moments earlier she returned to the isolated tent retreat and saw 48-year-old richard rodola sitting on her bed with a two-liter bottle half full of gas and her friend pam myers on a nearby wicker lounge chair. >> i asked pam, i said where is that gasoline coming from? she said he's getting it on me. >> reporter: she claims rod rod told his girlfriend of 13 years she needed to leave but when she telephoned a friend and said what happened he snapped. >> the snatched the phone from her. and continued to pour the rest of the two-liter bottle of gas on her. and set her on fire. >> reporter: in front of you? >> in front of me. that's my best friend. >> reporter: she used this piece of carpeting to try to put the fire out. then ran to a nearby business where she called 911. when howard county police arrived at the campsight they found pam with burns over 50%

of her body and she was rushed to the bayview burn center. rodola had already fled on foot headed east through the woods towards an industrial park. >> the suspect was not on the scene when police arrived but we were able to locate him in about two or three hours still in the area walking and one of our officers was able to apprehend him. >> reporter: while melissa is relieved police caught up with the suspect she fears for the life of her longtime friend and experienced nightmares reliving the horrific crime that she witnessed in this place she once called home. >> her hair was singed. and her skin was hanging off. the smell and hair burning, i'll never forget it. >> reporter: in howard county, jeff hager, abc2 news. >> rodola suffered minor burns on his hands and a witness tells us he's under police guard at bayview hospital. just three rooms down the hall from the victim. he faces charges of attempted murder, assault and arson. in baltimore county, police

say the victim of a sunday morning fire in dundalk has died. police say the 57-year-old joanne julian fell asleep while smoking a cigarette in a basement bedroom in the home on york way. fire crews rescued three people who were asleep upstairs. >> we can't really stress enough that if you are a smoker or if you live in a home with someone who is a smoker, proper disposition of smoking materials is absolutely essential. >> she was really nice to us. she was always on the back porch. you come out here any time of day, any time of night, really, she was always on the back porch. >> she was taken to johns hopkins bayview medical center, where she later died. investigators say the home had smoke detectors but they were not working. hundreds of people said goodbye to a baltimore city police officer killed in a fight outside of a canton night spot. detective brian stevenson was remembered today as a good cop and great father to his children. rosy is back with more on this sad story.

>> reporter: hundreds of people including police officers from around the area pay respects to the detective stevenson. he died about a week ago after a fight outside of a canton night spot. today hundreds of police officers along with friends and family packed inside the antioch baptist church to say goodbye. he was remembered by friends as a fine police officer, one of the first to help others. unfortunately, this is only the first of two police funerals for the department this week. services for officer thomas ports will be held on wednesday. a total of three officers have died this month and it's taken a heavy toll on the city police department. >> we have lost an officer, two officers to traffic accidents and then here, officer stevenson. it's so unfortunate but the police department, the men and women in blue are resilient. this is not something that we have not gone through before, and so we will continue to support each other and hold each other's arms up as we come through this storm. >> right now, just a few miles

from here, the men and women who wear this uniform, they are doing their job right now. they are handling calls. and, they are going to keep handling calls and they are going to keep making this city safe because that's what jimmy would have wanted. that's what brian would have done. that's what tommy would have done. these men would have gotten back on their feet and they'd had done their jobs. that's what these -- my cops are doing right now. they are doing their jobs. >> detective stevenson is survived by a wife and three small children. the man accused of killing him remains in custody tonight. roosevelt leftwich, abc2 news. the funeral arrangements now set for the other police officer, officer thomas ports died last week after his squad car crashed into a parked fire truck. a viewing is tomorrow at rubberneck funeral home in towson. republican funeral home in towson. and the funeral is on north charles street. he will be laid to rest at

dulaney valley memorial gardens in timonium. the united states honor flag is being sent to baltimore in honor of those city police officers who recently died. along with officer stevenson and ports, james fowler died in a crash in pennsylvania last month. the flag flew over ground zero during recovery efforts in new york city after 9/11. the flag is set to arrive in baltimore tomorrow afternoon. the trial of a man charged in the 2001 killing of a washington intern chandra levy is now officially underway. ingmar gwondike accused of attacking the 24-year-old as she jogged in rock creek park. prosecutors say he was already in jail on an unrelated charge and told a police officer he killed levy. a year after she disappeared her remains were found leaving more questions than answers. >> it dawned on me that there's very little i can do or any of us can do now to offer anything to the levy

family other than justice. >> there's no justice. >> yeah. >> we have a life -- not having our child, not knowing what happened. >> reporter: her disappearance nine years ago received widespread publicity because of her relationship with then california congressman gary condit. he was questioned in her disappearance but police say he was never a suspect in the case. baltimore city prosecutors office indicted a third man in the death of matthew martin. the 31-year-old's body was found in may by two fishermen at patapsco state park. 24-year-old jeremy smith was charged with accessory after the fact. in july christopher calvert and kevin skipper were also indicted in the death. the medical examiner determined he died as a result of blunt force trauma and also stab wounds. in harford county -- police say a man is being held on $500,000 bonds after shooting his own son. around 11:00 last night investigators say the son was

hit in the ear with a stray piece of a buck shot when his dad opened fire on him on franklin church road. police say they are trying to learn what may have led up to the shooting. in northeast baltimore, this 7-eleven store got a bit of a remodeling job but -- officials say luckily no one was hurt when a car crashed into the storefront on harford road. it's unclear if the driver will face charges but they did remain on the scene. a change in weather across maryland, we brought in the clouds today but temperatures staying very warm, near record levels as we pushed well up into the mid to upper 70s and the winds coming up a little too, today. let's look at the satellite and radar combination. maryland's most powerful doppler radar finding a little rain well west of us. right now a line of showers developing out towards the hagerstown area. and that will continue to drift slowly east. we'll see if it holds together. other than that, not a lot of rain around the area now.

skies cloudy, temperature still in the low 70s. 78 at the inner harbor. 68 annapolis, winds gusting 18 to 24. tomorrow, early look at the day part forecast, 68 or so by lunchtime. it will be windy through the day. much more on your extendedout look. we'll talk about the wind, rain and weekend coming up. in democracy 2010 -- the race for maryland governor is definitely heating up. according to the latest poll from "the washington post," governor martin o'malley continues to lead former governor ehrlich. "the post" polled over 2,300 randomly selected adults and found the percentage of voters with an unfavorable view of ehrlich grew 10% since the poll last month. 54% of those likely to vote support o'malley. 40% say they support ehrlich. the poll has a margin of error of 2.5% to 3%. you still have time to take part in the state he is early voting program.

you have to thursday to avoid long lines on election day and cast your vote early. elections on the eastern shore, people pleased with the turnout so far. more than 500 people in talbot county voted since the first day of early voting. remember, you can find the late eggs election news -- latest election news and useful information in links on-line at abc2news.com. click on the political tab. it's under "news." the ads proclaim you can stay home and make lots of money. sounds great, right? more like too good to be true. in this week's "scam alert" joce sterman tells us about one get rich quick scheme that could land you in jail. plus, most kids aren't likely to admit they are using drugs, even if their parents question them about it. what happens when the parents are asked about their own drug use? coming up in our "health alert." >> it was warm today, 77 degrees, the old record from 1931. we were just two degrees off

today at 75. no 2-degree guarantee weather winner. we'll see if we can't take of business with tomorrow's fun, coming up.

taxes are too high, and maryland families are struggling. and then there's politician andy harris proposing a 23% sales tax on nearly everything we buy. it cuts taxes for millionaires by over $200,000 a year and raises taxes on the middle class. andy harris even promised big oil companies he'd make taxpayers pay for spills like the bp disaster. andy harris on our side? not a chance. the democratic congressional campaign committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

in this tough economy many people really are looking to make a few extra bucks. work at home offers sound really appealing especially if you need the money. but abc2 news joce sterman has a warning about one offer that could land you in jail. >> reporter: work at home offers that sound too good to be true have snagged plenty of marylanders. but the latest scheme to make the rounds could have you you losing a lot more than money.

>> you can be charged criminally for this. >> reporter: that is why angie barnett with the better business bureau is warning about work offers from companies that ask you to accept payments on their behalf, take a commission and then wire the rest of the money out of the country. >> so in essence it's money laundering. so you become a money mule. >> reporter: and you become a pawn in a criminal game that scammers claim earns thousands and lets you work from home and get paid weekly. barnett says ads for these offers are popping up all over. the bbb even got this e-mail from a dell sound-alike company saying you can keep 10% of each payment you collect. just ship the rest of the cash to china. sounds good? well, the only problem is it's illegal. >> most of these schemes if not all of them do originate in foreign countries, russia is one that we see, china is another. so they are overd overseas. therefore they may get off scott free and you may not. >> reporter: in fact you could end up paying a big price.

with time behind bars. joce sterman, abc2 news. >> angie barnett also says the scammers posting e-mail in these offers are often blatant about their approach. while others try to make the work seem more legitimate. she says many scammers use the names of real companies or sound-alikes to pull you in. with some even offering work contracts to make the whole deal seem more credible. with more on what you should look out for in these scams, log on to abc2news.com and click on the money tab. the baltimore city paper says mount vernon is the best neighborhood and area leaders are trying to make it even better. poem with the maryland department of transportation joined baltimore county executive jim smith today to celebrate charles street as a national scenic byway. >> charles street is an important corridor connecting people in the city and people in the county to some of the baltimore metropolitan areas

significant destination locations and is one of the most scenic drives in the entire region. this is no small honor. there are only 151 scenic byways in 46 states and of those only three others are urban roads like charles street. >> officials say this is just a preview of what is to come for charles street. the city of baltimore wants to step up the pace of its redevelopment of the west side. according to the maryland daily record the city has hired the urban land institute to do a study on why the redevelopment project is taking a little longer than expected. the area was once filled with art, entertainment, city officials are now stepping in and looking to bring that excitement back. why am i a pum-- i was sweating yesterday,

it was like 70 degrees. >> won't and -- winter and fall started last year around the same time. >> it's just unexpected. ed no a bat thing. >> it is. a couple of days of this near record warmth and things tail off for halloween weekend. we'll be more seasonable by pumpkin day. maryland's most powerful doppler radar, not much on it but there will be the chance for some hit and miss showers later tonight. zooming in a little further to the west, hagerstown, in the higher terrain here along i-70, if your travels take you west from say boonsboro west to berkeley springs you will find a little rain in this direction. other than that not much rain out there now. a cloudy sky over baltimore. check that out on our harbor cam. you can see the current conditions, 74 degrees now. humidity is at 64%. and winds south at 8 although it's been much gustier at times today.

wind now is calming down just a little bit but boy, you could sure see the trees shaking today at roland park elementary school. check our high definition weather camera. talk about, yeah, it feels not so much like fall but sure looks like it. look at the fall colors there. that is beautiful. if you think that is fantastic look at this. this is myersville by the appalachian trail. a cornucopia of colors. yeah. i had to break out cornucopia for that one. winds are a little gusty at times today. steady winds around 12 to 15. we will see winds picking up through the day tomorrow. it will be a very windy couple of days here, especially on wednesday. with an approaching cold front. high temperatures very warm, may look like fall but not feeling like it, at least not yet. but again we expect these high temperatures to be up pretty high tomorrow. again probably wednesday and then by wednesday night you'll certainly feel the winds of autumn around here. take you into your neighborhood forecast tomorrow, looking at baltimore county, curtis bay

about 74. chance for some scattered showers and especially northern baltimore county toward hereford, you can expect some low-lying fog early in the day tomorrow. so factor that into your travel plans, hitting about 72 in the northern part of the county late day tomorrow. active weather trend well south and north of us. pennsylvania and virginia getting most of the rain now but the lower eastern shore, wicomico county through worcester county getting a little rain. satellite and radar trend, very active up and down the east coast. a little bit of a lull west of us here across parts of the mid-south but our main storm system that will arrive wednesday and will keep the weather active the next, really 48 to 72 hours. out here centered over just north and west of chicago. southern wisconsin really. the whole thing shifting eastward, very warm air ahead of this thing. but it will be pumping up the winds the next couple of days. future forecast model, not a lot of rain in the offering tomorrow but will be cloudy and breezy. and warm again. wednesday starts off on a warm

note, then we get a powerhouse cold front in here late wednesday afternoon, wednesday evening. showers, maybe thunderstorms and it will really drop the temperatures wednesday night into thursday. so 58, cloudy degrees tonight. a few showers possible. 74 with early fog tomorrow. maybe a little bit of rain tomorrow night. not looking for a lot of rain yet but it will be breezy and qloid and mild -- cloudy and mild. 7-day forecast tells the tale. we begin to cool off thursday and really see things cool off thursday night into friday. only upper 50s friday into saturday. that is going to be awfully big change. tonight on 11:00 -- not illegal drugs but a popular energy drink is being blamed for sickening a number of college students. plus, a professor found dead in her maryland home. we're going to have much more on the investigation into the death police are calling suspicious. when it comes to drug use teens don't want to admit they are taking them. even if their parents already

know they are engaged in substance abuse. there's a flip side to the story of. michael jones reports. >> reporter: even though health experts and parents know some teens experiment with drugs many kids often do not voluntarily admit to using elicit drugs even when they know they will undergo a drug test that could prove it. in a recent study published in the journal "pediatrics" researchers surveyed more than 400 high risk urban teens from low socioeconomic backgrounds. they also questioned parents or caretakers who were mostly female. after asking about drug use at a questionnaire, teen and parent hair samples were tested. the data found young people were 52% more like to test positive for cocaine in hair samples than they were to report using it on questionnaires. also interesting to investigators, the study found that parents, like children, significantly underreported their own cocaine use. parents were over six times more likely to test positive

for cocaine use in a hair sample and 5.5% more likely to test positive for opiates than we were to report using the drugs in the questionnaire. it also found that parents played down their teens' drug use, leading authors to believe questioning plants about drugs is -- parents about drugs is not the best way to estimate substance use. they say real tests can gauge the real extent of teen drug abuse. i'm let's check that monday evening commute. live look at 695 and liberty road. traffic is slow-going. if you're waiting for somebody to get home, have patience.

pre-existing condition. today, it's nearly double. and nearly a quarter of a million marylanders are looking for work. in addition, we face a national health care plan that will hurt small business and cost us jobs. so we have to ask, are you better off today than you were four years ago? we're heading in the wrong direction. we need strong leadership. say no to things we can't afford. fix our health care plan. and refuse to raise taxes. martin o'malley can't do it. i will.

woman 1 sync: i knew what bob ehrlich did as governor. man 1 sync: raised my property taxes 60 percent. woman 2 sync: let utilities hike our rates 72 percent. woman 1 sync: but i didn't know what he's done since he got fired as governor. man 2: ehrlich's raked in millions. man 3: he worked for a wall street bank that took 10 billion dollars from the bailout. woman 3: 10 billion of our money. woman 4: our money. woman 5 sync: and he worked for another bank that collapsed. man 4: costing tax payers 17 million. anncr: tell bob ehrlich big banks don't need help. middle class marylanders do.

what's on tap for tonight? >> not too bad tonight. maybe a little breezy, very warm. look at some of the numbers. i mean, 71 marriottsville. 72 silver spring. this is warm stuff. through the day tomorrow, another warm day. back in the 70s we go. and it will be getting windy out there. a little bit of rain but the big thing is it's warm and windy. >> muggy. but look likes towards the weekend for the trick-or-treaters we'll have halloween-esque weather. >> by thursday night you'll feel a change. we'll be back to normal. >> we don't want a coat or long sleeves with the costume.

>> that's it for the news at zd 6:00. we're back at 11:00. have a good night.

bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out... he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%. and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million... working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million? he's not really on my side. with this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side.

cooked numbers, false attacks. the truth? frank kratovil is ranked one of the 10 most independent members of congress. frank kratovil does not follow anybody's party line he looks at his district, his family, the community, and that's the important thing to him. endorsed by the chamber of commerce, the nra, veterans, and