this is wjz tv and wjz.com, baltimore. >> from the city to the counties to your neighborhood. now it's complete coverage. it's wjz. maryland's news station. desperate for answers the murder of a woman is a mystery, phylicia's family members want the killer caught. >> hi, everybody, here is what people are talking about 16- year-old phylicia barns went missing a year ago and her body was found and answers are being searched. >> reporter: family members

say it is hard to believe that it has been one year since phylicia barns disappeared but harder to believe they don't know what happened to her. a call of justice for phylicia barns, family members light candles to remember the 16-year- old that disappeared one year ago. >> right now this is really a hard time for my family at this hour because it was around this time that we were calling and crying and couldn't understand where phylicia was at. >> reporter: for months barns native body was found and there are few answers about how she got near the dam. the last place was seen at her half sister's apartment and police found nothing suspicious here. tonight state and city police detectives came out to support the family as they make progress in the investigation. >> no one in either police department has forgotten the case. we are still hoping that people with information come forward. >> reporter: no one has

forgotten in barns' home state of north carolina either. classmates dedicated this garden in honor of the 16-year- old. >> it made my heart sing because really cared enough about her to do something like that, but it bleeding because it reminds me of the tragedy all over again. >> reporter: after family now comes together to cope, they will never stop fighting for phylicia. >> we have faith that justice will be searched. >> reporter: we have an award leading to the arrest in the murder of phylicia barns. reporting live from northwest baltimore, wjz, eyewitness news. phylicia barns planned to attend tugsen university, there will be a scholarship set up in her honor at that school. a car crash on i-83 kills a

child. there was a chain reaction crash, two cars up and 9-year- old alexander owen and 5-year- old jake owen were rushed to the hospital where later jake owen died, the mother and father are in the hospital with injuries, speed is a factor in the crash. another deadly accident, this one on the rockville pike in bethesda, a metro bus collided with a pickup truck killing the truck driver, about a dozen people are being treated. it is not clear how the crash happened. >> knew insight about the prison in cuba. we heard in jewish leading that met with allen gross and on his condition. >> reporter: an activist says allen gross looks good and his wife says his spirit is fading fast. just released photos of jailed

american allen gross are encouraging shall it shows gross and a spokesperson says his health is good, he has gained weight and not so in this. gross was sentenced to 15 years in a cuba prison convicted of being a spy. he was only trying to help the island's jewish community to improve the internet service. a recent appeal for release was denied. he and his family deny he is a spy. >> imagine getting locked up for 15 years for bringing a cell phone to the country which he actually did pass customs. >> high profile supporters have demanded that gross be released including secretary of state hillary clinton. warren wants to have hope but allen's wife, judy, says it was

upsetting to see him like this. >> gross is 62 and went to the university of maryland. back to you. >> thank you. allen gross was working with the democracy building program called u.s. aid when arrested. the gop presidential race is getting interesting just days ahead of the iowa caucuses, michelle bachmann's former right-hand man throws his support behind another candidate and all of the competitors are pushing the campaigns hard. danielle nottingham has the latest numbers. >> reporter: a new poll puts the former massachusetts governor on top of the field of gop candidates, three points ahead of ron paul with a surging rick santorum in 3rd place and newt gingrich and rick perry round out the top five and paul was wearing the target wednesday as rivals

blasted him for saying the u.s. should bomb iran to keep it from developing nuclear weapons. >> i think the more that iowaens look at ron paul, the less attractive le become. >> paul responded by questioning u.s. military overseas. >> the constitution gives none of us authority to police the world and tell other people have to live and get involved in internal affairs. >> reporter: newt gingrich made an apparently at an iowa caucus wednesday. the talk may be the last bit of sweetness on iowa's campaign trail, there will be a lot of television campaign ads and maybe negative newt gingrich promised his remaining ads

would be positive and romney said if he can't take the heat he should get out of the race. after tuesday's iowa caucuses, the next race is on january 10th. the maryland health commission want there to be a crackdown on cardiac stint surgeries. hundreds may have been implanted by unnecessary stints but dr. mark dacay. there's more oversight requested and to suspend the surgeries if the standards are not met. baltimore police need your help over a triple shooting. the detectives want to question people about a shooting. a 26-year-old and two, 24-year- old men were shot. if you have any information

about the person seen here please call police. a bizarre attack in amnerlan county as a man is stripped, robbed and pepper sprayed. derrick has the search for the assailants. >> reporter: it happened near hammons lane, where a 25-year- old man says he was approached by three large men in ski masks. >> one asked if he had any drugs and he said no and at that point he was pepper spread and the two other suspects began to take things. >> reporter: the suspect pulled off the victim's shirt and pants and money and leaving him half naked and the suspects took off running across the highway. after the attack the scantly dressed victim still suffering from the pepper spray knocked on doors asking for help though none of the neighbors we talked

to encountered him. >> did you hear any knock on your bone? >> no. >> reporter: police were unable to locate the suspects but say they are taking the victim's story seriously though the same can't be said about some neighbors. >> it sounds like a bunch of bull to me. it sure does. >> reporter: police say at this point they are unsure whether the victim was chosen at random or specifically targeted by the suspect. derek valcourt, wjz news. anyone with information is urged to call the police. dixie taxi will run a free taxi service to keep people from drinking and driving. hundreds of people are expected to take advantage of a free ride. call 187-7963 taxi if you want a free ride. if you are staying in watch the wjz new year's eve

spectacular with complete coverage of the fireworks and you can see the festivities right here only on wjz and it starts at 11:00 saturday night. coming up, some tense moments on the ice. look at these rescuers as they try to save this puppy in north dakota. blues why moms across the country are going after target, the discrimination they say they are facing. teenagers fighting off a cold or a flu are in for serious changes at the pharmacy. we'll explain coming up. colder temps and calmer wind for thursday but how does the weekend look? we have the forecast coming up in a few ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

it is 32 degrees and partly cloudy in central maryland. the weather forecast is coming up. a federal judge orders the u.s. government to pay up after a fighter jet plows into a home in san diego, the government has been ordered to pay $17.8 million for emotional and monetary loss. four family members inside of the house died when the jet crashed back in 2008. the marine corps said a series

of mistake led to the accident. >> the ousted leader was wheeled into the courthouse on a stretcher. but the trial was adjourned until next week. there was hundreds of protesters killed and the former president is charged with abuse of power. three miners are pulled to safety after being trapped. the men were working when a fire broke out, emergency crews had to battle the flames and the men were treated at a nearby hospital and released. hundreds of women showed their support for a texas mom that said she was harassed at a target store for breast- feeding. angry moms after they caught wind of the story. hickman said employees started to heckle her because she fed her mom in the clothing section in houston and wouldn't move to

a dressing room. >> they came and walked by and shook their head and rolling their eyes like i am doing something horrible. >> the target officials apologize for the inconvenience. a first of its kind law in california bands teenagers from buying cough syrup over the counter. >> reporter: the doctor's office is not the first place jennifer turns to when she has a cold. the 16-year-old almost always relies on over the counter cough syrup but starting january 1st, jennifer will not be able to buy a bottle on her own. california lawmakers are banding the sale to anyone under the age of 18 because teens are getting high on one

of the ingredients. dmx can cause hallucinations and even death. >> it is the number one cause of abuse more common than marijuana. >> reporter: teens can buy the cough syrup if they have a prescription. an estimated so percent of teenagers got high on it. >> teenagers may be taking more than a full bottle on a daily basis. >> reporter: the makers of the cough syrup support the change. >> it is a disturbing story and that was it. i was done. from that point on, i decided i was done. >> reporter: but this teen is not convinced, the law will prevent abuse. >> if they want to get it they will. >> reporter: angie says it makes it harder for her that

want to take the right doze for the right reason. california pharmacies caught selling the medicine to minors face a $250 fine. a stray dog is rescued from an icy river in north dakota. here is a view as firefighters make their way across the ice and pull the pup to safety, the owner says he got away had the invisible fence stopped working. the pooch is expected to be okay. which celebrity would you most want as a next-door neighbor? according to a new poll, tim tebow is the most desired neighbor. he got 14% of the voice angelina joe lee and brad pitt were next and kim kardashian was voted the worse. if we were neighbors of any of

the people i just mentioned, we would be rich and so i will take any of them. >> so far away from your nearest neighbor you would never know they are there. plus lindsay lohan, she is always in the house. >> you could have her on real house. >> i wish we were in some neighborhood warmer than tonight. a little chilly but we did get to a daytime high of 47. not too shabby going into the last few days of december and by the time we hit the first few days of january, we will be in the 50s again. 47 the temperature today down actually coming down now from that high. our average is 42 and nowhere near the record of 74 but we are closer to the record highs than we are the lows in many instances although it will be chilly, winds all day today and gusting up around 35 miles per hour and they are now diminished quite a bit and 16 miles per hour winds across much of the area and six actually at bci marshall and

northwest winds tapping into cold air and 32 the cold temperature and with the winds in play, it feels like five or ten degrees off of the actual temperature, if you go out there with your bare skin. 19 in oakland and 34 on the shore and 30 in elkton and around the area temperatures ranges from the upper 20s to the upper 30s. ken island at 37 and 37 in annapolis. winds at 15 miles per hour down around eastton and 12 miles around ocean city and ten in oakland and coming down around the airport. we were concerned about some delays in air travel because of the winds around the eastern seaboards but they have since subsided. so now what we are watching is this next low pressure system coming through as a very quick clipper system and saved primarily to the north and keeping many of the chilly winds to the north going through tomorrow and there are two systems moving through and you can follow them with the

line of precipitation and the clipper system will move to the great lakes and another system that will catch up as we move to the weekend. what that means is that they both stay primarily to the north and will stay in the mild air which means the temperatures stay at or above the normal high and will be up in the 50s because most of the systems are going to stay. the ripples of energy far to the north and could create a the lake-effect snow but not precipitation so for new year's eve in the tranquil range for saturday night. with the sunrise at 7:26 and tonight going down to 24 degrees and partly cloudy and breezy and colder than the last few nights. tomorrow 44 degrees and followed by increased clouds. 57 on friday. 51 and 54 for new year's eve and day and 44 on monday. mary. thank you. check in with jessica and marty

on eyewitness news and start at 4: 55:00 a.m. what the bengals are ,,,,,,,,,,,

stan has the sports report. we are talking about the ravens. >> and the bengals. and they make a lot of mistake, penalty prone and turnover prone and if the ravens can overcome that, i think they will win. corry reading and billy cundiff not practicing and marshall lungo and ellerbe and jones, all of whom are needed for what promises to be a human demolition derby at paul brown stadium in cincinnati. the ravens beat the bengals in november but they are on the

road against a revengeful bunch where they lost two straight including five of the last six, how much do the bengals respect the ravens? zoo -- >> we were so excited for this week, no one is ready for the off season, we want to keep going and make the superbowl roll. >> the whole defense is solid. a lot of veterans back there so we will not shoot ourselves in the foot and play like we did last week. >> so will the bengals earn a wild card spot or do the ravens get the victory, see it sunday at 4:00. the air force losing to toledo and there was a play here and toledo holds on here and 42-41 much to the chagrin

of zack kyle, nba action, this year's overall pick, irving that left duke last year and 14 points and cleveland won 105-9. the capitals cooled off the rangers win streak. the caps hang in there for the win. one other note, maryland's men team beat albany. alex lend in there two. one guy 7'2". a battle of man: my electric bill was breaking the bank. so to save some money, i trained this team of guinea pigs to row this tiny boat. guinea pig: row...row. they generate electricity, which lets me surf the web all day. guinea pig: row...row. took me 6 months to train each one, 8 months to get the guinea pig: row...row. little chubby one to yell row!

guinea pig: row...row. that's kind of strange. guinea pig: row...row. such a simple word... row. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. i sweated the details. all the phone calls, the emails, the lost weekends. and then after twenty-two years, just like that, i was laid off. today there are so many americans like matthew.

he worked hard and played by the rules. suddenly, he's out of a job. it's been a struggle not being able to find a job. but it's been our faith and family and friends that have helped us get through this. citizens energy was created to help the forgotten ones keep warm. we asked the big oil companies and oil producing nations to help. only citgo and the people of venezuela answered the call. and this year, in spite of soaring prices, washington actually cut fuel assistance for families in need. so if you need help staying warm this winter give me a call. because in times like these, no one should be left out in the cold.

let's hope the guys have good insurance coverage. the drivers launched their car in the air at the 7th annual car championship. some drivers fell short but the crowd didn't mind. last year's champ retained his title based on applause. no one gets over it, i don't think. this crocodile is not a picky eater. >> let it go, let it go. >> he is not going to listen to that guy, the crock stole the lawnmower while he was trying to cut the grass. elvis played with the toy before he set his site,,,,,,,,,,