yes, it is spring. here we are april and downpours, heavy winds expected, up to a foot and a half of heavy, wet snow, too, expected in parts of the northeast. this could be a perfect storm for power outages. and walmart caught in a huge multimillion dollar foreign bribery scandal, accused of buying its way into mexico and blowing past its competition with years of payoffs. >> there you go. all right, shark boy. keep them up. keep them up. >> shark boy? >> i'll say. >> a little boy, right there. >> hello. reeling in the beast. his epic battle with that guy, a shark. we'll show you in a moment. up first, breaking news in the trayvon martin murder case. george zimmerman is now out of jail. he was released overnight in sanford, florida. simm s zimmerman walk out of jail around midnight after posting bond. he awaits his murder trial. zimmerman is required to wear a gps tracking device. his release comes a couple days after bond was set at a court hearing in which zimmerman offered a surprise apology to trayvon martin's parents for killing their son. >> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am. i did not know if he was armed or not. >> nothing further, your honor. cnn's martin savage is live in sanford, florida. martin, probably not surprising that he was released in the mid of the night. >> no. we anticipated that. it was a low-key departure but not a total stealth departure that we thought it might be, in other words, that we wouldn't see him at all. he did depart out of the normal door, just behind us here. it was just after midnight when we was escorted out from a person we don't know, not his attorney. he climbed into a white bmw and departed. it was known that he was negotiating with the state to possibly allow for george zimmerman to go out of the state of florida. as you point out, he must always remain electronically tethered to the state as a result of the gps. let me go over some of the other things he can and cannot do. he has to wear the gps device and can have no contact with trayvon martin's family, no possession of firearms. no drinking. he's under a curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every three days he has to check in verbally. he's now gone. his whereabouts we do not know. >> i understand they check the credentials of all the reporters that were there? >> right. the media we had been staking out this particular place for several days, 24 hours a day. and the tip-off that something was going to happen came when first there were a couple of sheriff's deputy cars that block off access to this particular parking lot behind us. on top of that, someone came by and checked the credentials of the photographers that were staking out the position. that was a clear indication that something was up. a few minutes later, george zimmerman came right out of that door. >> martin savage, live in sanford, florida, thank you very much. three minutes past 5:00. winter has finally made it if you're looking outside. we had 09 degree temperatures in march but a late april snowstorm is threatening to target the northeast. it could be pretty dangerous, too. powerful nor'easter, they're calling it, prompting winter storm watches and warnings from west virginia to southwest new york. take a look at some of the video we've got from buffalo, new york, where bottled water is tough to come by. snowplows really hard to miss, too, out in the streets. did i say it was april? they are preparing for up to a foot of snow or more today. check out the scene a short time ago in dubois, pennsylvania. the snow is falling though not sticking to the pavement. at least not yet. look at the streetlights. i did say it was april, right? rob marciano is tracking the storm. we had book ends of storms, a huge snowstorm in the northeast in october right before halloween and nada all season long and here we are supposed to be going into the sunshine and the daffodils. >> exactly. the picture you showed there, you mention it's not quite sticking to the streets just yet. the big concern is it's sticking to the trees which because of our warm spring have a full spring foliage. just like the storm we had in october, and then nothing, this storm is coming on top of trees that have leaves on them which means that that weight of the snow is going to take some of the tree limbs and in some cases entire trees down and knock out power and block some roadways. that's going to be our main concern with this over the next 24 to 36 hours. as you can hag, because temperatures are just barely above freezing -- right around freezing it's a heavy, heavy, wet snow which adds even more weight with the water content. a big storm system engulfing the entire northeastern third of the country. some of the rain has turned over to snow in some parts of western pennsylvania. the allegheny and parts of appalachia, also across parts of upstate new york. not snowing quite yet in buffalo. east of buffalo, south of syracuse, the finger lakes region seeing snowfall and this will only increase as we go through time. 4 to 8 inches across parts of western pennsylvania. some of those numbers could be much higher, over a foot in some is of the higher elevations, 8 to 16 inches potentially and 30 to 40 mile-an-hour winds. heavy, wet snow. latching on to trees and winds blowing that around making things even worse. we have the threat tore seeing flooding although most of the rain is over across the i-95. the winds will cause some coastal flooding across parts of the northeast. temperatures most places will be above freezing. in the areas where it's right at freezing that snow will accumulate and we're starting to see that right now. >> we had such an early spring that the foliage is out and almost in full blook now. that makes it worse for the snow going to come. >> that's right. it's weighing it down even more. >> if you have your umbrella up on your patio, put it down. i nearly lost an umbrella under the weight of that snow. it all happened within an hour. it's seven minutes past the hour. police and fbi investigators will be back at the scene in lower manhattan today trying to solve a 33-year-old murder mystery. 6-year-old etan patz vanished in 1979 as he walked alone in his new york city neighborhood. his disappearance put a spotlight on the plight of missing children and his picture was the first of thousands to be put on milk cartons to help search for them. over the weekend, investigators may have made a major discovery. police used chain saws to remove a chunk of wall from a basement in the boy's neighborhood that may finally answer the question of what hatched to him. cnn's deborah feyerick joins us now with the very latest. that's a big question this morning, right, deborah? how long will it take to figure out what that is. >> they removed a huge piece of dry wall that was until the basement. they're sending that to quantico in order to be analyzed. it tested positive for the potential presence of blood. one thing you have to remember about etan patz, anybody who lived in new york city at that time, it -- nobody will ever forget etan patz. it was the first time he was walking to school. he was 6 years old, actually walking to the bus which was two blocks from his home. what makes this particular area that you see right there of particular interest to the fbi and also to police is that it was -- he would have had to have passed a workshop on his way to get to the bus stop. the basement of that workshop is right now being torn up. new concrete had been poured days after he went missing and so right now, what the evidence team is doing, they're doing through dirt, looking at the concrete, they did a preliminary search, spent most of saturday and sunday doing that. then they sort of stopped. nobody knows why they stopped the search. they are beginning to continue there this morning. i was down there, huge police presence this morning. but what they're going to do, they want to see whether there were perhaps any bones, fragments, whether this is blood or it's not blood. they really want to rule it out. but a new investigator had come on to the case. he went over all information and this was sort of the one thing that was outstanding. this one shop that had a change immediately after etan patz disappeared. that's why it's so important. >> and the cadaver dog, right. >> the cadaver dog got a positive hit. you don't know what that is. they're looking. it's really the last lead a lot of people feel. >> that's hard to hear. >> deborah feyerick, thank you. >> of course. still to come, a mistress, money, power and politics. >> sounds like a good story. >> it is. former presidential candidate john edwards on trial this morning. he faces decades in prison. why some experts believe the government will have a very hard time proofing its case. and the one that didn't get away. look at that. a young boy going up against a shark that's a whole lot bigger than he is. so did he reel in the big one? 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[ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. it is 13 minutes past the hour. time to check stories making news this morning. george zimmerman is now out of jail. that's him being released right there. zimmerman was released from a sanford, florida, jail around midnight after posting a $150,000 bail bond. he was fitted with an electronic monitoring device for authorities to keep track of him. >> opening statements begin today in the trial for the man accused of killing the family of singer and actress jennifer hudson. she herself is expected to testify against the defendant. his name, william belfour, the estranged husband of jennifer hudson's sister. he's accused of shooting her mother, and others in a fit of rage. driving winds in parts of the northeast. winter storm warnings from the appalachians in west virginia to western new york. many cities could be without power for days. >> all right, shark boy. keep them up. keep them up. >> all right, shark boy. adorable. he strikes again. hunter stevens is just 9 years old but he's already a veteran shark fisherman. hunter and his dad kevin were fishing in their kayak off the beach of galveston, texas. this is when hunter hooked the big one. a nice black tipped shark, in case you know your sharks. he said you should have seen the two others what got away. >> which is often what i say when i come back from fishing. >> all the ones that got away. for an expanded look at our top stories, head to our bleog, cnn.com/earlystart. this case has it all, power, sex, money, intrigue. it's not a fake, it's not a fiction, it's former senator john edwards. he's facing up to 30 years in prison as he goes on trial this morning in north carolina. he's accused of using over $900,000 in campaign contributions for alleged illegal affairs. all of this to hide an affair with videographer rielle hunter and the daughter he fathered with her. their relationship taking place like edwards wife elizabeth edwards was fighting an agonizing and ultimately losing battle with cancer. railen johnson is live in greensboro, north carolina. the contributions were actually used by andrew young and his wife to build their $1.3 million dream house, not necessarily for edwards personal use. what do you know about that? >> reporter: well, good morning, ashleigh. let me tell you, the center of this case for the government is going to be andrew young. john edwards is going to paint him as a very sort of fan, a huge fan of john edwards. what he's saying is that andrew young would have done anything to help john edwards and essentially he did. and what they're arguing is that andrew young received that money from bunny melon and fred barron, nearly $900,000, nearly $1 million. what he did with that money in addition to paying to help hide himself and rielle hunter who he said he was the father of their child, he used that money to hide in florida, california, even colorado. and also edwards is saying he used some of that money to build a dream home, which i think is ironic because edwards built a pretty big dream home himself. again, he used his own personal funds. he didn't use funds that came through his presidential campaign. >> one of the issues in this case are how salacious the details are. the big break came from the "national enquirer." and a lot of people know about it. what is the challenge for the juries to get beyond the sexy stuff and into the nitty-gritty campaign finance issues. >> i think the issue is that both sides think they have a black and white issue here. really campaign finance law is very gray. you know, the other day the judge picked 42 potential jurors. those jurors will be sat this morning. the issue still is that he's so well known and what the judge said from the beginning when she gave jury instructions was this, you cannot judge john edwards on whether he was a good husband or whether he was a good politician. i think most of us agree that he failed on both fronts there. but he's not on trial for his character. he's on trial for whether or not the campaign donations that came from bunny melon and fred barron, if those are considered illegal campaign contributions because they were used to further propel his presidential campaign. the government says those contributions are illegal and the reason they are illegal is because they help him continue run for president. john edwards said they were personal donations, they would have happened whether he was running for president or not. >> i suppose all eyes will be on that courtroom, not necessarily from the get-go but certainly when rielle hunter testifies which she is planning to do with immunity. thank you, appreciate that. >> sure. we're getting an early read on local news making national headlines. this morning we have papers from new york, arizona, new jersey, all over the place. >> we start with the "new york times." a junior fbi agent played a critical role in cracking a potential new lead in the etan patz case. thomas mcdonald was handed this case over five years ago. he re-examined it from scratch. an official says, quote, he took to heart that this little boy has been missing for so long and his family doesn't know what happened to him. mcdonald initially faced resistance from the family who had enough of new investigators over the years, especially the mom in this case. the new search for evidence led him to a local handy man. miller put a new floor of concrete into his work space right after etan disappeared. he believe miller had something to answer for. >> they said apparently it would have taken about $1,000 back in the '70s to chip away that brand new concrete floor and actually do the investigation then but that was too expensive. >> ten years ago they went there and the guy said to them, this handy man, if you want to tear up the concrete, go ahead, at your expense. that is ten years ago. >> they didn't at that time. they must have something. >> you know what's amazing, whenever you get a fresh set of eyes on an investigation, everything changes. >> you never know. >> they see things from a different perspective. and to arizona, happy anniversary to sb1070. do you know that one? you do if you saw these pictures. it's the immigration law in arizona. the xoufrt will hear oral arguments fighting that law. the new law has been in place, the strange part about it, even though particular parts of it were blocked by a federal judge, it doesn't have a lot of teeth. immigration is actually down, illegal immigration is actually down. we don't expect to hear anything from the supreme court until summer. don't hold your breath right away. about 20 other states that have enacted similar laws or at least tried to anyway, five in particular have passed these. it is odd to know that the numbers are down and the teeth that these protesters have had, they've actually made an effect. they've had an effect. it's not as popular as it was before. apparently within can tell you that the illegal immigrant population has shrunk by parentally 200,000 or so from the years 2008 to 2011. experts say a loss of state money and social services and cost and fewer illegal immigrants helps to increase wages for other workers. some companies want illegal immigrants because they're less expensive. the "star led jerger." the nets play their last regular season home game tonight against philadelphia. the nets are moving to brooklyn. so will the new jersey fans follow? old fans say that they face longer distances to the games, about 12.5 miles, inflated ticket prices as well. one fan says over the last two years he and his brother spent $2,500 on a half season ticket plan. that same arrangement could cost them $10,000 in brooklyn. another fan says this is hard. it's kind of like high school graduation. you're sad but you know something bigger is coming. i know something bigger is coming but they're not doing very well. >> new york teams play in new jersey and now new jersey teams are going to play in new york. it's cats and dogs living together, mass tis tear hysteri. i don't get it. >> it's a long commute. >> shorter commute for the new york fans. maybe there will be new york fans that jump on board. 22 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. coming up, walmart wrapped up in a big old bribery scandal. how the join the retailer may have broken u.s. laws to try to beat out the competition. hink i? i'll tell you what -- when we stop to fill it up. ♪ ♪ [ son ] you realize, it's gotta run out sometime. 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