annie, no doubt there will be a palpable sense of sorrow there tonight. >> reporter: and, jim, there already is and family friends and colleagues are describing two sides of joyce craig, one is a tough firefighter who was never afraid of danger, the other the devoted mother of two. well, tonight begins two days of remembering her. she was the first female firefighter from the city of philadelphia to die in the line of duty. a police escort brought the family members of fallen firefighter joyce craig to the batchelor brothers funeral home in west oak lane. they filed inside as craig's firefighter brothers and sisters greeted them on either side. the devoted mother leaves behind a 16-year-old son and 16 month old girl. the decorated firefighter put in 11 years with the philadelphia fire department beginning her career with the 178th cadet class. she worked her way up the ranks to her fourth and final station, engine 64. she began there in 2012.

colleagues say craig, one of 150 women served in the department always asked to be at the busiest fire station. she was working voluntary overtime at engine 73 when she was called to the fateful fire in the 1600 block of middleton street and west oak lane early tuesday morning. craig, one of the first on the scene, went into the thick smoke and became trapped. her crew realized she was missing. when found she was rushed to einstein hospital where she died. one person, though, was saved from the blaze. firefighters from across the can country are expected to can come pay their respects including gwendolyn a female firefighter from washington, d.c. >> i had the pleasure of meeting her at the women in fire service conference. so it was a sense of obligation just to come and show my support. >> reporter: now, the intersection here at 71st and broad near where the funeral home is now closed as police are diverting traffic since the viewing just began at 6:00

p.m. expect pomp and circumstance tomorrow during the funeral, also during the funeral procession. members of the community are urged to come out along the procession route so that they can wave and say their goodbyes to their fire department reporting live in west oak lane annie mccormick channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you annie. again a second viewing for joyce craig will take place tomorrow morning from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. at batchelor brothers funeral home to be followed by her funeral from 10:00 a.m. to noon. the body of a 59-year-old woman has been found in a wooded area of evesham township. the discovery was made near the 5,000 block of commonwealth drive. law men think she was beaten to death at her home in gloucester township and then dumped here. new jersey correspondent nora muchanic is live after gloucester township police. nora, late word. police have made an arrest. what is the story on that? >> reporter: jim, police arrested a coworker of the victim. he and another female coworker were taken in by susan johnson when she found

out they had nowhere to live. for this mother and grandmother that turned out to be a fatal mistake. authorities have charged 30-year-old miguel diaz with first degree murder in the death of 59-year-old aerial resident susan johnson. they say diaz an female companion had been living on and off at johnson's home when last friday an argument started about money. >> during the course of that dispute the argument escalated until something physical. she was beaten with his fists and possibly another object that the witness was not able to identify. >> reporter: woman who is not being charged led police to johnson's body which was dumped in a wooded area near ball fields on commonwealth drive in evesham township and may have been there for a week. >> my reaction is they should get the death penalty. of course she didn't deserve that. >> reporter: neighbor mary crane a friend of johnson's who didn't want to appear on camera sent this joking text to her on tombs i was just wondering did you move? where

have you been. by then susan johnson had been dead for days. >> oh, that's terrible. i mean, she was so good to them to even invite them into her home. and my husband told her, you got problems. don't invite people, you know, you you just don't -- you have to know them a little bit better to invite them into your home. >> reporter: miguel diaz and the female were coworkers. they worked together for a cleaning business. >> we have a good samaritan as you said tried to take somebody in especially around the holidays. unfortunately this is how it ended with her loss of life. >> reporter: now, police tell us they visited the home once after a call from a concern canned coworker but the house appeared to be buttoned up. now, when a family member placed a call yesterday, they broke in, saw signs of a struggle there and that led to the investigation that led to today's arrest. live in clementon, nora muchanic channel6 "action news." >> 17-year-old jacqueline perez will spend the next 16 years in prison. she was sentenced today for carjacking and kidnapping an

elderly delaware woman in march of last year. perez and a friend approached 89-year-old margaret smith at a milton convenience store and asked for a ride to a home in lincoln. when 93 arrived at the house smith was shoved into her trunk for two days before she was set free in a cemetery. the verdict is guilty tonight in the case of contractor john succi accused of stealing $2.5 million from bucks county consumers. "action news" reporter -- investigative reporter wendy saltzman is live at the bucks county courthouse in doylestown. wendy, what are the details here. >> reporter: 12 families took to the stand telling their horror stories, some of shoddy work others of outright theft they said of hundreds of thousands of dollars by contractor john succi. now succi didn't take the stand on his own behalf but that didn't stop us from asking him where all that money went. well, what happened to the money, can you tell us what happened to the money? in one

of the last walks contractor john succi will make as a free man he refused to answer our questions and defend himself. do you think you're innocent of these crimes? you have to have a thought on whether or not you're innocent. >> again we have pled innocent. >> reporter: soon the jury would deliver that decision finding him guilty on 27 counts of felony fraud and deception. >> as far as contractor frauds this probably the worst we've ever seenism victims today gathered in the can courthouse halls waiting for justice. >> just horrifying what he's done. >> reporter: jerry landis was one of 12 who testified. she told the jury succi stole $600,000 from her. he was supposed to build a second home at the shore for her. >> i had to hire another builder and that cost me another 400,000 to actually build the house. in total i paid a million dollars for a $400,000 home. >> reporter: succi was supposed to finish a basement and deck on richard's home. >> it was never really put up. had two by fours holding it

up. >> reporter: annette said work put her elderly mother in danger. >> she fell right down to the basement. >> reporter: while it's mystifying where the money went the victims agree on one thing, it's unlikely they'll ever see penny of what they lost. >> i think he should pay for all that he's put us through. >> reporter: the only payment they may get is justice knowing succi may never have another day of freedom. >> goal right now is to make sure mr. suture clear is away for a long period of time. >> reporter: while we may never know what happened to that $2.5 million, we do know that john succi left the courtroom in handcuffs and he's facing 135 years which means he may spends the rest of his life behind bars. in doylestown, i'm wendy saltzman, channel6 "action news." >> thank you wendy. police believe they have caught the man behind several attacks on women in university city. the 55-year-old was arrested last night when officers

caught him assaulting a thirty eight-year-old graduate student at 41st and pine. the female student was followed after she got off a bus, struck in the head with a metal bicycle lock and then dragged 50 yards before police stopped the attack. investigators think the same man groped two drexel students yesterday and sexually assaulted and robbed a student on monday. 87-year-old frank cavallero woke up this morning to find an intruder in his south philadelphia home on the 700 block of jackson street. he was robbed of $3,000. surveillance from a nearby business shows the suspect approaching cavallero's house at 4:30 in the morning. the victim believes that he was targeted because the intruder knew exactly where to find the money. police are still looking for that intruder tonight. president barack obama will be making a visit to new jersey on monday. the president will travel to joint base mcguire dix lakehurst to thank the troops and their families for their

service and sacrifice. the white house will release more details over the next couple of days. coming up on "action news" tonight, a brawl inside chichester high school leaves three teachers hurt and several students facing criminal charges. and make a wish makes a fashion dream come true for a 14-year-old in center city philadelphia. >> just in time for the weekend and clouds are thinning out and i'm tracking brighter days ahead along with a slight warmup. i'll have details in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> ducis rodgers with an eagles-dallas preview when "action news" continues. >> ♪ ♪ ♪ we put all the apps you love

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>> philadelphia rapper beanie sigel remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries tonight. the update from police came as they identified two persons of interest in the shooting that left sigel critically wounded. the 40-year-old philadelphia native was shot in the chest inside a home in pleasantville atlantic county last friday. police say they have interviewed one of the persons of interest. they have yet to locate the second. authorities tried to reestablish order at chichester high school today. one day after an all outbrawl broke out inside the school. "action news" reporter david henry has that story. >> reporter: all quiet today here at chichester high school after yesterday's ugly brawl. police say criminal charges are coming as they review video on social media. cell phone cameras captured the action as the fight erupted in a hallway of the c wing. police are using those videos for evidence as they prepare criminal charges. it started with punches thrown by two boys. police say others quickly

jumped in and it became a full scale melee. they say three teachers were injured as they tried to break it up. police say one had a cut on his hand, another was slugged in the head and the third was punched in the nose. the teachers drove themselves to the hospital to get checked out and were back on the job this morning. witnesses say it was chaos. >> one kid just swung at another kid and utter bedlam in the hallways i tell you. >> reporter: several students were treated by the school nurse for minor injuries. police are now looking at the videos and interviewing witnesses. they say as many as 10 students will be facing criminal charges. the school notified parents last night and said the students involved were removed from the school and sent home with parents or guardians. students say there have been other fights and they're getting tired of it. >> i think it's crazy. like it's not acceptable. if you're going to do this do it on your own time don't do it in school. we're here get a education and we're here to do our own thing but you don't have to fight. >> reporter: we tried to get

a comment from the school principal and the school superintendent but they have not responded to our calls and messages. in boothwyn, david henry, channel6 "action news." >> the victims of the massacre at sandy hook elementary school in connecticut were remembered today in center city philadelphia. people gathered for a vigil at broad street ministries. they held t-shirts with the names of the 20 children and six adults who were killed by gunman adam lanza on december 14, 2012. the two year anniversary of the shooting falls on sunday. a young fashion designer's ideas have jumped off the page and into macy's. today ashley debuted a line of sweatshirts for the retailer's sixth annual national believe day. each features one of 17 inspirational quotes that ashley created to help get through her own battle with a life-threatening illness. ashley says she hopes girls will walk with confidence when wearing her clothes.

>> eagles-cowboys 2.02 days away.

>> a lot on the line when they met two days ago. more at stake sunday night at the linc. winner will have an inside track to win the division. the loser could miss the playoffs altogether. i don't big red never did that. mark san can chez shows coach how it's done. eagles crushed the cowboys on thanksgiving day. they feel they know what to expect from dallas. >> they're still going the try to run what they did against us. there will be some wrinkles they add and we have to be ready to adjust. for us it's always been about our execution. as long as we execute we'll be fine. >> we need to be the best version of ourselves this game and i think our football team understands where we're at at the season and why you play this game and it's for games like these. >> it is december. mike quick and i will bring you eagles eagles game day kickf sunday morning at 11:30. mike will have an extended interview with jordan matthews who is tearing it up in his rookie season. eagleseagles game day kick off.

it's like waiting your tax return. you know it's coming you just don't know. the jimmy rollins trade to l.a. has not been announced. jeff taught up with larry bow watch he knows the time to rebuild is now. >> as great as those guys were, some of them are still going to be with us there's a time where you got to cut the cord and move on. >> reporter: do you feel like it's that time. >> i think if you watch us the way we played the last couple years, and it's nothing against them because i think if you look at the staff, those guys hit pretty good last year, i think that it's a young guy's game and i think the phillies front office for the most part tried to get another championship out of them and it just didn't happen. >> villanova's football team is in the quarterfinals of the scs national championship tournament it's a familiar spot tort cats. it's a twist to their matchup. jeff is back to explainism villanova it's run at another national championship continues saturday against sam houston state a-team they've never played before.

but the cats know their coach all too well. casey spent 11 years at delaware, villanova's biggest rival. >> it is unusual but you know we've known each other a long time and back to his days at delaware and rowan and he's a good man an good coach. >> reporter: when he was out of work all of last year andy tally actually invited him here to villanova to hang around practice and games. now cure is coming back to beat tally and hopefully he didn't learn too much hanging around the wildcats. >> you worried at all that he may steal some tricks and use them against you? >> no, not really. i think casey knows us pretty well. you know, he has all 13 games that we played this year, so there's really no secrets. >> he's a good friend. when i was out of football for a year guy who really was one of the first guys to call me and say hey come over and watch practice. >> while it's no secret the cats run and they run wild red led by quarterback john

roberts nova averages near. >> we're looking forward to doing that this saturday. >> villanova and sam houston state are both ranked in there top 10 in the entire country in rubbing jeff skversky. >> all right ducis. >> bucks county second graders winds on a shopping spree today but they didn't get to keep the goods. students from walter miller elementary school fanned out across the target in langhorne with christmas lists for families in need. not only did they get to shop but they raised the money as well. each child sold random acts of kindness to family and friends to fopped the -- fund the project

>> an opening into that accuweather forecast. here's meteorologist cecily tynan. >> we'll see some sunny breaks. storm tracker 6 live double scan showing that we have dry conditions out there. the snow showers from yesterday and last night have moved on and we did see some is peaks of sunshine here and there. this was sent in on our facebook page -- actually we'll have that in a few moments. i want to talk about the winter highlight but i can't wait to talk about the sunshine today because we did have a winter preview this week. temperature on the cool side. wednesday's high 43, yesterday didn't even make it out of the 30's, 38 degrees. today 42 degrees. normal high for this time of the year is 46 degrees. and then we have a big game coming up on sunday night as the eagles take on the cowboys and it's looking pretty nice. definitely have to bundle up

if you're heading to the linc but it will be dry. winds not a factor. partly cloudy skies. kick off temperature 39 degrees by the fourth quarter temperatures dropping down to 37. here's the proof we saw some sunshine. hello sunshine today, this was sent in by "action news" viewer cecily on my facebook page, actually i took this when i was out for a run and it was nice to see some peeks of sunshine, some blue skies although clouds were ruling the skies today. right now philadelphia 39 degrees. in millville 37. trenton 36. allentown 37 and wilmington 39 degrees and satellite 6 along with action radar showing we still have some clouds but if you notice, we're seeing a few more breaks in the clouds. so really thinning out as this high pressure nudges in and that high pressure will bring us lots of sunshine as we head through the weekend. mixing in with some clouds. tomorrow again on the cool side, 42 degrees, mixture of sun and clouds, not as windy as today, winds out of the northwest at eight to 16 miles per hour. so, it will be breezy but more comfortable than today.

heading into sunday, this is when the high pressure really flexes its muscles, partly sunny, a light breeze and a high of 45 degrees, so more seasonable feeling pretty nice on sunday. good timing for the clouds to clear out because the geminid meteor shower will be peaking tomorrow night. the best viewing late between midnight and dawn and we're looking at the potential for 120 meteors per hour and the viewing should be pretty nice. accuweather for tonight partly cloudy, a december chill in the air seasonably chilly 26 degrees the low in the suburbs, 31 degrees for center city. and the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, a pretty nice weekend. still cool tomorrow, still little bit breezy, mix of sun and clouds with a high of 42 degrees. sunday is my pick of the weekend. partly sunny, winds calming down with a high of 45 degrees. on monday, still looking really nice, mostly sunny with a high of 48 degrees. then we bump it up to 50 degrees on tuesday. it clouds up and we could have

a few light showers in the afternoon and evening hours as hanukkah begins with a system pulling through and then behind that seasonably cool on wednesday, 46 degrees. thursday we're looking at lots of sunshine with a high of 44 degrees. and friday it will be dry but it will be on the chilly side with a high of 42 degrees. so, the next week really the only potential for showers comes on tuesday night and we're looking at light showers so no snow showers in the forecast, no big rain, and temps in the 40's most of the time. kind of nice. >> kind of boring and that's perfect. >> boring is good when it comes to weather. >> finally tonight high school seniors in wilmington walk toward their future today. they marched to the post office together to submit their college applications as teachers and family cheered them on. wilmington mayor dennis williams was even there to provide words of encouragement. most of these teenagers are the firsts in their families to apply to college. abc's world news tonight with david muir is next on

channel 6. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taft shirleen allicott and ducis rodgers. please join us for "action news" at 11:00 on channel 6. now for cecily tynan ducis rodgers and the entire news team i'm jim gardener. we hope you'll join us for "action news" at 11:00. >> ♪

welcome to "world news tonight." breaking news, the storm. the rescues playing out. even the rescuing needing help. and the mud slides. homes buried to the roof tops. also breaking, the markets in a free fall. dropping more than 300 points on friday. the worst week in years. what's driving there. the deadly cruise ship fire headed to the u.s. we hear from the passengers, the smoke and the panic. face to face. the moment between angelina jolie and the hollywood executive. and tonight, the new video message straight from angelina jolie herself. good evening on this friday night.