Man indicted for alleged murder of 10-year-old boy; companies sue to block DC’s Ticket Resale Act

We're going to start with the 10-9 out of the weather watch. Record-breaking heat today. D.C. hit 90 degrees here in October. Yeah, don't get too used to it right now, okay, because there's a pretty big temperature swing, a dip coming our way. We want to get right over to meteorologist Mike Thomas. You have a first check on our forecast and the changes to come. Yeah, Jim and Angie, what a day today. 90 degrees, our latest 90-degree day in history, at least as far back as our records data goes to in the late 1800s here in Washington. But, yeah, we've never had a day this late in October hit the 90-degree mark. So incredible amounts of heat. Of course, all three airports managed to break their daily records as well, all set in 1975. Previous latest day, by the way, that we hit 90 degrees was October 11th. That was all the way back in 1919, so over a century ago. As we take a live look outside across the D.C. region tonight, quiet night so far. We do have some showers that are getting closer to parts of the D.C. area. But at the moment, still dry 75 at Reagan National, Dulles 78, BWI Thurgood Marshall 76. But enough humidity that like at Dulles, that 70 feels more like 80. And again, just summer-like day with summer-like threats out there across the region. As you do see, that grouping of showers coming right across the West Virginia border getting into western portions of Virginia here tonight. Now, the portion that's going to head towards D.C., not overly heavy. The heavy stuff coming through, say, Harrisburg down towards Staunton there along the lower end of the I-81 corridor and towards Charlottesville here rather shortly. On the northern flank of it, a little bit lighter activity. So some sprinkles going to cross D.C. as we work our way into the hours ahead. However, what you really can't tell from radar is that tomorrow there's going to be some redevelopment as the frontal boundary that those showers are along kind of stalls to our south. So tomorrow's a strange day temperature-wise. Whatever our temperature is at about midnight, 1 o'clock in the morning, probably in the 70s still, and that'll be the high for tomorrow, as you see, all day tomorrow. Temps kind of slide down most of the afternoon, spent in the lower 60s. We'll have suburbs in the 50s for much of it with a lot of cloud cover, and on again, off again, showers through the course of the afternoon. We'll show you futurecast. Then we swing. I mean, we're back in the 80s on Friday, but then even colder this weekend or chillier this weekend. We'll have that breakdown coming your way in just a few more minutes. Stick around. Jim, the search for a local rape suspect takes authorities all the way to Guatemala. And tonight, there's an arrest of the case. Fox 5's Shamari Stone joins us live from Fredericksburg with the latest show. Well, Angie and Jim, tonight, people who exercise, walk, jog, run on the trails out here in Fredericksburg, Virginia, tell us that they are relieved. Now, you have the Fredericksburg Police Department. This is their headquarters behind me. And they work with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and authorities in Guatemala to catch this suspected rapist. Tonight, new video showing Guatemalan authorities arresting 22-year-old Cesar Popon on Tuesday as he walks with his head down in handcuffs. Tonight, Fredericksburg police telling us DNA evidence links him to two sexual assaults on trails in northern Virginia. one on October of last year on the canal path near Dale Street between Washington Avenue and U.S. Route 1 and the other in May of this year on Ficklin Island near Old Mill Park. Detectives say they arrested Popon in June of this year after he allegedly exposed himself to two women on a trail in Fredericksburg. Police charged him with indecent exposure at the time but federal immigration authorities took him into custody, issued an immigration detainer And Popon, who was living in Spotsylvania, voluntarily flew back to Guatemala. Months later, DNA test results came back, linking him to the two Northern Virginia sexual assaults, police say. Fredericksburg police continued investigating, and with help from the FBI, the Department of Justice, and Guatemalan authorities, they were able to find and arrest Popon. Now tonight he is in jail in Guatemala and it's going to take months to sort this thing out because you have the Fredericksburg Police Department, you have the Department of Justice and you have the authorities in Guatemala and the DOJ is trying to have him extradited back here to Northern Virginia where he would face 11 charges including rape. But in Guatemala, he could try and waive extradition, which could, again, cause this to take several months to sort out. But one thing is clear. Fox 5 will stay on top of this story and bring you the latest developments as they become available here on Fox 5 and Fox Local on your smart TVs and smartphones. In Fredericksburg, I'm Shamari Stone. Back to you. A Maryland man accused of killing a 10-year-old boy who disappeared more than 30 years ago is facing new charges tonight. Joseph Lynch is accused of raping and killing 10-year-old George Jr. Berdinsky back in 1993. He was arrested earlier this year after a witness came forward. Lynch remains in jail ahead of a hearing later this month. On day six of the Norresh Bot murder trial, a former Prince William County forensics investigator took the stand to walk jurors through suspected blood evidence. In court, prosecutors showed photos of a blood-tracking chemical called Blue Star reacting inside of the bedroom Bot shared with his missing wife, Monte Coughlin. The images showed a glowing trail leading from the bed into the master bathroom. The jury also saw a photo of the bedroom carpet lighting up under the chemical reaction. Now, beyond the physical forensics, prosecutors also began laying out mountains of digital evidence today with extensive cell phone records and tracking data from Bot's Tesla. A D.C. woman facing nearly 12 years in prison for leading a violent regional robbery ring. Ashley Gauss held employees at gunpoint across Maryland, Virginia, D.C., and New Jersey. The new surveillance video out today shows crew members striking pharmacies and phone stores, making off with nearly $300,000 worth of iPhones and prescription drugs. It certainly helps for identification, you know, identifying who our suspects are and connecting dots and putting these cases together when they come forward for prosecution. Over the years, we've seen that, you know, sometimes these folks are armed, sometimes, you know, if they know their freedom is on the line, they will do, you know, just about anything to ensure that they are not apprehended and not locked up and go to jail. So they can be dangerous. Two other members of the crime ring were convicted last November. Three others pled guilty for their roles in the crimes, all of them facing multiple years in prison. A high-stakes legal battle in the district reaching a boiling point. A federal appeals court weighing who really holds the power to deploy the National Guard on district streets. Judges question D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwab's argument that the president does not have the authority to deploy the National Guard in D.C. but also expressed skepticism of the Department of Justice case. By any measure, that mission has been a striking success with even the D.C. mayor acknowledging the dramatic decrease in violent crime since the deployments began. They do not belong in D.C. Go home. The three-judge panel does not have a deadline for their decision, so it could come down at any time. Now to the big news developing out of Montgomery County Public Schools tonight. The principal of Northwest High School placed on leave. Our Sydney Persing joins us live in front of the high school for us tonight with a breakdown of everything we know at this point. Sydney. Well, Jim and Angie, we have been working all night to try to get answers on this. But still, there are just so many questions. A principal here in Maryland's largest school district placed on leave. And at least at this hour, parents and students, they have not been given a single reason why. I want you to take a look at this principal now, Mr. Scott Smith, principal here at Northwest High since 2021. Again, to be clear, officials have not yet said why he's on leave or how long it's expected to last. A letter was sent to families this morning announcing this decision, and it was brief. It came from the district's Division of School Leadership and Improvement, and it said in part, I am writing to let you know that Mr. Scott Smith is currently on leave. At this time, Assistant Principal Mrs. Danielle Abdel-Salam will serve as the acting principal. Under her leadership, we are confident that the operations of the school and instructional program will remain strong during Mr. Smith's absence. We are committed to sharing more information regarding the length of Mr. Smith's absence when available. Now, earlier this morning, our crews were here, and they spotted officials loading boxes of documents from the school into vans. It's not clear, though, what those documents were or where they were going. We have tried talking all night with students and parents here in Germantown. Nobody has wanted to say anything on camera since none of them know exactly why this has happened. But students told me they were very much aware about this, referencing a post on Instagram that announced Smith had been placed on leave. I have tried making contact with Mr. Smith tonight to ask him about this. I have not yet heard back. But you can really feel that parents here in the area are hungry for answers. You can see on online blog posts they're asking each other, have you heard any information? Do you know anything? As they still haven't gotten word yet from the district about what's going on here, we're going to continue to press officials for answers. and as soon as we learn more we will update you on air and online back to you maryland's lone Republican Congressman Andy Harris getting into a heated exchange with a news reporter falsely accusing her of breaking state law this all happened after a congressional debate yesterday in Queen Anne's County during a post-debate press gaggle the Baltimore Banner caught the confrontation on camera you cannot film me yes i can no you can't this is a two-party state I am not giving you authority to film me. You have invited the press into it. No, I'm disinviting you. No, you're not. You're gone. You're gone. Well, Capitol News service reporter Kat Murphy, who's a master's student at the University of Maryland, was part of the post-debate press conference when Harris went after her. As you heard Harris say, he thought that Maryland's two-party consent law required his permission for Murphy to film him. That is not true. The law applies to private conversations, not press conferences with publicly elected officials. Congressman Harris also agreed to do an interview with Fox 5 today, but he later backed out, citing scheduling conflicts. Well, the University of Maryland's tennis club remains suspended tonight. The team is at the center of two investigations over a racist image sent out ahead of a tournament happening in College Park. Now, it features a KKK-style hood on the Maryland flag. Howard University Club tennis players who first spotted that image telling Fox 5 they want more accountability. They're now demanding a public apology and a donation of tournament funds to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C. I wouldn't wish this feeling on my worst enemies. It makes you feel different. It makes you feel just kind of ostracized a little bit. The fact that it was spread to so many different colleges and of course Howard has to be the one to say something. Well, the University of Maryland's Police Department and Office of Student Conduct are now investigating. Ticket resale platforms suing over a D.C. law that caps the price for secondhand tickets. They claim the resale act violates several laws, would put people at risk of fraudulent tickets and hurt competition. The law limits the price of a resold ticket to 10 percent more than its original value. SeatGeek, Vivid Seats and GameTime are all part of the lawsuit. Councilmember Charles Allen, who introduced the bill, responded today, accusing the companies of trying to preserve their profits.