ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - February 2, 2026

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

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Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, preparing you for tomorrow starting tonight and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. Tonight, a string of burglaries targeting businesses in Durham, what we're learning about an arrest just made in the concerns that still remain tonight. But first, here at 11, the Arctic blast not letting up yet. The big concern tonight, all that slush on the roads, refreezing, leading to dangerous drive. diving conditions. This is video taken a couple of hours ago of a snow covered road in West Durham near Broad and Green Streets. Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us here for the news at 11. I'm Steve Daniels. And I'm Lauren Johnson. The temperature is set to take another dive tonight. Meteorologist Cruz Medina

is walking us through what we can expect when we head out the door in the morning. Hi, Cruz. Hi there. Yeah, it's going to be a very cold start to the day tomorrow. What tipters once again below freezing and because of the melting that we had today, that's why we have those concerns for black ice. So just like it sounds, think about the pavement, the asphalt, it's a lot darker, you know, when something wet is on it. And so you're not going to be able to tell the difference. It's just going to look like a wet spot. That's what you want to avoid tomorrow morning, whether that's on a sidewalk or on your commute into work. There will definitely be some slick spots out there. It's just a matter of where. Now, tipters, like I said, are going to be chilly tonight. Some teens possible south of the triangle.

Just a few passing clouds will keep tipsters in the low 20s north of the triangle. And as we go into tomorrow morning, those tipters will take their time getting above freezing. So it might take until about 10 a.m. for us to finally reach that freezing mark. And then here's the good news. Most of the afternoon is above freezing by far. So tipters will be well into the 40s tomorrow. There can be a few spots down into sandhills even around 50 degrees. But once again, that's only a few communities that'll see temperatures that mild. Now going forward tomorrow night and into Wednesday, we've got some rain on the way.

This will likely end as light snow here in Central North Carolina. I'll have the latest details on that coming up in your seven-day forecast. Steve. Okay, we'll see you soon for that, Cruz. Thanks. New tonight in Johnston County, the extreme cold is causing problems at the water treatment plant in Smithfield and people are being asked to cut back on their water use. Tom George talked to neighbors about the impact they're seeing and the kinds of things the county wants people to do.

Well, as people continue to thaw out after the storm and get back to normal, a lot of the roads are clear, but there are still some impacts here at the water treatment plant in Johnson County. And because of that, they're asking people here to scale back. on using water. Antonio Gonzalez is trying to make the most of the snow day. I mean, it's fine. Yeah, we get to stay home because spend time with my wife and kids.

But he says in Johnston County, he's still seeing lingering issues with his water. Low water flow. Some of them didn't even have water at all. I have one of my workers that I work with over there. All his house didn't have any water because everything froze, you know what I mean? And especially with this time, they can't get no warm showers, no, no preparing food, no meals and stuff like that. They got to opt out to going somewhere, especially in these conditions.

Johnson County issuing an advisory saying issues at this water treatment plant prompted that shortage. They're asking people to scale back on using water for non-essential reasons. That means only using water for the basics, like cooking, drinking, and basic hygiene. They're also asking people to check for any plumbing leaks on their frozen pipes. A tough situation, as some are trying to get through the next couple days. There's not really much that we can do with the water or we'll go somewhere to my mother-in-law, let's take a shower or something like that, that we can handle that situation. Now the county tells us they're expecting it'll be about 24 to 48 hours before things get fully back to normal.

In Johnson County, Tom George, ABC 11, I went to snooze. Tom, thanks. As much for the triangle continues to be impacted by the weekend winter weather. Our two largest school districts, Wake and Durham, are split over their decision for Tuesday's school day. Let's take a look. Kids in Durham get to enjoy another true snow day tomorrow because DPS is closed. But Wake County kids have a remote learning day. Other districts also going remote include Chapel Hill, Harbor City Schools, Cumberland County and Johnston and Nash County Schools. Schools will be closed in both Wayne and Northampton County tomorrow. New tonight, WakeMed says it treated nearly 100 people for injuries related to this weekend storm. Here's a breakdown of some of those injuries. Nearly 40 people had to be treated after falling and hurting themselves.

27 were injured in sledding accidents and two people had to be treated for cold exposure. Durham police say they have solved a string of burglaries at more than a dozen downtown businesses that happened throughout the month of January. The DPD arrested 30-year-old Keith Wright on a bunch of charges, including nine counts of felony breaking and entering. But Wright's arrest on Friday did not stop more business break-ins from happening last night. James Price, live in downtown Durham, where business owners are asking for help from the DPD to get this thing figured out. James. Steve and Lauren, they're asking police for more patrol overnight when these break-ins are happening. They're also asking for a essential source of communications when these businesses are hit.

They told me this could help them and making sure their businesses are not hit. Right now they say they're getting that information through word of mouth and social media. Downtown Durham businesses have been the target of thieves, bars, restaurants, and even barbershops have been hit. It's pretty unsettling to walk into. Jared at Rock's bar and hair shop cleaning up broken glass for the second time in the last week. I arrived to the shop early in the morning and found that, um, The window had been broken back here behind the bar. So this is the second break-in in a week.

Jared says it's another setback after two weekends of winter weather and now back-to-back break-ins during an already slow season for small businesses. It feels violating, quite honestly, to walk in and see everything broken into and smashed up. And it's just, it's really frustrating. That frustration is spreading among business owners as the reports of break-ins pile up. Downtown business owners have reported break-ins throughout January and it's still happening. Durham police arrested 30-year-old Keith Wright on January 30th for nine counts of breaking and entering an eight counts of felony larceny across nearly a dozen businesses from January 23rd through January 28th. Court documents show Wright was able to get away with small amounts of cash and personal property in some cases valued around 200.

I feel taking advantage of. I feel uneasy, unsafe, which sucks because I didn't feel that way in Durham and especially not. Like I love having my store in Durham and I love being downtown. Diana Abreu is the owner of Fates and Folklore on Market Street. It's a specialty gift shop, but now it has plywood on the window. after police, say right, broke in and stole two gold rings valued at $350 from her store. It's just a nuisance that I just don't want to have to keep dealing with. Business owners now calling for more police presence overnight when these break-ins are happening. So we took their concerns to Mayor Leo Williams, who said he understands their frustration,

and he's looking at next steps. There needs to be more presence, whether that's through ambassador programs, you know, whether it's through, you know, patrol officers on the beat, whatever it is. The first thing we need to do is make sure we sit down and have a conversation collectively with our small business community. And Mayor Williams says he is working to schedule a time that they can meet with those small businesses, him and the police department as well. Meanwhile, these break-ins are still under investigations, those break-ins that happen overnight.

We're live in Durham. James Price, ABC 11, eyewitnesses. As recently as last night, DPD working to, find the people responsible. Business owners feeling unsettled by it all. Jamice, thank you. The teenager who pleaded guilty to killing five people in Raleigh's Headingham neighborhood will soon learn his fate. The sentencing hearing for Austin Thompson will begin tomorrow, and we are expecting to hear some pretty emotional testimony from family members of those victims. An emotion followed by his lawyers. Thompson pleaded guilty to the 22 killing saying he wanted to spare

the community a long trial. You can look for complete coverage of that sentencing hearing right here on eyewitness news. Tonight, nine people are facing a total of nearly 70 charges after allegedly running an illegal nightclub in Northeast Raleigh. According to the state, alcohol law enforcement division, undercover ALE special agents visited Blue Vives on Atlantic Avenue several times during a month's long investigation. They found several ABC violations, including the sale of alcoholic beverages without permits. Eight people were arrested on January 23rd, and a ninth person was later arrested during a search on January 27th. All nine defendants have posted. bail. Their next appearances in court are set for later this month.

High Witness News is learning about a Duke University professor who's appeared multiple times in the newest Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Justice Department in Washington. The new pages contain the name of Fuqua Business, Fuqua School of Business Professor Dan Aurelia, whose research focuses on behavioral economics. The emails between Epstein and he spanned almost a decade between 2010 and 2018. One of the conversations include Epstein arranging for a private Ferrari factory tour back in 2017. Our news gathering partners with the news and observer combed through those files. The reporter Josh Schaefer tells us a little bit more about the exchange. The professor wrote

and asked if he could help him facilitate some new adventures in the upcoming year where he might be able to drive a Ferrari sports car. And that is actually facilitated by Epstein. He writes back and says, yes, I can do that. We'll have a private tour. And the professor responds, Seriously, this is amazing. Ariely has not responded to our request for comment, but he did post an op-ed in the Duke Chronicle. The student newspaper was the first to report on this. He says in part Epstein's interest did not overlap with Ariely's research and he never

received funding from Epstein. He goes on to say the contact he had with Epstein was infrequent, largely logistical and often mediated by his assistants. He says he had no connection with his criminal activity and was involved in no financial, professional or ongoing relationship. Duke University also commented on the report telling us Duke takes the information released on Friday seriously and is carefully evaluating it. We cannot comment on specific personnel actions that may be taken in response.

The Epstein files released so far have yet to show evidence of wrongdoing on the part of RELE. Still to come here on eyewitness news at 11 police in Arizona sharing some more information about what may have happened to the 84-year-old mother of today show host Savannah Guthrie, who was reported missing over the weekend. Plus, all this snow has meant less business for many local restaurants, but one Raleigh Pizza Place has found a way to keep deliveries rolling through the weekend despite the winter weather. And Cruz is back checking on those temps outside hovering near freezing right now. Yeah, it's a chilly night out there for sure, and by tomorrow morning it'll be even colder in the 20s.

So tomorrow we're watching out for the black ice potential by the middle of the week. We're watching out for some light snow. We'll be tracking that out with the latest run and predictor coming up after this break. We are Local News. ABC 11 eyewitness news continues now. Developing tonight, an urgent search continues in Arizona for the mother of today's show anchor Savannah Guthrie. Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home near Tucson over the weekend. The Pima County Sheriff says evidence found at the home indicates she did not leave on her own.

Today, crews used drones and search dogs to look for the 84-year-old. Authorities are also reviewing cameras at Nancy Guthrie's home. New tonight in natural gas explosion sparked a huge fire in New Hampshire. It happened in a center that provides mental health services in Nashua. The ABC affiliated Boston reports two firefighters are in the hospital recovering tonight. They are expected to survive. Tonight it's not clear what caused that gas leak. The partial federal government shutdown is now in its third day.

And the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson is hopeful that Republicans can pass a funding package during a vote tomorrow. But members of Congress on both sides of the aisle do have issues with that legislation. Tonight, President Trump weighing in, posting on his truth social page, quote, We need to get the government open. And I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this bill. If the shutdown continues past this week, more than 500,000 federal employees could be working without pay, and hundreds of thousands more could be furloughed. The government shutdown also delaying the closely watched January jobs report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announcing today it's not releasing any labor market data this week because of the shutdown. BLS officials say the agency has suspended the collection and processing and release of labor market data until that funding is restored.

NC DMV is ending at 7 a.m. start time at 90 locations this week. This is appointment. Continue to be hard to come by. According to the DMV, federal funding used to fund the early hour program has dried up. These driver's license offices will open at 8 a.m. starting next Monday. New tonight, it's back to business for a lot of places that closed up shop during the snowstorm. But some downtown Raleigh businesses say the weekend was a win for sales as they brave the elements and they decided to stay open. Vicks Pizzeria on Glenwood Avenue says they stayed open the past two weekends as other places closed. their doors. They put up their employees at a hotel right across the street and they say they got a lot of delivery orders from people who stayed home during the storm. You know, just wait last minute to say you're open or closed. A lot of the street, a lot of places

shut down and I think they could have stayed open. You know, you just never know until you wake up and see how the streets look. But again, you got to take care of your staff and make sure where they're safe. They say they feel that the Raleigh Street crews did a good job clearing the roads quickly and delivery crews easily made it in and out with all those pizzas. On the North Carolina coast, it was so cold this morning. Take a look at this. Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office near Moorhead City decided to have a little fun.

That's what they were doing right there. They threw this cup of boiling water up into the air and look at that. The water turned into ice crystals immediately. The temperature at the time was a very frigid eight degrees. That is a cool demonstration. Super cool. How cold it is. Say I have done that both in Green Bay and in Nashville.

Yes. During very cold air masses, but very important for kids not to try that at home. Oh, good to say. Because they could toss it back onto themselves. Hot water, still hot water. Yeah, that's right. In the land of TikTok, that's good to say, because people get on there and do all kinds of things.

Oh yeah, I know. It's fun to see it, but you gotta definitely be careful. All right, well, it's cold here. I don't think it's quite that cold, not minus eight, but it feels really cold, and we've been dealing with that for quite some time. And so today we finally got above freezing and that allowed for some melting. But tonight with tipters dropping back into the 20s, you can imagine that's going to turn into ice. So black ice is a big concern for tonight.

That'll be a concern for your morning commute as well. So just keep that in mind as you plan your day for tomorrow. We've got a cold rain coming in as we go into Wednesday. And this is going to end as some flakes. So some of you, this could be a little bit of light accumulating snow. Others, maybe just a few flakes to see. But as we go into this weekend, thankfully that's going to be out of here. And even though it'll be chilly,

it's at least gonna be dry as we go into the weekend. Let's talk about the pattern change here. So we've got an area of low pressure that's gonna ride up the southeast coast. And this is gonna throw the showers in our direction. So that provides the moisture, but on the backside of that, winds will be out of the north.

And that's gonna bring down some cold air from the folks to our north into our region. So you could see that cold air chasing the moisture. That's not exactly what we wanna see here. If you are a fan of snow, but I could say after this past weekend, I am glad that this is not going to be an ideal snow set up for us. By Thursday, we should be drying out.

But once again, Wednesday night, that's what we have our eyes on. So let's go ahead and track this out with First Alert Predictor. Here's tomorrow morning, starting out very cold. Once again, some black ice concerns in the morning. We'll have some clouds increasing throughout the day tomorrow. But look at this. With the south wind, temperatures are still going into the 40s tomorrow. And then overnight tomorrow and really into early Wednesday.

That's when we start to see the moisture arrive. So this is Wednesday morning, 6 a.m. We could have some showers down into sand hills. These will work their way to the north as we go throughout the day. And notice up here, predictor is showing some snow. So that's going to be the areas that see the transition first, and that's because the coldest air will reside across the north. Now what we're going to see here is that cold air chasing down the moisture throughout the day.

Once again, not a great setup for a big snow here. But these northern counties, you might see snow for six or seven hours. The farther south you go, there could be some periods of sleep through the afternoon on Wednesday. and then eventually the cold air makes it far enough south where we could end this as some light snow even down in the sand hills. So not going to be a huge thing, not a huge deal for our area. We're going to see any accumulations over an inch. It's going to be in this darker blue area, and that's because those areas see snow showers for several hours. Now farther to the south, not rolling out flurries to a dusting.

That probably be on the elevated surfaces, but keep in mind, leading up to this, temperature's will be above freezing, and so it's going to be hard to get anything to stick. So it's something we're putting on your radar, but it's nothing to freak out over at this time. For tomorrow, just recapping this in the morning, temperatures will not be above freezing until about 10 a.m. And then we get a good period of above freezing temperatures for the afternoon. We go all the way into the middle and upper 40s for tomorrow.

So that's going to help to further melt anything that, you know, freezes overnight with these 20s in the forecast. And if you're down in the sandhills tomorrow, there's a possibility you could even hit 50 degrees. And why I'm even emphasizing that is because it has been so cold recently. 50 degrees is probably going to feel like a spring day to you after the deep freeze that we've been through the past seven days. All right, here it is. Your first alert seven day forecast going with an alert possible day on Wednesday.

You watch in the morning meteorologist Kualin Murphy is going to have an update for you on that potential. Once again right now, it's not a huge deal. We're just putting it on your radar. By the time we get into Wednesday or Thursday, I should say, we drop. into the 30s briefly and then from there it's 40s all the way into next week and look at Monday 50 degrees I can't wait for that yeah I think I'm going to break out the shorts and and we heard you we're not going to freak out about Wednesday no please don't Cruz has told us we've been alerted Cruz thank you still ahead it's the final hurdle to clear

before NASA's mission back to the moon we'll explain today's wet dress rehearsal A big step forward in NASA's quest to get back to the moon today the space agency performed a crucial on the Artemis rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test known as a wet dress rehearsal involved filling up the rocket's tanks with more than 700,000 pounds of propellants. Engineers will now review those results. If given a go-ahead, the mission could launch as soon as this Sunday, four astronauts will orbit the moon and the Orion spacecraft. This will be the first manned mission to the moon in more than 50 years. That goes.

Whoa. A camera captured a home toppling into the ocean. ocean in the Outer Banks. The National Park Service says it's one of four homes that have collapsed into the water in Buxton since Sunday. As you know, it's been a big problem there in the Outer Bank since 2020, more than two dozen homes have fallen into the ocean. Beginning tomorrow, Pullen Park in Raleigh will close several of its attractions. It's part of a major shoreline improvement project at Lake Howell, the popular park will be closed until March 31st. During that time, no rides will be operating and playgrounds and picnic shelters will also be closed. However,

the Aquatic Center, Community Center, and tennis courts will remain. The next one back here on Saturday in the Triangle. For watching, that's going to do it for us here tonight. Remember, the news is always on at ABC11.com, and Lauren and I are hoping to see you back here tomorrow night on I would just do something. ABC11, IWitness News, is sponsored by Capital Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Shop Capital Chevrolet.com.