no, i never did. and what you re suggesting is that durham cops, who didn t even know jermeir, looked away from a murder committed by a guy who worked for another department in another city? they re risking prison time for this guy they don t even know? cops will protect other cops regardless of what department they re 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 building his case against shannon precisely because jermeir was a police officer. i needed to make sure that everything was done by the book and we vetted everything as well as we could, and delved into everything as deep as we could because he was a cop. because if you clear him, you know you re going to get that criticism. absolutely. we ended up having to have several different interviews with jermeir. and each time we would get maybe a little something more. and so it took a little whil
have a seat. reporter: shannon herself has a lot more to say about jermeir stroud and about what happened the day denita died. coming up i never knew that he had a girlfriend. had i known it wouldn t have ever escalated to anything else. her very first interview. i don t know jermeir but the voice on the tapes does not sound to me like him. i don t know who else would be calling me nonstop threatening to kill me, threatening to kill my children. it s him. that s all i can tell you. it s him. and believe it or not, denita s mother has an apology for shannon. being the god fearing woman that i am, i know that was wrong. i never should have said it. when dateline continues. e sa. when dateline continues did you know that every single flush
charged with first-degree murder. now her family was mourning, too. it s devastating, the fear that you have at that point for your child. and no one can convince me that my child did that. i know her. reporter: shannon s dad, himself a former deputy sheriff, was convinced his daughter was a victim of a shoddy investigation by the durham police, perhaps deliberately so. i m not saying that they framed her. i m saying that they simply allowed themselves to be led in that direction. and if they had any suspicions that another police officer was involved, they decided not to follow that up. you were in law enforcement. you cover up crimes by other officers? no, i never did. and what you re suggesting is that durham cops, who didn t even know jermeir, looked away from a murder committed by a guy who worked for another department in another city? they re risking prison time for this guy they don t even know?
as her mother sharon remembers. she s always loved the camera. the camera was her friend. the camera was her way of expressing herself. reporter: denita was beginning to turn all that talent into a successful trade; working as photojournalist on the student newspaper at north carolina central university in durham. she would see things that probably the average person wouldn t see. reporter: but there was something denita didn t see coming. a blind spot in her seemingly perfect life. something she never anticipated. never imagined. but maybe no one could. it was january 4, 2007. a crisp carolina morning. denita had a busy day ahead as classes were about to resume after christmas break. denita loved school.
to see the world through their eyes. and with these shots, we can learn a little about the world this young photographer saw. and her sense of exactly when to snap the shutter. to capture the world in front of her. it s an impressive portfolio belonging to a young woman named denita smith. she began looking through a lens in childhood, and never stopped as her mother sharon remembers. she s always loved the camera. the camera was her friend. the camera was her way of expressing herself. reporter: denita was beginning to turn all that talent into a successful trade; working as photojournalist on the student newspaper at north carolina central university in durham. she would see things that probably the average person wouldn t see. reporter: but there was something denita didn t see coming. a blind spot in her seemingly perfect life.