Rae Carruth ////// 273 | Forensic Files

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listen to me listen to me you're on a wireless plane I don't know where you are so tell me where you are man
where are you at that's Calvary Church I know Calvary Church you're where [Music]
[Music] [Laughter] Andrew Square Square [Music] yes okay where are you shot at man I
don't know where I was driving you were driving and someone shot you yes did you
see the person that shot you I'm eight months pregnant okay ma'am you're eight months pregnant you've been shot you're
at Wessex Square Community okay ma'am I'm gonna connect you to medic continue to talk to them because
man we have to help you we have to find out where you are stay with me on the line
perfect [Music] man stay with me stay with me keep talking to me ma'am medic she's been shot she's pregnant all
I can get out of her is West six square [Music] Ray Carruth was born on January 20th
1974 in Sacramento California in high school he is a football star and goes on to play college ball for the
Colorado Buffaloes and is a first-team All-American in the spring of 1997 the Carolina Panthers were close to being a
complete team boasting one of the NFL's top defenses and an offense led by a promising Young quarterback Carrie
Collins but the Panthers needed a solid number one wide receiver and they decided to
use the number 27 pick in the draft on speed sir Ray Carruth in his first season Ray caught 44 passes
for 545 yards and four touchdowns and he earned a spot on the NFL's all-rookie team for 1997. though one could argue
that that would pretty much be the peak of his pro football career and injuries would become a reoccurring theme for
Carruth in June of 1998 at a pool party Ray Carruth met Sharika Adams a Charlotte
Area woman working in real estate as well as an exotic dancer it wasn't until much later when Rey
attended a birthday party for a teammate at the strip club at which Adams worked
this is when a relationship started between the two now there are varying accounts of what this relationship was
later Ray would stay on the record quote we randomly hooked up a handful of times
and never made it about anything more than that but according to friends of sharika's
after she found out she was pregnant by Rey she was determined to have the baby and even mentioned she wanted to have a
family with Carruth but for Carruth this was an issue Caruth fathered a child with his high school
sweetheart in Sacramento and was paying child support to her now I want to go on
the record as in stating I've seen some reports that say Rey wasn't always good about paying the child support or only
pay portions of the child support yeah big NFL star he doesn't have time to pay child support so with that and other
issues with Cruz finances and a slew of football injuries Ray asked Sharika to abort the child
in 1999 Rey became acquainted with Van Brett Watkins a security guard at a strip club who began doing odd jobs for
Carruth he's a native of New York Watkins had a lengthy criminal history serving time in prison for various
crimes and he claims to have killed four people in different states and has got away with all four murders this all
prior to meeting Carruth at some point Ray Carruth offered to pay Watkins to beat up Sharika Adams making her abort
her baby this conversation led to an even worse deal Ray Carruth would pay Watkins three thousand dollars up front
and then three thousand dollars after Watkins killed Sharika Adams now Watkins drags his feet on this Rey is offering
up ideas ways for Watkins to kill her but Watkins thinks that many of Rey's plans are too risky it's not so much
that he would say that he has a problem killing her or making this hit it's more of all
of Rey's suggestions turn out to be ways that Watkins thinks he's going to get caught for this right well this all
changed very fast one day in November of 1999. this all changed very fast one day
in November of 1999 when Sharika Adams was eight months pregnant with Ray carruth's baby
so they're going to be going on a date that night now this is a bit of a break of of the norm for their relationship so
Carruth has always kind of been seeing Sharika but it's always kind of on the DL and Sharika wants to make this an
actual relationship she's already decided she's going to have this baby and therefore she wants a relationship
with the baby's father well she's an interesting person because one she is Drop Dead Gorgeous
on top of that she's this very kind person but whatever happened to her in her past she is the definition of like
an amazing person that doesn't understand their worth and that she's just kind of willing to put up with
nonsense and so here's this football player yeah he has a lot of money people could say oh she sounds like a gold
digger but I don't think that's the case this guy is treating her like dirt most
the time well and she's a determined individual okay so one thing that I've seen in her short life is that when she
sets her mind to something she achieves it yeah okay and so to be perfectly clear what it looks like to me here is
that we have a situation where she was determined to have the baby raise the baby with or without Ray Carruth right
okay in an ideal perfect scenario they would form a family and have a future together
and that's what she was hoping for now I have to believe here behind closed doors Rey is probably
telling her what she wants to hear yeah okay I believe so too so this was going to be a big night for Sharika and she
thinks in a good step forward in their relationship because they're going to go on what her mother would later refer to
a real date they were going to go out on the town together they were going to go
to see a movie together this was The Bone Collector movie well and let's just talk about Ray real quick because
he is not the most handsome guy he has a you kind of have the ugly forehead he's
got a five head yeah he has a five head and but like in one picture he looks like a
cone head with a goatee and then the other picture like the side profile it almost looks like there's a double
decker bus on top of his head um but then in some pictures he looks normal and looks
you know decently good looking guy but it's like some of the pictures it's like well this guy is fugly well I don't know
how Charming he would have been um most of his teammates often say that he was a bit more of a quiet type they
didn't know him real well he kind of stayed in the background a bit but you got him where he's got you know he went
to college he was a football star in college so much so that he's drafted in the first round of the NFL right so he
probably looks like a promising Suitor you know if you're if you're a female attracted to a professional football
player or professional athlete he's athletic he's young he's possibly going to make a lot of money I think you know
so as far as like career-wise goes he's college educated so but the problem is he seems to have like the Aaron
Hernandez syndrome where it's like you you go to school you do the right things you get drafted to a good team and then
you decide that you want to be a badass that you want to be like a gangster you know what I mean you know you're you're
spot on and that's actually how many people describe Ray Carruth as someone that he had a good upbringing he went to
college he had every Advantage given to him yeah yet for some reason he had something in him that he wanted to be
a bit of a thug or a bit of a bad boy and he you know he did have other girlfriends that he was stringing along
around the same time right that Sharika didn't know anything about but again regardless
she believes that their relationship is moving in the right direction she's eight months pregnant she's going to be
having this baby soon right and now they're going out on what she is telling her mother is their first real date to
go to the movies right well earlier that same day this is before the date that Rey invited uh sharik on he has Watkins
along with two other guys this is Michael Kennedy and Stanley Abraham they are both all three of them are at
his house now Stanley Abraham and Michael Kennedy are both reported local drug dealers so he's associating himself
with people from let's say the other side of the tracks right okay and we would have a lot of his teammates would
later say we didn't really understand why he was hanging out with these types of characters
why he would spend his time spending time with all these thugs well you're right yeah right so they're all at his
house and at some point Rey Now by this point he is been talking to Watkins about killing Sharika for months yeah
six months and he's not done anything about it Watkins and he's starting to think Ray's starting to think hey this
isn't going to get done so he starts telling Kennedy hey we need to get a gun we need to get
this whole plan in action Kennedy explains to him that he could find a gun for him
but he tells Ray I know what you're going to use it for I don't want anything to do with this I'm not
supplying you with a gun right later Kennedy would say that Rey and some roundabout way kind of threatened
Kennedy saying something like this is going to happen no matter what now you know about it regardless if you're
involved or not right anyway long story short Kennedy does go and buy a gun and this is a 38 revolver
and if anybody's seen pictures of this there are pictures of this gun online it's a
if I were like looking for a weapon to defend myself or to use in an attack this this would not be my first choice
this looks like it's okay so it's a silver gun with a black handle but it is visibly rusted like it doesn't I would
question if it would even operate at this point this guy has a record so he's taking whatever he can get yeah
he has to get a gun illegally Kennedy says that Ray gave him 100 five twenty dollar bills to go and purchase this gun
he buys the gun and it comes with five bullets so Kennedy he's going to drive around
and he's going to be driving around with Watkins and Abraham in his vehicle for several hours why while Ray Carruth and
Adams they go on their date right which the movie ends and the date is winding down just before midnight so after the
movie Rey tells Sharika that he wanted to spend the night at her house again something that doesn't happen or has not
happened in this relationship it's [ __ ] so at some point they're going to go get his vehicle they're now
driving separate vehicles back to her home karuth's car is in front and Sharika is
following Ray Carruth but this is with Kennedy Watkins and Abraham all in Kennedy's car trailing Sharika Adams and
I'm assuming she doesn't know that no I it's it's a little tricky because they were at his home earlier that day I
don't know if she knew these individuals I think that Rey's relationship with Watkins was lengthy enough that Sharika
probably knew of Watkins so as the three cars traveled along this is odd enough but they traveled along
Ray Road this is in Charlotte North Carolina right they came to a more secluded section of railroad there
Carruth stopped his car in front of Sharika Adams's car Kennedy pulled his car up alongside
Adams's car boxing her in then Watkins opened fire shooting at Sharika until he fired all five of his bullets
the two cars with the men driving them sped away leaving Sharika there alone to die but somehow amazingly she was still
alive yeah so to be clear about this Rey stops his car to pin her in and preventing her from moving forward
right and then so then they come on the side this is very similar to what people
think happened in like the Tupac shooting yes and let's be clear about this too after the shooting
Ray just drives away yeah yeah as does the other vehicle leaving Sharika there I mean she's very badly wounded bleeding
profusely and near death somehow once pregnant she using her cell phone she calls 9-1-1
and on that call you can hear Sharika telling 9-1-1 I've been shot I've been shot she says I was following my baby's
daddy Ray Carruth the football player he was in the car in front of me and he slowed down and somebody pulled up
beside me and did this then the medic asked and then where did he go Sharika says he
just left I think he did it I don't know what to think somehow she had the strength to hold on
and the wherewithal to continually sound her car horn this is to alert responders to her exact
location as they made their way to the very precise description of her location that she was able to provide them on the
phone well at some point she's saying I'm on this road I'm on this road in the and the dispatcher is going
I don't know what you're saying could you imagine you've been shot you're eight eight months pregnant you're
calling for help and you're in your audible but it's not audible to the other person yeah and you're going oh
I'm on this road I'm on this road what road [ __ ] lady I gotta spell it out for you
well and the thing is too you know we heard a portion of that 911 call on the trailer yeah I mean you can hear the
pain and Agony that Sharika is in and she's fighting through that and she's I mean she's giving them a very
precise directions to where she is you know hey this is my location she's spelling out the name of the road right
and but you can also hear the difficulty during that conversation it's not it's a
little tough to discern what's going on you do have the operator or the medic I know that they switch lines at some
point but as they are telling her hey you are on a mobile phone so we don't know your location you need to tell us
where you are and hang on so we can get people there to help you to save your life right and I cannot I I mean the
strength in this young woman to be able to hold it together and describe exactly
where she is because later when they find her you can go back and listen to the 911 call and You Can Tell She's spot
on with where she's saying she is no but here's where it concerns me a little bit
you know Ray slows down she saw that happen she knows what happened she knows he's responsible she knows
he's in on this and if you don't know when he stopped the car and you felt the bullet you know when he drove away
but to me this is a sign that this individual when she goes I don't know what to think
that's that's a direct reflection of I don't know what my worth is well but it's also I mean she is very clear and
very smart to tell the operator I think that he did this right and name him specifically and say what his actions
were during during the course of these events well it's also great when she actually
says his name who he plays for and his number yeah yeah I think he was number 89 and she says that and so she's very
specific on describing who he is so that the operator and everybody that would listen to this call in the future would
know exactly who this guy is 86. at one point he's 83 well he's 86. he I I actually think he may have been 89 at
this point one thing with Ray Carruth and I didn't know would get it too much into it
he was very much about his appearance and His Image so much so the in his very short professional football career he
changed numbers many times and that's actually not completely unheard of you know a lot of times a guy will show up
to a team and somebody else has the number that they desire for whatever reason and they will offer money to
exchange numbers exchange jersey numbers and Ray Carruth it was 83 84 86 89 jeez well it's you look when you have a
giant cone head like that you you got to be worried I mean they probably had to make a special helmet
for this dude well Emergency Services responded to Sharika Adams in 12 minutes this is after she dialed 9-1-1 tarika
Adams was transported to Carolina's Medical Center where her baby was delivered via emergency cesarean section
approximately 80 minutes after she was shot the initial prognosis was to put it very blunt it was bad very bad at best
they thought Sharika might somehow survive the shooting but her baby would likely die
Sharika regained Consciousness approximately seven hours after giving birth she couldn't talk
but she was able to scribble notes to detectives in order to communicate regarding the questions they were asking
about what had transpired one of the notes that she wrote was he was driving in front of me and stopped
in the road she also wrote and a car pulled up beside me and he blocked the front and never came back she's
obviously talking about Ray Carruth here as far as her response to the question of whether Carruth was involved she Drew
only a question mark after a short bit Sharika Adams went back to sleep and never regained
Consciousness the baby was named Chancellor Lee and just like some sort of Miracle he was beginning to improve
in spite of doctors concerns of brain damage sharika's condition however got worse and worse now while this is all
going on we have an investigation that is happening and we have detectives that are looking and talking to Ray Carruth
because one thing they know and he does not know is that Sharika was able to give his name during the course of the
9-1-1 call so they're talking to Ray Carruth and they went ahead and they pulled his cell phone records well one
thing that's interesting about his cell phone records is they see a number on there a phone number on there that they
didn't know who this belonged to yet he had called this number like 150 times in
the course of a very short period of time over the course of a couple months okay so they give him his phone records
and they're like you know who is this number who is this number who does this number belong to and they're going
through the the numbers and Ray skips over that phone number the one that they wanted to know the most about why
because what they have is his cell phone information they could figure out through the uh pings of the cell phone
that not only could Sharika Adams verbally state that he was in front of her car around the time that she was
shocked they could put his cell phone with her or near her at this same time and on top of that that day that evening
leading up to that shooting he's making phone calls some of them are to shriek Adams and some of them are to this
unknown phone number well yeah the unknown phone number is going to a hotel motel Holiday Inn hotel and who is at
the hotel none other than fan Brett Watkins the gunman yes after they speak with Watkins he's going to give them
other names arrest are going to be made this includes Watkins Abraham Kennedy and Ray Carruth Ray Carruth was able to
post a three million dollar bail but this came with conditions one he was not to leave Mecklenburg County and two he
was to turn himself in if either Sharika Adams or Chancellor Lee died [Music] thank you
[Music] all right cheers mates cheers now tragically in the early afternoon of December 14 1999 Sharika Adams died at
the age of just 24 after spending almost a month in a coma now facing charges of first-degree
murder Ray Carruth always the coward fled North Carolina a young woman named Wendy Cole an acquaintance of Carruth
who was planning to attend Cosmetology School in California agreed to take him with her late that December night karuth
hid in the trunk of Cole's Toyota Camry after driving through the night Cole checked into a Best Western hotel along
the interstate this was in Tennessee she would eventually call Ray carruth's mother and say hey he's with me
we've been traveling he was fleeing the area Ray carruth's mother then calls the
Baal bondsman that set bail for Ray Carruth this is a three million dollar bail right they posted it for him if he
doesn't show up if he doesn't turn himself in they're going to lose their bail money so they want to find him the
reason that carruth's mother called them was because she feared that the longer he ran
that police would eventually catch up with him and when they did it might go down in a way that he gets killed during
the course of attempting to arrest him right so the police the FBI the bail bondsmen all these people armed with
this information knowing what hotel that they're staying at in Tennessee they show up to this location they speak with
this woman Wendy Cole and God bless her I know that from the outset from the onset of this
she was doing the wrong thing letting him flee but we we should be thankful that she did the right thing before it
was too late she phones this thing in they go to the hotel and she still feels some kind of loyalty to Ray you know at
this time we he's innocent until proven guilty not with that forehead and she doesn't
outwardly tell the detectives or the FBI exactly where where Rey is because he's
not in the hotel room with her he's still in the trunk of her car parked in the parking lot
so they keep asking her where is Rey well she's hinting to them it takes them a minute to pick up on it she keeps
looking at the keys at the car keys because they actually thought that once that they checked the hotel that Ray was
out on foot you know maybe looking for food or just out in the area right they go to the car and they open up the
trunk and they arrest Ray Carruth without incident Ray had actually been in the trunk of that vehicle for like 20
hours by this time this leads us to the trial right and this trial is a very interesting one for many reasons first
this was one of the most high profile criminal cases in the history of Charlotte North Carolina as well as the
history of the NFL Ray carruth's defense attorney was David Rudolph now anybody that's seen the staircase knows who
David Rudolph is yeah Rudolph's defense of Carruth centered around Caruth being caught up in a drug deal with Watkins
that had gone wrong not a hired hit to kill Sharika what this means is their story because you have these three
individuals Watkins Abraham Kennedy they're all saying the same thing Watkins was hired to kill Sharika Adams
that Ray Carruth hired him to kill this woman to get rid of her and the baby that she was going to have
Ray carruth's defense is I was using my money as an investment with Watkins we meaning Rey was going to fund the
purchase of a truckload of drugs and that when the truckload was to come in Ray backed out and told Watkins I
don't want to do this it's illegal I'm not paying for this Watkins what they allege is that Watkins
killed Sharika Adams in retaliation for not for Rey not paying for those drugs right and there was some weight to this
claim because you have Rudolph's defense that centered around a quote that Watkins had supposedly told a Jailer
while they were waiting trial where he stated if he had just given us the money none of this would have happened you
know meaning that it was Rey's fault if he would have just paid for that truckload of drugs I wouldn't have had
to retaliate and kill Sharika Adams yeah so Rey's story is basically this that the night of the murder when they left
the movie Rey was getting nervous that Watkins was going to come after him so he didn't
want to stay at his home so he tells Sharika let's go get my car or get your car whoever's car they weren't in we'll
ride separately back to your place I can stay at your place he won't know that I'm there
he says that when he saw Watkins and Kennedy and Abraham in that car pull up that he panicked Ray Carruth panicked
and fled the scene at trial Kennedy testified claiming that Ray Carruth commissioned Watkins for the
hit and that he had threatened to kill Kennedy if he did not assist with the plot testimonies were also given by
Michelle Wright who had birth karuth's first child and then Amber Turner carus former girlfriend who aborted a
pregnancy that she had via Carruth the most compelling testimony came from Van Brett Watkins who maintained over the
course of two days that Carruth had hired him to kill Adams karruth for his part never took the stand again let me
set this up this is the shooter this is the guy that pulled the trigger and he is being
cross-examined and they're trying to get him to slip up now the audio is rough it's coming from a VHS tape but I think
you'll find it compelling and uh you've uh you've got a gun there that you said he
told you to get down in Atlanta right he did the purpose of that gun according to
you is to carry out to shoot right exactly and so you get this call and you're and you're petrified and so you
go over there um because you feel petrified but you don't bring the gun that you supposedly bought for purposes
of this hit right exactly so you're sort of a Hitman without a weapon is that what you are if that's
what you want to say well that's what you were according to you if that's what you I can tell you with my hands
okay is that what you were I could tell you with my hands brother I don't need it again okay I
didn't need a gun okay I put I left the gun there in hopes that he would deter him from doing what he
did yeah he must have been pretty angry at you for not bringing the gun that he had told you to get wasn't he
was ordering everybody around what the heck I mean I mean show up the Hitman and he made sure excuse me sir I'm still
asking a question and his vicious criminal who's never had as much as a parking ticket in his life that takes a
that commits a murder that commits the murder on his first time out for Crime what was he going to escalate to Mr
Watkins yes sir I'm sorry I'll be quiet just a minute let him finish the question but
again Mr Rudolph I know it's called examination don't be argumentative in your questions yes sir
he must have been mighty angry at you to show up at his house for this hit without the gun wasn't he wasn't he
excuse me wasn't he I just answered you what's your answer yes or no wasn't he yeah
and so did he say well you go on back and you go get that gun because I don't need to be spending
another 200 and having this accounting running all around all night looking for a gun when I didn't need a gun
okay for me to kill somebody I don't need a gun going to look and see I'm 286 pounds
okay I would rip you like a rag doll okay is that what you're gonna do to Sharika
I could have but I didn't okay I could have killed her the baby okay that wasn't my beef I didn't kill
my wife with the meat clever I threatened her okay I didn't hit Bridget with the
Crowbar I threatened her I was a dog barking I didn't do nothing I ran after my wife did that to me I left New
York packed up took my tools and said I'm a good looking man I'll be able to get another woman left went to Atlanta
it was in the strip club with hundreds when I had a problem with the girl I was dealing with in Atlanta packed up went
to Charlotte met Bridget when I had a problem with Bridges I packed up went back to Atlanta I ran
this is what I tried to encourage the young man I told him not to do it for six months I avoided him I didn't go
ahead and do it I couldn't do it he forced me to do it he threatened me and the ones I love
they're not over so feel it feel the truth okay I come from a city where you could
feel it you can tell when someone's selling your [ __ ] and when somebody's telling the truth feel it
or your city is doomed it'd be like New York and Atlanta within 10 years remember what I said
he's representing a person who killed had his baby's mama and baby contracted out to kill
and all the time I'm looking at my girl and baby how did you think I felt I'm Still Human
even though I have a long criminal history I did it all but I'm still human God forbid
I think further you're right about that just did you say to the tension officer Griffin
two weeks after you caused that I hope the [ __ ] dies you say that that's the [ __ ] I was
talking about oh I see breaker Roof oh that's the [ __ ] I was referring to who got me into
this oh okay this is the [ __ ] I was referring to oh he didn't stand up I stood up for mine I said I did it I did
it because he made me do it okay he made the other two also do it okay that's your client the [ __ ]
at the time that you made that statement Sharika Adams was fighting for her life
right did the captain tell you what happened that day my question is Sharika Adams was
fighting for her life wasn't she she was but this this wasn't about three guys it
was about the person who got me involved in all this for six months your client did this
this wasn't a one day Affair it was for six months he dragged me into something that I didn't want to be involved with
your client now have you ever referred to women as [ __ ] it's not uh it's not uh something I would do all the
time if I did it I did it in Anger right if you were angry at a woman you'd say you [ __ ] right but if a dude acts like
a [ __ ] okay like your client the insult doubles I think with a woman there it is who didn't stand up who
didn't say look I did this look I am sorry I did this I'm gonna I'm gonna what he said was I'm gonna
save myself after the murder you're defending this will you were you hoping that Miss Adams died
I got a second degree murder charge the rest of my life in prison if she would have lived
I wouldn't have the rest of my life in prison sure so you could answer that question you
you claimed in this statement you made to the police that Mr Carruth had threatened you is that right yeah he
threatened me and my family right and I think you told me you were particularly concerned about uh your family right
most of them than me right because you're a pretty big guy right size doesn't have nothing to do with it
well you're a lot bigger than he is right he's a lot more dangerous than I am though yeah because he has a really
violent background compared to yours is that he took murder as his first child okay I never murdered nobody in my
business this was his business yes sir he took murder for the first child we understand it that's your story sir we
understand that's your story to save your life sir save my life my life is still gone
save one life it's gone are you going to be strapped to a gurney sir either way are you going to be strapped to a gurney
either way are you going to be strapped to a gurney are you going to be strapped through
Gurnee I don't know who the intense intensity of that cross-examine and it gets me every time
it's like a pressure cooker yeah I mean he just he's like talking when he's not supposed to talk right he
just keeps going and and he'll tell you he'll he'll lay out all the ways he's a piece of [ __ ]
yeah and Rudolph would later say that from time to time he was making sure that the bailiff was present in the
courtroom that there were law enforcement members present in the courtroom because he was worried that
this guy was going to come over this the stand and come at him right and at one point when you watch this on TV you
could see the jurors they all start leaning back they want to get as far away from Watkins as possible as you see
him amping up and amping up right because all of this footage I believe it was all covered by Court TV well Watkins
is a big dude and he's for 280 290. and he's mean and he's evil I mean there's no way around it yeah and he'll tell you
he'll tell you that on January 19 2001 Ray Carruth was found guilty of discharging a firearm into an occupied
property of conspiracy to commit murder and using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child but not found
guilty a first degree murder this was a very difficult thing this case was very difficult this trial was
very difficult yeah and the jurors were put in a tough spot here and the reason why that they didn't find
him guilty of first-degree murder they said that they wanted to give him second-degree murder which ultimately he
would end up getting a longer sentence the problem they had with this was they were instructed at the beginning of the
trial that these are the charges that Ray Carruth faces right one of them is first degree murder if you you can find
him guilty of that or innocent of that however if you find him guilty of I'm sorry innocent a first degree murder you
can't charge him you know he won't be tried for second-degree murder it's either first-degree murder or not guilty
yeah and the reason why I believe the jurors were put in a tough spot here is they are seeing these other three
individuals that were involved in the murder of Sharika they take the stand they get to hear their side of the story
their versions of the events and they're seeing these guys and these guys are getting second degree murder
charges right specifically Watkins the jurors said you know what we had a real problem with seeing Watkins on the stand
knowing he's getting charged with second-degree murder and he pulled the trigger five times and killed this woman
yet this guy that's on trial right in front of us is getting charged with first degree murder yeah so so it's one
of those things that like if you could hop in the DeLorean and go back in time and restructure this thing I'm not
saying anyone was to fault here Great Scots but if the jurors were given the opportunity to convict Rey of
second-degree murder yeah they would have gave him that without a doubt and that ended up leading to a shorter
sentence than Most Wanted for Ray Carruth and in fact he was facing the death penalty if he was going to be
convicted of first degree murder Ray Carruth was sentenced to a period of no less than 18 years and 11 months and no
more than 24 years and four months in prison he was given credit for the 13 months that he served in prison
following December of 1999 towards his sentence as far as carus co-conspirators are concerned Kennedy served 11 years in
prison before he was released in 2011 and Abraham went to prison for less than two years prior to his release in 2001.
Watkins is not slated to be released until 2046. yeah it doesn't make a lot of sense here I think one on how each each
individual was charged but I think again I think the system sucks because here's somebody with money
and money is going to get you a better defense and and that I think ultimately is why you got
a lesser sentence than he deserved I mean I believe everybody involved not only did they take somebody's life
but they because of the complications of birth this person is affected with these handicaps for the rest of
their life yes and and Chancellor Lee right and not only that but now other family members have to Rally around to
support him and help him through these challenges so yeah you know but again that's if you
have some money you'll get a lighter sentence well let's talk about something here because often
in the cases we cover captain there are no Heroes you know in in an unsolved case often we are left with no
Heroes sometimes there are heroes this case is weird because we have a lot of Heroes okay obviously we have the law
enforcement individuals that made these arrests that did the you know the hard work deducing what actually happened and
went down that night that this woman was killed we have the EMT for showing up yeah we we got all the First Responders
that we get to hear about often but on the flip side on the reverse side of the coin the the side that's away from all
these monsters that were involved in ending this young woman's life right the victim herself who's no longer with
us Sharika is a superstar hero I mean she she was not most people would not have lived through that experience
minutes or hours or even the length that she did but on top of that she was able
to assist in the investigation to lead investigators directly to Ray Carruth and
ultimately to give birth to Chancellor Lee yeah Chancellor Lee Another Hero and we'll get to him in just a second but we
have Sandra Adams sharika's mother this woman is a saint this is with this woman
I tell you what I've read and viewed many interviews with this woman yeah if everyone had her heart and her
intelligence this world would be the perfect place to live in she is a saint she took on this this challenge every
child is a challenge yeah but Chancellor Lee had special challenges and she took
on that challenge and she has raised this boy for the whole time that this terrible
father who wanted him dead sat in prison and she has asked nothing of no one along the way she has she had the
strength man and she gave that to her daughter and her daughter passed that along to her son yeah well now you get
this five headed monster getting out of prison and he you know he makes these claims that
he wants to be involved in this kid's life now you're responsible for the death of
his mother you're you're responsible for his extra challenges that he faces on a daily basis and you're responsible
for that and you want to be involved in this kid's life like he he used to be he's a bigger
piece of [ __ ] than I thought well and I want to talk about Chancellor Lee here for a little bit because he is
now 19 years old he just recently turned 19 years old yeah and kudos to this young man because he has done a lot of
things that medical professions professionals said he would never do you know they
said he would never walk he would never talk these were the challenges that this
little boy faced because of Ray Carruth and guess what he talks he walks yes he needs some assistance and he's learning
more and fighting through every day but guess what I like the cut of his jib that's right he's a special individual
yeah and so I just wanted to make sure that through the whole mess of what happened that night
we don't we don't lose track that there are some Heroes here there are some Superstars and it's Sandra Sharika and
Chancellor Lee and like you said all these years later Ray Carruth he gets out of prison at the age of 44 he was
released from prison and to this day he maintains that he did not conspire to kill sharik Adams right but he has
publicly stated that he accepts responsibility for her death I I scoff at that I laugh at that although karuth
has long disputed the words of sharika's mother Sandra Adams Carruth followed a February 2018 letter
to Adams and this was published by WBTV this was apologizing for his role in the
death of her daughter and he States I'm apologizing for the loss of your daughter I'm apologizing for the
impairment of my son but again never accepting guilt yeah what I think is interesting here
Captain is the dynamic of these individuals and at the soul and heart of who these individuals are
Ray Carruth is a coward he's a runner and for whatever reason his speed is what led him to the NFL but what we saw
time and time again with Ray Carruth and what we will continue to see with Ray Carruth in the future
when something when he has a problem when he has an issue when he has a challenge
he runs from it he ran from the birth of his first child he had one of his children aborted
he tried to kill the mother of of rate of Chancellor Lee yeah tried to kill Chancellor Lee and then when he's due to
get arrested he fled the state as well now that he's out of prison yes he claimed he wanted to be or have some
kind of involvement with his son and what we would ultimately see is him turn away from that as well
personally I'm kind of glad that he did I don't trust this guy at all I wouldn't
want him anywhere near me and I don't want him anywhere near Sandra Adams or Chancellor Lee well what's really
interesting to me is he writes his long letter he doesn't really like you said take
responsibility for it but he says he wants to be involved blah blah blah blah blah flippity flu
right right but then it's like a day or two later that he then there's a new statement I
mean we're talking about Pages upon pages in a letter and his new statement that is
uh he's gonna respect their wishes and it's probably best for everybody involved that there is no relationship
between him and his son I find that strange I think like you said he's a coward I I think somebody threatened him
I think somebody said you're a piece of [ __ ] you don't you should never be involved in this
kid's life and I think somebody stood up for um her family the grandmother and the son I
think somebody stood up for them and said hey you're not going to come around here and if you do there's going to be
trouble and then he said I don't need to be involved on the flip side of the coin what's
what's interesting to me is that we have Ray Carruth who is a coward a runner a man that flees from any challenge in
front of him real son of a [ __ ] we have three generations of the atoms that when given a challenge they meet it
head-on they accept the challenge and they defeat the challenge all three very strong very strong individuals
[Music] I want to send everybody Point them in a direction if they want to learn more
about this case or about the atoms or about Ray Carruth there's an individual who's got an
incredible body of work his name is Scott Fowler he works for the Charlotte Observer he was there from the very
beginning of this whole story he was working in Charlotte for the Observer when they drafted Ray Carruth so before
this whole nightmare happened he was there covered everything regarding Rey's professional career up to the murder the
trial and all the aftermath and he spent a good deal of time with Sandra Adams and with Chancellor Lee Adams so I
recommend looking up any of his articles you can find plenty of them online again
that's Scott Fowler his last name spelled f-o-w-l-e-r and he also did a podcast called Carruth so I recommend that you
check that out and we will put that on our page at truecrime garage.com all right thanks so much for listening
thanks for telling a friend make sure you check us out all of our old shows on Stitcher and off the record on Stitch or
premium till next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Rae Carruth ////// 273

Part 1 of 1

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Rae Carruth was blessed with every advantage one can think of. He used his speed to carry him all of the way to the National Football League. Drafted in the first round by the Carolina Panthers, Carruth was getting paid big bucks. However Rae is a brat who runs from his responsibilities and challenges. When his girlfriend refused to have an abortion, Rae set her up to be killed. This week we discuss convicted felon Rae Carruth. Beer of the Week - Runner by Truman’s Brewery Garage Grade - 3 and a half bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

Ray Carruth conspired to murder his pregnant girlfriend, leading to a tragic crime and complicated legal battle.

Key points

A Shocking Call for Help. A pregnant woman calls 911 after being shot, revealing her fears about the shooter.
A Mother's Fight for Survival. Sharika Adams fights for her life after a brutal attack, leaving a haunting legacy.
The Night of the Shooting. Ray Carruth's chilling actions lead to a tragic shooting that changes lives forever.
Ray Carruth's Cowardice. After Sharika Adams' death, Ray Carruth fled North Carolina, showcasing his cowardice.
Trial Tensions. The trial revealed high tensions as testimonies unfolded, leading to Carruth's conviction.
Sharika Adams: A Hero. Despite her tragic fate, Sharika Adams played a crucial role in the investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I'm eight months pregnant, you've been shot!

The urgency of a pregnant woman in distress.

4:20WatchNov 22, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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