was it drugs? was it alcohol? was it depress? nothing will explain this and i am hesitant to ever release you back to the streets, back into society. she said that the judge said to her that you will have, you will live, you will have tomorrows. you will have christmas visits. the murrays will only be able to visit jana at the cemetery. just before that, britney norwood spoke. this was the first time we've heard her during the trial she didn't speak. during sentencing today she stood up and said to the murray family, i know what i want to say won't take your pain away, but i want to say how sorry i am. in asking for parole i'm not asking for myself. i'm asking for my family. now, jana murray's family were here in court and they gave earlier what they call victim impact statements. jana murray's parents, her brothers, their wives, her fiance and best friends, all delivered emotional, tearful

victim impact statements asking judge robert greenburg to give brittany norwood the maximum sentence under the law, life without the possibility of parole because they say she doesn't deserve to ever be free or harm others again. jana murray was a loving, beautiful, laughing, talented young woman but as a result of the horrific killing brittany norwood's lies and coverup blaming two masked burglars, it has left the murray family facing a nightmare in fear feeling rage, hate, depression, and in some cases wishing they were dead in order to join jana murray. they say their lives will never be the same. on behalf of the defendant, britney norwood, her father earl is saying that she is worthy of a chance if she is released on parole and her mother lekita says i know if she is given the chance to one day be able to

rejoin society she will be as valuable an asset to her community as she once was. now, britney norwood's parents submitted those comments through letters. they did not appear in court and they did not speak in court. her brother chris did, saying he was trying to show the judge another side of britney norwood. as i said earlier, britney norwood did speak today in court. she wiped her nose and eyes with a tissue. she was emotional. and she said i don't want any of you, meaning her family, to think that you had anything to do with this, that you caused this to happen. and again, she asked for parole not for herself but for her family. but judge robert greenburg said his sympathy is with jana murray's family and he pronounced sentence life in prison without the possibility of parole for brittany norwood. that is the latest live here at the montgomery county circuit court. we expect in ten to 15 minutes jana murray's mother and father,

brothers, their wives, her fiance and friends to appear here along with john mccarthy the prosecutor. we do not expect to see brittany norwood's family. that could change but we don't expect to see them or hear from them. back to you. >> all right. we'll be coming back to you when her family does come out to speak. thank you. turning now to our unusual january weather -- >> yes, the day began with some interesting thunderstorms and then we had spring and then we had a windy fall. let's check in with chief meteorologist doug kammerer. we have run the gamut. all we need is some snow. >> it is all over the place. you're right. all we need is some snow. won't happen though in the next couple days. we are going to see a mixture of temperatures once again. look at the temperatures today. we started off very warm and that led to some thunderstorms activity. thunderstorms rolling right on through the washington area early this morning between 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00.

very, very intense thunder coming through, very loud thunder shaking houses across the area. right now we're not seeing any rain on storm 4 doppler radar. we're going to see temperatures, though, that are going to be cooling off. 51 degrees out there right now. the winds of change moving on in. northwest winds at 21 miles an hour gusting to 36 right now at the airport. we have seen some wind gusts upwards of 45 miles per hour. that's actually the current temperature out there toward winchester. 45 degrees there. 45 in martinsburg. 55 in manassas. 59 in fredericksburg. still on the mild side but getting a lot cooler. we'll continue to cool down through the rest of the evening hours and by the time you wake up tomorrow morning we're talking about a chilly 39 degrees. still close to 10 degrees above average for this time of year but it will be a pretty nice start even though most of us will see temperatures in the 30s as you step out the door on your saturday. coming up, i'll show you what to expect for the rest of the weekend. you mentioned snow? i'll tell you if there is a chance coming up. >> all righty. thanks, doug. protesters in two downtown

washington public parks were officially warned today that the u.s. park service will no longer allow camping or sleeping on public land. >> the protesters have been camped out at the two sites for months now but they're being told the tougher enforcement will start monday at high noon. tom sherwood reports. from colorful camp site tents on freedom plaza to a soaring tsoar ing tipi at mcpherson square occupy protesters have since october camped out mostly peacefully on federal park land but that is about to end. rangers and police descended on both camp sites friday attaching bright, green notices to any tent or structure in sight. the notice warns the federal park service will begin enforcing no camping rules as of monday, noon. >> i need a definition of camping. >> reporter: the tougher government response comes days after members of congress complained park service officials were allowing illegal camping and demanded action.

the loosely organized protesters friday suggested some are ready to resist, others less so. >> i guess they weren't facing any pressure before and now from congress, from higher up they are facing pressure. >> this movement is based upon economic repression and inequality and if we can't be in a public park there ar lot of other places we can be. the fact is people believe in this movement and it doesn't matter if they kick us out of some square because the fight will continue. park police have moved in to remove exceptionally large structures built on parkland and have arrested some demonstrators. occupy d.c., similar to other cities, also has conducted rush hour marches on city streets. but mostly they have been tolerated despite some complaints of public safety hazards and rule violations until now. >> and protesters will be subject to fines and arrests for violations. get ready for metro delays this weekend starting at 10:00 tonight. metro will close two stations on

the red line, woodly park and cleveland park. shuttles will take passengers between dupont circle and van ness. >> on the orange and blue lines, trains will single track between mcpherson square and smithsonian. on the green line trains will single track between naylor road and branch avenue. because of all the track work, yellow line trains will only go between huntington and mount vernon square. riders should use the green line to complete their trips. meanwhile, metro's apologizing for big delays last night on the red, orange, and blue lines. metro says a computer glitch shut down trains just before midnight. >> because trains were single tracking at the time, some riders say they were sitting in train cars for as long as an hour. it was the second problem in less than 24 hours for metro. yesterday morning a cracked track at tenley town caused major delays on the red line. jack johnson is unlikely to practice law again. maryland's highest court disbarred him today. johnson served as the top prosecutor in prince george's county before he was elected

county executive. he was nearing the end of his second term as county executive in 2010 when he was arrested on federal corruption charges. prosecutors say johnson accepted as much as $1 million in bribes and gifts from developers. and in december he was sentenced to seven years in federal prison. simply inexcusable. and actually senator marco rubio came to my defense and said that ad was inexcusable and inflammatory and inappropriate. mr. speaker, i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mek co. my wife's father was born in wales. >> we discovered to our shock governor romney owns shares of both freddie mac and fannie mae. governor romney made a million dollars off selling some of that. he has an investment in goldman sachs which is today foreclosesing on floridians. >> if you check your own investments you also have investments through mutual funds that also invest in fannie mae

and freddie mac. >> a remarkable change of pace in last night's republican presidential debate. mitt romney answered jabs from newt gingrich with a few knockout punches of his own. it is the last debate going into florida's pivotal primary on tuesday and some analysts say it was a game changer. there are three full days left to campaign before that primary in the florida race has been volatile. >> meet the press moderator david gregory joins us with his analysis of the debate and the race. mitt romney showed real fight last night. how did he do? >> he did well. it was a big night. i think the campaign feels very good today. if you think of gingrich's biggest strength so far and certainly in south carolina it's his debate performance, romney was able to neutralize that, defend himself, go after gingrich. i really think it gave him a lot of energy and edge as he moves into tuesday where we've seen some numbers indicating that he's establishing more of a lead again. >> rick santorum also, david, did well last night in facing

romney or forcing him to defend his health care plan. >> right. >> in massachusetts which is quite controversial among conservatives. what are his chances at this point? >> well, i still think it's going to be difficult in florida but he has a lot of fight left. i think you're right. that role of assailing the conservative record of romney and gingrich for that matter makes santorum i think still quite potent. i'll speak to him on the program on sunday. i think the question of, a, how long he stays in the race, if he can't prevail, and where that vote goes, in florida, does he end up helping romney more than gingrich? if he decides to get out of the race does he support gingrich as the most likely social conservative in the race? these are going to be big questions because i think he still carries enough support powered by a strong debate performance like we saw again last night. >> david, talk about senator john mccain who has already endorsed romney in the past few days. we've also seen other establishment republicans come out against newt gingrich. what does that tell us? >> that tells you the establishment has made a real

judgment, that gingrich must be stopped or else obama is in a position to win big for re-election. that's the view. whether the establishment has the weight to stop gingrich is going to come down to florida voters. but you've seen the romney campaign coordinate both conservatives and others like bob dole and the establishment to really say in as loud a way as they can, slow gingrich down. he cannot be the nominee. i'm going to have senator mccain on the program to debate former tennessee senator and presidential candidate fred thompson who has endorsed gingrich so the romney and gingrich debate will extend to "meet the press" sunday. >> we'll see you there. thanks, david. that's at 10:30 here on nbc 4. still ahead, this afternoon, on news 4 at 5:00, fairfax county does an about face on a proposal to drop honors classes in schools. >> where nine middle schoolers are accused of taking pot brownies to class. and right now is she awake? >> semi-conscious barely.

>> okay. is she breathing? >> yes. >> okay. >> and we'll hear the 911 call that was made just before actress demi moore was rushed to the hospital

turning to our top story the sentencing of brittany norwood to life without parole for the murder of jana murray. let's go to chris gordon in montgomery county. >> we are about to hear a live news conference starting with the state's attorney in montgomery county, the man who is the prosecutor who tried the case himself, john mccarthy.

if you'll pan over this way members of the murray family, phyllis and david his mother and father. we also have his brother and fiance and now we'd like -- >> john mccarty. good evening. i'm the state's attorney for montgomery county. i am here with mary beth ayres my cocounsel in this case, state of maryland vs. brittany norwood. i want to begin by making one statement. i think anybody who sat through today's proceeding and has gotten to know a little bit about the murray family and jana murray in particular realizes the world is significantly diminished by the loss of this magnificent young woman but only moments ago across the street from where we now stand judge robert greenburg pronounced the sentence of life without the possibility of parole to brittany norwood for the murder

of jana murray that occurred on march the 11th in the lululemon store in bethesda, maryland. as a result of that sentence ms. norwood will die in jail. she will not be eligible for parole. the sentence given by judge greenburg today was fair. it was just. it was appropriate. the murder in this case was shocking to all professional prosecutors, investigators, to the members of the bench. once it was discovered the extent and nature of the killing and the torture to which ms. murray was subject. additionally beyond the crime itself the shocking details of the attempted coverup, which terrified this entire community in the days that followed this murder where we thought among us were two men who were responsible for the brutal murder of one young woman, violent attack on a second and

sexual attack on both. these were terrifying moments for the people of montgomery county. thankfully that was not true. jana murray was a magnificent, beautiful, brilliant young woman. she lived a magnificent life in her precious 30 years and we learned about that today in court here today. the sentencing that we have just finished could not have been accomplished without the assistance of many people. first of all i've already saluted the montgomery county police but, ladies and gentlemen, to realize this case was discovered saturday morning, march 12th and by six days later the individual responsible for the crime was under arrest without a confession based on the investigative work by the montgomery county police is magnificent. i want to particularly give thanks to dmitry rueben, jim drury, craig wittenberger the

lead detectives in this case and to the entire division of homicide/sex here in montgomery county. forensic science played a huge part in this case. as brittany norwood wove a tale of attack, brutalization, sexual attack, taunting of racial and other nature scientists went to work. blood spatter experts, dna experts, shoe print experts, the chief medical examiner in the city of baltimore. what made this case unravel so quickly quite candidly was the work of so many forensic scientists who put the lies to the original story that came from the mouth of miss norwood. we would not be here today without the magnificent support of the murray family. many of you have gotten to meet them. each one of them is an extraordinary person. we did not know jana in life but i think in some way jana has been brought to life for us and

remains with us because we have gotten to know the murray family. i thank mary beth ayres, and the witness coordinator from my office for the wonderful work they've done throughout this. we've had issues of crowd control in the courthouse and i thank the sheriff for montgomery county for the work they've done. when we went to sentencing today we had letters from immediate family members but probably 60 or 70 in total many from members of this community who were touched by what happened to jana and what they read about the murray family. i thank the members of the community who sent those letters to the court because your support helped us gain the sentence we got today. i also want to say on behalf of the murray family they love montgomery county. they love the people and warmth here. they are very thankful to judge

greenburg. i didn't get every call during the course of the trial but judge greenburg gave a very fair trial. i want to thank the jurors. it is not ever easy to be selected as a juror in a case like this. we are very thankful to them as well and on behalf of the murray family in generally want to announce a big thank you to the montgomery county community that has embraced this family, welcomed this family in so many different ways. i'm going to call upon, i'll take some questions at the end but let's ask a couple family members if they want to come up and make some comments. david? >> since march 12th everything that has been said has been said by me, has been said with difficulty. it's never easy to answer questions about one's daughter especially when the daughter has

been murdered. as i made comments following a question after the trial, we are all reaching for a new normal and many of you right here are helping do that. you've embraced us personally and as a group and, and conversely we have embraced many of you. as a group but also individually. thank you very much to all of the members of the media and, like john said, if it weren't

for the cold weather i'd move to montgomery county, maryland, because i live in montgomery county, texas. >> was this the right sentence, sir? >> it was absolutely the right sentence under maryland law. >> your family eloquently testified in court. so many of them said they would never heal. it was heart breaking to heal. does this maybe open the possibility for your family to heal? >> doug wood, by virtue of his law degree, is a very learned m man. i was appalled when he made the statement today that the murrays will heal and the norwoods will not. i said in my statement, i'm not a threat.

i'm too old. my family is not a threat. they have too much respect for themselves and the family. but i was absolutely appalled by the suggestion by doug wood that the murrays would heal. that is pure -- i work in the oil patch, so you can figure out what i was going to say. >> you and other members of your family said you're filled with a lot of hate and rage. how does that change your life when you think of brittany norwood? what does that make you think you want to do? >> to whom? >> anyone. >> no. i was a combatant once in my life. i am no longer a combatant. >> you have dreams sometimes of visits, of nightmares. can you share that? >> again, there are aspects of

this death that i cannot accept and i guess until i somehow can get over the pain and suffering that i know my daughter went through, my unconscious will not let go of it. again, during waking hours you can force joy into your life because you know there are so many blessings that you have and they're all gifts from god. you can't over shadow that with grief, but grief is always with you. there's always an ache in your heart for your daughter. however, there are always moments of laughter when you remember all the fun things you did together. i know that jana does not want us to shed a tear. she wants us to drive on with the goals that she would have and that as a family we have

always had. it's just a whole lot harder to do it than to put words to it because you know you are supposed to and you do want to. but we're still in the training process of getting over it. >> does this sentence bring you peace? >> our loss is permanent. and again, we live with that within our hearts. but i've always been fearful that it would happen again and as i stated, i want there never to be another victim. not only from brittany norwood but from anywhere. the pain that jana endured, the pain that her family, her friends endured, the ripples are enormous. and we want to turn this evil act into good and that is what we as a society have to do.

with brittany being not allowed to walk on the streets, that is one person that as a society we don't have to worry about. >> brittany spoke in court today. she spoke to you, the judge, her parents. she apologized. any thoughts on her words? >> i'm still digesting that. >> i have a response. >> i have a comment on that as well. i think she didn't accept any responsibility today whatsoever. she said the crimes for which i was convicted. there was never an acknowledgment in court that she did the crime which was immediately apparent to me. she chose her words very, very carefully twice. never accepted responsibility for the -- her participation in it. she would say i have been convicted of these crimes and then spoke to the two families. i was shocked and thought in light of the fact they've actually admitted to some extent that she had done the crime she

virtually took no responsibility for this crime today. to me it's another aggravating factor that makes the sentence from judge greenburg absolutely appropriate. >> what did you make of andre norwood's remarks, brittany's brother, when he said, in a plea to the judge, she would never be able to get married, have children. what was that about? >> well, as soon, actually, david just said the same thing in my ear here quite candidly my first thought was what about jana? i thought that -- i said this in court. the norwood family is a good family. these are good people. she came from good people. she had opportunities. this was a much different criminal defendant than we see many times. this was a young girl who was accomplished as an athlete, came across the country on a scholarship to go to a school out in long island. she was doing well. she had the potential of a college degree. most of her siblings are well educated. this is a great family. i thought her brother was articulate.

he spoke very eloquently. but it rang hollow to me because i kept thinking every time he said brittany i thought jana. >> david, we would be remiss if we didn't address what the judge addressed which was the calloused indifference of the peop people -- can you talk about how it felt for you all to hear that? >> i would like to defer to hugh on that one. would you identify yourself? >> i'm hugh murray jana's oldest brother. my family has talked about this a lot. as i alluded to in my statement to the judge we were raised to always do something to help those in need and it still -- i still can't understand why they didn't do anything.

but it further bothers me that we still haven't even gotten a sympathy card from them, apple corporation, anything. i just think as good citizens i mean once you recognize your mistake you should at least acknowledge it and try to make it better. so i hope that this is a lesson learned by everybody that this murder has impacted and i hope that they become more vigilant when they're in society in our communities and when they see somebody that needs help. >> hugh, have you considered and your family as well that you will never be able to make sense of this because it didn't make any sense at the very beginning? >> absolutely. some things in life just don't make sense. it doesn't make it easy for us to accept but i don't know. it's kind of like algebra.

you just have to accept it. there is something that it equals. you know? and you just learn and keep moving on. >> so hugh mentioned something that i know something about. algebra. i accept algebra. >> maybe i didn't raise the question. this is a new emotion for you coming from your experience that you've never hated anybody before or been filled with feelings like this. could you elaborate on that? >> i just, again, as i referenced again in my statement i really do believe that in life you have two opportunities. you can choose love or you can choose fear. hate definitely falls within the fear category, so it's a very hazy feeling for me to begin with. and yet at the same time i sat

through every piece of the trial except for the medical examiner's testimony. we've had numerous hours to sit with john and mary beth and they've explained various aspects of the evidence they had that weren't allowed into court. i just -- it's -- i've always been protective of my sister and it's impossible to imagine the pain and suffering that she endured. and not hate that. i mean, that -- i hate the pain that she went through. i hate the person that inflicted it. >> mr. murray, one thing that came up -- [ inaudible question ] >> my short answer is too little too late. it's the first time we heard any

apology, any remorse, anything at all from brittany norwood. quite simply, i think it was addressed to the judge as a last ditch effort to not stay out of jail but shorten the term of the sentence. >> mr. murray, we found out today that you have rejected every or any plea deal or plea bargain even though that would have avoided the emotion of the trial. why did you do that? why did your family decide to do that? >> we did it for jana. in order to give her peace, in order to celebrate her life, make her life right, and to send

a message to the broad community that acts of this nature do not go unpunished, we trusted in john mccarthy and his staff. we trusted in the community of bethesda, the county of montgomery and the state of maryland. we put all of our trust in that, those people. >> how would you like jana remembered by this community? >> i think each of us spoke to that during the hearing today, brad. jana was genuinely, honestly, thoroughly the person that we portrayed today.

my entire family is that. jana was the youngest and somehow she personified the murray family. i would like the community to remember her for what and who she was. as opposed to the tragic death that she experienced. we have to move forward and that's what i want the community to do. that's what all of us individually and as a murray family are going to do in time. >> thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. thank you. >> well, a really expressive and emotional murray family as you can imagine. but relieved that brittany

norwood got life without parole as the prosecutor said she will die in prison. we will have more on this coming up on news 4 at the top of the hour at 6:00. but brittany norwood in the lululemon murder, life without parole. >> and we'll be right back.

it felt like spring in january today. >> it was really amazing how warm it really was out there. we were thinking about this as we moved through the forecast last night thinking just how warm could we get? we wen with a high of 64 in washington and hit 63 degrees but some of you saw 70. out there right now, temperatures are cooling off fairly quickly across the area. we are going to cool down tonight but not all that much when you consider we're at the end of january. out there today look at the high. 63 in washington. 70 in culpepper. 70 in fredericksburg. 68 in patuxent river. just amazing how warm it was out there early this morning. of course that warmer air led to some thunderstorms too, big rumbles of thunder early this morning. take a look at the numbers now though. 44 hagerstown. 46 gaithersburg. 45 leesburg. we are starting to see temperatures come down along with the very gusty winds. right now 51 degrees at the airport with winds gusting to 36 miles per hour. and we've seen higher gusts, baltimore reporting a wind gust of 45 miles an hour earlier.

leesburg right now at 32 miles an hour. but we still saw 45-mile-per-hour winds in leesburg, too. so a very windy day and those winds blowing in some of that cooler air and that wind will continue throughout the rest of the evening hours before letting up overnight. storm 4 doppler radar not showing anything as far as rain is concerned right now. that is all out of here. but we're not quite done with the weather pattern yet. there's our storm out to sea. breezy conditions behind it. snow is back here toward the mountains. at least a little bit in the way of some snow. if you're thinking about skiing not a bad weekend to do that. here comes another problem on saturday. rather breezy tomorrow afternoon with some sunshine and some cloud cover. the snow here will stay to the west of the mountains once again but watch what happens on sunday. yet another storm system moves through. this one will have a little bit more moisture and we could see a couple rain drops. maybe a couple snowflakes out there sunday night. but i am not expecting a whole lot. your next four days looking very, very nice tomorrow with a high of 57. just a little bit on the breezy side. we will drop down, monday the coldest day with a high of 43

degrees. tuesday chilly with a high of 55. actually that chilly needs to move over to monday because 55 in january is pretty darned nice. >> thanks, doug. >> back now to montgomery county to a press conference by the defense attorneys for brittany norwood. >> i don't think there is any -- but maybe at this point it may be difficult to say. that was the whole issue we wanted to raise that in the course of doing a substantial period of incarceration, getting rehabilitation she could come to terms with what she did and try to figure out why it happened. >> will you appeal? >> absolutely. >> why did this happen? you offered at the very beginning of the trial, stipulated that she was involved. >> right. >> what was the reason for this? we really don't know. she certainly had an explosive moment. when you look at what happened to her or how she did in life before that, nothing suggested this would ever happen.

and certainly nothing since then has suggested what happened. so it may be just one of those things that is inexplicable. >> in her state of mind after the sentencing? >> very upset. i think she is very troubled. i do think she wanted to get it over with. i don't think she wanted to put her family through this anymore and wanted to move on even though moving on means life in jail. >> you know, you said that the murrays would heal and the norwoods would not. they've taken great umbrage with that. do you have any reaction? >> well, no. i don't take those words back at all. i think the norwoods will regret what happened and for the rest of their lives thinking maybe if we'd gone a little more with her and guided her better this wouldn't have happened. like i said in the courtroom the murrays can be satisfied they did everything they could for their daughter. it is not a contest which family

lost the most. both lost a great deal. it is not a contest. >> you will appeal? >> absolutely. >> how old is your client? >> 30. >> what about their family? what is their reaction? >> they are very upset. they never wanted any of this press coverage. they never wanted any of the notoriety. i think at some point mr. mccarthy or jana murray's father suggested no one should benefit from that. that is the farthest thing from their minds. they do not want to benefit from this all. they want to put this as far behind them as they can. no one will do anything along the lines of what mr. murray suggested. absolutely out of the question. >> do you have any idea when the erl estuary time for parole is? >> with this sentence you don't come up with parole. had she gotten a life sentence with, 25 years. then no guarantee that would have happened. there are a number of lifers in maryland who are serving life sentences with the possibility of parole and the last three

governors have not paroled anyone. >> do you believe brittany is really sorry? >> yes, yes. there ar lot of factors that come into being sorry. she is sorry for what she did for jana murray, what she has done with family, what she did with her own life. she is very sorry. >> mr. mccarthy suggested in brittany norwood's statement, she said this crime for which i've been convicted, not this murder i committed. or i'm sorry i killed this girl. does she really accept that she has done this? >> absolutely. and i think it's a -- what mr. mccarthy may be referring to is she was inarticulate. it is a question of semantics. but she is sorry. no question about it. >> thank you, sir. >> okay. thank you. the attorney for brittany norwood, who says the killing of jana murray in march of 2011 was a result of an explosive moment by a woman who wasn't in her right mind. he said both families have lost a great deal in this case and he

says that murray is sorry for what she did to jana murray as well as what she did to her own life. of course she did address the court today during a hearing and said she was sorry for the murder. >> and he did say that they are going to appeal this life senten

investigators are working on the process of trying to remove a body from the bottom after well in prince george's county. there is speculation it might be the body of an activist who was misfrg alexandria. derrick ward is live in fort washington with the latest. >> that speculation is fueled in part by literally a trail of evidence that leads from

alexandria to this part of prince george's county. but again it is still speculation only at this point. the only thing authorities are certain of is that down this rural stretch of old fort road off to the left there in a well there is a body. and they are also sure that that discovery is just the beginning of this investigative process. at early light a meticulous grid search. prince george's county police cadets go over every inch of ground surrounding the old well on the grounds of an abandoned house in the 11900 block of old fort road in fort washington. what did they recover? well, police aren't saying. >> that portion of the investigation is done. >> reporter: it was an anonymous tip that led investigators to the scene on thursday. they were told there was a body in the well and police confirmed that there was. >> homicide investigators who were on the scene yesterday could see from the top of the well the body. they also brought in a camera. >> reporter: a tent now covers the well opening but the

presence of alexandria police early in the investigation led to the speculation it could be the body of alexandria activist lenny harris who has been missing since september. shortly after his disappearance a cell phone was found in the wilson bridge that belonged to him. then in october his car was found abandoned on the maryland side on livingston road not too far from this scene search. a source tells news 4 that harris's family which has done some searching on their own had come to the general area but darkness kept them from venturing deep into the woods. late morning on day two of the search earth moving equipment was brought in, back hoe and dump truck. utility crews were also brought in. excavation, even in a crime scene, requires noting and marking the location of buried lines and conduit. it's a deliberate and pains taking process. th the whole excavation process will take two days and the homicide investigators will do their part. that is expected to take another day. now again, the excavation

has yet to begin so this whole process could not actually get into its final phase until early next week. we are live in fort washington, derrick ward, news 4. >> all right. thank you. high school students in fairfax county will have new course options in the fall. the district voted overwhelmingly to reinstate several honors classes after a mass campaign by parents. news 4's erika gonzalez is here with that story. the fairfax county school board voted 11-1 to bring back the honors click lurriculum to school a mid point between standard and advanced placement courses. the following classes are now reoffered after years of being filtered out. english 11 honors, world history ii honors, english and government 12 honors and u.s. history 11 honors. before this, students had a choice between standard level and advanced placement classes. the honors curriculum provides a middle ground parents like debra

stapel says makes students feel comfortable with their learning capacity. >> not every student can fit 100% into every single class in all of these advanced courses. but yet the regular standard curriculum is not rigorous enough. >> reporter: champion for honors curriculum and eight-year school board member dan stork says the courses were phased out during current superintendent jack dale's administration in an effort to encourage students to choose more rigorous classes. >> the superintendent did not want to change the policy. he clearly could have handled that, you know, differently, but he believed in what he was doing and the board at least acquiesced. >> dale did not return our requests for an interview. while stork did not agree with dale's plan, he says there were not enough votes on the school board at the time to implement change. that was until the beginning of this month when six new board members were introduced.

>> it gives students options that will help them realize their full potential. every child is different. and to provide them with the opportunity to select what best meets their needs for that particular course is essential to them. >> reporter: school board member kathy smith was the lone vote against the reinstatement of the honors classes. she released this statement. each of us voted in the way that we felt was best for students and families as with any vote. now we all need to move on and carry out the intention of the school board. stork says with the new school board members in place he expects to see a lot more changes. back to you. >> thanks, erika. pot brownies apparently brought to school in loudoun county and deputies say a group of eighth grade aerts farmwell station middle school ate them. news 4's julie carey has more from the middle school in ashburn where she got reaction from parents. >> reporter: students from

farmwell station middle school brought some unsettling news home to parents yesterday. a group of eighth graders had reportedly taken pot brownies to school and had eaten the snacks there. the incident itself actually happened on wednesday when a few of the students brought the pot brownies to school and shared them among the group. that day none of the kids became sick or even exhibited any unusual behavior. it wasn't until thursday that word got back to the principal. it was shortly before dismissal yesterday when the principal called the alleged offenders, nine eighth graders, into her office. >> what we do immediately then is take the students out of the general population, put them in areas where they cannot tell tales on one another. we call the parents and then the principal will interview each student. >> reporter: but the principal had another challenge on her hands. run away rumors that some 20 students had been expelled. she posted this message on facebook setting the record straight. this parent of a farmwell

station eighth grader praised the administration actions. >> the children talked about it on the way home and there was some misinformation when they got home, which the administration quickly handled by the robo call, calling the parents and letting them know. but i was very happy. i was at the school yesterday. and from everything i saw it seemed like they were doing things really well. >> school officials say once their investigation is complete, some punishment is likely. >> this is a suspendable offense under certain circumstances and expellable offense. what we want to do here is get these students to realize they made a mistake. how do we rectify this mistake? how do we make sure the mistake doesn't happen again? >> ashburn parents say it is important the other students see that bringing pot brownies to school does have consequences. >> there are consequences and you have to pay for doing things that are wrong. >> reporter: the loudoun county sheriff's department is also investigating but it's too early to say whether criminal charges will also be filed. in loudoun county, julie carey,

news 4. >> that group of students under investigation did include both boys and girls. up next the 911 call placed before demi moore was

we are getting to hear what happened in the moments before

actress demi moore was rushed to a los angeles hospital on monday night after a series of seizures. >> we have the 911 calls and more on just what happened that night. >> reporter: a 911 call from demi moore's house in beverly hills monday night. the 49-year-old actress was practically unconscious and friends called for help. >> we smoked something. it's not marijuana. if's similar to incense. she seems to be having convulsi convulsions of some sort. >> the 911 operator gets frequent updates. >> is she breathing normally? >> no, not normal. more sort of shaking. burning up. >> the dispatcher presses on what it was that moore had ingested that brought on the n convulsio convulsions. >> i think she smoked something. i didn't really see.

>> okay. >> she's been having some issues with other stuff. i don't know what she's been taking. >> then moore actually improves even before medics arrive. >> she seems to have calmed down. >> she was admitted to the hospital though and stayed until thursday. her publicist won't comment beyond saying moore has decided to seek professional help to treat exhaustion. friends say it's been a rough few months for moore since announcing she was ending her marriage to fellow actor ashton kutcher. nbc news. >> that's it for news 4 at 5:00. >> news 4 at 6:00 is starting right now. an emotional day in court in montgomery county tonight. reaction to the sentence of life without parole for brittany norwood. >> occupy d.c. protesters have been given a final warning. this weekend they have to go. >> several arrests after a prostitution and human

trafficking bust in montgomery county. good evening everyone. i'm doreen gentzler. >> i'm jim vance. about one hour ago a judge in montgomery county sentenced an employee at the lululemon store for killing a co-worker in the bethesda yoga shop. her name is britney norwood. she is going to spend the rest of her life in prison. chris gordon is in rockville with more. >> reporter: judge robert greenburg said to norwood you are one hell of a liar, cold, malicious, deliberate. i have no doubt you are one troubled lady. brittany norwood who on march 11th killed jana murray with 332 blows using 5 to 10 different weapons and then lied about it, tried to cover it up saying that two masked men had broken into lululemon and sexually assaulted both norwood and jana murray. today jana murray's family came to court and they gave victim impact statements sin