fox 5 is working several big stories tonight. a campus unites in tragedy. helpeds gather to honor a local college student whose life was cut short. a drug store turns crime spree. an armored car heist in broad daylight. and fox 5 investigates what is the strange smell wafting through dozens of communities? we'll tell you what is being done. but we begin with an emotional service on a college campus. >> hundreds turned out to remember and celebrate the life of dominique frazier killed in her bowie state university dorm room. her roommate stabbed her during a fight over music. roz slater has more. >> reporter: in a room to designed to hold 250, there was standing room only. they called this a celebration of life, but there was plenty of tears. with tram dee still on their minds and the grief still fresh, bowie state university students packed a seshes for one of their own, the classmate they called domo. >> i wake up every morning and tell myself she's not gone. but when she wakes up we'll all be there and it will be a better place. >> reporter: police say frazier was stabbed to death in her dorm over a fight over music. charged with the crime? her roommate, alexis simpson. it was a crime so troubling it has turned the campus upside down. >> we have come together as one university like i have never seen before. we have alled nice words to each other to encourage each other. >> reporter: students are hoping to find closure after losing two of their own. >> one of the reasons we wanted to do this is because i wanted sandy to than you have a friend at the university and we loved your daughter very much, and we have our core values, and we pray for alexis and pray that she is held accountable in some way, shape, or form. >> reporter: dominique's family was here as well but did not speak. her funeral is set for friday morning. >> what is the status of the student charged, roz? >> reporter: her lawyer argued this was self defense, but she is still behind bars. and two police officers indicted for a beating a year and a half ago turned themselves in today. they are facing felony assault charges. each posted a $75000 bond. another big story we're following tonight issue an attempted armored car robbery that ended in a hail of gunfire. paul wagner has details. >> i said i've been living here 42 years, and i didn't think i would ever see anything like this. >> reporter: you can see the bullet holes in the window of the vestibule six in the front and a couple more in the side window and shattered glass inside. incredibly, no one in the store was hit. >> and all of a sudden, we heard all of these shots, and i said oh, somebody's shooting. she said yes. and she said yes, the. we both jumped up. >> reporter: as police officers converged on the area, they detained two men. two others, one critically wounded, drove off and headed to the medstar unit of the medical center. the friend left his wounded friend inside and escaped. but inside the car, officers found a handgun. >> i am not able to confirm who did the shooting. that's what the investigators are doing right now. there were several witnesses who were around the area. we're talking with them trying to get a complete story of the evenis occurred this morning. >> reporter: f.b.i. agents and d.c. police spent hours going over the crime scene. k-9 units scoured the neighborhood while officers took photographs of the gun and the vestibule where the attempted robbery took place. >> police questioned two men seen running from the scene, and they were not charged. the suspect who was shot remains in critical condition while the search continues for his friend. the fox 5 storm force tracking showers tonight. most of the rain is finally clearing out of the area, but we might not be out of the woods just yet. sue palka is keeping an eye on things. sue? yeah, i don't think we're done with the rain. you can see on the radar most of this has moved on up to the north, and we are seeing heavier showers around hagerstown. this is the batch from moved from south to north. that was significant, and that passed a few hours ago. i wanted you to see that there definitely is a little bit more on down to the south, and the reason we're stuck in the pat wrern we have not seen much sunshine, high pressure off the coast of new england blocking everything, and also getting a subtropical moisture in here. and we have another cut-off upper low level systems that is feeding in moisture and the bottom line is clouds, chances for showers and a couple of storms continuing, and the clouds are hanging tough. i do think we have one day coming up this week that looks heavier than the rest. we will talk about the timing for that and whether or not we can dry out for the weekend. >> sue, see you in a bit. a two-year nightmare over for two american hikers jailed as spies in iran. they were released from tehran this morning, and this video shows the men reuniting with their families in oman and also there to greet them, sarah shourd released last year. >> reporter: brian the joyful news as iran's president was visiting new york. he had repeatedly clashed with his own country's court much the news today is likely to earn him political goodwill. appearing thin but in good heel, josh fattal and shane bauer raced down the steps from the plane to freedom, finally free after more than two years in i -- iranian custody. >> we are so happy and relieved we are free. our deepest gratitude for his majesty omanqaboos for the release. >> two years in prison is two long, and we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other unjustly imprisoned people in america and iran. thank you very much. >> reporter: president obama call ed it wonderful news. >> we are thrilled and could not feel better for the families. it's a wonderful day for them and for us. >> reporter: a lawyer for the men managed to clear the way for their long-awaited release after $1 million bail for freedom deal was approved. >> the legal procedure is over and as i told you i was waiting for a signature which i managed to get today. >> reporter: last month, both bauer and fattal were sentenced to eight years for illegal entry and spying. both men and sarah shourd were arrested in 2009 while straying in iran while hiking near a waterfall in iraq. shourd was released last september because of health issues. the families said today can only be described as the best day of our lives, and for now, the showdown remains between washington and tee hanover the nuclear program and ambitions in the middle east. but for a moment today at the united nations, u.s. officials were adding words of thanks. >> thank you. hope for military couples torn apart by the war. modern technology is helping to keep the dreams of family a live. the moving story next only on fox 5. and tonight on the news edge, the district placing tough new restrictions on tanning is -- salons. ugoo . tonight only on fox 5, it may be one of the best-kept secrets of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. military families are banking sperm so they can carry on the dreams of having children if their husbands die or are badly injured in war. >> reporter: military couples must plan for the harshest of reallies, san diego, injury, rapid redeployment. many who planned to have families come to realize that after battle and sometimes during it, they no longer can. more and more couples are using modern medical technology and are saving and banking sperm. >> it's just like another insurance policy. >> reporter: ann is undergoing invitro fertilization in texas trying to conceive a child with her husband, chris's sperm while he is in afghanistan. >> if something does happen to him while he's over there, what would you like me to do? and that's to continue on with our dream, to have another baby, and i would honor that. it gives them a chance for them to live on. does that make sense? >> reporter: it does to maria sutherland. >> my little miracle. >> reporter: that's 4-year-old steve sutherland iii whose father was killed in iraq in 2005. he and wife maria had issues conceiving and stored some of his sperm at home in alaska. >> unfortunately, my husband didn't make it home from iraq. so i needed -- in all his letters, he talked about you know, the baby. >> reporter: he didn't have any of his own although maria had two older sons from a private marriage. >> i'm holding part of my husband. >> reporter: we spoke with maria and little steve from their know alaska and ann from her home in texas. >> i think this should be offered to every soldier getting ready to be deployed for that reason as a insurance policy. >> reporter: the pentagonned that it does not sponsor a sperm bank program but doesn't deter military couples from seeking one out. >> these are typical tanks where the semen samples are stored. these are filled with liquid nitrogen which is exceptionally cold. >> reporter: the medical director at fairfax cryo bank is a northern virginia sperm bank that is currently storing frozen semen for 500 military couples. >> they think about this because military women in building their family, you have to think about these things. >> reporter: the doctored that fairfax cryo bank started banking the sperm of military men at the time of the first gulf war. some samples have been here even longer. >> people have 20, 30-year-old sperm to create babies, so as long as it's kept frozen. >> reporter: keeping semen on ice isn't cheap. it costs $395 a year in northern virginia, but fairfax and other banks are giving military families a year's storage for free and discounts on other services. >> my son is the best thing that ever happened to me. >> reporter: carol smith conceived her son benton with her husband's frozen sperm after army lieutenant brian smith was killed in iraq in 2004. >> after brian's death, i was depressed. i thought my life haddenned and everything we had hoped for was gone, and then two years later, i got this little miracle that is what we wanted. we were trying for this. one of his last e-mails to me is we will have children together. >> i wish the word was out more. i didn't hear until just recently. if i had known, we would have done it during the first deployment. i think it's a phenomenal program. >> reporter: bringing new life into lives shattered by war. bob barnard, fox 5 news. >> and the families have wandered into unchartered territory, the issue of survivor benefits and whether the children now qualify because they were conceived after the father's death. the military said they make the decisions on a case-by-case base. and palestinians are continuing to push for recognition as an independent country and president obama addressed the united nations's general assembly. the president is rejecting the move and wants palestinians to negotiate directly with israel. >> ultimately, the israelis and palestinians, not us, who must reach agreement on the issue that is divide them on boarders and security on refugees and is jerusalem. >> during his speech to the un general assembly last week, talks between israel and palestine broke down. can d.c.'s fire chief promote his brother? kelton ellerbe is up for acting battalion chief, but the mayor's office wants to make sure he gets the job on his own merit. the chief said that he has been on the job for 20y years and even ran into the pentagon on 9/11. >> the fact that a person's brother or sister is a chief should not prevent a person from being promoted. i talked with chief e well, lerbe about this. >> public officials are not allowed to promote a reel difficult in an agency he or she has official patrol over. controversial prisoner's execution delayed. we'll explain the last-minute holdup next. and later at 10:30 what is the smell? it stretches for miles over virginia, maryland, and d.c. we will tell you what we found and what is being done to fix the problem. s/w g ?céa3f?♪ we are following breaking news. we have just learned that the supreme court has refused to block the execution of troy davis, the man in georgia set to be put to death for the killing of an off-duty police officer. so what happens now? >> reporter: well, i can tell you right now that demonstrator that is you see behind me are just getting the word that is breaking right now, that this execution will go on or that the u.s. supreme court will not step in and block the execution. these folks, it's been a long and emotional night. at 7:05 when they got the word that the supreme court would consider looking into the case, and the state of of georgia put the execution on hold to see what the supreme court would say, and we are getting a release from amnesty international. they call this decision a catastrophic failure of the justice system, but essentially what this decision means is that the execution of troy davis will go forward. it was set to happen at 7:00 tonight. but the state of george george wanted to wait and see what the u.s. supreme court did. but now they expect the execution to go forward very shortly. >> chris shaw live outside the center where the inmate will be put to death. and we are waiting to figure out at what time. thank you. here at home, there is a question that many people have been wondering. what in the world is that smell up and down a popular stretch of road and dozens of communities. it's all because of an experiment gone wrong. we will explain that coming up next. wo d take a big whiff. this happeneds in our area have been smelling something foul for decades. tricia thompson is tracking down the source of the stench and what she uncovered will have you investigating if you have this stench in your backyard. >> reporter: if you live or play along the potomac river, you may have noticed there is a bit of a stink about where that smell is coming from. >> all the way down the canal i've smelled the smell. >> yeah. i would describe it as old socks. >> somewhere south of rotten eggs. it just permeates everything. >> something is wrong with this. >> reporter: hes the water the trees, the bald eagles, it all gets ruined by that smell lingering in the air. >> this is awful. and you have all this wonderful outdoor, and then you have -- you're followed around by this odor, this noxious odor. i started jogging, and every quarter mile on my runs i would smell this -- this odor. >> reporter: it took the residents years to figure out where the smell was coming from. like many, they, at first assumed it was stagnant water in the cappal. >> the shocking when you realize that it's not that. it's sewage. >> reporter: it all started back in the 1960s when congress ordered the construction of dulles airport. now, the airports create a lot of sewage, so the federal government ran a sewer line from the airport to the potomac river and it crosses just below grade falls and runs on the maryland side and the length of the historical park. but this was the 60s. the federal government owned the land, but it wasn't yet a national park. it was really the cheapest and easiest way for the federal government to get all of that sewage down to anacostia where it went to the blue plains treatment facility. >> that smell is all of the collected waste from all those communities. >> reporter: more than 50 years later, the bp water and sewer authority said that virginia, maryland, and the district all contribute to what is called the potomac intercepter. >> the gravity sewer, so for the flow to go something has to come out. the way it's constructed, it's a natural event so long the entire length, you will find several hundred. >> it's like a wind tunnel when you're near it. but the smelliest wind tunnel ever. >> reporter: we went on a short hike to the vents causing all the stimpg. >> the sewers are made of the same substances as all the other sewers in the washington area. but this is the only one vented like this. >> reporter: with the help of a dozen other communities and organizations, they say it's taken more than 15 years and at least one lawsuit to eliminate the smell. d.c. water is building four large structures along the sewer line. they were to eliminate the need for the old stone vents. >> we're constructing a facility which will draw the gases out of the sewer through a tank and discharge it. >> reporter: d.c. water systemed that it will finish in 2012. in potomac, tis heart attack a thompson, fox 5 news. >> and the smell events have very muched through maryland, virginia, and d.c., four counties. you can go to myfoxdc.com for more. and we'll start off with what's trending tonight, and perhaps people with a facebook page will be talking about the changes. facebook revamped its page. take a look. a lot of complaints about how the information is stacked and stored and you access your information, everything from the way you see your friend's updates to the ticker and real- time updates on your friends. the goal is to turn your news feed into your newspaper. as to whether or not it's doing that we are meeting with mixed results. an overwhelming number of users dislike it. "i do not like the latest changes. i conot want them determining what posts from my friends i will be most interested in." it sounds like dr. seuss. but lindsay wroaz "they aren't all that bad." and a rumor that apple will launch the iphone 5 in two weeks, and it will be the first launch for apple's new ceo tim cook. apple just released the ipad 2 in march. and you may have heard about the defunct nasa satellite that was to crash into earth. this is a tracker that allows you to see exactly the satellite is as it's circling the earth, and you can see the yellow trails as it continues to make the loop. this dot right here this triangle shows you literally just within the last five minutes that it has gone from lybia to north of turkey. you can see how fast this is moving. it's circling the earth and will crash at this point. no one knows where. it will happen between tomorrow and saturday. you can find this on our website at myfoxdc.com. the odds of this hitting somebody you know a person on earth, 3200 that a piece of this will hit -- 3200 to 1, i guess. we'll watch it closely. i think the vast majority of experts don't expect that to happen. myfoxdc.com. shawn? >> just in case, i bought you a stylish hard hat. >> i'll wear it and track it together with a watching party. >> brian, thank you. after months of hype, x factor hit the stage. coming up, we are hearing from the contestants and breaking down the most memorable moments. >> 46 mothers with very personal stories to cancer are shaving it all off. you'll hear their e motional story and learn about their fight to save lives. first, here's neil cavuto for the business report. can you hear the big bank getting the credit rating whacked? this time around, the bank won't be too big to pay off, and moody's is pouncing on wells fargo and citigroup. and federal reserve chief ben bernanke has a plan he hopes will keep rates low on business loans and mortgages but stocks not impressed. the stocks selling off after ben's a now and moody's downgrade, and more people buying homes last month but that's not a good thing. it's foreclosure helping with the numbers. and a separate report saying that the prices will struggle through 2015. and holiday cheer might be taking a holiday at the mall. retail sales are expected to rise during this year's holiday season. and cracking open a cold one for cold, hard cash. a beer giant is buying australia's biggest beer company foster's. mmfou t >> i think they are ready. dallas isn't ready. dallas is the one banged up with tony romo with the lung and the rib. here's the good news. they've met -- this will be the 103rd meeting. dallas has one more, they've won 20 more. recently, shawn, this thing has been so tight. each one has won six victories over the past six seasons and monday night football is dead even and they've each one seven times. thinking about two of the best franchises in all of sports, last season, they split the series and this sunday night will be remembered for one play, the sunday opener. late first half, forced the fumble and returned the touchdown in a 13-7 redskins victory. the cowboys won the rematch 13-30. and what do they expect when they get together. >> dallas on monday night the magnitude of this rivalry, i grew up in virginia there's no secret about that, there's going to be a lot of fights afterwards, so there's going to be a lot of tongue going on. that's what you get when the cowboys and the redskins play. >> you shouldn't be in this profession from a coaching standpoint and player's perspective monday night, especially in dallas just a great venue. it's just what you look forward to. to me it's why you're in this game. >> the game can be seen on my 20, a live post game show, i'll be in big d to follow. i've never been in that new stadium. i can't wait to see it. biggest stadium in the nfl cowboys stadium. and coming up at 11:00, we'll hear from santana moss who has the answer to a trivia question. he's the most successful active receiver against the cowboys. he has 73 receptions versus the cowboys, more than any other current player. >> good thing we have h the team. >> good thing. brian. >> coming up on the news edge at 11:00, two prince georges police officers are indicted for the beating of a university of maryland student. tonight, we're going to go one-on-one with the police chief. hear his plan to make sure this never happens again. new dc regulations to protect teens in tanning salons aren't getting a warm reception from everyone. why some salon owners say the new rules are ridiculous. t.d >> tonight, 46 moms chose to go bald, shaving their heads in solidarity with their children who have been hit by cancer. fox 5's will thomas has more on today's shave for the brave at union station. >> the worst news is that your child has cancer and the thought that there might be an answer for a family down the road made me feel good. >> hair is an accessory. it doesn't matter if i have it or don't have it but kids are forever. we need them. they're our future. >> bonny mulieri. >> it's like watching your child stand in the middle of the interstate and you just have to hope they don't get hit. >> reporter: holly carr. 46 mothers fighting for their children and yours by shaving their heads. susan did it on live tv during an earlier broadcast in honor of her 10-year-old son. cancer took his life earlier this year. >> i have done this for david and i have now been able to check this off as something i've done and i'm proud. our children didn't have a choice. they were bald because they had this terrible disease. >> reporter: the number 46 is significant because each week day in the united states, 46 children in the united states are diagnosed with pediatric cancer, like little decklin eight days shy of his first birthday when he lost his life to cancer. >> we started looking into pediatric cancer and we're shocked at how underfunded it was. >> we've been through the worst of the worst. and i think going through that with your child you realize like what's important and what's not. >> reporter: and what's important now is raising money. more than $300,000 in this single event. >> wow cool. >> reporter: the money goes to the saint baldrich's foundation which funds childhood cancer research grants. >> there are other diseases that affect more kids but nothing is as lethal. childhood cancer kills more kids than any other disease. >> reporter: these moms say bald is beautiful, but bald is meaningful too. in washington will thomas, fox 5 news. >> what a great cause for those whomz who participated in that program. >> we can put things into perspective watching that. >> certainly you can. >> we need a giant cold front to come through. >> is that what we need? >> that would blow this gloom off the map and the round of showers still going through and we are going to continue to go through. there's actually a new batch trying to fire up on radar. clouds are hanging low and tough and i got to tell you shawn and brian, it does not look like we'll see a lot of sunshine again tomorrow. clouds are going to win this battle. that's for sure. first stop will be sentinel radar. frederick county, you're getting another new batch going through. this might produce a half inch of rain or so moving south to north. if you're seeing that through frederick to fair mont carol county into pennsylvania and we follow that down into the river so you're probably getting a couple 10ths of an inch and in the leesburg area too. not much south of that but this is a larger pattern that has been sending waves of rain from the deep south with a little bit of a sub tropical connection so earlier rain went by and we didn't see much in the way of thunder today and not everybody saw it. it did move through in the evening rur hour and right through the district at 7:00, continuing up to the north, there's more down to the south too and there's a bit of a freight train setting up as a pattern, there's one that has this moisture continuing into the weekend. although, i certainly think that right now, friday will be our wettest day. tomorrow, more of the same, a lot like what we had today with some lighter showers if we were to get some sunshine, we could have a thunderstorm. here's what's going on with the pattern though. we have a cut-off area of low pressure. it's blocked and just sitting there and spinning and there's nothing to kind of give it a kick and get it out of here so that is sending moisture in our direction. the other thing is high pressure which also has a lot to do with blocking it, sending moisture in our direction, and this low according to our model guidance today seems to want to even be out there for the weekend, where yesterday it looked like it might start moving through and be out of here saturday and sunday. it didn't budge today on the computer model. here's how the next three days are looking. thursday about 78 degrees with some showers, lots of clouds. friday heavier rain maybe thunderstorms that could drop an inch or two and we worry about that because this area is so saturated. then we get into saturday and there is weekend improvement. we'll see brighter skies but we'll also have a chance for showers around even on the weekend. how much rain are we talking about? this has tended to jump a little bit every day but we're looking at this area between 2 to 4 inches and it tends to be east of 95 and we're talking about a number of days for storm total. 1 to 3 inches, which is farther west than it was yesterday and you get out and over interstate 81 and into the mountains we're talking about half inch to inch and-a-half and that's a lot of rain and not rain that we need right now. temperature-wise today, into the mid-70s, still not too far from average. humidity is high, of course with all the showers we've had around. our temperatures right now 70, and i don't think it'll be cold. we'll drop down to 68 degrees in the city with showers around and the clouds are hanging tough. more of the same tomorrow with scattered showers, 78 degrees in our 3 d planner. we're expecting to see 78 degrees in the morning would not be surprised to see a couple of showers maybe dryer for the noon hour and more showers possible at 4:00 with a temperature of 78. so here is your five-day forecast, and we talked about those showers maybe being kind of heavy and somewhat worried they could produce some flash flooding for any area where you get multiple rounds of showers and storms. a little brighter saturday, sunday and monday. that's not a home run though brian. that's keeping our fingers crossed. we have tropical storm ophelia out there. we'll keep up with when we'll have the heaviest rain. ♪ you make me feel ♪ ♪ you make me feel ♪. she was incredible. you're right. the big premier of simon cowell's talent show the x factor. it changes it up a little bit, constevtants are in front of huge live audiences, young and old all vying for the $5 million prize. the judges, i'm sure you recognize a lot of familiar faces. >> he was mean but generally pretty much spot on. he seemed like every time he was critical, you know that's really hard to be. >> simon, it's all about paula. i love me some simon but i really want to see paula. >> and a lot of people wanted to see paula, simon and l.a.reed who we're not seeing on the judge's table snawe're talking to sarah frasier. you were chatting with people from the x factor. what was the reaction. >> it was a big night. everyone really liked it. simon and paula are such a great combination. they were good back together. we liked kelly reed and got used to sharon cole. >> hello. >> and he was a favorite here in the newsroom, everyone was like we liked nicole better. overall, people loved it and i like the formula a lot. so first of all, it moved a lot faster. what i really liked is we've all seen the melt down of the people that are horrible, and idol sort of drags it out. x factor cuts it moves on. and the talent is unbelievable. stacey francis who we saw amazing. and this guy, siamese. >> when he came out we were all like what in the world and when he started doing his little whatever, prince routine were you surprised that they accepted him? >> well, here's what you know, we were talking about before and what everyone's been chatting about, simon said it best and x factor is about cultivating an overall star with longevity something that idol in the last couple of years has had a hard time doing, so siamese has some talent. >> he's got something. that's what simon says, he has a little of something, so it'll be fun to see how this plays out on future shows. are you guys going to be talking about this tomorrow morning. >> of course. we'll get a lot of feedback on the cane show at 6:30 getting your feelings and thoughts and i think it was really a big hit and auditioning in front of a live studio audience had a new element too. >> sarah frasier thank you very much. music funz of a certain generation stunned by the news that r.e.m.is calling it quits. they announced their break up today. they wrote, a wise man once skilled in attending a party knows when it's time to leave. coming up next, an update on a story of incredible survival. this boy spent 20 minutes under water and lived. before you leave home tomorrow morning, make sure you know where new speed cameras are going up. the news edge at 11:00 is next. stn >> an amazing recovery for a 12-year-old boy pulled from the pacific ocean after being under water for nearly 20 minutes. 12-year-old dale austrander nearly died in august. a rip tide pulled him under water. when rescuers found him he wasn't breathing. look at him now after weeks of treatment he's relearning how to walk and talk. >> are you excited? >> i thought so. can you say yes? >> yes. >> he's not 100% dale as he was august 4th, but i believe he will be back. i believe that he will recover fully. >> how incredible. dale is now out of the hospital and home with his dog. forge