Former Carolina Panther Jailed For Murder Freed From Prison

CHARLOTTE, NC — Former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth was freed from a North Carolina prison early Monday morning, nearly 19 years after he was convicted for his role in the murder of his girlfriend Cherica Adams, who was eight months pregnant with his son.

“I’m excited about just being out of here. I’m nervous just about how I’ll be received by the public,” Carruth told a WSOC reporter recently by phone while he was still incarcerated at Sampson Correctional Facility in Clinton, North Carolina. “I still have to work. I still have to live. I have to exist out there and it just seems like there is so much hate and negativity toward me.”

Carruth, who was well-known as a first-round NFL draft pick 20 years ago, was convicted by a jury on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder after it emerged in court that he hired a hitman to kill Adams so he wouldn’t have to pay child support, the Charlotte Observer reported.

In November 1999, Adams was ambushed while driving on Rea Road and shot four times. She called 911 and told the operator that her boyfriend — Rae Carruth — was driving ahead of her and slowed down before she was shot.

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She was rushed to the hospital and her son Chancellor Lee was delivered by cesarean section. The gunshots disrupted oxygen and blood to the baby before the delivery, however, and he was born with brain damage and cerebral palsy. Adams died four weeks after the shooting and her mother, Saundra, who is caregiver and guardian for her now 19-year-old grandson in Charlotte.

Carruth has never had contact with Chancellor Lee, but earlier this year wrote a letter to local station WBTV, saying he hoped to one day have primary guardianship of his son.

The overture angered Saundra Adams, who told the Charlotte Observer this regarding her grandson: “He will never be raised by a stranger — someone he doesn’t know and who tried to kill him.” Carruth later backed off the suggestion he would pursue parental rights for his son in a letter to the newspaper, saying he would not seek custody of Chancellor Lee upon his release.

Photo: 9 Nov 1997: Wide receiver Rae Carruth of the Carolina Panthers moves the ball during a game against the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado. The Broncos won the game, 34-0. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport