on the lawn stopping short of this house. that window, the bedroom window where the baby slept on the other side. the people living here say it was possible the crash could have been deadlier. >> reporter: the montgomery county police accident reconstruction team is trying to determine the cause of the crash. it claimed the lives of two young women and sent the other to the hospital. the single car collision police say happened at 3:09 in the morning. this black nissan was traveling east on university boulevard, approaching lang lee drive. it appears the car swerved, hitting the brick wall in front of the house landing on top of the wall, killing the driver, 22-year-old denise richards of hyattsville. it claimed the life of 19-year-old tamara. johnson was a passenger in the backseat and may not have been wearing a seatbelt.

18-year-old james of silver spring was sitting in the front passenger seat. she survived the crash but is hospitalized with injuries. police are trying to determine if alcohol or excessive speed may have contributed to the cause of this double fatal accident. >> there are reports there was another car of family or friends close by or near to them during the ride on university boulevard. they want to speak to them more in detail about what the driver was doing prior to getting into the vehicle and how she was operating the vehicle as well. >> reporter: the family of tamara johnson tells me she was close friends with james who survived. they both graduate d from northwest high school this past june. they went out last night, but not to a club in the district contrary to earlier reports. >> it was a birthday party they

went to. >> where was that? >> somewhere in silver spring. >> you don't know if the driver was drinking or not? >> i'm not sure. i don't know the driver. i only know the other friend. >> reporter: the state medical examiner will perform autopsies to determine if alcohol was involved in the crash. >> that's the latest. back to you in the studio. >> thank you, chris. in montgomery county, investigators trying to figure out why a truck crossed the median yesterday afternoon. the driver of the truck died after it collided with a metro bus and the road shut down for eight hours. jackie bensen joins us live. jackie? >> reporter: we spoke to the girlfriend of the silver spring man killed in the accident. he's a pizza delivery driver but it's not clear if he was working at the time. >> i talked to him at 5:00. >> reporter: two grief-stricken to appear on camera, the

girlfriend of the man who died in the collision that shut down rockville pike during evening rush hour yesterday describes how he had not survived the accident. police are investigating what caused the pick up to jump the median. a northbound metro bus swerved to avoid it. >> in cases where there's a death. these investigates are very thorough and the day after the collision is too soon for us to speculate on those causations. >> reporter: the driver of the metro bus is hospitalized in serious condition. back to you. >> jackie bensen, thank you. in northern virginia, a lot of people reported seeing their house shake this afternoon. we checked around, no earthquakes recorded. what people felt was explosives at quantico. the overcast conditions likely made the noise and the

vibrations stronger today. those who thought it might have been an earthquake, the last one recorded in virginia was early in the morning on christmas eve. it was a 2.0 quake centered in mineral, virginia. there's a new development regarding the 5.8 quake, fema says five additional counties are eligible to receive federal disaster aid. they include the city of fredericksburg. if you want more information on how to apply for help, go to our website, www.nbcwashington.com and search earthquake. turning to the weather now. a lot of folks saw snow flurries today. >> just a little bit. this was the scene around 2:00 this afternoon. there was snow in the northern areas. i think meteorologist doug kammerer calls that conversational snow. >> conversational snow is all.

something to start the conversation. hey, did you see the snow? it was pretty in some areas. i saw some in montgomery village, loudoun county seeing some of the snow. most of that is now out of here. look at the radar behind me to see where the snow is now. it's snowing in portions of pennsylvania, over the pennsylvania border, maryland-pennsylvania border and wilmington and to the west around frostburg seeing flakes there, too. that's about it. maybe a few flurries this evening. most of us stay on the dry side of things. there's a system making its way through the area. it's not going to change the weather that much. 42 degrees is the temperature out there now. windchill of 38. a little bit on the chilly side. not too bad for the end of december. 34 in gaithersburg. down to the south, a little bit warmer. 45 degrees near fredericksburg. seeing clearing out as far as the clouds are concerned.

partly cloudy to clear sides. low temperature down to 35. not as cool as it was last night. then we're going to see more changes. tomorrow, looking very, very nice as we head into the new year. a major change. it's about time. >> all right. that sounded threatening. all right, thanks, doug. life is back to normal along 7th street tonight. a water main caused problems. crews had to shut down the road to make repairs. a lot of people without water. it was restored shortly after 8:00. a montgomery county grand jury handed down indictments of a man suspected of killing his wife and her son. he was indicted on five charges including two counts of murder, kidnapping and robbery. his 51-year-old wife, jane mcquain was found dead october 12th lopez was arrested the next day in north carolina. a week later, the remains of

11-year-old william mcquain were found in some woods in clarksburg, maryland. the union representing d.c. police says crime in the district is up and they are blaming occupy d.c. activists. they say violent crime is up by 17%. overall crime is up 14% since the occupy movement started three months ago. officers say they have been pulled off neighborhood patrols. the union sent a letter to mayor gray saying your failure to warn district residents about a double digit spike in violent crime is inexcusable. the public has a right to know. the mayor's office says they received the letter and are reviewing it. there's a racial discrepancy when it comes to school discipline in the washington area. an analysis reported in the washington post finds black students are expelled or

suspended two to five times more often than white students. the post survey finds of the 35,000 students suspended or expelled last year, more than half of them were black. some reasons for this could be poverty, unintended bias, access to the best teachers and differences in school leadership styles. now to the race for the white house. we are less than a week away from the all important iowa caucuses and the power struggle continues in the republican party. >> new poll numbers show mitt romney taking the lead. mark, thanks for coming in tonight. we are down to the wire. talk about who is gaining and losing momentum for next week. >> the race for iowa is changing every month. this brand-new poll shows romney in the lead.

ron paul is running almost neck in neck. >> wow. >> the mover and shaker in the poll is rick santorum. his numbers went up 11 percentage points in the past month according to this poll. it's not surprising he's getting his moment in the sun. he's a consistent conservative, strong on national security issues, things like that. we have seen a conserve tiff have their turn in the field. now, it's rick santorum's turn according to this poll. >> are they sampling all the flavors or what? >> it almost appears that way. it's important that mitt romney is the person who remains steady, 25% in this poll. as you guys and i were talking earlier, it's as if a republican conservative voter is seeing who they want to take to the dance or the prom. there's almost a new flavor every month. at the the end of the day, this is what the romney campaign is hoping for, they are the ones

taking to the dance. >> newt gingrich has fallen significantly. he was the star a week ago. he's focusing on south carolina. how important is iowa? what does it mean when you are hitting the rest of the primaries? >> the biggest thing for iowa is you have six or seven republicans going in the iowa caucuses. you are going to have three or four that advance to new hampshire. >> because of money? >> yeah, because of money. if you finish fifth or sixth in iowa what does it mean? it gives you momentum. newt gingrich is right, i could survive a fourth place finish in iowa and go the south carolina. ime from georgia, a southerner and could do well in south carolina. you don't know how well the race is going to transform when you have the iowa-new hampshire contest. rudy giuliani four years ago said i'm going to retreat to florida. the race changes so much in iowa and new hampshire. gingrich and perry not on the primary ballot in virginia.

perry filed suit and there was a decision on that. there would be no emergency court order to require the board of elections to put his name on the ballot. what is the impact there from that decision? >> it was more of a psychological blow for the gingrich campaign. they couldn't get on the ballot in virginia. it was hard to make the 10,000 threshold. they couldn't get there brought into question the seriousness and organizational strength of that campaign. it was bad news. as i was telling earlier, once we get to virginia, no one knows what the race is going to look like. will gingrich and perry be in the race come supertuesday on march 6th? it was a black eye for the gingrich campaign. >> thank you so much for this. i know you were having a wonderful time. >> it's the best. it's the best of times. >> i love talking to you in the hallway saying what's happening. we look forward to your

analysis. still ahead, a major waste of resources. coming up -- >> 911 k what is the location? >> some idiot in your department put a lock on my phone. i can't call out. >> coming up, the county that says its dispatchers spend 20% of their time dealing with calls that aren't emergencies. the paraplegic training when she was involved in another crash. that's when the miracle happened. it propelled her into a different competition. >> reporter: i'm julie carey. you have heard about the busiest shopping day of the year? these are the busiest donation days of the year. the end of the year giving flurry coming up. stick around. news 4 at 5:00, just getting

you feel like it's been a bad year. next year will be better. it's the opinion a lot of folks have. a telephone survey finds 70% of americans believe 2011 was a bad year. 62% are optimistic about what next year will bring for the nation and greater number, 78% hopeful about what the coming

year will bring for their families. the survey was conducted two weeks ago with a sampling error of plus or minus four points. this year we lost celebrities and icons. we look at the lasting legacy they leave behind. >> he was instantly recognizable in his death. the most anticipated. osama bin laden was this country's sworn enemy number one when he was shot dead in may by navy s.e.a.l.s in pakistan. next, moammar gadhafi forced into hiding was killed by the brute force of his own people after decades of his people. kim jong-il died from heart failure in december. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: through the gadgets

he gave us, steve jobs was a force of tremendous good. he joins edison, ford and others as one of the great inventors. the founder of apple wants to be recognized as a pretty good thinker. the roles elizabeth taylor played showcased her stunning beauty, leaving her co-become one of the most famous stars. she has eight marriages and a love of jewelryhat brought $115 million at auction. after her death in march. betty ford was ground breaking, starting from her stand as first lady while gerald was in the white house. changing the world for alcoholics and breast cancer survivors. in m.a.s.h., the colonel in one of the top tv comedies of all time. before that, the prolific

character played a side kick in dragnet, another legendary tv series. >> i don't know anything offhand that mystifies americans more than the cotton they put in pill bottles. >> reporter: andy rooney. >> that's what's wrong with what's going on in washington. >> reporter: appearing at the end of every 60 minutes episode for years. he always raise add ruckous. he said i have done a lot of complaining here but of all the things i have complained about, i can't complain about my life. >> you do your best. i'll do my best. >> jack lalanne didn't complain about his, either. the first to use tv to elevate the power of exercise, encouraging others to live healthy. his life lasted 96 years. for 40 years clarence clemens brought sax appeal to bruce

springsteen's e street band died at the age of 69. jack kevorkian known as dr. death for his advocate of assisted suicide. he never waivered after his beliefs cost him eight years in prison. other notable deaths of 2011 include boxer joe frazier, singer amy winehouse and the first female vice presidential candidate geraldine ferrera. >> it has been a year. we forget how much we lost. >> yeah, think back to really the impact every single one of them had. >> good or bad, still an impact. yeah. all right, what you got in the way of weather? you have cold weather coming our way. >> i have impact coming for you. it's coming up in a couple days. the next few days you are going to be able to wear short sleeves, then the other part of

the forecast, you are going to have to have every part of your body covered in some way, shape or form. it's going to get cold out there. we are looking at a mixture of cloud cover and clearing skies across the area. we are dealing with 42 degrees, the current temperature out there. a little bit of a wind at 7 miles per hour. it's a windchill into the upper 30s. current temperatures 36 in leesburg, 34 in fredericksburg. the airport not reporting. 37 in baltimore and the eastern shore, temperatures 41 degrees. storm 4 doppler radar, no snow left around the area. it was to the north and west of us. here is the area of snow making its way toward the east now. frostburg, a hard time making its way over the mountains. i doubt it will do so. if it does, it could bring light flurries to the same area again. it's not going to cause problems out there. there it is, the little impulse

of energy that helped produce snow showers to the east. it's why we saw plenty of cloud cover today. chilly. watch what happens tomorrow. mild weather moves back in. mild means ten degrees warmer tomorrow than today. more in the way of sunshine. a frontal boundary moves through. a shower friday night into saturday morning. saturday afternoon looking good, too. mild with partly cloudy skies. saturday is looking very, very good. sunday, very warm. temperatures ten to 15 degrees above average. then the bottom falls out. we are going to see much colder temperatures. we have been so warm across the southeast and really across the eastern half of the nation. watch what happened. this trough of low pressure that's been to the north and west will plummet down to the south. atlanta, orlando will see the coldest air they have seen this season. boston seeing cold air.

windchills in the upper teens to lower 20s all day long in the middle of the next week. the cold air is coming. mostly cloudy. continued cool this evening. 34 to 40 degrees. tomorrow morning, we are going to start off on a cool note. not bad for this time of year. actually, above average with the windchills in the mid to upper 20s with winds out of the southwest, 10 to 15 miles per hour. the southwesterly winds help bring us into the low 50s tomorrow. 51 to 55 degrees with a mild afternoon. breezy late tomorrow. that will help usher in warm air saturday with a high of 54. 56 on your sunday. that, of course, the first day of 2012. it will go down as a well above average day and watch this. the cold air comes in. 34 for a high on tuesday. forecast the windchill of 20 on tuesday afternoon. >> wow. that's going to be a slap in the face. >> it really is just because we have been so warm. we are used to that here. we haven't seen it yet. it's coming.

>> thank you, doug. >> yep. still to come, a fee for verizon wireless customers. they are not happy about it. a bagel shop for 100 bucks. a virginia business owner

you can help decide what color the d.c. cabs should be.

ward 3 councilmember sent out a survey asking people what they want in a taxi cab, including what color it should be. it's part of an amountment to improve service around the city. agreeing on one cab color. we have a link to the survey on our website, www.nbcwashington.com. want to ring in the new year as a millionaire? you have a chance. the millionaire raffle is back this year. there are fewer than 80,000 tickets left. they award three $1 million prizes. one of six $25,000 prizes or one of 300 $500 prices. the lottery is only selling 330,000 of them. time to be generous. the deadline to make donations and get a break on taxes is here. what you need to know to make your contribution count.

>> hello? >> hello? >> i'm sorry, my phone butt dialed. >> wow, talk about abusing the system. a local 911 dispatch center shares the calls they received without an emergency. fro

fast 4ward through the headlines. montgomery police looking at what caused a car crash that killed two young women of silver springs. she crossed several lanes of traffic killing herself and 19-year-old passenger. another passenger, an 18-year-old is in serious condition. investigators trying to figure out why a pick-up truck crossed a median. the driver died after the truck hit a metro bus. he's identified as a 40-year-old. he was a pizza delivery man and they believe he was working at the time. counties are available after the 5.8 quake centered in mineral, west virginia in august. fema announced individuals and small businesses including culpeper, spotsylvania and fredericksburg can apply for aid. now, to the weather.

>> we are seeing aftershocks of that quake that happened four months ago. 39 in manassas. 36 in leesburg. that's where the temperatures are going to remain for the next couple hours. we will start to cool down. looking at a cool start for tomorrow. not a cold start. what does it look like for new year's eve? i have the forecast coming up for you in a couple minutes. >> all right, thank you, doug. as 2011 draws to a close, your time is running out to make donations for the year. julie carey joins us live with the last minute rush. julie? >> reporter: it turns out holiday giving is still going strong. now, it's holiday giving away. this is one of the lulls we have seen here at the arlington good will as folks come in to make their donations. this articlelington good will s is the sixth busiest in the nation. at this time of year, it's clear

to see as one vehicle after another rolls up to make a donation. >> the last week of the year is busiest for us from a donation perspective. we will do 3,000 donations at this sight alone on saturday. >> happy new year to you. >> for some who donate, the rush is about making a drop off in time to take advantage of a 2011 tax deduction. others are motivated by a desire to help those less fortunate or house clearing. >> the life is gone around and said let's get rid of this and that or all these different things. it was time to load the car up and come on down. >> a good time of the year to come in and donate and make sure that, you know, those in need have access to quality stuff. >> how you doing today, ma'am? >> great, how are you? >> reporter: at this fairfax county salvation army there was a similar scene.

donations are coming in slower compared to this time last year. >> this year, they are coming in slowly. we believe coming in saturday, a day off, we'll be open until 10:00 accepting donations. we are going to see the crowd is going to increase with donations. >> these charitable organizations depend on a surge to see them through early 2012 bh when donations typically drop off. they promise to get them through the lines quickly at this busy time. >> the long line of cars will move quickly. they will get the cars in and out as quickly as possible to get home in time for the new year's eve festivities. >> reporter: since the 31st falls on a saturday, they were expecting a big day this weekend. good will is going to stay open until 8:00 at night. salvation army until 10:00 p.m. to get your donations in under the wire. coming up, some folks clearing out their garages, too.

you should see the cars getting donated this week. back to you. >> thank you. if you would like to check out a charity before you donate, the better business bureau is the place to go for that. go to www.nbcwashington.com for the link. the country's largest cell phone provider is introducing a new fee. they will charge customers two bucks to make payments online or over the phone using thundershower credit card. it starts january 15th. it does not apply to electronic payments or credit card payments through the auto pay system. paying with a credit card in a verizon store or mailing a check will be free. customer who is we talked with had mixed reactions to the fee. >> it's just another additive. right now, we are in an economic downturn. i'm watching every penny. to pay an extra $2, it did you want make sense. >> it's annoying, but i won't

switch. >> online, you are doing the work yourself. you are not paying an individual to do it. anything you do online should be cheaper. >> twitter is weighing in. one person says i would pay $2 a month to never have to go in a verizon store again. their customer service is awful. end of quote. another writes, i have verizon and i pay via mail. companies have to make money, they employ people, too. the company that owns sears and k-mart listed the stores to close. the closest to us is a grand central store. there's two k-marts in richmond and one in norfolk on the list. sears holdings announced they would close more than 100 stores after poor holiday sales. the list includes 79 of the stores. two people killed and nearly 60 others hurt in a massive pile-up in louisiana this

morning. that happened along the westbound lanes of i-10 near new orleans. it involved 40 cars and sent 22 people to the hospital. the injuries range from minor to serious. officials say the cause of the crash is under investigation. fog is likely a contributing factor. now, to an at lehlete with story. a bicycle crashed into her wheelchair. it's where the miracle starts. we have the story. >> reporter: monique was paralyzed from her hips down when she was 13 after an operation on her leg. she became a paraolympic cyclist. then her wheelchair was hit bay bicycle.

she was worried she would never race again. as she was recovering, he feet began to tingle. she learned to walk again. >> i felt really, really happy. i felt like a child learning to walk again with falling and standing up. at that moment that you are able to walk, it's indescribable. >> reporter: doctors say they have no explanation for her recovery. she'll never forget the moment in july, 2010 when she took her first steps. >> i could do three steps. my legs were too tired for more. i kept trying. for me, it was great to see myself standing in the mirror, to see my body upright. >> reporter: her career as a successful paraolympic history was at an end, she started to cycle. >> i road my bike in march for the first time. it was funny. i nearly crashed. >> reporter: she's not on the

same competitive level as the rest of the team, she's been picked up by a professional team and training to compete in the 2016 rio summer olympics. >> in my heart, i'm an athlete. my body is not at that level, yet. >> reporter: no one is going to tell her that her goal is impossible. erica edwards, nbc news. >> wow. that is amazing. still to come, mounting suspicion in the disappearance of a toddler in maine. the little girl's mother is talking about her concerns before her daughter disappeared.

a business owner in bedford, virginia has an interesting business proposition. he's getting out of the bagel business and blue ridge bagels could be yours for $100. the owner has a separate business he prefers to focus on. he's letting the shop go. for some folks, the offer is hard to believe. >> a lot of people are shocked. $100 and they could own the business. >> he's asking interested folks to submit a 300 word essay of why you would be a perfect shop owner. the winner getting all the equipment and $10,000 to help them get started.

the biggest prize is the bagel shop, which is debt free and grosses $150,000 a year. a company is suing amazon for unfair business practices. the company filed suit last month over the covers it makes for amazon's kindles. amazon tried to force higher commission fees. amazon threatened to unlist the products on site if they refused the fees. amazon declined to comment. >> when we come back, emergency calls only? >>. [ inaudible ] >> 911 dispatch centers share the calls they have gotten this year that probably should have gone somewhere else. in sports, dan has the redskins

one man called about a broken toilet. a woman called angry because she was not able to see her grand kids. >> not exactly emergencies but they are the type of 911 calls operators deal with every day. derrick ward is here to look at what officials are doing with this. derrick. >> not too long ago, they were two seconds behind the national standards handling emergency calls. nonemergency calls were eating up precious time. now, they have a handle on the problem. >> he's awake and breathing? >> reporter: it's a state of the art place in bowie. they operate the fire trucks and police cruisers. when you have an emergency, they

will likely be the first points of contact. >> police, fire, ambulance. [ laughter ] >> reporter: that obviously was not an emergency. >> you want to call who? >> the water department in loudoun. there's no water at this location. >> reporter: nuisance, yes. emergency, no. it's more than an annoyance. >> the 911 number is for emergencies, only. it's life and death. a heart attack, your house is on fire, you are under immediate threat. there's a crime in progress. >> reporter: when operators deal with these calls -- [ laughter ] >> it takes those precious seconds away from the 911 calls. >> reporter: they set up a non-emergency number. the most critical cals are green lighted through. the info comes up on a screen. they know where the call is coming from.

there's a yellow light for urgent but nonemergency matter. >> somebody they know or love didn't come home this weekend. they want to know if they are in jail. this is not the appropriate number. >> reporter: it would get them to the department of corrections. right now, it's a seven digit number. a 311 number would be ideal. it's on the horizon, a priority for prince george's county. >> it's a great service and will help us out here, too. >> we want to show you the current nonemergency number. 301-352-1200. operators say one thing you could do when you call 911 is know your location. in most cases they can find you. if you are calling from a cell phone, it can bounce off a tower in alexandria. it's not what they want. know where you are. a 311 number is coming very soon. back to you. >> great information. >> interesting.

>> thank you. doug is here with an update on the forecast. big changes heading our way next week. >> yes, we do. there we are right there. i tell you what, 42 degrees out there now with the windchill of 38 degrees. winds out of the south-southeast at 7 miles per hour. not a bad evening outside. earlier, some of you reported snowfall to the north and west of washington. current temperature, 36 in leesburg. 43 in fredericksburg and the river. storm 4 doppler radar showing snow back to the mountains of west virginia and western maryland. that's about it. maybe a flurry or two. most of us are going to see clearing skies. we are seeing that in most locations. tomorrow, a nice day. 54 degrees in washington. 53 in leesburg. 56 in fredericksburg. i think most areas should get into the 50s, if not the mid-50s tomorrow. i expect more of that nice weather if you are thinking of heading out saturday night, ringing in the new year around the d.c. area. it's looking good. a temperature of 39 degrees at

midnight. partly cloudy. not too cold. winds out of the southwest at five to ten miles per hour. that is not a bad new year's forecast at all. it's what comes after that's the bad part. >> thanks, doug. time to look back at when the redskins won a lot of games. >> yeah. >> dan hellie is here. >> remember those days? >> redskins rewind. >> i was at redskins park today. not a single question about the eagles to the head coach. sad when the final game of the season doesn't matter for either team. back in the day, this would have been for homefield advantage. let's turn back to clock to the early '90s when the eagles were no match for the skins. january 5th, 1991, when replay saved the day. in an nfc wild card game,

philadelphia eagles quarterback randall cunningham and eagles offense was starting to take flight. cunningham to jackson. tears up the turf. brought down just short at the end zone. as close to paint as they would get. >> when they first got down to the end zone, jackson. green came to the huddle and said hey, let's put your goal to say no touchdown. three points, yeah, but no touchdown. after he said that the first time, it was in everybody's mind. let's have this goal to not let these guys score. >> green's team goal was achieved. no eagle touchdowns, three turnovers and five sacks. >> i think our line played exceptionally well. tim johnson and i, we had fun today. we talked out there. we kept our composure. we didn't let them rattle us. when they came with a no huddle,

when they did a lot of different things, we were together. >> redskins leading 7-6 and driving. hits on the short pass. tries an extra move to get past ben smith. on the way down, he fumbles. smith recovers the loose ball and hops on a caravan, full of eagles. 96 yards the other way for the apparent touchdown. wait a minute. upon further review, he was down before the fumble. no touchdown. >> that would have been a real tough thing. you work yourself silly to get to the five like that and earnest going down there. you work so hard to have it go 95 for a touchdown. it didn't seem right at the time. i'm glad instant replay showed it wasn't right. >> washington turns it into a ten-point turn around with a

field goal and gary clark connection. the skins had done it. a 20-6 win over the eagles. >> we knew coming out of the gate we were going to beat them. people on this team say it, we know deep down inside, down here, where it really counts. we did. >> it was free to individually give it their best shot. no pressure and no pressure from no man, not even the coaches. just lay it on the line. we could walk out here winners, gracious winners or gracious losers. thank god, we leaving as gracious winners. >> hard to believe this has been around that long and hard to believe the regular season is almost over. final game for the redskins up in philadelphia on new year's day. >> it's been an interesting season.

>> not a lot of buzz about this one. >> thank you, dan. >> yep. coming up tonight on news 4 at 6:00, countdown to iowa. new poll numbers show a shake up. we are live in des moines as the republican presidential hopefuls pull out the stops to sway voters. an internet company is suing a former employee because of his twitter account. we'll have that one for you. the tiny south pacific nation of samoa, their tomorrow will never come. the reason why when you join us for news 4 at 6:00. after the break, the search for a missing toddler in maine. the father is speaking out about what he thinks happened. >> for all your news search nbc washington on facebook and washington on facebook and twitter.

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two weeks ago, a 20-month-old girl, a toddler disappeared from her father's house in maine. adding to the confusion, the child's parents are separated and battling for custody. now, the father is talking. >> reporter: for the 12th consecutive day, police search around the house for ayla reynolds. they are not giving up.

the reward is now $30,000. police say they have received nearly 400 tips and investigators are looking into every one of them. since she disappeared, her father has not spoken to the media. on wednesday, he released a statement saying it's important that the public hear it from me that i have no idea bha happened to ayla. >> why won't he come out. why is he staying away. what is he so afraid of. >> reporter: he told police he put his daughter to bed december 16th. when he checked on her the next morning, she was gone. at the time, ayla was wearing a soft cast for a broken arm. her injury is described as an accidental fall. her mother is suspicious. >> since she's been there, a broken arm, ended up missing. i wasn't trying to be secretive by going to the courts. i didn't want to fight with him anymore. >> reporter: justin responded to the accusations saying i would

never do anything to hurt my child. the questions of ayla's arm or bruises or anything else being said a ludicrous. i have to believe ayla is with somebody. i want that person to find the courage to do the right thing and return her safely. i have to ask you at the end, you filed for sole custody. did you have anything to do with her disappearance or send anyone up to that house to take your baby back? >> no. i didn't file for sole custody. i filed for parental rights. it wasn't sole custody. >> do you think justin has anything to do with your daughter's disappearance? >> i don't know. part of me feels yes. a part of me feels no. >> police say he's not a suspect in his daughter's disappearance and he says he's been fully cooperating with authorities. that's it for news 4 at 5:00.

news 4 at 6:00 starts right now. a couple stories out of montgomery county. two friends killed on their way home from a birthday party, a third woman seriously injured. yesterday, another deadly crash in bethesda when a pick-up truck crossed the median and crashed into a metro bus. we have clues on what went wrong there. good evening, i'm jim vance. once person is dead and several others injured at the height of rush hour yesterday where jackie bensen joins us live with the latest on the investigation. jackie? >> reporter: the family of the man who died confirms he was delivering pizza, on his way to nih, a half mile down rockville pike. a man who describes himself as a