reporter: especially by her fiancé, jermeir stroud, who appeared devastated by denita s death. jermeir didn t say anything. jermeir cried. we all cried. he didn t really say a whole lot. reporter: jermeir and denita had met back in college and became the it couple on campus. they had been dating for a few years. and you know, before i even met him denita spoke very highly of him. reporter: what d she say? like he s a gentleman, he s intelligent. he s active, involved, well-rounded, he s kind, he respects me. he protects me. he s loving. reporter: the perfect guy? the perfect guy. the perfect guy. reporter: he was apparently even perfect enough for denita s cautious mother, sharon smith, who came to trust that jermeir was the right guy for her precious daughter. i knew what he would be getting, but i didn t know what she would be getting.
And in that same interview, i asked her, do you think that jermeir is capable of murder? and she said, no, not at all just like that, no, not at all. but you re telling a co-worker that you re in fear for your life from jermeir. reporter: conflicting stories that cast suspon shannon and on jermeir. so that next day detective pate spoke with jermeir stroud once again. he denied ever harassing shannon at work and said there was no reason why she would be afraid of him. but jermeir s answer to one particular question got detective pate s attention. i asked him, do you think that shannon is capable of killing someone? and he said, yes. reporter: as the investigation continued in durham, police showed shannon crawley s photo to that maintenance man who d seen a woman driving away from the crime scene on the morning of the murder. and he could not identify
i didn t see anyone. just to hear how she presented the information, her poise and her demeanor and all that kind of stuff, she s a credible witness. i mean, she tells a credible story. reporter: and the defense did have those phone conversations shannon recorded in which she insists jermeir threatened her and incriminated himself. you know i already got away with murder once. you think i can t do it again? i m sure you can. reporter: but shannon s defense attorney ultimately chose not to play them. instead they were presented by the prosecution as proof that shannon s story was all one big lie. you going to kill me, too? you keep talking, you know i will. reporter: the jury had already heard jermeir testify with his deep, gravely voice. it s possible, but i don t recall how many times i called. reporter: now they listened to the tapes.
She embodied everything that was positive and about supporting people. reporter: there was no one who didn t like her? right. she was well respected and well loved. reporter: especially by her fiancé, jermeir stroud, who appeared devastated by denita s death. jermeir didn t say anything. jermeir cried. we all cried. he didn t really say a whole lot. reporter: jermeir and denita had met back in college and became the it couple on campus. they had been dating for a few years. and you know, before i even met him denita spoke very highly of him. reporter: what d she say? like he s a gentleman, he s intelligent. he s active, involved, well-rounded, he s kind, he respects me. he protects me. he s loving. reporter: the perfect guy? the perfect guy. the perfect guy. reporter: he was apparently even perfect enough for denita s cautious mother, sharon smith, who came to trust that jermeir
He insisted he was in greensboro that morning, nowhere near charlotte. when you go to jermeir and say shannon says she was raped by you, what s his answer? he says, no, that s preposterous. you can check my phone, you can check my work logs, you can see where i was. i ll do whatever you need me to do. reporter: but shannon told police all the evidence they needed just might be sitting in jermeir s garbage can, which was where she suggested he stashed the knife. and sure enough, jermeir s going out to put his garbage in his can and sees the knife in there. he immediately calls his police department and that s when they find the neighbors who said, yeah, they saw the night before some other car come up and heard a thump and somebody saw somebody throwing something in his can and leave. it wasn t shannon. no identification was made about that. reporter: just a dark figure in a hoodie. that s correct. reporter: was the knife planted? there s no proof either way, but it was te