syria. tell us what you know about where they went and what they're seeing. >> reporter: isha, we heard today they went to the city of homs where we heard reports of increasing violence, deaths and injuries the past few days. there were videos purporting to show members of the arab league in homs today. one video purports to show the head of the mission being shown remnants of weapons there by residents in the city. another video purports to show the members of the delegation there with residents of homs basically saying that they wanted the members of this league to go to other parts of the city to see some of the harder hit area. in that video you hear gunfire later on. we can't verify the authenticity of these videos, but they are corroborating what we're being told on the ground by eyewitnesss. >> mohammed, you mentioned gunfire on the video. what do we know about whether these clashes quieted down or how severe clashes were today in syria? again, we need to point out, the fact-finding mission is on the ground and according to reports there's still violence going on. >> reporter: that's right. even on the day these observers finally arrive in the city of homs where there have been so many calls for them to come, we're hearing increasing reports of violence today. there were demonstrations in homs. later in the day we heard from activists who said there were crackdowns going on at least in two parts of the city. live ammunition and teargas was being used to disperse crowds. we heard of crackdowns going on in the city of hama and several people today killed as well. it really begs the question by activists and opposition groups in syria, how effective can this mission be? the arab league delegation says they will have free access to whatever areas they want. many people there saying the arab league really not getting the unfettered access by the regime that this delegation needs to be getting. >> mohammed jamjoom joining us from cairo, thank you. next, cnn correspondent barbara starr keeping an eye on the tested relationship between the united states and pakistan militaries. i want to focus on the deadly eyre strike that happened last month on the border in pakistan. bring us up to date. there have been some developments. >> we have been talking about this for over a month. a u.s. air strike killing some 24 pakistani troops on the border. a lot of confusion went on during this border fight. u.s. firing on pakistan, pakistan firing on the u.s. now pakistan has come out with its own version of what transpired. pakistan is adamant that the u.s. fired on them first, that their border troops were lightly armed, that they came under repeated fire, that even when they tried to rescue their own troops, that the u.s. kept firing. now a u.s. report, officially the investigation is out and the u.s. military saying there's confusion on both sides of the border there, but also putting a lot of the blame directly on u.s. and nato commanders for some of what transpired. i just want to read you one of the conclusions the u.s. military investigator came to. he said, quote, headquarters and individuals did not respond correctly, quickly enough or with the sense of urgency or initiative required given the gravity of the situation. the u.s. military now will take a look at all this and see if any officials or troops or commanders should be held accountable. but the relationship between the two sides still one of great mistrust and no resolution really as to how this all happened, isha. >> indeed. i know in the immediate aftermath one of the border crossing areas, it was closed. what is the situation on the ground in terms of the fallout? >> by all accounts, two border crossings between pakistan and afghanistan remain closed to nato truck traffic, supplies coming in for the war effort in afghanistan. the relationship remains frosty, to say the least. no one is disputing that. the u.s. says they've taken responsibility for their mistakes. officials saying they'd like to see pakistan do the same. also the u.s. now offering compensation funds to the families of those pakistani troops who lost their lives. isha? >> major developments there, barbara starr joining us from the pentagon. thank you. next on reporter roulette, reynolds wolf manning the scene in the severe weather center. reynolds, the entire east coast, nothing pleasant about what's going on there. >> unpleasant is the perfect way to put it. this is not armageddon taking place. but something that will affect millions of americans. a big storm system crawling its way to the eastern seaboard. we see the result on the radar. there it is plain and simple. on one side, a little red box popping up over parts of the outer banks, that is a tornado watch that will be in effect until 7:00. the good news with this is i do see it beginning to weaken a little bit. wouldn't be surprised if the national weather service pulls that watch area. i think the threat will subside. however, if you look back towards the great lakes, you don't see the blues, the greenish on radar, you see white. that's frozen precipitation, snowfall that will pile up between cleveland and buffalo. could see four to eight inches on some of the roadways. towards pittsburgh, likelihood of one to four inches of snow. a lot of backups in new york, washington, rallied and farther down the chain. again, it's going to be something we'll see at least through the evening hours, getting better for tomorrow. however, i would expect new york, you need to keep the umbrellas handy. >> i don't want to make this all about me, but i will be in times square on saturday night with anderson cooper and kathy griffin with the crowds there singing in the new year. please tell me the weather is going to be good that day. >> anywhere you go, it's going to be sunny, beautiful, fantastic. still a little sketchy for the time being to be honest. i'm thinking the system will be out in the atlantic. still a bit on the nippy side. it's supposed to be cold when you're in times square for new year's. >> is it? have you been in times square on new year's? >> you don't expect to be able to wear flip-flops and bermuda shorts. it's goings to be nippy. >> we'll talk about this when i come back frozen. thank you, appreciate it. in the last eight days the bodies of four women found hidden in car trunks in detroit. >> i can't tell you how to characterize it, but we're stopping short of calling this any kind of cereal pattern. >> coming up, we'll tell you about a possible connection to a website that features adults ads. plus a young girl is beaten to death in indiana. now investigators have a break in the case. details are straight ahead. and a man finds $10,000 in cash in unmarked envelopes in the vegas airport. this hour on cnn, i'm going to talk live to the man who found the money and he returned it. ifs of sugar a day with splenda®, you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. and now get even more with splenda® essentials, the only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. just another reason why you get more... when you sweeten with splenda®. ♪ [ female announcer ] you use the healing power of touch every day. the healing power of touch can be even more powerful. with precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving cream works quickly to activate sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals fast for relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. i'm isha sesay in for brooke baldwin. if it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it, rapid fire. let's go. federal investigators are in florida to examine the wreckage of a helicopter crash. the mayor clinic says two of its employees, a surgeon and medical technician died in the crash. the pilot also lost his life. the chopper was flying the medical staffers to the university of florida in gainesville to har rest organs. there's no word on what caused the crash. >> we'll look into the pilot's skills, his training, his performance. we also look into the weather. we also have radar data. the man accused of killing a 9-year-old indiana girl made his initial court appearance today. police found the body of aliahna lemmon last night, four days after she was last seen. according to court papers the man charged with her murder admits to beating the little girl to death, then dismembering her. neighbors say the man is a close family friend and was babysitting the 9-year-old and her two sisters while their mother was sick. police are not yet releasing a motive for the gifrl's killing. a california toddler somehow survived after a fall from a two-story window. san jose police say the boy's mother tossed the 22-month-old child from the window and then jumped out herself. the boy suffered bumps and bruises. his mother was treated for broken bones in her feet. she faces attempted murder and child abuse charges. police say the woman has a history of mental illness. >> according to the family she had recently undergone some type of emotional disstress and i believe she also sought medical attention because of that. another challenge arises to the democrat's control of the senate. a democratic source is telling cnn nebraska's ben nelson is about to announce his retirement. former democratic senator bob kerry has reportedly spoken with democrats about running for the seat himself. after-christmas shopping can get a little crazy. seriously, watch what happened yesterday at the mall of america. [ screams ] >> police arrested several people after a couple of fights broke out. they say it all started in the food court. witnesses describe the whole thing as pretty chaotic. >> i saw people running, some people staying, people confronting each other in the middle of people walking. nobody was on around. they were just going at it. >> all of a sudden stores started closing down, the gates were going up. we didn't really know what was going on. the cops were pushing us all away from nordstrom. >> it took up to 30 police officers to bring the brawl under control. the company that owns sears and kmart stars are shutting doors for goods at more than 100 locations. corporate officials blame luke warm holiday sales on top of an already difficult retail climate. no announcement yet on which stores will close or how soon. thanks to the heroics of a kansas man, two girls who fell through an icy pond are alive. bud brown happened to be looking out his window when he saw the girls fall through the ice. brown ran to the pond, jumped in and was able to pull the children out of the freezing water. he took them to his home, wrapped them in blankets and called 911. >> it took me a little while to get to them because the ice was about one-inch thick. it seemed like it got thicker the closer i got, but just pounding, trying to break the ice. when it got deeper, i couldn't break the ice. at the time i wasn't thinking about it. i wanted to get them out of there and make sure they were okay. >> all okay, but a gruesome story to tell you about now, the bodies of four dead women are found in car trunks in detroit. check this out. there's a possible connection to a website featuring adult ads. detroit's police chief is standing by to talk to us live after this very quick break. stay with us. you ready? one, two, three. 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[ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. internet escort ads are linked to horrific deaths in detroit. police uncovered the bodies of four women in car trunks in the past eight days. as mara mcdonald with affiliate wdiv reports, three of them advertise in the adult services section of a website. >> reporter: how strong is the link to this website? strong enough for chief ralph godbee to come out and sound the alarm. three of these four dead women advertised themselves as escorts on backpage.com. >> we felt it was imperative to alert the public that deciding to meet unknown persons via the internet can be extremely dangerous. we implore people to be careful and always let someone know exactly where they're going, who they're with. >> reporter: the first set of women were found on december 19th, dead in the trunk of a car on promenade street on detroit's east side. no obvious signs of trauma to the bodies. a cause of death is still pending. what police really want to take a look at is the toxicology report. were these women drugged before they were killed and with what? the second set of bodies found in the trunk of a burning car around 1:00 a.m. on christmas morning. the bodies are burned beyond recognition. still the chief said they've got a tentative i.d. placing the women as 28 and 29 years old. >> our sole purpose this afternoon is for the public to be cognizant of these websites when engaged in these adult dating activities or what they refer to as escort services. we want to put the public on alert. >> we've reached out to backpage.com for comment. so far no response. i want to bring in detroit police chief ralph godbee who joins us on the phone. thanks for joining us. talk with us a little bit about how you went about connecting these women to escort ads on backpage? >> first of all, it was great police work by our homicide detectives. my chief of homicide was apprised of the connection, we thought it very prudent for us to go public with what we know because at the end of the day, averting another young lady or two to become victims of what we believe to be homicide, i think that's the overriding concern at this point. >> indeed, keeping people safe. talk to us about the state of the victims, tell us as much as you can about the state they were found in. >> the first set of victims, they were deceased, and after doing initial autopsy, there were no outward signs of trauma, so the autopsy results are pending, and toxicology is really going to be key as the determinant towards cause of death. with the second set of women, the two women, their bodies were burned beyond recognition. with that in mind, and then the tie to the website, obviously we are proceeding as if this is two murder scenes because the efforts to secret the bodies and hide them and in the second instance literally torching the bodies beyond recognition, obviously there's something that we can't wait for toxicology to determine it's a homicide before we complete our investigation. >> now, to pick up on what you said, you said you're considering these two murder scenes, that you're considering them at this stage the work of one suspect? >> yes, at this point we are working it as one case or one suspect or set of suspects because of the similarities, the location where the bodies were found, the proximity, the m.o., modus operandi. there are too many common links for us not to at this point work this as one single investigation. >> you talked about the toxicology reports, results and how important they are. what kind of timeline do you have for when you'll get those results? >> we've asked for the results to be expedited. at this point i can't put a timeline on it. we do feel those results are eminent any day now. to that extent, for us to understand the cause of death, if there's similarity there, it will further enhance our theory that this is the work of the same individual or group of individuals. >> okay. again, to that end, the work of the same individual or group of individuals will have some people at home wondering whether we're talking about a serial killer or serial killers? >> a reasonable person would conclude that. we have four bodies already. when you tie it to the adult escort service as the single codifying event in both instances, it's reasonable to say that. again, i want to compliment my investigators for picking up on a pattern very early, before we even have more bodies show up under similar circumstances. >> chief, have you reached out to backpage for their help in this investigation? >> yes, i have. spoke with my chief of detectives today. they are fully cooperating with us as far as -- we will get search warrants. we will look at things relative to ip addresses, cell phones, things of that nature to start putting this puzzle together. to date they have been cooperative. >> you said obviously as soon as you establish the connection between these victims and backpage.com, you wanted to get that information out because it's about keeping people safe. what's your view now on what should be done with sites like these that allow adult services advertising? >> you know, for me, isha, it's borderline prostitution. we can parse words and look at the legal aspects of it, and i certainly will be speaking with the state attorney general because of my concerns real tich to the adult escort policies that are being embraced by this company. but right now that's a more strategic long-term fight we have to deal with. right now we want to get to the bottom of how these four individuals passed away and who had a hand in their demise. >> just one last before i let you go, chief godbee, i know you were able to tentatively identify some of the victims, at least two of the victims. have you been able to notify next of kin? what can you tell us about that? >> yes, the first two victims have been positively identified. family members are fully aware of the course of our investigation. the second set of victims, their families have been identified. the reason why we're saying tentative, we're watching them with physical descriptions, but obviously because of the complete devastation that the fire did to the bodies, there's further confirmatory tests that have to be done by the medical examiner before we can conclusively say those two individuals are who we believe they are. >> okay. detroit police chief ralph godbee, appreciate your time today. thank you so much. >> thank you. we are now just one week away from the first republican primary contest. we take you live to iowa after this quick break. do stay with us. medicare. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement insurance plans can help pay... some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save... thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about this card -- it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. five gop presidential candidates are working iowa today. they're holding events as the state's caucuses are only one week away. jim acosta is live from des moines with