reporter: as far as detective pate could determine, it all came to a head on christmas eve. jermeir walked into his greensboro church with denita on his arm, and a diamond ring on her finger. he had proposed, and denita was over the moon. she walked into church proud as a peacock, feathers just completely on display, showing that hand to anyone who would look. and shannon was in the back of the church at the time and saw that. we heard that was the first time shannon realized that they were engaged. reporter: shannon s family says the d.a. and the detective heard wrong. the day that that you re referring to, the church, shannon wasn t there. we were there. reporter: less than two weeks later, denita smith would still be wearing that engagement ring, as she lay dead at the bottom of her apartment steps. now, just as assistant district
reporter: as the trial approached, the d.a. facing a circumstantial case with a seemingly credible defendant, offered shannon crawley a deal. plead guilty to denita smith s murder and be sentenced to a maximum of 12 years in prison. denita s mother, sharon, was not happy. what d you say? no. reporter: don t let her off? uh-uh. no. my words were my daughter didn t get to plead for her life that morning, so no. no plea. reporter: she needn t have worried. shannon crawley was not going to take a deal. she insisted she wanted to clear her name and would now take her chances in court. coming up shannon would look at me with this little smirky look on her face like she knew she was going to get off. shannon on the stand. for one he s told me since that he did.
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
corroborate many of the calls. i d say 99% of the phone calls i was a witness to, i was on the other phone. reporter: you would also see shannon s reaction to these. yeah. reporter: phone calls. this was not somebody who was play acting. exactly. reporter: no question that was jermeir no. i know it was him. reporter: and they say it did not take long for jermeir to incriminate himself. you know i already got away with murder once. think i can t do it again? i m sure you can. someone like you, i m sure. trying to keep my ass out of jail. and what about me? i didn t do anything here. better you than me. and they ain t trying to put a cop in jail. reporter: was she afraid? oh, sure. reporter: you could tell watching her? yeah, she was afraid. reporter: all told, more than 30 minutes of conversations were put on tape. did you think this is the evidence that s going to oh, yeah. reporter: that s going to turn everything around? sure did. yeah.
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