a house at 27 years old. that s quite an accomplishment for for a single mother. it sounds undeniable that all of you were really proud of her. oh, yes. yeah. and thought her life was certainly headed in the right direction. absolutely. yes. reporter: shannon worked in greensboro as a 911 operator at the emergency call center where she was often in close contact with law enforcement and was by all accounts a model employee. her supervisors really liked her. she was dependable. she came to work. she did what she was supposed to do, did it in a professional manner. no complaints really. reporter: detective shawn pate also found shannon to be cordial and cooperative as they settled in to discuss where shannon was on the day denita died. pretty calm, easygoing, kind of like us sitting here. i d ask a question. she would give me an answer. what d you ask her? first i asked her about jermeir, whatever. and she admitted that she knew
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.
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
and he has a gun with him at all times. reporter: shannon s co-worker was concerned and wanted to help. it gets to the point that he offered to sell her a gun, which he did. he named the exact model, and tells me that he gave her bullets to accompany the gun and offered to teach her how to use it. reporter: what kind of gun? it was a .38-caliber revolver. reporter: the same type of gun detectives thought denita s killer might have used. you know, wait a minute. i just finished a interview with her five minutes ago and she told me, i never owned a gun. and in that same interview, i asked her, do you think that jermeir is capable of murder? and she said, no, not at all just like that, no, not at all. but you re telling a co-worker that you re in fear for your life from jermeir. reporter: conflicting stories that cast suspicion on shannon and on jermeir. so that next day detective pate spoke with jermeir stroud once again. he denied ever harassing shannon at work and s
but clearly there was something. he was always there for shannon. if shannon was distraught or wanted to call in the middle of the night, you know, and knew that jermeir was working, she would call him and he would put up with it. maybe he didn t want to be the bad guy? maybe didn t want to be the bad guy. he doesn t see that he s leaving the door open. 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 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.