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 police his romance with shannon crawley,