Murder in the Thirst (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Who Killed Rae Carruth's Girlfriend? - full transcript

Fair warning...
We're taking you into a world

of money, mansions, and power,

and the people who would
do anything to get there.

These are the tales
of the desperate thirsts

that drive people to murder.

Viewers' discretion advised?
You bet your ass.

He was a beat on the field,

a first-round draft pick

with a multi-million dollar
contract.

The NFL made Rae Carruth
an instant star.

Rae Carruth was able
to have whatever he wanted.



We're talking lavish parties,
luxury cars, and cash.

Handsome and famous?
The ladies couldn't resist.

But Rae never let them
get too close

until the day he met
Cherica Adams.

Cherica was a very vivacious
young lady.

He had real feelings for her.

But one night
changed everything.

It was catastrophic for him.

Who killed Cherica Adams?

I could not believe
she was mowed down.

A suspect on the run.

He stays in that trunk 21 hours.

He was back there
with bottles of urine.

This guy went out in a bad way.



It's a shocking story
of murder in the thirst.

- Wow.

Carruth with
a 28-yard touchdown.

Rae Carruth was
just 21 years old

when he became the Carolina
Panthers' star rookie

with a contract worth
nearly $4 million.

Whoo, can you say,
"Securing the bag"?

- What a magic act!
- How does he do that?

What Rae Carruth walked into

as a rookie
wide receiver in 1997

was a city that
absolutely adored him,

and adored the rest
of his teammates.

Rae Carruth got a signing bonus
of $1.3 million.

Can you imagine getting that
at age 21?

It's like you won the lottery.

He had the moves, the money,
the charm, the good looks.

Whoo!
Number 89 was looking
like a perfect 10.

He's good-looking,

a professional athlete,
he makes a lot of money.

He seemingly has it all.

Rae was a magnet for the ladies.

Rae liked the real trendy,
real cute girls,

and Charlotte was full of 'em.

Rae Carruth collected women
in the same way

that some people
collect trophies.

The more, the merrier.

Looked like Rae was making

his lifelong dream come true.

Growing up,
he was one of those kids

who knew exactly what he wanted,

even when he was hella young.

Rae Carruth knew he wanted
to be a football player
from a very young age.

And a lot of kids
have that dream, right?

The difference with Rae Carruth
was he had the wherewithal

to actually make
the dream happen.

He was raised primarily
by his mother Theodry Carruth.

She raised him
mostly as a single mother

in a poor area of Sacramento.

And she wanted
Rae Carruth to get out,

she wanted him to go to college.

And so he ended up
at the University of Colorado,

where he really
made a name for himself...

Play fake by Denver.

...as an incredibly speedy
wide receiver.

And he caught it!
What a magic act!

Announcer #2:
How does he do that?

He had a first child
while he was still in college.

Michelle Wright was his
high school sweetheart.

They had reconnected one time
when he came back from Colorado.

And Rae, by all accounts,

was okay with her
having that child,

but they weren't necessarily
going to be together.

He's not really involved
in the relationship beyond that,

or the relationship
with his son.

His decision he made was,

"I've got to put
football first here.
Football is my way out.

Football is the way
I'm going to make
millions of dollars."

And, let me tell you,
Rae did make millions...

Was worth every penny, too.

Tied for first
among rookie receivers,

and damned if he didn't make
the all rookie team.

He was 20,
he was new in the NFL,
he was new to the city,

and they rolled out
the welcome wagon for him.

My restaurant,
Crawford's Urban Bistro,

was a very popular hangout
for the Panther players,

and you would see
the train of Mercedes
and Range Rovers

coming from the stadium
straight to my restaurant.

Rae was in the fold.

He would come there and eat,
and we'd talk every time.

He was just a really good guy

that was in a good position
and knew it,

and was really ready
to make an impact.

What Rae Carruth
thirsted most for

was fame and fortune.

He wanted to be famous,

he wanted to be
a great NFL player,

but he also wanted money.

Young athletes coming
into the league,

it's their first time
with a big lump sum of money.

Let me tell you a little bit
about NFL parking lots.

You are judged, in some ways,
by the cars you keep.

You need a brand name.

You need some really nice rims,

and you need it polished
and detailed pretty often.

Rae had a red Mercedes

and he had a white
Ford Expedition.

He's wasting money sometimes.

I mean, he bought two cars.
You don't need two cars.

He bought an expensive house,

but he certainly could have
just rented an apartment.

He would spend money
on the things

that he wanted
to spend money on,

like this fancy home, vacations,

flying family members
in from California to visit.

Also, he loaned money
to some family members.

Remember,
most of his family is poor,

and he was paying $36,000
a year for child support,

somewhat grudgingly.

With all that money going out,

Rae's friends worried
it wasn't gonna last.

I was like their big sister,

so I could sort of coach him
into the world

that he was venturing into.

And I just was like, "Okay,
this is new money for you.

And I understand
you're gonna go out and buy

some of
the finer things in life,

but also, remember,
you ain't gotta be flashy.

You don't have to buy
the biggest car

and try to roll
with the veterans

who have been around a long time

who got money stacked
in the bank.

You know, this is
your first contract.

You need to be careful
and make this money last.

As time went on
and I saw Rae interacting

with, you know,
this lady and that girl,

I said, "Okay, I want you
to be careful of the ladies.

You know,
because you're gonna be
a target for them.

People might look
at this as an opportunity,
if you're not careful."

His head was buzzing with all
that suspicion about women.

Until the day he met
Cherica Adams.

Society's standard of beauty?
Cherica met it.

She was beautiful.

She had a body
that just wouldn't stop.

Then men would all pause

when she would
walk into the room.

And she had a very,
very sharp mind.

She wasn't just beautiful
on the outside.

She was beautiful
on the inside as well.

She was just full of energy,
full of life.

She knew exactly
what she wanted.

Cherica told me about Rae
the day she met him.

She met this great guy,
and he was really outgoing,

and he looked good,
and he was a football player,

and she was truly excited.

Rae was drawn to Cherica

because Cherica
was a pretty girl,

and she was, like,
a fashionista,

she was sharp, she was classy.

She liked the guys that
had money, who had access,

who had opportunity,
who were doing things,

and Rae was perfect for that.

According to Cherica,
he was very quiet,

and almost seemed shy.

Rae started the conversation,

but it was her that kept
the conversation going.

And he said to her,
"Let's go somewhere quiet."

Of all places to take him,

she took him to her dad's house.

He met her dad
on the first date?

Oh, this girl wasn't playin'.

She wanted
her father's approval,

and I think that she felt
that there may be

a special spark
between she and Rae.

And Cherica's father
was welcoming and warm
when he met Rae.

She always looked
for the best in everybody,

and I think Rae
had that spark about him
when they met

that she was very
comfortable with him.

Rae couldn't deny
there was something special

about this small town
Southern girl.

Cherica Adams
was born in a small town

in North Carolina...
King's Mountain.

Her mother was 16
when Cherica was born.

I think with Cherica seeing

the sacrifices that I made,

she always wanted
to have a family.

She did not want to be
a single parent.

She was always thinking
about being an entrepreneur,

and she always said
she was gonna be famous.

She had attended
Winston-Salem University,

but she left because
she was ready to start
her life.

She pursued real estate,

and she was just very driven,
very determined.

When Cherica decided
to get out of real estate,

she wanted to go into
the entertainment industry

and she started working
at a strip club,

but in the gift shop.

And the manager of the gift shop

kept telling her
how beautiful she was

and she'd make
much more money dancing.

Cherica's always
thinking business.

I don't really think
she was so concerned

about what people thought

as long as she knew
what her intention was.

She only danced
for about six months.

She didn't get into dancing
just for the sake of,

"I want to be a stripper

because I have
a beautiful body."

She was ambitious.
She chose to be a stripper
to make money.

A strip club was where
he made the reacquaintance
for Cherica Adams.

He hadn't seen her for months,

and then they met that night,

went home together,

and she was charmed
all over again.

I always felt like he had
a fondness for Cherica,

but just not a seriousness.

I think, too, he liked her
more than he would say.

The boys in the locker room
knew that she was a stripper,

and they may have commented
or teased him somewhat.

I don't think it was cool
for him to have feelings
for a stripper,

and I think Rae cared
what his teammates
and others thought.

She wanted the relationship
more than he did.

I don't think she was
accepting the fact

that he was not
mentally where she was
in the relationship.

Cherica was still hoping

Rae would come around
and commit,

but an unexpected surprise
was about to change everything.

She came to the office and said,

"Well, I'm pregnant,"

and I almost
fell out of my chair.

And I said, "How does Rae
feel about it?"

And she said,
"I don't know yet."

Star rookie Rae Carruth's
NFL career was on the rise.

But in the hard-luck world
of pro sports,

what goes up often
comes crashing down.

While that first year
went really well in 1997,

his second year did not go well.

He was hurt almost
the entire season.

Early on, he broke his foot,

and I think that was
really catastrophic for him.

That's a terrible injury
for a wide receiver
who is based on speed.

"You know, even if I get better,

what is this gonna do
to my career?"

Was he gonna be as fast?
Was he gonna be as quick?

His future career in football
was up in the air,

but he still had made
a lot of money.

He signed, overall,
a four-year deal

for $3.7 million.

But the other 2.4
was only gonna come to him

if he's still on the team,

they still think
he's productive.

And you start to get hurt

and you're not
productive anymore,

all of a sudden,
that well may run dry
pretty quickly.

Ooh, that's some serious stress
with so much cash on the line.

And to top it off,
Rae was blindsided

by some news about Cherica.

Cherica told me she was
pregnant on Mother's Day.

So that was
my Mother's Day gift.
It was so exciting.

She was so happy.

She always wanted
to be a mother.

In Cherica's mind,
she'd found the guy

that she may have wanted
to settle down

and have children with.

But I don't think
that's where Rae was.

When Rae told me about the baby,

I was like,
"Are you kidding me?
We talked about this."

You're gonna
have a baby by somebody
you're not married to,

and from your words,
not really in a real
relationship with."

And he was like, "I messed up."

He's already paying $3,000
a month in child support

to another woman
who he had a child with,

and he didn't want
to do it with Cherica.

In fact, he asked her
to get an abortion.

And she didn't do it.

She told him, "Whether
you want the baby or not,

I'm going to have the baby."

Maybe our star rookie

is a little too used
to getting his own way.

Don't be coming in here
telling Cherica

what to do with her body.

I think Rae was angry
and resentful

because he would be paying
thousands of dollars

out in child support,
and he didn't want to do it.

He thought,
"I can control this situation

if she would agree
to not have this baby."

But she was very adamant
about not having an abortion.

She was not going to do that.

In his mind,
it was a thirst to continue

to live my life
as a free bachelor.

At first, Cherica was trying
not to see the truth,

that he was going to continue
to date other people.

She wanted so badly

for them to have
an exclusive relationship,

but I think she blinded herself
to all that was going on.

But after awhile,
it became pretty evident

that she's not the only one,

and Cherica had
that fierce attitude that,

"I want to be the only one.

And if I'm not gonna
be the only one,

we'll be co-parents, but we're
not going to be together."

But just as Rae
started gearing up

for a third season comeback,

and Cherica's due date
was right around the corner,

it seemed like Rae
was suddenly missing his boo.

They hadn't been seeing
each other,

and then he calls her up

and he woos her back in

and tells her he wants them
to be a couple.

He wants to go to Lamaze class

because he missed all this
with his first son.

So he wants to be there for her.

She was thinking that,

"I'm getting ready
to have my baby,

he's on board, it's happening."

Cherica had even told me

there was a conversation
about marriage.

The happiest moments during
Cherica's pregnancy

was when Rae was involved.

He would go to the Lamaze
classes with her.

He went to doctors'
appointments with her.

I was thinking things are going

the way that
she wants them to go.

But just as Rae and Cherica

looked like they were headed

for a happily ever after,

Rae's comeback dreams
were crushed

by an injury that took him
out for the season.

There were questions, suddenly,

about Rae Carruth's durability.

It had a toll on him,
mentally and emotionally.

"I'm off the whole
second season.

Now I'm hurt again."

If you're in an NFL locker room

and you are not playing,

you are persona non grata.

Like, you don't really exist.

"Oh, he's injured.

We'll think about him
next year."

The average NFL career
is about 3.2 years.

So it was quite possible
that by his fourth year

that the Panthers
would have released him.

And I think he saw that the NFL

was not necessarily
a rainbow with a pot of gold.

That maybe at the end
of that rainbow

was only a pot of coal
for Rae Carruth.

"I planned my whole life
to be able to play football.

What do I do next?"

Rae Carruth also
made some bad investments,

and he was paying
several thousand dollars
a month in child support.

He was making $38,000
per NFL game at that time,

but he had a net worth
of $368,000 that year.

So, he went from millions
to thousands?

Ooh! From the outside,
it looked like Rae
was living the high life.

But on the inside,
he was getting desperate

to save what was left
of his fortune.

An injury took Rae Carruth
off the field again,

but at least now he had some
time to spend with Cherica.

Throughout the times
that he was Mr. Wonderful,

going to the Lamaze classes,

going to the doctors'
appointments,

I often wondered,
was he trying to get
in her good graces

so that eventually he could
talk her out of having the baby?

On November 15th,
she was so excited

because they were going
on their first date

as a real couple again.

And he had asked her
to the movies.

"And after the movies,
we're gonna come to my place
and he's gonna stay over.

I think it's settling
in with him

that my baby
is not going anywhere."

He was gonna do the knight
in shining armor thing.

He was coming to pick her up.
She was so excited.

And then she tells me
that he decided

he wanted her to come
to his home

instead of him coming
to pick her up.

Cherica drove over
to Rae's house,

but they took separate cars
to the movies.

They get out of the movie
and, again,

they have driven separate cars
to the movie theater.

Cherica followed Rae
over to her house,

where they planned
to spend the night.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Not long after Rae and Cherica
left the movies,

she made a desperate
call to 911.

911. You need
police, fire, or medic?

You've been shot?
Where are you at?

McAndrew,
Lexington Square community.

I'm in front of it.

It was an absolute miracle

that she was able to
communicate the way she did

after being shot four times.

She stayed on that call
for 12 minutes.

My girl. She was really,
really strong.

She told them exactly
what happened.

Okay, where are you
shot at, ma'am?

I don't know. I was driving.

You were driving
and someone shot you?

Yes.

By the time they get
to the hospital,

Chancellor Lee is born
by an emergency C-section
within minutes.

At that point,
there's a struggle
to save two lives...

Cherica's life
and Chancellor Lee's life.

The phone rings
and it was the hospital.

And she said to me,
"Your daughter has been shot,

and we're getting ready
to do emergency surgery."

And I don't even remember
hanging up the phone with her.

I remember dropping to my knees

and just wailing out a prayer.

"Lord, don't let
my daughter die."

When we got to the hospital,

all I heard
was I have a grandson

who is alive.

My daughter was hanging on
for her dear life.

I just remember, you know,
just praying with her,

telling her how much
I loved her,

and that Chancellor
was gonna make it,
that he was okay.

I remember calling Rae,
because I thought,

"I've gotta call him
and tell him what's going on."

I probably called three times,
and I never heard anything.

Then he shows up at the hospital

with another woman,
and that just set me off.

I went over to him,

and not once did he ask me
how Cherica was doing.

Not once did he ask me
about how Chancellor was doing.

The police want
to interview him right away.

Questioning Rae Carruth
would've been

at the top of the list,
absolutely.

This seems like this was
a targeted victim,

and that targeted victim happens
to be a pregnant woman.

Then we've got to look
at the parentage of the baby.

Rae Carruth's alibi was this...

He and Cherica had already
decided they were parting ways
for the evening,

and he was ahead of her,
and then he just kept driving.

"I didn't call 911
because I didn't know
anything happened."

He didn't know at the time
that Cherica made that call
implicating Rae.

Where's he at?

Okay.

By this time, they'd already
heard the 911 tape,

so they thought
he was lying right away.

Where are you at?

I passed Calvary Church.

- I'm in...
- Calvary Church?

When I listen to that call,
I feel disgusted.

I feel angry.

And the 911 call
was just the beginning.

She wants to talk.

And for awhile,
she is conscious.

She'd already
started to write some notes

about what happened.

And basically convict
Rae Carruth.

She was like,
"He was in front of me,

he stopped,

they drove up beside me
and shot,

and he just left."

The doctor says,
"Look, you're gonna have
to let her rest."

And they put her into a coma
so her body won't fight off

the good drugs
they're trying to give her.

And from that coma,
she never awakens.

So, at that point,
homicide detectives

ask him if they can see
the cell phone.

So Rae hands over
his cell phone.

The cell phone records
prove to be

key corroborating evidence.

They start finding all the times

Rae Carruth called
Van Brett Watkins.

Van Brett Watkins
was a convicted felon.

Van Brett Watkins
was around strip clubs a lot.

Rae Carruth
liked strip clubs a lot.

He ended up detailing
Rae Carruth's cars.

Rae knows of
Van Brett Watkins' past.

He knows he's done
very bad things,

and he wonders
if he'll do another really
bad thing for him.

So, at one point
in June of 1999, according
to Van Brett Watkins,

Rae says,
"How much if I wanted you
to go injure a girl

and make her abort her baby?"

And Watkins goes,

"I don't injure girls,
I kill people."

And Carruth says,
"Well, how much would you
charge for that?"

Who would gun down
a pregnant woman?

Rae Carruth had a plan
that fateful night,

a desperate plan
to save what was left
of his fortune.

The police talked
to Van Brett Watkins.

According to Van Brett,
he and Carruth

were colluding to kill her
on the way to a Lamaze class.

He had wanted another time

at a restaurant
to ambush Cherica.

None of that had happened.

And at that point,
investigators go to work.

That's when the entire case
really starts to unravel

because Watkins implicates Rae

and said Rae
was really the mastermind

behind this entire shooting,

and that he did it
because he didn't want

to have to pay child support.

According to Van Brett Watkins,

they agree on a price of $6,000.

Hold up, now.
Did I hear that right?

$6,000 for the lives of Cherica

and their innocent unborn child?

Unbelievable.

Van Brett Watkins
told them basically

exactly what happened,

that he was the guy
who pulled the trigger.

Van Brett Watkins,
Michael Kennedy,

and Stanley Abraham
were the three people

in the car that night
that Cherica was shot.

The plot all takes place

within a period
of six hours, maybe?

He calls Michael Kennedy,
who's a buddy,

and he says, "Do you have a car

I can get for the night?

Not a car that would be
easily spotted."

In the meantime,
Carruth has called
Van Brett Watkins.

But Watkins shows up
and he doesn't have
a gun with him.

Well, Rae's not ready
to give up.

He asks Michael Kennedy,

"Do you know a place
to get a gun in a hurry?"

And Michael Kennedy
certainly does know
where to get a gun.

They leave,
the three of them,
to go get the gun,

even though
it's only an hour or so

before Cherica Adams arrives.

He has a lot of hostility
towards her

and he has a lot of anger
about her pregnancy,

and he doesn't want her
to be around anymore.

But she has absolutely
no clue about his hostility
towards her.

They're going out to a movie.

She was excited
about going to his home.

And so she went there,
and she called me,

and she was like,
"I think he's talking
to another woman.

I don't even know
why I am here."

And I said, "Just tell him
you're not going."

And I hear him
in the background saying,

"No, no, no, we're getting
ready to go right now."

And then she was like,
"Well, Mom,

we're gonna go on
to the movies."

And so that was
the last conversation
I had with my daughter.

Cherica and Rae drove
to the movie theater
in separate cars.

Why aren't they just riding
in the same car?

I mean, a date, right?

You should be riding in the car

with the person you're dating.

And after the movies,

she followed him
on the way to her house.

Going strictly from
Cherica's standpoint,

what happens next
is Rae Carruth stops his car.

And so Cherica has no choice

but to stop her car
right behind him.

And then the third car veers out

into the oncoming traffic lane
and starts shooting.

Van Brett Watkins
shot five times.

Four of the bullets
went into Cherica...

One in her neck,
and three in her torso.

Van Brett Watkins says
that he could see Carruth

actually looking at them
through the rearview mirror.

That Carruth allowed the hit
to happen and just drove off.

The police have enough,
they believe,

to arrest Rae Carruth.

There were so many people
who knew about this plan.

It didn't seem to dawn on him

that having multiple people
in on the plot for murder

would almost certainly lead
to him being discovered.

With Cherica Adams
clinging to life,

the judge set bail
at $3 million,

and Rae managed to scrape
together enough cash

to walk out of jail.

But there was a catch.

The judge ordered him,

if Cherica dies
or the baby dies,

you must turn yourself in
immediately.

I knew, for Cherica,
that surviving and being alive

is not the same as living.

'Cause I do believe in Heaven,

it was not a hard decision
for me to make

about whether to take her off
the life support or not.

But it has forever affected me.

Um...

We took Chancellor to Cherica

before we took her off
life support

and placed him on her chest.

And, oh, boy, those machines
just went crazy.

She knew he was there,
and I know she felt peace.

Those 28 days have been
profound for me.

And it was... it made it easier
to let her go

because letting her go

actually has let her live.

On December 14th, 1999,
Cherica dies.

It's been four weeks
since the shooting.

Her death is announced,
and at that point, Rae Carruth,

instead of turning
himself in, flees.

They're looking for Rae.
Rae's gone.

I'm like, "Gone?
Where's he gone?"

Rae was truly desperate,

so when he found out
his friend Wendy Cole

was driving to California,

he convinced her to let him
ride in her trunk.

Seriously, he rode in her trunk.

I don't think he had a plan.

I think he just said,
"I gotta go."

I think he got in that car
and he went.

Rae rides in that trunk,

and he stays in that trunk
21 hours in a row.

He's got Gatorade bottles
in there

that he can urinate into,

and he's got a couple
of power bars he can eat.

He's freaked out.

After about 500 miles,

Wendy started thinking twice
about this favor

she was doing for a friend.

She called Rae's mother
and told her where they were.

Theodry Carruth
actually gives the tip

that allows her son
to be caught.

I get a call from the FBI
office in Charlotte.

They had gotten an arrest
warrant against Rae Carruth.

He says, "We've been told
that he is at a hotel

in Wildersville, Tennessee."

The FBI spotted Wendy's car
in the parking lot

of a Best Western.

Sure enough,
she was in a room alone.

I told her, "Miss Cole,
we have an arrest warrant
for Rae Carruth.

We believe he's with you."

She said,
"Well, he's not with me."

And I said, "Wendy,
we're not going anywhere."

She had some keys to her car,

and she looked over at them.

She was starting
to become emotional,

and I finally said to myself,
"He's in the trunk."

A tear came down her eye,
and I said,

"Wendy, is he in the trunk?"

She said,
"Are you gonna hurt him?"

I said, "No."

When we went out to the trunk,

my biggest fear was

if for some reason
he did have a weapon,

that he would commit suicide.

I remember hearing about them
popping the trunk of the car

and he was back there
with bottles of urine,

and thinking,
"God, this guy went out
in a bad way."

Rae had had enough.

This was over,
and he needed to just

go ahead and face the music
at this point.

But if you think
it was all over,

think again.

Because as he went to trial,

Rae said he knew

the real reason
Cherica was killed.

Rae Carruth looked mighty guilty

after his desperate stunt
in the trunk.

But some people
still couldn't believe

such an unspeakable story.

Any comment?

For a lot of people,

it was hard for them
to wrap their head around

this millionaire football star

committing such a heinous act.

Excuse me.

I didn't think he had
any part in it at all.

I think it changed during court,

when I got to hear it all,
see it all,

watch it all unfold.

Football hero
Rae Carruth drove away

and left Cherica Adams
and his own son for dead.

Charlotte put their
A-team on it.

The main prosecutor,
Gentry Caudill,

he had already sent
eight other people to death row.

David Rudolf was
the lead defense attorney,

probably the most
well known defense attorney
in North Carolina.

The shooting of Cherica Adams

had absolutely nothing
to do with the fact

that she was pregnant.

So, Rudolf, they were going
for complete acquittal,

and Gentry Caudill,
they are going

for complete death penalty,
first-degree murder.

...that Rae Carruth had refused

to give them the money
for a drug deal.

His defense was, in fact,
that he had agreed

to finance a drug deal
for Van Brett Watkins,

and then at the last minute,
he pulled out for some reason.

And that out of rage,
Van Brett Watkins shot Cherica.

I fired one shot,
then four more shots.

Bam, bam, bam, bam.

Van Brett Watkins
is sticking to his story,

which is that "Rae Carruth
hired me to kill her

because he didn't want to
pay child support."

And Rudolf is trying
to get into this

drug deal gone wrong theory.

The problem that I had
with the defense

is that I never figured out
what happened to the drugs

that were delivered
and he refused to pay for.

That part of the defense
was definitely gonna
be troublesome

because the prosecution
had all of these witnesses

lined up and ready to go.

The prosecutor
put Michelle Wright

and Amber Turner
on the witness stand.

Both of those women
had been pregnant

with a child
by Rae Carruth at some point,

and they both testified
about their experiences.

Wright testified that once
during a conversation

about bringing their son
from California

to Charlotte for a visit,
Carruth told her,

"Don't be surprised
if you get in a car accident."

When he said it, I said,
"What did you say to me?"

And he said,
"I was just joking."

Amber Turner's testimony

was probably even more damaging.

He pressured her
to having an abortion.

"I already told you
I don't want kids with you.

Don't make me send somebody
out there to kill you.

You know I'd do it."

The prosecution pointed out

that Rae Carruth could have
paid more than $1 million

in child support
for these two sons

by the time
they were 18 years old.

He did not want to pay
that kind of money

knowing that he had been injured

and not sure
how much longer he would be

potentially playing
professional football.

Mr. Carruth
had a thirst for fame,

a thirst for money,

and a thirst
for continued success.

And, unfortunately,
he saw Cherica Adams

as the thing that stood
in the way

of him being able
to quench his thirst.

But Cherica, our girl,
got the last word in court.

Her words would live on
beyond the grave.

I ask you to listen
to one tough little lady

putting up a heck
of a fight for life.

You hear her clearly say Rae.

Her last words were saying
that he had done this to her.

All right, what's his name?

Rae Carruth.
He plays for the Panthers.

He ran when she was being shot,

and he never called anybody.

Would an innocent person
have done it that way?

The answer is no.

The defendant,
Rae Lamar Carruth,

is guilty of conspiracy

to commit murder
of Cherica Adams,

but not guilty
of the first-degree murder
of Cherica Adams.

Is this a joke?

Not guilty of
first-degree murder?

I spoke with three
of the jurors.

Some of them could not get
their heads around the fact

that Rae Carruth
did not pull that trigger.

Rae Carruth served just 18 years

for plotting Cherica's murder.

On the day of his release,

his son Chancellor
was 18 years old.

The doctors told me
that Chancellor,

if he lived,
he wouldn't be able to walk

or talk or do anything.

I just want
to let the world know

that by the grace of God,

he is not only surviving,
but he is thriving.

The tragic story
of Rae and Cherica

is all too common.

That has to change,

and Cherica's mom
has made that her mission.

Who knew, you know,
the fairy tales

that I told my daughter

about the Prince Charmings

coming to sweep you
off your feet

and love you forever...

Who would've known
that this would be the person

that is plotting to kill you

because you were pregnant
with their child?

In her final hours,
Cherica made sure

Rae Carruth
would pay for his crimes,

and there would be justice
for her baby boy.

In the city of Detroit,
nobody was balling

quite like Tony Randolph.

Tony Randolph was
a very smart, ambitious man.

Tony and Marie were
a power couple on the rise.

But there were
dark secrets lurking.

Everything that glitters
is not always gold.

A trail gone cold...

Nobody could answer why.

...and a killer
no one suspected.

No one saw this coming.