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Shannon crawley wanted to talk. shannon's brand new story. >> in the back of your mind even though you didn't want to admit it -- >> yes. >> but was she telling the truth? >> she wasn't rehearsed and she wasn't rushing to answer a question. shannon crawley's father keith, her mother anne and her brother keith jr. never doubted her. is it possible you guys don't want to believe she's a murderer? >> she is not a murderer. >> it's not in her nature, not in her character. >> if i thought that she was lying about it, no, i wouldn't be on camera saying -- i wouldn't be sitting here waving a flag f...

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 shannon as the driver. then they showed him a picture of shannon's burgundy ford explorer....

Contact with the woman accused of murdering her daughter. >> shannon would look at me with this little smirky look on her face. she's very cocky, like she knew she was going to get off. no remorse. she didn't feel she had done anything. >> they had only been engaged for two months. >> reporter: assistant d.a. david saacks, an experienced, savvy prosecutor, would now square off against a younger court-appointed defense attorney named scott holmes. >> it's important, i think, to try to see the world, try to see the world from the eyes of shannon on the days that led up to and the day that this h...

>> the jury laughed. that's the first trial i've ever been on where i heard jury members snicker. >> reporter: but the crawleys, who were in court when those tapes were played, were not laughing. they say they'd heard many of those calls firsthand and believed they were the real thing. the jury had heard jermeir testify. he has a deep voice. and the person on the tapes 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 convince...

>> 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: i...