through work and he asked her for her number. reporter: and at this point he s involved with denita. involved with denita. and he actually said that he told shannon in 2000 that he was in involved with denita. well, in 2004 they start having a relationship that actually started kind of like friendly but then turned sexual toward the end of 2004. reporter: and shannon drives a burgundy suv. correct. reporter: first detectives had a murder. now a love triangle. detective pate pressed jermeir for more details about the two women in his life. i said, well, have they ever met? and he said, no, they ve never 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
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 seemed like there was a 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. t 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. uh-huh.
what are you doing up there? and just it got to the point where she didn t want to answer the phone. he wanted her to come back to him? he wanted her to come back to him. and she didn t. he was so possessive. she just didn t want that type of relationship. reporter: police coaxed more details from jermeir, and he insisted shannon had been demanding more and more attention. the woman he really wanted to be with, he said, was denita. but shannon wouldn t go away. he complained on her, you know? her coming around the house and keep calling. we had a relationship. she keeps calling after we agreed not to do this. reporter: jermeir insisted shannon wouldn t take no for an answer, and it got to the point where he needed help. he had filed an internal affairs complaint against her. well, i don t know if it was actually official. he had a buddy that was in the internal affairs department. but he disclosed that to somebody? he did. he did say that, you know, she she j
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 polic
reporter: but by all accounts, jermeir stroud loved denita dearly. it didn t make sense that he would kill the woman to whom he had just proposed. they were planning a big wedding. now after speaking with detectives, jermeir headed back home to greensboro, his life changed forever. and then, two hours after the murder, detectives got a lead. durham 911, where is your emergency? at campus crossings apartments. reporter: they discovered a second 911 call that had come in around the time denita was killed. i m hearing gunshots coming from somewhere around here. reporter: the caller was the apartment s maintenance supervisor, who d been working near denita s unit. when he heard the shot, he d looked up in that direction and he told me he saw a female that was about 5 10 , hair in a ponytail, and had some kind of emblems on her clothing. the young lady that stays