i want god to forgive me for whatever sins that i may do. reporter: jermeir stroud was never charged in the case. but the trial judge did say it was jermeir s behavior that created a perfect storm of events. bringing victim and killer together. jermeir declined our request for an interview. but in a statement, he denied any involvement in denita s murder. and all the allegations that shannon crawley has made against him. investigators say jermeir fully cooperated and was completely exonerated. he didn t ask, pay, coerce anyone to do this. he didn t pull any trigger. and he didn t know it was gonna happen? he didn t know it was gonna happen. at the end, it comes down to the person who pulls that trigger. on the campus of north carolina central university, they still remember denita smith. in the journalism department where she made such an impact,
but she s going to be okay? uh-huh. 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.s 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 purse, she had water bottle, lipstick, keys, that kind of thing. all coming down the staircase. and first thing i m wondering is, was there a struggle? was her wallet there? the wallet was there.er and money in it? there must have been because at first we didn t think it was a robbery. reporter: edythe, who knew none of this, now rushed to e, denita s building, where she hoped to find her close friend but instead was greeted by several of the u
unfortunately she s not alive. everything in me, you know, just went into shock, of course. i kept saying, you know, i want to see her. i was like, are you sure? maybe it s mistaken identity. i m like, she s not dead, this d can t be. reporter: denita monique smith was just 25 years old and engaged to be married. 2 now her fiancé, jermeir stroud, who had also arrived on scene, was given the awful news. how d jermeir look? like a blank expression. he was calm. 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
there was no murder weapon. and she hardly looked like a killer. i thought she might be able to sell the story. i figured she d be dressed real conservative, probably come in looking like she just landed off the mayflower, and that somebody would be sympathetic. reporter: from the beginning the prosecution portrayed shannon as a woman scorned, who couldn t have jermeir stroud to herself, so she made sure denita smith wouldn t either. shannon, suggested prosecutor saacks, was either carrying a torch for jermeir or trying to burn down his whole world by killing his fiancee and pinning it on him. for whatever reason, she couldn t handle the situation between jermeir and denita. and to resort to this, just to me, speaks of desperation. reporter: the prosecution s star witness? jermeir stroud, whose courtroom testimony was broadcast on local tv.
exactly. reporter: in fact, denita had won a new york times fellowship. her close friend and classmate edythe kearns. denita just always knew what she wanted. she always had a vision and a goal. and she would make a plan and stick to it and take it step by step until she met that goal. reporter: denita lived in the campus crossings apartments, near the university. around 8am, a 9-1-1 call came in from another student at the same complex. durham 911, where is your emergency? i think this girl just fell down the stairs. she s at the bottom of the stairs, head busted up and blood everywhere. okay, is she responding to you at all? 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. okay. denita monique smith. denita!