Editing Rae Carruth

{{short description|American football player and convicted felon}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name              = Rae Carruth
| image_name        = 
| image_size        = 
| image_caption     = 
| birth_name        = Rae Lamar Wiggins
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1974|1|20}}
| birth_place       = [[Sacramento, California]], U.S.
| death_date        = <!--{{Death date and age|20YY|MM|DD|1974|1|20}}-->
| death_place       = 
| cause             = 
| resting_place     = 
| alias             = Rae Theotis Wiggins<br>Rae Theotis Carruth<br>Rae Lamar Carruth<br>Rae Carruth<br>Rae Lamar
| conviction        = [[Conspiracy to murder|Conspiracy to commit first degree murder]]<br>[[Criminal possession of a weapon|Discharge of a firearm into occupied property]]<br>[[Foeticide|Use an instrument to destroy an unborn child]]
| conviction_penalty = 18 years and 11 months to 24 years and 4 months imprisonment
| conviction_status = Released
| occupation        = Former professional football player (1997–99)
| height            = {{height|ft=5|in=11}}
| spouse            = 
| parents           = Theodry Carruth (mother)<br />Samuel Carruth (stepfather)<br />Charles Wiggins (father)
| children          = 2
| module            = {{Infobox NFL biography
| embed       = yes
| position    = [[Wide receiver]]
| number      = 84, 89
| birth_date  =
| birth_place = 
| height_ft   = 5
| height_in   = 11
| weight_lbs  = 194
| draftyear   = 1997
| draftround  = 1
| draftpick   = 27
| high_school = [[Valley High School (Sacramento, California)|Valley]] {{nowrap|(Sacramento, California)}}
| college     = [[Colorado Buffaloes football|Colorado]]
| pastteams   = * [[Carolina Panthers]] ({{NFL Year|1997|1999}})
| highlights  = * [[PFWA All-Rookie Team]] ([[PFWA All-Rookie Team#1997|1997]])
* First-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1996 College Football All-America Team|1996]])
* First-team [[List of All-Big 12 Conference football teams|All-Big 12]] ([[1996 All-Big 12 Conference football team|1996]])
* First-team All-[[Big Eight Conference|Big Eight]] ([[1995 All-Big Eight Conference football team|1995]])
| statlabel1  = [[Reception (American football)|Receptions]]
| statvalue1  = 62
| statlabel2  = [[Receiving yards]]
| statvalue2  = 804
| statlabel3  = [[Touchdown|Receiving touchdowns]]
| statvalue3  = 4
| pfr         = CarrRa00 
}}
}}

'''Rae Theotis Carruth'''<ref name=ncmug>{{cite web|url=http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0712822&searchLastName=carruth&searchFirstName=rae&listurl=pagelistoffendersearchresults&listpage=1|publisher=North Carolina Department Of Public Safety: Offender Public Information |title=Rae L Wiggins |access-date=December 28, 2013}}</ref><ref name="fdtrg">{{cite magazine |last=Bamberger |first=Michael |date=December 27, 1999 |title=First-degree Tragedy |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1969/12/31/8113382/firstdegree-tragedy-rae-carruth-was-a-gifted-but-unassuming-wide-receiver-for-the-panthers-now-he-stands-accused-of-ordering-the-murder-of-his-pregnant-girlfrienda-horrific-crime-that-like-carruth-himself-remains-shrouded-in-my |magazine=Sports Illustrated |page=40 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410215945/https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/12/27/firstdegree-tragedy-rae-carruth-was-a-gifted-but-unassuming-wide-receiver-for-the-panthers-now-he-stands-accused-of-ordering-the-murder-of-his-pregnant-girlfrienda-horrific-crime-that-like-carruth-himself-remains-shrouded-in-my |archive-date=April 10, 2021}}</ref> (born '''Rae Lamar Wiggins'''; January 20, 1974) is an American former professional [[American football|football]] player who was convicted of [[conspiracy to commit murder]]. He played as a [[wide receiver]] for the [[Carolina Panthers]] of the [[National Football League]] (NFL). Carruth played [[college football]] for the [[Colorado Buffaloes football|Colorado Buffaloes]], earning first-team [[College Football All-America 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.

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]] system and was released from the Sampson Correctional Institution in [[Clinton, North Carolina]], on October 22, 2018.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Jill |date=October 22, 2018 |title=Ex-NFLer Rae Carruth released from prison |website=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/22/sport/former-carolina-panther-rae-carruth-released-from-prison/index.html |access-date=October 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812212756/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/22/sport/former-carolina-panther-rae-carruth-released-from-prison/index.html |archive-date=August 12, 2022}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Born and raised in [[Sacramento, California]], Carruth attended [[Valley High School (Sacramento, California)|Valley High School]]. He was accepted on a football scholarship to the [[University of Colorado Boulder]], in Boulder, Colorado.

==College career==
He played four seasons for the [[Colorado Buffaloes football|Buffaloes]] and was named a first-team [[All-American]] in [[1996 NCAA Division I-A football season|1996]]. His [[quarterback]]s at CU were future pros [[Koy Detmer]] and [[Kordell Stewart]]. Carruth earned his degree with a double major in English and education.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/|title=Chicago Tribune: Chicago news, sports, weather, entertainment|website=Chicagotribune.com|access-date=November 26, 2021}}</ref>  Carruth caught 135 passes for 2,540 yards and 11 touchdowns in his four seasons, with an average of 18.8 yards per catch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/rae-carruth-1.html|title=Rae Carruth College Stats|website=Sports-Reference.com|access-date=November 26, 2021}}</ref>

==Professional career==
{{NFL predraft
|    height ft = 5
|    height in = 10 5/8
|       weight = 194
|     arm span = 31 1/8
|    hand span = 9 1/2
}}

Carruth was a first-round draft pick in the [[1997 NFL draft]], taken by the [[Carolina Panthers]] with the 27th overall selection.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1997 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1997/draft.htm |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> He signed a four-year, $3.7&nbsp;million deal that included a $1.3&nbsp;million signing bonus.<ref>{{cite web |last=Richmond |first=Peter |date=July 11, 2013 |title=Rae Carruth, The Women Who Loved Him, And The One He Wanted Dead |url=http://thestacks.deadspin.com/rae-carruth-the-women-who-loved-him-and-the-one-he-wa-747347792 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108231043/https://deadspin.com/rae-carruth-the-women-who-loved-him-and-the-one-he-wa-747347792 |archive-date=January 8, 2022 |access-date=October 21, 2018 |website=Thestacks.deadspin.com}}</ref>

Carruth had a rookie season in [[1997 Carolina Panthers season|1997]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/awards/nfl-all-rookie-1997.htm|title=1997 PFWA All-Rookie Team|work=[[Pro-Football-Reference.com]]|access-date=July 22, 2019}}</ref>

He broke his right foot in the opening game of [[1998 Carolina Panthers season|1998]], 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 Carolina Panthers season|1999]] 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.<ref name=fdtrg/> 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.<ref name="SI">{{cite news |last=Lake |first=Thomas |date=September 17, 2012 |title=The Boy They Couldn't Kill |publisher=[[Sports Illustrated]] |url=https://www.si.com/nfl/2015/01/07/si-60-the-boy-they-couldnt-kill-rae-carruth-son |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121073956/https://www.si.com/nfl/2015/01/07/si-60-the-boy-they-couldnt-kill-rae-carruth-son |archive-date=November 21, 2021}}</ref>

===Crimes===
On November 16, 1999, near Carruth's home in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]], Cherica Adams, a real estate agent he had been dating, 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 and its passenger had shot her. Carruth then drove away from the scene.<ref name=Invest>''Investigative Reports'' episode, [[A&E Network|A&E]]</ref>

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]]. Carruth went to the police and posted $3&nbsp;million bail, on condition that if either Adams or the infant died, he would turn himself in.<ref name=Invest/> Adams died on December 14, 1999. The baby, named Chancellor Lee Adams, survived but suffered permanent [[brain damage]] and [[cerebral palsy]] as a result of being without oxygen for 70 minutes before he was born.<ref name=SI/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Diaz|first1=George|title=Diaz: Human spirit lives in son Rae Carruth left to die|url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/tampa-bay-buccaneers/os-tampa-bay-bucs-coach-rae-carruth-son-20161008-story.html|access-date=October 9, 2016|work=Orlando Sentinel|date=October 9, 2016}}</ref> Chancellor Lee graduated from [[Julius L. Chambers High School|Vance High School]] in 2021 at age 21.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/scott-fowler/article251584383.html|title=Chancellor Lee Adams, the son Rae Carruth tried to kill, is now a man graduating high school|last=Fowler|first=Scott|work=The Charlotte Observer|date=May 26, 2021|access-date=June 2, 2021}}</ref>

Carruth quickly fled after Adams's death, but was captured on December 15 in [[West Tennessee]], found hiding in the trunk of a car outside a motel in [[Parkers Crossroads, Tennessee|Parkers Crossroads]].<ref name=crintrk>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19991216&id=loVIAAAAIBAJ&pg=6119,176401 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |title=Carruth turns up in trunk at motel |date=December 16, 1999 |agency=Associated Press |page=C-1 }}</ref> 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,<ref name=cwextr>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=naouAAAAIBAJ&pg=6281%2C4601223|newspaper=Beaver County Times|agency=Associated Press |title=Carruth waives extradition to return to North Carolina |date=December 17, 1999 |page=B-1}}</ref> citing a [[morals clause]] in his contract, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely on December 17.<ref>{{cite news |author=Heath, Thomas |date=December 17, 1999 |title=Carruth to Return to N.C. |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-12/17/054r-121799-idx.html |access-date=October 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128030427/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-12/17/054r-121799-idx.html |archive-date=January 28, 2019}}</ref>

At trial, prosecutors contended that Carruth hired Watkins and others to murder Adams because of her refusal to abort their unborn child.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 20, 2015 |title=Rae Carruth Goes on Trial for Murder |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=100160 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407213604/https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=100160 |archive-date=April 7, 2022 |access-date=February 23, 2015 |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name="crdef">{{cite web |last=Boghosian |first=Leslie |date=October 18, 2000 |title=Defense strategy: Carruth attorneys offer version of Adams' murder |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/news/2000/10/18/munson_carruth/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128041328/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/news/2000/10/18/munson_carruth/ |archive-date=November 28, 2007 |access-date=February 1, 2014 |work=CNN/SI |publisher=sportsillustrated.cnn.com}}</ref>

Carruth was found guilty of [[conspiracy (crime)|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 possible execution. Carruth was sentenced to 18 years and 11 months to 24 years and 4 months in prison.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Former NFL player Rae Carruth out of prison after 18 years |work=Business Insider |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-former-nfl-player-rae-carruth-out-of-prison-after-18-years-2018-10 |access-date=October 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413092049/https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-former-nfl-player-rae-carruth-out-of-prison-after-18-years-2018-10 |archive-date=April 13, 2019}}</ref>

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 [[Charlotte, North Carolina]], for accusing her of lying about him in interviews for years.<ref name=ncmug/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Imprisoned former Panthers player Rae Carruth breaks his silence |url=https://www.yahoo.com/sports/imprisoned-former-panthers-player-rae-carruth-breaks-silence-195551499.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416081609/https://sports.yahoo.com/imprisoned-former-panthers-player-rae-carruth-breaks-silence-195551499.html |archive-date=April 16, 2021 |website=Yahoo.com|date=February 19, 2018 }}</ref>

Carruth was released on October 22, 2018, after serving 18 years. He moved to [[Pennsylvania]] after his release. He is now married and resides in the southwestern United States.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perez |first=A. J. |title=Ex-NFL player Rae Carruth released after nearly 19 years in prison for murder plot |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/10/22/rae-carruth-released-prison-panthers/1725206002/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102140249/https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/10/22/rae-carruth-released-prison-panthers/1725206002/ |archive-date=November 2, 2021 |access-date=2021-10-12 |website=Usatoday.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fmr. NFL player Rae Carruth moves to Pennsylvania after prison term for girlfriend's murder |url=https://6abc.com/rae-carruth-son-released-cherica-adams-net-worth/4548020/ |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=6abc Philadelphia |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fowler |first=Scott |date=November 12, 2024 |title=Murder, miracles and Rae Carruth: 25 years later, an exclusive update on a shocking story |url=https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article295035034.html |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Charlotte Obersver}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Further reading===
*{{cite magazine |last=Lake |first=Thomas |date= September 16, 2012|title= The Boy They Couldn't Kill|url= https://www.si.com/vault/2012/09/17/106233932/the-boy-they-couldnt-kill|magazine= [[Sports Illustrated]] |location= [[New York City|New York]]|publisher= [[Time, Inc.]]}}

==External links==
*[http://www.crimelynx.com/raecarruth.html Rae Carruth murder case compendium]
*[http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/apps/offender/offend1?DOCNUM=0712822&SENTENCEINFO=yes&SHOWPHOTO=yes&numtimesin=2 North Carolina Department of Correction Public Access Information System - Rae Carruth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113043102/http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/apps/offender/offend1?DOCNUM=0712822&SENTENCEINFO=yes&SHOWPHOTO=yes&numtimesin=2 |date=January 13, 2009 }}
*{{Footballstats |nfl=rae-carruth |cfl= |afl= |espn=1179 |cbs= |yahoo= |fox= |si= |pfr=CarrRa00 |dbf=CARRURAE01 |rotoworld=}}
*TruTV series [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wskBnPiyz_E&t=2 Mugshots: Rae Carruth - NFL Hitman] episode published by [[FilmRise]]
*[https://www.stitcher.com/show/crime-in-sports/episode/001-did-tracy-morgan-shoot-a-pregnant-woman-the-saga-of-rae-carruth-200168250 Crime in Sports #001 - Did Tracy Morgan Shoot a Pregnant Woman? - The Saga of Rae Carruth]

{{1997 NFL Draft}}
{{Panthers1997DraftPicks}}
{{PanthersFirstPick}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carruth, Rae}}
[[Category:1974 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American criminals]]
[[Category:American football wide receivers]]
[[Category:American male criminals]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:American sportspeople convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Carolina Panthers players]]
[[Category:Colorado Buffaloes football players]]
[[Category:Crime in North Carolina]]
[[Category:Criminals from California]]
[[Category:Murder-for-hire cases]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by North Carolina]]
[[Category:People convicted of soliciting murder]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Sacramento, California]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American sportsmen]]
[[Category:21st-century American sportsmen]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]
[[Category:Sportspeople convicted of murder]]