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, the woman who owned an suv similar in model and color to the one seen leaving the crime
met, but i used to have a picture of denita in my house on my television and when shannon would help me move in, she saw the picture. reporter: shannon knew about denita. shannon knew about denita, but denita had no clue. and everyone i spoke to about denita said if she even suspected she would have been out of that relationship, she had too much dignity for that. reporter: this was an affair jermeir was hiding. correct. reporter: remember, jermeir lived in greensboro near shannon, but 50 miles away from denita, the woman jermeir was officially involved with at the time. it was a tale of two cities and two women. jermeir and denita were dating, though not yet engaged. and he was also seeing shannon, and that seemed more serious than just a fling. reporter: did jermeir disclose to you that he had gotten shannon pregnant? he did. reporter: and that she had an abortion? correct. reporter: shannon s mother
reporter: that was jermeir stroud, denita s fiance, a police officer who worked in greensboro, much closer to durham. and i said, jermeir, i need you to get to durham now. denita has fell. she s unconscious. they re trying to revive her. co so he said okay.tr because i knew from greensboro to durham he would be there before i would. could you tell whether he had any idea of this? he didn t let on like he was aware. reporter: word spread fast that something had happened at the apartment complex. edythe called to check on denita. and she wasn t answering. which was you know, after i call your phone several times as a best friend, you know, somebody s going to call you back. so i was like, that s strange. so my instinct just said call jermeir really quick just to touch bases with him. reporter: by now jermeir stroud had left work and was racing to durham. i spoke to jermeir. and i m like, have you made contact with her? but i felt like i didn t get a definite answer. it
shannon had told police she had never been to durham, but her cell phone records clearly showed she had been there. not on the day denita was killed. shannon or at least her phone had been there the day before. she was hitting a tower that placed her no less than 100 feet away from where denita would be found dead the next morning. reporter: and you think, what s going on there? i m thinking it s recon. reporter: shannon showed up a day early to find out exactly which apartment denita lived in? you have to know when to be there and where to place yourself, where to stand, without looking suspicious because if you just linger there for hours someone s going to say you don t even live here, what are you doing? reporter: police also checked jermeir stroud s cell phone and police radio and found he was nowhere near durham that day before the killing. only shannon. so police impounded her suv. we did gunshot residue tests
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