yes, it is spring. here we are april and downpours, heavy winds expected, up to a foot and a half of heavy, wet snow, too, expected in parts of the northeast. this could be a perfect storm for power outages. and walmart caught in a huge multimillion dollar foreign bribery scandal, accused of buying its way into mexico and blowing past its competition with years of payoffs. >> there you go. all right, shark boy. keep them up. keep them up. >> shark boy? >> i'll say. >> a little boy, right there. >> hello. reeling in the beast. his epic battle with that guy, a shark. we'll show you in a moment. up first, breaking news in the trayvon martin murder case. george zimmerman is now out of jail. he was released overnight in sanford, florida. simm s zimmerman walk out of jail around midnight after posting bond. he awaits his murder trial. zimmerman is required to wear a gps tracking device. his release comes a couple days after bond was set at a court hearing in which zimmerman offered a surprise apology to trayvon martin's parents for killing their son. >> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am. i did not know if he was armed or not. >> nothing further, your honor. cnn's martin savage is live in sanford, florida. martin, probably not surprising that he was released in the mid of the night. >> no. we anticipated that. it was a low-key departure but not a total stealth departure that we thought it might be, in other words, that we wouldn't see him at all. he did depart out of the normal door, just behind us here. it was just after midnight when we was escorted out from a person we don't know, not his attorney. he climbed into a white bmw and departed. it was known that he was negotiating with the state to possibly allow for george zimmerman to go out of the state of florida. as you point out, he must always remain electronically tethered to the state as a result of the gps. let me go over some of the other things he can and cannot do. he has to wear the gps device and can have no contact with trayvon martin's family, no possession of firearms. no drinking. he's under a curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every three days he has to check in verbally. he's now gone. his whereabouts we do not know. >> i understand they check the credentials of all the reporters that were there? >> right. the media we had been staking out this particular place for several days, 24 hours a day. and the tip-off that something was going to happen came when first there were a couple of sheriff's deputy cars that block off access to this particular parking lot behind us. on top of that, someone came by and checked the credentials of the photographers that were staking out the position. that was a clear indication that something was up. a few minutes later, george zimmerman came right out of that door. >> martin savage, live in sanford, florida, thank you very much. three minutes past 5:00. winter has finally made it if you're looking outside. we had 09 degree temperatures in march but a late april snowstorm is threatening to target the northeast. it could be pretty dangerous, too. powerful nor'easter, they're calling it, prompting winter storm watches and warnings from west virginia to southwest new york. take a look at some of the video we've got from buffalo, new york, where bottled water is tough to come by. snowplows really hard to miss, too, out in the streets. did i say it was april? they are preparing for up to a foot of snow or more today. check out the scene a short time ago in dubois, pennsylvania. the snow is falling though not sticking to the pavement. at least not yet. look at the streetlights. i did say it was april, right? rob marciano is tracking the storm. we had book ends of storms, a huge snowstorm in the northeast in october right before halloween and nada all season long and here we are supposed to be going into the sunshine and the daffodils. >> exactly. the picture you showed there, you mention it's not quite sticking to the streets just yet. the big concern is it's sticking to the trees which because of our warm spring have a full spring foliage. just like the storm we had in october, and then nothing, this storm is coming on top of trees that have leaves on them which means that that weight of the snow is going to take some of the tree limbs and in some cases entire trees down and knock out power and block some roadways. that's going to be our main concern with this over the next 24 to 36 hours. as you can hag, because temperatures are just barely above freezing -- right around freezing it's a heavy, heavy, wet snow which adds even more weight with the water content. a big storm system engulfing the entire northeastern third of the country. some of the rain has turned over to snow in some parts of western pennsylvania. the allegheny and parts of appalachia, also across parts of upstate new york. not snowing quite yet in buffalo. east of buffalo, south of syracuse, the finger lakes region seeing snowfall and this will only increase as we go through time. 4 to 8 inches across parts of western pennsylvania. some of those numbers could be much higher, over a foot in some is of the higher elevations, 8 to 16 inches potentially and 30 to 40 mile-an-hour winds. heavy, wet snow. latching on to trees and winds blowing that around making things even worse. we have the threat tore seeing flooding although most of the rain is over across the i-95. the winds will cause some coastal flooding across parts of the northeast. temperatures most places will be above freezing. in the areas where it's right at freezing that snow will accumulate and we're starting to see that right now. >> we had such an early spring that the foliage is out and almost in full blook now. that makes it worse for the snow going to come. >> that's right. it's weighing it down even more. >> if you have your umbrella up on your patio, put it down. i nearly lost an umbrella under the weight of that snow. it all happened within an hour. it's seven minutes past the hour. police and fbi investigators will be back at the scene in lower manhattan today trying to solve a 33-year-old murder mystery. 6-year-old etan patz vanished in 1979 as he walked alone in his new york city neighborhood. his disappearance put a spotlight on the plight of missing children and his picture was the first of thousands to be put on milk cartons to help search for them. over the weekend, investigators may have made a major discovery. police used chain saws to remove a chunk of wall from a basement in the boy's neighborhood that may finally answer the question of what hatched to him. cnn's deborah feyerick joins us now with the very latest. that's a big question this morning, right, deborah? how long will it take to figure out what that is. >> they removed a huge piece of dry wall that was until the basement. they're sending that to quantico in order to be analyzed. it tested positive for the potential presence of blood. one thing you have to remember about etan patz, anybody who lived in new york city at that time, it -- nobody will ever forget etan patz. it was the first time he was walking to school. he was 6 years old, actually walking to the bus which was two blocks from his home. what makes this particular area that you see right there of particular interest to the fbi and also to police is that it was -- he would have had to have passed a workshop on his way to get to the bus stop. the basement of that workshop is right now being torn up. new concrete had been poured days after he went missing and so right now, what the evidence team is doing, they're doing through dirt, looking at the concrete, they did a preliminary search, spent most of saturday and sunday doing that. then they sort of stopped. nobody knows why they stopped the search. they are beginning to continue there this morning. i was down there, huge police presence this morning. but what they're going to do, they want to see whether there were perhaps any bones, fragments, whether this is blood or it's not blood. they really want to rule it out. but a new investigator had come on to the case. he went over all information and this was sort of the one thing that was outstanding. this one shop that had a change immediately after etan patz disappeared. that's why it's so important. >> and the cadaver dog, right. >> the cadaver dog got a positive hit. you don't know what that is. they're looking. it's really the last lead a lot of people feel. >> that's hard to hear. >> deborah feyerick, thank you. >> of course. still to come, a mistress, money, power and politics. >> sounds like a good story. >> it is. former presidential candidate john edwards on trial this morning. he faces decades in prison. why some experts believe the government will have a very hard time proofing its case. and the one that didn't get away. look at that. a young boy going up against a shark that's a whole lot bigger than he is. so did he reel in the big one? 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[ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. it is 13 minutes past the hour. time to check stories making news this morning. george zimmerman is now out of jail. that's him being released right there. zimmerman was released from a sanford, florida, jail around midnight after posting a $150,000 bail bond. he was fitted with an electronic monitoring device for authorities to keep track of him. >> opening statements begin today in the trial for the man accused of killing the family of singer and actress jennifer hudson. she herself is expected to testify against the defendant. his name, william belfour, the estranged husband of jennifer hudson's sister. he's accused of shooting her mother, and others in a fit of rage. driving winds in parts of the northeast. winter storm warnings from the appalachians in west virginia to western new york. many cities could be without power for days. >> all right, shark boy. keep them up. keep them up. >> all right, shark boy. adorable. he strikes again. hunter stevens is just 9 years old but he's already a veteran shark fisherman. hunter and his dad kevin were fishing in their kayak off the beach of galveston, texas. this is when hunter hooked the big one. a nice black tipped shark, in case you know your sharks. he said you should have seen the two others what got away. >> which is often what i say when i come back from fishing. >> all the ones that got away. for an expanded look at our top stories, head to our bleog, cnn.com/earlystart. this case has it all, power, sex, money, intrigue. it's not a fake, it's not a fiction, it's former senator john edwards. he's facing up to 30 years in prison as he goes on trial this morning in north carolina. he's accused of using over $900,000 in campaign contributions for alleged illegal affairs. all of this to hide an affair with videographer rielle hunter and the daughter he fathered with her. their relationship taking place like edwards wife elizabeth edwards was fighting an agonizing and ultimately losing battle with cancer. railen johnson is live in greensboro, north carolina. the contributions were actually used by andrew young and his wife to build their $1.3 million dream house, not necessarily for edwards personal use. what do you know about that? >> reporter: well, good morning, ashleigh. let me tell you, the center of this case for the government is going to be andrew young. john edwards is going to paint him as a very sort of fan, a huge fan of john edwards. what he's saying is that andrew young would have done anything to help john edwards and essentially he did. and what they're arguing is that andrew young received that money from bunny melon and fred barron, nearly $900,000, nearly $1 million. what he did with that money in addition to paying to help hide himself and rielle hunter who he said he was the father of their child, he used that money to hide in florida, california, even colorado. and also edwards is saying he used some of that money to build a dream home, which i think is ironic because edwards built a pretty big dream home himself. again, he used his own personal funds. he didn't use funds that came through his presidential campaign. >> one of the issues in this case are how salacious the details are. the big break came from the "national enquirer." and a lot of people know about it. what is the challenge for the juries to get beyond the sexy stuff and into the nitty-gritty campaign finance issues. >> i think the issue is that both sides think they have a black and white issue here. really campaign finance law is very gray. you know, the other day the judge picked 42 potential jurors. those jurors will be sat this morning. the issue still is that he's so well known and what the judge said from the beginning when she gave jury instructions was this, you cannot judge john edwards on whether he was a good husband or whether he was a good politician. i think most of us agree that he failed on both fronts there. but he's not on trial for his character. he's on trial for whether or not the campaign donations that came from bunny melon and fred barron, if those are considered illegal campaign contributions because they were used to further propel his presidential campaign. the government says those contributions are illegal and the reason they are illegal is because they help him continue run for president. john edwards said they were personal donations, they would have happened whether he was running for president or not. >> i suppose all eyes will be on that courtroom, not necessarily from the get-go but certainly when rielle hunter testifies which she is planning to do with immunity. thank you, appreciate that. >> sure. we're getting an early read on local news making national headlines. this morning we have papers from new york, arizona, new jersey, all over the place. >> we start with the "new york times." a junior fbi agent played a critical role in cracking a potential new lead in the etan patz case. thomas mcdonald was handed this case over five years ago. he re-examined it from scratch. an official says, quote, he took to heart that this little boy has been missing for so long and his family doesn't know what happened to him. mcdonald initially faced resistance from the family who had enough of new investigators over the years, especially the mom in this case. the new search for evidence led him to a local handy man. miller put a new floor of concrete into his work space right after etan disappeared. he believe miller had something to answer for. >> they said apparently it would have taken about $1,000 back in the '70s to chip away that brand new concrete floor and actually do the investigation then but that was too expensive. >> ten years ago they went there and the guy said to them, this handy man, if you want to tear up the concrete, go ahead, at your expense. that is ten years ago. >> they didn't at that time. they must have something. >> you know what's amazing, whenever you get a fresh set of eyes on an investigation, everything changes. >> you never know. >> they see things from a different perspective. and to arizona, happy anniversary to sb1070. do you know that one? you do if you saw these pictures. it's the immigration law in arizona. the xoufrt will hear oral arguments fighting that law. the new law has been in place, the strange part about it, even though particular parts of it were blocked by a federal judge, it doesn't have a lot of teeth. immigration is actually down, illegal immigration is actually down. we don't expect to hear anything from the supreme court until summer. don't hold your breath right away. about 20 other states that have enacted similar laws or at least tried to anyway, five in particular have passed these. it is odd to know that the numbers are down and the teeth that these protesters have had, they've actually made an effect. they've had an effect. it's not as popular as it was before. apparently within can tell you that the illegal immigrant population has shrunk by parentally 200,000 or so from the years 2008 to 2011. experts say a loss of state money and social services and cost and fewer illegal immigrants helps to increase wages for other workers. some companies want illegal immigrants because they're less expensive. the "star led jerger." the nets play their last regular season home game tonight against philadelphia. the nets are moving to brooklyn. so will the new jersey fans follow? old fans say that they face longer distances to the games, about 12.5 miles, inflated ticket prices as well. one fan says over the last two years he and his brother spent $2,500 on a half season ticket plan. that same arrangement could cost them $10,000 in brooklyn. another fan says this is hard. it's kind of like high school graduation. you're sad but you know something bigger is coming. i know something bigger is coming but they're not doing very well. >> new york teams play in new jersey and now new jersey teams are going to play in new york. it's cats and dogs living together, mass tis tear hysteri. i don't get it. >> it's a long commute. >> shorter commute for the new york fans. maybe there will be new york fans that jump on board. 22 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. coming up, walmart wrapped up in a big old bribery scandal. how the join the retailer may have broken u.s. laws to try to beat out the competition. hink i? i'll tell you what -- when we stop to fill it up. ♪ ♪ [ son ] you realize, it's gotta run out sometime. 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[ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. the dow and s&p 500 both making gains on friday and the tech heavy nasdaq down less than a quarter percent. this morning, u.s. stock futures are down so far after a new report out overnight shows more signs that china's economy is slowing down, which has ripple effects to countries worldwide. >> walmart cowl be in pretty hot water over allegations it violated international bribery laws in new mexico with bribes amounting to -- ready for this -- $24 million. "new york times" is reporting this story. the bribes were allegedly for speeding up the store construction at a subsidiary in mexico, all of this to expand quicker and squash the competition there. walmart says it's investigating these claims. cnn has not independent by confirmed "the new york times" report. up next on "early start," iran claims it has unraveled the code from a u.s. drone that went down last year. we'll ask retired u.s. army gener general. and possible clues, 33 years after the first milk carton boy vanished. you're watching "early start." big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. 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[ female announcer ] introducing new nature valley protein bars. 100% natural ingredients like roasted peanuts... ♪ ...creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark chocolate flavor. plus, 10 grams of great tasting protein in every bar. so it's energy straight from nature to you. new nature valley protein bars. find them in the granola bar aisle. it is now 30 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. it's time to check the stories making news this morning. george zimmerman no longer behind bars and in hiding. the man who shot trayvon martin to death in florida makes bail and is out of jail this morning. the family of etan patz is awaiting results of an fbi investigation 33 years after their 6-year-old son disappeared. a possible new clue removed from the basement of a new york city building over the weekend. a stain that could be blood. iran says it has cracked the code of a captured u.s. spy drone. the surveillance plane was packed with top secret technology. we will ask on expert whether this development poses a threat to american military personnel overseas. and call it a sign of the times. a job hunter thinks big when we mean really big in terms of getting his name in front of potential employers. see how far some people plan to go. i love this. to get their career back on track during tough economic times. >> sometime you have to make an investment. >> heck yeah. a dangerous storm is targeting the northeast right now. it is triggering winter storm watches and warnings from west virginia all the way to southwest new york. here's a look from dubois, pennsylvania, about 100 miles northeast of pittsburgh. this video shot within the hour with the flakes falling but not sticking to the pavement, at least not yet. meteorologist rob marciano is tracking this incredible storm. he joins us live now from the weather center. this is kooky and crazy. >> it is. the last shot we showed was it sticking to the trees. the key is, just like the last snowstorm we had in october pretty much, leaves are on the trees. back then it was because of fall, this time an early spring. full foliage. that's going to be the key, the weight of the wet snow taking down tree limbs and in some cases entire trees, knocking out power and blocking roadways. new york to providence to boston, you won't get any of this. you'll get the rain and wind. that will continue. it's a big storm as far as that is concern. the snows are starting to fall interior parts of western new york and western pennsylvania. temperatures right around the freezing mark, binghamton 34 degrees, almost 40 in pittsburgh and around the freezing mark across the pennsylvania and new york border. that's why testimony tours are -- it's not quite sticking to the roadways just yet. 8 to 16 inches of snow to points south and east of buffalo and north and east of pittsburgh at the higher elevations that coupled with the weight and the winds, winds gusting 30 to 40 miles an hour, that's going to make for a dangerous situation. we've had a kim edges of rainfall already falling. flood watches have been posted for some of this part of the world. beautiful, warm temperatures across the rocky mountains. the appalachians now getting it as we try to get rid of what was a mundane winter but we're book ending it with two big winter storms. >> we're going to have a travel mess, aren't we? >> yes. it will be windy. the winds will continue right through tomorrow morning. >> everybody suffers, i guess. rob marciano, thank you so much. we'll check in with you again. >> sound goods. >> 34 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast and the search for a clue that could crack a decade's old mystery of etan patz. it's expected to resume here in new york this morning. investigators having called off the search yesterday due to inclimate weather but not before finding a, quote, stain of interest that tested positive for organic material, possibly blood. a section of the wall where the stain was found was taken to the fbi lab in quantico, virginia, for further testing. 6-year-old etan vanished 33 years old from new york's sojo neighborhood. he was the nation's first milk carton boy. the building is the former workplace of a local handy man who made contact with etan shortly before he vanished. he's been questioned by law enforcement but has not been charged in this case. his daughter, stephanie, spoke to reporters yesterday. >> the fbi has been here to investigate the case. he cooperated with them, went to the site, and he doesn't have anything to do with it. >> we're joined by dr. lawrence koblinski. it's swarming with reporters, with people from the fbi, new york local investigators as well. it's quite remarkable to see this 33 years after the fact. >> it's a huge number of resources being thrown into this case. it shows you that this case is still alive in the minds of not only the public but certainly of law enforcement. >> still alive in the minds. now, i want to talk about the nitty-gritty, all the csi. what they're doing in that basement involves evidence that could be three decades old. this is your area of expertise. how good could that evidence be if there is any? >> first of all if we're looking for dna, dna is one of the most stable molecules. after 33 years it should still be intact and we should be able to use it for human identification. >> even if it's been walked over, brushed over, painted over. >> environmental factors can destroy dna in a moist environment. bacteria can break down. this molecule soil will degrade the molecule. essentially if there's a skeleton, they can obtain might dou -- mitocondria l dna. >> you stand a better chance of getting a result joops. with soft tissue gone, you have bone. bone has a substantial amount of mitochondrial dna. checking his mother, etan's mother, julie, you can see if there's a match or not. and then focus on etan. >> you and i covered the casey anthony case together. you were part of the casey anthony case on defense team for a while. one of the facts is that she was in a swamp. she was so far decomposed that they couldn't get a cause of death. but they could determine it was a child. >> certainly the anthropologists at the scene will be able to determine the height, the gender, the ethnicity, there's a lot of information just from a physical examination of the bones. there's going to be an autopsy if they find bones but ultimately it will be dna. >> you can autopsy just bone fragments. >> you have to. >> just fragments? >> yes, you might find a tool mark which would tell us the child was stab or if a bone is broken, they could tell he was strangled. >> in casey anthony's child's case they could not find a cause of death. >> you might say blunt trauma here in this case. we don know four sure if we're going to find a skull or not. >> i remember you and i also covered a case together where there was a skeletal remain and what you mentioned, a tool mark was found in the bone and they matched that tool mark to an actual murder weapon. it was a dagger. >> precisely. >> that's something that can connect someone to an actual murder weapon and a crime. >> sure. they may be looking for a weapon, something buried at that site. they used ground-penetrating radar to determine if there was a weapon or skeletal remains. >> let me talk about luminol. you get into a court of law and you always -- so frequently you hear presumptive, not conclusive. >> absolutely. luminol first of all is a presumptive test for blood. it's used because you can spray large areas and in that way determine if blood might be present. the operative word is might. there are other things that will give you a false positive. there's another chemical which perhaps the fbi is using called blue star, which is more specific than luminol. it's a luminol-like chemical and it will give you results. it gill glow. it gives off a lupul luminescen blood is present. dna only works on human or primate dna. >> not other animals? >> that's correct. >> there's so much more we can talk about. you'll have to come back. >> i promise. >> they're resuming the search today. meteor shower is usually a spectacular sight to see. one out west was seen and heard. people from northern california to nevada reported hearing a loud boom yesterday morning. that sound occurred at the same time as a meteor shower that happens every year on the same date. some thought it was a satellite or space junk falling to earth. others had no idea what it was. >> it was enough to shock me into, man, what was that? >> i heard a big boom. it sounded like my daughter fell out of bed. >> felt it, didn't you? almost like felt something. >> wow. astronomers estimate the meteorite that made the noyce was probably about the size of a washing machine when it struck the earth's atmosphere. and it's 40 minutes past the hour. ahead on "early start," cracking the code. iran claims to have inside knowledge from a captured u.s. military drone. we'll ask an expert what is it stake. bet you think you're pretty quick? yeah, i guess it is pretty quick. jesse?!? jesse? jesse?! much obliged. suddenly, everything else seems old-fashioned. ultrabook. inspired by intel. welcome back. it is 44 minutes past the hour. iran says it's cracked the technology inside a secret u.s. drone. iran claims it extracted data that allowed it to pinpoint some of the exact dates and locations where this drone flew, including a mission over osama bin laden's compound in pakistan just two weeks before he was killed. the drone went down last december in iran. it's a stealth surveillance drone. presumably loaded with top-secret technology. what's at stake here. let's bring in retired general james "spider" marks. iran says it reversed engineered. they're throwing out details of information they have extracted. are you concerned about this? >> we should be concerned about it and certainly the united states is, specifically the intelligence community, is concerned about it. it's a matter of what are the near-term risks and what are the long-term risks. we have to assume at this point that iran has -- that the compromise of that drone is complete. in other words, they've taken it all apart, they've laid out all the parts, they've looked at it, tried to look into the engineering and the software that's been used and clearly they've indicated that there are certain pieces of information that would reveal to us that they've done a good job. the real issue is, what does that mean for the united states? what does that mean in terms of intelligence, collection and the use of this? there's really into immediate threat to the united states or forces deploy or possibly even the ability of the united states to use this system for further intelligence collection. but what we have to assume is that iran will continue to work on that and certainly will get the help of other nations to do a full exploitation and to get into the manufacturing of some of the pieces. you know, zoraida, the fact that they said -- >> are you worried about the reverse engineering at all? >> sure, sure. the point is, they can pick apart different pieces of this drone and the fact that they might produce a drone of their own is not a concern at all at this point. certainly they'll get stealth technology out of it, probably get good information in terms of how we listen in on various types of communications. that's the signals intelligence, the optics that are used, that make it for precise targeting. none of that is an immediate threat to us. there will be countermeasures we will try to use to try to get around some of that or we might try to enhance our abilities now that they have that technology. as i said we have to assume that their grasp of that technology is full but there are risks, near term and long term. >> what worries you most? >> the most important thing to me is what is iran going to do with this technology that would immediately give them a capability that we wouldn't possibly know about. and that might be, they could institute possibly a countermeasure toward our collection capabilities, again, whether that signals intelligence or whether that's some other type of package that wouldn't necessarily allow us to complete an intelligence mission. their countermeasures we may need to look at it closely. >> does it concern you at all that iran says russia and china have asked for the information on the drone. >> no, not at all. i'm sure the pakistanis are involve as well. >> thank you, we appreciate your perspective as usual. >> thank you, zoraida. >> ashleigh, back to you. it's 47 minutes past the hour. time to check news making top billing in our headlines this morning. freedom for the accused murderer of trayvon martin. george zimmerman released from jail overnight in sanford, florida. his destination being kept a secret for his own safety. as he awaits trial on second degree murder charges. former senator john edwards facing six charges of campaign finance violations when his trial begins this morning in north carolina. prosecutors say he used over $900,000 in illegal contributions to cover up an extramarital affair. he faces up to 30 years behind bars. the army is cancelling a ted nugent concert after his controversial remarks about president obama. he was scheduled to be the opening act at ft. knox in kentucky. he was booted from the show after he said he would be caught dead or in jail if obama was re-elected. the motor city's comments came at a national rifle association convention. desperate times call for desperate measures. bennett olson lost his job in march and heard no response from sending out dozens of resumes. here's what he did. hire me. he was a laid off casino worker. a $300 electronic billboard ad next to a highway in minneapolis. his smiling face and name flashed in front of drivers for eight seconds at a time over the course of 24 hours last week. >> i was just trying to think of ideas to set myself apart from other people and to get myself out there and maybe try to capture the attention of somebody. >> well, no job offers yet but now you're on cnn. so that $300 paid very well. and by the way, vice president of a laser tech company has e-mailed bennett that he does want to talk to him. so good job, bennett. >> you never know. >> good for you. hope it work out for you, buddy. >> 49 minutes past the hour. still ahead, a prom queen's sick joke. ending up in jail after allegedly convincing her town that she was dying. boy do we have details for you. you're watching "early start." literally across the street from her sister. 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[ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. 52 minutes past the hour. time to take a look at what is trending on web. listen to this one. police arresting a texas prom queen for allegedly faking cancer and scamming people out of $17,000. there she is. she looks so innocent. >> spoil for your mug shot, sister. >> according to the el paso times, 19-year-old angie gomez told her family, her friends and her fiance that she had six months to live. this was back in 2011 after battling leukemia since childhood. she even set up her own charity foundation called achieve the dream. gomez claimed the illness forced her to miss her senior prom so the high school held another one just for her. someone called police saying she didn't seem to be sick. she was put in jail with bond eight the $50,000. >> we'll reserve judgment until the judge or jury decides what's going to happen. >> she needs help, the child needs help. who knew world peace could be this painful? i'm not sure if you saw this video. the man known as metta world peace, nice basket but oh, what was that? it was tough to find. that was the result of metta world peace's nice elbow job. >> what, what, i didn't do anything. >> what? i didn't do anything. >> oh, well, yes, you did. watch the elbow. bang. metta world what? ron artest when you changed your name to metta world peace we didn't expect you to be doing this. that wasn't friendly at all, was he? he was tossed for what's called a flagrant foul. the league is reviewing that blow. poor mr. harden was down for at least a minute trying to recover from that blow. ron artest/metta world peace apologized i'm only celebrating after a dunk. it wasn't intentional. they say that basketball is not as dangerous as football. did you see his head. >> did you see him in 2004 when he ran into the stands and started slugging it out with a fan. there he goes. faschizel, what up? come on. he attacked the guy. you no he what, yeah, we all remember this. >> nice big suspension should be headed his way. >> guess how many games? he was out for 86 games after this. and then after, i don't know whether he changed his name to metta world peace after this mess. >> yes. >> because that was his name then, ron artest. anyway, turned out it wasn't so peaceful. >> yes. >> we'll see how he weathers this storm. wyclef jean singing a new video about trayvon martin. take a look at this. >> if you're 17 and wearing a hoodie on the phone talking to your shorty, make no mistake there's one like you in every city you know the story. ♪ they gonna creep up from behind ♪ ♪ have you leave earth before your time ♪ ♪ by the time oh, for sure he was gonna say he was so scared that he shot you ♪ >> the song is called "justice if you're 17." you can see a teenager in a hoodie talking to his girlfriend on the phone. it is being offered as a free download. >> i was going to ask about that. >> 56 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. still ahead on "early start," a big development in that case, the trayvon martin shooting case. look at that, george zimmerman walking out of jail after midnight, carrying a paper bag. no one knows where he's head, though. that's for his safety. could this weather get any stranger? a powerful storm hitting the northeast with more than a foot of snow expected in some places before it is over. we were just basking in the sun in some places. you are watching "early start." ♪ and i never thought i'd feel this way ♪ ♪ the way i feel about you [ male announcer ] it's time to clean out your garage for a car that's worthy of being the 2012 motor trend car of the year. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ it must be love ♪ love, love in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. a very good morning to you. welcome to "early start." >> we are bringing you the news from a to z. it's 6:00 a.m. in the east. travel nightmares. >> are they ever. >> lots of blackout warnings as well. downpours, heavy winds. a little bit of everything. up to a foot and a half of heavy wet snow expected in parts of the northeast. the power could be out for days in some towns where it's going and where it could cause the most damage. breaking overnight, george zimmerman is now free on bail. take a look at the pictures. he walked out of jail just after midnight carrying a bag of his belongings. this is the man who shot and killed trayvon martin and he's no longer behind bars as he awaits his second-degree murder trial. walmart caught in a huge multimillion dollar foreign bribery scandal accused of buying its way into mexico and blowing past its competition with years of payoffs. and a little bitty boy reeling in a great big beast. >> all right, shark boy. keep him up. keep him up. >> how do you like that day? all right, shark boy. a 9 year old, nice big wide brim hat how big gamefishing and reels in an reels in an epic catch. a minute past the hour here. first, winter finally showing up in late april again from the appalachian mountains in west virginia all of the way to western new york. there's snow in the forecast today. wet, heavy snow. take a look at fresh video from pennsylvania. fresh snow in late april falling but not sticking. kind of sticking right now on the sidewalks. in boston, driving rain, howling winds right now. a recipe for massive power outages up and down the east coast. the kind that can actually last for days, folks. rob marciano is tracking the storm from the weather center right now. first we go to brian todd right in the heart of the storm in pennsylvania. is it or is it not sticking? is it snow or is it rain or a mixture? >> it's pretty heavy snow, zoraida. snowing pretty heavily since about mid evening last night. the problem is the temperatures hovered around 33 degrees so it hasn't started sticking yet but it is just starting to accumulate here. we're right near interstate 80, a major east/west artery for truck traffic. they are concerned that truck routes may be disrupted. the pennsylvania turnpike is an hour and a half south of here. we drove through this last night when this mess started to come down and they are worried about truck routes. we just saw several snowplows go through here. what's interesting about that is local authorities tell us that they've had to reattach some of the plows and spreaders to these trucks. they had taken them off for the springtime not anticipating this of course. so you can see back here it's starting to accumulate near the roads but here in the real concern. our photo journalist and i are going to take a walk here past these railroad tracks. excuse me here. a little stumble. take a look up here with the foliage on the trees. most of the foliage is in full bloom. it's starting to accumulate on trees now. that's the real concern here with the trees just getting packed with heavy snow, the trees starting to collapse onto power lines and that's when the power lines go down and then you have a real mess on your hands. that's the real concern here as you start to see this accumulate on the railroad tracks and colder places that have not been treated around here, zoraida. as you can see now, very heavy, wet snow. latest i heard was 4 to 6 inches in this area here but it will accumulate much more in areas maybe just east and north of here. >> it's also a little slippery, huh? i'm just giving you a hard time there. >> reporter: it is a little slippery around here. you have to be careful. >> how unusual is it for this time of year for them to get this type of weather? >> reporter: well, what we were told by the national weather service is after april 15th, the record around here is maybe about four inches, not more than four inches. this has the potential to be very historic for april 23rd. really unheard of here. that could double the amount by the time the day is over. >> i'm sending a hat in your direction as well. >> reporter: i could use it. thanks a lot. >> all right, brian todd, live for us. we appreciate it. let's get to meteorologist rob marciano in the cnn weather center. nice and toasty warm. where is this storm going to do most of the damage, rob? >> right where he is. a little farther to the south and farther to the north. right along that spine of the western slopes of the appalachians there. a huge storm affecting people in different ways. there's a warm side and there's a cold side to this storm. the warm side is pretty impressive as well. satellite signature showing you how big this thing is. it's not moving very quickly. it will be with us for a good day and a half. here's radar imagery rain on the east side and backside where we see snow western parts of new york and finger lakes back through somerset, pennsylvania, to the south and east of pittsburgh getting a decent amount of snow. upstate new york. but you go east of syracuse and binghamton and mostly in the form of rain and spotty rain at that. a bit of a dry slot moving up from the south. four to eight inches is what we expect around where brian todd is. there will be pockets of 8 to 16 inches up in higher elevations. the big story with this is not so much how much accumulates on the roads although there will be slick shots, how much of that weighs down the trees with that foliage on them to take out power lines. the only big storm we had this season was the same deal in the fall. temperatures around the freezing mark in the snow zone. temperatures in boston, check this out. latest observations 55. drizzly and foggy. gusty winds out of the how the but temperatures are in mid to upper 50s across parts of boston. you'll see similar temperatures like that across the new york city area. there will be some flooding across parts of upstate new york and northern new england but for the most part the rain is over across the i-95. gusty winds and coastal flooding across long island. can you believe that? temperatures almost 60 degrees in boston right now. gives you an idea -- one side of the storm remembers it's spring. the backside is still holding onto winter. >> it's just insane. we are very glad that we have you there watching it all for us. thank you. >> happy to be here. seven minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. out of jail straight into hiding. george zimmerman accused of murdering trayvon martin was released overnight from a sanford, florida, jailhouse after posting bond. just where he is headed remains a secret. the location is a closely guarded secret for his own safety. his release comes after last friday's bond hearing where he issued a surprise apology to trayvon martin's parents for killing their son. >> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am. i did not know if he was armed or not. >> cnn's martin savidge is live in sanford, florida. we looked at those pictures, martin as he was being released late into the night last night. was anyone able to determine where he was going when he left that jailhouse with one paper bag in hand and got into that white waiting car? >> reporter: no. we don't know. the state of florida clearly must know because part of the deal for him getting out on bond was that he had to be electronically tethered by an ankle bracelet that would give a gps signal. presumably the state of florida knows exactly where george zimmerman is at this time but otherwise no one else is supposed to know except beyond his defense attorney. we were all wondering of course once bond was grant ed on frida by the judge, exactly when he would be set free. his attorney said it would take a couple days to work out finances and technical details but now it appears they had things more ready than we were led to believe because instead of midweek which was one suggestion, when he would be released, it was a little after midnight last night when we saw him briefly come out the door there that is the intake area. get into a white bmw and disappear. that's the last we've seen of george until any potential future court dates. his arraignment will be coming up. he doesn't necessarily have to be present for that. we're not sure of the next time we'll see him from now on. >> here's a question for you. i know because of the safety issues prior to him turning himself in, he was apparently out of state and there has been this issue of potentially going out of state again. do we have any idea where his attorney is at this juncture in terms of requesting that he be able to wait out the trial outside of the state of florida? >> reporter: i have asked a number of people is it essential that he remain close to his attorney for the purpose of bringing about the defense. other attorneys say it's not essential. he doesn't have to be right there in the attorney's office. it's presumed that probably say for the first 24 hours, he'll meet with his attorney to get the story down as to what exactly happened. he could go out of state. if he needs to communicate with miss attorney, he could pick up a telephone or skype if they need to. it's not expected he would take an airplane, financial reasons and other reasons. you have to check in. people would know your destination, where he's gone, we don't know? has he left the state? we don't know but he has the ability to if he wishes. >> there are a couple conditions he has to meet while he stays out on bond. you mentioned the ankle bracelet. anything else? >> he's under a curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. he can't go out of where he's staying. not allowed to drink alcohol or a firearm or have contact with trayvon martin's family or potential witnesses. speaking of trayvon martin's family, we have not heard anything from them ever since the bond hearing and they left there and they were quite angry. there was a notice they published that was put into the newspaper, the miami herald over the weekend. i'll read you part of that. it says the parents wish to express their heartfelt appreciation for your words of encouragement and your peaceful rally support. the millions who signed petitions, poems, paintings, monetary gifts to our defense fund and all of the other acts of kindness shown to them during their difficult time. that is the only thing we have heard from trayvon martin's family. they have been unusually quiet throughout all of this. we'll see if there's another statement coming out now that zimmerman is out. >> speaking of being quiet, he didn't say anything to reporters as he left the jail, did he? did he mention anything? did anyone yell questions at him? >> reporter: no. it was extremely quiet. the sheriff's deputies here blocked off the parking lot. we knew something was up. they came over and checked credentials of the photographers staking this out 24 hours a day but nothing was shouted. >> martin savidge live for us in sanford, florida. keep us posted if you see anything happen this morning or if there are any other developments. coming up at 6:30 eastern time, we'll get reaction to george zimmerman's release from darryl parks, an attorney for trayvon martin's family. a jury to decide whether john edwards used funny money to hide his honey and violate campaign finance laws. seriously, i don't write it. and also the young man on the sea could be a brand new story. hemmingway, eat your heart out. this 9 year old battling a shark while the dad records the whole adventure. you'll find out about this kiddo and what he reeled in. it's the big one. 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[ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna. 3% back on [ friends ] road trip!!!!!!!!!!!! [ male announcer ] get 1-2-3 percent cash back. apply online or at a bank of america near you. ♪ hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. good morning, new york city, specifically over at columbus circle. it's 54 degrees. a.m. showers. we put a call into rob marciano in atlanta. he says it's going to be windy and drier later. 55 degrees for you. >> i called them just to complain. >> this isn't bad. it could be snowing and dreadful. >> i just came from florida. i'm happy to be back. thrilled to be back at 6:16 in the morning. i love waking up at 1:30 a.m. on the east coast, we have your top stories making news for you this morning. we were just talking about heavy rains and huge winds. brace for it, folks. over a foot of snow expected in some parts of the northeast today. winter storm warnings. it's april. you're not sleeping and having a nightmare. we're having winter watches and warnings from the appalachians in west virginia all of the way to western new york and a lot of cities could be without power for a couple of days too. it is serious. >> under the cover of darkness, george zimmerman was freed on bail overnight from a sanford, florida, jail. he's awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges in the death of trayvon martin. that's him exiting there. he will wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and have a court ordered curfew as well. zimmerman's location is being kept secret due to concerns for his safety. >> that's one criminal case. here's another one for you. opening statements beginning today in the trial of a man accused of killing the family of singer and actress jennifer hudson. hudson is expected to testify against defendant william balfour. he's pleaded not guilty. the san francisco chronicle is reporting that a newly released memo from pg&e reveals a history of problems at the san bruno pipeline. that pipeline exploded back in 2010 killing eight people. the memo written back in 1989 reveals a previous leak at that pipeline. the same type of leak experts say caused the 2010 explosion. a federal law requires tests on pipelines with a history of these types of failures. inspectors say a test at the san bruno pipeline would have revealed the problems. the army is canceling a big old concert. a ted nugent concert. this after some pretty controversial marks that nugent made about president obama. that rocker was scheduled to be the opening act at ft. knox in kentucky but commanders said no after nugent said "he would be dead or in jail if obama was re-elected." the motor city mad man made the comments at a national rifle association convention. >> all right, shark boy. keep him up. keep him up. >> a 9 year old shark hunter is up to his old tricks. look at him there. the boy, named hunter stevens, caught a nice shark while fishing with his dad off the beach in galveston, texas, on sunday. the first of the season. he's already caught several of the man eaters on other fishing trips. for an expanded look at our top stories, head to our blog cnn.com/earlystart. just a few short years ago, john edwards hoped to be living in the white house today but now he's trying to stay out of the big house. he's facing 30 years in prison when he goes on trial this morning in north carolina. it's a case that has it all. power, money, sex, intrigue, could be a fictional novel. it's not. edwards is accused of having used over $900,000 in campaign contributions and not using them legally. all of it allegedly to hide an affair with rielle hunter and the daughter that he fathered with her. their relationship taking place while john edwards' wife, elizabeth, was fighting an agonizing and losing battle with cancer. one of the arguments the defense team says it's going to make is that it wasn't edwards who was using the campaign contribution money but instead was his personal aide, andrew young. edwards' lawyer says young used the contributions to help build his $1.3 million dream home. 20 minutes past the hour. ahead on "early start," a bribery scandal rocking walmart. how the giant retailer may have broken laws in the united states to grow its business in mexico. [ man ] hmm. a lot can happen in two hundred thousand miles... are you guys okay? yeah. ♪ [ man ] i had a great time. thank you, it was really fun. ♪ [ crash ] i'm going to write down my number, but don't use it. [ laughing ] ♪ [ engine turns over ] [ male announcer ] the all-new subaru impreza®. experience love that lasts. ♪ 24 minutes past 6:00 in the morning. we're minding your business for you this morning. tech heavy nasdaq down just a wee bit. this week the focus is going to be on three things. europe, the u.s. recovery and more corporate earnings. most notably apple reporting the first quarter results tomorrow. walmart could be in trouble over allegations it violated international bribery laws in mexico with bribes amounting to $24 million. "the new york times" first reported the story over the weekend. the bribes were allegedly for speeding up store construction at its subsidiary in mexico to expand quicker and squash competition. walmart says it is investigating the claims. cnn has not independently confirmed the "times" report. the economic recovery is gaining its footing here in the u.s. but there are small niches in the economy that might surprise you. a new report from world tracking. the top ten fastest growing industries include self-tanning products. i like that. pilates and yoga studios. hot sauce. >> i thought that one was interesting. hot sauce. >> my brother-in-law makes a mean hot sauce. i'll tell him about this. >> 3-d printers. and online eyeglasses and contact lens. good businesses to be in. also like generic pharmaceuticals, solar panel, social networking games, green and sustainable construction and for-profit universities. we'll tweet out a link so you can see the whole list. it's worthwhile while we are looking for jobs. >> $3.86 is down half a cent from the day before. that's a week straight of declines in gas prices. experts are mixed on whether or not we've seen the peak for the year for gas prices already. it really depends on if tensions flare with iran pushing oil prices and therefore gas prices up again. >> i think our crew is sleeping this morning. we should have had a ding, ding, ding there or breaking news or is it now boring because they're going down. >> good news. we're celebrating. >> 26 minutes after 6:00. coming up on "early start," new developments in the trayvon martin case. this is what happened while you were sleeping. he walked out a free man. free for now. that's called bail, folks. where he's heading as he awaits a second-degree murder case is a mystery for his own safety. as we go to break, we'll also take you to some live pictures from atlanta as well. stay with us. ♪ dave, i've downloaded a virus. yeah. ♪ dave, where are we on the new laptop? it's so slow! i'm calling dave. [ telephone rings ] [ male announcer ] in a small business, technology is all you. that's why you've got us. at the staples pc savings event, for a limited time get up to $200 off select computers. staples. that was easy. at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country. from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn... financing industries that are creating jobs in boston... providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community... and lending to ensure a north texas hospital continues to deliver quality care. because the more we can do in local neighborhoods and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. it is 30 minutes past the hour. it's time to check stories making news this morning. george zimmerman is a free man. the man who shot trayvon martin is out on $150,000 bond. he's said to be in hiding but authorities know where he is obviously. 6-year-old etan patz has never been found but that hasn't stopped investigators for trying to learn his fate for more than two decades. a new clue may help the case. western pennsylvania and other areas are bracing for a spring storm. the late april blast of winter could drop record snowfall in some parts. snow causing problem for air travelers before the first flakes fell. a young man in minnesota is hoping for a blizzard of job offers after advertising on a giant electronic billboard. the laid off casino worker is betting that employers will like his bold move enough to hire him. >> that's a very bold move. that's hope it works for him. wow. it's now 31 minutes past the hour. a big story developing overnight. george zimmerman walking out of jail. he was released just after midnight on $150,000 bond. like it normally is, you are only required to put up a percentage of this. in this case 10%. $15,000. he was granted that bond during a hearing on friday when he also took to the stand and then gave a very unusual apology to the family of trayvon martin. >> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am and i did not know if he was armed or not. >> family through their attorney says that apology was self-serving and insincere. and joining me now, one of the attorneys for trayvon martin's family, darryl parks. thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us this morning. have you had a chance to talk to trayvon martin's family about this late breaking news overnight, george zimmerman being released and leaving the jail cell? >> yeah, good morning, first of all. we did have a chance to speak with them. they continue to be very devastated. they anticipated that this would happen. through his lawyer we thought it would be midweek but we learn he was able to do it over the weekend. this is tough for them. think of the crusade they had to have mr. zimmerman arrested and now he walks free again among all of us. it is tough for them to see their son's killer walk free again but they do understand that the court was bound by the florida constitution, which does give a person a right to bail. >> that's my next question. the martin family has been so stoic and respectful in this process and all they ask for is that the process is allowed to play out legally. this is part of the legal process. bond is granted for those not considered a flight risk. do they feel somehow that mr. zimmerman is a flight risk and if so, why? >> not necessarily a flight risk. they do call attention to two incidents before the court at the bail hearing where you had the situation where he pretty much was defiant to authority, to the alcohol officer, the one incident at the university, as well as a domestic situation that occurred so that coupled with what happened to trayvon and trayvon was a complete stranger to mr. zimmerman. any time you have a person who commits violence against a total stranger is a real concern to anyone. >> i can't speak to the domestic violence issue but i can speak to the other issue because those documents were made public and that officer that he was alleged to have assaulted was an undercover officer who didn't identify himself and those charges were dismissed likely because of those details. the judge in this particular case talked about those two incidents and classified them as very insignificant. i want to be very specific and very technical about this because it is a technical, legal process. when the judge himself says it's not significant, his legal background, he's not a threat to the community, and he's not a flight risk, he himself turned himself in before being arrested, account family get beyond this at this point? >> let me say, my understanding was the officer did identify himself at some point and mr. zimmerman discounted that. now, on issue as it relates to court's pronouncement, i am an officer of the court. it doesn't stop anyone else from interpreting the facts as they are from coming to their own interpretation. >> let's talk about what happened at the bond hearing. it was very unusual to hear that apology in court. i know that through other attorneys that represent the martin family alongside you, the family was not happy with this apology and thought it was insincere and self-serving. for his part mr. zimmerman through his attorneys said that trayvon martin's asked for these questions to be answered and apparently rebuffed the request to do this in private. what did they want from mr. zimmerman? if they didn't want to meet in private to hear these words, why they were upset hearing it in a courtroom? >> well, let's put it in perspective. i think to be clear here, mr. o'ma o'mara's office speak with mr. jackson jackson's office -- >> ms. o'mara knows ms. jackson. once we talked we said at a certain point of time it would be okay to have a private situation where we took care of that and it would be a private matter. however, they decided they wanted to do it publicly. i think that in a bond hearing, that's not a time for an apology. there's a special time for that later in the proceedings. the proper evidence from the stand would have been evidence related to a pretrial release from mr. zimmerman. when he was put on the stand, evidence should have been presented to the court. you notice that this was not presented to the judge. all evidence should have been presented to the judge. it was not. it was corrected at our client. that's not proper in a pretrial release bail situation. >> just one last quick question. is there anything that mr. zimmerman could say that would assuage how the trayvon martin family, your clients, feel about this. >> i think when you think about what he said and he didn't apologize for shooting trayvon. he apologized for the loss of their son. he's not apologetic for the actual action he did in this situation. that's one of the problems that we have. >> he still does have his defense. i know you as a defense attorney can understand that and probably as an officer of the court respect it as well. darryl parks, thanks very much. good to talk to you. i look forward to our next chance. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. zoraida? >> it's 37 minutes past the hour. talk about crazy weather. the leaves are turning and snow is falling with less than a week left in april. snow is falling in pennsylvania. a powerful nor'easter is targeting thousands this morning from west virginia to western new york. rob marciano has your forecast from the cnn weather center in atlanta. i keep on calling it cooky weather. >> it's a big storm. different people are affected differently. the east side of the storm is a warm one. we've seen temperature jumps of about 10 degrees across parts of eastern new england including rhode island. the center of the low is over new york city. it will be drifting up toward the north and west and notice the white across upstate western new york and western parts of pennsylvania. temperatures here around the freezing mark. cold enough for snow. it's piling up in places near cornell getting seven inches of know and amounts similar to that across parts of western pennsylvania pennsylvania. total accumulations up to four inches outside of pittsburgh. higher elevations will see more. winds gusty. flooding across the northern parts of new england but with those winds even if you are not in the snow zone, you'll see some travel delays. philadelphia already reporting delays because of some wind and rain there. 55-minute delays at this time. and winds can push all of the way down to the south fairly tranquil and warm out west. that's a quick check on weather. it's 38 minutes after the hour. we'll see you in a bit. >> all right. thanks, rob. ahead on "early start," investigators may close in on the mysterious disappearance that's baffled police for more than three decades. we have an update on the cold case of etan patz. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? 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[ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! wait! your boa. what's in your wallet? mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. welcome back. 42 minutes past the hour. police and fbi investigators will be back at the scene in lower manhattan today trying to solve a 33-year-old mystery. 6-year-old etan patz vanished back in 1979 as he walked alone in his new york city neighborhood. his disappearance put a spotlight on the plight of missing children and his picture was the first of thousands to be put on milk cartons to help search for missing children. over the weekend investigators may have made a major discovery. police removed a chunk of wall from a basement in the boy's neighborhood with a stain of interest that may finally answer the question of what happened to him. a short time ago on "early start," a crime scene investigator who was there told us what police are looking for. >> if we're looking for dna, dna is one of the most stable molecules and after 33 years it should still be intact and we should still be able to use it for human identification. >> cnn's deborah feyerick is in lower manhattan at the scene and joins us now with the latest. i guess the big question is how long will it take to test that piece of wall that they took out of there? >> reporter: the wall has been sent to quantico, virginia. unclear how long it will take. what investigators did over the weekend was they sprayed a particular chemical that triggered sort of an organic material. they believe that organic material could potentially be blood. that's what they're really testing for now. zoraida, when we talk about this, this all happened within a two-block span. it's less than 100 yards from the boy's home to the basement, which is now being searched. we want to take a look behind me. you can see some activity. they won't resume the search until 8:00. you can see the dumpster there. that's where a lot of the dirt and concrete is being taken out. it's being sifted. that's all going to be analyzed closely. the fbi evidence team. they are looking at all to see whether there are any human remains. one of the reasons being a cadaver dog did pick up a scent a month ago and that's why they are looking at this to see whether perhaps the boy could have been buried under what was a new concrete floor poured by the handyman just days after he went missing. this is a handy man who had befriended the child and gave him dollar for helping out around the workshop. handyman's lawyer says he was never involved in this. he's cooperating fully. again, this is one of those leads that investigators just want to make sure is crossed off their list because at the time they decided not to rip up that concrete floor and if -- and it's a big if, if that child is found in the basement or remains of the child are found in the basement, it means that his parents have passed him thousands and thousands and thousands of times over the last 33 years since he disappeared. >> deborah, have we heard at all from the family? >> reporter: no. they are being very quiet about. the father, stan patz, he has been talking to investigators. there's a note on the door that basically says no comment. they had their hopes raised a lot in the past. they sued another man, sort of a homeless drifter, but convicted pedophile, and then they thought he was sort of the person that may have hurt their son. that's why they sued him. the family has remained quiet. it's been a long road for them. they never moved out of the neighborhood. when you can see the bus stop where etan patz was walking that morning and less than a block and a half away. it was his first time and it just seemed safe back then. >> that pain never goes away i would imagine. i want to correct something. as we headed into you we talked about a crime scene investigator we talked to earlier and it was actually a forensic scientists. we apologize for that. thank you so much by the way. 46 minutes past the hour. >> soledad o'brien joining us with a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> good morning. just as the supreme court is set to hear arguments on arizona's controversial immigration law, there's a new and pretty disturbing videotape that surfaced showing an immigrant being tasered and tasered over and over again by border patrol agents. we'll dig deeper and also the woman who shot the video. you can hear him screaming in the background. unmanned drones. dozens of domestic law enforcement agencies have been granted permission to deploy the aircraft. it's raising privacy concerns. we'll talk about that. >> if you can't watch the show this morning, check out our live blog on our website at cnn.com/startingpoint. we'll see you right at the top of the hour. it's really cool looking. what about fuel-efficiency? 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ 50 minutes past the hour which means it's ten to 7:00 on the east coast. a dangerous nor'easter is expected to dump a foot or more of snow today from western new york to west virginia. >> looks pretty. >> looks pretty but ain't fun to drive in. some cities could see high winds and up to four inches of rain as well. and this is big. power outages could be expected for a few days. george zimmerman is free on bail this morning. the accused murderer of trayvon martin walked out of jail around midnight. zimmerman will have an electronic monitoring bracelet, court ordered curfew and can have no contact with martin's family or any witnesses. six counts of campaign finance violations and up to 30 years behind bars. doesn't usually go with this picture but that's what former senator john edwards is facing as his trial begins this morning in north carolina. prosecutors say he used over $900,000 in campaign contributions illegally to cover up an extramarital affair. a minnesota man says if you want a big job, you got to think big. bennett olson lost his job in march and had received no response from prospective employers despite sending out hundreds of resumes. i gambled on a billboard ad. his name flashed in front of drivers over a course of 24 hours last week. >> i was just trying to think of ideas that set myself apart from other people and to get myself out there and maybe try to capture the attention of somebody. >> 300 bucks for 24 hours. no job offers yet but a vice president of a laser tech company e-mailed bennett he wants to talk. >> that $300 got him on cnn too. not so bad. scientists think they found the key to causing brain freeze. you know ice cream, slurpies, all of the stuff that causes it. a new study says that brain freeze could have something to do with changes in the brain's blood flow. researchers say the same changes could help explain types of headaches like migraines. people who suffer from migraines are more likely to get that condition we call brain freeze. >> i don't suffer from migraines. if i ate my ice cream too fast, i get brain freeze. don't you? >> i can tell you a few -- i'm just going to say that usually in the morning when i make messups on the air, it's usually brain freeze. cold coffee. still ahead a prom queen's very sick joke ending up in jail after allegedly convincing her town, including her family, that she was dying. you're watching "early start." 57 minutes past the hour. time to look at what's trending on the web. police arresting a texas prom queen -- >> prom. prom. prom. prom. >> shame on me. prom queen. for allegedly faking cancer and scamming people out of $17,000. what a slip. according to the el paso times, 19-year-old angie gomez told her family, friends and fiance that she had six months to leave back in 2011 after battling leukemia since childhood and set up her own charity foundation. gomez claimed the illness forced her to miss her senior prom so the high school held another one just for her. someone called police saying she didn't seem to be sick and they investigated and she was put in jail. >> we have a good story for you here. the action at a drag racing competition in tennessee. anything but a drag. look at the pictures. drag racer takes off from the starting line. not good. whoa. cameraman. my gosh. get out of the way. whoa. he got out of the way. it kills the camera but it doesn't kill the cameraman. thank god. female racer also escaping injury on this it let's watch it again so you can see what the camera person was having to watch. probably thinking he was getting a great shot until -- run for it. look at that. >> you know what's great is that the camera may have been destroyed but the tape wasn't. he's got some good stuff to show. i'm also glad to hear that the female drag racer was okay after this because that looks pretty harrowing. imagine spinning around. she's probably going to want a copy of that for prosterity. our "starting point" this morning is out of jail and back into hiding. we're talking about george zimmerman. the man accused of murdering trayvon martin. he's been released on bail. sex, lies, money and battle for the most powerful position in the nation. airport delays, blackout alerts, winter arrives after daffodils have bloomed. these are live pictures of snow falling in pennsylvania. we're following severe weather set to pound the northeast this monday, april 23rd. "starting point" begins right now. ♪ i want to wash my hands