Of denita smith, and in this version shannon said she d been framed. she did show some emotion. but not a whole lot. she was very matter-of-fact, and talked a lot. i think the interview went on for hours and hours and hours. reporter: shannon said the trouble began after she and jermeir broke up, that he was upset that she had aborted the pregnancy, and that jermeir began harassing and stalking her. he would continuously call me on my cell phone at work. it would interrupt the radio. he would come into communications and stand in the hallway and stare at me. i decided then that it may be a good idea to have something to protect myself. reporter: in her first police interview in greensboro, shannon denied ever owning a gun. now detective pate challenged her on that changing story. do you still stand by the story that you ve never owned a gun? the gun that i bought from ronnie i had for all of a day and a half. reporter: she felt compelled
the second time we talked i did not lie to you. after i was arrested, i did not lie to you. i told you i didn t do it. that wasn t a lie. i told you that he did. reporter: he was jermeir stroud. shannon s story made him the guilty party, but her story also badly needed to be checked out. that s just a fantastic kind of story. if i m going to dismiss her case i need to make sure i m filling out the dismissal and i put the reasons why. i m not going to do it just because she says she didn t do it. reporter: shannon and her attorney were emphatic that jermeir was the killer and also said that even now, months after the murder, he was making threatening phone calls to shannon telling her to stay silent about his role. i told him that i m more than willing to look at anything they have if trept to bring me something. but i can t just accept her word for it.
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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. i ll get away with it again. just keep your [ bleep ] mouth shut. this is wrong. i didn t do anything. you know i ll 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 carefully to the tapes and soon came to his own conclusion. is there any way that could be jermeir s voice on the tape? not that i can see. he would have to clearly be disguising his voice to make it sound that way. it just did not sound like him at all. why are you whispering? you know why. because somebody s listening. no.
What s your choice? and i knew he had his gun. after arriving at the complex, shannon sticks by her story that jermeir went up to denita s apartment. leaving her behind in the suv. i got to the sidewalk and i heard a shot. reporter: you think jermeir killed denita? i absolutely believe that he did. reporter: what would possibly be his motive for that? i don t know. reporter: i mean, if he didn t want to be with her anymore, they weren t married, he could have just broken up with her. i don t know. i don t know. i don t think he had a plan at all. i think he just he acted in the spur of the moment. but i don t believe that he set out to deliberately go there and shoot her. i believe that he was he was after me. that was how he made me feel. when we left my house that day, i never expected to come back home. i honestly believed that he was going to kill me. reporter: shannon says the investigation doesn t support