i'll step out of the shot so you can see the charred remains of the house richard shenkman once shared say shenkman kidnapped his wife in yesterday. flames lit up the night sky. >> he was on the phoning for an extended period of time. surprisingly the house burned for some 30 to 0 minutes. >> reporter: it wasn't until they reached the basement that richard shenkman finally surrendered to police. >> very sad. pretty sad to see someone light their own house on fire. >> his ex-wife nancy tyler had escaped after more than 12 hours in captivity. shenkman missed a court hearing in their bitter divorce dispute and abducted his estranged wife. a local newspaper reports shenkman asked for the judge who presided over their divorce to remarry them and at one point asked a priest to come tohe t house to give his ex-wife the last rites. police tell us richard shenkman is still in the hospital and if he is still in the hospital later today he will be arraigned there. charges include reckless endangerment, kidnapping and arson. russ, back to you. >> tina martin of wffb in hartford, appreciate it. >>>

you did know richard shenkman sort of socially or casually i guess. earth is going through your mind as this is happening? >> i was panicked that he was going to kill his wife and kill himself and take anybody else out that he could possibly take out. he was crazed. >> well, did you, based on what you knew of him? because as i said, did you know him. did you think he was unstable? i mean you were very concerned this could go in any direction, huh? >> i'm the court reporter here and i've been covering his nasty divorce and an arson case, and he's been growing increasingly unstable and had promised me during several other phone calls that something big was going to happen. >> richard shenkman called you four times that day, and at three of those times he actually did let you speak to his ex-wife nancy. and i want to play for our viewers some of that. listen. >> whatever you want to say, nancy, i don't want this to be that i'm controlling what you say. karen's a friend. you can say anything you want to say to karen. i don't want either of us to be hurt.

: shenkman also put tyler on the line. >> i don't want either of us to be hurt. >> reporter: richard shenkman was suns a successful advertising executive who produced a tv show starring gayle king, oprah's best friend. those who knew shenkman say he was controlling and extremely difficult to work with. in court last week, shenkman looking disoriented and disheveled entered no plea. he's now facing attempted murder and kidnapping charges at the end of a rocky 12-year marriage. >> richard was always making illusions to that movie "war of the roses" in which the couple that are divorcing both end up dead. >> reporter: shenkman already faces arson charges for allegedly burning down the couple's summer house in 2007. legal experts say shenkman's attorney has few options. >> the only place the defense has to go is that he was crazy and it was his medication that made him do it but that's not going to fly. >> reporter: more than a week later, shenkman's words are still haunting. richard shenkman is scheduled to be back in court here in connecticut this wednesday. he's being held on $12.5 million bai

his name is richard shenkman. he is accused of kidnapping his ex-wife and holding him hostage at her home near hartford. they say shenkman set his own home on fire after cops fired pepper spray at the place. police say he also called for a priest to give his wife last rites. she managed to escape before the fire started. cops tell us he eventually went out a back door and was arrested. the couple's divorce was finalized last year, but he was appealing the decision. court records show he left his wife more than a dozen threatening voice messages like this one, and i'm quoting. we're not divorced, we're not getting divorced. shepard: but he didn't make it happen. it cost the city of los angeles $4 million in overtime and other services, they tell us. now just one day after michael jackson's memorial, los angeles is looking for ways to try to get some of that money back. 17,000 fans had tickets for yesterday's event. some 31 million people watched it on tv, we now know, a big number. according to nielsen which tracks

the suspect, richard shenkman, first released his wife, and then surrendered to police after setting reported. bill: we have new pictures from the surface of the moon from the latest lunar orbiter. as we approach the anniversary of the historic day when america became the first to land on the moon. this is what nasa is going for. they want to map the entire surface and figure out the best place to set up an outpost soon. this picture goes back to 1972. the man on your screen -- people remember this as a time of optimism. today we are speaking to the last man who ever walked on the moon, eugene cernan, a former astronaut. he is in that picture. you have some awesome thing to say about your experience through the first thing that happens is you experience the most quiet moment in your entire life. nothing is moving. there's no wind. there's no sound. >> the most exciting period of your life. you start to descend. it is shaking and it is crazy. the dust starts blowing. they have nothing left to tell you. you shut down the engine. the dust is gone. your partner is mesmerized. you realize

nancy tyler's day of terror at the hands of her armed ex-husband richard shenkman ended shortly afterer being held hostage for more than ten hours, police say tyler escaped from a basement bucker where she says she'd been handcuffed to a bolt in the wall. an hour after tyler was wheeled away on a stretcher tuesday night, police say shenkman torched the couple's old home, then with fwlams raging, police say shenkman fired shots at them, but stayed inside. >> our message to him was simply that we wanted to help him. that we wanted him to surrender himself. we wanted him to come out peacefully. >> reporter: shenkman and tyler's explosive divorce was finalized last year after a bitter 12 years of marriage. he was already facing arson charges for allegedly burning down the couple's summer house in 2007. authorities say shenkman, an advertising executive whose former media firm produces tv shows for oprah's best friend gail king abducted tyler tuesday morning. during the standoff, shenkman made four calls to karen florence, a local reporter at the day newspaper, threatening he'd blow up the