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It had been six months since denita smith's 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. 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 ...

Doesn't have a deep voice. >> doesn't have, exactly. he disguised his voice. >> reporter: you think he can disguise his voice that well? >> yeah. >> apparently, he can. >> well, he did it. he did it. >> reporter: you're convinced that was jermeir. >> oh, it was jermeir. >> reporter: so whose voice would ultimately ring true? a three-year investigation was now in the hands of 12 people. two families now waited anxiously inside the durham county courthouse. as did assistant d.a. david saacks. >> i'm never confident when a case goes to the jury. >> reporter: you've been slapped in the face by jur...

>> reporter: word of shannon's reported rape traveled quickly to durham, where detective shawn pate and assistant d.a. saacks were now preparing for her trial. they wondered if shannon was certain the attacker was jermeir. >> i asked her, "well, how did he know you were going to be walking a dog at 3:00 in the morning?" and i guess he just stalked the house and saw his opportunity. so for four hours he raped her. so if it was 3:00, then when does the sun start to come up? four hours. you know, you're looking at 7:00. >> reporter: it would have been daylight then. >> yes. dog doesn't bark, anyt...

Assistant d.a. maryclaire flynn. >> he said, "i wanna send you these text messages. if you could, please just take a look at them." and i said, "sure, i will." and it was just utterly shocking. >> reporter: she checked with her colleague katie rayburn and they agreed those text messages warranted further investigation. >> i couldn't believe what was in them. i had to read them a couple of times to really sort of take it all in. >> reporter: clearly, it's black and white for you that you know this is wrong. but is it black and white, we're going togo forward with this. this is a crime. i mean, ...

>> reporter: murder investigations are of course based on more than just witness statements. the csi team rushed over to todd and rachel's house and assistant d.a., lisette suder, joined them as they searched and documented the interior of a house that was strangly chaotic. >> reporter: what did it look like? >> the house is well-manicured. minus the fact that there's this yellow crime scene tape up. and then you walk through that and you walk into the doors and the house is in complete disarray. kitchen is completely undone. baseboards missing all over the place. the house is not put together...