twitter account. what were they looking for? the american nurse and her daughter kidnapped in haiti released after nearly two weeks. was there a ransom the billion dollar mystery. who won the record mega millions jackpot? our nbc news exclusive, the mother/dauaughter duo o set to make history as virgrgin galactic takes a big leap in space tourism. and he was famous for his work with the band, bob dylan, and martin scorsese. remembering rock legend robbie robertson. ♪ take a load off fanny ♪ >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt good evening. it was paradise in flames in hawaii where incredibly fast-moving wildfires on the island of maui have claimed at least six lives overnight framing parts of the picturesque tourist destination against a hellish backdrop homes, businesses, and the historic town of lahaina destroyed. power and communications on the island crippled. residents and visitors urgently evacuated others literally running for their lives in desperate sprints to the ocean to escape the heat and smoke. many of the injured were treated for burns. the fire sweeping across the western part of maui, driven by strong winds fueled by a hurricane hundreds of miles away that initially kept firefighting helicopters on the ground miguel almaguer has made his way to maui and has this late report >> reporter: the apocalyptic scene in maui unfolded before sunrise, an island wildfire so explosive, flames poured into the pacific forcing the desperate to plunge into the ocean to escape the inferno >> careful right here. >> reporter: the coast guard quickly plucking roughly a dozen from the water as witnesses say the unstoppable blaze ripped across homes and took at least six lives. >> the smoke was just so thick, people were running around looking for refuge it was -- the heat was unbearable >> reporter: during the chaotic evacuation -- >> oh, my god. >> reporter: -- hospitals treating at least 20 burn victims quickly became overwhelmed. 911 service went down. cell coverage is out, and the national guard was ordered in to help >> it really took us by surprise. >> reporter: as 70-mile-an-hour winds fanned the flames, the air attack was grounded. quickly multiple fires erupted. historic sections of lahaina were swallowed by flames and engulfed in smoke. >> this is not a safe place to be. on certain parts of maui, we have shelters that are overrun. >> reporter: calling the unfolding catastrophe unprecedented, state officials say some of maui is without power. roads are blocked. hotels are closing, and thousands of tourists and locals are trying to flee >> our stuff is still at our hotel, so we are here at the airport with a flight tonight with no stuff. >> the firestorm came through and took everything with it. >> reporter: but for those with nowhere to go or no way out, the extent of the damage is still unclear >> local people have lost everything. they've lost their house, they've lost their animals, and it's devastating. >> reporter: tonight this is the misery in maui as a wildfire turns this tropical paradise into a hellish nightmare. here at the airport and across the island, some 4,000 people are trying to leave maui, which is still under a state of emergency airlines are sold out, and hotels are evacuating many have nowhere to turn lester >> miguel almaguer in hawaii starting us off. joining me now is hawaii's lieutenant governor sylvia luke acting governor luke, as we just reported, there has sadly been loss of life in maui based on the extent of the destruction you know about so far, do you anticipate there will be more casualties >> you know, this is the beginning of some of our findings and assessment it is really a sad day for maui and for the state of hawaii. you know, we never anticipated that we would have this type of brush fires. >> do you have any sense of what you're seeing in terms of people displaced visitors and locals alike? >> you know, as of this morning, we see reports from the maui county that about 2,000 -- over 2,000 people are at the shelters that's not including the 2,000 people at the kahului airport. these are mostly visitors waiting to fly back to their final destination. because they were evacuated early, they ended up spending the night at the airport. >> and maui obviously an attractive destination in good times. what is your message to travelers to the island right now >> i issued an emergency proclamation a few hours ago encouraging people not to travel to maui, you know, whether it's visitors or residents. it's not a safe place for you to be. we have wildfires that are not completely contained. if you have travel plans to maui, we ask that you postpone it or cancel it at this time >> acting governor luke, thank you for taking time out during this very busy period. we do appreciate it. >> thank you, lester and also developing tonight, fbi agents shot and killed a man in utah while serving a warrant to him for allegedly making death threats against president biden ahead of his visit to that state. peter alexander has late details >> reporter: tonight, president biden out west heading to salt lake city just hours after the fbi says its agents had a deadly confrontation with a man who had threatened to kill him. the fbi says it happened at 6:15 this morning in nearby provo, utah, where they were serving an arrest warrant on suspect, craig robertson, who they say was approximately 70 to 75 years old. >> there was a big boom, and then there was another one and another one. >> reporter: in court documents, the fbi says robertson posted on social media, i hear biden is coming to utah and that he was cleaning the dust off his sniper rifle this robertson post according to the fbi shows a picture of his weapons, along with threats ahead of the 2024 election cycle. the documents also say robertson posted threats to kill vice president kamala harris and the democratic d.a. in manhattan, alvin bragg, who is now prosecuting former president trump. during surveillance in march, the fbi says it observed robertson wearing a hat bearing the word "trump," and when agents attempted to speak with him, robertson replied, i said it was a dream adding, don't return without a warrant. >> he was nice to me it just goes to show, you never know who your neighbors are >> reporter: it comes amid growing concerns over threats to public officials and their families capitol police saying the number of investigations is historically high. major incidents include the violent attack on house speaker nancy pelosi's husband paul and an attempted assassination of conservative supreme court justice brett kavanaugh. the fbi has not released any details about what sparked today's deadly confrontation. no fbi agents were injured. lester >> peter, thank you. now to the secret search warrant on former president trump's twitter account. tonight we've learned it's part of the federal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election garrett haake joins us garrett, this was a move by special counsel jack smith >> reporter: yeah, that's right, lester in court documents unsealed today reveal the special counsel obtained a warrant to seize the former president's twitter account data earlier this year with the judge okaying a search of the account for evidence of criminal offenses now, the documents also show the judge slapped twitter, now called x, with a $350,000 fine for delaying handing over this material as the company fought a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing mr. trump about the warrant. the former president firing back posting, the doj secretly attacked my twitter account and calling the warrant a, quote, major hit on his civil rights, and tonight nbc news has also learned that fulton county, georgia, d.a. fani willis is expected to present her 2020 election interference cas to a grand jury next week, which means a fourth indictment could soon follow. >> thank you. now to mr. trump's top republican rival, florida governor ron desantis, who made headlines today when he suspended an elected democratic state prosecutor calling her soft on crime, and tonight she is firing back gabe gutierrez has that story >> reporter: tonight, state attorney monique worrell is off the job suspended by florida governor ron desantis. she's now firing back calling him a weak dictator, who's targeting her to prop up his presidential campaign >> this is absolutely a political hit job. i think that the governor's campaign is failing and that he needed something to put him in the national spotlight. >> reporter: worrell is a progressive prosecutor in orlando who campaigned on criminal justice reform and was backed by a committee that got money from liberal megadonor george soros. desantis accuses her of refusing to enforce florida law. >> monique worrell's administration of criminal justice in the ninth circuit has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence. >> reporter: the police union has criticized worrell for being soft on crime, and today a local sheriff praised desantis' move. >> this governor has always put the victims, has always put the law-abiding citizens ahead of the criminals. >> reporter: worrell's performance frequently slammed by republicans. just days ago, two orlando officers were shot and wounded by a suspect who had been released on bail worrell tells us she had no say over his release. governor desantis is saying that you're just not enforcing the law, that you're abusing prosecutorial discretion your response? >> it's just not true. that's not based in fact crime is down in orange and oseola counties, not up, and that decrease has happened since i took office 2 1/2 years ago. >> reporter: this is the second time desantis has suspended a democratic prosecutor tonight worrell tells us she's reviewing her legal options. lester >> gabe gutierrez, thank you. an american nurse and her daughter are free tonight in haiti almost two weeks after they were kidnapped at the clinic where the mother works kristen dahlgren has more for us tonight. >> reporter: for two weeks there had been no sign of 31-year-old nurse alix dorsainvil or her young daughter named haven, but today el roi haiti, the christian charity run by her husband, confirmed their safe release writing today, we are praising god for answered prayers. >> we express our deepest appreciation to our haitian and u.s. interagency partners for their assistance in facilitating for their safe release. >> reporter: tonight el roi asking for privacy for the young family it is unclear whether they will stay in haiti, a country alix considered her adopted home >> my name is alix i'm a nurse from new hampshire, but now i live in haiti. >> reporter: in a video posted on the organization's website before the kidnapping, alix speaks glowingly of the people and her work caring for children at el roi's school with her haitian-born husband. >> i'm so blessed to be able to know so many amazing haitians. >> reporter: but on july 30th, the organization reported she and the couple's child were taken from the port-au-prince campus it was the same day the state department issued its highest level travel advisory for haiti ordering nonessential personnel to leave unicef reporting a sharp uptick in the kidnapping of women and children, nearly 300 in the first half of the year. >> these are groups over the past few months who have actually expanded their territory and are extremely more aggressive. >> kristen joining me here in the studio do we know if a ransom was paid in this case? >> reporter: right, lester, so these gangs commonly ask for up to a million dollars. in this case we just don't know and may never know it's unlikely anyone, including the state department, would want that advertised since it could put other americans in danger, lester. >> good to know they are safe thanks for that report. to the mystery now in one small florida town where someone woke up a billionaire after winning last night's record-setting mega millions jackpot. sam brock reports from neptune beach. >> reporter: in the city of neptune beach, florida, population, 7,045, a gigantic question, who bought that ticket? do you know who won the lottery? >> no, it wasn't me. >> definitely not me. >> reporter: a record $1.58 billion jackpot with a neighborhood publix proving to be the lucky location. >> this is so exciting for this area. i only buy one ticket. i always say, it just takes $2 and a dream. >> reporter: it's not just the talk of the town, but the nation. >> i woke up this morning to a bunch of text messages. >> reporter: where were those text messages coming from >> vermont >> reporter: this group of women thought they played their cards right. >> most of us in here bought a ticket, and there were no winners because everybody is here [ laughter ] >> reporter: as speculation bubbles, the florida lottery rules are clear, the winner needs to claim the prize within 180 days for the annual payments or 60 days for a lump sum of 783 million. as for what to do with it, one idea would be to buy one of the tastiest subs on planet earth, the publix chicken tender sub, which at $8.49, you could buy 186 million of these or for the lump sum, 92 million subs some people had other suggestions. what would you buy with $1.5 billion? >> i would travel. >> the first trip would be to tallahassee, so i could collect it. >> reporter: and at some point maybe a lucky soul will, but until then, it's a billion dollar question sam brock, nbc news, neptune beach. we've got more to tell you about in 60 seconds. the american woman accused of conspiring to kill her husband in a murder-for-hire scheme freed on bond tonight in the bahamas. we're back now with a shocking alleged murder-for-hire plot. an american woman from georgia out from behind bars tonight in the bahamas after she was charged with a scheme to kill her husband. here's anne thompson >> reporter: tonight, lindsay shiver is released on bond, but she is not free, accused of conspiring to kill her estranged husband, robert. the georgia woman now wears an ankle monitor and cannot leave the bahamas where authorities say the plot was hatched the 36-year-old, along with her alleged co-conspirators, terrance bethel and faron newbold, appeared at a bail hearing in nassau this afternoon. in a court document bahamian authorities say the trio agreed on july 16th to murder her husband. bethel is said to be her lover, newbold the alleged hit man. they have yet to enter pleas, and there's no comment from their attorney >> if the only evidence of this conspiracy is a text message saying, kill him, with a photograph, and if there was no offer of money or money exchanged, then i think the defense has a strong case here >> reporter: now tabloid fodder, shiver's instagram ready life is unraveling a former beauty queen, shiver met robert, a college football player, at auburn. married for 13 years, they had three children and lived in a multimillion dollar home in southwest georgia, but this april he filed for divorce accusing her of cheating. she denied that and accused him of domestic violence. released on $100,000 cash bond, shiver must report to authorities three times a week as her case makes its way through the bahamian justice system anne thompson, nbc news up next, we'll tell you about a milestone in space tourism. our exclusive with the firsrst mother/d/daughter team to ever go to space. the countdown is on tonight, virgin galactic making the final preparations for its first mission with all civilian passengers gadi schwartz now with our nbc news exclusive with those making this historic flight. >> reporter: t-minus one more day for launch at virgin gagalactic's s spaceport america, a and even ththe planet's newest space pilot can't wait >> till you actually come in, and they're counting down, you're all of a sudden, like, oh, we're really going to do this thing >> reporter: in less than 24 hours, kelly latimer will be at the helm of "unity" on a historic mission on ththe same shihip that sesent sir ricichard branson anand his crewew beyond t the stratosphere in 2021. >> it feels like we're at the turning point of a new age in space travel. >> reporter: hoping to bring tourism to the cosmos, it's the latest salvo in the new space race and the firsrst virgin galalactic flflight to carrrry regular fofolks. > you're gogoing to space. >> reporter: like e keishaha schahaff and her 18-year-old daughter ana lucky enough to skip the $450,000 per ticket by winning their seats in a lottery, and they'll become the first mother and daughter duo to go to space what are you looking forward to the most? >> looking back and seeing our beautiful planet and then looking across to see my daughter's face while she's looking at it as wewell >> reporter: the 90-minute flight blasting off to three times the speed of sound with three magical minutes of total weightlessness >> and then you go, oh, okay. >> reporter: and to find out what to expect, i took a spin in their cockpit simulator. >> two, one, drop. wow. >> and fire. >> so, we fire up the motor, and off we go. >> and there we go. anand now earth is above us wait what >> reporter: the launch of a lifetime at the edge of a new frontier where do you think humanity goes from here >> outward and upward. this is the very beginning. it's going to grow dramatically >> reporter: gadi schwartz, nbc news from new mexico's gateway to space and up next for us, the last waltz for robbie robertson, legendary songwriter of the band. ♪ take a load off fanny ♪ next at 7:00, you might be seeing all the smoke. a sizable fire near the port. our crews are ere. th finally, he was a member of a legendary rock group, robbie robertson, the front man for the band, has died kate snow on how he helped define an era of music ♪ take a load off fanny ♪ >> reporter: he was a writer behind some of the songs everyone sings along to, a storyteller, he said ♪ and put the load right on me ♪ >> reporter: robbie robertson wrote songs and played guitar with the band simply called just that, the band. >> when you write a song, you paint the whole picture in the song. >> reporter: his big break playing with bob dylan on his 1966 tour ♪ if you just have me come home with you ♪ >> reporter: robertson's music with the band became part of the soundtrack of the 1970s. in 1976 robert's director martin scorsese filmed their farewell show for the definitive concert documentary, "the last waltz." ♪ up on cripple creek she sends me ♪ >> reporter: robertson went on to make solo albums ♪ the band would get back together without him. he would go on to a prolific career composing for films like "raging bull," the color of money," and "gangs of new york." robertson was canadian >> my mother was born and raised on an indian reservation it's my first musical influence, and she would take me there in the summertime the first time i saw someone sitting there playing guitar, i thought, oh, boy, i got to get in on this. this is -- this looks great to me. >> reporter: at 80 robertson recently finished his 14th score for a film with martin scorsese, who said tonight, there's never enough time with anyone you love, and i loved robbie kate snow, nbc news. ♪ and put the load right on me ♪ and that's "nightly news" for this wednesday thank you for watching i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night ♪ and you put the loa right on me ♪ i'm raj mathai. next on nbc bay area news tonight, paradise continues to burn. we have the latest video from the wildfires ravaging maui. historic areas and popular tourist spots now gone. >> we started driving down the highway, and it was like you