and he says let me call the police. and then she pulls off and takes off out the complex. reporter: what do you make of that? that s kind of like make the hair on the back of our neck stand up. reporter: so now police called jermeir stroud, who was on his way back home to greensboro, and asked one simple question. do you know anyone that drives a burgundy ford suv? and he said, oh, my god. i m turning around now. reporter: a secret affair. they start having a relationship that actually started kind of like friendly but then turned sexual. reporter: what, if anything, did it have to do with denita s murder?
she ain t moving man. reporter: denita seemed to have perhaps lost her balance and fallen down the stairs. police and paramedics rushed to the complex. the college was quickly notified, as was denita s y family. miss smith, denita fell. she s unconscious, but they re f trying to revive her. he said, are you coming to durham? and i m still trying to wrap my head around, you fell, unconscious, revive.miyi i said yes, i m coming. reporter: sharon and her two other children lived in charlotte, almost a three-hour drive from durham. on my way there i did call jermeir. reporter: that was jermeir stroud, denita s fiance, a police officer who worked in greensboro, much closer to durham. and i said, jermeir, i need you to get to durham now. denita has fell.du she s unconscious. they re trying to revive her. so he said okay. because i knew from greensboro to durham he would be there before i would. could you tell whether he had any idea of this? he didn t let on like he was
reporter: that was jermeir stroud, denita s fiance, a police officer who worked in greensboro, much closer to durham. and i said, jermeir, i need you to get to durham now. denita has fell. she s unconscious. they re trying to revive her. co so he said okay.tr because i knew from greensboro to durham he would be there before i would. could you tell whether he had any idea of this? he didn t let on like he was aware. reporter: word spread fast that something had happened at 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
if shannon had a story that proved her innocence, why had she waited so long to tell it? when i asked her, where was this story when i arrested you? her exact words were, he had threatened my children in the past. i was scared for their safety. he knew how to get to my children. and i asked her, what s changed? he still knows where your children are. he still knows how to get to them. he could still hurt them. reporter: and her answer? she just looked at me. everything i ve told you is the truth. but you lied the first time we talked. yes, i did. the second time we talked. the second time we talked i did not lie to you. after i was arrested, i did not lie to you. i told you i didn t do it. that wasn t a lie. i told you that he did. reporter: he was jermeir stroud. shannon s story made him the guilty party, but her story also badly needed to be checked out. that s just a fantastic kind of story. if i m going to dismiss her case