along. her unborn son died when she did. crystal had told friends the father of her child was a guy named derek smyer. so you want to find out where derek is. most definitely. we want to find everything about him right now. the detective learned crystal and derek had a quick fling. it only lasted a month or so. they d met at anderson park, which is near both their jobs. by now, it was lunch time. derek wasn t in his office. so williams drove to the park. bringing crystal s work friends with him. and one of them immediately noticed something. she points out a car that derek drives. reporter: his car was easy to spot. it had vanity plates that said my whip, slang for a fancy car. then crystal s friend pointed out derek. and detectives brought him in for a talk. go ahead and compose yourself. what is your last name, sir? smyer. and your first name, sir?
javonte s father s got to be somebody you re gonna look at. most definitely, and we did. trying to identify if there was a ongoing conflict. kenneth wasn t helping with javonte and there had been conflict over child support in the past. crystal had obtained a court order requiring kenneth to pay. so two possible leads. a third surfaced when williams went to crystal s office. we get to her place of employment and we talk to several young ladies that identified themselves as being her friend. and they re shocked that this has happened. they told him the day before she was killed, crystal received a phone call at work that seemed to upset her. and then they dropped a bombshell. that a, she was pregnant, and b, the person that she was pregnant by did not want her to be pregnant any longer. you couldn t tell crystal taylor was pregnant when you saw her lying on the ground? i couldn t tell. i couldn t tell. in fact, she was five months
she made a decision. there s no changing her mind. reporter: wrapped in the blanket of her big family, crystal knew she and javonte would do just fine. we are some baby whisperers in the sense. we love babies. strangers babies, anybody baby. reporter: anybody say that s too young to be having a baby? no, we all had babies young. we d still said it. it would still be said, but it would also be followed by, you re still gonna finish school. you know, life isn t over. you made your bed harder, but you re gonna lay in it. and we re gonna love this baby. reporter: those were rules set down by momo. everyone finished school, started a career, and raised their children on their own successfully. reporter: as javonte grew, crystie grew up. she just really took care of her baby, went to work, and, like, brought her lunch cause she was never spending any money. if she went to the movies with her son, no, he knew not to ask for snacks. she just wouldn t spend any money. re
waiting on the staircase, does that match the description of the guy people say were running away after the shooting? almost identical. reporter: here s the sketch drawn from both their descriptions. were you happy with the final sketch? it looked like the guy? oh, yeah. it looked like him. reporter: but he didn t look like any of the men in crystal taylor s life. not derek. not dino. and not javonte s father kenneth. cops would have to figure out who he was and where to find him. monica and michelle didn t want to wait for that. we had been watching cold case and criminal files and all that, so we thought we were real detectives. reporter: too much tv can be a dangerous thing. or maybe this was the dynamic of the taylor family. the sisters who were going to together help crystal raise her son were now helping solve her murder. so, sketch in hand, they canvassed the neighborhood. you? not the police?
instantly, derek smyer had to be an adult. he dropped out of high school so that he could get a full-time job. even though he wasn t making much, he was still doing what he could to support that baby. that changes your life? it does change your life. and that forestalls a lot of your options? absolutely. but derek was a hard-working guy. reporter: in 2002, the year after crystal died, derek smyer had another daughter with the same woman. if i fall, all this footage is being deleted. reporter: for the most part, he wasn t a full-time dad but danielle says he was in his children s lives. as was the whole smyer family. danielle insiftss this father of two wouldn t commission a murder over an unplanned pregnancy. if, in fact, he even was the father of crystal s child. did derek tell you that he was dating crystal taylor? no. i never heard of crystal taylor before he was actually arrested