in a story you'll only see on 9. kristen. >> derek, the couple actually e-mailed us this morning to tell us about their close call. boy, it was close. their original itinerary actually had them still on the ship, that faithful friday night. they changed their plans at the last minute and they missed it by just ten hours. >> the titanic always comes up, but in a jokingly manner. you don't imagine it to happen. >> three days ago, emily and leanard were wrapping up a romantic cruise in the met train january. they took this video on their last night. little did they know, it was also the last night their ship would be afloat. around the same time it was crashing into rocks, leanard was giving emily this rock. they disembarked just hours earlier. >> it is surreal. you don't really expect to see

the boat you just stepped off of half way under water. >> but looking back, the couple says there were signs that if something went wrong, it would go really wrong. for starters, they took this picture three days into the cruise. >> i think that was something that kind of struck us as odd. that it took that long to actually receive an emergency preparedness drill. >> then there were the complaints from the crew. >> a few of them mentioned they were under employed. >> couple describes the feeling of chaos and confusion. pen waited by language barriers and big crowds. >> if we had problems at the buffet line every day, i can only imagine the chaos that had occurred that day. >> the couple now safely home in alexandria can't stop staring at this picture. emily and the captain holding a cocktail. >> if there's a lesson to be learned is to understood your crew's rules and pay more attention to the drill.

you really never know what could happen. >> now believe it or not, both emily and leanard say that this will not stop them from going on another cruise. next time, they will do their home work. they want to do a better job of checking out the crew's operator and paying attention to the emergency drills. t easy to gloss over them, but you see why it's so important. >> that young lady said, you never know what might happen. kristin fisher, thank you for that. >> derek, it was a baby girl, a shock a northeast resident finds. that helpless baby wrapped in a towel lost her struggle after being left alone in frigid below freezing temperatures. bruce johnson reports, police are looking for the person responsible. >> we know the week old baby girl was found on the steps on chaning street northeast. but d.c. police aren't sure when, where, or how this baby girl died. >> i seen legs hanging out,

but at that time i was in shock. i thought it was a doll or toy of some sort. >> emanuel found the infant last night and today d.c. police are looking for the mother or whomever dropped a baby girl on the steps of a home on chaning street in northeast on a frigid night. >> the 35-year-old emanuel dugger lives back there two doors away. he said it was 11:00 or 11:30 when he came outside to buy a pack of cigarettes at the shell station up there. he says it only took ten minutes, but on his way back two doors from his house, there's a towel with a baby wrapped inside right here. >> it was a baby girl. the baby was so cold. >> emanuel and his father brought the baby inside their home and performed cpr as instructed by the 911 dispatcher. the fire department transported the child to children's hospital and the infant was pronounced around 2:20 this

morning. >> ian milne was shaken. it was found on his steps. >> my wife and i are in the process of an adoption right now and that's not public knowledge. now it is, but you know, we know so many families who would love a child, any child, and it's just heartbreaking. i don't know. we're just pretty torn up about it. >> tonight, d.c. police are looking for the mother, father, any relative of this baby girl. they say an autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death. bruce johnson reporting for 9news now from northeast washington. d.c. does have a safe haven law which allows anyone to drop off a child in a safe place, if they cannot care for the child. maryland and virginia have similar laws. well we have more details that also more questions in that series of sex assaults and home invasions that happened in bethesda, wheaten.

temple hills. violent crimes all. the main suspect is going to be in front of the judge tomorrow. bruce leshan, you have been following this. there are more questions out there. >> there definitely are more questions. here is kevin ray on the maryland sex offender registry. i can make the shot big. before he landed here, he actually did 18 years in prison on a manslaughter charge and montgomery county state's attorney says if he is guilty as well, of these home invasions, he may qualify to go away for a long, long time with no chance for parole. police say ray may have been injured running from the police when they finally caught up with him in north carolina. four days, three attacks. in wheaten, he allegedly pointed a gun at a baby and stole cash in a bank card from the mom. in bethesda, he allegedly tied up a mother and son and forced the housekeeper to perform oral sex. in temple hill, she pointed a gun at another baby.

bound six people with zip ties and sexually assaulted a mother. >> things occurred in all three of them are evil. it continually got worse from one to the next to the next. i'm thankful for the hard work of men and women of both police departments that we were able to arrest this individual and give him off the streets so he couldn't hurt anyone else. >> police remain quite mysterious about a couple of things here. they decline to say much of anything about a second man that was apparently there in bethesda when kevin ray went into that home. while bank surveillance photo was a big help, they declined to say exactly how they found kevin ray. so the big question here that may get answered at the court hearing is if those two things have something to do with each other, whether the second guy might be cooperating. >> thanks for tracking it through the process. we'll have more to learn tomorrow. >> bruce, thanks. back to you guys. >> that little boy who was run

over and killed along duke street and alexandria yesterday have identified him. his name was brian hernandez who was eight years old. he and his mom were walking along a sidewalk near the landmark mall when a car driven by 22-year-old victor aldona jumped the curb and hit him. wreckless driverring. he is being held without bond. >> an eight-year-old child eludes to something so traumatic. i can't imagine what that would be like. my heart goes out to her completely. >> the boy's mother was hit. she's suffering nonlife threatening injuries. >> police are looking for two men who robbed an armored car. it happened around 8:00 this morning outside a wal-mart in the 3300 block of cain highway. the man held up a guard who had the store's weekend receipt. wearing ski masks fled the scene in a white passenger van. the van has been recovered. no one was injured. coming up tonight at 7:00,

tracking a student's every move. one new york school system announces plans to monitor students physical activity. it's all an effort to fight obesity. top. >> all right. we're looking at temperatures right now in the upper 30s to around 40. we have some precipitation rolling in here. not going to fall off the table like it did last night. 39 in manassas and 39 in leesburg. upper 30s across the board and notice you jump the divide now. just went to 37 in oakland. but southwest winds, temperatures aren't going be able to fall that far or quickly. satellite picture radar combined. the clouds coming in and you see precipitation on top of parts of our northern suburbs, not reaching the ground. the air mass is too dry. nothing is going to reach the ground until dawn tomorrow. light rain before dawn. lows in the 30s. winds will continue southwest at 10 to 15. the temperatures are going to level off and maybe go up a little bit after midnight. we'll come back and talk about a wet morning commute.

can we salvage a dry evening commute? >> see you in a few minutes. coming up, remembering the dream. civil rights leader, martin luther king, jr., is honored here in washington and all across the country. >> plus, why john huntsman abandoned his dream of capturing the republican presidential nomination. we'll be right back with this half hour of 9news now.

virginia's already crowded field for the u.s. senate has yet another candidate tonight. delegate robert g. marshall announced he is in the running. prince william county republican is one of the most conservative voices in virginia's house of delegates. the 57-year-old says supporters urged him to get in the race. former virginia governor, george allen, and several other republicans in the primary. >> jon huntsman's family beside his side as he told

supporters he is out of the race. despite focusing a will the of resources on new hampshire, huntsman finished third in that state. with that, he threw his support to former massachusetts governor, mitt romney. >> despite our differences and the space between us on some of the issues, i believe that candidate is governor mitt romney. >> romney has a comfortable lead in the south carolina polls and a win in this saturday's primary could make his nomination nearly inevitable. but his four remaining challengers are trying to convince the social conservative voters to throw votes their way. coming up on 9news now. celebrating martin luther king, jr., on this holiday.

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up to 24,000 customers. billing and shipping, phone numbers and credit card numbers may have been compromised in the breech. zappos is contacting customers by e-mail. millions of americans today celebrated the birthday of dr. martin luther king, jr. dr. king's birthday is a national holiday, but few cities celebrate it with as much passion and as many events as washington. >> the day began with a wreath laying ceremony at the mlk, stone of hope. >> happy birthday, martin. we will continue to keep the dream alive. ♪ [ music ] >> the national cathedral hosted a musical memory. celebration of service, song, and the spoken word. president obama and his family also celebrated service today in honor of dr. king.

the obama's joined volunteers at the brown education campus. the president helped build book shelves and painted quotes on the walls. mr. obama says helping others is a fitting way to celebrate dr. king's life. >> all of us can be a drum major for service, all of us can be a drum major for justice. you know, there's nobody who can't serve. >> and washington clearly wasn't the only place where the national holiday was celebrated in a big way. among countless other places in atlanta. dr. king's birthplace. hundreds of people filled the baptist church for the annual service celebrating dr. king's birthday. dr. king's birthday was yesterday. he would have turned 83 years old. rockville hosted its 40th annual martin luther king, jr., event.

singers, dancers, and artists honored the civil rights leader. community members shared their personal reflections. that is our very own j.c. hayward was the featured guest today. hopefully we get to see a shot of j.c. very good. she was there in rockville. >> grateful of the opportunity to honor the work of the service, dr. martin luther king, jr. his spirit lives. >> the public was invited to attend the free event that made possible the mayor of rockville and human rights commission. again, j.c. there at that celebration. >> windy out there. not a bad day. >> it is, but a warm wind. that's a good thing. it will keep us from any trouble overnight in terms of sleet or anything like that. that's good, but 40 to 41, that's not bad. we're going in the right direction. looking at a very weak system

rolling in tonight. good news is, it should be out of here by noon, 1:00 tomorrow. let's start with our live weather cam. there's a shot of the capital. very nice, very nice evening. it is a little breezy, but not bad. 39 officially. dew point continues to rise. that's a good sign. temperatures in the mid 20s for the dew point now and the wind out of the south at about 11. and pressure 30.33 now beginning to fall a little bit. so here's a deal. satellite picture, radar combined, we have a weak system. it's disorganized right now in the tennessee valley. the first wave of precipitation, we call over riding. it is mow moving across the mountains and looks like it's close to us. none of this is reaching the ground, at least east of the divide. so looks like there's activity north of town up into montgomery county and frederick county. there's nothing reaching the ground. the air is too dry. the air will become saturated overnight. temperatures will begin to rise a little bit and that will enable the atmosphere to sport

some rain. right now, 38 in bethesda. 38 in rockville. temperatures uniform really. 39 in college park and 38 in beltsville. when you get the southwest wind and clouds, that will keep the temperatures from falling. they fell like a rock last night. 37 great fall. 40 in sterling and 39 out toward leesburg. so here's the deal. locate your umbrella. you'll need that. breezy and not as cold tonight. light rain by dawn and again, maybe a very brief mix well north and west of town in the form of sleet. toward hagerstown and past frederick to have any brief mixtures. much milder on tuesday. in fact, we might salvage a nice afternoon with skies returning partly cloudy. by midnight tonight, see some activity over top of us, but that's not going to reach the ground just yet. it will take the second wave to get in by morning. we are looking at wet roads. nothing heavy, it's all light green. enough to wet the roads and probably slow folks down. good news s this hauls out of

here. the sky should break a little bit and looks like temperatures will soar into the mid 50s. now by wednesday, gets cold again and good news for the skiers on the west side of the divide; more snow is replaced with the valley. tonight, increasing cloudiness, not as cold. light rain before dawn. low temperatures in the 30s. by morning, cloudy, breezy, and chilly. light rain and showers. 30s and 40s and by afternoon, well i think skies are going to become partly sunny. a shower is possible. high temperatures near 55. winds out of the southwest 10 to 15. good day. all right, break it down. 30s to start. light rain. light rain ending, maybe a sprinkle that breaks in the clouds, 50 to 55 by evening. next seven days, it gets cold behind the system. temperatures in the 30s on wednesday and maybe a snow

shower on thursday. thank you. i want to hear the jingle twice. more light rain on saturday and look, milder on sunday and monday. back in the low 50s. >> we can't get a sustained cold period. >> no. >> okay. thanks top. enter speaking of cold periods, the wizards play today. >> they play today, a game they should win, but this is the wizards. an early holiday game. could they pick up win number two? plus the ravens one day away from the super bowl. those and more coming up next in sports.

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now, 9sports with kristen berset. the best sports in town. >> washington wizards got that monkey off their back last week, beating toronto for their first win. but it seems that they have regrets again. wizards hosting the houston rockets, looking for win number two. john wall finds mcgee for the beautiful hoop. nice one. ties things up at 58. under 6 minutes to go, wizards are down again. that brings him within 7, but the rockets would not lay down. wizards drop another one. 114-106. >> we have some of our main guys and feel sorry for themselves and things don't go right. we are finding some things out. when you're a main guy, all of a sudden reports are geared to stop you. how are you going to react to

those situations? >> and caps defensiveman will have abdominal surgery and expected to miss the next four to six weeks. he did injure his groin and only played ten games this season. redskins rookies have been named to the profootball weekly writers of america, all rookie team. karrkerigan didn't miss a snap. advance to the afc championship. the ravens kept their undefeated home record in tact thanks to a defensive performance. and a few mistakes early on by houston. those were the only scoring strikes by joe flacco. now they head to foxburro. they surprisingly blew out the patriots. then again, this is the patriots we're talking about. >> most explosive offense in football right now. certainly the most explosive offense left in the tournament. so that's the challenge that we

face. >> playing against a phenomenal team. so you can't make that many mistakes, otherwise you'll expose. >> timeout to reveal this week's high school game of the week poll. your choices in boys basketball. edison at georgetown. georgetown at st. andrews and for the girls, northwest at gaithersburg. >> i think the ravens got it right. they have a heck of a challenge this weekend. >> yes, they do. >> thanks very much. that's all for 9news now at 6:00. stay with wusa9. the cbs evening news is next. >> ask derek is here with your only local newscast at 7:00 and don't forget to join andrea, mike, howard at 4:25 a.m. 9news now starts. as always, wusa9.com is on. we'll see you later tonight at 11:00. >> have a great night.