a hoarder. >> reporter: well, kelly, neighbors said they saw crews and cameras scurrying around that yard three months ago, but it wasn't until the episode aired this week that they learned of the toxic clutter inside. the images came so quickly, they were difficult to digest. and once viewers of the hoarders episode realized the extent of the clutter, it was hard to stomach. a woman named michele, or mike for short, who lived in this west minister house with seven cats had grown deathly imilafter her life -- ill after her life spiralled out of control. >> >> there was a mountain of diapers in the bathroom. >> i have a bladder control problem. and i just started leaving them in the bathroom. >> reporter: on the porch of the house today, you can still

see the discarded masks and hand sanitizer where crews worked to dispose of 8,000 pounds of cat and human feces. >> people handle trauma in different ways. and when her sister died, i just think it spun her into a depression, and she kind of coped with it by shopping. and not cleaning. >> reporter: easter says mike used to emerge from her house every day with special treatments for her dog. while she in turn would give her vegetables out of his garden. while the death of her sister, compulsive shopping and mental health overwhelmed her living conditions, he wants people to know that there's more to her than meets the eye in the hoarders production. >> i don't like down on her. i'm sure a lot of people do and say how could she live like that, and i feel the same way, but at heart, she's a good

person. she's a sweet lady. >> reporter: we understand mike is no longer living in the house. and she plans on selling it. gary jordano jailed in aruba evera his traveling companion went missing there, adamantly denied anything to do with her disappearance. >> reporter: he was released from a jail yesterday and spoke exclusively to "good morning america" this morning. he says his traveling companion robin was swept out to sea while instoeshg ling swimming. >> i answered the question 50, 60 times. i went over, asked for help, told them to call the emergency. i didn't know there was 911 in aruba. i don't know the number. they called. >> reporter: while

giordano also tried to explain some aspects of his behavior that investigators have called suspicious, he said the $1.5 million accidental death insurance policy he took out on gardener was standard. his previous lawyer told him he might be responsible for costs related to a search for her. prosecutors still consider giordano a suspect, and are moving forward with the case with the help of the fbi. he promised local schools antibullying assemblies. but when push came to shove, the football stars never showed. >> reporter: well, joseph gill told dozens of schools and pta groups he could supply ravens players for their assemblies. they say he couldn't make it happen but kept their money. now gill is facing charges of

theft. tonight at 11:00, we go to the eastern shore to hear from a small town's school that lost money in the scheme reportedly run by gill who promised to bring ladarrius webb to speak to kids at that school. she's fileded a complaint with police -- filed a complaint with police, saying he seems more like a bully himself. >> scum. scum. for anybody to take little children and take advantage, i -- scum probably isn't even a strong enough word for him. >> reporter: tonight we'll tell you which other schools were hit in this scheme, how much money they lost, and where joseph gill is now on the most wanted list. in tonight's consumer list, days after reports saying gm was investigating the possibility of fire problems with the chevy volt, the ceo says the company will voluntarily buy back the vehicles from any worried

customers. gm insists the cars are safe, but three fires have broken out in volts after government crash tests best buy is recalling about 31,000 rocket fish, mobile battery cases for the iphone. the battery can over heat now while charging. three people were burned by the charger. the recall involves the model rfkl12 mobile battery cases. it's sold exclusively at best buy stores. you can call 81-9 1 7-5 7 3 7. 17-5 7 3 7. 737. and another recall to tell you about. recalling almost 7,000 rechargeable external battery cages. it affects the battery built into a plastic case designed to snap into the i-pod touch 4g music player. can over heat and burn the user. for

more information, you can all 877-3 0 8-4 5 8 1. 08-4 5 8 1. 581. >> jason: apparently, thousands of americans haven't received their refunds from last year's returns. more than 99,000 people could get a real nice check in time for the holidays. the irs can't spend them out because it doesn't have the correct mailing addresses. while the accounts were in a timely percentage of all the refunds, these people are missing out on some pretty good cash. the average refund is more than $1,500. the irs is holding onto $153 million in unclaimed refunds. if you think you're among them, log onto our website at abc2news.com for a listening to the irs's website. they can verify your identity and get back to you within a couple business days. and another tip, opt to have your refund directly deposited next year. it's faster and more secure.

tonight baltimore lights up fist washington monument. but -- lights up its washington monument. but we wanted to take a look at the evolution of santa. >> reporter: hey, how you doing? i'm doing fine. and i have a fabulous guest i'm going to introduce to you in a second. but before i do, check out what's going on behind me. look at all this beautification here at the museum. and we are going to talk to santa in just a second. but the monument is definitely home to lots of books and documents, and also it's home to historical sant a. thank you for be -- santa. thank you for being here. you're holding some things in your hand. what do you have? >> i have a number of things. this is my whistle that i call the reindeer with. i only do it twice. the third time, they would bust through the ipd windows and pick me -- and scoot me out.

i also have my book of naughty and nice. had on had on so we're able to get to everybody. >> tell us about the evolution of santa. >> well, he's a gift-giver, and it goes way back to the ancient times. we have the norse gods of oden, and then saint nicholas, who was one of the more famous people who was a gift-giver. then we have the evolution of santa who was actually called sinter claus, where we got the came from the dutch traditions. but he represents more of an americanized idea of a gift-giver rather than a religious and pious symbol. >> reporter: when the kids come in and see you, do you tell them historical stories or -- >> we tell them both. absolutely they have some kind of a little image with them that

tells about different moral aspects as well. this is what was done at the time. so even the toys and the stories everything and else always had messages for them. and so it was very important to do that. >> reporter: okay. and so if i was -- am i too big and too old now to sit on your lap? would i be able to put my request in for you? >> you're never too old to believe. that's one of the main mottos. and they say if you don't believe in santa, then you get underwear. ho ho ho! >> reporter: well, i believe in santa. maybe this time you'll give me the doll i asked for! tell us about the -- i know you given the kids little tid bits about north and south. >> well, the north, the development of the contemporary santa, the image i represent now, was developed by thomas nash.

and abraham lincoln asked him to develop this image to give morale to the north. and there's an excellent image you might see later that actually shows the civil war santa with a little toy of -- but he brought these things to them. and the people in the south were disappointed, and because of the blockade, he couldn't reach them. >> reporter: i'm going to go ahead and send if back to you, kelly, and it just shows you that this season is about religion for some people. and it's about the gifts for some people. but it's also about the history. it's a win-win situation. back to you. >> all right . i just hope santa doesn't bring me a lump of coal because i've done some stuff this year that i probably shouldn't have. [ laughter ] sunny skies across the east coast. and the weather will stay nice and calm the rest of this evening for all the boys and girls and grown-ups too. we'll talk much more about your

weekend forecast coming up. this year makes the 30 years since the first aids case were documented. and today marks world aids day. coming up, how people around the world are commemorating this day, and promise to move in the fight against the deadly disease. who doesn't love opening gifts on christmas day? except when you have to struggle to open the package. we're going to tell you about one company's push to make opening packages frustration free. and the downtown of one of maryland's cities is getting special recognition.

nearly 30 million people have died of aids since the disease was first discovered in 1981. millions are still infected and living with the illness. today marks world aids day where countries around the globe connect to trying to end the disease.

>> reporter: 30 years ago, doctors and scientists documented the first cases of hiv, aids. today, people around the world mark global aids day, from the white house to the famous sidney opera house. in south africa, a nation of about 50 million, there are an estimated 5.7 million people living with hiv. president obama announced today that his administration will redirect $50 million for hiv/aids treatment here in the u.s., and increase the number of people around the world that will gain access to life-saving drugs. >> this is a global fight, and it's one that america must continue to lead. >> reporter: the president made out a goal of providing antiretroviral drugs to more than 1.5 million pregnant women, and 6 million people around the world in two years. >> as we go forward, we've got to deep remining our strategy --

refining our strategy so we're saving as many lives as possible. >> reporter: in 2002, president bush launched an ambitious plan to fight the aids crisis. the former president and his family are in tanzania. >> there's nothing more joyful than holding the arms of a 2-year-old child who has benefited from the grass-roots efforts here in tanzania, and the enormous generosity of the american people. >> reporter: a new study found when mice were injected with protected antibodies, they had 100% protectionancy hiv. this could be -- protection against hiv. now, maryland's most powerful doppler radar, and the forecast certified most accurate. you can see wind still a

factor out there this evening. breezy conditions, but not the gusty conditions we had last night. 48 degrees, getting cold out there. winds west northwest at three, visibility ten, unrestricted. our abc2 hd weatherbug cam, and what a nice sunset. annapolis, not a lot of boat traffic today. it was cold out for much of the day. but that sunshine made a difference. if you're out in the sun, it always feels about 10 to 15 degrees warmer when you have this scenario. all clear tonight. we think they'll that'll holdup for the next several days actually. and temperatures beginning to level off. day that day, we'll fwin to warm up -- we'll begin that warm up a little bit. and then a cool shot in saturday, and

warm back up again sunday and monday when we could see 60 categories. today's highs were down to the low and mid-50s. and clear skies continuing tonight that will last into the day tomorrow. expecting minimal to no changes out there across much of the area. take a look out north and west. you do see the closest weather up toward iowa city, west of the chicago area, there is a little bit of weather developing out there. weak, cold frontal boundary. and this will come in as we go into the friday night, saturday morning time frame. it'll drop temperatures maybe 5, 7 degrees. high-pressure dome providing the nice sunshine today will hang out for a day or two. and again more of the same here, crisp, late fall weather. our future trend showing minimal changes tonight. here's that weak front, but you see it doesn't bring moisture with it. so it's going to come through dry, and just bring a

temperature change. and briefly breezier conditions into early saturday. by saturday night, our next storm will be on the map but several days off. so we don't think we're going to get an impact from the next developing storm system until monday night and tuesday of next week. but it will be an interesting storm to watch with the temperatures kind of borderline. very narrow window, though. 32 overnight, wind going calm. frost by daybreak. tomorrow, 55 degrees . more of those cobalt blue skies. and tomorrow night, down to 33 degrees. mostly clear. and some light breezes will begin to churn up tomorrow night and into your saturday. take a look at that weekend forecast here. and here's how things develop as we go forward in time. bottom line is, moert of the 50s on tap -- more of the 50s on tap. and

things will get milder around here saturday, and milder sunday into monday. tuesday night into early wednesday morning, worse than maryland could see a brief wintery mix. it's possible. >> i'd like to rule it out. >> we'll see if we can. getting close to the holidays, the holiday season. there's been a record increase on online shopping. the state comptroller has taken to the stores encouraging people to shop at local stores and forget about the internet. today, he met with store owners and shor shoppers preach -- shoppers, preaching to shop maryland and pay the state taxes >> my message to people on the internet, is don't you care about your fellow marylanders? don't you want to have them employed? and if you do, forget the internet for the holiday

season. come on down, and you'll have a good experience, and do something good for the state. ? >> some store owners took the opportunity to explain what the state could do to help them >> that's what maryland is going to be if you don't stop raising our taxes. i know from personal experience that they raise the sales tax, and since they've raised the sales tax, i sent them less and les tax because i have had less. >> tonight at 11:00, we're going to take a closer look at how all the tax increases we have had lately may actually be hurting small businesses right here in maryland. it's the season of shopping, and a lot of shoppers are tackling that big frustration of packaging. that's a huge task to open somebody's gifts. amazon.com is collecting videos of somebody chronicling common christmas complaints >> we received over 3.8 million

customer contacts telling us that they experienced an issue with the packaging. >> so the world's largest online retailer is putting pressure on manufacturers, signing up big suppliers like fisher price, mattel, and proctor and cam pbell in a program called "frustration free packaging". it includes 80,000 products. walmart has launched one of its own. according to the epa, every consumer in the u.s. throws out 800 pounds of packaging waste each year. the spirit of the holidays, you can make the season brighter for those inned in. it's time for the 13th annual toy drive. when you're looking for gifts for family and friends, consider picking up a gift or two for a child in need. you have until december 22nd to donate new, unused toys. drop them off at

walmart stores that are listed on abc2news.com. or fire stations in baltimore. and if you have any old instruments lying around the house, can you drop those off too along with the toys you're donating. a disturbing abc news report. a member of foster care children who are over medicated. now, lawmakers want to know why. will we're going to hear from one of the foster kids who later discovered he didn't even need the drugs. and we're heard fish is good for your heart. it may also be good for your brain.

a disturbing fact. foster kids may be severely over medicated possibly just because adults and doctors don't want to have anything to do with them. abc news uncovered the tens of thousands that foster care children are given antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. 11-year-old chianti, prescribed dwelve medications over the -- 12 medications over the course of four years for conditions he didn't have. >> if i didn't take them like i was told to, i couldn't watch tv, play video games or play with my toys. >> he has since been adopted and now he's in honor classes at school. the government accountability office did an investigation and found out of a 10,000 foster kids, 26,000 were on some sort of drugs.

eating fish may be good for your brain. in a study of, researchers found those regularly eating baked or broiled, not fried, lowered their risk of developing alzheimer's disease compared with nonfish eaters. those eating fish at least once a week showed less brain cell loss in the frontal cortex regions of the brain, responsibility for the memory. they also showed stronger short term memory. other studies have suggested that the omega three fatty acids found in some fish can help lower the risk of course alzheimer's and dementia. hurricane force winds ripping across southern california. we're going to hear from neighbors who were shaken by the powerful winds. shopping during the holidays can be a hassle. we're working for you to make the experience stress free.