instead they were presented by the prosecution as proof that shannon s story was all one big lie. you going to kill me, too? you keep talking, you know i will. reporter: the jury had already heard jermeir testify with his deep, gravely voice. it s possible, but i don t recall how many times i called. reporter: now they listened to the tapes. was this the same guy? if they find out i shot her, man, that s life right there. you heard jermeir testify and you heard the tapes. does anybody really believe that s jermeir talking on these tapes? i know, but you got a better shot than me. to me that sounded like michael jackson. he had this high-pitched voice. it just clearly was not jermeir s voice. and it clearly was not something jermeir would say, or how he would say it. it just was obvious to me that it was fake. the jury laughed. that s the first trial i ve ever
reason why she would be afraid of him. but jermeir s answer to one particular question got detective pate s attention. i asked him, do you think that shannon is capable of killing someone? and he said, yes. reporter: as the investigation continued in durham, police showed shannon crawley s photo to that maintenance man who d seen a woman driving away from the crime scene on the morning of the murder. and he could not identify shannon as the driver. then they showed him a picture of shannon s burgundy ford explorer. he was very positive about the vehicle. he said, yep, that s the vehicle that i saw. reporter: and that wasn t the only thing the witness noticed, says assistant d.a. david saacks. he remembers a patch or some
him. and about the relationship that they had. reporter: shannon wasn t shy about corroborating what jermeir had already admitted. they met through work. it got physical. she got pregnant. she had an abortion. and the romantic part of their relationship ended a year before denita s murder. they both agreed that it ended in january of 2006. the relationship was over. they both gave the same date, the same incident and reason that it ended. reporter: shannon said she didn t think jermeir was capable of murder and insisted she didn t even know denita smith. then detective pate zeroed in on the last time shannon was in durham, the city where denita was murdered. she says she s never been to durham. i ask her about owning a gun. and she tells me that i ve never owned a gun. i can t stand guns. i m scared of them. i said okay, i can understand that. a lot of people feel that way.
one night in july 2007, around 2:00 a.m., shannon says she took her dog for a walk in the backyard. she came crawling into my bedroom, hysterical. and i m asking, what s wrong? what s wrong? reporter: shannon told her mother she had been raped. who did she say had raped her? she said it was him. reporter: jermeir? jermeir, yeah. reporter: charlotte police were alerted and rushed to the scene. shannon was bleeding and appeared traumatized. she was taken to a hospital for treatment and given a rape kit exam. no witnesses? no. reporter: none of your neighbors? no. i think there were maybe four people that lived in the neighborhood at that time. reporter: word of shannon s reported rape traveled quickly to durham, where detective shawn pate and assistant d.a. saacks were now preparing for her trial. they wondered if shannon was
viable. and the doctor refused to talk to him. and that made him angry. reporter: jermeir wanted to keep the baby and yeah, yeah. reporter: and raise the baby with shannon? with shannon, yeah. reporter: doesn t sound to me like their relationship was over. sounds to me like it was going pretty well. no. it was over. in fact, he had said to her that if you don t want the baby, you know, i ll take the baby. reporter: shannon went through with the abortion. but by this time, jermeir told detectives, his relationship with shannon had taken a big turn. there was no more sleeping together. going shopping together, that kind of thing. it was more just a voice on the phone. or see you in passing at work. reporter: so basically, they broke it off. they did. reporter: a year before denita was killed? a year. reporter: now after the murder, word of jermeir s two-timing spread quickly. denita s mother, sharon. i m angry. i m mad. because it never should have happened.