she knows first hand how the 9-year-old suffered as the pitbull locked his jaws around his leg and wouldn't let go. >> that was the most vicious attack i've ever seen. i've never seen a dog attack a child before. >> reporter: police paint a picture of an unsuspecting victim. >> the child was on the bicycle with the mother nearby. >> it wasn't a mother and innocent kid running down the street. they were coming here specifically. there's the daddy right there. >> reporter: that's right, the so-called daddy, the aging pitbull was roaming around the front yard without a leash in the seam area where helms' other dog' tacked the boy. >> latched on to his leg. i tried to get him off and it

didn't work. the neighbor had a baseball bat. that's how i usually break the fights up between the dogs. >> reporter: many say it's the own are and not the breed, donna helms blames the -- >> they've been told not to come, not to bring their children and they refuse to lessen. the kid was scared of the dog. you can't be scared of them. you have to pet them and let them know you love them because they're very people oriented animals. >> reporter: a few months ago the same dog attacked one of the other pet bulls ripping a chunk out of its chest. she had a vet bill that set her back about $1,000. now a breaking news update from the eastern shore. a fath are and his two teenage sons drowned in a manure pit overnight. 48-year-old glen nolt and his

sons were from lancaster county. every day the trio drove down to kent island to work on a dairy farm. there when they didn't return yesterday afternoon relatives called police who went to the kennedyville farm on kent island where they worked. they discovered the truck and tractor still running. it's unclear how the three ended up in the manure pit. >> when it's wet. one of them probably slipped in. i'm sure the other two tried to save him. county police are trying to sort out an attack across the street from towson university. roosevelt leftwich has more. >> reporter: this the this point county police are calling it a possible sexual assault.

it happened across the street from towson university. police said they received a call about 4:25 in the morning. the person in the house said a rom mate had been assaulted. police said at this point it's omaha sexual assault. detectives spent several hours looking for evidence this afternoon. neighbors said there had been a party at the house that went into the wee hours of the morning. the alley way was littered. at this point police have a vague description but they aren't releasing anymore information. the condition of the victim at this point isn't know. we'll have more coming up at 6:00, reporting live in towson. a scare at bwi-marshall. there was an investigation and it turns out it was an aerosol can and this was in a bag.

baltimore city firefighters are investigating a two alarm fire on green mount avenue. people were inside at the time but they were able to get out safely. no one was hurt. in cecil county an elkton woman was hurt in a fire. this happened on inn keeper court. she was taken to hopkins bay view suffering from smoke inhalation. weather wise, things are quiet on the radar. however, we have seen warm temperatures and humidity saying up there, so sticky in spots. the more active weather is in cecil county. this line if it holds together, could bring some showers to the immediate baltimore area. right now the main activity north and east of baltimore rote

up into the northeastern corner. mid-80s out there now. the rest of the evening will fall slowly through the 70s. we'll talk about how thing also change through the memorial day. a suspect is in custody in the cold case of etan patz who went missing 30 years ago, but do the new yorkxd police really have their man. >> reporter: it was 30 years ago that etan patz disappeared on his way to a bus stop. police took a man into custody last night after he was implicated himself while talking to detectives. officials tell abc2 news. investigators tore up the basement of an apartment in soho looking for human remains but

not finding anything conclusive. etan's family never left the home, hoping some day he would food himself home. >> gagged with fear that the child must have felt when he realized he was betrayed by an adult. >> reporter: etan's case drew the nation's attention to messing children -- missing children. when he disappeared, the man in his custody was in his 20s or 30s. tonight baltimore police are investigating a home invasion and murder. a group of men forcedder that way inside devon frederics home last night. frederic was shot during a struggle with the suspect. investigators said the attack does not appear to be random.

authorities at fort meade are investigating the death of a marine. his body was fond in the barracks yesterday afternoon. the name is being withheld until the family has been notified. tonight police in louisiana are investigating the bizarre disaimportance of a university of louisiana staw.d mickey kenoff was last seen biking from a friend's house. she hasn't been heard from since. volunteers are searching. friends say she was an avid cyclist. her family is offering a $25,000 reward for any information in the case. taking a look at the roads tonight, looking pretty good at 695, moving slow but at least it's moving. the roads will be really busy.

you can expect a whole lot more company. and lower gas prices could be the reason. joce sterman is here to explain. folks will be taking advantage of it. >> reporter: aaa estimates 120,000 marylanders will hit the roads this weekend. and they will see lower prices at the pumps. aaa said the average for our area is about $3.57. at this time last year we were paying about 30 cents more for a gallon of regular gas. are you getting every cent you pay for? we put the results online at abc2news.com/pump reports. if you go to the page you'll see information. how to find your gas station. how to spot a problem at the pump. these pages are broken down by

colts. if we click howard county, you can get a breakdown per county f you want, you can look at them in alphabetical order or the ones on the way to work or lack them up boy map. we put dots for the gas station. when you click one, you'll find information about the pumps, how many rejected, how many were condemned. was there something that impacted your wallet. you'll find that once again on abc2news.com/pump report. joce sterman, abc2 news. >> thanks a lot, joce. these things are new to the market and could be dangerous to young children. we're talking about the new laundry packets. there has been a spike in poison control. plus, claims -- you could be

in for a refund. don't bother asking what she does with all the information. we find out.

an important consumer alert involving those new laundry pulsed. it appears kids are attracted to them believing they're getting their hands on candy. poison control said they have received 176 calls after children ate these laundry pods. a 19-month-old bit into one yesterday. >> i could hear her saying candy, candy. she has a 5-year-old brother. i figured they got into candy.

>> minutes later she was tom vomit -- was vomiting and had diarrhea. some parents want a redesign of the product. it's supposed to be one of the best names in vacuum cleaners. oreck seems to be healthier than others. they may have to back off on that. john matarese as more -- has more. >> reporter: you may soon receive a check for $25 in the mail now that oreck has admitted that its health claims stretched the truth. they have agreed to pay out $700,000 in an agreement with the commission. they claim the val ciewm could

eliminate germs and allergens. competitors said it was a bunch of hot air and the ftc agreed. so the vacuums and purifiers are the ones. you can't apply for the refund. the company is using credit card lists and warranty cards. so if you bought yours used, you probably won't receive anything. by the way, checks will be mailed over the next three weeks. click the money tab up top so you don't waste your money. i'm john matarese, abc2 news. all right. a little bit of a breeze.

79 degrees. humidity moderate, but i tell you, with the air temps and the sunshine, it felt warm. it's only going to get hotter as we go into the weekend. sunshine on tap. our view from the u.s. naval academy a good one. a few clouds on the horizon. nice day for sailing. dundalk today a mix of sun and clouds. as we work into the latter part of the afternoon, we get more sunshine. in bel air, a mix of sun and clouds, our closest rain in northeastern maryland, right here, cecil county, you see a deep cent down-- decent downpour. some of it is west of elkton and west of chesapeake city. on the whole, that's our most significant rain shower. temperature wise on the warm side but not excessive, not yet.

add 10 degrees. that's where this will feel hot. winds from the south. it's a warm breeze. it will continue to be through the weekend. humidity will stay moderate to high. so, yes, somewhat sticky throughout the memorial day holiday. take a look at the pattern, a bit unsettled but noter in lit type we had yesterday. okay. just more widely scattered. most of this activity down to the south in virginia. right now we're watching this, our disturbance weakening. so producing less numerous showers but high pressure bubbled to the west. this -- this, as it begins to move in tomorrow into the weekend is going to screen rate some more significant high temperatures into those days, into the mid-80s and low 90s. that's going to be early by memorial day standards. just a hit or miss shower through the rest of the evening. as we go friday into saturday it

looks less -- it actually looks to be less showers on saturday with quite a bit of hit and miss activity perhaps toward the beaches in the heating of the day late saturday afternoon, but, again, for the most part the weekend looks dry. this drier area is manely what will dominate our weather for the first couple days. overnight 67, variably cloudy with a stray shower tomorrow 85. that's warm. we're pushing that up. tomorrow night 68, so almost not doctoring below 70. we'll go with 90 on sunday, 92 on memorial day monday a chance of a few showers or storms, yes, but it looks min ma. again, really kelly, just a general rally dry scenario with a better chance. >> looks like august. >> looks like we're a month

ahead of where we should be. >> in complaints. >> not bad. well, the initial public offering of facebook is under a microscope. two panels are reviewing the stock options and shareholders allege documents on the ipo have false statements. sury knows a lot. sury and other data collecting apps are putting your information at rest being. the things you say will be recorded and sent to apple and converted into text. an article in mit's technology review it states ibm bans some

apps including sury for fear that sensitive information could be liked. other banned apps include doctor box and apple's icloud. security is tight in a lot of places, including here. plus, coach freeze wants you to help beat leukemia. the moat vision behind this all.

we start off with an alarming study on autism. a study says while detection can

happen before the age of three, often time kids are not diagnosed until they're five. the sooner it's detected, the better for them. half received medication as part of the treatment. most of the medications are stimulants or antianxiety or mood stap stabilize -- stabilizer drugs. women who are trying to quit smoke during pregnancy may have an alternative. viet -- vitamin c can significantly improve a baby's lung function. researchers found that newborns of smoking women who took a vitamin c supplement had better lungs than those of smoking women who received a placebo. >> men are gaining on women when it comes to life expectancy.

the study looked at data from 1989 to 2009. men's life expectancy jumped 4.6 compared to 2.7 for women. women still have a little bit of an edge. abc2news.com is the place for all of the health news you nee.d just log on. check out our page. you'll find the big health headlines from today to help you and your family get all the information that you need. coming up at 5:30, one county fire department is going high tech. the new system designed to better protect you and your family in case of an emergency. >> plus, we have the latest developments on a fire at a new england shipyard. >> they worked to serve and protect us. now veterans are getting back into the workforce at a local job fair.

those stories and more coming up at 5:30.

a woman was sexually assaulted in an apartment across from towson university. less received the call around 5:00 in the house. police would only say that the woman in the house was a victim of a possible sexual assault and that they are still investigating. >> the bodies of a father and his two sons were pulled from a manure pet. glen nolt and his sons 18-year-old kelvin and 14-year-old cleason were found. they made the drive every day to work on a farm there.

when they didn't return, relatives later found them in the pit. foul play is not suspect. >> a 9-year-old boy is recovering after being bitten by a pitbull. the boy was riding down the street on a bike with his mother. the dog's own are said they were coming to the house even though they had been warned not come. harford county firefighters will make you feel safer. it's the first county to install software that will give first responders instant access to critical information. >> reporter: howard county fire and rescue have always tried to keep records in the county. they used the book. >> to find information on