Denita Smith |
Shannon Crawley was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and is not eligible for release.
Her appeal includes (see link):
At approximately 8:10 a.m. on 4 January 2007, Michael Hedgepeth, the maintenance director for the Campus Crossings Apartments in Durham (“Campus Crossings”), heard a shot fired and saw a woman running from the back to the front of the 1100 building of the complex. Mr. Hedgepeth testified that the woman's route was an unusual one because there was a more convenient exit to the parking lot. As Mr. Hedgepeth drove toward the 1100 building, he saw a young woman, possibly the same woman as before, driving away from the building in a burgundy SUV. Mr. Hedgepeth testified the young woman was hysterical about the gunshot; she told him it was because she was afraid of guns. The young woman told Mr. Hedgepeth she stayed at the 1200 building, so he told her to go wait for him there while he called the police.
Mr. Hedgepeth saw the young woman in the SUV once more in the parking lot of Campus Crossings while he was on the phone with police but did not see her after that. Police arrived at Campus Crossings in response to Mr. Hedgepeth's 911 call, but they left without filing a report because they were unable to ascertain the source of the gunshot.
At approximately 10:00 a.m. that morning, Corey Smith, a Campus Crossings resident, was coming out of his apartment to go to work when he saw someone's belongings scattered down the staircase. At first, he thought someone did not make it up the stairs for some reason, but at the bottom of the stairs, he discovered a body. After seeing that the body was not breathing, Mr. Smith called 911 on his cell phone. Based on instructions from the 911 operator, he checked a purse on the stairs for identification and found out it was the body of Denita Smith, a Campus Crossings resident and student pursuing a master's degree at North Carolina Central University. Mr. Smith then went to the clubhouse at Campus Crossings to notify Mr. Hedgepeth.
This episode is described as A popular grad student, Denita Smith is found at the bottom of her stairs, murdered with a bullet hole in the back of her head.
You can write to Shannon Crawley at:
Shannon Crawley |
NCCI
4287 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4287
You can email Shannon using Jpay - you will need to select North Carolina and use the ID 0994267
Take Away
While Denita Smith is dead, and Shannon Crawley is serving life without, there are lessons here for anyone willing to it a thought. With some men there are women they will marry and women they will only ever have sex with. Avoid men like this since they have zero issues using another human being for sexual release since they frequently will make false promises in order to have sex. They are insincere, despite being charismatic. Shannon still has "crazy eyes" to this day, and should probably consider changing her name.Can't get enough true crime? Consider US Serial Killers for your viewing needs.