Police are searching for a suspect who took off on foot after driving the wrong way on Interstate 805 and crashing his car.

The chase started near 800 Hilltop Drive at about 6:25 p.m. when Chula Vista police tried to pull over a silver Honda for a traffic violation.

But instead of pulling over, the driver took off, leading police through portions of southern Chula Vista.

Police say the suspect then drove onto the southbound I-805, heading north at Telegraph Canyon Road. Officers immediately stopped following the car.

The driver made it to just south of E Street before crashing into another vehicle, carrying a man, woman and their 19-month-old child. The adults were treated on the scene for minor injuries, while the child was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

After the crash, the suspect, who is wanted on a Homeland Security warrant, bailed out of his car. Witnesses report seeing him dash west of the freeway, into the canyon area.

People in nearby vehicles jumped out and detained the passenger who was riding with the suspect. That person is now in CVPD custody.

California Highway Patrol closed a couple lanes of the freeway as CVPD investigated.

Police established a perimeter around the 4300 block of Adrienne Drive to search for the suspect, but he was not located.

The CVPD is still investigating the pursuit.

San Diego Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani confirmed to NBC 7 that the land purchase for a new joint stadium for the Chargers and Oakland Raiders football teams has not been finalized.

Fabiani confirmed this in an email late Friday, a day after the announcement of the joint stadium proposal in Carson, California, south of Los Angeles.

“The project is subject to a binding purchase and sale agreement,” Fabiani wrote in the email. “All parties are bound by the agreement.” When NBC 7 first reached out to Fabiani he said, the "land has been purchased through a binding agreement with the seller."

Friday, the City of Carson and members of organized labor gathered to celebrate a proposed NFL stadium that may soon be shared by the Chargers and Raiders. The small community is home to the 168-acres of land, which Fabiani calls “Plan B” for a new stadium for the Chargers.

According to the Los Angeles County Assessor's Office, the owner of the land is Carson Marketplace, a company based in Newport Beach. The company has owned the land since May 2008.

In a press release, the seller of the property was identified as Starwood Capital Group, a company affiliated with Carson Marketplace. Tom Johnson, a spokesperson for the company, confirmed Starwood still owns the land. In an email he said, “we are excited by the prospects for the project."

Johnson added in an email the Chargers have control over the land.

Fabiani said the sale “is not contingent on anything” and “the buyer is obligated to buy. The seller is obligated to sell. Period.”

Both teams announced they plan to continue seeking public subsidies for new stadiums in their respective home markets, but they are pursuing the Carson proposal in case they are unable to finalize any deals. In San Diego, Mayor Kevin Faulconer - who recently named a special stadium advisory board - said he was unaware the Chargers and Raiders had been planning such a move.

Somewhere amidst the backstage maneuvering behind the alliance – unholy or otherwise -- between the Chargers and Raiders are countless elements that add up to a series of reality checks.

For example:

• Exit Strategy Considerations

It would cost the Chargers $17.6 million to trigger its Qualcomm Stadium escape clause this year to meet their obligations to pay off the remaining principal debt on the bonds to renovate the stadium in 1997.

The team still has until April 30th to give “notice of termination” under that clause; the team has announced it will not do so this year.

However, the developments involving Carson could cast a pall on ticket sales for the 2015 NFL season.

If and/or when the team should exercise the escape clause, it would have to vacate Qualcomm Stadium by July 31st of that year, as well as the Chargers Park facility in Murphy Canyon, whose construction was bankrolled by the city.

The exit fee, in effect, scales downward to under $10 million by the year 2020.

The Chargers have been paying a bargain-basement $2.5 million in annual rent since 2004.

• Legal Considerations

A move under the game plan now in play in Carson likely would invite lawsuits (against the teams and NFL) from the cities of San Diego and Oakland, with Los Angeles a potential “party in interest” (if not plaintiff as well) owing to AEG’s Farmers Stadium proposal targeted for downtown.

The legal cause(s) of action might rest on allegations of anti-trust, restraint-of-trade violations and/or other underlying business-related claims.

There’s a possibility that the city of Carson could be sued on grounds of “tortious interference with a contractual relationship”.

By way of background, litigation filed by San Diego challenging the Padres’ proposed sale to a grocery chain magnate and relocation to Washington D.C. in 1974 bought time for a proposal under which McDonalds tycoon Ray Kroc wound up acquiring the team instead.

• Commercial Considerations

The Carson stadium financing plan envisioned by underwriter Goldman Sachs and the teams presumably would rely heavily on the sale of Personal Seat Licenses (PSL), a scheme that generated $550 million for the 49ers’ new Levi Stadium in Santa Clara.

PSLs are, essentially, the purchase of rights just to buy season tickets for certain seats in a stadium – along the lines of paying money for a wristband to wait in line for tickets to a rock concert.

Season ticket sales at Levi Stadium went well, but as the team’s record tended toward the mediocre, there were many empty seats and grumblings about hellacious traffic problems and the “dump” neighborhoods surrounding the facility.

With the 49ers having finished 8-8 and lost its head coach in the off-season, the size of the team’s fan base may undergo some shrinkage.

Will the Los Angeles “market” support PSL sales to the extent that fulfills the Goldman Sachs projections -- especially when appeals must be made to two separate fan bases (Chargers, Raiders) that would seem to have little overlap?

To what extent (if any) would the teams be on the hook for rent/maintenance/capital improvements – and game-day services provided by the city of Carson and/or other public agencies?

San Diego football fans watched with trepidation Friday as another California city cheered the possibility that it may soon be home to the Chargers.

With much fanfare and few details, the City of Carson and members of organized labor gathered to celebrate a proposed NFL stadium that may soon be shared by the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders.

San Diegans were still reeling Friday from the news that its team may abandon hopes of replacing Qualcomm Stadium with another local site as they watched Carson leaders and residents cheer "Viva NFL."

The small community south of Los Angeles is home to the 168-acres purchased as a "Plan B" for a new stadium, Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said Thursday.

The National Football League has long wanted a Los Angeles-based team. It's considered a huge market for television viewers and offers significant revenue for advertisers.

Both the Chargers and the Raiders are considered by some as perfect teams to move, because both play in outdated stadiums in their hometowns.

If deals for new stadiums aren't reached in their respective cities, the Raiders and Chargers - longtime rivals - may become roommates.

They have an extensive team of attorneys, finance experts and architects who are on staff as both teams throw their support behind an initiative to get the land entitled as a stadium.

In San Diego, Mayor Kevin Faulconer - who recently named a special stadium advisory board - said he was unaware the Chargers and Raiders had been planning such a move. 

In fact, the city's advisors had just met with the San Diego Chargers for the first time Monday. Three days later the team confirmed to a Los Angeles Times reporter that it has been considering abandoning any hope of staying in San Diego and moving north to LA to room with their longtime rivals.

Faulconer complained "It's not how you do business" when he spoke with NBC 7 Friday morning. His communications teams confirmed it was the LA Times and not the Chargers organization who told the mayor about the deal.

"The world changed when the Rams moved into Inglewood, and rapidly are getting a stadium ready to be built there," Fabiani told NBC 7 Friday. "That changed for us and increased the sense of urgency.”

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, announced in December his plan to build an 80,000-seat stadium on the land that used to be Hollywood Park.

Should they become the Los Angeles Rams, the Chargers say they will lose 25 percent of its revenue that comes from that market.

"Would you allow your business to be wiped out? 25% of it by another team or 2 teams moving into LA, and then being stuck in an ancient stadium with no other options?" Fabiani added. "That's something you need to ask yourself. If you’re looking at this from a business point of view."

Faulconer said he needs to focus on the 100 percent of San Diego residents who want to keep the team in town.

The city’s stadium task force is moving forward to come up with a solution and Faulconer said he is determined to find it, but the Chargers seem to be losing hope.

“It's the same thing we've needed for the last 14 years and we haven't gotten it so I can't stand here and tell you there is going to be a magical solution,” Fabiani said.

At Friday's news conference, Carson officials outlined a four step proposal that promised thousands of union jobs and a green build that would use no city general funds or taxes but would rather rely on revenue generated by stadium events.  

“It’s an exciting proposal if the City of Carson could have not one but two NFL teams that would be willing to come here and play in a brand new state-of-the art stadium,” said U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn (D) 44th District, the daughter of Kenny Hahn who helped broker the move of the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in the late 1950s.

Fred MacFarlane with the local coalition Carson2gether would not confirm that if the stadium is built, the Chargers will come.

"Frankly, my focus and our focus is on first getting the community behind this effort. There won’t be anything for anyone to go to if we’re not successful," MacFarlane said.

Fabiani is promising San Diego Charger football in 2015 but making no promises beyond this season.

The Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encintias is graciously taking in 35 rescued beagles Monday morning.

The owner of the more than 40 beagles and pugs said she couldn't care for the canines anymore and attempted to relinquish them to Four Paws Coonhound Rescue and Friends.

The rescue called Rancho Coastal Humane Society, who then began making room for 35 of the beagles, ranging from puppies to adults and pregnant females.

Rancho Coastal has a caravan of dogs scheduled to arrive at their facility at 389 Requeza Street in Encinitas at 11 a.m. Monday morning, before they open.

The facility said they hope to have some of the dogs viewable by that afternoon.

In a release from Rancho Coastal Humane Society, they had this to say of the pups: "None of these Beagles care which breed won the Westminster Dog Show. (Beagle, by the way.) They just want someone to love them and care for them and give them homes. Forever."

For more information on rescues and adoption, click here.

Fifty-five residents at an East Village senior care facility were displaced after a fire broke out Friday morning.

San Diego firefighters evacuated residents from the Potiker Family Senior Residence Care on the 500 block of 14th Street near Island Avenue shortly after 8:30 a.m.

Smoke could be seen coming from a fourth floor apartment window, according to residents. Firefighters rescued one man still inside the apartment. He was taken to UCSD Medical Center for smoke inhalation.

Upon inspection of the building, a body was found inside the facility, according to SDFD. However, the death was unrelated to the fire and the person appeared to have passed away two days ago. When NBC 7 asked management how that could happen, they said this is an independent living center and they try to respect that. People are checked every other day or so, so it is possible the person was dead for a while before discovered.

Residents said it was a scary ordeal.

"I didn't know what to take," one resident told NBC 7. "I was just talking to my daughter yesterday about preparing."

Firefighters struggled to evacuate residents due to mobility issues. Fire crews helped 15 to 20 people who were constrained to wheelchairs out of the building, including six residents who had to be carried out.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire to that one apartment, but the fourth floor of the facility suffered heavy smoke damage. Water from the sprinkler system also seeped through the floor and into the second and third floors.

The Potiker Family Senior Residence said the 55 who were displaced will be staying in a nearby hotel. The center houses close to 200 people. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System said they would help relocate the seniors by offering them free transportation for the day.

At about 4 p.m., 145 people were allowed back in their homes.

The fire was ruled to be accidental, and caused by "smoking materials that ignited combustibles," according to SDFD. Damages to the apartment were estimated at $2,000, and water and smoke damages to the building were estimated to be $500,000.

Shock. Betrayal. A gut punch.

That was the overwhelmingly raw response by San Diegans interviewed by NBC 7 following bombshell news that the Chargers are proposing a joint stadium with the Raiders in the Los Angeles area.

Residents didn’t mince words when they explained their reaction to their hometown NFL team making plans to head north.

Some likened it to being cheated on.

“I do feel like my wife has left me. I’ve been a season ticket holder since 1964. It’s hurting,” said Chargers fan Dean Bennett. “There are three things I actually don’t like: One, the Raiders. Second, the Dodgers. Third are ISIS. That’s where I rate those guys. It’s like selling your soul to the devil.”

Many fans said the news that Chargers could leave was especially sour, considering the team was partnering with its rivals on the field.

“Terrible,” said one fan. “They’re the enemy of the Chargers so I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Some conceded, however, that the Chargers were running out of options with the city of San Diego and understood the team had to make a move.

“It seems shady they didn’t tell anybody about this deal going on, but at the same time, they were kind of backed against the wall,” said fan Ryan Davis.

It still hurts, fans said.

One fan said: “If this goes through, it’s going to be a sad day for San Diego.”

A substitute high school custodian was arrested on suspicion that he planned to meet an underage student for sex, San Diego County Sheriff's officials said.

Detectives say Elias Morales II, a 21-year-old substitute custodian at the Grossmont Union High School District, began texting "inappropriately" with a 14-year-old student from El Capitan High School. 

When the school district notified law enforcement about this activity, sheriff's detectives and deputies posed as the student and started messaged Morales.

The custodian allegedly asked the student to skip class and meet him off-campus, and the detectives — speaking as the student — agreed to meet up for a sexual liaison.

When Morales drove to the planned Lakeside location Thursday, deputies arrested him.

Morales was booked into jail for communicating with a minor with intent to commit a specified sex act and appearing at an arranged meeting place for the purpose of committing lewd acts with a minor. He is being held on a $50,000 bail, and his arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 27.

GUHSD spokeswoman Catherine Martin confirmed Friday that Morales had been working throughout the district for the past three months. He, like all employees, was fingerprinted and underwent a Department of Justice and FBI background checks before he was hired. He met all the qualifications.

On Thursday, Morales was released from his job, Martin said. Because this is an ongoing investigation, district officials are limited as to what they can discuss.

"When concerns involving any adult on campus come before us, our normal procedure is to
remove the adult from the situation and conduct a full investigation in cooperation with law enforcement. We take this particularly seriously when the actions could endanger students," said Martin in a statement.

Detectives are trying to determine if there are more alleged victims. The sheriff's department says parents should check to see whom their kids are talking with over social media and through text messages.

If you know about this case or other suspected victims, call the sheriff's sexual assault unit at 858-974-2316 or after hours at 858-565-5200. You can also call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight was rushed to a New Mexico hospital Friday after having an apparent heart attack after the plane departed Dallas Love Field.

Flight 947 was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas but was diverted to Albuquerque.

Members of the flight crew and fellow passengers provided aid using an on-flight medical emergency kit until the plane landed and was met by medics on the ground in New Mexico.

Laurie Holloway, spokeswoman for the Dallas Zoo and a former EMT, was a passenger on the flight and said a passenger physician and a flight attendant with a medical background were among those who helped.

"They put him on oxygen, monitoring his pulse, using a stethoscope, gave him an aspirin. That was a smart move," said Holloway. "I could tell by the way that [the flight attendant] and the physician were handling things that they knew what they were doing."

According to Holloway, the man was with his wife, and while he was receiving medical treatment the man and his wife said that he was 58 years old and from the Dallas area.

The plane eventually resumed its flight to Las Vegas.

There is no word on the man's condition or identity.

Deputies have found an 11-year-old boy who sneaked out his bedroom window.

San Diego County Sheriff's officials say the boy got into an argument with his mother Friday afternoon and went to his room. Sometime between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., he escaped out his bedroom window and ran away.

He was found at about 10:20 p.m.

An adorable dog named Dante was released from prison Friday, but his time behind bars wasn’t for any crime. He was the first to graduate from a training program run by inmates.

Prisoners at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility have teamed up with Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs to prepare animal assistants for helping wounded veterans and people with autism.

Dante, a black Labrador retriever, spent the last four months learning tricks and skills from inmates. On Friday, he was awarded his official service dog vest and went home with Marlene Krpata, a retired Army captain.

Krpata told NBC 7 she’s seen an incredible change in Dante since he entered the program, called Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles and Creating Hope (POOCH).

"They made it so he doesn't give up on things,” she said. “Like when I was in my wheelchair, for him to get down and pick up things for me or to get them and put them up on counters, he's very adamant about getting it done.”

Not only can Dante assist with physical tasks, but emotional ones as well. Krpata suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, so when she feels increased anxiety, Dante is trained to help calm her down.

“So when I wake up thinking someone's in my house, and he's in there asleep, I know there's no one in my house, and it immediately allows me to calm down and bring my heart rate down,” said Krpata.

Officials with the correctional facility say the dog training benefits their inmates as well, reducing violence through the therapeutic benefits of having a dog around.

David Mix, who has been incarcerated for 20 years, would agree.

"Being incarcerated, there's so much going on with the negativity that surrounds an institution,” he said. “There's so much that we have to endure, so being able to have a pet while you're incarcerated? It doesn't get much better than that."

A self-proclaimed dog lover, Mix also volunteered for the program because he has a nephew who was diagnosed with autism, so he wanted to give back to someone like his relative.

Mix has been working with a dog named Saturn for about six and a half months. He said normally, it takes about two year to properly train a dog, but because the inmates are with theirs 24/7, they can cut that time in half.
"It's good too because once he learns a behavior, I sit back and I'm like, 'Wow, I got this dog to do that?' It's a blast,” he said.

Right now, POOCH is limited to the fire house branch of the prison, but officials are considering expanding it to the rest of the population.
 

California Governor Jerry Brown has blocked the mooted parole of notorious Mexican mafia hitman Rene "Boxer" Enriquez.

In his decision, Gov. Brown said that while the killer had "provided officials with valuable information" in his role as a snitch, he still poses "an unreasonable danger to society" due to his "decades-long record of violent crime."

Enriquez has been in prison since 1993, and is serving a sentence of 20 years-to life in prison for two murders, multiple assaults and conspiracy to traffic in controlled substances.

Gov. Brown said that, as his address would have to be made public due to his status as a sex offender, his release would pose a damage to Enriquez himself, his family, neighbors and parole officers.

Enriquez' attorney said he would not immediately appeal the decision.

The governor's decision was backed by former Orange County Deputy District Attorney Rudy Lowenstein.

"My reaction to the Governor's decision is that it's spot on. When I cross-examined him on two separate occasions... he was still proud of what he had done with the Mexican mafia," Lowenstein said.

It previously emerged the California Parole Board (CPB) recommended his release after he presented the written gratitude of some of California’s top cops, including the Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck, for his work as an informant

The deputy commissioner of the CPB was impressed by the amount of letters that were produced supporting Enriquez, saying calling them a few would be "an understatement."

However a letter that actually recommended him for parole, which was sent by someone in the LA County Sheriff’s Department, had not been green-lighted. A department spokesman said any recommendation for Enriquez' release "was done without approval of the sheriff."

In 1989, he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. One of his victims was a female drug dealer he suspected was stealing drugs from him, and the second was a fellow gang member who had ran away from a fight.

He was controversially given a SWAT escort to an event hosted by the LAPD in downtown Los Angeles last month, where he gave a crowd of about 125 people a firsthand insight about the inner-workings of the criminal enterprise.

Miami Police are looking for the daredevil responsible for hanging from a 50-story crane in downtown Miami with just one hand.

Police say he is a threat to himself and potentially others.

"The message from the Miami police department is we don't want anyone else doing it, just imagine a teenager trying to do it," Officer Kenia Fallat said.

The daredevil, who doesn't want his name released, wears a mask and uses a selfie stick to show himself at the top of the construction site. At one point, he shows himself crossing a narrow beam from a dizzying height.

"He's risking his life but what we don't want are others to copy him, and indeed it's not only dangerous but also illegal,” she added.

Miami police are distributing pictures of him taken from his social media videos. In the photos, you can clearly see his face. The man has a GoPro camera strapped to his head.

"We can't release a name right now but we have a picture of him and we believe he is not acting alone," Fallat said.

Police also believe another man is involved in trespassing with the daredevil.

If you have any information, police urge you to call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at (305) 453-TIPS.

Three days after NBC 4 New York aired the story of a mother's search for a precious necklace from her late teenage daughter, the missing item has miraculously been found and will be returned across the ocean back to Vicky Pyne in the U.K.

It was on Valentine's Day in Times Square that Pyne lost the necklace bearing the fingerprints of her daughters Milly and Alice, the 17-year-old girl who died of Hodgkin's lymphoma two years ago. Alice had made the necklace when she learned her cancer was terminal and given it to her mother before she died in January 2013. 

Pyne, who was visiting from England, was devastated. Alice's necklace had never left her neck since she first put it on. Pyne last remembered touching the fingerprint, as she often did to remember her daughter, at the Applebee's restaurant in Times Square. She continued shopping, walking to Herald Square, and didn't notice it missing until she got to her hotel. 

"I was absolutely horrified when I realized it was missing," she said.

She retraced her steps to no avail.

"I think my only worry was if a snowplow had plowed it up and dumped it in the Hudson or something," she said.

Pyne took to social media, hoping instead the priceless piece of jewelry was lost somewhere on the streets of New York City. 

As it turns out, that's exactly where Freddy and Emelie Ortiz found it. 

After NBC 4 New York aired her story Tuesday, the Yonkers family reached out to Pyne: her necklace had been found. 

Freddy Ortiz was walking with his family on 34th Street Saturday when his 18-month-old daughter kicked off her sock. When he bent down to fix the sock, he noticed a woman staring at a necklace on the pavement. When she kept walking, he decided it looked too important to just ignore. 

He and wife Emelie picked up the necklace and noticed the two girls' names. Coincidentally, they are also the parents of two daughters, as well as an older son. 

"I was going to leave it hanging somewhere, but something told me to just take it with me, and somebody will probably claim it one day," Ortiz told NBC 4 New York Friday. 

"Maybe something made our daughter take her sock off, made us stop right there in that spot," said Emelie Ortiz. 

The Ortiz family said they knew the necklace was Pyne's when they saw her story on NBC 4 New York's Facebook page. 

"Tuesday, I was looking at my Facebook page, and I noticed a necklace with a girl next to it, and I told my wife, 'Look, honey, it looks like the necklace I found,'" said Freddy Ortiz. 

Some 3,000 miles away, Vicky Pyne read an email from Emelie through tears. 

"I have some amazing news for you," the email began. 

"To see the photo of my necklace, I was just like, 'Oh, wow," Pyne told NBC 4 New York Friday from her home in Ulverston, Cumbria, adding that she felt "unbelievably emotional" and that it felt like getting a piece of her daughter back. 

Vicky hopes to meet the Ortiz family on her next trip back to New York. 

She posted an update expressing her thanks on Facebook: "Feeling emotional -- thanks to the most wonderful couple, Emilie and Freddie, along with John Chandler at NBC, Alice's fingerprint has been found in NYC!" 

In 2013, even as Alice wrote on her blog that cancer was gaining on her, the teen tirelessly campaigned to increase the number of potential bone marrow donors. Thousands registered as donors thanks to her push, which was the final task completed on a bucket list that captured the world’s attention.

Vicky Pyne recalled that Friday as she now waits for her necklace to arrive.

"I'd like to think somebody was looking out for us and they knew how important that necklace was between Alice and I. It means the world," she said. 

The disappearance of an Orange County, California, woman who argued with her ex-boyfriend after a Valentine's Day date and then vanished has a family worried for her life.

"She is my sister and best friend. This is very unlikely for her not to contact us and be gone for so many days," said Patricia Alonso, whose 27-year-old sister Erica went missing after a night out on Valentine's Day.

Erica Alonso, one of six siblings who lives with her parents, was last seen in the early morning hours of Feb. 15 driving away from an Irvine home after an argument with her date, a man her family said was her ex-boyfriend.

Her family spoke Friday morning and said the pair remained friends after splitting up. They had an afternoon lunch together Feb. 14, her sister said.

"I was with her earlier that day, I know that she was meeting up with her date and going out," Patricia said.

Later that night, the pair befriended a couple at the Sutra Lounge in Costa Mesa, where they stayed until 1:30 a.m., Orange County sheriff's officials said.

Erica and her ex-boyfriend then left the bar with the couple in a red Toyota Scion and went to the ex-boyfriend's Irvine residence, officials said.

About 3:45 a.m., the pair argued outside, and the couple left the home, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock said. About 10 to 15 minutes later, Erica drove away in her white 2014 Honda Civic.

Erica's social media accounts, cellphone records and bank activity have been silent since that night.

"I know that she is out there somewhere, we have the hope that she is alive," her father Isaac Alonso said Friday morning. "We need all the help that we can get. It's very hard for us."

Investigators said the couple came forward after seeing media reports, and officials said their story lines up. The ex-boyfriend has also been interviewed by deputies, and Erica's case is being considered a missing person case.

"There are no facts to indicate this is a crime," Hallock said.

Hallock said investigators believe Erica is with her car and asked the public to look for a white Honda Civic with license plate #7FSS563.

"We just want her home," Patricia said through tears. "We miss her so much."

A lawyer for one of three men accused of carrying out a violent takeover-style robbery at a California Nordstrom Rack department store made a startling accusation in opening arguments on Friday.

During the January 2013 robbery, one person was stabbed in the neck and another was sexually assaulted while the men held 14 people hostage for several hours in the Westchester store at the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center.

Raymond Sherman Jr., Troy Hammock and Everett Allen have been charged in the crime.

An attorney for Sherman, a former employee of the Nordstrom location, however, said the robbery was part of a plan that was hatched with the help of a victim he is accused of raping.

Prosecutors kept the focus on surveillance video that showed the hours of terror hostages endured.

"What makes this case so terrifying is the manner in which they carried out the crime,” prosecutor Cynthia Barnes told jurors.

Barnes showed security camera video which captured three men storming into the employee exit as workers tried to leave for the night.

“They yelled at them, they pointed a gun at them, terrified them, threw them to the ground,” she said. “But they weren't done yet. They made each victim strip down to their underwear, and bras if they were women."

She showed video of the hostages being forced into one room during the four-hour standoff.

“And then they forced all 14 into the employee bathroom, made them face the wall, told them ‘You turn around you die, you look at me you die.’"

All three defendants face 14 counts of second degree robbery.

Everett Allen is also on trial for stabbing one of the employees who hid in a locker room to call her husband, who then called police.

Raymond Sherman is also charged with kidnapping and several counts of forcible rape, but in a twist, his attorney argued the rape victim was in on the crime.

"They planned to do a robbery at Nordstrom and there would be a sexual assault claim during the robbery and then (one of the women) would file a lawsuit against Nordstrom and the mall for millions of dollars and then split the proceeds with Sherman," defense attorney Arthur Lindars told jurors.

His attorney added that plan did not call for Sherman getting caught.

Witness testimony begins Monday.
 

Efforts to save two children trapped in a burning New Jersey home failed, and both perished in the blaze even as relatives begged the older girl to jump from the window, authorities and witnesses said Saturday.

Neighbor Shantya Lemay said she watched a man yelling to 6-year-old Jayda McEachin from outside the three-story home on Central Place in Orange.

"He's like, 'Jump! Daddy got you! Daddy got you!' And she wouldn't come," Lemay said. "The oldest daughter was out here screaming and hollering. And everybody kept trying to go back inside with, like, fire extinguishers and tried to get the baby out."

People could hear the little girl's yells, said neighbor Tyrena Simms.

"She was screaming out the window, screaming for help," Simms said of the 6-year-old. "But the fire was too aggressive."

NBC 4 New York cameras captured a man walking into the burning building, but firefighters ran after him and quickly pulled him back out.

By the time firefighters arrived on the third floor of the home, McEachin and her 1-year-old brother Zion Tony were dead, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.

The children's mother and six other occupants escaped the fire, which started shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday. Two were treated at a hospital.

"They physically jumped out of the window," said Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren as he described the escape of at least some members of the group. "The blaze apparently was just waving through the house very quickly, and given the heat of the blaze and smoke they jumped out of the window to safety."

A paramedic on the scene said EMS had transported a woman to the hospital with burns on over 60 percent of her body. Authorities didn't immediately release details of the condition of the people who were taken to the hospital.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.

-- Michael George contributed to this report.

Catching a blue marlin weighing over 1,000 pounds is extremely rare but a Brooklyn teenager did just that off the coast of Kona, Hawaii, on Wednesday.

"For my first one to be a grander it's just an unreal experience," 16-year-old Kai Rizzuto told NBC News on Thursday.

The fish weighed in at 1,058 pounds and measured longer than 11 feet from its jaw to its tail.

Rizutto, grandson of sport fishing writer Jim Rizzuto, said people from all over the world travel to Kona in hopes of reeling a grand blue marlin (more than 1,000 pounds).

Jim Rizzutto told NBC News on average, only two blue marlins weighing more than 1,000 pounds are caught in Kona each year.

Kai Rizzuto caught the fish aboard the Ihu Nui boat with Capt. McGrew Rice. A GoPro video and photos posted on Ihu Nui Sportfishing's Facebook show Kai Rizzuto wrangling the blue marlin onto the 45-foot boat.

"He was elated," Rice said Saturday. "He’s been fishing with his grandfather since he was 2 years old. Catching a 'grander' is like hitting a grand slam home run."

The biggest marlin ever caught was in 1953, when angler Alfred Glassell Jr. reeled in a 1,560-pound marlin off Cabo Blanco, Peru, according to Marlin Magazine.

The at-risk elderly woman who went missing from Escondido Friday morning has been found safe in Westminister.

The San Diego Sheriff's Department were searching for an at-risk elderly woman who went missing from her home in Escondido.

Deputies said Manfried Meschke reported his wife Thelma missing Friday morning when he returned from a dentist appointment and she was gone.

Thelma suffers from Alzheimer's disease and dementia and takes medication for blood pressure, high cholesterol and Alzheimer's, according to Sheriff's.

Manfried said his wife has wandered from the home before, but usually returns on her own or gets lost on the way to see family in San Clemente. She has also been found in shopping center parking lots after getting lost.

Four cars were set on fire at a county jail and courthouse in Southern California early Saturday morning, authorities said.

A man who had threatened police was arrested on arson charges at the County of Ventura Government Center at 800 S. Victoria Avenue in the city of Ventura, according to Ventura County Sheriff's deputies.

The man claimed he had a bomb in a backpack, deputies said, and a bomb squad was brought to the center to inspect the area. His backpack was cleared, sheriff's Capt. Don Aguilar said.

"Anything that's left near those vehicles which were suspicious to us at the time is the reason why the bomb squad was here," Aguilar said.

The suspect arrested in connection with the fires was identified by deputies as 36-year-old Jeffrey Landis of Santa Monica.

Four of the cars set on fire were deemed a total loss, deputies said. One other car sustained moderate damage. Four of the cars involved belong to the county.

Officers leaving duty at the government center spotted the fire in the parking lot at about 4:30 a.m., Aguilar said. The vehicles on fire were unmarked, but Aguilar believed they belonged to the county.

Ventura County Superior Court, which was closed for the day, and a jail are located on the premises.

Landis had minor injuries, Aguilar said. He had not been immediately released from the jail at the government center.

Investigators examined the damaged vehicles, trying to figure out how the fire was started and whether it was random or if the cars were targeted.

"This is a very unusual, unique situation, especially for a government center," Aguilar said.

Landis was booked for arson and resisting arrest. His bail was set at $ 20,000.

NBC4's Oleevia Woo and Asher Klein contributed to this report.