>> and i'm wendy rieger. police now say those five men detained in pakistan wanted to take part in jihad. according to pakistani law enforcement officials, five young american muslims met with representatives of a group that has links to al qaeda and they asked the group for training. >> but the official says they were turned down because they didn't have references from trusted militants. the five who disappeared last month from the d.c. area were arrested on wednesday in pakistan. pete williams is working the story for us. he's live in the network newsroom this afternoon. pete, what have you learned about this case today? >> they were considered suspicious by their parents. it was considered suspicious when they left here without saying where they were going, and when they got to pakistan they were considered suspicious because they didn't seem to have any of the right connections. they didn't know any terrorists, they didn't know the language, and we've seen this pattern since 9/11 where young americans go to pakistan or afghanistan saying here i am. i want to join up. and they're considered suspicio suspicious. in any event, they went there after meeting someone through youtube who was watching similarly like-minded videos about the islamic complaints. they exchanged e-mails, they got to pakistan and it didn't work out and they were ultimately arrested yesterday by the fky authorities. they've been questioned by the pakistanis. the fbi has established that these were the five missing students from here in the washington, d.c. area. but the fbi i'm told has not been able to do extensive interviews with the five yet. there are no charges pending in the u.s. there's no firm view by the u.s. government of precisely what was going on here other than the the students wanted to go meet up with milants and eventually it is said by the u.s. go into afghanistan and join militant groups fighting in afghanistan. but they just didn't have the ability to do anything real. and one pakistani official today told us they were considered jokers by the pakistanis. >> you know, pete, you mentioned youtube. i also saw they were -- these al qaeda groups are listed on facebook, which seems, you know, kindf bizarre. because of this social networking, is this helping the justice department and terror groups, terror watchdog groups track these people down a lot easier? >> well, yeah, except the problem is so often this is after the fact. they are able to trace the e-mails after the fact. you know, the simple matter is that the united states government doesn't have the ability to sit there and monitor every potential chatroom, every potential twitter site, every potential e-mail site or youtube place where people watch videos. some of them, yes. not all of them. nor does the government tail everyone who gets a tourist visa and goes to pakistan, which is what these young men did. now, i will add, wendy, that authorities here say they are not convinced that all the five members by the time they got to pakistan were equally committed to what they tried to do and it may be that that can be a wedge where some will maybe give testimony against the others. >> okay. pete williams, thanks, pete. >> okay. >> we'll continue coverage of this story. coming up at five, we'll have local reaction because these are local men. prince georges count police are investigating a deadly double shooting. police were called there this morning for a welfare check when officers got there, neighbors told them they'd heard gunshots. both men were taken to the hospital. so far there's no word on the men's identities. metro airport police are investigating a shooting involving two dogs. it happened around 10:00 this morning at the air france hangar at dulles airport. one dog escaped from his cage and attacked another dog. the other dog was in the process of escaping. a police officer shot both dogs when pepper spray didn't work. the dogs were owned by a man who was shipping them to korea. no charges have been filed. classes resume today at the woodbridge campus of northern virginia community college and a lot of students returned with apprehension. this is the first day back following tuesday's shooting on that campus. 20-year-old jason hamilton is accused of opening fire on his math teacher. he was upset about his grade, according to investigators. he is being held without bond, charged with attempted first-degree murder. no one was hurt in that shooting. the ordeal has left the entire campus shaken and struggling with how to cope. >> kind of hard. just to not be able to know if some crazy person is going to get in there and start shooting at people. >> i got up there and no one was up there. i was paranoid and kept looking around. >> some students say they will take advantage of counseling provided by the school. reality tv star jon gosselin was a no-show in a legal showdown with the tlc network today. gosselin was expected in a montgomery county courtroom to answer a lawsuit filed against him by tlc, which aired the hit show "jon and kate plus 8." tlc claims gosselin is in violation of hisontract for media appearances he's made. the network wants a judge to bar him from making other appearances. gosselin is countersuing claiming tlc broke child labor laws when filming his eight children. oh, a blustery winter storm is now blamed for more than a dozen deaths. it has dumped snow over 2/3 of our country and now it's headed our way. jay gray with the latest. >> reporter: the winter storm that dropp several feet of snow across the midwest is now dropping temperatures across much of the country. thermometers are in the single digits from iowa through illinois with windchills as low as 25 below zero. gusts so strong investigators say they were a factor as this double-decker bus toppled over near buffalo. eight passengers and the driver were taken to area hospitals. four others were treated at the scene. none of the injuried are considered life-threatening. high winds ripped apart trees and power lines across several states. forcing many to brave the elements as they struggle to clean up and braced for even more severe weather. >> it feels like you're lifting an elephant. >> reporter: though the conditions didn't mean all work and no play. with wednesday's classes canceled at the university of wisconsin madison, organizers say more than 5,000 people showed up on campus to try and break the world's record for the biggest snowball fight. >> you hit other people and it's just a good time. >> first snow day in 20 years. kind of a big deal. you have to make the best of it. >> reporter: thousands are trying to make the best of it as winter maintains its icy grip across most of the country. jay gray, news4. >> did they break the record? the jury is still out. a live look outside where it is sunny and clear right now. temperatures are dropping. it is getting quite a bit lder. veronica johnson is in our storm center. what's heading our way? >> cold cold stuff, wendy. the biggest storm of the season for so much of the country really is gone. this now is the cold air that's moving in behind the storm system. and some strong northwestly winds moving over the lakes producing some lake-effect snows. it is in full throttle, the snowfall machine. you can see it around chicago, cleveland, eerie and buffalo. they'll be measures snow in feet. the warnings are up, the blizzard warnings are up, too. here we'll deal with the cold and the wind. that will be producing some low wind-chilled temperatures. right now it feels like 30 in manassas. feels like 32 degrees in camp springs. below freezing is what it feels like throughout the area. so breezy for tomorrow morning. we'll already be dropping down below breezing by 11:00 p.m. under those clear skies. so get ready to really bundle up tomorrow morning with windchills in the teens. we still have a split wintry type of weekend to tell you about. more details in a few minutes. >> thanks, veronica. president barack obama accepted the nobel peace prize in norway, but he admitted that his accomplishments are slight. steve handelsman is on capitol hill with the latest on that. >> a couple of ironies. thanks, wendy. good afternoon. the president received the peace prize but he justified wars like the one he's escalating in afghanistan. barack and michelle obama tonight and the crowd in oslo. norwegians are enthusiastic about the president and the peace prize, but the winner himself was caught in a dilemma. how to be gracious but admit he's less accomplished than, say, u.s. winner martin luther king. the obama solution was to look ahead. >> dr. king won his prize -- it has a galvanizing effect around the world and lifted his stature in the united states. >> reporter: barack obama's principles gave him the stature for the peace prize said norway's prime minister. >> you have really created a new climate of international cooperation through your strong emphasis on the need for -- >> president barack obama. >> reporter: president obama acknowledged the other controversy, a peace prize winner escalating a war in afghanistan. he had no apologies. >> cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the american people. negotiations cannot convince al qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. to say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism. it is a recognition of history. >> reporter: the president made clear lots of u.s. troops will stay in the afghan war after 2011. >> we're not going to see some sharp cliff, some precipitous draw-down. >> reporter: norway has a few troops and war planes in that fight, too. and the irony is an unproven leader and a war escalator winning the nobel peace prize did not spoil tonight's party in oslo. but the president's bowing out of a second day of celebrations. he's headed home to focus on americans who are out of work. wendy? >> all right. thank you, steve. >> you're welcome. some members of congress are pushing for new rules to increase airline safety. family members of the victims of recent airport crashes watched as congressmen questioned experts about pilot fatigue and training. some say what they heard wasn't as comforting as they had hoped. the faa director said he opposes requiring all irl pilots to have at least 1,500 hours of experience and he said the faa needs more time to find out how many hours an airline cansk its pilots to fly and how much rest they have to have between their shifts. >> there's just so many ways that somebody could show up fatigued. we don't have any way of measuring the quality of the rest you got. >> as for pilot distraction, anything that can distract a pilot in the cockpit should be banned. maryland senator barbara mccullsky found herself on the other side of the witness table today on a hearing on public transportation safety. there have been 11 metro-related deaths in the past six months and she said recommendations from federal safety investigators have been ignored by metro officials and by the federal transit authority. she added she was shocked to learn that federal safety standards do not exist for urban metro systems. she's sponsoring a bill to implement and enforce safety standards for metro systems across the country. "news4 at 4" is just getting started. a local mother killed in front of her daughter. >> next, the new evidence that could help police crack this cold case. then at 4:30, a brazen break-in. how the suspect involved ended up dead. and at 4:45, what you might want to consider if you're looking for work this holiday season. and don't forget about our 12 days of giving. today's organizatio is cure for cancer. we'll tell you how to give and get this holiday season. 15 years ago, a young wife and mother was murdered in the springfield area of fairfax county. a killer broke into the home of robin lawrence while she was alone with her 2-year-old child. now for the first time investigators disclose what critical dna is telling them about the suspect. >> reporter: robin lawrence was 37 years old, married and the mother of a 2-year-old child when she was murdered. >> robin was very personable, very successful. >> reporter: on friday night, november 18th, 1994, robin lawrence's husband, out of town on a business trip, tried to call his wife at home but got no answer. >> wasn't too concerned at the time because he knew his wife and his daughter had planned to go christmas shopping that night. >> reporter: when he couldn't reach her all day saturday he became concerned and the next day asked friends to go by and check. >> the first thing i noticed was there were newspapered pils pil the front door. she didn't answer the front door. >> reporter: she and another friend walked around to the back and found an open window. >> we climbed in the house. started calling robin's name. and her little daughter came toddling out. >> robin's daughter was wearing pajamas and they noticed there was blood on robin's daughter. >> you know, the place was so quiet. we went down the hallway toward robin's room and i saw blood stains on the walls. >> reporter: they grabbed the girl, left, and called 911. police found robin lawrence's body in the bedroom. >> she was stabbed in excess of 40 times. >> reporter: her body and hands were covered with defensive wounds. >> it's a terrific fight. she put up a terrible fight. she fought hard for her life. >> reporter: the killer, too, was cut and investigators have his dna. >> the dna is 100% european, which would lead you to believe it's going to be that of a white male. >> reporter: the 2-year-old girl was left alone with her mother's body and tried to help her. >> she'd taken kleenex in to dab at the blood on her mother's body. >> reporter: the girl was alone for two days. >> it had all the earmarks of someone doing a burglary and then they were surprised and she confronted them and things just went bad. >> reporter: now investigators were asking people who lived in the neighborhood to think about people they knew. >> a young person in that area that maybe was doing burglaries, was doing peepings, that type of crime in the neighborhood. >> reporter: they have the evidence to convict. now they just need the name. news4, washington. >> if you can help investigators find the killer of robin lawrence, call crime solvers at 1-866-411-tips. aneft to help pedestrians cross a busy intersection is causing huge headaches for motorists. the d.c. department of transportation installed a new traffic signal yesterday at new york avenue. it makes green lights shorter than usual. while that may be good news for pedestrians, the timing change has dramatically slowed traffic in that area. outbound new york avenue drivers encountered big backups yesterday afternoon. inbound drivers got caught up in traffic jams this morning. transportation officials say they're now working on the timing signal problems so it helps both pedestrians and drivers. still ahead on "news4 at 4," breaking her silence. one of tiger woods' alleged mistresses telling her side of the story. what we now know about that mysterious light that was over the skies of norway. and an important health alert for women about what could be causing breast cancer to come back. ♪ it's day four of our 12 days of giving. and today we're focusing on some holiday fund-raising efforts, highlighting an organization that's doing a lot of good work to help fight cancer, at least to fund cancer research and affordable cancer treatment. our volunteers are from crafts for a cure. that's the name of the organization. the number to call is 202-686-nbc4. i want to bring candice in. this is an opportunity for ople to give as well as get. what do you have there? >> i have two of the items that we have. one is a set of paper bags. they're gift bags made by a women's cooperative in india. we work with a worldwide network of artisans. they donate their time and ideas and design to build inventory for us for our boutiquboutique. and the profits from the sales go to our fund for cancer. >> you've got a bear in your hand and we've got some tiles and a picture frame, some framed mirrors, lots of unique gifts. you said they're made by artisans from all over the world. >> they are from all over the world. we're looking to build our network as much as we can. the mosai that you see are from maverick mosaics in vienna, virginia. it's one of our partnering artson groups, an educational group. they have people come in and they build product for us. >> so you need more crafters and you need donations? >> absolutely. the donations will go directly to the two groups we're raising funds for this year and the crafters will help us build inventory to take to craft fairs as well as have at the studio in vienna. >> all right. thanks so much, candice. crafts for a cure. if you haven't finished your holiday shopping, i'm sure you have not, here's the perfect gift for you. of course, this is the perfect reason for giving. 20 202-686-nbc4. it's getting pretty cold out there. >> yeah. low 30s already. the windchills are cold. it looks pretty, though. that's the clear skies, the sunshine that we have through the area. it's 41 degrees, but it feels like 34 with that gusty 25-mile-an-hour wind. elsewhere, the temperature is at 38 degrees. you're down from 45. 39 in bethesda, maryland, with wind out of the south and west through the area. but be glad you're not here right now. st. paul, minnesota, this is the midwest, the northern plains. that's where the coldest air has moved in. the windchill, 3 below zero. there's a look at the lake-effect snow. buffalo, syracuse, cleveland, right off of lake erie and ontario. there will be measures that snow as they get clobbered around two and three feet. there's a look at the lows. that cold air continuing to push south and moving east. so what we've got coming up, we'll stay under the influence of high pressure as it moves to the east, but another weather system off the pacific northwest. this is the one that will be next in line coming in, producing a chance of some light snow around here early sunday morning. there's the track. it's going to move along pretty quickly just south of our area. a little bit of light snow before switching over to rain. the next 48 hours, we're just quiet around here. breezy conditions, the wind starts to ease up late tomorrow. still cold, though, through the day tomorrow and still cold, too, on saturday. we'll start out in the 20s. there's the moisture already running its way northward. it arrives here, i think, early sunday morning. 33 to 39. we're breezy, we're cold. sun sets at 4:46. there's a look at your four' day forecast. the high tomorrow, 40. then 42 for saturday. but only 39 for sunday. and tarting out in the 20s. snow switches over to rain. right now there's a 50% chance. then a little bit of mixed rain and snow expected tuesday of next week. the next chance is sunday. at least it's the weekend. it should be easier for getting around. all right. we're following new stories tonight on "news4 at 5." the district is fighting the run-down rental housing, the slum property. they need to get this stuff cleaned up. tom sherwood has been working on that. how are they going to attack this? >> people used to think of big apartment complexes with hundreds of units. they're talking about four and six-unit buildings scattered over the city. since june they've found over 5,000 violations. over 300 different units themselves, complexes themselves. they're really going after them. we were at one today in southeast washington with the mayor. we'll show it to you. we talked to the tenants who are benefiting. they now have heat, electricity and war. people are saying, what about my building down the block? we've got problems down there. >> all right. we look forward to that. we'll see you then, tom. >> thanks. thanks, wendy. there