at a news conference today this afternoon, montgomery county commonwealth attorney said that a final autopsy won't be available until late march but the medical examiner was able to determine how she died. natalie keepers will be back in court later this month on new charges. she has been charged with moving a body an accessory after the fact. now she is also charged with accessory before the murder, and if she is convicted of that, she could spend the rest of her life behind bars. she has not been charged with murder, just accessory before the murder. originally, arrest warrants show that lovell was killed some time on and around saturday, but that will be changed that lovell was killed on wednesday, the same day she went missing. since sunday, state police search and recovery team has been teaching a pond near virginia tech's vet far in ye school. they left that area today. but even so, the investigation isn't over. >> local, state and federal

case continue to make progress with reconstructing the timeline of those two individuals' movements and activities leading up to nicole's abduction and murder. investigators continue to pursue the more than 400 leads generated public tips in this inteens investigative process. >> reporter: now pettitte said that after today, the only time she will be discussing this case will be from court. noreen. >> noreen: thank you, annie. at today's press conference, lovell's mother also spoke and talked about her daughter's short life, and how she had touched so many lives. priscilla kaiser was also there and joins us live in blackburg. >> reporter: a mother stricken by grief just days after tragic fate. during the press conference,

while remembering nicole. before walking off, weeks remembered her daughter's life including overcoming multiple medical struggles early on in life. she touched on lovell's passion such as pandas, music and dancing. most of all, weeks said that her daughter loved life and all others. >> nicole was very lovable person. nicole touched many people throughout her short life. >> reporter: a representative of help save the next girl says he has spent nearly a week with lovell's family and can't imagine what her mother is feeling after learning of her daughter's tragic death. >> this young lady overcame several obstacles in her life. so i consider her a miracle child, and for her life end this way, it is just -- simply not fair. >> reporter: just a couple of hours ago, we did learn of

the visitation is set for tomorrow from 5 to 8 p.m. at mccrory funeral home in blacksburg. the funeral is thursday at 3 p.m. at the funeral home. live in blacksburg, priscilla kaiser, abc 13 news. >> noreen: we are still working to find out exactly how nicole lovell met david eisenhauer but the 13-year-old did meet himline somehow. suri crowe has been looking into this angle of the story and how this protect your child. suri. >> reporter: nicole had two facebook profiles. she was on instagram and probably several other social media sites as well. very typical of a 13-year-old. her mother told the "washington post" she met eisenhauer on a social media app she never heard of, but social crimes experts want parents to know what their kids are up to in their digital world. >> reporter: selfies, panda bear>> reporter: selfies, panda bears, i am taken, all part of her social media story.

13-year-olds, trying to find her place, trying fit in. for kids like nicole whose moms were relentlessly bullied. the internet can be a vivshtious community says internet crimes investigator steve anders. >> years ago when we were kids in school, when we were bullyin school, when we were bullied it happened in school and kids go home and a safe haven there, now with the online cyber bullying it follows kids everywhere they go 24 hours a day. >> reporter: anders says as kids like nicole seek the approval of others, they may go outside of more mainstream avenues to place where is a whole new world of fantasy and danger lurks. >> we are allowing our children to access and meet strangers that we would never invite into our home, but that's what we are doing as parents. >> reporter: what do you do to prevent tragedy? you need to know exactly what is coming in and going out in our kids' cell phone and gaming appkids' cell phone and gaming apps, everything.

technology changes so fast. >> reporter: so the days of let the kids be the tech savvy ones need to be gone. -- they need to be gone says psychologists and investigators. you can buy apps near your kids' cell phone. it know what they are doing. bottom line, pay attention. much more at wset.com. noreen. >> noreen: all right, suri. we have much more coverage of the nicole lovell case at wset.com including the full press conference from this afternoon. if you have something outside, maybe something in your yard that you don't want to get wet, i recommend bringing it inside this evening as rain is on the way. right now we are dry. we have a temp of 47. it is cloudy and cool across ought of the heart of virginia. danville and south boston in the lower 50s and blacksburg at 42. so generally dry the next few hours, but as we go throughout the night and especially toward and after 11:00, we will see increasing light rain. coming up, we will let you know

and what to expect for the weekend. and last night's double shooting of a danville doctor and his neighbor. dr. randolph neal was shot while he was walking home from work last night, and the suspect shot his neighbor too. tola adamson has been following this for us today, and joins us now live with what we know up to now. tola? >> reporter: noreen, neal was walking the 200 block of mount vernon avenue around 7:00 yesterday evening when two men approached him. one of them showed a handgun, demanded money and shot him several times. as they were running off, a neighbor went outside see what was going on. police tell us that neighbor also got shot on virginia avenue as he was running toward mountain vernon avenue. the latest reason do neal is that he is in stable condition at wake forest baptist medical center and the neighbor has been released from the hospital.

are really shaken up over this. >> we haven't had this type of -- this type of crime in that area. that is not to say it has never been, but in the recent past, we ain't really have had that type of crime. we had lar larcenies and break-ins and this type of thing. >> reporter: police say they still have no suspects. a private source is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people involved in the shooting. live in danville, tola adamson, abc 13 news. >> thank you, tola. a judge has set a trial date for the nelson county sheriff lieutenant charged with felony election fraud. billy mays one of three candidates who ran for sheriff last year. a grand jury indicted him in november after an investigation into a citizens complaint found they didn't live in nelson county. a campbell county judge will hear this case. it is set for march 31. the charlottesville commonwealth southernattorney is the special prosecutor in this case.

surveillance picture here. the bedford county sheriff's office say this man is wanted in a breaking and entering at axle electronics in forest. in break-in took place january 15. if you know who this man is, you can call or text crimestoppers. the phone number to call is 1-888-798-5900. or text your anonymous tip to cv -- text plus your tip to 274637. today marks a significant anniversary on the south side. it has been two years since that 39,000-ton coal ash spilled into the dan river. as a result of this spill, duke energy pleaded guilty of nine violations of the clean water act and reached a settlement agreement with the city of danville. duke energy gave abc 13 a look at their coal ash removal operation last month 37 operation last month operation last month. they are taking the coal ash by

the landfill the subject of a lot of contention in campbell county is one of the items on the agenda at the board of supervisors meeting. complaining of the stench coming from the landnil russberg and they do not want to see it expand. john hardy president of the landjohn hardy president of the landfill citizens group has requested time to inform the board of the impact that regional services authority landfill is having on this community. a very narrow victory for hillary clinton in iowa last night. and a bitter surprise on the republican side as well. the top two finishers had to say about the caucuses. and why v dot is making a change on the street lights for

-- ro valleyroanoke and the new river valley. the presidential candidates are in new hampshire right now after tight races in iowa last night. in fact it took until this afternoon for hillary clinton to

side with a vote separated by well under 1%. the iowa democratic party calls it the closest caucus in its history. on the republican side, ted cruz took home the win beating out donald trump. both candidates were looking at the positive last night. >> that is the most votes ever cast for any republican primary winner. >> we finished second, and i want to tell you something, i am just honored. >> noreen: many experts thought it was a good showing for marco rubio came in a close third behind trump. sweet prior college is getting a significant gift for its environmental science program. the judith has kell brewer fund awarded the college a two-part gift, one is $500,000 over three years and the other a $500,000 challenge grant to be matched by other college donors. one of the programs it will help

station that collects atmospheric data. the picture you are looking at, the station. you may see v dot crews out on the roads working to improve your safety. v-dot will start installing traffic signal back plates on major roads in the heart of you can kind of see in this picture the back plate helps make the lights easier to see. the roads they are going to put these on include route 29, 460, 220 220, 58 and 11. v-dotv dot says drivers can expect possible lane closures when they are doing this work. it is scheduled to start this week. you definitely are going to

george is forecasting a 100% i have got to tell you, i am actually looking forward to a big downpour tomorrow, i have not had a chance to wash the salt off my car. i am hoping that will help it a bit but won't get under it. >> george: a lot of us will enjoy the full car wash for tomorrow and melt away some of the big snow piles that are still left in some of the parking lots. some of that rain will be heavy, and the rain will be moving in during the morning, and the rain as far as the timeline, the heaviest of the rain, the rain window of that will be between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. >> pretty much all day.

rain totals are going to average between a half inch and two inches. this is going to be a soaking rain. you may even hear thunder and lightning is possible. what it looks like for you as far as the timing of rain. going to stop this at 3 a.m. and, of course, many of us will be asleep in the middle of the night, but if you do have some work very early in the morning, jition see some areas of light rain during the first part of the morning. ben you wake up, a look at 8 a.m. already moderate to heavy rain ongoing, i-81, roanoke and blacksburg. if you were driving west, you will be driving into heavier rain and if you were driving east, you will drive out of it. toward and after 8 a.m., all of this will be increasing heavier rain. there is going to be some lightning and thunder mixed in. this shows that you at lunchtime on your wednesday, a lot of heavy rain ongoing across the heart of virginia into early afternoon right through here. you can see heavy rains still falling. the yellows, oranges and reds.

have finished. off to the east making its way toward richmond and the coastline and during the eveningcoastline and during the evening, wednesday evening, we will see completely dry weather, so your thursday then looks dry. if you have something planned outside tomorrow, i would reschedule it for thursday and friday. as far as the rainfall totals, a futurecast computer model and notice that it is very consistent and showing a lot of one-inch amounts across the heart of virginia. over an inch for lynchburg and nelson county. roanoke near an inch of rain. showing a few two-inch totals toward the area purple toward south side. i think all of us should get a half inch of rain with one to two-inch rain totals seeing the most common. the big snow piles will be didisappearing in the parking lot with the rain. overnight tonight. cloudy, cool and humid. if you have to run some errands, possible to get drizzle on your windshield but not see anything heavy. the temperatures will stay in the 40s.

warm into the 60s. there is going be too strong south wind. it is going to be a windy day, and at times winds will be gusting over 20 miles per hour, but it is also going to help to warm us up. you can see reaching the upper 50s at lunchtime and through the afternoon with the increasing heavier rain during the late morning and afternoon. by 7 p.m., almost all the rain should be out of our area. highs around the heart of virginia well into the 60s. lynchburg, 63. danville at 66. the seven-day forecast show coldthe seven-day forecast show colder and drier weather for thursday, friday and saturday, but not too bad for february. we will see highs mostly in the 40s. lows in the 20s. and we will keep with the cool weather for next week with chances for a few small showers, mainly monday and tuesday. >> noreen: all right, george. three-time nascar champion tony stewart is in the hospital. the latest details on that. virginia tech and liberty have big conference game tonight

hi, everybody, three-time nascar sprint champion tony stewart has been hospitalized with a back injury after an all-terrain vehicle accident on a west coast. a stewart haas speaksman said nonracing accident and that stewart is being evaluated in an undisclosed hospital and able to move all extremitymove all extremities. no further details were given

be updated again until thursday. stewart is slated to retire at the end of this season. he turns 45 in may. up hired a new coach, mark poston. coached four seasons, before coming to nelson, he coached at eastern month comery leading the mustangs to four playoff experiences including the state title game. mark poston hired as new hoed coach at rockledge county. playing at syracuse. they need to play much better than they did sunday night blown out by 19. after starring 4-1 in acc play. tech has dropped to 4-5. 12-10 overall. the liberty flames won four in a row and host winthrop tonight. the eagle are 8-3. and wlshtion u is tied for 5th

at 6 at 6-5. >> this group has a huge buy-in and what it tells me most is their buy-in is starting to develop an attitude of belief and this is very healthy. tomorrow night, 9 tomorrow night, 9th ranked virginia returns home to face boston college. the eagles are 0 the eagles are 0-8 in the ac c. 7-14 overall. a game you expect the cavs to winwin but in the acc you learn not to take any game for grantedto take any game for granted. >> records don't matter as much as you think because the separation is smaller than most people think. so wake forest only had one win in the conference. and we were -- you know, on the ropes or on -- maybe flat on our back at the 8 count and miraculously got lifted up. nine days ago all pro line nine days ago all pro linebacker thomas davis suffered a broken right forearm in the championship game. he had surgery and responded well to treatment.

the field in sunday's super bowlthe field in sunday's super bowl. >> i thought thomas looked very good in practice. he used that hand, that arm, and, again, one of the concerns with it is really what would happen if he had to deliver a blow using his -- to deliver a shock, and he seemedshock, and he seemed to weather that. yesterday very nicely. johnny manziel's time with the cleveland browns is reportedly coming to an end. the team released a statement critical of his 2014 first-round draft pick who made more headlines off the field than on. last weekend police were called for an alleged assault involving manziel and his ex-girlfriend.

him march 9 when the amazement square in downtown lynchburg is facing some setbacks. tonight at 7:00, what is causing the delay behind their education center expansion. plus, iowans went to the polls last night in record numbers.