Rae Theotis Carruth (born Rae Lamar Wiggins; January 20, 1974) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. He played as a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Carruth played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Colorado Buffaloes, earning first-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors in 1996. He was selected by the Panthers in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft and spent three seasons with the team. In 2001, he was found guilty of conspiring the murder of his then-girlfriend Cherica Adams, who was pregnant with his child. Including pre-trial confinement, he served 18 years of an 18-to-24-year sentence in the North Carolina state

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

system and was released from the Sampson Correctional Institution in Clinton, North Carolina, on October 22, 2018.

Early life

Born and raised in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, Carruth attended Valley High School. He was accepted on a football scholarship to the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

, in Boulder, Colorado.

College career

He played four seasons for the Buffaloes and was named a first-team

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. His

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

s at CU were future pros Koy Detmer and Kordell Stewart. Carruth earned his degree with a double major in English and education. Carruth caught 135 passes for 2,540 yards and 11 touchdowns in his four seasons, with an average of 18.8 yards per catch.

Professional career

Carruth was a first-round draft pick in the 1997 NFL draft, taken by the

with the 27th overall selection. He signed a four-year, $3.7 million deal that included a $1.3 million signing bonus. Carruth had a rookie season in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and started 14 games, during which he caught 44 passes for 545 yards and four touchdown passes, tied for first among rookie receivers. He was named to the all-rookie team at wide receiver. He broke his right foot in the opening game of

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, and did not catch another pass that season due to the injury. He ended the year with four catches for 59 yards (all on opening day). He played in the first five games of the

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

season, with 14 catches for 200 yards.

Personal life

During Carruth's sophomore year at Colorado, his girlfriend, Michelle Wright, gave birth to their son Rae Jr. Wright sued him for child support, and Wright later testified that Carruth agreed to pay $2,700 in child support, half of what he was ordered to pay by a judge, and she had accepted on condition that he be a better father.

Crimes

On November 16, 1999, near Carruth's home in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, Cherica Adams, a real estate agent he had been dating, was shot four times using a .357 caliber

Charter Arms Charter Arms Co. is an American manufacturer of revolvers. Since its founding in 1964, Charter Arms has produced revolvers chambered in the following calibers: .22 Long Rifle, .22 Winchester Magnum, .32 Long, .32 H&R Magnum, .327 Federal Ma ...

revolver by Van Brett Watkins Sr., a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

manager and an associate of Carruth. Adams managed to call 911, and said that Carruth had stopped his vehicle in front of hers, and that another vehicle drove alongside and its passenger had shot her. Carruth then drove away from the scene.''Investigative Reports'' episode, A&E 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 delivered the baby via emergency

caesarean section Caesarean section, also known as C-section, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the Surgery, surgical procedure by which one or more babies are Childbirth, delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen. It is often performed because va ...

. Carruth went to the police and posted $3 million bail, on condition that if either Adams or the infant died, he would turn himself in. Adams died on December 14, 1999. The baby, named Chancellor Lee Adams, survived but suffered permanent

brain damage Brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating trauma-induced damage. A common ...

and

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

as a result of being without oxygen for 70 minutes before he was born. Chancellor Lee graduated from Vance High School in 2021 at age 21. Carruth quickly fled after Adams's death, but was captured on December 15 in

West Tennessee West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that roughly comprises the western quarter of the state. The region includes 21 counties between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, delineated by state law. Its geography consists ...

, found hiding in the trunk of a car outside a motel in Parkers Crossroads. The trunk also contained $3,900 cash, bottles of his urine, extra clothes, candy bars, and a cell phone. The Panthers waived him on December 16, citing a morals clause in his contract, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely on December 17. At trial, prosecutors contended that Carruth hired Watkins and others to murder Adams because of her refusal to abort their unborn child. Carruth's lawyer David Rudolf claimed that Carruth had been caught up in a drug deal gone bad. They claimed that on the night of the shooting, after Carruth had refused to fund the drug deal, Watkins shot Adams in a sudden rage when she "flipped him off" after he had attempted to ask her about Carruth's whereabouts. Carruth was found guilty of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, shooting into an occupied vehicle, and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child. He was found not guilty of first-degree murder, sparing him from possible execution. Carruth was sentenced to 18 years and 11 months to 24 years and 4 months in prison. Watkins was sentenced to prison for a minimum of 40 years, 8 months and a maximum of 50 years, 8 months for the murder of Cherica Adams. He was last housed at Scotland CI in Laurinburg, North Carolina, and died on December 3, 2023. Carruth sent a letter in 2018 apologizing to Saundra Adams, the mother of Cherica Adams, via WBTV in

, for accusing her of lying about him in interviews for years. Carruth was released on October 22, 2018, after serving 18 years. He moved to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

after his release. He is now married and resides in the southwestern United States.

References

External links

Rae Carruth murder case compendiumNorth Carolina Department of Correction Public Access Information System - Rae Carruth
* *TruTV serie
Mugshots: Rae Carruth - NFL Hitman
episode published by

FilmRise FilmRise is an American media company, headquartered in New York City, that operates a film and television studio and a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) network. As of November 2024, the FilmRise app has reported more than 31.5 milli ...

Crime in Sports #001 - Did Tracy Morgan Shoot a Pregnant Woman? - The Saga of Rae Carruth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carruth, Rae 1974 births Living people 21st-century American criminals American football wide receivers American male criminals American people convicted of murder American sportspeople convicted of crimes Carolina Panthers players Colorado Buffaloes football players Crime in North Carolina Criminals from California Murder-for-hire cases People convicted of murder by North Carolina People convicted of soliciting murder Players of American football from Sacramento, California 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Sportspeople convicted of murder