Shannon E. Crawley

Shannon Crawley, accused suspect in the Denita Smith murder case, will make her second court appearance February 1 at 9 a.m. at the Durham County Judicial Building.

Smith’s body was found at the bottom of a stairwell at her 1400 E. Cornwallis Rd., Campus Crossings residence on January 4.

New information was released last week stating that Crawley had been stalking Smith’s fiancé, Greensboro police officer Jermeir Stroud.

According to Durham Police Department reports, at around 8:21 a.m., officer Lucas Wenceslao was the first of the three officers to arrive at the scene.

A maintenance worker stated that he heard gunshots at 8:18 a.m., and about a minute later he saw a black woman with a ponytail moving away from the direction where he thought the gunshots had been fired.

The police found nothing. According to a pending death certificate, Smith died around 8:30 a.m., undiscovered.

At 10:01 a.m., officers were called to the scene because Smith’s body was found by the maintenance worker.

The woman was later identified as Shannon Crawley.

The maintenance worker said that a distraught and emotional Crawley sped off from the scene in a burgundy Ford Explorer with a gray stripe at the bottom.

Stroud’s description of a tall, thin African-American female matched the details of the witnessing maintenance worker.

The woman was later identified as Shannon Crawley, an employee of the Greensboro Metro 911.

Crawley was detained at her home at 4203 Elderbush Circle in Greensboro, which is within one mile of Stroud’s residence.