after a man got into a ground-floor apartment and raped the victim at gunpoint with her two children in rooms nearby. a dna match led to prince perkins. the investigation had showed he stalked the victim for months before learning her schedule before he carried out the assault. a jury found perkins guilt of abduction and rape and recommended three life terms plus 70 years for other crimes. today the judge imposed that very sentence. >> happy, relief that he was off the streets and he could rn't hm me or anyone else. >> coming up at 5:00, what the victim did to protect her little girl when the child came into the room during the attack. in manassas, i'm julie carey, news 4. i'm megan fitzgerald in charlestown where a woman who is facing charges of the death of her 3-year-old toddler went before a judge today for an arraignment and the judge asked romechia simms, she said, quote, i didn't mean for this to happen. the attorney's office here is asking for a no bond pending a mental evaluation, but the judge granted a $150,000 bond -- having some technical difficulties and we'll try to get her later in the news. meanwhile, add an hour to your drive and expect a crowded metro ride. we're learning new details of the impact on the pope's visit next week as adam tells us, it will be a mess. >> no doubt about it, getting around next week will be a huge challenge especially on tuesday, wednesday and thursday when the pope is here. now today transportation leaders outlining their plan and you just have to look at the pink on the graphics which represent road closures in so many parts around our area. we did learn that no bridges in our area will be shut down next week, but if you are planning on driving, transportation leaders say that should be a last resort, and it's going to cost you an extra hour as part of your commute. >> that trip by car is certainly a last resort given the closures and what that's going to mean in terms of getting around the district. >> coming up next hour at 5:00, why you also need to keep a close eye on the parking sign that will be going up all around the area. back to you. and the nbc washington app we've posted a series of maps highlighting the road closures in the d.c. area. just search d.c., pope, traffic. more on the deadly shooting on a college campus. police in mississippi just released the name of the professor that was killed. another ethan schmidt, he was shot inside an academic hall at delta state university. police are still searching the campus for the shooter and they cleared all of the academic buildings and they don't think he's on campus right now. delta state has 3500 students and right near the border of mississippi and arkansas. law enforcement should dramatically reduce its use of military-style tactics and weapons. that is one of the highlights from the ferguson commission report on last year's riots. missouri's governor set up the 16-person commission to am xa inthe issues that led to this unrest. the commission was tasked with coming up with ideas for change. the report released today calls for sweeping changes in law enforcement, the justice system and the treatment of demonstrat demonstrators. the commission does not have the power to enforce these changes, these recommendations, but it does include suggestions on how to implement them. commission members want everyone to view these recommendations with an open mind. to say that of 189 recommendations there are three that will change my life and will change my child's life. >>. >> reporter: coming up in this hour, rather, whr's troy johnson will join us with reaction on this commission report. at the desk, i'm wendy rieger. protesters are protesting over the death of an inmate. no evidence worthy of charges in the case of natasha mckenna. she died after being restrained by six sheriff's deputies and tased in the fairfax jail. tonight, a commission will hold a public hearing about police practices and will ultimately create new policy recommendations. what a change to our weather. the humidity seems like it's long gone now. doug, you told us about this, and you told us we better have our jacket comes monday morning and just as sure as you said it, it was chilly out there. >> it was a very chilly start at the bus stop getting up this morning before the sun made its way out and some in the upper 40s. this stretch of weather looks like it wants to continue. >> doug is 7'3", but -- >> we've had this dry pattern that's been persistent since the first of august. our lows this morning were quite chilly. we were into the 40s in much of the region. >> 48 in dulles and 48 in gaithersburg, and these are the coolest numbers we have seen since the middle of may. a very cool start to our day on a monday and it looks like it wants to continue and look at the entire mid atlantic coast and 73 in pittsburgh and 76 in richmond. 77 in philadelphia. high pressure sitting right on top of us and tonight it will be another cool night and 52 in gaithersburg and 51 in culpeper and some of the suburbs will get into the upper 40s and you'll need jackets to start your day tomorrow and tom is back with how this isn't just affecting us, but other parts of the country, as well. a deal is in place to build a new practice facility for the wizards. we've learned the district and the owner ted leonsis has agreed to build it in southwest d.c. it will cost $50 to $60 million and that's right along alabama avenue, not far from the congress heights metro stop. ♪ ♪ the redskins lost a season opener yesterday to the miami dolphin, but they also suffered a huge loss in receiver desean jackson and he's out with a pulled hamstring injury. jackson did not play in the preseason this year. he's recovering from a shoulder injury in the preseason and yesterday his first game action since last season and he suffered the hamstring injury early in the first quarter on this play and trying to track down this ball thrown by kirk cousins and you see him limping at the end of the play with the left hamstring. he did not return to the game and he'll be out several weeks for the redskins and one more note for this team, defensiveback chris culver, he has been suspended for violating the leakgue's personal conduct policy. the redskins without another defensiveback. developing right now. a state trooper gunned down. how police tracked the shooter and the confrontation that ensued. >> back on the job. what a court clerk told the media when she got back in kentucky. hitting the homestretch. we catch up with the group that has marched nearly 1,000 miles in a journey for justice. a long man hunt ends in the search for the suspect who killed a kentucky state trooper. police say joseph johnson shanks killed trooper joseph ponder after a police chase last night. they say the suspect stopped his vehicle abruptly and then fired several shots into the trooper's vehicle and then took off running. police found him this morning with the help of dogs and helicopters. shanks was shot and killed by police when he refused to drop his weapon. 400 homes gone in just two days. that's how quickly these california wildfires are wiping out entire neighborhoods. 10,000 people were forced out of their homes this weekend and some with just minutes to spare. the valley fire has sdofrpcorch more than 50,000 acres in san francisco, four firefighters suffered second-degree burns and that's just one of the 13 wildfires burning throughout the state. meteorologist tom kierein is in the weather center and these are bone-dry conditions. >> record bone dry for california and the reason is we've had a persistent jet stream pattern. that's the steering wind that steers storms with rain that has been locked in north of us and way north of california all spring and summer and since last year. this has been going on for several years in california. we've had this persistent, big area of dry weather all over most of california and much of the west and this is going to continue even though we're sort of coming into that time of year when they might start seeing a little bit of rain and they're getting rain there now. i've got a blue sky here and we are dry here, too. since august 1st, reagan national has had 1.43 inches and that's three inches below average. doug joins us here in just a couple of minutes and a look at this forecast and how long this dry pattern may last. the woman who has set off a fiery debate over religious rights and same-sex marriage is back on the job and what she says about issuing licenses in the future. a journey for justice. a journey for justice. why an naacp is marching take a look at these bbq best cracked pepper sauce... most ribs eaten while calf roping... yep, greatness deserves recognition. you got any trophies, cowboy? ♪ whoomp there it is uh, yeah... well, uh, well there's this one. best insurance mobile app? yeah, two years in a row. well i'll be... does that thing just follow you around? like a little puppy! the award-winning geico app. download it today. there is an accident over my left shoulder here, a deadly accident. now state troopers are investigating exactly what happened here. the driver of that vehicle that you see in front of the bus slammed head-on into the bus. the way that this has been explained to me is that that vehicle was headed northbound here on route 4 when it crossed over the median into the southbound lanes. so far, this investigation is showing that there are no signs of trying to break. that makes troopers think that there is a possibility that this may have been a medical emergency. no one else involved in this accident was injured and that bus was empty and did not have passengers on it other than the driver and there to the right you could see a third vehicle was pulled into this, but that driver is just fine. he's been walking around on the scene and this is still under investigation. for folks who use this road, we can tell you they have the right shoulder of the southbound lanes on route 4 open so now you can make your way through that way, but we're looking at a serious backup. reporting live in upper marlboro, i'm tracee wilkins, back to you in the studio. >> that will make it rough for people. thank you, tracee. the court who challenged the supreme court is back at work and kim davis is still defiant. she's no hero and doesn't want to become a whipping post. she shot into the spotlight when she refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. davis cited her religious beliefs and spent six days in jail and even though she's back on the job she's sticking to her beliefs. davis won't take action against her clerks who are issuing the licenses, but she doesn't think they're valid. >> they don't have my authority to issue any license whatsoever. i love my deputy clerks, and i hate that they have been caught in the middle. if any of them feel that they must issue an unauthorized license to avoid being thrown in jail, i understand. kentucky's governor disagrees and says those licenses are valid. one of the deputies issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple today. right now civil rights act rifts are close to finishing a 950-mile journey to washington, but their journey for justice is far from over. news 4's derek ward explains why the naacp organized this march and what will happen once the group gets here to d.c. >> reporter: it's the last leg of a nearly thousand-mile trip from selma, alabama to washington. it started this summer and all along the way they're generating support for a cause. >> we have brought a band of sojourners for social justice all of the way to washington, from three purple states and three red states into the district of columbia to protect their right to vote. >> reporter: they started in early august and while in some states it was like marching backward in time to the days before the civil rights or before reconstruction. in other parts of the journey it's proven to be encouraging. >> we have seen people in small town, big cities, sprawling suburbs who have waved at us, offered us food or brought money for refreshments. >> reporter: they'll end in washington later this week. they alternate between rioting and walking with stops with food and sleep, if this wasn't enough to keep them going, there is a memory of one man who started in day one, but didn't make it all of the way, a vietnam veteran. >> he collapsed while unfurling the american flag and died. his widow and his family told us that he wanted to be here and literally gave his life to protect the right to vote. >> his hat and that flag will make the trip that he died for. >> once they get to washington, there will be some services and teaching events and also they'll be doing face-to-face lobbying with members of congress. this act is 50 years old, but as you can see, they're people who are willing as recently as this weekend to give their life for its continuance. we are live in fort bellfort, derrick ward, back to you. >> now your storm team 4 forecast. get ready, folks, because it's about to come down. the sunshine. that's all i've got all week. it's amazing the stretch that we'll be on during the week. out to the camera right now, just beautiful. plenty of sunshine, bright, blue skies and outside across our region, the numbers don't lie. 79 degrees, low humidity and sunshine and a nice breeze today does not get a whole lot better, but we are going to stay in this pattern. 75 gaithersburg and 76 in mart insberg and it's nice everywhere and no rain to talk about and we do need to see some rain and it doesn't look like we'll be seeing much of it at all over the next seven days, it looks like. that's our next best chance. look at this. not a cloud in the sky from new york to atlanta and back toward chicago, and high pressure sitting right over the entire region and that area of high pressure will continue to give us this great weather and 79 winchester and 85 toward fredericksburg and what kind of an impacts will it have on your day? >> the only impactful part will be the cool start tomorrow morning and the kids may need a jacket when they step out and they can probably wear the shorts and the jacket, but other than that, guys this will be nice all of the way through tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday and the next chance of rain is in the seven-day forecast and tom will have that at 4:45. i'm wendy rieger at the sportsdesk. if you are coming in on route 50, there is a brushfire out there, and let's look at chopper 4 over the scene and they had to shut down the westbound lanes in the cheverly and landover area in route 50. the brushfire is out, but the crews continue to saturate that area and they expect to open that area in the next 20 minutes and a voight thvoid that area. >> it's what happened with a former winner that's generating lots of shares on facebook. >> terminations are part of the game on "celebrity apprentice." so the terminator should be a natural fit. we're talking to billy bush about the big your new miss america is -- miss georgia! >> miss georgia won the miss america pageant last night, but a former beauty queen nearly stole the show. >> vanessa will craiams was the first african-american miss america, but she had to resign when nude pictures. >> last night the pageant apologized to vanessa williams. how did she take that? >> most people think decades to late and she took it with faux surprise. >> really? this is happening? it's clearly that that was in the rundown or else the pageant would be on cmt or whatever network it was, not abc and it's the first time a return to the network and the ratings were not very good, but they needed this moment and it was an appropriate moment whether a publicity stunt or not, she was stripped of her crown, tiara and sash in 1983 and they gave it to suzette charles. by the way, also the first -- she became the first african-american woman to become miss america, both the runner-up and the winner and now miss america changed it and they're both co-winners that year and they reinstated vanessa williams and i think it's appropriate. imagine unauthorized nude photos hurting someone's career? >> we've got to remember that was 1983. the world is certainly turned. i lived in l.a. for nearly eight years and pretty much all of governor schwarzenegger's term. of all of the things he could have done post-politics, celebrity apprentice, i never would have pegged that. >> no, i still don't believe it. i'm waiting for someone to tell me this is a joke, but apparent three this is happening. the network says it's happening and i think they asked him and then they said oh, my god, he said yes. you what do we do? they're moving the show from new york out to los angeles. now we don't have the myth. the myth is you'll end up working for donald trump and part of the appeal of donald that he was a tycoon and king of the concrete jungle and that myth went away when it became "celebrity apprentice" now it will be on a sound stage in los angeles, and it's hasta la vista, instead of you're fired. i don't know what it is, but arnold said yes and here we go. >> it will probably be very entertaining. >> i will certainly tune in in the beginning and they'll get good name, right? for some of the movies as of late haven't been such a hit and maybe this is the final chapter. >> all right. billy bush. thanks so much. we'll be watching tonight. ahead on news 4, the big changes called for by a commission in ferguson both on the streets and in the courts. the woman in the middle of the prison break in new york talks to matt lauer. why she claims she got in too deep. her new apology. >> i am so sorry for everything that everyone has went through because of me. relief right now for women in prince william county after a rapist draws three life sentences. dna evidence proves prince perkins raped one am have at gunpoint while her children were nearby. >> relief that he was off the streets, and he couldn't harm me or anyone else. >> coming up at the top of the hour, what one victim did when her little girl came into the room after an attack. today a judge set bond at $150,000 for the charles county mother indicted for the death of her son. the 3-year-old was found dead in a charles county park back in may. we'll have family reaction coming up in a live report on news 4 at 5:00. the flood of refugees coming into hungary has dramatically increased over the weekend and people trying to get here before hungary closes its border and promising a crackdown as soon as tuesday. the police here where these folks will be put on busses and sent to detention camps, processed and perhaps allowed to go on their way. many won't make it beyond hungary. we'll have a lot more broadcasting live from the border region when we see you tonight on nbc nightly news. a commission in ferguson, missouri, is suggesting sweeping changes to help prevent future unrest like what we saw after the death of michael brown. it is something a lot of people are interested in. we are in the #fergusonfuture is trending this afternoon. >> a lot of people paying attention to this report for good reason because all of this stems from the unrest that we had after the death of michael brown. you had lots of stakeholders come together. police, clergy, educators and business folks trying to come up with some answers and some solutions to the problems that have been happening in ferguson, and it really stems on the way the police greeted these protesters, when you see folks who are met with riot gear and police dogs and tactical equipment. the study is basically saying that they want to see those kinds of changes out of the way. the president also kind of underscoring that earlier this year with an executive agreement. limiting the amount of military equipment that police departments around the country are able to access. all right. the commission held a press conference earlier this afternoon. here's what one of them had to say, one of the members. >>. >> there are wonderful things that are right about this region and progress that has been made and with appropriate alignment, we know that the capacity to deal with this deep and divisive issues is present, is real and can be engaged to act. >> so in addition to minimizing the use of military-style weapons and tactics they're suggesting changes in the judicial system to improve the quality of life and to heavily fine people and arresting them for minor infracks. >> people getting a traffic stop can turn into a situation where you find yourself behind bars and that's the reality, not only in ferguson, but there are some 90 other municipalities around the community so people are actually having to navigate certain communities, but they're not sure if they're going to be with the problem with getting a ticket or something like that. obviously, that affects their home life and you could lose your job or find yourself in a financial burden for simple infractions that here in our area we would never see a jail for. >> this commission can't enforce the changes that it's recommending, but what kind of impact do you think this can have, this report, on ferguson and other cities? >> that's the hope, at least with folks i've talked to. they're hoping for a positive impact from this report because it's done -- they spent nearly one year on this and focusing not as much on policy, but on people. there are some real integral problems in the st. louis area of the racial divide. there are disparities that have to be addressed and what the report seems to find is that young people are going to be the key, as well, focused on this report. if we can change these children's lives, these young people and they can get better educations and be healthier and have an overall better community experience then it will work for st. louis and those are takeaways that we can use, as well. >> troy johnson, thank you. a former prison worker says she was afraid, not in love, when she helped two inmates escape. that man hunt terrorized upstate new york for weeks and joyce mitchell says she would take it all back if she could. mitchell sat down with nbc's matt lauer for an exclusive interview in jail. >> richard matt comes to you and says, joyce, i need a star-shaped drill bit. that's a lot different than cookies and brownies. >> yeah. >> what did you think? >> at first, i'm, like, i can't get you that, and then he's, like, i need it. >> for what? >> at first they didn't tell me and then after they did it was because they were going to try to escape. >> she says at that point she was in too deep to do anything about it. mitchell also admits she flirted with richard matt and david sweat and had sexual contact with matt, but claims it was all against her will. >> i'd give them the stuff because they threatened and it was mr. matt. he looked at me one day and said, you know, joyce, i do love you, and i said i love my husband. >> mitchell was worried she'd get caught bringing the tools inside, but no one checked her bags. now she faces up to seven years in prison herself if she's found guilty. >> watch matt lauer's full, exclusive interview with you on the nbc washington app and just searchjoyce mitchell interview. >> now your storm team 4 forecast. >> you know how you have the comfort zone on the thermostat on the wall? well, we've set the entire sky on comfort zone this afternoon with glorious sunshine, royal blue sky and looking out to the west and look at the visibility, and you can see from here to eternity. that's eternity right over there. a gorgeous day and temperature temperatures are in the comfort zone and in the mid to upper 70s and by 11:00 p.m. under a clear sky and we'll be back down in the upper 60s and back to the upper 50s by around dawn tomorrow. temperatures all around the region by dawn and not as chilly as they were this morning and near 50 in shenandoah valley and they'll be in the mid to upper 50s, and a look at our next chance for needed rain and that's coming up in a few minutes. >> all right, tom. i'm scott mcfarland in the newsroom and wrapping up an i team investigation and a confidential list kept inside the offices of the prince georges county prosecutor, and a loss of people prosecutors want to lock up for decades. among those who have been on the list, this man, travis evans who carjacked a man and led police on a wild chase in which he jumped from a speeding car. evan his a rap sheet and prosecutors helped hut pim away for 78 years. another name on the list, darrell adamson, that man accused of a grocery store parking lot and a shooting that killed that boy trey turner. he would seven years. >> that's permanent. nothing you can do about that. he can't say i made a mistake. there are no do-overs. >> on news 4 at 11:00, we go behind closed doors and we'll tell you how prosecutors choose the list that they call the bad boy list and how many people are on it and why it is so difficult for other communities to do something similar. scott mcfarland, news 4. scoring tickets to see the pope in the walk for francis campaign. we're live as firefighters try to get a handle on one of the worst wildfires of this season. thrills of his life and soon we'll be able to see jerry lewis' lions work on display in washington. the library of congress acquired long lost footage and other items featuring comedian and it includes his appearances on "the tonight show" and "the nutty professor." lewis is as well known for his humanitarian work as well as making people laugh and he will have a show at the state theater in culpeper, virginia. good news at the pump. gas prices are falling across the nation. according to aaa the national average for a price of regular is $2.30 a gallon. the average here in the district just a little higher at just over $2.50. in maryland you'll pay less than $2.30 a gallon. virginians are paying $2 a gallon and the average in west virginia is just about the same as the national average. pope francis' visit to washington now just more than a week away. we'll show you how some lucky local folks just won tickets to his mass. changing the way you see the world through your phone. a sneak peek at facebook's virtual reality app. in a little more than a week now pope francis will make an historic trip to the united states and thousands are waiting for the pontiff's visit to washington. >> one group won highly sought-after tickets and they did it with the winning video. >> working together we can do more. >> joseph gonzalez on the right and juan martinez are in a winning video in a unique contest. their video during a january mission to el salvador demonstrates the catholic church in action. >> it's been around for ten years and we were thinking we have to do something and the pope said you have to go out. you've got to get outside of the building. you can't just be in the building. you have to go out. >> their video of one of three winners in the contest that drew entries from around the nation to honor the pope's visit here next week. 20-year-old juan martinez was brought to america when he was 5 by his father. >> i'm actually glad that i'm here because it's the land of opportunity and thank the lord that he went to get me so the video is just an opportunity, it's saying, you know, come to us and we will help you out. >> christopher baker of the archdiocese multimedia office came up with the contest idea and helped arrange a panel to judge them. >> to come up with a way that we could paul people to service and call people to action and so for me, i thought videos. >> the el salvador video and two others each won four tickets to the pope mass next week. now they just have to divide the tickets with the whole group. tom sherwood, news 4. you know how people are excited to catch a glimpse and imagine the family who will get to greet him at the airport. >> the bowles family has been chosen to meet the pope because of their faith. >> faith is what got us through everything and our darkest moments. >> it would be funny if i asked him to try a cheesesteak or something like that. it's just an honor to meet him. >> his dad richard bowles was a philadelphia police officer who was shot and wounded in 2008. top catholic officials are condemning the scalping of tickets to see pope francis in new york. 80,000 tickets were given out using a lottery system to watch the motorcade through central park on the 25th and right after the winners were note nighed tickets began showing up on websites like ebay and craigslist for thousands of dollars. ebay has since removed the listing saying it violates their policy. and now your storm team 4 forecast. >> this morning, students at the bus stop needed their jackets and needed their coats and we're in the 40s and here's a look at the bus stop forecast for tomorrow morning, not as chilly. a cool start for students boarding busses between 7:00 and 8:00. temperatures will be in the mid to upper 50s which is cooler than average for this time of year and then between 8:00 and 9:00 for students boarding the later busses it will be in the 60s with bright sunshine and humidity throughout the day. dress accordingly. you might need an early jacket early on and you won't need an umbrella. >> don't put away your summer clothing quite yet as we are going to be feeling summerlike in the afternoons. we'll have cooler mornings over the next few mornings and it will be in the 6 s and it will be warm in the afternoon to almost hot with low humidity and upper 80s, wednesday, thursday and again on friday and tomorrow just into the mid-80s. the hottest days for the next several days will be wednesday, thursday and again on friday. storm team 4 seven-day outlook into the weekend and saturday, increasing clouds in the upper 80s and our next chance for needed rain and that will move in on sunday and again on monday and a few passing showers possible and highs near 80 sunday and the upper 70s on monday. a look at the initial preliminary outlook for the papal visit next week is coming up next hour. stay with us. thanks, tom. check out this time-lapse video of a sandstorm moving through parts of arizona. thick dust moved through the air and if that warrasn't bad enougt was followed by thunderstorms that affected several homes. some copycats are the latest developments in an ongoing shooting investigation that brought back troubling memories here in our area. three teens are now charged for using sling shots to hurl granite at passing vehicles on interstate 10 in phoenix over the weekend. investigators don't think they were related to shooting incidents along the same freeway. bullets and other projectiles pierced nearly a dozen vehicles in recent weeks. >> don't kid yourself that what the kids were doing was absolutely lethal and if you break it out and it hits another car and you have a catastrophic collision you end up with death again. >> no one has been seriously hurt hurt in any of the attacks. arizona officials are still questioning a person of interest arrested last week. this afternoon officials are trying to figure out how two planes clipped each other at the airport in l.a. >> this is how one pilot explained the situation to the confused passengers onboard. >> essentially we stopped short of the gate because it wasn't what was expected and the aircraft behind us continued to push back from their gate and the two aircraft met at the same point in the same time. >> it sounds like a bit of a fender bender. the united flight was arriving and an alaska airlines flight was about to take off and they bumped each other last night while maneuvering with two terminals and emergency crews arrived and checked everything out. >> a virtual reality app could be coming to your smartphone. facebook is working on a new 360-degree video app. it would allow you to change your viewing perspective by tilting your phone and that will give you a view of videos. the app would work with apple and an droid devices. right now it's still in the early development stage. >> apple's stock is up about a point and the company is reporting high demand for its newest iphones. preorders started saturday for the iphone 6s and 6s plus. apple claims sales are on pace to beat the release of last year's model. apple's stock took a hit during the market correction last month and the new iphones go on sale september 25th. we are working several developing stories in the newsroom. right now, a man who got five years' probation for a motor bike theft will spend the next five years in prison for a separate crime. he stole electronics from them. they say it happened after he lost a bet to his brother. still ahead, news 4's pat collins will have more on that on his previous crime. we continue to follow a developing story out west. devastating wildfires are ripping through california. thousands of people having to get out 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[ buzzing ] bundle bee coming! it was worth it! saving you a bundle when you bundle -- now, that's progressive. wildfires burning out of control in california forcing thousands to evacuate and destroying hundreds of homes. >> one person has already been killed and they died in the valley fire that is just north of napa. nbc's jay gray is in hard-hit middleton, california, where the officials say there's no end in sight. jay? >> chris, pat, and look, everything here is gone. you can see the rubble and this scene playing out across northern california right now. so many communities affected by this fire and firefighters battling the blaze on the front line. they'll tell you at this point right now they're losing the fight. it used to rage across northern california right now. the valley fire, 50,000 acres wide, moving in multiple directions and swallowing everything in its path. >> this fire just moved like a runaway train. it ran right over everybody. >> reporter: at least one person is dead, four firefighters have been injured and as teams continue an intense fight along the front lines of the blaze, at this point there's no solid count on the number of homes and businesses destroyed. >> i feel it's going to be several hundred, if not a thousand. >> reporter: there are 13 wildfires burning across more than half million acres in california, this one just north of the napa wine country is the most severe. >> it's not worth it. let's just go. >> reporter: at times, the flames so strong firefighters are forced to retreat. >> you see homes and buildings that are igniting on fire and you know you're powerless to try to save them all. >> reporter: even more difficult for those forced to leave so much behind. >> there was no choice, and it came like a freight train. it was not leaping. it was bounding from place to place. >> reporter: and most understand there will be little left when they go home. >> i expect it to be gone. i expect that what we have in our little cassitia here to be what we'll start out with. >> reporter: still, they plan to return and somehow rebuild. >> when we go back as a community, we just have to pull together to, you know, pick up and start over. >> but getting back will take some time. >> we don't see an end in fire season for the months to come. >> those resources, like so many of the residents, stretched to their limits right now. yeah, support is pouring into the region at this point. fire crews from across the country coming to help those already on the front line, but they also need help from mother nature and right now, pat, they're not getting it and that wind is still gusting 20 to 30 miles an hour. back to you, pat. >> jay gray, thank you, jay. news 4 at 5:00 starts now with jim and wendy. now at 5:00, a mother stalked and attacked in her home with her children nearby. she sees her attacker in court. >> my sister was not only 4 months ow s old, but for others because you never know and i continue to ask myself why me? plus, we've been telling you about this deadly accident in prince georges county involving a tour bus. we have a crew live on the scene now. we have new details on the pope's visit to d.c. we're going to show you exactly where the roads are that will be shut down and just how much time you need to add to your commute. but we begin with first at 5:00 with one of the most-read stories on the nbc washington app todd and one that has caused a strong, emotional reaction for people across the area. >> a mother, a maryland mother indicted for the death of her toddler son. this was a sad and tragic discovery. back in may you'll recall the mother was found pushing her dead child in a playground swing. today romechia simms claims she did not mean for this to happen. >> reporter: wendy, a judge released simms on $50,000 bond and the state's attorney's office asked the judge for no bond pending a mental evaluation and of course, that was denied. we spoke with the toddler's father just days after his death. he tells us he believes that the mother has a mental illness. he also says all of this could have been avoided. for nearly four months charles county deputies have collected evidence and tried to understand what happened to 3-year-old ji'aire lee. >> it got to be that the child was placed in the swing very shortly after they got there and the child was there for about 40 hours. >> tony covington is the state's attorney for charles county. romechia simms was pushing her 3-year-oldon