we begin with breaking news from lima, peru. that's where joran van der sloot has just entered a guilty plea to the 2010 murder of a 21- year-old peruvian woman that he met at a casino. the woman was killed exactly five years after the

disappearance of american teenager natalee holloway. holloway vanished during a senior class trip to aruba in 2005 and van der sloot remains the main suspect in that case. thank you for joining us, i'm j.c. hayward. at this hour montgomery county police are looking for two armed bandits after an early morning home invasion. the siege happened on barden road near cedar lane, and that's where we'll kind our dealia gonzalez with more information. reporter: police say it was around 7:00 this morning, the housekeeper inside heard a knock at the door. when she went to answer the door, two masked gunmen forced their way in. >> how can it be possible in this area? we just never have any kind of issues like this. reporter: neighbors are simply stunned, an armed home invasion in their quiet bethesda community. >> they tied up three people inside the house, rummaged through the house, took various property. we're not sure what was taken at this point. reporter: the 9200 block of

barden as families were getting ready for work and school, members of this family were praying for their lives. what did they use to tie those folks up, do you know? >> items around the house, i'd rather not go into it at this point. reporter: an ambulance takes the housekeeper to the hospital for minor injuries. a mom and teenaged son shaken, but okay. neighbors are now rethinking their own safety. >> very scary now. i'm thinking about what they can take from my house, even though [ indiscernable ] reporter: police tell us the suspects took off in the housekeeper's car. right now they are looking for those two men in her vehicle. it is a gray ford expedition, maryland tag 4ae7450. police tell us it has a mcdaniel college sticker in the back window. they say do not take any action. these men are armed, just call police right away. in bethesda, dealia gonesales, 9 news now. our bruce lashan is

following this story and he'll have more information on what residents and police are doing on 9 news now beginning at 5:00. residents living in the district's american university park neighborhood are going to meet tomorrow to talk about a string of robberies that have been occurring. police say that three people were mugged in the area just minutes apart over the weekend. residents say that they have asked police to increase patrols. >> step up your patrols, we'd like to see you more at night as opposed to during the day when you're doing your ticketing. >> police tell 9 news now that they are aware of the happenings. they say that they're planning strategies to deploy more officers to that neighborhood. well, the republican race for the white house now moves to south carolina with mitt romney leading the group. he is now 2-2 after winning new hampshire and iowa, but randall

pinkston reports from colombia it is a state with a whole new set of challenges. reporter: mitt romney took a victory lap in new hampshire before heading south for his toughest battle yet, a win in south carolina hinges on support from both conservatives and evangelicals. >> we were winning among all those groups, so if i could duplicate that elsewhere, i could become the nominee. sure hope so. reporter: the biggest critic on the campaign trail, newt gingrich is already on the ground in south carolina after fishing fourth last night. this is the most important election of our lifetime. reporter: ron paul is favoring his second place showing in new hampshire. >> i come in second or third, and all of a sudden people say, oh, he's not electable. i don't know how that adds up. reporter: while they were in the back of the pack in new hampshire, rick santorum and rick perry have an edge with the large evangelical population in south carolina. but veterans will also influence the next primary.

quarter of republican voters in south carolina served in the military and the battle for their political support is under way. >> south carolina has got one of the largest military populations of any state in the country, a lot of retirees here. reporter: this group of war veterans doesn't know who to vote for, but is looking for a candidate strong on defense. >> those are the two we're probably focusing on right now. reporter: and who are they? >> let's keep that top secret. reporter: by the end of the day, all of the gop candidates will be battling in south carolina with just 10 days to go before voters have their say. randall pinkston, cbs news, colombia, south carolina. >> after spending weeks campaigning in new hampshire, jon huntsman came in third last night. well, this evening activists will ask for more answers at a meeting being held at fort dietrichs restoration advisory board. the meeting is being held by them. they believe that crews working

at the fort two months ago were not wearing protective gear. those workers noticed a smell while they were drilling in area b, and then the drilling was stopped. activists say that the odor is coming from an area known to be contaminated with toxins. they question whether the workers were protected and whether the fort delayed in notifying the public about that incident. dozens of people lined the roads of woodsboro, maryland this morning to honor a local soldier who was killed in afghanistan. 30-year-old army specialist ronald wildrinks body was flown to dover air force base. a motorcade brought his body back to his home and burial at arlington national cemetery.

he was killed by an ied on december 10th. a car bomb in iran killed a nuclear scientist. it is the latest in a series of attacks on researchers. tina krauss reports that iranian authority thes say the west is -- authorities say the west is to blame and is targeting its nuclear program, but a word of caution, some of the images we're going to show you are disturbing. reporter: security forces in at tehran surrounded the car targeted in a deadly attack. police say two assailants on a motorcycle stuck magnetic bombs to the car of a nuclear scientist. i saw the bike speed by this witness says. they were wearing black hats and had something in their hands. authorities say the scientist worked at a key nuclear facility. he is the fourth nuclear expert to die in a car bomb attack in two years. iranian officials accuse israel of dispatching hit squads to try to destroy its nuclear

program. israeli officials deny the allegations but have hinted about covert campaigns. on tuesday israel's military chief of staff said iran should expect more unnatural events in 2012. the u.s. and its allies are pressuring iran to stop enriching uranium. they believe it's being used to develop a nuclear bomb. but tehran contends its program is peaceful, designed only to produce electricity. tina krauss, cbs news. iranian officials claimed earlier this week that they are expanding nuclear operations south of the capital with more high tech equipment. still to come when 9 news now at noon continues, specks everyday for a week? find out why pastors say that could lead to a happy marriage. and the road to the white house goes through south

carolina. find out what republican candidates are facing as they fight for the chance to unseat president barack obama.

news from new hampshire, it is very clear that mitt romney has momentum. the question is how will he fare in south carolina. and with me now is republican political analyst to talk about

that rana jackson. >> how are doing, j.c.? thanks for having me. >> no surprises in new hampshire, mitt romney was an easy win. >> not at all. reporter: how about ron paul. >> new hampshire is killing me for a ron paul candidacy because he's independent, he is against the establishment and new hampshire is notorious for antiestablishment. so that fits ron paul quite well. >> so you think in south carolina how will he do? >> you're going to see his numbers start to go down because south carolina, he's a little bit out of the mainstream for south carolina conservative voters there because ron paul is a libertarian. he doesn't get into abortion and all those things. that's what they care about in south carolina on the republican primary. so i would think ron paul is going to do third or fourth in south carolina. >> are you surprised about newt gingrich and where he's placing right now? >> no, i'm not surprised because newt has been in

political office for so long he has an exhaustive record that you can go after. and so newt, the speech he gave after iowa, he was angry as heck, and the voters don't want an angry candidate, so the voters think -- >> he was surprised. >> exactly. >> he was shocked. >> i don't know why. but people want a candidate that's going to offer hope, optimism and solutions and newt seems to be a spoiler candidate. >> you know all the candidates are going now, of course, after the frontrunner, mitt romney. mitt romney is focusing his attention on the president coming out stating that the president is the one who took away jobs, closed factories because the other candidates have been targeting him because of his background. >> what i found amazing about last night, newt looked very -- not newt, mitt romney, he looked very presidential last

night. i was amazed because his iowa speech was a disaster. >> you thought so. >> yeah. and you know what the difference was? >> what. >> in iowa he talked extemporaneously, they took down the teleprompter and last night he used a teleprompter. isn't that the same thing as accusing president obama for using a teleprompter. >> yeah, but a teleprompter comes in handy. >> you in the media knows using a teleprompter is not all that bad and it's not as easy as it looks either. >> no, it's not. mitt romney, however, is still getting criticism for that statement that i like to fire people and the statement -- >> it was taken out of context. >> it was taken out of context because he was talking about insurance companies and people having the right to be able to fire an insurance company if they don't provide the service that they need. that's really what he was saying. >> no question. >> he wasn't talking about firing people across the board. >> but what i find ironic about that is the republicans are swiftboating one of their own, meaning what the republicans

did to john kerry in 2004, using his military career as a liability, republicans are trying to use mitt romney's business experience as a negative. >> yeah, they are. >> and that's the game plan for the obama reelection team in the general against mitt romney. now, he had better learn how to deal with that issue a lot better because he has nothing to be ashamed of of being a entrepreneur and a venture capitalist who buys and sells companies. they're supposed to lay off people if it makes sense. >> did you hear what you just said? mitt romney in the general. we'll talk about that a little bit later. you already made up your mind. >> thank you, randy jackson. >> thank you, j.c. coming up howard will have the forecast. stay with us. warmer and dryer. a cool rain. it's light right now, but we could get into some heavier rain later on. in fact, a couple of showers showing up on live doppler 9,000 hd, winchester, parts of southern maryland as well. we'll take a closer look and

detail that seven-day forecast. it's going to get colder. 9 news now at noon returns in just a moment.

hostess brands, the maker of twinkies and wonder bread is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. the company says troubles with its pension and medical benefits obligations and increased competition, they were just too much. hostess will continue to run

bakeries, outlet stores and distribution centers and deliver its goods during the restructuring period. two texas pastors are taking a radical approach to encourage more intimacy in marriage. tracy cormet has more on bheas being called the sex therapist. >> far too long that the church has kicked the bed out and god out of the bed. reporter: but at this church in grapevine, a bed is front and center and the subject will be sex within marriage. >> it's all about recognizing the importance of sex. >> we're trying to put the bed back in church and god back in the bed. i was thinking about starting at 6:00 a.m. >> and i agree. >> pastors ed and lisa young will not only be preaching about sex and marriage, but this friday they'll also spend 24 hours in bed on top of their massive grapevine megachurch, encouraging married couples to have more sex. >> so basically the bible says and god says i made love so you

can make love in marriage. reporter: they're trying to help couples reestablish the special bond, many husbands and wives put on the back burner. >> for years people have carried their own sexual baggage into reading about sex in the bible, they've only talked about the don't dos instead of the dos. married for 40 years with four children, the couple believes sex connects and asks couples to have sex for seven days in a row, calling it a sex-piriment. >> this is about intimacy. >> something they say their congregation was clamoring for. >> you actually said i want to challenge you to seven days of sex, the men stood and gaving a standing ovation. reporter: the experiment is based on ed and lees' new book at how fatigue, boredom and kids can lead to a marriage's demise and how sex can start the rekindlement. >> sometimes in this experiment you need the java. >> there is a way to do it right, a way to do it successfully.

reporter: the couple also shares personal ways to make your partner desire more sex. >> that's good, isn't it? >> we always like to say what god created is never x-rated. reporter: the pastors say it's a gift from god meant to please your greatest love of a lifetime. >> i think we've looked at sex too casually. it's not a kawsh thing -- casual thing, it's a profound thing, definitely not a profane thing. >> okie dokey. >> maybe there's something do it. maybe it's a book publicity thing, i don't know. >> it won't hurt them if you buy their book. >> no. but we'll certainly hear more about this i'm sure. rain is in your forecast. >> yeah. we've got a batch of rain now. i think we'll have a break and then steadier rains come in later this afternoon and tonight, kind of decent day tomorrow and then it is going to get down right wintery cold around here friday, saturday and sunday. i'm warning you now, j.c., the hats, gloves and scarves, highs only look like they're in the 30s those three days.

here's a look at day planner this afternoon, it's a wet one. on and off showers for a few hours before it gets steadier. temperatures will actually drop a little bit and come back into the mid-40s, 44, 45 somewhere in that range with east to southeast winds five to 10, maybe a little bit stronger than that as we head into the evening hours. and temperatures will be steady or maybe slowly rising tongt into the -- tonight into the potentially upper 40s by tomorrow morning. the rain? well, we've been watching the clouds. first we had a nice sunrise. here come the clouds. one batch here, then a break and then more rain back to the south and west. it'll be here a little bit later during the afternoon. but we're going to go live to doppler 9000hd now to show you the rain has come and gone for the moment around culpepper and many areas in the shenandoah valley where there was sleet mixed in at times earlier. rain right on top of the region, the entire metro seeing it. generally light, but we do have pockets of heavier showers, potentially a little bit of sleet might be mixing in, but temperatures are above freezing, so not a concern other than the wet roads here, north of winchester coming in

toward jefferson and berkeley counties into west virginia. so traveling up and down 81, 340, route 7 coming out of loudoun county, it's going to be wet as well. loudoun county seeing some of those lighter rain areas, also in fairfax. now, in southern fairfax, coming out of prince william, this is coming up the river here over towards lorton and mason neck. this is going to track up towards alexandria, clinton, brandywine, maybe over towards national harbor in the next 20 minutes or so as everything is lifting northeast pretty quickly. showers just west of mechanicsville noun, st. mary's county into leonardtown, benedict, st. leonard, plump point, prince fredrick, you folks in cal bert county, you will get that. there's another shower up to dahl gren maybe in another 30 minutes or so. we got some action now, but looks like it's going to be much more active later on this afternoon and tonight. look how cool it is. i'll step out of the way and you can see the cold temperatures still in the mid- 30s but above freezing in the

shenandoah valley, still 32 in cumberland and petersberg, so there could be some icing in isolated there. we're in the mid-40s right now, as we look outside at our michael and son weather cam. visibility not that bad with the light rain and a temperature of 45. dewpoint 37, so with the rain, we'll cool a little bit and then come on back and the winds right now they are light and calm. snow up in the northern plains a sign of the colder air moving in. and then look at all of this rain that is is across the tennessee and ohio valleys. carolinas, this is all going to lift toward us and that's why i'm anticipating a rather wet evening. so the commute later. you're at work, that commute home could be nice and slow and not just traffic, we've got rain, waves of rain becoming steadier and heavier late this afternoon, this evening. some of the rain locally heavy at times until about midnight when the bulk of it pushes away from us. tomorrow we get into a break, but late tomorrow some more showers develop out ahead of a very strong cold front that should come in tomorrow night, friday 3:00 a.m. rain showers here with snow in

the mountains. then the cold is going to be here for several days, mountain snows. you got ski plans this weekend, you picked a winner. they're going to get plenty of snow, they're going to make plenty of snow. 45, rainy tomorrow an early shower. could be another shower in the afternoon, but mild 57. friday 36 with a chance for some snow showers, especially in the mountains. the weekend is chilly, low- to mid-30s with some flurries sunday and then back to 40 by monday. stick around, we're going to the kitchen when 9 news now at noon returns.

well, i misspoke, no kitchen today, but we've got rain this afternoon and it's going to be heavy at times. and topper will have an update tonight on 9 news now at 5:00. >> thanks for being with us.