Rae Carruth

With Spring here I have taken a break working on my blog what with all the home and yard work that needed to be done, but now it is time to kick back in. Another thing that occurred during my break was my computer broke and I have to figure out how to get my list for my blogs off the old computer. Until then I started a new one. Despite that I knew this was the one I wanted to do first today. I had heard a recent update on this case but had not kept up on the follow-up so it only made sense to do this case considering I was already going to be searching things.

If this case proves anything, it proves that prison does not in fact make anyone more smart or even remorseful, let alone truthful. It seems that in February of 2018 Rae Carruth decided to reach out to the grandmother of his son and in the process decided to send a copy of the letter he sent her to the media. He then also granted his first interview with the media since his conviction in 2001. Let us just say that things did not go as planned for Carruth. Despite the fact that his letter stated that he knew he was a “social pariah” and thought he would get some heat for some of the things he said, he believed he could handle the criticism. Within just a few days he was sending the newspaper a new letter in which he nearly completely backtracked. He literally said “I did not foresee the media and general public being unanimous in it's belief that I shouldn't be allowed to ever have anything to do with Chancellor.” Chancellor you will learn is Carruth's son, a son that not only nearly died because of Carruth, but a son who never got to meet his mother and a son who will never be able to live a normal life, mentally or physically.

In 1997 Rae Carruth was the number one Rookie draft pick for the Carolina Panthers. While I am not really a sports person, from everything I found he had a fairly successful year as a wide receiver. Early the following season he injured his ankle and did not seem to do as well. But, by December of 1999 Rae Carruth was no longer a member of the team and it was not because he was not playing well. No, the Panthers released Carruth on December 16, 1999 under a morality clause in his contract. This was the day after Carruth was found by the local police in the trunk of a car in a motel parking lot in West Tennessee. Inside the trunk with him was several thousands of dollars, bottles of his own urine, extra clothes, candy bars and a cell phone.

So, what was Rae Carruth, the semi (at least) popular wide receiver for the NFL doing in that trunk. It was simple, he was hiding from the police. By all accounts he had likely only been hiding for about a day before he was caught. Why was he hiding? That too was simple. Rae Carruth had been arrested the month before on attempted murder charges. He posted bail on the condition that if either Cherica Adams, or her unborn child, his child, were to die he would turn himself into the police. Well, Cherica died on December 14^th and Carruth did not keep his word and went on the run.

On the night of November 16, 1999, twenty-four year old Cherica Adams was driving down a Charlotte North Carolina road. Some reports say she was eight months pregnant, others say she was seven months pregnant, still another says she was about ten weeks from her due date making her only about six and a half months pregnant. At some point Cherica made a phone call to 911. She had been shot and was bleeding inside her car. According to what Cherica told the 911 operator, Rae Carruth had pulled in front of her vehicle blocking her access as another car pulled up next to her. The passenger in the other car had shot several times at her. She also informed the operator that after the shooting had occurred Carruth had left the scene.

Cherica was rushed to the hospital where she soon fell into a coma. Doctors worked feverishly to deliver her baby by C-Section despite the fact that he had gone without oxygen for just over an hour before delivery and was two months premature. Cherica would die in the hospital a month later while her child, named Chancellor Lee Adams survived but with permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy due to the trauma he suffered within the womb.

Because Rae Carruth was a “star” in the NFL, the fact that the other two men involved pleaded guilty and received sentences, and the fact that Carruth has brought attention to himself as of late it is a bit harder to find the facts that led to the closing of the case. It did not seem clear, at least to me and what I understood, that Cherica knew the people in the car that had pulled up next to her and had fired the shots. We do obviously know that she named Rae Carruth from the beginning. It was her statement that he was there, although obviously not the shooter. The shooter was a man named Van Brett Watkins. Watkins was a night club manager and a friend, or at least an “associate” of Rae Carruth's. He would later confess that he was in the back seat of a car driven by a man named Michael Kennedy. Both Watkins and Kennedy would plead guilty to their roles and at least in Watkins case he was required to testify at Rae Carruth's trial. Apparently both men agreed that they were hired by Carruth to kill Cherica “and her baby.” At Carruth's trial Watkins would say he could not bring himself to kill the baby and by all accounts appeared remorseful. Both men also apparently told basically the same story that Cherica did in her 911 call.... Carruth blocked her car while they pulled up next to her. Carruth allegedly watched the incident through his rear view mirror and left the scene when it was over. Among the charges they pleaded guilty to was the charge of second degree murder. Kennedy would receive a sentence of eleven years and eight months and was released in 2011. Watkins would be sentenced to a minimum of forty years, but did avoid the death penalty.

Rae Carruth did not make a deal and took his case to trial. The prosecution argued that Carruth had Cherica murdered because she had failed to get an abortion. While Carruth now argues that rumors have flown that this had to do with the fact that he did not want to pay child support, the prosecution allegedly never used those words specifically at his trial. Again, I found only a few things that pertained to the 2001 trial itself but it appears that among his charges was the charge of first degree murder and the prosecution was seeking the death penalty. It also appears that the defense argued not just against the account that Van Brett Watkins testified to at the trial but also the account that Cherica gave in her 911 call. They would claim that Carruth was not at the scene and had not paid Watkins and Kennedy money to kill Cherica and the baby. They claimed he was “caught up in a drug deal gone bad.” Their claim was that Watkins had asked Carruth to “fund” a drug deal and he had refused. Then later that Watkins had “run into” Cherica and asked where Carruth was and that in a fit of rage he had shot her when she had “flipped him off” refusing to tell him where to find Carruth.

In the end Carruth did avoid the death penalty when for whatever reason the jury failed to find him guilty on the first degree murder charge. However, he did not completely escape prison time. The jury did find him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and “using an instrument to destroy an unborn child.” He was sentenced to 18-24 years. I suspect that the jury did not have the option to give him anything other than first degree, meaning the option for second degree or manslaughter was not available to them, and they found it unfair that Watkins, the shooter had pleaded to second degree and did not receive the death penalty. But, then again, I could be wrong.

So here we are in 2018. By now the story has been told on multiple different television shows relating to true crimes. I personally have seen several and in all or nearly all of them Saundra Adams, Cherica's mother has been featured. She took on the role of mother to Chancellor and raised him. He is now eighteen years old. And on October 22, 2018 Rae Carruth is set to walk out of prison.

In February of 2018 Carruth wrote a fifteen page letter to Saundra Adams. He sent a cover page and a copy of the letter to a local news station in Charlotte. Let me start by saying that I saw a copy of the letter, as well as the cover page and while I attempted to read it, I simply could not continue. The cover letter that he sent to the local news was addressed as “To Whom it may Concern.” He went on to say “it is my hope that despite the increased level of negativity that comes my way, what I have written will force the media and public alike to begin to challenge Ms. Adams on the truthfulness of the statements she makes about me, her claims of forgiveness and also her sincerity concerning Chancellor and I having a relationship going forward.”

Before I get into the letter and what he actually said to Saundra Adams let me say that Saundra has said that she forgives Carruth. But, let me say that I am almost certain that that forgiveness had more to do with her, her grandson and her spiritual beliefs than it did about Carruth. I got the impression that Carruth did not see it that way. Honestly, and I will get to his later statement in a bit, but it sounds as if he had the belief that he would get out of prison and they would be one big happy family. Let me also say that Saundra has stated on video that she plans to be at the gates with Chancellor when Carruth is released. Now, again, I think this is more for her grandson than for Carruth and if she is there as he is released I have never had the impression that it would be a joyous and happy reunion per se, nor do I believe she has any intention of including him in every aspect of her or Chancellor's life.

At any rate, after the introduction that Carruth sent to the news station he then included the fifteen page letter he had sent and addressed to Saundra. It started out nice, at least the first paragraph. He praised her for all that she has done for Chancellor and gave her credit for the fact that he is very high functioning and has “thrived” under her care. Then it went down hill from there. It seemed that after he would bash her about one thing or another he would throw in a little line about how good she is to Chancellor and how much she has lost in her life. He begins first with her interviews for new stations and television shows. He told her that her story was tragic enough with the truth and that she did not need to embellish or lie but that he had kept his mouth shut all these years and let her “hustle” the media because it helped her care more for Chancellor financially.

He does apologize to Saundra for the loss of her daughter. He claims that early on in his imprisonment they had exchanged letters and he had apologized but that she has always publicly stated that while Watkins and Kennedy have apologized to her Carruth had never done so. He states this as one of his reason for sending a copy to the news station.... so she could not continue to lie, so he says. Now, when I say he apologized, I do not mean that he confessed that he paid anyone to have Cherica or Chancellor murdered. I mean he apologized to her about HER loss. He stated “I could have done a better job of keeping Cherica and Chancellor out of harms way.” He still apparently disputes that he was involved or present in any way. Although he never brings up the “drug deal gone bad,” at least as far as I read, but I get the impression that he was still leaning that way.

Carruth disputed to Saundra comments that she had made to the media about the couple having a turbulent relationship and personally traits of his. In fact he claims that not only did he and Cherica not even really have a relationship but only “hooked up” a few times, but that prior to the “incident” as he calls it he had only met Saundra once by chance for about five minutes. He stated that he met her at a party in June of 98 but not again until November of that year when he went to a gentleman's club where she worked “as a stripper.” He would go on that they only “hooked up” a hand full of times and had sex five times. He claimed that not only would Saundra know nothing about him, but that Cherica did not know him either as their entire “relationship” revolved around those five sexual encounters.

At this point in his letter that I am reading, I am already frustrated and thankfully I had gotten more of a condensed version through other sources because I only read a little bit more. Yes, I am frustrated because he is berating this mother, who lost her child due to him (he admits that much if not the truth) and the grandmother of HIS child who he maimed through his actions. But, then I caught other things. As he is making these comments to Saundra in this letter he would contradict himself. When talking of the relationship between he and Cherica he says in November of 1998 she had gone home with him and that was the first of their “five sexual encounters.” When he discussed running into Saundra the one time they allegedly met he says it was at Cherica's apartment as the two were leaving for their first Lamaze Class. But, as he goes on about the “non” relationship/relationship he had with Cherica he states they were never in each other's homes. At least that is how I read it. I suppose it is possible he meant he and Saundra had never been in each other's homes, which could be true, but it does not take away from the brutal tone he had with her in the letter.

The last section I read of the letter before I could no longer stand it revolved around the issue on why he would have killed Cherica. Again, remember he never admitted that he had anything to do with the crime, or was present. Prosecutors stated that the motive was because she would not get an abortion and while Carruth may be right that he words “child support” were not mentioned by the prosecutor, that does not mean that still was not implied as the motive. Keep in mind that Carruth had a child previously and had little or nothing to do with that child. He was sued for child support and according to the child's mother it resulted in arguments as well as ways to “weasel” out of paying. But, in the letter Carruth does admit that when Cherica initially told him that she thought she may be pregnant that he did bring up the subject of her getting an abortion. He claims that Cherica told him she had an abortion previously and that if she was in fact pregnant she would not do that again. He would claim “paternity and not abortion was the main cause of any contention between Cherica and me.” He went on to say that they both had slept other people in that time period and he was uncertain that the child she was carrying was his. He then stated that Saundra must have had doubts too because she and her lawyer forced him to take a DNA test.

At this point I had to stop. He had insulted Saundra multiple times, not to mention Cherica and I did not even post them all here. But, to be fair I went into reading the letter already angry. After releasing the letter he also did an interview with the local news. Now, I cannot say just what he officially said in the letter to Saundra about his plans upon his release but he had plenty to say to the local news. “I should be raising my son. His mother should be raising her son. Ms. Adams should not be doing this and I want that responsibility back.” Article after article announced how Carruth had announced he was planning to seek custody of Chancellor upon his release from prison. As far as I can tell the release of the letter and the interview occurred on February 19^th. I was obviously and apparently not alone in my outrage and neither was Saundra Adams. She responded with “I've forgiven Rae already, but to have any type of relationship with him, there does have to be some repentance. And I think this opens the door. But, I can say definitively he's not ever going to have custody of Chancellor. Chancellor will be raised either by me or, after I'm gone, by someone else who loves him and who knows him. He will never be raised by a stranger- someone he doesn't know and who tried to kill him.”

Keep in mind Rae Carruth had stated in his letter to the media and in his interview, he was ready for the backlash and he did not care because now was the time for him to say what he felt needed to be said. Well, that did not last long. Two days later he sent a letter to the newspaper and it was released on March 1^st. In it he stated, “For all involved or invested in in this ordeal, please calm down. I will no longer be pursing a relationship with Chancellor or Ms. Adams. I promise to leave them be, which I now see is in everyone's best interest. I now understand that any notions of me one day being welcome to Sunday dinner is out of the question. And lastly, I didn't foresee the media and general public being unanimous in it's belief that I shouldn't be allowed to ever have anything to do with Chancellor.” I have to say that was one of the few times while researching this case that I had to snicker.

I would gander to guess Carruth still has some sort of legal representation or if he does not he should have. If he does still have an attorney on record I severely doubt that his letter to Saundra, let alone his letter to the news station and his interview were encouraged. Well, that is unless his attorney truly did not advise him well. Even if he had not had the letter to Saundra published himself she could have easily done so and that alone would have harmed him. However, the fact that he included the cover letter telling the public that Saundra, the woman who has raised his disabled child, is a liar and a “hustler” and then did an interview announcing his plans to seek custody of his child sealed his fate. The fact that he was so arrogant as to believe that even the general public would buy his story is amazing. He may not have been convicted of first degree murder based on what was or was not allowed into the courtroom and presented to the jury but that in no way, shape or form means he was not guilty. If this letter and interview was his way of attempting to reclaim his life since his release from prison will occur soon he failed miserably. If he thought this letter would make amends he was sorely mistaken. Not a word of it seemed sincere beyond the first paragraph and the rest was so infuriating that it canceled out the few times he may have sounded sincere. No, the best thing that can happen is upon his release he lives a life of isolation and learns that he truly is the social piranha he “thought” he was.