once more, ryan smith. >> reporter: nashville police have a problem.e is a victim of a crime has no memory of what happened to her. surveillance video and interviews have led detectives to suspect rape. but they have no physical proof, no dna and no suspects coming forward with a confession. so what exactly happened inside dorm room 213? four football players, brandon vandenburg, cory batey, "tip" mckenzie, and brandon banks, were alone with the woman for 30 minutes. when you spoke to these four men, did they say a rape had happened? >> no. >> reporter: so they said they were there but nothing happened. >> right. they truly thought, at that time, "they'll never figure this out. as long as we keep together, keep our mouth shut, they'll never figure this out." >> reporter: but a breakthrough is imminent, thanks to an admission by a couple of other players on the team. they've seen video from a cell phone of what took place inside that room. >> what did you see in the video? >> i noticed somebody laying there. >> it looked like a girl just laying on the g

here's ryan smith. >> reporter: they were 16 and inseparable. sheila, skylar and rachel. >> it was always those three together. >> you barely ever saw one of them by themselves. >> silly in their selfies. >> giggly teenage girls. >> they're pretty. they're sociable. this he's popular. >> but behind their smiles secrets that would shock everyone they knew. >> the level of deception, it's mind boggling. the police were just as shocked as we were. >> no one was expecting anything like that. >> pure evil. >> nestled in the green mountains of west virginia, the city of morgantown home to west virginia university known as a friendly family place. what's it like here in morgantown? >> it's peaceful. it's a small town that's growing really fast. nice people. >> reporter: dave and mary neese live in star city. dave works at a local walmart, mary at a medical office. their lives wrapped around their only child, skylar. >> hey, gorgeous. >> hi, daddy. >> reporter: treasuring every spin. >> what a beautiful ballerina. >> reporter: every laugh. and every chi

i'm ryan smith in nashville, tennessee. >>> next. this may not be what comes to mind when you picture mormon missionaries at your door, and that's exactly the way they want it. but then we started using ky yours and mine we were nervous to try it. there is an amazing sensation for her amazing this one feels fantastic for me... and combined ah it's a completely new sensation for us both it's opened up a whole new door for us i've come to clean your pool but we dont have a pool i'll come in anyway next week i'm going to be a maid ky yours and mine now discover our exclusive line at k-y.com many people clean their dentures with toothpaste or plain water. and even though their dentures look clean, in reality they're not. if a denture were to be put under a microscope we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. that's why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria. for

for "nightline," i'm ryan smith in foxborough, massachusetts. >>> up next, the alleged second traffickingictim making bombshell accusations against prince andrew. and what the royal family is saying about it. our eyes they have a 200-degree range of sight. which is good for me. hey! and bad for the barkley twins. your brain can send information to the rest of your body at 268 mph. three times the speed of a fastball. take care of your most important parts with centrum. multivitamins expertly designed with nutrients people don't get enough of from food alone. centrum. for the most important parts of you. it's time to drop your pants for underwareness, a cause to support the over 65 million people who may need the trusted protection of depend underwear. show them they're not alone and show off a pair of depend. ample at underwareness.com. >>> scandalous new details emerging tonight from a former prostitute who claims she was just 17 when she allegedly had sexual relations with prince an andrew andrew. >> reporter: tonight a royal mess. unfolding far from the gold-trimmed gates and courtyard

>> ryan smith tonight. ryan, thank you. >>> tonight, two winter weather systems on the move. one delivering a blast of snow along the northeast corridor d.c. philly new york. a dangerous commute home for millions. look at this. cars flipped on icy roads in southern new jersey. and then these images tonight. one neighborhood in virginia from above, blanketed in snow and now a nor easters powering up. millions in the cross hairs. abc's ginger zee at the weather wall tonight. where is it headed and when? >> reporter: david, this new storm has already started. that's why we've got winter storm warnings for the texas hand hand panhandle, parts of oklahoma and new mexico. could see 6 do 12 into 12 inches in the pink. that's through thursday night, early friday. but the front side of it is going to be rain and heavy rain. let me time it all out for you as we go through your thursday. that low tracks across. houston to new orleans, getting those heavy rain showers. it remains rain as it moves through georgia, south carolina north carolina. but then it picks up enough cold arl that by

>> ryan smith, thank you. let's get right to our colleague, espn's jesse palmer a former quarterback yourself. you heard tom brady say that before the game he ghoes and selects the footballs. much like you did. >> reporter: every quarterback, the day before the game gets to select which footballs they want to throw with on game dame. herb is pretty particular. but absolutely they get to pick which footballs they play with. >> there is a little bit of leeway there. the big question we did not hear answered the window of time. who would have had access? >> reporter: in that window members of the equipment staff could have tampered with the footballs. buff i want to know about the referees. sure they check them before the game. what about during the game? each snap there was a referee with his hands on the football spotting it. if there was less air in that football they would have known that. why didn't they stop the game? why didn't they say anything? >> you think they would have noticed it. why would you have

here's ryan smith. >> tonight the new england patriots being investigated by the nfl.king air out of game football possibly making them easier to handle. >> twitter is buzzing. deflate gate is trending. >>reporter: star quarterback brady laughed it off on boston sports radio show. >> i think i heard it all at this point. it's ridiculous. >>reporter: while patriots coach belichick tried to clear the air in a conference call with reporters. >> we cooperate fully with whatever the league wants or question asked. i didn't know anything about it until this morning. >>reporter: under nfl rule each team must give referee 12 new football for game day use inflated between 12.5 and 13.5 inch and weighing 14 to 15 ounce. patriots hoping to put the controversy behind them and focus on superbowl 49. the game a tale of 2 star quarterback. brady and the seahawks russell wilson wilson down 19-7 with two minutes in the game sunday triggering one of the grit east come back in nfl play off history. >> touch down. >> shedding tears of joy while brady is in the sixth quarterback fourth win

abc's ryan smith has the story. >> reporter: indianapolis colts linebacker josh mcnairy dodging cameras. the nfl benching him less than 24 hours after he was charged with rape. >> the colts have advanced -- just as the colts prepare for their biggest game of the season taking on the new england patriots for a shot at the super bowl. >> we place josh on the commissioner's exempt list which will give him time to take care of things that he needs to take care of. >> reporter: the case against mcnary, a west point graduate, began in december when his accuser met him at a bar. they went to his apartment, where she says they got in to a physical fight and mcnary sexually assaulted her. when police arrived to question him, mcnary told them i know why you are here. gesturing to his bed sheets saying i preserved it for you because i knew you would be coming. >> that's why the league had to move quickly and the colts moved quickly and said we have to take this matter seriously. >> mcnary pleaded not guilty. his lawyer says the linebacker unhesitatingly denies all accusations against him. >> repor

ryan smith, abc news, new york. >> thanks to ryan for that.re joined now by espn's jesse palmer and bob ryan. thank you both for jess see jesse, let me begin with you. what a difference a couple of days makes. thursday, bill belichick doesn't know anything. yesterday, he's an expert on the science. is this science or pseudoscience? >> it's a combination of both. his 19-minute press conference was educational. he talked about the football and the atmosphere. there's a giant hole in the story. two hours and 15 minutes before the game, the referees set both teams' footballs, what we assume at the same psi level. all of a sudden come kickoff, 1 of their 12 1 of their 12 footballs are significantly deflated. it's something bill belichick can't answer. that's the question everybody wants. >> if he throws out all these possibilities, it slows the investigation. >> maybe it does. the timing is interesting. i understand that fans want swift justice. they want a course of action. to me, this is so difficult to prove. if you don't have video evidence or

here's ryan smith. >> reporter: indianapolis colts linebacker josh mcnary today, dodging cameras. the nfl, benching him, less than 24 hours after he was charged with rape. and just as the colts prepare for their biggest game of the season, taking on the new england patriots for a shot at the super bowl. >> we've placed josh on the commissioner's exempt list, which will give him time to take care of things he needs to take care of. >> reporter: the case against mcnary, a west point graduate, began in december, when his accuser met him in a bar. they went to his apartment, where she says they got into a physical fight and mcnary sexually assaulted her. when police arrived to question him, mcnary told them, i know why you're here, gesturing to his bed sheets. saying, i preserved it for you because i knew you would be coming. >> that's why the league and the colts had to move quickly. they said this is something we have to take care of and we take it seriously. >> reporter: mcnary pleaded not guilty, his lawyer saying the linebacker unhesitatingly deniesgainst him. >> rieb ryan with u

here's ryan smith. >> horror and disgust. >> reporter: tonight members of the jury that convicted brandondenburg and corey batey of sexually saulting a fellow student speaking out to abc news, saying the cell phone video of the attack sickened them. tell me what your feelings were when they played that video for you. >> i asked myself how could they do this to this young lady? >> reporter: they described their reaction to seeing the victim, who was inside the courtroom every single day. >> i felt an enormous amount of pity for her and for the humiliation that she went through. >> reporter: the prosecution argued the former football players and two other teammates, brought the unconscious victim, a neuroscience major, to vandenburg's room after a night of heavy drinking. some of the men, including batey, sexually assaulting her there, with vandenburg encouraging the attack. >> i do hold him criminally responsible for what occurred to her in that room. >> guilty of aggravated rape. >> reporter: the verdict handed down after just three hours tuesday. jurors say they didn't buy batey's defens

ryan smith, look forward to seeing your reports tonight on "20/20." thank you. and "20/20" airs tonight on abc -- "20/20" airs tonight at 10:00 followed by abc 7 news at 11:00. coming up here though on abc 7 news at noon a look at the most popular food this super bowl sunday. you might be surprised and uber is lowering its fares. we'll >> uber is introducing seasonal price cuts in the district today. goal is to beat the winter slump and benefit drivers. new fares are 15% cheaper than previous fares. this is just for uber x. it's a base fare of $2 plus $1.02 per mile and 20 cents per minute. the cuts are already happening in 48 cities. this sunday many super bowl parties will have you know the chicken wings and the pizza. turns out, though those aren't the most popular foods. according to the n.d.p. group vegetables surprisingly top the list. baby carrots and veggie trays lead the pack. don't get it wrong, though. retailers selling all those salty snacks alcohol, wings and pizza say they also see a sharp spike in sales. how does this sound? americans are expected

first news from ryan smith. >> good morning, guys.held by isis militants in syria and threatened with death. the deadline for japan to pay a $200 million ransom in exchange for the hostages passed this morning with no word from isis. the mother of one hostage issued an emotional plea overnight begging her captors to spare her son's life. >>> nos in yemen this morning. a crucial ally in the fight against al qaeda. a peace deal between rebels and the government collapsed on thursday with the president resigning. now many people are wondering who is in charge. the u.s. fears a change in power could strongly benefit al qaeda. >>> and there are still more questions than answers in that cheating scandal surround the new england patriots. coach bill belichick and quarterback tom brady, they both denied having anything to do with deflating game balls used in last sunday's game. brady says the nfl hasn't even contacted him about the scandal. meanwhile, the indianapolis colts linebacker who intercepted a brady pass sunday and reportedly alerted

ryan smith, abc news, new york. >> w what's a fine go ing to do whenhey are in the super bowl?othing. they are still going to the super bowl and they won the game 45-7. so deflated balls, give me a break. >> you are over the deflated balls. you say let it go. >> you don't break the rules but they didn't get a great advantage. >> there's a little controversy with the seahawks twitter page swrechl to talk about that. the quarterback, they kind of did this thing with martin luther king jr. quote. they took something that dr. king said take the first step in faichlt you don't have to see the whole staircase. you take the first step. obviously he was so emotional that day and they had to later pay apologize sglit says we shall overcome. comparing a football victory to. >> they said they never meant to equate mlk's civil rights legacy. we'll bett2wlr=[bk@%o j# vf0 tt2wlr=[bk@%!!án &fx tt2wlr=[bk@%4!j# pp, tt2wlr=[bk@%x#á&ú:wíx tt2wlr=[bk@%t#j'ú:cí< tt2wlr=[bk@%t#j)ú: tt2wlr=[bk@%p#jáú:ó%d tt2wlr=[bk@%p#j,ú:>ó$ tt2wlr=[bk@%l#á.ú:7v( tt2wlr=[bk@%l#á0ú:,@@ >>> if you consider yourself t

ryan smith spoke to some of them. >> reporter: football's golden boy grilled. >> obviously i'd like towhat happened as you all would too. >> reporter: tom brady bombard with espn's report 11 of the 12 balls his team used to beat the colts were under inflated. a violation of nfl standards that some call cheating. brady was asked point blank, are you a cheater. >> i don't believe so. i feel i have always played within the rules. >> reporter: brady is one of football's biggest stars both on the field and i off a. in his 13 seasons as starting quarterback with the patriots he has helped to make the team one of the most profitable in the league. leading them to the super bowl six times with three wins. patriots head coach bill belichik said brady picks the footballs he's going to play with. >> i have no knowledge whatsoever of this situation. tom's personal preferences on his footballs are something he can talk about in much better detail. >> reporter: brady then explained his pre-game ritual. >> you go through the process of breaking the balls in and getting comfortable with them. >> repor

for "nightline" i'm ryan smith in foxboro, massachusetts. >> you are a big football watcher. did you know they check the footballs that many times during the game every time someone is in possession they swap out for their ball. >> they are supposed to check them once in the beginning to make sure they are inflated. i didn't realize each team had their own set of balls to use. this shows how competitive this is. everybody is trying to get an edge. quarterbacks like to make the balls comfortable. they use them during the week to get good grip and want to be comfortable with them i didn't know it was this serious. >> kr you believe this a bakery in boston is making fun of the situation. their pastry chef let out a little much air in the cookies is what he wrote. get some of these cookies without air in them. get them he says before nfl commissioner roger goodell. this is in boston. this is the boston common coffee company. >> this story this is not what a you want to talk about a week before the super bowl. they are going to come out and let us know what they will do the nfl, b

now to ryan smith with today's other top stories. >>> good morning.rowing security at the airport. this morning the department of homeland security has revealed that the tsa seized a record number of guns inside passenger carry-ons last year, more than 2200 firearms at airports nationwide. that's a huge increase from the year before. more than 80% of the firearms were loaded. >>> and saudi arabia, a vital u.s. ally, has a new leader after the death of king abdullah. king salman is promising to continue his country's policies and otherwise prices rose after the news of abdullah's death but that is expected to be temporary. >>> some breaking news here. a fire sweeping through an entire block of buildings near pittsburgh. four buildings engulfed in flames. at least one of those has collapsed and there are reports that two people may be trapped. we'll bring you more information as we get it. >>> in new jersey, that massive fire that displaced more than 1,000 people thursday has been ruled an accident. investigators say maintenance workers using a blowtorc

here's abc's ryan smith with brady's response tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the new england patriots being investigated by the nfl. allegedly taking air out of game footballs, possibly making them easier to handle. >> twitter is buzzing. deflategate is trending. >> reporter: star quarterback tom brady. >> i think i've heard it all at this point. and it's ridiculous. >> reporter: while patriots coach bill belichick tried to clear the air. >> we'll cooperate full little with whatever -- whatever the league wants us whatever questions they ask. i didn't know anything about it until this morning. >> reporter: under nfl rules, open team must give referees 12 new footballs for game-day use. inflated between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per inch and weighing 14 to 15 ounces. the patriots hoping to put the controversy behind them and focus on super bowl xlix. the game a tale of two star quarterbacks. brady and the seahawks' russell wilson. wilson down 19-7 with two minutes in the game sunday triggering one of the greatest comebacks in nfl playoff history. >> touchdown! >> reporter: shedding tears of

abc's ryan smith with the story behind that photo finish. >> there's the line! >> reporter: the horse named quiet acceleration may have had a good reason to accelerate and win that race. this snapshot of the photo finish seems to show the jockey has more than the reigns in his left hand. look closely. prosecutors say that's a buzzer. it sends an e legry call shock to the horse. >> if you were going to shock him, this might have been the place, you see an ask sell ration right here as he starts to gobble up the leaders. >> the inquiry is a -- >> reporter: tonight, prosecutors say that's what 43-year-old roman choppa did, charging him with a felony. unlawful influence on racing based largely on that photo taken january 17th at this racetrack near houston. in this video from lone star park he talks about preparing for a race. >> get the feel of the horse before i go into the gates. >> reporter: his track record at the track is questionable. he's been suspended twice before. once in 2007 for using an electrical device on a horse, and once in 1994 for using a nail to

abc's ryan smith on ifthe new focus on the culture of college campuses. >> reporter: the defendants sat in stunned silence as the verdict was read -- >> we the jury find the defendant cory lamont batey guilty. >> reporter: former vanderbilt university football players cory batey and brandon vandenburg -- >> guilty of aggravated rape. >> reporter: both found guilty an on-campus sexual assault. the victim in court every day. >> reporter: the jury -- who had been shown cell phone video evidence of the rape -- taking just three hours to find the men guilty. the profession prosecution argued vandebburg batey and two other former players brought the unconscious victim who was casually seeing and inging vandebburg to his room after a night of heavy drinking. saying while batey and another man sexually assaulted the woman, vandenburg egged them on. >> i remember waking up in an unfamiliar room. >> reporter: the prosecution reading a statement on the victims' behalf. >> you are not alone. you are not to blame. >> reporter: the topic, a painful national discussion. 95 campuses are under federal i

. >> ryan smith found out how fast it can be done. >> just like that. >> three, four seconds. >> thes getting pumped up about super sunday. >> i think we're focused on trying to go out and beat the seahawks. >>> tom cantu, abc news, new york. >>> today is the day that isis rebels say they're going to kill two japanese hostages mother of one of the men is making a plea. she begged the japanese government to save her son. a government spokesperson insists japan will do all it can to reach those who are hol the hosstageshostages. they've demanded $200 million in ransom. >>> carrying six pounds of meth methamphetamine -- they were too greedy taping more drugs to the drone than it was capable of handling. they're working to find out where the flight originated and who was at the controls. >>> talks between the u.s. and cuba wrapped up in havana. >> while there was some progress, a major sticking point remains. serena marshall is there. >> you almost had to wonder if they were at the same meeting. we do have differences. it was part of the conversation today. >> the cuban diplomat in spani

ryan smith went to the leone str state to get the story. >> reporter: this begins in san antonio at this backyard affair. there he is celebrating. >> we were very close. we went on vacations with them. >> reporter: back then, it was nothing to share meals with the mart martinezes. b >> this has been two years and three months. and it's still going on. >> reporter: it's a knock-down, drag-out spat that made bitter enemies of those former friends. it happened online, when they clicked the unfriend button. why? it's all mixed up like food and vegetables in a juicer like this. >> we did a thing like juicing. it's real healthy for you. she had posted that they weren't into the juice scene. >> reporter: but the neighbors disagree. the posts are long gone, but there's no doubt that they claim was written squeezed the life out of their friendship. >> they said it gave us diarrhea. >> reporter: it juiced up the tension already simmering over this man, another neighbor feuding with rick over trees. when you saw that neighbor having problems with rick, what did you do? >> i intervened. >> reporter:

. >>> and now to ryan smith with the other top developing stories. >> good morning, happy new year to you folks. we begin with new gas taxes threatening to drive prices back up in some states. prices have been steadily marching downward. the gallon of regular is below $2 in some areas. but the new tax could be a speed bump. we turn to rebecca jarvis for more. >> reporter: good morning. and first the good news as of this morning, gas prices drop dropped for 99 days straight. it's the longest streak of price declines ever. we have saved $14 billion at the pump last year. that's about $115 in savings for the average family. the price drops this is the best news expected to continue this year. analysts predicting they will fall 10 cents nationally over the next two weeks, except in a handful of states that raised the gas taxes yesterday. filling up in virginia maryland north carolina pennsylvania or michigan you might notice that prices are up a few cents more at the pump. in pennsylvania though, the new tax means prices are up 10 cents at the pump following a 9.5 cent increase last year