Chancellor Lee Adams, Rae Carruth’s Son, Turns 16

Rae Carruth is infamous in the NFL. He’s not known for his gamebreaking ability, or his fantastic hands. No, he is known for committing one of the most heinous acts in NFL history: the hiring of a hitman to kill his then-girlfriend, Cherica Adams.

Chancellor Lee Adams Turns 16

Cherica was eight months pregnant at the time. And while she died days later, her son survived. Chancellor Lee Adams is 16 today.

Chancellor suffered brain damage in the attack on his mother and has cerebral palsy. According to his grandmother Sandra Adams, who raises him, he was in a power-chair at 10. Now, he’s walking on his own.

Carruth has denied his role to this day. Convicted in 2001 of conspiracy to murder, he’s set to get out in 2018. He’s only seen the son he didn’t want once, when Chancellor was one. Chancellor is not the first child he’s abandoned: in college, his then girlfriend Michelle Wright gave birth to his son, Raelondo. Carruth got sued for child support after all but abandoning his son, but only had to pay half of what he owed in child support after promising to be a good father, which he broke.

In 1997, Carruth was drafted by the Carolina Panthers. After getting named to the all-rookie team that year, he broke his foot in the 1998 opener and did not play the rest of the year.

On Nov. 16, 1999, Chelma Adams was shot four times by known Carruth associate Van Brett Watkins Sr. In the 911 call, Adams said that Carruth had stopped his car in front of hers, and another car had pulled up and fired at her. She slipped into a coma, and Chancellor was delivered through emergency Caesarean section. Cherica died on Dec. 14.

Now, 16 years later, Chancellor turns 16. And Carruth continues to rot in jail.

PHOTO: National Football League wide receiver Rae Carruth, who is facing murder charges in the drive-by shooting of his pregnant girlfriend, was arrested on Wednesday when found hiding in the trunk of a car in a hotel parking lot in Tennessee, a police spokesman said. Carruth of the Carolina Panthers is seen in this November 9, 1997 photo during a game against the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Allsport/Liaison Agency)