Carruth released from prison after 19 years in murder of Cherica Adams

CLINTON, N.C. — Former Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth walked out of prison and back into the free world Monday.

At 8:02 a.m. on a cold and clear October, Carruth was released from the minimum-custody facility at Sampson Correctional Institution, about 190 miles east of Charlotte. He will no longer be primarily identified as offender number 0712822 in the North Carolina prison system. He is now Rae Wiggins, also known as Rae Carruth, also known as a free man.

About 10 TV trucks and a couple of dozen members of the media awaited Carruth’s release in a parking lot that bordered the prison.

Carruth didn’t speak to reporters before entering a white Chevy Tahoe. It was not immediately known who picked him up or where he was headed.

Carruth must meet occasionally with authorities wherever he lives for a ninemonth period as part of his postrelease requirements.

The Carolina Panthers’ first-round draft choice in 1997, Carruth served nearly 19 years in prison. In January 2001, a Charlotte jury convicted Carruth of conspiring to murder Cherica Adams, who was nearly eight months pregnant with Carruth’s child when she was shot four times inside her car on Nov. 16, 1999. At the time, Adams was Carruth’s on-and-off girlfriend.

Carruth was 25 on the night Adams was ambushed in Charlotte. He was in the third year of a promising NFL career and boasted a net worth of approximately $368,000.

Carruth is now 44 years old. His money is long gone, eaten up mostly by his legal defense. His 4.3 speed in the 40-yard dash is a thing of the past as well. His son Chancellor Lee Adams turns 19 next month.