Despite the grisly murder of her daughter, the mother of the woman murdered by former NFL star Rae Carruth wants the child who survived his father’s attempt to kill him in the womb to see him when he gets out of prison.
“I would like Chancellor and I to be there so he could officially meet his son. Even if it’s for a few minutes – just have an embrace with his son,” Saundra Adams says in an interview with the Charlotte Observer. “Maybe I can just talk to him and tell him some important things about what his son is doing, and where he is in life.”
In November 1999 Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth conspired to kill his girlfriend Cherica Adams, then eight months pregnant, because she refused to abort the child and he did not want to pay child support. He had her gunned down in a drive-by shooting, but she called 911 for help, identified Carruth to police and stayed alive long enough to give birth to her son, Chancellor.
But due to the trauma of trying to kill the two of them, the boy was born with brain damage and cerebral palsy.
Now 16, Chancellor known affectionally as “Lee,” undergoes regular physical therapy and is under the care of his grandmother, who has devoted her life to raising her grandson.
Carruth, was convicted of conspiring to murder his girlfriend in 2001 and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He insists that he is innocent and has never apologized for the crime or acknowledged that he was wrong in any way. He hasn’t seen his son since he was a year old and has a projected release date of Oct. 22, 2018.
When that day comes, Adams says she will be with Lee will be there to meet him. She wants her grandson to have some sort of relationship with his only living parent.
“I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make contact with Rae, maybe by next year,” Adams says, “so it won’t be a total surprise to him. I’m not trying to just corner him. I want him to know that we want to be there.”
In the meantime, Adams says she is holding on to the strong belief system that over the years has helped her not only forgive Rae for her daughter’s murder but has also helped her take care of Lee.
“I remember it like it was just yesterday, talking to the medical staff and them telling me all the things he won’t be able to do… and under my breath I was rejecting every last word of it. I wasn’t in denial…but I had a faith that was stronger and bigger than what those facts were.”
