a 75-year-old woman rushes into action on the trail of six robbers armed with sledge hammers. why unlikely heroines are tonight's "sign of the times." >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, and terry moran in egypt, this is "nightline," february 8th, 2011. >> good evening. we begin tonight with the mysterious death of the girlfriend of august busch iv, heir to hiss family's beer fortune. adrian nicole martin, a model and single mother had been dating busch for a year. but suddenly, she was gone, her bodice covered in busch's bed. shockingly, this isn't the first untimely death in his life. tonight, investigators are asking what could have killed adrian nicole martin. neil karlinsky has our report. >> emergency 911. >> yeah, we need an ambulance. >> reporter: it was just a week before christmas and behind the gates of one of the most elite homes in st. louis, something was desperately wrong. >> okay, what's the problem? >> she's just not waking up. >> reporter: adrienne martin was unresponsive in the bed of one

those are the two sledge hammers, right now - nobody wants to go there, but i think we do. >> thank you. >> i'm with the alliance for democracy. nancy price. there's a lot of eagerness and legislative planning tools, but i one thing that concerns me greatly is the federal government has committed faith and communitys to a free trade regime that's inflexible and not innovative. i think with the positions of water planning - both water services and water resources, there must be a careful examination of how the general trade and services under the, w.t.o., will greatly effect state and local planning on these issues and particularly, land impact which is thought perhaps to not be effected by the other trade agreements, but i think it's essential to examine the impact on the ability to to be flexible and innovative and act in timely ways that the trade agreements actually don't allow. >> thank you. one more, yes? >> hi i'm with king county many the seattle area. we're not a water supplier but a regional government that has a lot of responsibilities with flood management and regional waist

been dubbed the handbag heroine after using her purse to fight off a gang of robbers armed with sledge hammersing a raid on a julie store. even more impressive, the woman, whose identity support known, appears to be in her 70s. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,161 after gaining yesterday. the s&p is up 8 points.ç the nasdaq rose 14. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei added 43 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng dipped 69 points. investors rallied around welcome signs of corporate confidence in the economy monday. newspaper stocks shot up on news of aol's plan to acquire on-line news site "huffington post." more fuel for the buying move. ensco said it would shell out more than $7 billion for oil driller pride international. credit card spending was up for the third time in december. also a sign that main street is gaining confidence in the economy. china's second bank is raising interest rates. chinese officials hope the quarter percent hike will help cool the surgerying inflation. toyota reporte

six men wearing helmets trying to smash their way into a jewelry store with sledge hammers. the elderly woman came out swinging with her purse. >> she ran across the street. >> she is after them! they jump on a motorcycle trying get away. two of them fell off. [ laughter ] >> serves them right. >> maybe they were in shock. witnesses held them until officers arrived and two other suspects were caught later. >>> that's it for cbs 5 news at noon. our newest anchor frank mallicoat joining sydnie for cbs 5 at 4:30 and at noon. i'll still be at 5:00 and 6:00. >> have a good one. see you tomorrow. ,, ,,

the video is striking and so were the sledge hammers.ves targeted a jewelry store. then out of nowhere there was ann timson. at 71 ignoring her age and arthritis, afraid someone was being beaten up. she quickly realized it was a break-in. so armed only with a handbag, the so called super gran started swinging. >> i think the adrenaline was going. i think i was really, really angry that they were there to do a daylight robbery at that time of the day. and why should they get away with it. >> reporter: suffice it to say they didn't get away with anything other than bruises. there goes the scooter. >> amazing. the courage to do that. >> reporter: the mayor was impressed and so was martial arts expert joe goldby who said the granny showed the skills of a seasoned pro. >> she did what any good fighter would do. she keeps allowing, not allowing them any way to enter her personal body space. >> she was brave. i don't know if he shoe what she was stepping into, i wouldn't have done the same. >> reporter: who would have? except the super gran, of

they think it's going to be heavy hitting, like a sledge hammer and george bush and we didn't do thatow the guy that -- sorry. never should have been president, and probably should have ran a baseball team and been very happy doing it, you know what i mean? i mean, you don't have to clap or not, it's just the case. i think that, you know, they were expecting something else. even the republicans saw it and said, that's kind of sad. i heard that oliver went to china and talked to clinton, and he said that clinton had loaned w his dvd of it -- >> jimmy: really? >> i swear to god, man. i don't know. >> jimmy: loaned a dvd? >> i loved him, like, 2:00 in this morning in this blue glow sitting at home and tears coming down. he said, he goes, i liked it very much. i thought it was kind of sad in some parts, but i liked it. >> jimmy: i just like the idea of them exchanging movies. >> i know, right? me, too. >> jimmy: now, this -- in "true grit." >> i do w on every show i do. >> jimmy: if you do it, you might as well. >> it's getting old. >> jimmy: but he likes to be remembered. "true grit," th

. >> older woman takes on a gang of thug armed with sledge hammers. her only weapon, her purse. about you know you just hammers. her only weapon, her purse. about you know you just can't beat a hero with a >> good evening once again. we start this half hour talking about war veterans. item estimated 300,000 veterans returning from iraq and afghanistan are suffering from ptsd. that's according to recent rand study but the 7 news i team discovered many vets are not getting the care they need. dan tonight with one veteran's story. >>reporter: william hamilton enlisted in the army at 19. served 2 tours in iraq with the 82nd airborne division. his mother diane says he loved the discipline and the comrade. >> every time he came back the alexander said he did such a wonderful job. >>reporter: he was guarding this roof top in mosul in 2005 with had best friend christopher when insurge attacked. >> his best friend was killed. very best friend. and i remember the day he called me. and he said mom, i have never been in battle without him. >>reporter: back at fort brag william was d

six men wearing helmets were trying to smash their way in a jewelry store with sledge hammers when an came out swinging and beating them with a purse. look at her go. the men jumped on motorcycles to get away but two fell off, apparently in shock. witnesses were able to hold them until officers arrived. two other suspects were eventually caught later. don't mess with her. >> trying to get into the rolex store. good for her. hero now on that. wow. that's great. >>> well, thank you for watching cbs 5 "early edition." and thank you, elizabeth, for filling in. >> it's been fun. >> our new co-anchor frank mallicoat begins tomorrow at 4:30. so it's been a pleasure. but you're not going anywhere. elizabeth will be back with us on the traff desk. >> yes, in the traffic department downstairs. so we'll see you tomorrow morning at 4:30 tomorrow morning. have a great show. >> enjoy this beautiful day. very windy. caption colorado, l.l.c. comments@captionlo

. >> the gang of six armed with sledge hammers were banking on the symbol of lucrative smash and grabs jewelry store. they had bargained out of fashion from one elderly woman and a trusty handbag. it shows the woman walking the would-be raiders until they won. witnesses say they couldn't believe what they were seeing. >> we had under the desk we were scared. we looked outside and this woman was running down the road with a handbag and in the on the back of the helmet with a handbag. >> local people rush to help us they fled. to fell off the motorbike in the rush to escape. what was pinned down until police arrived. it at least for the six were later arrested. the identity of the fearless pensioner was not immediately known. >> i college basketball coach donates his kidney to one of his players. gary has that story ahead. if you're looking for great valentine's day ideas look no war. the ebay expert jim shares her ideas with gary and you. >> and kimberly right will www.kron4.com or her working help save time of our traffic page. before you head of the door check out our traffic map tha

the thiefs had sledge hammers. she had a handbag. >> amazing. do that. >> reporter: there has been a spate of jewel heists in britain. >> i think she was brave. i certainly wouldn't have done the same. >> reporter: very few people would have. very few people are supergran. four of the thieves are in court today and ann is resting at home. she said it's her purse that needs the rest, ann. >> stephanie gosk this morning, thank you very much for bringing us the story. i need a bigger handbag. it's 8:05. now a check of the weather with al outside. hey, al. >> thanks, ann. we have friends here from monroe. and just west of there we have folks from west monroe. are you all together? >> yeah. >> what's different about west monroe? >> we're all from west monroe. >> there you go. let's check your weather for west monroe, east, central and downtown monroe. albany, georgia, rainshowers, 39 degrees. as you look on the satellite you will see we have theteys sm coming through texas, oklahoma, whe where they could pick up six to nine inches of snow. snowshower