nichols testified she took the child and left their house on gunston road in alexandria. what followed was a nasty custody dispute in which the court denied severance any visitation rights. a fact the prosecution argued fueled his anger and motivated him to kill nancy dunning, ron kirby and ruthanne lodato. in a questionnaire as part of the case nichols was asked what are you afraid the defendant might do? "find another gun and possibly kill me or my son" she answered. nichols testified from 2000-2009 she and her family received many letters from severance. they were frightening. threatening. also today local and the federal investigators testifying about what they found in severance's car after his arrest. a gun cleaning kit. a passport. plenty of clothing. maps. books. copy of a card game "mental disorder." we heard from daniel petrio, a plumber scheduled for the job of the home of ron kirby on

the day of his murder in 2013. he said he saw severance near the home on that day. kirby's son joseph taking the stand telling the court about the terrible afternoon. "i walked through the front door and saw my father dead." defense attorney was very critical in his questioning of the plumber trying to raise doubt about his claims that he saw severance in ron kirby's neighborhood the day of the murder. the defense will get its chance to present its case earlier than expected when the morning began. with the prosecution saying they are ahead of schedule and expect to rest the case at some point on monday. live in fairfax, jeff goldberg, abc7 news. leon: thank you for that, jeff. folks if you want to follow thecation even closer, don't miss -- the case even closer don't miss a beat. jeff is live tweeting from the courtroom. @jeffg. maureen: a man dressed as a woman is caught peeping at a

mother and her child in a bathroom stall. a peeper dressing as a woman and holds a mirror under the bathroom stall divider. this happened at potomac mills where the 35-year-old woman noticed a flash of light. a similar incident was described at a wood bridgewall mart last may and the suspect is still -- at a wood bridgewall mart last may and has not been caught. leon: the asought at 2:00 yesterday at a home on a street southeast. burglary and assault charges are pending. good news tonight, they have fixed the broken 16-inch water main near n.i.h. and the walter reed facility. the bad news, the construction crews are repairing the pike. part of the roadway buckled when the main broke that affected yesterday's ride home and today's commute. so far they are on track to

have all lanes open in time for tomorrow morning's commute. we'll be watching. reminder to make abc7 your traffic watch station even away from your tv. subscribe to the text alerts on the go by going to wjla.com/text. you will get live updates from the newsroom on your phone. maureen: a fire in waldorf killed two people. a child and his great grandmother. the child was 6 years old. firefighters from several towns in charles county were called to the help knock down the blaze. four other family members were able to escape the home on poplar hill road. no cause for the fire determined but investigators say they have not found anything suspicious at the scene. former virginia governor bob mcdonald is asking the supreme court to review his corruption conviction. his attorneys filed a petition. they argue that the conviction puts all elected officials at risk. former governor was convicted of accepting gifts and loans in exchange for political favors while in office.

he was sentenced to two years but is freed during the appeals process. the prosecutors must respond in 30 days. leon: last night debate viewed as a boost for hillary clinton. with no major gasp what does it mean for the other candidates that shared the stage and also joe biden who hasn't made a decision public yet? abc7's senior political reporter scott thuman is live in las vegas with more tonight. scott, what does it look like the day after now? scott: after the debate people reflect on what they saw in the two hours last night. the big question is did hillary clinton's por formenace encourage or dis -- performance or discourage joe biden declaring cabbed dassy? a lot of the pundits and the journalists circles around

this nonstop for 24 hours believe clinton's performance was sharp enough, strong enough it didn't open a window that perhaps biden may have been looking for if that is the way he is leaning. instead, they believe she avoided any reason to panic, that the democratic party has someone to rally around. that she out-performed herself in the past six months the way she answered questions and joe biden may not feel the onus to get in the race. however, that is just pundits. polls still matter. this week, joe biden still polling well in the key state and the national matchups. we will see if the numbers shift at all now that 15 million people tuned in to watch hillary clinton go against bernie sanders and the other three last night.

[inaudible] maureen: donald trump and ben carson in a virtual tie. trump is polling at 24%. and carson behind at 23%. that is well within the margin of error. senator ted cruz is the only other candidate polling with double-digit support. stay with abc7 for vote 2016 updates. we are live tweeting the debates as they happen and we have much more for you at wjla.com. isleon: coming up at "abc7 news at 6:00". volkswagen already in hot water and why there may be a second violation for emissions. and dealerships are on edge about 2016. maureen: attacks on a montgomery county trail. aerial assault and what might be behind them. still ahead. leon: plus at 6:15. a d.c. church fighting a new bike lane. why it doesn't want to share the road on sunday. doug: i'm doug hill in the belfort furniture weather

center. beautiful sunset on the way outside. gorgeous night. get ready for the chilliest air of the season. i will tell you when still to come on "abc7 news at 6:00".

announcer: you're watching "abc7 news at 6:00". on your side. leon: a crime alert in washington now. police are trying to find the person who did some damage inside of the shop on georgia avenue. now this is in northwest late

last month. police posted this video to youtube a short time ago. d.c. police are calling it an attempted robbery. if you know this man police want to talk with you immediately. maureen? leon, police are trying to figure out why a man set children halloween costumes on fire in a california wal-mart. employees of the store took this video while coworkers rushed in with extinguishers. police say the man set the fire with a bottle of lighter fluid he picked up in the store. store security detained him for the police. leon: vehicles now on hold for volkswagen after the company was found cheating on e.p.a. emission testing. the german auto-maker says it has to update more 2016 model cars and s.u.v.'s because they were updated with software designed to deceive the test. the practice dates back to 2009. regulators are now wondering whether this was a new attempt to dodge emissions testing. coming up next on "abc7 news

at 6:00" -- >> changing d.c. a long-time established northwest church is complaining about possibly losing the street parking for a bike lane. i'm sam ford. that is next. maureen: still ahead, doug hill is back with a look at the forecast. first frost a possibility for some of us. we will let you know where and when. robert: i'm robert burton. coming up in sports the latest from redskins park. but, alex ovechkin back in practice today. what happened yesterday and why you might be able to relate

maureen: cyclers versus church-goers. the crusade is six and m street northwest. d.c. bureau chief sam ford has more with the united house of prayer doesn't want to share the road. sam? sam: where i'm standing they have been here for a long

time. one of them is the united house of prayer and they are protesting the city's idea of taking what has always been the street parking here and making it a bike lane. they are getting more use. but where the united house of prayer a plan to take away the street parking line for the bike traffic. some call it unsupportable, unrealistic and not a good solution for bike lane tracks. >> to me it's not fair. >> i don't have nothing against the bicyclists but parking is crazy.

>> hundreds of people use it to get to work and school. sam: ddot received the letter of complaint and said no decision has been made. >> this is one of the few streets that connects north/south. we are trying to get feedback. sam: he said the study will be completed sometime in the winter. he says that ddot will make a decision by spring. reporting live, sam ford, abc7 news. leon: overseas now iranian leaders approved the limitation of the nuclear components. if iran does not cooperate, the international sanctions will snap back in place. maureen: florida, the deadly crash of a small plane caught on a security camera. it happened about 65 miles

north of miami. the camera at an auto dealership shows the plane approaching and hitting the ground. we look at the dealership and he had just stepped outside when he saw the plane. >> i thought it was doing a stunt. it seemed like an air show at that close and that low level. it made contact with the ground and a fireball came up. maureen: it crashed into a moan home park killing the pilot. and one person on the ground. leon: fedrick county, two students at new brunswick high school were asked to change their clothes on usa day. they were allowed to wear red, white and blue. these two were wearing the confederate flag. it's not banned but they can take it by a case-by-case basis. the students cooperated. maureen: the last thing that the high school student wants to hear.

"we lost your a.c.t. test." that is what several high school students in anne arundel county are told according to the capital of annapolis. 88 tests lost in the mail. they have been notify and registered for the next exam day. good luck to them. leon: yeah. that would be fun. maureen: absolutely not. leon: neither is this. look out below. warning signs going up about the aerial assaults in the region there. a young owl targeting the joggers and the cyclists. it's looking at the reflective gear that rungers are wearing as prey -- runners are wearing as prey. they are nocturnal so they are saying don't use the trail at night when the owls hunt. others on twitter is trying to negotiate with the owl. the owl has its own twitter account. maybe the state department could send john kerry to negotiate a peace treaty.

>> i remember as a kid. woodsy owl. give a hoot. don't pollute. and don't dive-bomb the runners either. >> ready for a chill? maureen: yes, we are. doug: it's not bad now but the chilliest air of the season thus far. owls like cool weather. they do. it will be fine here. this is not going to make a lot of noise with the cold front. a little priest on friday and cooldown. in the near term, near average temperatures. cooldown the temperature for the weekend. part of that may just be patchy frost in the suburbs. sunday and monday morning with the cool skies and the light winds. it's comfortable right now. 65 at reagan national. breeze out of the northwest at 15 miles per hour. still a few clouds in the sky. later tonight, the crowddiness

clears out -- the cloudiness clears out. it's 64 in manassas. and east. 65 at reagan national airport. satellite and radar, features of cloud cover. the midlevel decks and the clouds that will tend to go away tonight and have mostly clear skies and not much in the way of ad verse weather -- adverse weather. the cold front will get up to the northwest. when it comes in, it will bring showers and maybe wind gusts on friday afternoon. the cold canadian air that will pour in the weekend. the future cast, what is coming our way. the next couple of days. bands of clouds. not like we had today. but much more sunshine and the high pressure builds south and west. we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. through skies through tomorrow. friday starts with the clear skies but then we get clouds. as the cold front starts to approach. maybe isolated shower or two on friday. the chilly air drops across the region for saturday and sunday.

we are talking by friday, the temperatures in the 40's here. look what happens as we get through the weekend here. the temperatures in the 30's and 20's for low temperatures. so big change coming our way. tomorrow, looks nice. 69 degrees. the next seven days show a big cooldown coming over the weekend. warming back up by the middle of next week. leon, maureen and robert. maureen: thank you, doug. leon: talk about cool. alex ovechkin disappeared yesterday. robert: you could tell alex wasn't there. why he wasn't there is the kicker. we'll talk about it. why ovechkin was a no-show at morning skate around yesterday. we have all done it. at least i have. could desean jackson be ready for sunday in the latest next

now the toyota sports desk brought to you by the local toyota dealers. robert: capitals captain alex ovechkin was missed last night against the sharks. they were shut out 5-0. he was held out of the game for missing yesterday's morning skate. the explanation, he set the alarm for 8:30 a.m. -- 8:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. we have all done it. don't look at me like that. they said the rules are the

rules. >> everybody messes up. but it's the way it goes. >> the interview process started for the nationals in the search for a new manager. according to the post. the former reds manager dusty baker interviewed with the nats today. tomorrow, former padres skipper bud black is scheduled to interview. next week the former manager ron gardenhire. the skins back at work today. desean jackson workload is limited but one step closer to get back on the field. he took part in the drill today. his return will help stretch the field, to keep the opposing detail honest. bottom line, the jackson or not the redskins need to take more shots downfield. >> you have to have a good understand of when to take

him. >> the key is make sure the ball is thrown accurately on time. >> final note alds going on now and the rangers leading 2-1 in the sixth. turning out to be a good one. leon: absolutely. >> i know this weekend will be cool and comfortable. 49 for a low tonight. 69 degrees friday. partly cloudy and breezy in the afternoon. chance of showers with a cold front coming through. when the cold front comes through by the weekend you will feel it. only in the 50's with sunshine. warming up next week. steve rudin will check computer models and have a full update tonight. maureen: "world news tonight" with david muir is next. leon: all right. check us out at

tonight, the fight night fallout. hillary clinton and the big surprise from her biggest opponent. and tonight, the clinton campaign with a message to joe biden. make up your mind. and ivanka trump tonight on her father, saying he would be great for women. the deadly plane crash into an american neighborhood. flames shooting into the air. surveillance video shows the moment of impact. then, the takeoff, suddenly aborted. the passenger jet barrelling down the runway, 100 miles per hour. the vehicle driving right toward it. late details on the former nba champion, lamar odom, reportedly fighting for his life, found unresponsive outside las vegas. kobe bryant, magic johnson lending their support. and look at this photo tonight, purchased in a thrift store for $2. now worth $5 million.