Carruth iHeartPodcasts

A tale of weed, speed and the road ahead

Cherica Adams, a former model and dancer from Charlotte, meets NFL player Rae Carruth at a party. Carruth, a Sacramento native, has looks and a magnetic charm. Soon Cherica is pregnant—but the trail of women in Carruth's past suggest the Carolina Panthers first-round draft pick is struggling with adult responsibility in the face of adulation lavished upon a star athlete.

A murder plot unfolds. From deep inside a maximum-security prison, hitman Van Brett Watkins offers an unflinching account of the deal he struck with Rae Carruth to kill Cherica Adams and their unborn son. Along with confession tapes and a gripping 911 call, a portrait of Carruth as a master manipulator emerges. But to this day, some vehemently dispute his involvement.

Emergency crews race Cherica Adams to Carolinas Medical Center, where her son, Chancellor Lee, is born via emergency C-section, 10 weeks premature and weighing less than 4 pounds. As both fight for life, police investigators describe to us piecing together the events of that night, with Cherica’s handwritten notes from her hospital bed pointing the way toward Rae Carruth.

As funeral arrangements are made in Charlotte, Rae Carruth flees the state. Soon, he’s the target of an FBI manhunt led by agent Mark Post, who recreates for us the trail that led him to a motel parking lot in rural Tennessee, where he found Carruth in the trunk of a Toyota Camry. Soon, Carruth becomes the first active NFL player to be charged with first-degree murder.

Chancellor Lee goes home from the hospital with his maternal grandmother, Saundra Adams. Soon, the most notorious trial in Charlotte history gets under way, as lawyers spar with witnesses and each other. With Rae Carruth facing the death penalty, his lead defense attorney recounts in detail the strategy to make their case and save Carruth's life.