Former Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth, convicted in 2001 for conspiracy in the 1999 murder of the woman pregnant with his child, has penned a letter to the woman’s mother in which he accepted responsibility for the crime and expressed his desire for custody of his son.
The 15-page letter was published Monday by CBS Charlotte affiliate WBTV, to whom Carruth sent the letter. According to the outlet, Carruth had previously written letters to the woman, Saundra Adams, but had never received a response.
Carruth was sentenced to 18 to 24 years in prison after he was found guilty on three charges related to the shooting death of Cherica Adams in November 1999. Adams was eight months pregnant at the time. During trial, prosecutors explained that Carruth did not want to pay child support and hired a hitman to kill Adams.
Adams, however, lived for a month after the shooting and delivered the child. The boy, Chancellor Lee Adams, was born with cerebral palsy as a result of his mother’s gunshot injuries.
Carruth is scheduled to be released from prison in October and in the letter said he believes he should get custody of Chancellor Adams, who is now 18 but in need of care.
Saundra Adams, who has raised Chancellor his whole life, responded to that part of Carruth’s letter later Monday.
“I’ve forgiven Rae already, but to have any type of relationship with him, there does have to be some repentance,” Adams said. “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.”
According to WBTV, which also interviewed Carruth, the now-44-year-old plans to move to California and live a private life.
“If I could change anything, I’d change the whole situation. His mother would still be here and I wouldn’t be where I’m at. So that’s what I’d want to change. I want the incident to never have happened at all,” Carruth said.
–Field Level Media
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.