as long as you keep doing all the things that a boyfriend would do, then in her mind she still has a chance. there s still a shot. exactly. i honestly thought hubris made him believe that he could control it. reporter: but police say jermeir wasn t able to control the situation with shannon. some three months before denita was murdered, shannon bought this house near where jermeir lived. and when police searched that new home of shannon s, they were surprised by what they saw and what they didn t see. kids rooms, beds, everything you expect to be in a nice children s room. mom had a mattress on the floor. there was little to no living room furniture, no dining room set, nothing in the kitchen. suggesting what? she was overspending so she could live near jermeir? just to be near jermeir. that s the only reason. there was a clear pattern of her
reporter: five days after denita smith s murder, detective pate drove back to greensboro with a warrant to arrest shannon crawley. she and her children were staying at her sister s house when police arrived. shannon comes out. they cuff her, and she walks out the door as though she s going to check the mail. reporter: pate says shannon did not seem surprised to see him. there is no sad look or anything like that. she gets to the end of the driveway. she looks at her family and says, raise them like they re your own. well those are the words of a woman who does not expect to be raising her own children. exactly. reporter: shannon s family watched their daughter be cuffed and taken away. it was more than upsetting. i was angry. i was afraid for her. and knowing in my heart that my daughter could never, ever have done that. reporter: shannon was just 28. she d never been in trouble with
same complex. durham 911, where is your emergency? i think this girl just fell down the stairs.ge she s at the bottom of the t stairs, head busted up and blood everywhere. okay, is she responding to you at all?er she s not even moving. do you want me to get her id out of her pocket? if you can. her name is denita monique smith.ca okay. denita! she ain t moving, man. reporter: denita seemed to have perhaps lost her balance and fallen down the stairs. police and paramedics rushed to the complex. the college was quickly notified, as was denita s family.eg miss smith, denita fell. she s unconscious, but they re trying to revive her. he said, are you coming to durham? and i m still trying to wrap my head around, you fell, unconscious, revive.un i said, yes, i m coming. reporter: sharon and her two other children lived in te charlotte, almost a three-hour drive from durham. on my way there i did call jermeir.
little bit of confusion. what do you mean? like when i said, did you speak with her, and he didn t really give me a yes or a no. he just sound a little rushed like, edythe, you know, just sit tight., stay calm. i m sure, you know, we ll get to her. reporter: also rushing to get to denita was her mother, sharon smith, who was driving to durham from charlotte. you re thinking this is an accident. mmm-hmm. but she s going to be okay? mmm-hmm. i thought she was at the hospital. reporter: durham police arrived and taped off the scene. we found denita at the bottom of the steps, and we were basically there was a pretty large police presence at the time. reporter: detective shawn pate wasn t sure exactly what he was dealing with, but it was beginning to look a lot more serious than just an accident on the stairs. however, we weren t able to determine what the injuries were. we saw there was blood coming from her head, she had her
how d jermeir look? like a blank expression. he was calm.a and he was like you know, it s going to be okay. he was like, calm down. i was like, my heart is breaking right now. i m like, and it s breaking for you, too. because i m like, this is your future wife. i m like, who saw this coming? reporter: but edythe didn t know the worst of it. her close friend denita hadn t died in a tragic accident. police discovered denita had been murdered, shot at almost point blank range. it s clearly intentional. reporter: and shot in the back of the head. dead center.te reporter: this was an execution.ce exactly.n. reporter: meanwhile denita s mother sharon had arrived from charlotte, still unaware of what had happened. where s my baby? and is she all right? s reporter: now police had to break the horrible news about her oldest daughter. and so that s when they