As depraved murderer and reprobate Rae Carruth, a former NFL star, continues to languish away in prison, as he should, the son he tried to murder before he was born is now 16 years old.
Chancellor Lee Adams is a high school student in Charlotte and lives with his grandmother, Saundra Adams. It is a miracle that Chancellor is even alive after Rae Carruth hired a hitman to kill the pregnant mother in 1999 so that he would not have to pay child support.
The mother, Cherica Adams, 24, eventually did succumb to the bullet wounds, but not before she was able to softly utter Carruth as the one who hired someone to kill her. Chancellor was born 16 weeks early through C-section and somehow managed to live.
“Chancellor is not just surviving,” his grandmother told the Charlotte Observer. “He is thriving.”
Unfortunately, Chancellor has special needs and cerebral palsy. The loss of blood and oxygen the night Cherica was shot caused permanent brain damage. He uses a walker to get around, but can communicate and can operate in life mostly independently. Chancellor is “able to feed himself some” and dress himself “with minimal assistance,” Adams said.
“I’ve never treated Chancellor like he’s disabled,” she said of her grandson who roots for the Panthers and loves to go horseback riding. “I treat him like he’s ‘abled’ differently.”
Carruth is still imprisoned but is scheduled for release on Oct. 22, 2018. Remarkably, perhaps inexplicably, Adams wants the NFL player will be a part of the very son he tried to kill 16 years ago.
“The main reason I want Rae and Chancellor to one day have a relationship is because (Chancellor) is his son,” Adams told the newspaper. “And that’s why I chose early on that I would forgive Rae. Because I don’t feel like I can offer unconditional love to Chancellor if I don’t forgive Rae. That’s his father. It’s a part of him. Chancellor wouldn’t be who he is without Rae. I want them to bond, or at least to meet again.”
Here’s how the premeditated murder-for-hire went down: On Nov. 16, 1999, Carruth and Cherica Adams were going on a date to the movie theater but drove in separate cars. She was tailing him in southeast Charlotte when Carruth suddenly stopped short. When Cherica stopped behind him, another car pulled up alongside her. Brett Watkins, who was later sentenced to at least 40 years in prison, unloaded his handgun into Adams’ BMW.
The woman was able to make a gasping call to 911, which implicated Carruth. In January 2001, the ex-wideout, who has never admitted culpability in the crime, was sentenced to 19 years in prison. It’s quite remarkable that he is eligible to get out so quickly for premeditated murder, normally a capital crime that usually earns the perpetrator life in prison, at least.
“Right now, Rae is still in denial about his part in Cherica’s murder,” Adams said. “Not that Chancellor would change that. But if anybody were to ever touch Rae’s heart, to make him want to be truthful, I think it would be Chancellor.”
Neither Carruth nor any of his family members has contacted Chancellor or his grandmother, Adams said. “They are all missing out on the wonderful person that is Chancellor Lee Adams.”
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