Page 8 - David Saacks News Today

No murder weapon. but during the autopsy the medical examiner did find one thing, the bullet that killed denita. police now hoped that mangled slug might provide a lead on who pulled the trigger. >> what kind of gun killed denita smith? >> all we could say is that the bullet itself was in the family of -- it had enough weight to be a .38-caliber round. >> reporter: by now denitas death was big news across durham. >> durham investigators say the shooting was not a random act. >> reporter: assista...

That shannon crawley and her family insisted were jermeir stroud copping to the crime and trying to cover it up. >> i got away with it once. ill get away with it again. just keep your [ bleep ] mouth shut. >> this is wrong. i didnt do anything. >> you know ill find you. >> reporter: police were not present when shannon recorded the calls, but they were able to trace where they originated from, a payphone, so there was no way to confirm jermeir had made them. assistant d.a. david saacks listened ...

He said she did it. she was saying he did it. shannon had been charged with murdering smith and thats when she shared a new version of events claiming he was the real killer. authorities were intrigued but skeptical. shannon captured a series of recordings that she was sure proved her innocence. what would investigators make of this tale of the tape? it is rare for women to murder. more often they convince their men to do it for them, a kind of homicidal honey-do list. that was exactly what in...

>> what kind of gun killed denita smith? >> all we could say is that the bullet itself was in the family of -- it had enough weight to be a .38-caliber round. >> reporter: by now denitas death was big news across durham. >> durham investigators say the shooting was not a random act. >> reporter: assistant district attorney david saacks was keeping a close eye on this now high-profile case. one that he might actually prosecute if a killer was ever caught. >> it was so obvious that it was not a ro...

Now three years later two families filed into the durham county courthouse. one family hoping for a conviction, the other an acquittal. reporter john mccann covered the trial for "the durham herald-sun." >> the tone was definitely, you know, somber. shannons family here. you got denitas people on the other side. tense is a good word for it. >> reporter: especially tense for denitas mother, sharon, who for the first time made eye contact with the woman accused of murdering her daughter. >> shanno...

>> reporter: and that wasnt the only thing the witness noticed, says assistant d.a. david saacks. >> he remembers a patch or some kind of something, you know, on the shirt. >> reporter: a patch like on the uniform shannon wore as a 911 dispatcher. and there was more. investigators discovered shannon clocked in at about 10:00 a.m., some two hours after denita smith had been murdered. more than enough time for the 55-mile drive from durham to her job at the 911 center in greensboro. so police obta...

Yeah, yeah, he called down there. >> the nurse changed her story. >> everything changed. everything changed. >> reporter: this is what? one big conspiracy? >> i hate to make it sound like that. >> it sounds like it. it sounds like it. >> reporter: assistant d.a. david saacks says the rape was properly investigated and seemed to be nothing more than a hoax. which also, for him, finally answered that lingering question of who was stalking whom. >> everything was pointing to her and the only thing ...

>> no, i never did. >> and what youre suggesting is that durham cops, who didnt even know jermeir, looked away from a murder committed by a guy who worked for another department in another city? theyre risking prison time for this guy they dont even know? >> cops will protect other cops regardless of what department theyre in. there are always that few, not many. >> reporter: to the contrary, assistant district attorney david saacks, who was assigned to prosecute, says he was extra careful in bu...

This wasnt just another interview. shannon was prepared to share all new information with the potential to change the whole focus of the case. assistant d.a. david saacks. >> she just wanted to give her side. and we certainly wanted -- allowed her to do that. >> reporter: and her idea, or her attorneys idea was and then youll drop the charges after youve heard this? >> i think that certainly was her idea. so if they dont say anything were going to keep going on the path were already on, which is...

It had been six months since denita smiths murder. and sitting on the desk of assistant d.a. david saacks was a series of phone recordings that shannon crawley and her family insisted were jermeir stroud copping to the crime and trying to cover it up. >> i got away with it once. ill get away with it again. just keep your [ bleep ] mouth shut. >> this is wrong. i didnt do anything. >> you know ill find you. >> reporter: police were not present when shannon recorded the calls, but they were able t...