that was basically the trial. >> reporter: detective shawn pate worried shannon crawley could walk.t her was largely circumstantial. her dna was not at the crime scene. there was no murder weapon. and she hardly looked like a killer. >> i thought she might be able to sell the story. i figured she'd be dressed real conservative, probably come in looking like she just landed off the mayflower, and that somebody would be sympathetic. >> reporter: from the beginning the prosecution portrayed shannon as a woman scorned, who couldn't have jermeir stroud to herself, so she made sure denita smith wouldn't either. shannon, suggested prosecutor saacks, was either carrying a torch for jermeir or trying to burn down his whole world by killing his fiancee and pinning it on him. >> for whatever reason, she couldn't handle the situation between jermeir and denita. and to resort to this, just to me, speaks of desperation. >> reporter: the prosecution's star witness? jermeir stroud, whose courtroom testimony was broadcast on local tv. >> i kind of thought selfishly. >> reporter: jermeir confessing u

. >> reporter: detective shawn pate wasn't sure exactly what he was dealing with, but it was beginning to look a lot more serious than just an accident on the stairs. >> however, we weren't able to determine what the injuries were. we saw there was blood coming from her head, she had her purse, she had a water bottle, lipstick, keys, that kind of thing.ps all coming down the staircase. and first thing i'm wondering is, was there a struggle? >> was her wallet there? >> the wallet was there. >> and money in it?al >> there must have been becausen at first we didn't think it was a robbery. >> reporter: edythe, who knew none of this, now rushed to denita's building, where she hoped to find her close friend but instead was greeted by several of the university's professors. >> i was like, "what are you all doing here?" and they were like, "you know, unfortunately she's not alive."w everything in me, you know, just went into shock, of course. i kept saying, you know, i want to see her.ay i was like, are you sure?er maybe it's mistaken identity.ke i'm like, she's not dead, this can't be. >> rep