. i took off running. >> the life of an addict. tonight dr. fill's intervention expert a former expert himself takes it to the local streets. plus the lead detective in the lululemon murder case shares his firsthand experience. and do you consider this spanking or abuse? this is 9news now. >> 23 million. that's how many people in this

country are addicted to drugs or alcohol. that according to one recent estimate. that is nearly the population of the state of texas. so tonight in a special report, we sit down with interventionist jody gammal. she helps families addicted to drugs or alcohol who gets help. she saves young souls who are hooked. >> as the sun sets on the scenic waterways of annapolis, a darker side to life in maryland's capitol city emerges. drug dealers, many selling crack cocaine come out on a street corner. it's where her little dog lucy has rescued addicts and the brink of self destruction. one of them was stephanie who kept coming back to these streets even when her life was clearly in danger. >> one time in particular i got jumped and it pulled off my clothes. everything came off and i just took off running through the

hood naked with crack in my hand. i got away with it. they didn't get my drugs. >> stephanie was heavily addicted to crack and heroin when a friend brought her to help. she is a former addict herself. more on that later. what gammal does is videotape the getz and she gets -- gets them on the dr. phil show and the show sends them to rehab. >> is it hard? >> not harder than what i've been going through than with the drugs. nothing is harder than that to be an active addiction and not want to use. it's a nightmare. >> a nightmare she herself knows well. the child of addicts, she started abusing alcohol and marijuana in her early teens. as an adult, she became a registered nurse and then diverted or stole prescription drugs from hospitals. >> i did it as a young nurse. my first percocet was stolen at

my first job as an rn. i loved it. it was just like nirvana. >> she continued abusing prescription drugs even after her children were born. she remembers driving them years ago in their baby car seats heavily under the influence. >> i did not feel i was putting my children at risk at the time. and that's the addict part of the brain that is high jacked. your sense of responsibility is gone. >> i was on amphetamines. >> and that's the way she ended up on the dr. phil show, a desperate mom drowning in addiction. she got help she couldn't otherwise afford and has since brought 12 others on the show. stephanie is one of them. she has relapsed one but is clean against and has no desire to go back to that. >> when i'm sober and healthy and happy and free, i don't ever want to be anywhere that's like

that place back there. >> the stories of her life and work are chronicled in this book the interventionist. she still does several interventions a week across the dc metro area and up and down the east coast. if you need her, there is a link in this story on our website wusa9.com. new at 11:00 right now, crews working in an apartment fire in prince george's county. sky9 out over the scene in the 3900-block of hubbard road. about one dozens folks had to standout in the cold as crews managed to put out the blaze inside their three story. it's an institution perhaps as old as corporal punishment after hundreds of thousands of you have seen the video. it features a texas dad who is a county judge and has a daughter who at one point broke the rules

but what happened after that is so graphic we're going to warn you this is tough to watch. our ken molestina reports. >> ben over the [ bleep ] bed. >> ou. >> reporter: it's the video going viral online. and it's sparking debate over whether this is a crime or a punishment. >> i'm going to spank you into submission. >> reporter: the video wads taken seven years ago. the man is william adams, a texas judge and he's being cleared of any charges because the statute of limitation has expired according to texas officials. >> stop. >> bend over the bed. >> reporter: he's seen hitting his daughter hillary adams for illegally downloading music on a computer. she was 16 years old when it happened. now 23, she spoke about why she chose to release this video. >> i want my father to get all the help that he can get. he really, really needs it. i think he is a broken person. he just needs so much support. >> i lost my temper. i spanked her. she wasn't hurt. >> reporter: earlier he maintained he did

right by spanking his daughter. >> in my mind, i haven't done anything wrong other than disciplined my child after she was caught stealing. >> reporter: do you acknowledge the beating was excessive. >> no. i'm not going to get into any of that. >> reporter: the images sparked outrage with people throughout the country. local family therapist susan ward was one of them. >> it looks like it has nothing to do with corporal punishment or discipline. it looks like a violent attack by a man who is completely out of control. >> reporter: howard phillips with the consere caucus disagrees. >> i think the people who decry spanking have an inappropriate wimpish view of how to raise your child. >> reporter: if the statute of limitations not passed, he would have been hit with abuse charges. his daughter was disabled because he was taking her car

away. it is filling our facebook page and head over there and tell us what you think. he's accused of beating and stabbing his estranged wife to death as they slept and then killing her 11-year-old son with a baseball bat. tonight prosecutors are calling curtis lopez a premeditated killer. the motive, they say, was part of a plan to steel jane mcquain's car for his new est girlfriend. after he murdered her, he went and picked up william from a sleepover. police say surveillance video from a gas station in clarksburg that showed the final moments before the boy died. >> evidence like dna takes time to develop. william's body was found. serious injuries to this child. about 100 yards from where that video was shot in the gas station. >> and police also found a bloody baseball bat just a few feet away from where lopez allegedly used it to beat his

stepson to death. a public defender argued the evidence in this case is circumstantial but a judge found it compelling and given what he calls lopez's horrendous criminal history, he refused to set any bill that would get him out of jail pending this trial. i know the trauma our family has been through. i want no other family to go through this. >> one day after the jury find brittany norwood guilty in the murder of jayna murray, the ceo of the lululemon athletica story leased a statement and it reads we are pleased to see justice done and hope that this verdict brings a small measure of piece and closure to the tragic events that occurred last march. we hope this provides some peace to the murray family and the bethesda community. and outside the apple store in bethesda, somebody laid out flowers depicting the number 331. that's the number of injuries she suffered at the hands of

norwood. montgomery county police captain calls the killing one of the most horrendous crimes he's ever investigated, and he's been with the department for 23 years. >> what it shows us was that somebody was extremely, extremely agitated and that this was a personal attack. >> a judge will sentence norwood january 27th. she faces life without the possibility of parole. the defense has the right to appeal within 30 days of that sentencing. it started with strep throat and ended with emergency amputation. that is what happened to their 6-year-old son. >> i wish i would have shown him. no kid should have to go through this. >> eric's mother took him to baltimore medical center but he was sent home with tylenol. the next day they had to amputate his legs just to stop a spreading a blood infection. now they are seeking damages in

excess of $30,000 but say it will take millions for a lifetime of medical care. >> when she mentioned that his tonsils were extremely swollen, i had asked if she would do a strep and she said there was no need. >> instead they discharged eric with an erroneous and really a garbage bag diagnosis. >> the family blames the hospital and 33-year-old dr. kendria hall for not stopping the infection. the statement says the care he received was thorough and appropriate. eric's symptoms were simply not consistent with or indicative of this very aggressive form of infection. still ahead tonight, new information from the herman cain scandal. why we could hear from one of his accusers very soon. >> that is coming up. topper. >> well, some clouds on the increase overnight. here is your wakeup weather. there could be a couple of

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we should find out in a few hours if one of the women accusing herman cain of impropriety will be able to deny the allegations. those have been the biggest political news of the week but should they be. as walter mondale asks, where is the beef? gary nurenberg with our meat and potatoes on this one. >> reporter: derek, three women now have in one form or another accused herman cain of sexually harassing them when they all worked at the national restaurant association. two took money to be quiet about it. cain has denied the allegations because none of the women have come forward to say this is me, this is what specifically herman cain did to me. is the press being fair to report the unproven generality? you've seen him being chased by reporters after he changed his original version of his denial. >> i think so far it's been fair but probably over the top. >> reporter: the story didn't change much thursday. the lawyer for one of the women

who took money from the national restaurant association after accusing cain of harassment says she'll ask for permission to break her confidentiality agreement to refute his denial. >> it will not identify her and she will not be going public in anyway, shape or form. >> reporter: political reporters said one of the women got $45,000 settlement. another got $35,000 according to the new york times. so the specific allegations are still secret. >> it is a complicated story. and when you don't have people willing to go on the record, make those statements in public, there is a little issue of how much credence you can give to them. but i think herman cain's reaction to that over the last few days has caused him some harm. >> reporter: dotty lynch, american universits news. >> we know stories about sex sell. and a lot of news organizations

know if they do that story, or they think anyhow, they'll get more viewers than if they do some story about issues. >> reporter: this is about the president of the united states. the three women want to influence that election about a man that would be president. but none of them has said this is who i am and this is what he did. it makes it hard to find the truth. we should find out tomorrow if the restaurant association will allow one of the women to break the confidentiality agreement to make a statement refuting cain's version of things. but even if the association says yes, the woman's lawyer says she will do it anonymously. anita. rock, hammer and fire bombs. those were some of the things hurled at police in california. it happened during one of the occupy protests in oakland last night. the city says that during the day things were pretty calm. but once night fell, it turned

to chaos. >> they should have bludgeoned them as far as i'm concerned. tear gas them. give them what they want. they want policeman reaction, go ahead. let the police have fun. >> police arrested 40 people last night. four people ended up in the hospital. several businesses damaged in all of the chaos. today notes were left on some of the damaged properties apologizing on behalf of the "99%". well, tonight investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a fire that turned a home into aspen hill into a death trap. 67-year-old sandra vedus died in the blaze. her husband survived but he's got serious injuries. it took several firefighters to put out the fire early this morning. the homeowners alleged hording could have played a part in the fire. >> it's a mess. i was just talking to the fire marshal and he said this is a textbook example of what some even older people tend to do is

to horde all kind of stuff and it comes back to haunt you. >> indeed it can at times. now, fire investigators say the family had no working fire alarms. two firefighters were also hurt. their injuries are non-life-threatening. you've seen all of the food on our set. well, wusa9.com nine is trying to do our part to help local families in need. it is time for food drive 9th. we teamed up with the boy scouts to make donating food so easy. there is no reason not to do it. this saturday scouts will drop off bags. one week later they'll be back to pick up the bag, hopefully full of non-perishable food. in the district they'll be at safe way food. on december 12th, it goes to the area food bank. and i know i was there earlier this week, and they are just needing this like crazy. again, all of the places they serve that they put the food out to are in desperate need. >> they are. and we're making it prelted ee easy for -- pretty easy for the boy scouts. we'll try to make it nice when

they pick it up. we'll do our best. let's talk about what is going to happen. we have a weak storm system. this is the same storm that pounded denver earlier in the week. gave them ten inches of snow. for the most part, the moisture and this energy is going to actually die to the south of us. not to say we won't see some clouds overnight. not to say we may not see a shower by dawn. especially south and east of town. but while it looks pretty impressive right now, for the most part it will get to about richmond and then slide on out to sea. so the best chance for showers tomorrow morning. on your way to work or maryland would be in that area. in the meantime, we have high clouds moving in. you see some green he can co owes to the -- echos to the west of us. they're not reaching the ground. maybe a morning shower. best chance will be south and east of town. cooler but nice on friday. it will become a little windy in the afternoon. cold for high school football. if you leave the house before the sun goes down, it won't feel that cold. when you get in the bleachers,

it will. especially second half. dress appropriately. it's going to be in the 40s throughout most of of the game. and for the terps it will be nice but mostly sunny skies. let's talk about tonight. overnight mostly cloudy and chilly. slight chance of a showers of the lows in the 40s. winds southwest at so. becoming northeast at ten by dawn. by morning a shower possible south and east. but then becoming partly cloudy, breezy and cool. temperatures in the 40s and 50s. winds turn north, northeast at 10-15. and then by afternoon they pick up. mostly sunny, breezy and cooler. grab a light jacket and shades before you leave the house. highs near 60 but with the winds north, northeast at 10-20, it will feel more like it's in the low 50s. keep that in mind. i think some areas will hit 50 but 58 in rockville, 58 in bowie. 58 in reston. herndon probably 58 and 58 also in sterling. so we'll break it down for you. we have a slight chance for a shower in the morning. temps in the 40s and then nice

by noon. plenty of sunshine by evening. little cooler, little breezy. temperatures 56-61. now, the next three days, we'll keep it going on saturday. temps only about 53. got the heart walk in the morning. we'll be out there at 10:00 nats park. you get to set your clocks back one hour and please replace the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. next week temps are going to go up. we're looking at temps in the 60s. 68 by tuesday. maybe some more showers as we get into tuesday night and wednesday. we said it earlier. 96% of the home have smoke detectors but 20% do not work because of the batteries. >> have to change them. >> thanks, topper. you may have been looking for hoops stick because there is no nba. well, this is the next best thing. >> next best thing. i don't know how best it's going to be or how good they're going to be. >> the terps open their exhibition game tomorrow night. but we have a lot to see of what

mark turczn did with the team. he has to rebuild the entire team between graduation, the nba draft and injuries, he is left with eight players. that means the other seven are walk on. seven of them. that's a tough task for any coach. he has a lot of work ahead of him. >> what we've worked on is defense this week. our offense will look probably pretty ugly tomorrow night. if we don't guard tomorrow night and we don't run back on defense tomorrow night, i'm going to be concerned. >> and on their first game trip, the capitals lost their first two games of the season. now they head off for their 1 back-to-back road game. and in that situation, momentum is key. >> it's really nice to get the first one. you really want to get the first one. then the second day you're feeling good about yourself and you try to carry the previous

night into the next night. >> redskins have a shot this weekend to salvage their season but it's not going to be easy. our redskin ion siders are hear and will join me after the break.

welcome back, everybody, to 9news. i'm joined now by redskins analyst and 9 sports insider. here once again this week to break down sunday's redskins matchup against san francisco. going into this game, the redskins are 3-4 on a 3-game skid. david, how important is this game if the redskins want to salvage their season? >> i think it's more important than last week. >> their backs are against the wall. >> their backs are against the wall. when i look at this game, i think no one wants to say must win but this is a must win. they lose this game, they can cancel christmas. >> and injuries have played a big part in all of this. but considering their shutout or getting shutout last weekend, what do you guys blame? is it the players not playing what they're told to play or the coaches not coaching the way they should be? >> you always hear execution. i don't know how much of that i

buy. i buy injuries. i buy coaching. >> right. >> i buy the fact that they don't have the best players. we didn't think they were going to be a great team. they're not a great team. >> i blame the person that put the team together. if someone gets hurt, you should have somebody be able to step up. you're going to drop off that much and you chose the wrong person. the coach and the players have to change some blame because they're the guys on the court making it happen. >> the injuries is out of their control, but you have to be able to back them up there. go into the game. the 49ers have alex smith at qb and then they have the machine named frank gore running over everybody. bryan, what is going to be the key? what do the redskins need to do to win the game? >> they need to stop the run. the thing they haven't done is stop the run. i think the redskins cannot stop the run, this will be another loss. and it may be worse than the loss they had last week. david. >> i don't think the 9ers can

score as much as the redskins can. they're going to get yards, you just can't let them score. >> i think i know where this one is going. we'll break it down anyway. david, let's start with offense. >> a couple of weeks ago might have been great. redskins offense is down right now. >> 49ers. the redskins can't run the ball. >> david, defense. >> 9ers are playing great run. carlos rogers aur own friend has as many pick. >> i go with the defense of the 49ers. when you stop the run like they do. you're going to make the redskins pass the football which is going to say let's get some more. >> and coaching? >> i have been converted by bryan mitchell. i'm going with with jim harbaugh who is coach of the year. >> and i definitely agree with that. they're 6-1. let's get it straight. this is his first year as a coach. i think the 49ers have a much better coaching staff. >> you guys are going with 49ers

all the way. prediction time i'm going 49ers 17-10. >> i'm going 24-13. >> i'm going 24-9. >> bryan mitchell, david elston, thanks so much. [ man ] i got this citi thank you card

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against the redskins again. she's been right three weeks in a row. >> good night, everybody. let's hope for the better. ♪

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