Rae Carruth

Rae Theotis Carruth (born Rae Lamar Wiggins; January 20, 1974) is an American former professional football player who was convicted of conspiracy to murder. He played as a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes, earning first-team All-American 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.

On November 16, 1999, near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, Cherica Adams, a real estate agent he had been dating who was 8 months pregnant with his child, was shot four times using a .357 caliber Charter Arms revolver by Van Brett Watkins Sr., a nightclub 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 hers and its passenger had shot her. Carruth then drove away from the scene.

Soon after her admission to the hospital, the doctors induce a coma. Doctors delivered the baby via emergency caesarean section. 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. In 2001, Carruth was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, 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 possibl…