Her murder trial facing nearly three decades behind bars. Will she be forced to return to italy. Swallowed whole. Take a look at this. This bus falling into a massive sinkhole. How everyone managed to get out safely before it floated away down the river. And we do say good morning, america. Its good to have david and t. J. With us on this wednesday morning. A lot of new developments this morning in that midair mystery. Thats a look at the debris field on the mountain in the french alps where that plane carrying 150 people went down. The wreckage, as you can imagine scattered over a wide area. Stunning robin how little is left of that plane. This is a live shot of the staging area where helicopters are taking off right now to go to the crash site and, of course, where the bodies will be brought back. We are learning more about the passengers on board the flight including the 16 students from one high school class. We have full Team Coverage this morning and abcs terry moran starts us off at that school in germany. Terry, good morning. Reporter good morning, david. This high school really the ground zero of grief in germany, those 16 students and two teachers lost on board flight 9525 all morning students coming out to gather at this makeshift memorial. Ahead of them the long hard work of healing while elsewhere, the search for answers begins. This morning, a fleet of helicopters arrived at the staging area near the crash site in france. Recovery efforts resuming under overcast skies and near freezing temperatures. The black box recovered yesterday on the mountain damaged but investigators confident they can still reconstruct its crucial data. The germanwings a320 was on route from barcelona to dusseldorf in germany when suddenly after reaching 38,000 feet the plane began a rapid descent plugging 32,000 feet in eight minutes before losing contact with air Traffic Control. On board 150 people 144 passengers including 2 babies, 6 crew. The debris field just shards and bits and pieces along the rugged ridges. The leaders of france spain and germany expected here today to lead their nations in mourning and bereaved families are coming too. Those who can, those who feel the need to be here. Abcs Hamish Macdonald is on the scene. Reporter these choppers are carrying special rescue teams. Theyll walk in those final miles to where the crash site is. Reporter the shock of this tragedy affecting flights today. Many germanwings pilots are refusing to fly citing permanent reasons. We had some crews, crew members prepared for the flights told us they felt unfit to fly so this is a personal decision. Reporter nowhere is the grief sharper than here. 16 tenth graders and two teachers returning from an exciting week on a Spanish LanguageExchange Program all lost. At the High School Kids some in tears came for a day of mourning. Each class filing out to the makeshift memorial and in this small town everyone it seems knew someone who was on that plane. Ina teaches violin. Linda, shes 15 1 2yearold. I dont know i cannot i cant realize it. Its so so so sad. Reporter their sign says yesterday we were many. Today we are alone. You get a sense of the depth of the devastation and grief here and in so many places across germany and spain and elsewhere. David . All right, terry, thank you. As you mentioned in your report one of the black boxes has been recovered and is being examined now. Investigators are trying to piece together what went wrong and Abcs David Kerley is here with that part of the story. Good morning, david. Reporter good morning, robin. Such a mystery this morning. What happened to this jetliner . Well the answers are here in this debris field and the searchers are looking through these pieces of plane that remain for that second black box. Puzzling a jet at the safest part of flight starts diving what happened in those moments, why didnt the pilots ever radio trouble or a mayday . From its barcelona takeoff to 38,000 feet nearly 45 minutes into the flight everything is normal but just one minute later, with no notification to air Traffic Control, the jetliner starts losing altitude quickly, nose down 1 1 2 to 2 times faster than normal for eight minutes down to a little more than 6,000 feet radar contact lost as the jet slams into the mountainside. It definitely looks like an emergency descent for unknown reasons. But beyond that we dont know. Reporter even more mysterious the day before the jet had a maintenance check. Lufthansa, the parent company, says the 24yearold jet was well maintained. The pilot with the airline for 14 year thousands of hours in the air and the a320 is known as a reliable workhorse with more than 6,000 of them in service worldwide. So what could have happened in that moment that the jet reached cruising altitude . It means something very quickly catastrophic was going on. We dont know the buildup to that. Things that come to mind to me are rapid decompression for some reason or fire on board. Reporter in a rapid decompression there is a lack of oxygen the pilots could have become incapacitated. Smoke in the cockpit, that makes it difficult to see or operate and the crew could have been overcome by smoke. A third possibility, the pilots are trying to deal with such a problem followed emergency procedures to lose altitude and worked that issue. And as they were working it they could have been overcome after starting the descent because one of those problems they were dealing with but the mystery should be solved and this is the good news in the next 24 hours. That voice recorder is already being studied and could have the answers and when they find that data recorder it will tell us more details about what happened. Well talk more about that. David, thank you. Abc news aviation consultant john nance joins us from seattle. Lets pick up on what david was saying. Investigators are rushing into the debris area to find that data recorder. So how long before we can determine what possibly happened . They will find the recorder robin. No question about that and i think probably were looking at about two to three days before they read out the voice recorder. That is going to give us critical information. We know the flight path to a certain extent. What we dont know what was going on in the cockpit. We heard from david what possibly could have been going on in the cockpit. What is most troubling to you, john . Two things number one if they were going to start an emergency descent one of the most important aspects of that is talk to air Traffic Control because youre descending right into oncoming air traffic and piles know that and they changed the course 15 degrees off their course which is exactly what you would do in ang emergency descent but on the way down theres no conversation. Could they not talk . Had they turned off the electricity because of a fire . We dont know. Secondly and most troubling why in an area where they know the alps are they go up to 15,000 feet why did they not level off at 15,000 feet . Why continue on down . That indicates the possibility as david said of incapacitation. Hopefully we will be able to get some answers soon. Dont have to tell you, millions millions fly on that airbus a320 and it is a real workhorse and has a good Safety Record . Oh yeah. It has a great Safety Record. I mean its it is right up there with the boeing 737 and i think there are about 6,000 of them operating around the world. 5,000 more on order. This aircraft has been very much a boilerplate. High performer throughout the Aviation Industry and theres really nothing about it that you would look at and say, well this is a marginal airplane. It is trustworthy. Im on one at least two times a whack. As always john we appreciate your insight. Thank you. To think of those families on board for eight minutes that descent, robin. We turn to that extreme spring weather striking across the country, severe thunderstorms impacting tens of millions from missouri to kansas on the commute dropping dangerous hail just incredible pictures coming in so of course ginger is tracking it all. Brandnew picture, david, this morning in cincinnati the skyline lighting up with those strong storms and see the lightning not only illuminateing the skies but hitting that building. Big hail too moving through the midwest and plains. The first spurt of Severe Weather this season. There you go. Reporter the first bout of Severe Weather this year, raking the plains. In missouri ominous storms darkening the sky. Covering the ground with hail. Some the size of golf balls. And out west high winds toppling trees taking down power lines. Look at these images of blacked out beverly hills, 4,000 people losing power in l. A. Overnight. Gusts in the mountains as high as 79 Miles Per Hour. Wind sending this giant pine tree crashing to the street below blocking the road and smashing this mercedes just inches from the drivers seat. Firefighters using a jaws of life to cut through the roof and free the trapped driver. The driver was alert, conscious. So hail now going to be move through, again, this size will be in places like joplin missouri Oklahoma City those are the areas today that youll see that large hail the damaging wind and today a slightly higher chance of seeing an isolated tornado. Outside in that other yellow that was more of a generally thunderstorm from parts of indiana down through even south texas so robin, Severe Weather season is on and we will be tracking it today. All right, ginger thank you. But now to amanda knox italys highest court deciding her fate. Whether her latest murder conviction should stand watching this from her home in seattle and abcs Alex Marquardt has that story for us. Good morning, alex. Reporter good morning, robin. Thats right, that ruling from Italys Supreme Court could come at any moment today. It could mark the culmination of more than seven years of Legal Proceedings or just be the beginning of a new legal battle for amanda knox. This morning, amanda knox is facing a familiar nightmare, her fate yet again lying in the balance of an italian court. Knoxs exboyfriend. Raffaele sollecito is in italy this morning awaiting the countrys highest courts decision. He faces up to 25 years in prison and the 27yearold knox could base more than 28 years in prison for murder still. This really has hit me like a train. I did not expect this to happen. Reporter its been a winding and emotional ride for knox her 2009 conviction for the alleged murder of College RoommateMeredith Kercher was overturned on appeal in 2011 then that acquit wall as thrown out in 2013 and she and exboyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted again last year by an appeals court. Today, Italys Supreme Court is expected to decide possibly once and for all if knoxs murder conviction should stand or whether she should face yet another trial on appeal. If this conviction is upheld there are no more appeals on the murder charge in italy. Knoxs life today couldnt be farther from her legal drama. Shes newly engaged, working in a book store and her byline can be found on Theater Reviews for a small seattle newspaper but abc news learned shes also in therapy, still trying to cope with her tumultuous past and a very uncertain future. The big question this morning, if the conviction is upheld will knox be extradited and sent back to an italian jail . I will never go willingly back to the place where i im going to fight this until the very end. Reporter and, robin, just mopes ago we got a statement from the family of Meredith Kercher saying they hope there is a definitive decision so merediths family and friends can finally concentrate on remembering meredith for who she was. Alex thank you. Now to amy with the other top stories right now starting with the growing crisis in yemen. Thats right. We are just getting word this morning that rebels in yemen seized control of an air base considered crucial for u. S. Drone strikes against al qaeda. Yemens president has fled his home and there are reports that the rebels have now arrested yemens defense minister. U. S. Troops evacuated that country last week because of growing security concerns. Back here in this country a deadly night for law enforcement. Investigators in san Jose California say a veteran Police Officer was gunned down when a suicidal man opened fire. And in wisconsin, a state trooper was killed in a gunfight with a suspected bank robber. The suspect was also killed. Also breaking this morning, a megamerger in the food business between two iconic brands heinz and kraft are combining in a deal valued at 40 billion. Investor Warren Buffett and a Brazilian Investment Firm are behind it which would form the Third Largest food and Beverage Company in north america. New questions about leadership at the secret service after a contentious hearing on capitol hill. Lawmakers growing angry as video of an incident at the white house is finally made public. Heres abcs Pierre Thomas. Reporter searing criticism from Congress Still demanding reform after allegations of drunk agents outside the white house. Its like the keystone cops here. Who are you holding accountably. It appears we have an agency at war against itself. Reporter Congress Still angry despite this new video depicting the alleged drunk driving incident is far less dramatic than first thought. Two secret Service Agents in a government car driving slowly no crash, only nudging a temporary barrier but that didnt stop members of congress from wondering aloud whether the new director as secret Service Veteran could truly overhaul an agency thats seen its share of scandals ranking from agents soliciting prostitutes to that intruder making his way all the way into the white house. You were hired to clean up the mess. Reporter and the mess now includes whether the agents responded aggressively enough to a possible bomb threat. The reason there was a crime scene in the first place. This is the life safety and security of the president of the United States and the white house. The threat is real but i dont feel it. I dont see it and its unacceptable. The president is safe the first family is safe and the white house is safe. I know what it takes to protect president s and their families. Reporter for Good Morning America, Pierre Thomas abc news, washington. Dramatic video this morning of a bus stuck on a road in brazil when floodwaters open up a massive sinkhole. Look at that. The bus falls right in but it stays upright floating down the river. Fortunately and incredibly when you see this video everybody on board got off the bus before it fell into the water and no one was injured. Finally, the guy known as the most interesting man in the world has shown up in a very unlikely place. You may remember him from these commercials for dos equis beer. He tried to impersonate dos drivers. There he was in the front seat of a car in the hov lane in washington state. The driver using the cardboard cutout to make it look like he had a carpooler on board but he was busted. Police were smarter than you think tweeting out the picture saying i dont always violate the hov lane law but when i do i get a 124 ticket. The most interesting way to cheat the hov lane fails. And they allowed him to keep the cardboard cutout. Just dont use it again. Angelina jolies brave decision the star revealing she removed her ovaries and fallopian tubes to reduce her risk of cancer. Raying awareness that could help save lives. Many are reacting this morning to whats being called the Angelina Jolie effect and Technology Holmes is there in the social square with that . Hey there, robin. Doctors are always trying to raise awareness but Angelina Jolie is an International Superstar and for her to share this doctors could only dream of this. After her double mastectomy they found a spike in screenings in the u. S. And doubled in the uk. There is hope that the angelina effect will happen about Ovarian Cancer. A lot of support is coming in including Martina Navratilova who had her own Breast Cancer battle tweeting out true shining light, you go girl. Also another from mindy kaling who is freezing rain advisory in place from washington, d. C. , david, up through maryland and parts of pennsylvania. Lets go ahead and look at d. C. This morning. It looks rather pressie pleasant. Freezing rain advisories go through noon so as the rainfalls, it falls top a colder column and colder right there on the floor. So thats how freezing rain forms. Youll see icing, trace to a couple tenths an. A. Thats along the warm front. Weve got to get to your stormy cities brought to you by sprint. Good morning everyone, dave murphy here with your accuweather update. Dry on Storm Tracker 6 live double scan. A little early sunshine but in the distance you can see those clouds gathering in the west and theyre going to bring snus rain later today. Temperatures right now little bit below freezing so bundle up. This afternoons high is 50. Clouds increasing this morning and by lunchtime were going to be on the lookouts for some showers