OCALA - Behind bars, but still maintaining his innocence, an Ocala man says he had no idea his girlfriend and mother of their young child was dead until he was told by the police.

Eighteen-year-old Shankera Smith was found shot to death inside the home she shared with Joseph Dennis Jr. Dennis is currently being held at the jail on a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon, and he is considered a "person of interest" by police detectives in Smith's slaying. 

TV 20's Chris Gilmore sat down with Dennis in an exclusive Marion County jailhouse interview and reports that Dennis says he loved his girlfriend more than anything and might as well kill himself now that she's gone.