Tonight new details on how from bankruptcy to liquidation, how soon sales will start at some Sports Authority stores. When she had no license plate for her car, she got creative. 9news starts now. Tonights Republican Debate evolved into an epic free for all. Donald trump called his opponents little marco and lion ted and there were changes in flexibility which led to yoga taunts and as there was a plead for a more substantive debate, trump boasted about the size of the anatomy. If anyone ever deserved to be hit that way, its donald trump. He hit my hands. Look at those hands. Are they small hands. This little guy has lied so much about my record. Here we go. Here we go. Breathe, breathe, breathe. The lion is dead. I know its hard, but just when theyre done with the yoga, can i answer a question . You cannot. I really hope that we dont see yoga on this stage. Well, hes very flexible, so you never know. Cruz and rubio lit into trump as a raucous detroit crowd cheered and jeered. Cruz repeatedly questioned trump whether he had told the that hes not serious about that plan to build a wall at the mexican border. Whats been reported is that donald told the Editorial Board of the New York Times what im saying on immigration, i dont believe. Im not going to build a wall. Im not going to deport people. This is all just rhetoric for the voters. Now if he didnt say this, he has an easy solution. Simply release the tape. I would not do that. I have too much respect. If i deal with you off the record, if i deal with brett or chris off the record, i have too much respect for that process to say just release everything. I would not do that. Call anyone a name or brag about the size of his manhood. He did draw applause at 1 point when he said washington tends to turn outsiders into insiders. They want change and they keep putting outsiders in to bring about the change. Then the change doesnt come. Then they put more outsiders in because were putting people in that dont understand compromise. They dont understand policy and people are getting more and more frustrated with the system. So after all of that 9news political expert republican strategist kelly maher tweeted is this real life . She came in for 9news at 9 00. We asked her whether the tag team on trump worked. Cruz and rubio actually did a good job of tag teaming together. They really did a good job of highlighting the Trump University issues. I think that trump very clearly got very flustered much of the evening. I think that rubio certainly was a little off based off of but he did okay and cruz did very well, as did kasich surprisingly. Kellys democratic counterpart james mejia couldnt be with us but wanted to be sure we mentioned kelly received a special honor today recognizing the top 40 under 40 of the American Association of political consultants. Prior to tonights debate the last republican nominee mitt romney blasted trump during a speech in utah today criticizing his morality, Business Practices and character and called him a phoney, fraud and bashed him be president. Think of Donald Trumps personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the ab insured 3rd theatrics. Saying romney lost because he was a poor candidate and said romney happily accepted his endorsement in the last election and even begged him for it. The war of words will likely continue tomorrow. On the today show mitt romney will join matt lauer for an interview right here on 9news tomorrow morning. Meanwhile there are developments out of north korea tonight. North Korean Leader kim jong un reportedly ordered nuclear weaponing readied for use right away in apparent response to the u. N. Security councils unanimous approval of sanctions against north korea this week. North korea called it an effort by u. S. Imperialists to impose gangsterlike economic pressure. The pentagon said its closely monitoring the situation with allies in that region. A crime on the western slope defies description. Inside a squalid home a man held a homeless woman for months raping and torturing her. The suspect Claude Wilkerson texas four years ago because of a due process violation. 9news reporter Tarhonda Thomas tonight with the details including how that hostage was freed. Reporter a truly terrifying ordeal is finally over for the 26yearold victim. Authorities say shed been homeless several years. Wilkerson offered her a place to stay seizing on her desperation. Shes been through hell and back. Reporter in an 18 phage arrest affidavit an unnamed 26 yearold page arrest affidavit an unnamed 26year old woman details numerous sexual assaults by this man, claude wilker son. It started in this area in rural gateway, colorado. Its definitely a place to hide away and be left alone. Reporter Court Records say she and a teenage runaway also living with him chained the victims hands and legs and put a chemical soaked cloth over her face to drug her. The victim was allowed in the to a nearby store twice. This woman said shed seen the teenage runaway and wilkerson before. My impression was that im here and ill do my thing and you can do yours, but it wasnt like we were going to interact. Reporter officials were tipped off to the case in february when the teenage run away was reported found. The girl told another person about the kidnapping. When deputies arrived at wilkersons home to check on the story, the victim walked outside casually but clearly afraid. The victim asked a deputy to arrest her on an outstanding 50 warrant. But he felt that something was wrong and he needed to get her away from mr. Wilkerson to find out what was going on. Reporter wilkerson has a criminal record in colorado and montana. Kyle, those arrests and convictions include dui, assault and intimidation, criminal mischief and property damage. Whitney wild, thank you. 9news psychologist dr. Max wachtel red the arrest victim read the arrest affidavit and noticed the victim quickly found a way to cope when she couldnt escape. There were times in the affidavit where she didnt even necessarily think some of the things he had done were wrong and not because she was brainwashed or anything like that. It was more like she had learned to go along with it to make things better for herself. Dr. Max says the Recovery Process will be a long one that may include bouts of depression and even misplaced feelings of guilt about what happened. The suspect in the case sat on death row in texas four years before his case was dismissed on a legal technicality. Today a former investigator there spoke about wilkerson, as did the attorney who helped him get off death row. Heres 9news reporter jonathan gonzalez. They held them hostage, taped them up. Reporter in 1978 the bodies of three Jewelry Store workers were discovered after a robbery Claude Wilkerson he said wilkerson worked there, but the robbery was foiled when a coworker recognized his voice. Because he had recognized their voice, they all get together and decide that they got to dispose of them. Reporter wilkerson had confessed to part of the crime. That was enough to help prosecutors convict him of murder. Wilkerson spent four years on death row in texas until that confession was thrown out in 1983 by a federal court. They brought him down to try to talk to him after i invoked right to a lawyer. Confessed without allurer present after he had asked for one without a lawyer present after he had asked for one and a result. Unable to be indicted, wilkerson eventually moved to colorado a free man. He was very pleasant, very, you know, easy to talk to. He would call periodically. Reporter attorney stanley different these days. He looked bizarre, his picture, the long hair, the scraggly beard. He looked different. Reporter he also says he wont be shocked to hear from wilkerson any time soon. I wouldnt be surprised if one day soon i got a collect phone call from the jail. Snyder also says he expects wilkersons new attorney to call him to find out details regarding the death row dismissal. All three death row cases from the murders were dismissed and charges dropped. Turns out snyder and music became friends after this incredibly unusual case. The investigator became an attorney, too. So thats part of it, so unusual. Its an unusual case and you just wonder what may have happened back then and it all led to him coming to colorado and now. This he said he wasnt surprised. The former prosecutor said he wasnt surprised to see this happened. The park county sheriff suspended his no. As a result of disciplinary action. The shakeup comes just one week after a park county deputy was killed and two others were shot during an eviction. Sheriff fred wegener told 9news the discipline wasnt related to the shooting itself or the tactics in the incident. Instead he said the undersheriff monte gore was suspended with pay for putting out an Inaccurate Press release. Sergeant wells tonjes resigned after he was disciplined for shooting. Deputies say the activist shot at them first. Bankruptcy yesterday and tomorrow the start of liquidation stays at about 140 Stores Nationwide of the closings will impact around 1 3 of the locations. The largest number of stores are in texas, florida, california and illinois. Liquidation is expected to last up to several weeks. There are three stores in colorado that are closing, the store in Greenwood Village and the outlet in littleton. What a difference a month makes when it comes to the weather along the front range. A month ago we were digging out from nearly a foot of snow that fell in the metro the first two days of february of since then just a trace around denver. From february 9th until today weve had above average temperatures 23 of 24 days. Today we were in the mid60s and it should be warmer this weekend. This week is also the first time this season that colorado snowpack has fallen below average. The home is the storm next week could boost those numbers. The current base is almost exactly the same as it was in most areas about this time last year. Last year abasin as you may remember was able to keep a couple of runs open until the middle of june. Not a bad couple of days for colorado, first of u. S. News and world report ranked denver as the no. 1 place to live in the country yesterday. Today on this 3rd day of the third month of the year its a chance to celebrate all that we of us call home. We got a lot of the ways to show you how to show your love on colorado on our 9news app. You can take a quiz find out which colorado icon you are, anything from red rocks to blucifer to Rocky Mountain national park. You can voice your opinion about everything from your favorite colorado beer to your favorite musician on our colorado Facebook Page as well. Still ahead a woman tries to outsmart her state with a homemade license plate, nailed it. Then boeing is redesigning one key seat on its airplanes. If you liked today, wait for the weekend. Kathy will show us how much youll love those temperatures. Were only going up from here. And one of the best sailing teams in the world have a little trouble during todays training session. And were going to help you figure out who is going to be you know, its a real shape police dont cut you slack for trying because shame the police dont cut you slack for trying because the woman who faked her license plate surely would have gotten off with a high five, but no, faking a plate is still against the rules. So 28yearold amanda schweigert faces a variety of charges. Boeing is working on some features some passengers only use when necessary. A restroom cleans itself after every use. Everything operates by touch sensors. After someone leaves special uv lights kill 99. 9 of germs. The light is not harmful to humans and will only turn on when no one is inside. To hold the iditarod in alaska you need a few things, great sleds, great dogs and snow. The first two have been ready to go and the weather not so much. City streets in anchorage look thats why train cars delivered snow from other parts of alaska so the citys portion of the race could be held sunday on a shortened course through the streets. Heres an interesting stat. Anchorage has only had 27 inches of snow this year. Weve had 11 inches more than that so far in denver. We still might be looking that the train if the current weather pattern continues. This is our snowiest month on average and it has been unusually mild and unusually dry. Im meteorologist kathy sabine. May, youre almost to the weekend. Congratulations. You just about made it through the week. Are you thinking about the weekend . Well, fishing, why not . It will be great conditions for anything you might want to do up and down the front range and even in the high country, not a lot of fresh snow for skiing, but comfortable temperatures and good travel weather, 64 the high in denver today, 63 in trinidad, currently 46 at the airport. Winds are southwest at 13 with rising air pressure. High thin clouds outside the and mid40s here close to down down. Winds havent been a big factor for us today unless youre watching from the foothills. Any amount of wind, low humidity values and above average readings are concerns for high fire danger and the current drought scenario. Youll notice colorado looking pretty good, harness changed a lot, but off hasnt changed a lot, but off to the west extreme Drought Conditions continue from Southern California up to the west coast even into the northern rockies. Theyd certainly welcome a change this month. Temperatures look to be above average for the west and northwest through the month of march but it looks like cooler, wetter weather for the second half of the month. For now all this moisture is going north and east over the top of the ridge. The best chance for moisture will be across the gulf coast and the carolinas. It will be rain and all snow up north, even the threat of Severe Weather outside houston and jacksonville. Its a fast moving system affecting the eastern seaboard basically as a dry front, races across the state from the northwest tomorrow and then warm air follows. Its the next system beginning to knock on the door of Northern California that may bring us rain and snow early next week. In the meantime were on the western fringe of this cold arctic air mass. Highs remain above average, close to 60 again tomorrow. Northwest flow bringing clouds in tonight and tomorrow, so well call it partly cloudy tonight, partly sunny in the afternoon. The winds shift out of the northeast with the front that has very limited moisture. I put an isolated shower in the foothills, should not affect travel in the mountains. Lows tonight 20s on the mountains, 30s on the plains, very mild evening. 66 grand junction, mid40s in the high country, 59 in greeley to 74 in pueblo on a friday in march, not bad, 55 for a high in evergreen, 45 in nederland tomorrow. A quick burst of wind when the wont be the wind event you experienced yesterday. Partly cloudy, cool and dry, low 32. Well be 60 tomorrow, a good 10 it gets better. Well go into the mid60s on saturday, tap into the 70s sunday ahead of a storm that may bring rain in our snowiest month. Cooler weather to kick off the new week, but we rebound nicely, midweek temperatures in the 50s and back to 70s with week. So no big interesting storms looming on the horizon, but hey, its still winter somewhere. You just got to go way up high up into the northern mountains to find a scene like that. Just got to hunt for it. Take a little trip. This week we are rediscovering colorados National Parks looking for new adventures off the beaten path. 9news photojournalist chris hansen and i spent months visiting all four of our parks across several different seasons. Join us saturday night at 9 p. M. This land rediscovering colorados national park. It will reair at 9 30 on channel 20. Two american cup captains capsized their catamaran during practice today. The Oracle Team Usa crew was in the water off the coast of bermuda when the boat just flipped. Some of the six sailors on board ended up in the water. From colorado sports leader heres drew soicher. Hi, everybody. The avalanche made more noise tonight than all the republican candidates combined. Avs beat the florida panthers, remarkable effort by Gabriel Landeskog who singlehandedly beat four players. Avs win 32. Rockies collected their first victory of spring training today. Yes rox beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in scottsdale, shortstop trevor story wants to make the major league roster. That will help. Rockies win 65. Broncos are still waiting on peyton, so in the meantime broncos insider mike klis tells us who he thinks has the best chance of quarterbacking the defending super bowl champions. Klis and tell. Peyton manning. Zero. Id say 90 to 95 . Trevor simeon. 100 as a backup or no. 3. Robert griffin, iii. I would say hes got a 30 chance which is pretty high for a guy not on the team now and is under contract for the redskins, but he makes a lot of sense as a backup. Remember, he married a local girl here. Im sure denver is high on his list. Colin kaepernick. I would say the only way kaepernick plays for the broncos is that if osweiler is not resigned. So the chances are remote. T. J. Yates. Id say 30 right there with rg3 because he is a backup. He was the backup for gary kubiak in houston. We all know how gary kubiak likes his former texans. John elway likes hall of fame quarterbacks. Aaron rodgers . No chance he ever leaves green bay ever. Eli manning. I dont think eli manning would want anything to do with footsteps any more than he already has. Another quarterback from the colts, andrew luck. First elway and manning. This makes sense. Sure. Just have andrew luck follow Peyton Manning wherever he goes. Elway would love to have the former stanford quarterback, but no chance indy lets him go. Superman cam newton . That might be something. He might fit in that offense, but no. I think hes going to be playing for the Carolina Panthers for years to come. All seriousness, tim tebow. In all serious, over john elways dead body. Had to ask. Hey, have i ever mentioned how much i love sports . Yes, you have. Well, i do now more than ever because during