Rae Carruth - Criminal History

Criminal History

On Nov. 16, 1999, near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, Cherica Adams, a real estate agent he had been casually dating, was shot four times by Van Brett Watkins, a night club manager and friend of Carruth. Surviving the shooting for a while, Adams called 911 and described how he behaved: he had stopped his vehicle in front of hers as another vehicle drove alongside Adams and its passenger shot her, and Carruth then drove from the scene .

Adams was eight months pregnant with Carruth's child at the time. Soon after her admission to the hospital, she fell into a coma. Doctors saved the child, Chancellor Lee Adams, via an emergency Caesarean section, but the mother died a month later (on Dec. 14).

Carruth went to the police and posted a $3 million bail, on condition that if either Cherica or Chancellor died, he would turn himself in. After Cherica died, he fled and became a fugitive. The Panthers released him a few days later, citing a morals clause in his contract. He was captured after being found hiding in the trunk of a car outside a motel in Parkers Crossroads, Tennessee. Also in the trunk was $3,900 cash, bottles for body waste, extra clothes, candy bars and a cell phone. He was found 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 to 24 years in prison. He was found not guilty of first-degree murder, and so was spared the death penalty. He is serving a sentence of at least 18 years and 11 months at Nash Correctional Institution near Rocky Mount, North Carolina, with a projected release date of Oct. 22, 2018.

The driver in the murder, Michael Kennedy, pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 11 years and eight months. Van Brett Watkins pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the shooting, and was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years and three months.