attorneys argue there is enough evidence to suggest the crime was not committed by charles but by jim dunning, the former alexandria sheriff arguing dunning misled investigators and called his wife's death a murder before investigators did. it tends to show that someone else had motive to kill nancy dunning. it is admissible and relevant. >> they have the right to bring up what other information is needed to defend their client. jeff: brian porter strongly objected in court saying that jim dunning was never arrested or charged. the commonwealth's both is not

that this is a dirt business, the position is this is a filthy business. the continued denigration of a dead man in a court of law. renee worried for the dunning family as the trial draws neither. >> we want to see it resolved, but the right way. jeff: in court, the judge said that his rule was not meant to suggest or imply that jim dunning committed this murder, only that he could not prevent the defense from raising the issue. the trial is going to begin on october 5. live in alexandria, jeff goldberg, abc 7 news. alison: new tonight, making adjustments to the planned purplele line, it is the subject of a meeting designed to reduce project costs. that includes trains operating every 7 1/2 minutes during peak times instead of six minutes. the plan is to reduce the artwork budget as well and cut down the numr of tree plantings. it also means there will be one elevator instead of two at some elevations. service is slated with

in 2021. and new developments when it comes to traffic on i-66. today vdot discussed its plans to ease congestion, part of the plane, two express lanes and h.o.v. occupancy from two people to three or more. the plan has gotten mixed reaction. to find out when you canway in go to wjla.com. leon: weather timelines, some great weather tonight. friday is just ahead. can we keep it for friday and for the weekend as well. meteorologist steve rudin is here with the outlook, have some good news for us. steve: i think you're going to like what i have to say. a lot of sunshine back in the day for tomorrow. air quality, not so great. take a look at temperatures outside the weather center, 72 at reagan national, a lot cooler to the west of us, 60's in westchester and leesburg, morning lows, wake-up temperatures in the morning in the upper 50's, gaithersburg,

bethesda and college park around 60 and woodbridge. your bus stop forecast recess 82 degrees for the midday hours. eating outside, absolutely. if you have plans tomorrow morning, any outdoor activities are a firm go. more on the upcoming weekend forecast plus next week and a chance for showers by tuesday and wednesday. forecast you won't want to miss coming up. leon: that forecast could mean a lot, steve, as you know, it's only a matter of days until our historic visit from pope francis. last-minute preparations well underway. a field is being transformed into an outdoor sanctuary. 25,000 people are expected to be out on the grass to celebrate mass with the pope. stay with us on abc 7 and our sister station news channel 8 who will have more than 40 hours of live coverage of the pope's visit. he arrives in d.c. on tuesday night and you can get all of the information you need on street closures, events and securities for days afterwards at wjla.com.

alison: here on abc 7 news at 11:00, a magic settlement in a scandal involving general motors, how much the automaker will have to pay after a deadly design flaw. leon: and a health alert. what the c.d.c. is

>> you are watching abc 7 news at 11:00 on your side. leon: a terrifying image, but good news coming out of the scene as bad as it looks, all of the children on this bus are safe. this thing overturned into a lake in tampa, florida. the driver also unarmed here. 27 children were onboard at the time, but people who happened to be there in the area jumped in. they went into the water. they helped everyone out to shore. right now, no word on what exactly caused that crash. trouble for travelers in three busy cities today. grounded rlines flights for a while this afternoon because they had some echnical issues.

wouldn't say more than that. things got moving again after an hour. flights at dulles and reagan were not affected. alison: general motors will pay $900 million to settle criminal charges over faulty ignition switches. the problems have been linked to 124 deaths. g.m. issued a series of recalls but admits that workers knew about deadly design flaws for nearly a decade before the recalls even started. the justice department has essentially placed g.m. on probation for the next three years. leon: we got some health news for you now, the source of a salmonella outbreak with chipotle in minnesota are blaming tomatoes. dozens of people have been sickened in late august because of that and nine were hospitalized as a matter of fact. officials are searching for the farm that grew the contaminated tomatoes. chipotle has switched suppliers in the meantime. flu shots will be more effective this year. last season the vaccination wasn't a good match for the strain leading to more

sicknesses across the country, but this year, more than 170 million doses are expected. the options range from traditional shots no nasal spray and a high dose version for seniors. alison: now an incredible story out of new york city where identical triplets were born. you know the odds of that, one in a million literally. the three boys are in good health, but telling them apart is a challenge. for now the parents are painting their owe nails different colors. leon: whatever works. alison: think about that, the odds of having triplets already being so high and having them be identical. leon: so what happened to one in a million? alison: she is to me. leon: good answer, good answer. [laughter] alison: steve, we got this nice weather. steve: we do. it's going to stick around. we have a cooldown for the second half of the weekend and we need the rain, it's timing is a little off considering all of the big plans next week, especially tuesday and

wednesday. outside right now, it is 72 degrees at reagan national airport. no cloud cover to speak of. we may see a little bit of patchy fog come early, early in the morning. it shouldn't amount to any travel delays. 6 degrees was the high today earlier today at reagan national, well above normal since we should be 79. so it can still warm up around here. the ragweed bothering you, it's beginning to settle down, the same for mold, trees and grasses not much a problem. in leesburg, a cool 59 in frederick, maryland, 71 in hagerstown, we look for temperatures in the 50's and 60's through the overnight hours. the bump of warmer air is to the west of us. you see the areas shaded in yellow. high pressure moves our way as we head through the day tomorrow. that will warm up us especially during the afternoon hours. lot ite and radar, not a

going on up and down the east coast, boston to new york to d.c. to norfolk, no cloud cover, clear, clear night ahead. that means the patchy fog possible off to the west of us. a little bit of clear, clear ni as we move into the middle of next week. i don't think anything that is going to bring us any real relief. temperatures moving through the overnight hours will eventually fall into the 60's inside the capital beltway. a beautiful morning tomorrow, lots of sunshine, clear skies. temperatures around 70 degrees around 9:00 and a rapid warm-up into the mid to upper 80's. cold orange for all of southern maryland, the district, surrounding counties, elderly, the very young, take it easy tomorrow. it shouldn't be that bad, but be forewarned. 87 in college park and bethesda and leesburg, a little bit cooler as he head further off to the west of us in the mountains. the weekend, a lot of events coming up, talk about the big

plane policy at dulles national airport. 75 dress for a daytime high. come sunday, the big 4 k at the four seasons in georgetown looking at temperatures around 63 degrees. that's the morning temperatures with lots of sunshine. and a look at the seven-day outlook, cooler air, football game on sunday around 75, excuse me, 79 degrees. there is the visit, the parade on wednesday, 30% chance for showers. alison: that's not terrible. we'll see what happens. teve: 70% nothing. alison: you are good at math. leon: the silver lining. [laughter] leon: let's see how aaron does with our silver lining and the nats tonight? >> we'll have to see about that. look to continue the winning ways, are they done for the season or will they continue the recent turnaround, you have to

>> and now the toyota sports desk brought to you by your local toyota dealers. >> the nationals were back home tonight hosting the marlins with plenty of optimism after winning four straight games on the road and the nats were battling back all night long. big moment here, bottom of the eighth, down 6-4, bases loaded for michael taylor. a hit ties the game, he couldn't get it done. ramos gets taylor swinging and the marlins win 6-4. sorry, leon, sorry! >> the orioles were in a similar situation in tampa. adam jones, the excuse me single to right field, ryan flaherty scores, manny machado was ride behind him, he slides in to beat the throw. orioles win 4-3. in the meantime, the atlanta braves had former president jimmy carter in the house with his wife and the two lovebirds made the kiss cam.

isn't that awesome. carter is battling cancer, but he says he is looking forward to celebrating his 91st birthday in just a few weeks. i hope i'm in love like that when i'm his age. the redskins' offensive line was a pleasant surprise during week e against a tough dolphins defense, but the skins' o-line has a bigger challenge this week against the rams who have one of the best defenses in the league. russell wilson was sacked six times last week. defensive coordinator greg williams has built a blitz heavy scheme and the redskins know they have their work cut out for them and working hard to prepare for the rams' fearsome front seven. >> extremely athletic, they have a strong front. four or five first rounders, talent is there, no secret in that. that's an extremely athletic bunch. like i said, we have to work together and stay on the same page or it could be a long day.

erin: this is weird, jason pierre-paul lost one of his fingers during a fireworks accident. the "new york daily news" got a picture of his missing finger. we hadn't seen it. he doesn't look ready to play anytime soon. the giants have not said when he will actually return to action. j.p.p., he down played the incident saying i can't think of the last time my index finger got me a sack. ll, at this point it doesn't appear -- the redskins are in new york and thursday night football, the chiefs and broncos are tied at 17-17 in the fourth quarter. leon: he isn't letting on how bad that injury. it was worse than he let on. erin: got a picture of it, he was definitely keeping it under wraps. leon: all right, folks, we need a little help from our friends at one point or another. that goes for dogs too. coming up next, our loyal hound helped save the life o

♪ ♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. (dad) she's all yours. (vo) but you get to keep the memories. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

alison: we love this story. in washington state, a heart-warming story of the loyalty between two dogs and how that loyalty saved their lives. one of the dogs fell into a water reservoir, look at there. her best friend stood guard leaving only to find help. after one week, volunteers spotted that dog who then led

them to her trapped friend and oth dogs are home again. leon: that's sweet. alison: a story to tell. leon: man's best friend is a dog's best friend. alison: so loyal. leon: wouldn't be my dog, i tell you

alison: a final look at the weather as this nice stretch continues. steve: it's going to continue, 87 degrees daytime highs, on sunday, a cold front early in the game. the redskins game will go on just fine, hopefully the win. you all laugh. temperature at 80 dress, 75 dress on monday, by tuesday, wednesday, may see a few showers. leon: it's not a laugh. it's confidence. that's what confidence sounds like. alison: a nervous laugh. erin: i'm staying out of it.

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and now, abc's "jimmy kimmel live." >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live"! tonight, david spade, from the oklahoma city thunder, russell westbrook. "this week in unnecessary censorship," and music from a$ap rocky featuring schoolboy q. with cleto and the cletones. and now, look out, here's jimmy kimmel! [ cheers and applause ] ♪