helping customers, it's helping neighbors. ♪ stand by me welcome to "news4 this week." >> hi, everyone, i'm veronica johnson. we'll share some of the moe more interesting local stories making news. among them, the dangers of driving drowsy. we show how it's impacting more and more commuters in our area. and using dna to put a face on crime. how cutting edge technology is being used to help solve a nearly 30-year-old cold case in virginia. and it's one of the most popular shows on broadway, but it's coming to d.c. tips on how you can score tickets to "hamilton." ♪ first, nbc 4 responds. a new extension of our commitment to wor

no consumer complaint will go unanswered. consumer reporter susan hogan has a story that hits at the heart of our mission. >> reporter: a retired air force veteran and his wife say they could not believe what should have been a simple transaction turned into months of frustration. one call to nbc 4 responds got them the results they'd been waiting for. a broken smartphone brought doug hawkins into a verizon store. >> i wpent to the verizon haymarket office. one of the people looked and didn't think he could fix it. >> reporter: instead of fixing it, doug says the salesman had a better idea. >> she'd, this is your luck -- he said, this is your lucky day. you'll get a free phone. >> reporter: who couldn't resist? doug certainly couldn't and didn't. >> i said, what are you going to do with the old phone? he said, i'll send it back. >> reporter: simple transaction, right? off you went? >> yes. >> reporter: that wasn't the end of it? >> no. >> reporter: the next month when doug and his wife pam got their bill, the so-called free phone

charge. for what? >> well, that's what i called and asked them. they told me it was because i hadn't turned in the old phone. i said, well, i left the old phone at the store. >> reporter: doug says the store had no record of it. suddenly his new and not free cell phone started sending him text alerts telling him to pay his bill or else it would be shut off. >> i finally went back to the store. i asked about it again. they said, was it a blue one? i said, yes. he pulled it out and handed it to me. >> reporter: you're kidding? they had it the whole time? >> yes. >> reporter: high sent it back to verizon as instructed to do. guess what he got backs weeks later -- the phone? >> yes. with a note saying, well, you didn't send it in in the 14 days of purchase, so it's yours. >> reporter: and so is another bill. that's now racking up late fees. that's when they contacted nbc 4

watching you, we saw things that were solved over time. i thought she's the person who knows who what to do. >> reporter: we contacted verizon, and within days the hawkins got a call on what is truly a free phone. all the charges were removed, and they even have a $204 credit. in a statement to nbc 4 responds, verizon says in parts it strives to provide the best customer experience. in this case, we did not deliver on that promise. we sincerely apologize. >> we're thrilled with it, too. >> yes. yay. problem solved. thank you so much. >> thank you very much, yes. absolutely. >> reporter: if you're upgrading to a new phone, before just handing it over, you'll want to make sure you back up your data and wipe it clean. and remember, nbc 4 responds is taking your consumer complaints and will be tracking the money we recover for you. i'm susan hogan, news4. maryland unveiled new driver's licen

protecting you from identity theft. the new cards feature the maryland flag as the background. they also have several layers of security to prevent i.d. theft and fraud. those new cards will be issued at mva offices. they will be mailed out seven to ten business days after you renew or apply for a license or i.d. the university of maryland now has resources to help stop human trafficking. the school opened its space center on campus. that's a place that human trafficking survivors can go to for support. the center offers legal services, counseling, and medical care. senator ben cardin says the university of maryland is a great location for this type of service. >> the expertise you haven't had, the expertise you have in social work, it's all those disciplines. and this is one of the great research universities in the world. and you're going to use that talent to figure out how we can do a

modern-day slavery. >> to see all the resources for human trafficking survivors, go to nbcwashington app and search space center. from the touch of a door knob or sip of a drink, new technology is allowing law enforcement to build a realistic, detailed human composite using dna. as david culver shows us, loudoun county deputies hope the technology will bring new clues to a cold case. this is a composites from someone in our office. >> reporter: it was a sip of soda that allowed dr. alan graytack to create this. >> we made the composites based off the rim of the bottle. >> reporter: from the swab, the snapshot team at the lab in reston came up with the detailed profile of their colleague. >> this person most likely has fair or very fair skin. try to emphasize the fact that this person has a wider jaw and chin. a

nose. that comes together. >> reporter: we can show you now the person whose dna we've used to make that. the sblur gone. this is dr. steve vanentraup. the similarities seen in his brown chin. the eyes, lighter in color, as predicted. >> in the past, dna that failed to produce a match was of no value. with snapshot, investigators can now use the dna to narrow suspect lists, januagenerate le and avoid a case going cold. >> reporter: cold cases like the one loudoun county sheriff mike chapman wants solved. they paid the lab $4,000 to generate this suspect profile. >> it's certainly worth it. you're talking about a young girl who was sexually assaulted and abducted. >> reporter: the crime date back nearly 30 years to june, 1987. this very street, east poplar road in sterling. deputies say the man broke into one of the homes on this street. it was around 4:00 in the morning. he tn

girl and sexually assaulted her. no matches from the dna left behind. the sheriff hoping this narrows their suspect search and refreshes memories, possibly generating new leads. >> we want to try it and see if we have some success with it. >> reporter: in northern virginia, david culver, news4. the end of the road for the cavs also means the end of the road for beards. we'll show you doug and ad.a.p.'s trip to the barber -- and adam's trip to the washingtoner and how much they raised for charity. and a competition created brighty h -- competition for royalty has a local star in it at the invictus games. homes are not one-dimensional. why use traditional aerosols that are? at the invictus games. new air wick room mist with life scents is a multi-layered fragrance, just like scents in real life. finally, a true-to-life fragrance, for your lively home. air wick. home is in the air.

what are you doing? sara, i love you, and... [phone rings] ah, it's my brother. keep going... sara, will you marry... [phone rings again] what do you want, todd???? [crowd cheering] keep it going!!!! if you sit on your phone, you butt-dial people. it's what you do. todd! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. i know we just met like, two months ago... yes! [crowd cheering] [crowd cheering over phone]

hwhy use traditional aerosols. that are? new air wick room mist with life scents is a multi-layered fragrance, just like scents in real life. finally, a true-to-life fragrance, for your lively home. air wick. home is in the air. ♪ the expectation and reaction to lack the creation and someone thinking past tomorrow ♪ a lot of you know that sound. many of you are already trying to figure out how to get "hamilton" t

it's going to be at the kennedy center during the 2017-2018 season. the dates have not been determined yet. the kennedy center says the best way to guarantee that you can get a ticket is to purchase a subscription for the upcoming season and then renew it for the season thereafter. the subscription starts at $120 this year. the pricing for the '17-'18 season hasn't been determined. t the quest for the cup is over for the caps as is the quest for the best beard. our staff were growing beards for charity. here's a look at their progression. now they're back at where they started. doug and adam visited the barber shop in d.c. wednesday afternoon for a fresh shave. a straight razor and all. ooh. that had to hurt -- at least some spots. they raised enough money, $2,700 in fact, for the

baerbaer beard-a-thon. doug did raise more than you. the invictus games took place in orlando and an athlete from maryland won two bronze medals. gideon connelly from baltimore finished third in the 100 and 200-meter races. we spoke with connelly over the phone. he's a staff sergeant, the only member of the air national guard competing at the game. >> i was proud to be able to support my state. when they told me i was the only international guardsman to actually compete in this games and to be able to do that and support my state and team was a great honor. you know, hopefully i did them proud. >> the invictus games are a paralympic-style multisport event created by prince harry. the athletes are wounded, sick, and injured members of the service. from orlando, connelly is planning to go to the games in oklahoma, then on to the paralympic nationals in north carolina.

drunk all the time. what about driving drowsy? the shocking stats about its impact on commuters. scott mcfarland took it to the test to see how bad it can get. he started out mopping floors and cleaning toilets. now this gentleman, he's creating a business that could change the way small airports operate.

♪ music plays ♪ music plays ♪ music plays

e.t. phone home. when you find something you love,

with xfinity x1. ♪ this week, "news 4 today" offers secrets to better zs. we got a wake-up call recently from the i-team. their review of state traffic reports shows that our rush hour is starting earlier, and local drivers are running an increased risk of driving drowsy. scott macfarlane pulled an all-nighter to show the impact those earlier wake-up calls and sleepiness can have on local roads.

it's a frustrating, mindnumbing, fatiguing parts of our day. >> good morning. i'm scott. >> reporter: especially for jared bennett. we rode along on bennett's commute from triangle, virginia, to fairfax begin being w a wake-up call and cup of coffee. he sets asides two hours each morning in case traffic is particularly bad along i-95. >> i don't think i get more than four or five hours a night. >> reporter: he has more early morning company on the road than he used. to the news4 i-team watched the internal traffic data by the maryland and virginia state traffic department. long distance commuters in both states are getting an earlier start. at 5:00 a.m. on i-95 north of the spotsylvania border, we found a 10% spike in traffic volume since 2011. in fredericksburg, up 6%. in maryland, too, i-95 and howard county near 103, an increase on the beltway in montgomery county at 5:00 a.m. sleep experts say the early wakeups are driving our area's increased risk

driving. >> people aren't getting enough sleep during their normal workweek. >> reporter: charlie clower is a research scientist at the transportation institute specializing on the impact of sleep on driving. her team studied more than 100 d.c. area drivers over the course of a year. they found about 20% suffered accidents caused at least in part by drowsiness. >> we have lots of data and examples showing where people are starting to fall asleep and veer out of their lanes. >> reporter: how dramatically does sleepiness impact us? we found out. i'm going to stay up for five more hours. getting no more than two hours sleep over two days -- no coffee -- we wired up our hotel room with cameras to ensure we followed the rules. going out for walks, watching late-night tv while standing up. changing clothes and heading across town for a two-hour midday drive on the university's closed test track. >> like al

we're not going to have music. not going to be chatting. >> reporter: i wasn't aware they was immediately showing signs of fatigue. fidgeting, yawning, heavy blinking. an inability to stay below the speed limit. then, one hour in, they tested me with a late changing red light. didn't work out well. i failed. minutes later, my reflexes weren't quick enough to stop when they simulated a child running into the street. >> it can happen so quickly. >> reporter: i failed again. alarmed and suddenly alert, i did stop at the next quick changing red light, but later, slow again, another hazard. i think people are unaware of when they're really fatigued. mine is what research incentive jeffrey hickman called acute fatigue, a severe danger for drivers. they don't know it's hitting them. >> no, they're poor at identifying that. >> reporter: on i-95, jared bennett is finishing his long drive to fairfax after sunrise. even with a coffee and camera crew in his car -- >> i just took the wrong exit. ripe he took

>> reporter: he took a wrong turn on his way to the office, admit fashion teague is so severe in the morning that he's pulled off for catnaps. a sleepy sign of the times where rush hour begins before dawn. scott macfarlane. >> experts say in additional to pulling over and grabbing a nap if possible, there are other things you can do if you're feeling drowsy. you can visit our nbcwashington app and click on "investigations" to get more advice. there you can also send the i-team a tip for them to check out. we saw it happen on video, $10,000 in tuition money swiped from a virginia dunkin donuts. now there's a happy ending for that student.

morning noon or night there's always a moment to discover visit annapolis and create your moment

great news for a college san francisco virginia whose $10,000 tuition money was stolen. you might remember back in february, maria estevez was on her way to penn state to drop off her daughter lily. she accidentally left her purse behind

falls church. another customer was caught on camera swiping her purse and the tuition money inside. after hearing what happened, a company called course hero awarded lily a scholarship to cover all of that money that was lost. a local college student's passion for aviation combined with his determined work ethic gave way to his creating a software application that's really taking off. our northern virginia bureau reporter, david culver, introduces us to a young entrepreneur unafraid of the dirty work. show you the hanger. >> reporter: for someone obsessed with planes, it doesn't get much better than this. >> aviation's a very, very tight-knit community. everybody knows everybody. >> reporter: so determined to break into that community, at 17 john hill aplayed for a job at -- applied for a job at leesburg executive airport. >> they called me the facilities coordinator, but i was really just the janitor. i

i would sweep the hangar floors. >> reporter: john eventually got promoted to ground crew, leaving the pilots to the runway and working to keep the planes fueled. that, that's when he noticed it. >> i was like, there's got to be a better way to do this. >> reporter: instead of pilots calling in fuel requests, this 21-year-old george mason student thought -- >> isn't there a mobile app where pilots can order fuel, it pops up at the front desk and automatically goes to the fuel truck. >> reporter: he created easy fbo. >> fixed base operator. >> the problem john recognized, the handwritten, messy orders, is something that thousands of people across america or the world have been seeing for years. it took an entrepreneurial mind to say that's a problem that we can solve. >> reporter: george mason university's instructor mentored him, the senior winning a competition giving him

to invest in his new company. >> we have contracts with a couple other airports that we'll be launching in june. the plan is to have a total of ten sfbos in the problem at the end of year. >> reporter: in his spare time, he got a pilot's license. he hasn't forgot wlaen it takes to -- forgotten what it takes to keep it clean. >> lots of windex on. that. >> reporter: news4. >> we need more johns in this world. that's all for "news4 this week." thanks for joining us. we leave you with some of the incredible video of those tornadoes that ripped through midwest this week. until next time, be safe, be kind, and be happy. ♪

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as 6:00 right now on "news4 today," take a look outside. four images for you to take in. a sunny morning. folks, don't get too comfortable. storm 4 tracking when more rain may affect your weekend plans. and what happened inside a horrific discovery inside a d.c. mansion. and the d.c. street car. a new result and how the service compares to others more than two months since its debut. >> well, i think you said it best, david. enjoy that sun while it lasts. good morning, everyone. i'm angie