. >> her name is denita monique smith. >> okay. >> denita monique smith. denita! 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 li

. >> reporter: denita monique smith was just 25 years old and engaged to be married. now her fiancÉ, jermeir stroud, who had also arrived on scene, was given the awful news. how'd jermeir look? >> like a blank expression. he was calm.a and he was like "you know, it's going to be okay." he was like, "calm down." i was like, "my heart is breaking right now." i'm like, "and it's breaking for you, too." because i'm like, this is your future wife. i'm like, who saw this coming? >> reporter: but edythe didn't know the worst of it. her close friend denita hadn't died in a tragic accident. police discovered denita had been murdered, shot at almost point blank range. >> it's clearly intentional. >> reporter: and shot in the back of the head. >> dead center.te >> reporter: this was an execution.ce >> exactly.n. >> reporter: meanwhile denita's mother sharon had arrived from charlotte, still unaware of what had happened. >> where's my baby? and is she all right?'s >> reporter: now police had to break the horrible news about her oldest daughter. >> and so that's when they explaine