Rae Carruth waits with Cheerios, hoping to reunite with son he tried to kill
Rae Carruth is ready to reconnect with his son, but the 19-year-old is in no rush to reunite with the man convicted of hiring a hitman to kill his mother.
Cherica Adams was seven months pregnant with Chancellor Lee at the time of the murder. Carruth, 44, got out of a North Carolina prison in late October after serving nearly 19 years for masterminding the fatal attack. Police said the Panthers’ first-round pick in 1997 had plotted the killing to get out of paying child support for Lee, who was born with cerebral palsy after an emergency Caesarean section. Chancellor was brought up by his grandmother Saundra Adams.
Carruth is now living with a friend at an undisclosed location in Pennsylvania, where he works from home and doesn’t get out much, the Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday. But Carruth — who became a Muslim and a pescatarian while behind bars — said he is ready to meet his son for what would be just the third time in his life.
“My only desire is for true forgiveness and a genuine opportunity to be a part of my son’s life,” Carruth wrote the newspaper. “And out [of] respect for Ms. Adams and her feeling towards me, I have no plans of ever trying to force my way in. I’m going to be patient and give her the space she rightfully deserves. When the time is right, I believe that Ms. Adams will eventually extend an invitation for me to have contact with my son — and I will eagerly accept.”
Adams said that while she forgives Carruth and the other three men convicted of conspiring to kill her daughter, she remains unsure whether Lee should ever be in the same room with his father again.
“Give us time,” Saundra Adams told the newspaper. “I’m not saying I never want him to see Chancellor, or meet Chancellor.”
Adams is comforted by the fact that Carruth now lives hundreds of miles away, where she said she wants the former NFL receiver to “just go ahead and live his life peacefully.”
“And we’re going to live our lives peacefully,” she told the newspaper.
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Adams suggested that Carruth instead focus his energy on reconnecting with his older son, a 24-year-old man whose mother was Carruth’s high school girlfriend. Carruth, for his part, told the newspaper they chat daily and will hopefully reconcile soon.
For now, Carruth will focus on getting back behind the wheel of a car after getting his learner’s permit again, since it expired while he was incarcerated. He’s considering a move out of the country next year if he continues getting recognized, and he’s also stocking up on multiple boxes of Cheerios after being moved by a commercial he saw in prison that featured a father and son bonding over their favorite variety of the breakfast cereal.
“I guess it resonated with me,” Carruth wrote the newspaper regarding the commercial. “Because it was the kind of moment I’m sure every man would love to have with his child. When I saw the commercial, for me it was a poignant reminder of what I was missing out on with my own children; the closeness, the moments and memories.”
