now at 6:00 now plows gearing up for an arctic blast. police from two jurisdictions investigating an attempted murder/suicide that happened in a church parking lot. a report ahead working at hard as they can. it's just a hard case to crack. >> six years after a woman disappeared family members pray for her safe return. good evening. i'm chris lawrence. anyone planning to head out to enjoy valentine's day tonight is going to get hit with strong winds, dangerous cold possibly even some snow.

meteorology amelia segal tracking it all. what can we expect? >> chris, here's the latest on storm team 4 radar i am tracking snow showers moving eastward through the area. we'll continue to track snow showers until 9:00 p.m. causing slick spots on roads reducing visibility. heavy snow within these and thunder snowe. tracking that in pennsylvania. moving through the area. heavy activity in parts of howard county towards bought mo. heavier snow moving through frederick. the weather concerns this evening, so is the concern until 9:00 p.m. the high winds move in over the next hour and when i say high winds, i mean gusts up to 60 miles an hour and with that we can expect some damage. so overnight tonight, if you can, avoid parking by any tree and know the area will likely be dealing with some power outages. not just high winds, chris, but

dangerously cold temperatures move into the area by midnight. windchills in the 20s and 30s. by 8 o'clock, in the teens and by 10:00 tome areas near seer ss near zero. right now crews gearing up for whatever accumulates. d.c. deployed 200 trucks this afternoon. pepco has hundreds of linemen and contractors on stand by in case strong winds knock out pow perp stay er. latest updates on our website. nbcwashington.com. dwelling now get ready for 12 hours of hell. that's a direct quote from a weather channel meteorologist as new england prepares for another storm. wind gusts could reach 75 miles an hour which would make it impossible for plows to career the roads. a blizzard warning goes into effect at midnight and the governor of massachusetts just warned everyone to get inside

before then. also developing tonight, police are on the scene of a massive pileup in pennsylvania. that involved more than 100 cars and trucks. this is cell phone video of traffic backed up on interstate 90 near erie. we don't know if anyone was hurt or what caused the crash but roads in the area are very slick and covered in snow. also watching developments out of copenhagen denmark, a manhunt for a man who shot and killed someone at free-speech event. three policemen injured. organized by a danish art getting death threats for depicting the prophet muhammad as a dog. the air force himself was not hurt. now to a death investigation spanning two counties in northern virginia. someone found a man's body in a church parking lot in fairfax county. now detectives are linking him to an attempted murder in loudon. darcy spencer is live in herndon to explain. darcy?

>> reporter: well chris, it ended in a church parking lot right here behind me off the reston parkway but it started earlier today about 3:15 in the morning inside a home in loudoun county. police say the suspect went to his estranged wife's home in the middle of the night near middleburg and that's when he apparently pulled a gun and shot and wounded his estranged wife. at that point she was able to wrestle the gun away from him and pyred ed fired off a shot. we don't know if she was able to shoot him and wound him but that's when he took off and when this all started. about 10:00 police near fairfax county found the suspect. found in the parking lots of the southview community church on reston parkway right next to a fire station. police say it appears he took his own life. so far police have not identified that suspect. the victim again, his estranged wife was taken to the hospital.

police say she is expected to be okay. we're reporting live from reston darcy spencer, news 4. >> thanks darcy. fairfax county is investigating another death. police got a call friday afternoon there was an unresponsive man in the woods off vern square drive, and his body was found about eight feet down a drainage ditch. police think he's in his 30s and will release his name once the medical examiner makes a positive i.d. six agonizing years, and still no word on what happened to pamela butler. she's the federal worker who vanished on valentine's day 2009. now her family and friends are gathering again for a prayer vigil. the last time anyone saw butler she was going into her home in northwest d.c. on fourth and oglethorpe. no one ever see her leave and she was supposed to spend valentine's day with her mother. >> six years still waiting, police are working as hard as they can. it's a hard case to crack, but we're getting there.

we're getting close. you know? i know every year we're getting closer and closer and hoping we will continue to do it but they're working hard. >> reporter: surveillance camera recorded video of butler's boyfriend going into the house and leaving right around the time she disappeared. but he's never been charged with any crime. tonight, one family has to find somewhere to live after a fire destroyed their home in manassas manassas. it started in a garage on nagel street engulfed that home then spread to a neighbor's house. authorities had to condemn the house where it started and the red cross is helping the family of four. the neighbors were a bit more fortunate. their home only had exterior damage. another food truck is disappeared in alexandria and police hoare news 4 viewers can help find it. hard to miss. the saute truck is dark red, a big rooster on the side. it's about a block way from the restaurant associated with it saute serena. a news 4 viewer found the

popcorn truck less than day after someone stole it. next how maryland transportation officials are making sure the roads are safe days after debris fell off a bridge. plus another round in the battle against cancer. why these local activists are targeting an agency committed to fighting the disease. >> with this ring. >> with this ring. >> i thee wed. >> i thee wed. >> and the district does something

>> all: 4% is not enough! 4%. protesters say that's how much of the federal research budget is spent on childhood cancer. they want more. this morning in bethesda young cancer survivors tried to get their message across marching outside the national institutes of health. >> using treatments 30 40 years old. no new drugs ss developed. >> reporter: protesters held yellow roses. the national cancer institute invested nearly $190 million for pediatric research in 2013. and maryland's department of transportation says crews have reinspected dozens of bridges in our area. they've identified 17 that need to be patched up or have concrete removed.

the state highway administration also has crews working on five bridges in maryland. one of them is in frederick on i-270. three are on interstate 495 in prince george's county. the district opening its doors to a special valentine's day celebration. why today's event was historic. and the snow may be moving on but temperatures continue to drop. amelia will show us h

well d.c. superior court opened its doors today for a special round of weddings. 14 of them on february 14th. news 4 david culver reports, getting hitched today is a sure-fire way to never forget your anniversary. >> we're gathered here today in the face of this company to join together this couple in honorable legal state of mat that mony. >> i take thee tiffany to be my wedded spouse. >> reporter: fulfilling what it means to be mine. and this young, smiling witness looking on with excitement. >> with this ring. >> i thee wed. >> reporter: the d.c. marriage bureau opening its doors for a special saturday session. >> the staff came up with this idea and they volunteered to come in of their own free will on a saturday morning when they didn't have to and perform the

weddings and help couples get their licenses. so it's great. >> i now pronounce you legally married. >> whew-hoo! [ applause ] >> reporter: brack to mohammed and tiffany. >> i now pronounce you legally married. you may kiss your bride. >> reporter: that kiss followed by a family hug. sealed with the signature of their sweet witness. >> here you are. congratulations. >> the d.c. superior court's marriage bureau processed more than 7,500 marriage license applications in 2013. now, this is the first time that they've ever opened the court for saturday weddings. i'm david culver news 4. >> thanks david. february is also black history month, and today an historical marker put up to honor african-american civil war heroes. the burke volunteer fire and rescue department unveiled the marker this morning. during the civil war

african-american wood choppers cut down thousands of achers in birk to provide much-needed timber to the union's army and engineers. anyone stepping outside tonight is definitely going to have to bundle up. >> so the winds are moving in. dangerously cold air. that's going to move in around midnight. what we're focused on right now is the snow showers. heading out foent, know you could deal with snow producing slick spots across the area. it's also going to lower that visibility if you're out driving. the snow is gone though by 9:00 p.m. tomorrow it's all about the cold air and the winds, because of that the weather is going to have a high impact on your sunday. not just a little cold. dangerously cold. during the morning hours. avoid being outside, if you can, and the winds will be so strong pretty sure bet we will see at least some spotty power outages across the area. here are the latest weather alerts. windchill warning. this is going into effect late tonight and it's going to run through noontime tomorrow. the windchill warning will be for the count kniss gray.

you could see windchills as low as 30 to 20 degrees below zero. windchill advisory for the d.c. metro area the northern neck of southern maryland your windchills could be as low as 15 degrees below seer pope just about everybody under a high wind warning right now. that's going to run through noon tomorrow as well with a high wind warning meaning gusts near 60 miles an hour. sustained winds up to 40 miles an hour. whatultimately means, power outages. tracking snow around an inch. because it's falling quickly and reducing visibility the national weather service issued that. the latest on storm team 4 radar. download or weather app to keep up with the snow if you're heading out tonight to know when exactly it clears your area but everybody is dry by 9:00 p.m. and all of this with an arctic cold front moving through. starting to see wind gusts pick'em to the west gusting up to 36 miles an hour in winchester now. temperatures not too bad. you might think, when's the cold

air getting here? still at 41 degrees in washington. the windchills in washington manassas not bad at all. low 40s. cold air working its way into other area. petersburg feeling like it's 10 degrees. martinsburg like it's 19. by midnight the winds as well as the cold sayreis here. look how windchills fall tloupt the evening. 4 degrees. late dinner. keep that in mind. in the district, feeling like 16 degrees below zero. a breakdown throughout the day tomorrow. 8:00 a.m. feeling as cold as 20 degrees below zero to 5 degrees below zero. windy, temperatures in the teens. by noon feeling around zero and 5:00 p.m. feeling like that. presidents' day is breezy still cold. high of 25. record cold likely in spots monday morning. so you want to be aware of that starting off at 9 degrees. better though by the

afternoon. if you want to go ski, go later in the day. tracking a system chris on tuesday and wednesday has to bring a little snow but a lot of uncertainty with the system. of course more on this at 11:00 and obviously updates to the wind and the cold air that's moving into the area. >> all right. thanks amelia. one show launched the career of hundreds of comedians. celebrating 40 years of "saturday night live" starting at 10:00 with a valentine special and right after news 4 at 11:00, you can see the original premiere from 1975. sunday the fun starts at 7:00 with the "snl" red carpet special. then at 8:00 anniversary extravaganza featuring 3.5 hours of comedy. on news 4 at 11:00 right after that and enjoy the conversation online using hash tag snl 40. still ahead, second ranked

i guess if you want to stay number two in the country you have to escape a few scares along the way. >> quite a bit of scares this season virginia but find a way to win each and every time out. the second ranked team theirs best player out the next six weeks. having a breakout year for the cavaliers until he injured his thumb against louisville last saturday. without anderson in the lineup uva proving they have plenty of talent to go around. anderson watch this one from the bench. he had surgery on his left thumb last sunday. pick this one up in the second half. uva up five. anthony gill way strong move here to the basket for the two-handed slam. he had 19 points in this ball game. later in the half wake forest coming back. down 5. ball gets over to constantino. he had a big gamegame today.

here another three pointer. he scored 18 points off six three pointers wake they're within one. less than ten seconds to go wake down one. one last chance. cody miller turning the ball over. virginia steals one from wake for effort and hold on for the victory 61-60. over at the center, the colonial army going fluts fornuts. first-half action tied at 34. george washington turning the tables here. that's kevin larsen with the steal and finish. gw is up two. second half now. the scoreboard is wrong. rams actually up 48-47. until jordan burgess buries this three pointer. vcu up four. later in the half gw down seven. more tough defense. many the junior with a nice finish. he had a game high 22 points.

gw within five. but vcu bringing it right back down the court. melvin johnson knocks down the three pointer. vcu snaps gw's 12-game home winning streak and take this one 79-66 with more from the smith center here's diana russini. >> jason, george washington unable to defend the 3s by vcu, but really their bigger problem now -- trying to make the ncaa tournament. >> we'll always have the tournament but i don't think our guys can handle the pressure thinking be a the ncaas and everything else so we went into this game to try to get better as a team. >> the atlantic 10 right now a bunch of people about the same. you sgloe gw is one of them and we're one of them, and there's not a whole lot of separation, and on any given day it's just, whichever team is able to, as you nedsaid make shots and be the aggressive. >> a mental breakdown. the team way too many open shots, as coach said and

knocking down 3s. i think we need to stay focused on defense again, but not giving up. >> reporter: now the colonials are challenged trying to turn it around and head coach says he may even change the starting lineup before the next game. at the smith center dianna russini, news 4 sports. >> thanks. some young eagle fans fired up for the american game. they're hosting lafayette. au shot the lights out today. first half up three. this is darrius pee-wee gardner. that long three point sir good. had 20 for the game. eagles up six. later in the half a four-point game. showing off the jump shot here. led by 12 at half time. second half lafayette back within nine but another beautiful jump shot there. 23 points in the game for shoaf. american beats lafayette. down at south carolina buzz williams -- excuse me. george mason, faking on richmond

today. skip ahead. in overtime. spiders working the ball around. that's josh jones in the corner. richmond takes a one-point lead. later in overtime here comes mason. marquis moore drives attacking the basket here gets that to go. mason's up one. they go on to win this game over richmond 71-67. now we head down to south carolina. buzz williams the hokies visiting clemson. all tigers first half. clemson working the ball around. blossom, hits a corner three. second half tigers starting to take over this time jordan roeper and later in the half more from roeper comes up with the steal. finishes the other way. this basketball version of the rope-a-dope game high 22 points for jordan. clemson passes virginia tech 75-54. and don't forget about the maryland/terps visiting penn

state tonight. big time game. maryland heart broken on the road lately. they've lost their last three games away from college park by an average of 19 points. maryland head to happy valley to take on the nittany lions. they beat that team just ten days ago. tip-off at 8:30 tonight over on the big 10 network. see if maryland can get it done. >> my alma mater versus amelia's. one will not be happy come 11:00. that's the news for now. "nightly's" up next. heading out tonight, wet, cold

on this saturday night, terror attack. a manhunt underway after a deadly ambush during a free speech event in europe. tonight, chilling echoes of the "charlie hebdo" attack. piling on yet another big storm bearing down on new england packing near hurricane force winds and record cold. why some are saying it could be the most dangerous blizzard of the season. wieging in. the controversial plan that could become law. should parents pay a fine if their children are obese? and flying high the race to save a colorful and gentle creature that's disappearing before our very eyes. from nbc news world