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 denita s 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 robbery. and so if she was targeted for some reason, there was a very, very, very limited number of people who would target denita for something like this. and jermeir certainly could have been one of them. reporter: jermeir stroud, denita smith s fiance. on the day of the murder, stroud had revealed to polic
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. betting on it. reporter: if he s calling to
He was very nice. we got along. we had a lot in common. reporter: were you in love with jermeir? no. reporter: shannon insists she had no idea that her boyfriend jermeir was also seeing denita smith. i never knew that he had a girlfriend. had i known, i never would have given him my phone number. it wouldn t have ever escalated to anything else. reporter: she admits it did escalate. it started off fairly normal. but he would call nonstop. he would show up unannounced. he would want to know where i was, who i was with. he would leave messages, 30 or 40 phone calls. reporter: why d you keep seeing a guy like that? i guess initially i didn t really take it that seriously. i didn t really think that he was dangerous. he would mask it as concern. reporter: eventually shannon
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 while sometimes to pull all that stuff out. reporter: investigators say he appeared devastated. jermeir stroud insisted he had no idea that his secret romance might place denita in danger. but detective pate still thought jermeir was not entirely forthcoming. jermeir would tell me the truth, but you had to ask it. he wasn t volunteering anything? absolutely not. reporter: they interviewed jermeir both at the greensboro pd and over the phone. and each time a little bit more information would emerge, including what happened after he and shannon ended their romantic relationship.
i didn t know what he had done, and i didn t know what he was going to do to me. reporter: it s often considered risky for a murder defendant to take the stand. but shannon crawley insisted on telling her story that she was a victim and not a killer. how do you know now that jermeir did it? well, for one he s told me since that he did. and you re trying to tell the jury that then you had no idea what might have just happened there? 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.