Deadly Engagement - Ep. 4: A Knife in the Night

Summary

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Dateline Originals – "Deadly Engagement"

Episode 4: A Knife in the Night
Date: November 13, 2025
Host: Josh Mankiewicz (NBC News)

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Overview

This gripping episode continues Dateline’s true crime investigation into the murder of Danita Smith, focusing on the complex relationship and legal battle between Shannon Crawley and Jermier Stroud—a love triangle that turned deadly. The episode examines conflicting narratives, mounting accusations, and a chilling late-night incident that leaves both legal and emotional wounds. Through intimate interviews and primary source recordings, the lines between victim and perpetrator are blurred, revealing profound questions about the nature of truth, loyalty, and justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Parallel Lives Diverging by Circumstance

• Shannon Crawley & Danita Smith: Both described as bright, creative, and determined young women—potential friends in another world.
  • “Very sensitive, very creative, very smart, very articulate. She’s a writer.” — Family member (01:18)
  • Shannon’s early motherhood and determination to avoid stereotypes:
    • “She didn’t want to be a statistic... She wanted to take care of her children.” — Ann Crawley, Shannon’s mother (02:01)
  • Details Shannon’s challenging but determined rise to independence (factory & 911 call center work).

2. The Love Triangle and Accusations

• Linking Factor: Both women’s lives became entangled by Jermier Stroud, a Greensboro police officer.
• A Relationship Turns Fatal:
  • “Love triangles seldom have happy endings. And this one... is no exception.” — Josh Mankiewicz (03:25)
  • Shannon claims Jermier orchestrated the murder and tried to frame her.
  • “[Jermier’s] exact words to me were, ‘either you die for your kids or the kids die for you. What’s your choice? So I win.’” — Shannon Crawley (06:13)
  • Shannon insists she didn’t know Danita existed and denies all involvement (06:32).

3. Polygraph Drama & Law Enforcement Skepticism

• Shannon’s Attempts to Prove Innocence:
  • Voluntarily sits for a polygraph administered by the state’s head examiner.
  • She fails the test; law enforcement suspects she tried to chemically calm herself beforehand but couldn’t beat the spikes of a lie (08:24).
  • “She didn’t pass the test, as we're not surprised.” — Polygraph Examiner (08:24)
  • Polygraph inadmissibility noted, but seen as confirming investigators’ suspicions.

4. Mounting Tension: Protective Orders & Harassment Claims

• Shannon Claims Harassment:
  • After her release on bail, Jermier files for a restraining order (denied); allegedly begins calling and threatening her.
  • "He was threatening to kill me if I told him anything." — Shannon Crawley (13:19)
  • DA advises Shannon to record calls—family hears what they believe are threats and admissions (14:18).

5. Family in Siege: Stalking and Escalation

• Crawley Family’s Ordeal:
  • Move across towns to escape Jermier, but alleged harassment continues—phone calls, stalking, surveillance from cars in the neighborhood (16:15–18:48).
  • “He would sit behind the house... The kids would run in the house because they would see him driving through the neighborhood.” — Shannon’s family (18:32)
  • Taped calls fail to sway authorities, who doubt the recordings’ authenticity.

6. "A Knife in the Night": Alleged Assault

• Turning Point: The June 2008 Incident
  • Shannon claims Jermier attacked and raped her in her mother’s backyard, using a knife.
  • “I walked out into the grass... before I could turn, he grabbed me around my waist and had the knife up to my throat and just told me not to say anything.” — Shannon Crawley (24:14)
  • Details of assault are graphic and disturbing; medical documentation notes only superficial wounds, not as severe as described (25:29).

7. He Said, She Said – Competing Realities

• Jermier’s Account:

  • Denies stalking, threatening, or harming Shannon.
  • Claims he was home, has an alibi (logs at work, fast food receipts, TV show) (31:22).
  • “She was telling people I was contacting her and... blaming me for the murder. That they were going to try to make me look bad.” — Jermier Stroud (30:48)
  • Provides DNA sample for investigation (32:40).
  • Expresses frustration: “When it shows that she’s lying, I would like for some law enforcement agency to... I just want to be left alone.” (33:17)

• Police Reaction:

  • Law enforcement notes credibility issues—"No one wants to be that officer that says, you know what? Like, lady, you're lying. ...you're supposed to start, you know, start by believing." (34:01)

8. Lingering Doubt & Unresolved Trauma

• No Witnesses, Physical Evidence in Question:
  • Neighborhood silent during alleged violent incident; only vague medical evidence.
  • The episode ends with an unresolved sense of tension and the enduring impact on all families involved.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• "Is it Jermier or is it Shannon?" — Shannon Crawley (03:39)
• “We have the recordings where he admits that he killed her.” — Shannon Crawley (03:50)
• “Either you die for your kids or the kids die for you. What’s your choice? So I win.” — Shannon Crawley (06:13)
• “I absolutely believe that he did.” [on whether Jermier killed Danita] — Shannon Crawley (07:04)
• "You know I didn't do anything. ... I think they get you on that. Well, they did because you lied. I don't. It's True." — Shannon Crawley (14:43)
• “He would sit behind the house... The kids would run in the house because they would see him driving through the neighborhood.” — Shannon’s family member (18:32)
• “I just put my Robe around her because she was naked from the, I believe, from the waist down.” — Ann Crawley (23:32)
• “He started getting upset because he lost his erection, and so he used the knife to penetrate you.” — Shannon Crawley (25:29)
• "She was telling people I was contacting her and she was blaming me for the murder. That they were going to try to make me look bad." — Jermier Stroud (30:48)
• “No one wants to be that officer that says, you know what? Like, lady, you're lying. No one wants to be that person... you're supposed to start, you know, start by believing.” — Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner (34:01)

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Notable Segments with Timestamps

• Shannon’s background & determination: 01:01 – 03:18
• The murder and competing accounts: 03:18 – 07:07
• Polygraph test and reactions: 07:35 – 10:45
• Harassment, recordings, and DA skepticism: 12:24 – 19:43
• Family claims of surveillance and fear: 16:15 – 19:17
• June 2008 assault narrative: 20:11 – 26:49
• Jermier Stroud’s police interview: 28:01 – 33:17
• Police doubts and closing reflections: 34:01 – 34:17

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Tone & Language

• Narration: Cool, methodical, investigative—Josh Mankiewicz’s signature Dateline style, calmly describing both empathy-inducing details and forensic evidence.
• Interviewees: Emotionally invested; Shannon and family sound desperate, betrayed, and traumatized, insisting on their version of the truth. Jermier comes across as controlled, frustrated, and defensive.
• Law Enforcement: Skeptical and clinical but visibly uncomfortable navigating between allegations.

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Conclusion

This episode paints a tangled web of accusation and denial, circling the tragic death of Danita Smith and the complicated legacies left for the living. It leaves listeners with profound ambiguity: between claims of innocence and assertions of guilt, between fear and credibility, between the often-unreliable contours of memory and the hard edges of forensic investigation.

If you missed this episode, you missed a haunting, in-depth look at how love, betrayal, and suspicion can destroy lives—and how sometimes, there’s no simple answer to who is telling the truth.

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Transcript

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[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

In a different time and place, Shannon Crawley and Danita Smith might have been friends. Like Danita, the young woman whose murder is at the center of our story, Shannon was determined, hardworking and full of wonder.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Very sensitive, very creative, very smart, very articulate. She's a writer.

[Jermier Stroud]

Poetry, short stories, that sort of thing. Very creative.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Just like Danita, Shannon was a very good student.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

English was her strongest subject.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

It is undeniable if fate had dealt Shannon a different hand, she and Danita might have met in college and maybe formed a bond that would have lasted long past graduation. Well, that is not the way it went. Unlike Danita, who went to college and then on to grad school, Shannon became the mother of two while still a teenager.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

She didn't want to be a statistic. That's Shannon's mom, Ann, the typical, you know, welfare mother. She wanted to take care of her children, and that's what she did.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Instead of sorority pledge parties and fancy summer fellowships, Shannon struggled to make ends meet. She worked a lot of odd jobs, and that's Shannon's brother, Keith Crawley Jr. Selling vacuum cleaners, worked in a factory. Then in 2000, Shannon found work at the 911 call center in Greensboro. It was a good job, and by all accounts, Shannon was good at had been a tough road. But Shannon Crawley beat the odds.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

She worked six months straight 12 hour shifts to buy a house. At 27 years old, I think that's quite an accomplishment for a single mother.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

This is the story of two talented young women on two entirely different life paths. Two women who never met socially, but who are forever linked by one common denominator. They both fell for the same man, Jermier Stroud.

[Shannon Crawley]

He was charming. It was very nice. We got along. We had a lot in common.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

She thought he was absolutely gorgeous.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Love triangles seldom have happy endings. And this one, with one person dead and the other two accusing each other of murder, is no exception. This isn't about, did this person commit this crime? This one is about, which one is it?

[Shannon Crawley]

Is it Jameer or is it Shannon?

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

In this episode, you'll hear just how far the he said, she said finger pointing went.

[Shannon Crawley]

We have the recordings where he admits that he killed her.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

She volunteered for a polygraph. The head polygraph examiner for the state administered the test.

[Jermier Stroud]

When it shows that she's lying, I would like for some law enforcement agents, possibly.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

And you'll hear how the murder investigation was rocked by an explosive new accusation.

[Shannon Crawley]

He got on top of being raped. Who is this guy? He's the Greensboro police officer.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

I'm Josh Mankiewicz, and this is Deadly Engagement, a podcast from Dateline. Episode four, A Knife in the Night. For more than a year after the shooting death of Danita Smith, Shannon Crawley, her accused killer, tried to clear her name. Shannon insisted to anyone who would listen that it was not her, but her former lover, Jermier Stroud, who had pulled the trigger. It was Jermir, she said, who forced her to ride with him to Durham that day. Jermir, who insisted she drive her car. Jermir, who directed her to Danita's apartment and told her to wait in the car.

[Shannon Crawley]

I don't know that his plan that day was to go there and shoot her.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

That's Shannon Crawley speaking in an interview I did with her years later. If Jameer's plan is to frame you for Danita's murder, leaving aside that, I don't know what his motive would be in that, why bring you along? Why not kill Danita and plant the gun in your car or your house?

[Shannon Crawley]

I think he acted in the spur of the moment, but I don't believe that he set out to deliberately go there and shoot her. I believe that he was after me. I honestly believe that he was going to kill me.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Why would Jermier Stroud, a police officer, want to kill anyone, much less someone he claimed to love?

[Shannon Crawley]

I don't. I don't know.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

She said Jir had been emotional and erratic with her for months, stalking Shannon, intimidating her, pleading with her to come back to him. Remember, Shannon told Detective Pate Jir had even threatened to kill her children on the day of the murder if she didn't take that ride with him to Durham.

[Shannon Crawley]

His exact words to me were, either you die for your kids or the kids die for you. What's your choice? So I win.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

As for Danita, well, Shannon insisted she had no idea Danita Smith even existed.

[Shannon Crawley]

I can't sit here and tell you that everything I did was right. I can't. But one thing I can absolutely tell you is I never shot anybody. I didn't kill anyone. I didn't. I had no reason to. I didn't know who she was. I had never seen her before. I knew nothing about her. There's no way I could have known anything about her or where she lived at all.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

And if you had found out that she existed, what would have happened?

[Shannon Crawley]

He and I would have broken up, and that would have been the end of it. I never would have been involved with him if I knew that he was involved with someone else.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

You think Jermier killed Danita?

[Shannon Crawley]

I absolutely believe that he did.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Though Shannon's family was steadfast in their support for her and 100% believed her version of what happened, Detective Pate and the Durham DA did not. So in April 2008, Shannon and her lawyers approached Detective Pate with a proposition. Shannon was willing to have her veracity tested by the State Bureau of Investigation.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

Polygraph test was given to Shannon at a SBI substation.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

She volunteered for a polygraph.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

She did. We had from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the head polygraph examiner for the state administered the test.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

In a small, quiet room, a polygrapher applied the electrodes that would measure Shannon's heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and perspiration. Then he asked her 20 questions beginning with, how do you think you'll do on this test? Shannon answered, I am going to pass. When asked if she had killed Anita, Shannon responded, no. When the test was done, the polygrapher tallied up the results.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

She didn't pass the test, as we're not surprised.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Then Detective Pate says the polygrapher pulled him aside and told him this.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

I can tell you without a doubt that she took something to calm herself down before this test. Because you can take something and to calm yourself down, but when you lie, it's still gonna. No matter how low a calm you make yourself, there's still gonna be a spike. So instead of being up, starting up here and spiking up here, okay, you just start here and spike up here. But she made an effort to fool the test.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Polygraphs are not admissible in court. Even so, the detective and the DA saw the results as confirmation of Something they had long believed. Shannon Crawley was a killer. And now out on bail with her options of avoiding trial running out, she was as dangerous as dynamite.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

She puts her head on the steering wheel for a minute. She looks up like for like burning a hole through the building with her eyes. Then she just puts it in drive. Insists there for a second when she put it in drive, I just pulled off. And the other detective says, what are you doing? You're not going to follow her. I said, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't trust to be on the highway with her at the same time. And she knows that, you know, she might think, hey, if I get rid of him, slow things down, at least slow things down. And I didn't know if she thought this was a last ditch effort. I don't know what's going through her head. I didn't know she was going to try to take herself out and do something crazy on the highway.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

When she walked out of that building, did she know she'd failed the polygraph?

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

She did.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

They told her right there.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

They did. They did. And honestly, I thought that the case was so good that I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

No. The detective wanted to keep his distance now and let the process run its course. Shannon Crawley, on the other hand, well, she drove away from that polygraph test knowing she would need to find another way to prove her innocence.

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[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

The suburban neighborhood where Jermere Stroud and Shannon Crawley lived was not big enough for the both of them. That much was clear to Jermere the minute Shannon bonded out of jail. After all, Shannon had been charged with murdering Jermir's fiance.

[Shannon Crawley]

Immediately after I got out, he filed for a restraining order. We went through a hearing and the restraining order was denied. Maybe a week after, he started calling me, wanting to know what I had told the police.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Shannon told her lawyers the calls made her uncomfortable.

[Shannon Crawley]

After I told my attorneys that he was calling me, they contacted the Durham District Attorney's office and let them know he's calling her. That's when the phone calls increased, the frequency of the phone calls increased, and the nature of the phone calls changed.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

What was he saying? What was Jameer saying now?

[Shannon Crawley]

He was threatening to kill me if I told him anything.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

When she and her attorneys met with Durham County Assistant DA David Sachs and told him about the calls, the prosecutor asked them to bring him proof.

[Shannon Crawley]

That is what the District Attorney's office told us. They are the ones that asked me to record the phone calls. I did not volunteer to do that. I wanted them to make him stop. That was my initial thought. Make him stop. Make him leave me alone. They then said, record the phone calls.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

And try to get him to say something incriminating.

[Shannon Crawley]

Right. And I did that. Hello? Jameer. What do you want? Who you been talking to? Nobody. What do you expect, Jermaine? You got me in the middle of your mess. Don't you try to figure.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

The recordings were a decidedly low tech endeavor. Shannon's attorneys basically bought tape recording equipment from Radio Shack and showed Shannon how to push the record button. As a result, it's often hard to hear what is being said. Except for Shannon Crawley and her family, because to them, those recordings sounded like exoneration.

[Shannon Crawley]

You know I didn't do anything. You need to tell the truth, man. I ain't going to jail and I'm supposed to for something I didn't do. I think they get you on that. Well, they did because you lied. I don't. It's True. The kids. Why are you whispering? Know why.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

When Shannon was taping these phone calls that you said were from Jermaine, did you think, this is the evidence that's gonna.

[Shannon Crawley]

Oh, yeah.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

It's gonna turn everything around. Once police and prosecutors hear this, they're gonna drop the charges.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

They're gonna drop the charges.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Ann Crawley told me she was on the receiving end of some of those calls.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

I remember I could hear. Hear someone whispering. It was very soft, you know, shut your. You know, and it was just a lot of expletives.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

You get on the phone sometimes and.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Yeah, yeah, please stop. Just stop.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Leave us alone.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

And, you know, and, you know, either laugh or hang up again. I would answer the phone, and he would think it was, Shannon ain't talking to me.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

And you knew his voice?

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Oh, by then, yeah, I knew his voice.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

And it was always the same person.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Always the same person.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Shannon says the calls were constant, creepy and unsettling. And what really concerned Shannon was that Jir lived close by. So after barely a year in that new house she had scrimped and saved to buy, Shannon put it back on the market.

[Shannon Crawley]

I couldn't go back to my house. We both owned houses in the same subdivision. I did not go back to my house after that. I moved in with my mother.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Shannon's mother, Ann, had recently separated from Shannon's father. She had rented a place in Concord, so Shannon and the kids moved there. Shannon thought she would be safe from harassment there, more than 70 miles away from Jermir Stroud. She says she was wrong about that. The phone calls kept coming. I've been at the house on numerous.

[Jermier Stroud]

Occasions when he was called.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

The house that is Shannon's dad, Keith Crawley Senior. I think there's one part of a conversation where he said, I killed her, and I kill you, too.

[Shannon Crawley]

Why did you kill her? You said, you don't know. You gonna kill me too?

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Much more proof do you need? As a former sheriff's deputy in another state, Mr. Crawley would take a particular interest in the police handling of his daughter's case.

[Jermier Stroud]

Sometimes I would hear her starting the conversation. Other times, if my wife picked up the phone or I picked up the phone, there'd be just silence. No one would say anything. We would always show a block number or number that we couldn't access on a caller id. And after a while, even though you can't probably prove it was him, you know who it is calling? Yeah, it's very obvious. He was calling.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

In February 2008, Shannon's mom moved into a New house in a new subdivision on the east side of Charlotte. That house was more than 100 miles away from Jermier Stroud. But the Crawleys say it was there that Jermir found Shannon. He would appear in the neighborhood, just sit there in his car and watch the house. So, yeah, follow her to work. Follow her to work, Chandor.

[Shannon Crawley]

Yeah.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

And make sure.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Follow you to work?

[Shannon Crawley]

Yes.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Why?

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

I don't know. Sometimes she would have to use my car, you know, to go to see the lawyers, and she would take, you know, take me to work. And I think he followed me to see. Find out where I worked. Could he show up at my job?

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

You saw him?

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

I said, oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. I chased him through the neighborhood one day. I just had enough with him. He would sit behind the house. The kids would run in the house because they would see him driving through the neighborhood, and he would sit behind the house and watch.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

The way the Crawleys saw it, they were practically living under siege, hounded by a Greensboro police officer who lived an hour and a half away.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Sometimes he would think he was talking to me, and I would just be listening, you know? And once he told her, he said, that was your mother that answered the phone. The next time I call, you better answer.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Angry guy. Oh, yes.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Oh, my gosh.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

So angry guy. Jealous guy.

[Shannon Crawley]

Jealous guy.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Shannon managed to get many of those calls on tape. Her family thought those recordings exonerated her. But after listening to them, the DA was unconvinced. He told Shannon's lawyers he didn't believe the voice on those tapes actually belonged to Jermier Stroud. What was your reaction when you realized the DA's, like, sort of didn't believe that that was really Jermir?

[Shannon Crawley]

I felt betrayed.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

According to Shannon, months of harassment and phone threats reached a climax on a hot Summer Night in June 2008. It was then, Shannon says, that Jermir Stroud suddenly appeared in her mother's backyard in Charlotte. Shannon was alone, and he had a knife. No one in the neighborhood heard a single sound until the sun came up.

[Shannon Crawley]

I just saw a bunch of police cars, and I saw Ann's daughter. I don't know her name, being taken into the.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

The ambulance.

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Okay, would that be Shannon?

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Yes.

[Shannon Crawley]

Her daughter being taken into the ambulance.

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Drive more leads and scale your business today only on TikTok. Head head over to getstarted.TikTok.com tiktokads whatever it was that happened in Charlotte on Downey Birch Road in the Predawn hours of June 20, 2007, remains to this day a mystery. No one saw anything. No one heard anything. Except when Ann Crawley woke up that morning, she saw her daughter Shannon, half naked, crawling across the bedroom floor.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

She's hysterical and she's shaking. And I'm like, what's the matter? And she's telling me, she said, jamir, he was here. He hurt me. And she kept saying, he hurt me. So I ran down the stairs and the back door was open and I didn't see anybody again. There was no houses in our backyard, you know, behind us at all. And the doorbell rang and it was the police. Apparently she hit the alarm and she didn't remember, you know, hitting the alarm. And she. But she didn't want to talk to the police.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

No. That morning, the very sight of police uniforms seemed to freak out Shannon. So Ann Crawley says she got her daughter to her feet, calmed her down, and walked her downstairs to where the EMTs had a gurney that would take her out to a waiting ambulance.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

I just put my Robe around her because she was naked from the, I believe, from the waist down. And she went to the hospital, and I had the kids.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Did Shannon tell you she'd been raped?

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

At the hospital, while Shannon was waiting to be photographed, examined, and swabbed, all part of the standard rape kit, she spoke with Detective Pam Zencon from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Sex Crimes Unit. Shannon told Detective Zencon the whole ordeal began at around 2:30am that's when the family's new puppy started whining, signaling he needed to go out.

[Shannon Crawley]

I walked out into the grass, and the dog was using the bathroom. He kind of stopped and started to turn around, which made me turn around. And before I could turn, he grabbed me around my waist and had the knife up to my throat and just told me not to say anything.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Shannon told the detective Jermir was dressed all in black. Black cargo pants, black shirt, black boots and black gloves. She said that as Jermir was pulling her away from the house and deeper into a neighbor's backyard, she slipped on the wet grass and fell to the ground. That's when she says he got on top of her and started cutting her shorts and underwear off with the knife.

[Shannon Crawley]

And he got on top of me and rake repeatedly. Yeah, you're doing. You're doing so good. Just take your time. Sorry. He started getting upset because he lost his erection, and so he used the knife to penetrate you.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

One can imagine the look on the detective's face when she heard that. Shannon's medical chart did note a few superficial wounds to her genital area. However, there was no mention of the kind of injuries one might expect from the knife attack Shannon described.

[Shannon Crawley]

And then when he got his erection back, he raped me again.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Shannon told the detective she could not remember if Jermir used a condom or condoms during the assault. She did recall that it went on for hours.

[Shannon Crawley]

We would fight. I kept struggling to get away from him, and he would. I would end up on my stomach and try to crawl away from him. And he just kept pulling me back, back down and just laying on me. And then finally he put the knife down, and I kind of pushed myself up and back and started kicking and hitting at him. And I got up and ran, and he started to chase after me. And then I remember looking back and seeing he just stopped running. And he just kind of laughed at me, just kept laughing. And I ran inside.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

By then, the sun was up, and the neighbors who were stirring at that hour noticed police activity at the Crawley house.

[Jermier Stroud]

I was walking through my backyard, and I Seen some women's underwear and some Rick shorts. So I'm not too sure if it was a sexual assault crime that took place.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

By Shannon's reckoning, her struggle with Jermir lasted for hours. And yet none of the neighbors reported hearing anything. And if you're wondering about the dog that apparently did not bark, a Yorkie Chihuahua mix well, Shannon's mom said she found him later that morning.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

The dog did come upstairs and he under my bed.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Hours after Shannon reported she had been sexually assaulted, Charlotte police went looking for the man she had named as her attacker, Jermir Stroud. Jermir was not hard to find. He was at home by 1:30 that afternoon. Two officers were in Greensboro to interview him. Here's how that interview sounded.

[Jermier Stroud]

The first time that you knew about the allegation from this morning was when. How did you find that out? I was called by lieutenant, rang up through the coffee, told me Chief Charlotte type was on the way up.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

That is the voice of Jermier Stroud.

[Jermier Stroud]

Once I got here, that's the first time you knew what the nature of it was.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Jermir gave the Charlotte cops a quick four or five sentence synopsis of his relationship with Shannon. Those sentences included her arrest for the murder of his fiance and her subsequent release on bond. Then, unprompted, Jermir launched into a lengthy discourse about her behavior towards him.

[Jermier Stroud]

Since she's been released, it's just strange phone calls and hang up phone calls and things of that nature that I've checked the record of and turned it into the gun Police and coordinator.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

In Jermir's telling, it was Shannon who'd been acting erratically. He'd never stalked her, he'd never threatened her, and he didn't even know where she lived.

[Jermier Stroud]

Now, don t told me that she was staying with her mother for a while. Do you ever have any information that she was living in Charlotte now?

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

No.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

According to Jermir, the last time he stopped in Charlotte for anything other than gas was two weeks earlier on June 7, 2008. Jermir told the officers the date was significant to him and he marked it by visiting Danita's grave.

[Jermier Stroud]

2008 was supposed to be our wedding day and I. I stopped there and then I got back home. 85, went straight to Atlanta.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

When asked about the last time he'd actually spoken with Shannon, Jermir said it was in late January when she called him.

[Jermier Stroud]

She called me from a untraceable redirect service number that doesn't allow you to trace the Original source of the call and told me that she had some things that belonged to my fiance. Unless I wanted to get him back. I needed to meet her at Concord Mills Mall the next day. I did not meet with her. Notified the dumb district office, David Sykes and dumb police detective investigators. Sean paid and tried to investigate the situation from there.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

J told the cops Shannon's latest allegation against him was part of a pattern.

[Jermier Stroud]

She was telling people I was contacting her and she was blaming me for the murder. That they were going to try to make me look bad. And the public knew come trial time.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Is that what this was? An elaborate ruse related to an 18 month old murder investigation in Durham. The Charlotte cops didn't know they were there to investigate an alleged rape. So they started with the basics.

[Jermier Stroud]

Tell me a little bit about your job description and what your hours were last night.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

I'm a.

[Jermier Stroud]

What's called PNRC officer. That stands for Police Neighborhood Resource center.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

Jmeer told Charlotte police he'd worked the late shift the night before. It was well after midnight, he said when he clocked out.

[Jermier Stroud]

Last thing I did last night while I left work was I slapped my police ID to the K&RC office. And that is. That is a police system? Yeah, the log system.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

According to J, he had a brief conversation with another officer on his way out the door. Then as he left town, Jir said he had a 20 minute phone conversation with a friend, then hit the drive thru at McDonald's. He paid cash. Then he said he went straight home.

[Jermier Stroud]

Watch a little tv. You got any idea what time it was when you finally went to sleep? Martin was on TV1. I fell asleep watching Martin on TV1 but I was probably about.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

That was the time Shannon Crawley had said she was being assaulted 85 miles away. Clearly one of them was lying. The Charlotte cops knew of only one way to find out which one.

[Jermier Stroud]

We'd like to get a DNA sample from you. And we understand that in the past that you have had sexual relations with her. Obviously taken into account. And you said that you're fine with that? You're okay with that? Yes.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

By 2:00 clock that afternoon, Charlotte cops had their DNA sample and were on their way out the door. They'd only spent a half hour with Jermere, but by the time they left, it was clear to them Jermir Stroud was a frustrated man at the end of his rope.

[Jermier Stroud]

Before I shut off our recorder, is there anything you want to add or. When it shows that she's lying, I would like for some law enforcement agency to because this is blatantly a lie. I mean, I just want to be left alone.

[Shannon Crawley]

Next time they took her to the.

[Family Member (likely Ann Crawley or Keith Crawley Jr.)]

Hospital and my Aaron texted me that the doctor, the doctor's face didn't look good.

[Jermier Stroud]

I lift up my trash can. Boom. I look down and I see this thing ain't nice. And I'm like, okay, that's just hot and weird.

[Law Enforcement/Polygraph Examiner]

No one wants to be that officer that says, you know what? Like, lady, you're lying. No one wants to be that person. I mean, you're supposed to start, you know, start by believing.

[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

This podcast is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Tim Beacham is the producer, Marshall Housefeld, Brian Drew and Deb Brown are audio editors. Kimberly Flores Gaynor is associate producer, Adam Gorfayne is co executive producer, Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer from NBC News. Audio Sound Mixing by Rich Cutler Bryson Barnes is head of Audio production.

[Jermier Stroud]

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[Jermier Stroud]

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[Narrator/Josh Mankiewicz]

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[Jermier Stroud]

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