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foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always he just finished eating a chocolate squirrel he is the
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captain which will probably give me the chocolate squirts it's good to be seen it's good to see you thanks for
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listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] today we are drinking Runner by Truman's
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Brewery over in beautiful London England garage great three and a half bottle caps out of five Runner is a dark copper
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bitter that weighs in at four percent ABV brewed with three different Hops and two types of malt Runners packed full of
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flavor yet remains easy drinking that's why I'm Easy Like Sunday Morning Captain
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yeah more like cheesy like Sunday morning and this great beer was brought to us by these great kiddos right here
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first up we have Leah from Liverpool marseilleside a big cheers mates to Brandy from Lexington Kentucky next up
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around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] [Music] [Music]
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listen to me listen to me you're on a wireless plane I don't know where you are so tell me where you are man
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where are you at that's Calvary Church I know Calvary Church you're where [Music]
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[Music] [Laughter] Andrew Square Square [Music] yes okay where are you shot at man I
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don't know where I was driving you were driving and someone shot you yes did you
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see the person that shot you I'm eight months pregnant okay ma'am you're eight months pregnant you've been shot you're
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at Wessex Square Community okay ma'am I'm gonna connect you to medic continue to talk to them because
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man we have to help you we have to find out where you are stay with me on the line
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perfect [Music] man stay with me stay with me keep talking to me ma'am medic she's been shot she's pregnant all
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I can get out of her is West six square [Music] Ray Carruth was born on January 20th
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1974 in Sacramento California in high school he is a football star and goes on to play college ball for the
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Colorado Buffaloes and is a first-team All-American in the spring of 1997 the Carolina Panthers were close to being a
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complete team boasting one of the NFL's top defenses and an offense led by a promising Young quarterback Carrie
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Collins but the Panthers needed a solid number one wide receiver and they decided to
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use the number 27 pick in the draft on speed sir Ray Carruth in his first season Ray caught 44 passes
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for 545 yards and four touchdowns and he earned a spot on the NFL's all-rookie team for 1997. though one could argue
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that that would pretty much be the peak of his pro football career and injuries would become a reoccurring theme for
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Carruth in June of 1998 at a pool party Ray Carruth met Sharika Adams a Charlotte
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Area woman working in real estate as well as an exotic dancer it wasn't until much later when Rey
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attended a birthday party for a teammate at the strip club at which Adams worked
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this is when a relationship started between the two now there are varying accounts of what this relationship was
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later Ray would stay on the record quote we randomly hooked up a handful of times
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and never made it about anything more than that but according to friends of sharika's
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after she found out she was pregnant by Rey she was determined to have the baby and even mentioned she wanted to have a
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family with Carruth but for Carruth this was an issue Caruth fathered a child with his high school
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sweetheart in Sacramento and was paying child support to her now I want to go on
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the record as in stating I've seen some reports that say Rey wasn't always good about paying the child support or only
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pay portions of the child support yeah big NFL star he doesn't have time to pay child support so with that and other
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issues with Cruz finances and a slew of football injuries Ray asked Sharika to abort the child
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in 1999 Rey became acquainted with Van Brett Watkins a security guard at a strip club who began doing odd jobs for
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Carruth he's a native of New York Watkins had a lengthy criminal history serving time in prison for various
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crimes and he claims to have killed four people in different states and has got away with all four murders this all
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prior to meeting Carruth at some point Ray Carruth offered to pay Watkins to beat up Sharika Adams making her abort
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her baby this conversation led to an even worse deal Ray Carruth would pay Watkins three thousand dollars up front
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and then three thousand dollars after Watkins killed Sharika Adams now Watkins drags his feet on this Rey is offering
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up ideas ways for Watkins to kill her but Watkins thinks that many of Rey's plans are too risky it's not so much
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that he would say that he has a problem killing her or making this hit it's more of all
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of Rey's suggestions turn out to be ways that Watkins thinks he's going to get caught for this right well this all
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changed very fast one day in November of 1999. this all changed very fast one day
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in November of 1999 when Sharika Adams was eight months pregnant with Ray carruth's baby
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so they're going to be going on a date that night now this is a bit of a break of of the norm for their relationship so
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Carruth has always kind of been seeing Sharika but it's always kind of on the DL and Sharika wants to make this an
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actual relationship she's already decided she's going to have this baby and therefore she wants a relationship
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with the baby's father well she's an interesting person because one she is Drop Dead Gorgeous
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on top of that she's this very kind person but whatever happened to her in her past she is the definition of like
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an amazing person that doesn't understand their worth and that she's just kind of willing to put up with
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nonsense and so here's this football player yeah he has a lot of money people could say oh she sounds like a gold
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digger but I don't think that's the case this guy is treating her like dirt most
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the time well and she's a determined individual okay so one thing that I've seen in her short life is that when she
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sets her mind to something she achieves it yeah okay and so to be perfectly clear what it looks like to me here is
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that we have a situation where she was determined to have the baby raise the baby with or without Ray Carruth right
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okay in an ideal perfect scenario they would form a family and have a future together
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and that's what she was hoping for now I have to believe here behind closed doors Rey is probably
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telling her what she wants to hear yeah okay I believe so too so this was going to be a big night for Sharika and she
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thinks in a good step forward in their relationship because they're going to go on what her mother would later refer to
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a real date they were going to go out on the town together they were going to go
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to see a movie together this was The Bone Collector movie well and let's just talk about Ray real quick because
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he is not the most handsome guy he has a you kind of have the ugly forehead he's
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got a five head yeah he has a five head and but like in one picture he looks like a
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cone head with a goatee and then the other picture like the side profile it almost looks like there's a double
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decker bus on top of his head um but then in some pictures he looks normal and looks
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you know decently good looking guy but it's like some of the pictures it's like well this guy is fugly well I don't know
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how Charming he would have been um most of his teammates often say that he was a bit more of a quiet type they
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didn't know him real well he kind of stayed in the background a bit but you got him where he's got you know he went
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to college he was a football star in college so much so that he's drafted in the first round of the NFL right so he
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probably looks like a promising Suitor you know if you're if you're a female attracted to a professional football
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player or professional athlete he's athletic he's young he's possibly going to make a lot of money I think you know
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so as far as like career-wise goes he's college educated so but the problem is he seems to have like the Aaron
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Hernandez syndrome where it's like you you go to school you do the right things you get drafted to a good team and then
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you decide that you want to be a badass that you want to be like a gangster you know what I mean you know you're you're
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spot on and that's actually how many people describe Ray Carruth as someone that he had a good upbringing he went to
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college he had every Advantage given to him yeah yet for some reason he had something in him that he wanted to be
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a bit of a thug or a bit of a bad boy and he you know he did have other girlfriends that he was stringing along
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around the same time right that Sharika didn't know anything about but again regardless
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she believes that their relationship is moving in the right direction she's eight months pregnant she's going to be
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having this baby soon right and now they're going out on what she is telling her mother is their first real date to
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go to the movies right well earlier that same day this is before the date that Rey invited uh sharik on he has Watkins
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along with two other guys this is Michael Kennedy and Stanley Abraham they are both all three of them are at
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his house now Stanley Abraham and Michael Kennedy are both reported local drug dealers so he's associating himself
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with people from let's say the other side of the tracks right okay and we would have a lot of his teammates would
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later say we didn't really understand why he was hanging out with these types of characters
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why he would spend his time spending time with all these thugs well you're right yeah right so they're all at his
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house and at some point Rey Now by this point he is been talking to Watkins about killing Sharika for months yeah
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six months and he's not done anything about it Watkins and he's starting to think Ray's starting to think hey this
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isn't going to get done so he starts telling Kennedy hey we need to get a gun we need to get
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this whole plan in action Kennedy explains to him that he could find a gun for him
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but he tells Ray I know what you're going to use it for I don't want anything to do with this I'm not
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supplying you with a gun right later Kennedy would say that Rey and some roundabout way kind of threatened
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Kennedy saying something like this is going to happen no matter what now you know about it regardless if you're
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involved or not right anyway long story short Kennedy does go and buy a gun and this is a 38 revolver
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and if anybody's seen pictures of this there are pictures of this gun online it's a
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if I were like looking for a weapon to defend myself or to use in an attack this this would not be my first choice
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this looks like it's okay so it's a silver gun with a black handle but it is visibly rusted like it doesn't I would
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question if it would even operate at this point this guy has a record so he's taking whatever he can get yeah
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he has to get a gun illegally Kennedy says that Ray gave him 100 five twenty dollar bills to go and purchase this gun
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he buys the gun and it comes with five bullets so Kennedy he's going to drive around
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and he's going to be driving around with Watkins and Abraham in his vehicle for several hours why while Ray Carruth and
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Adams they go on their date right which the movie ends and the date is winding down just before midnight so after the
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movie Rey tells Sharika that he wanted to spend the night at her house again something that doesn't happen or has not
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happened in this relationship it's [ __ ] so at some point they're going to go get his vehicle they're now
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driving separate vehicles back to her home karuth's car is in front and Sharika is
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following Ray Carruth but this is with Kennedy Watkins and Abraham all in Kennedy's car trailing Sharika Adams and
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I'm assuming she doesn't know that no I it's it's a little tricky because they were at his home earlier that day I
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don't know if she knew these individuals I think that Rey's relationship with Watkins was lengthy enough that Sharika
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probably knew of Watkins so as the three cars traveled along this is odd enough but they traveled along
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Ray Road this is in Charlotte North Carolina right they came to a more secluded section of railroad there
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Carruth stopped his car in front of Sharika Adams's car Kennedy pulled his car up alongside
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Adams's car boxing her in then Watkins opened fire shooting at Sharika until he fired all five of his bullets
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the two cars with the men driving them sped away leaving Sharika there alone to die but somehow amazingly she was still
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alive yeah so to be clear about this Rey stops his car to pin her in and preventing her from moving forward
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right and then so then they come on the side this is very similar to what people
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think happened in like the Tupac shooting yes and let's be clear about this too after the shooting
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Ray just drives away yeah yeah as does the other vehicle leaving Sharika there I mean she's very badly wounded bleeding
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profusely and near death somehow once pregnant she using her cell phone she calls 9-1-1
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and on that call you can hear Sharika telling 9-1-1 I've been shot I've been shot she says I was following my baby's
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daddy Ray Carruth the football player he was in the car in front of me and he slowed down and somebody pulled up
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beside me and did this then the medic asked and then where did he go Sharika says he
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just left I think he did it I don't know what to think somehow she had the strength to hold on
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and the wherewithal to continually sound her car horn this is to alert responders to her exact
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location as they made their way to the very precise description of her location that she was able to provide them on the
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phone well at some point she's saying I'm on this road I'm on this road in the and the dispatcher is going
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I don't know what you're saying could you imagine you've been shot you're eight eight months pregnant you're
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calling for help and you're in your audible but it's not audible to the other person yeah and you're going oh
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I'm on this road I'm on this road what road [ __ ] lady I gotta spell it out for you
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well and the thing is too you know we heard a portion of that 911 call on the trailer yeah I mean you can hear the
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pain and Agony that Sharika is in and she's fighting through that and she's I mean she's giving them a very
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precise directions to where she is you know hey this is my location she's spelling out the name of the road right
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and but you can also hear the difficulty during that conversation it's not it's a
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little tough to discern what's going on you do have the operator or the medic I know that they switch lines at some
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point but as they are telling her hey you are on a mobile phone so we don't know your location you need to tell us
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where you are and hang on so we can get people there to help you to save your life right and I cannot I I mean the
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strength in this young woman to be able to hold it together and describe exactly
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where she is because later when they find her you can go back and listen to the 911 call and You Can Tell She's spot
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on with where she's saying she is no but here's where it concerns me a little bit
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you know Ray slows down she saw that happen she knows what happened she knows he's responsible she knows
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he's in on this and if you don't know when he stopped the car and you felt the bullet you know when he drove away
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but to me this is a sign that this individual when she goes I don't know what to think
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that's that's a direct reflection of I don't know what my worth is well but it's also I mean she is very clear and
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very smart to tell the operator I think that he did this right and name him specifically and say what his actions
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were during during the course of these events well it's also great when she actually
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says his name who he plays for and his number yeah yeah I think he was number 89 and she says that and so she's very
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specific on describing who he is so that the operator and everybody that would listen to this call in the future would
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know exactly who this guy is 86. at one point he's 83 well he's 86. he I I actually think he may have been 89 at
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this point one thing with Ray Carruth and I didn't know would get it too much into it
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he was very much about his appearance and His Image so much so the in his very short professional football career he
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changed numbers many times and that's actually not completely unheard of you know a lot of times a guy will show up
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to a team and somebody else has the number that they desire for whatever reason and they will offer money to
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exchange numbers exchange jersey numbers and Ray Carruth it was 83 84 86 89 jeez well it's you look when you have a
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giant cone head like that you you got to be worried I mean they probably had to make a special helmet
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for this dude well Emergency Services responded to Sharika Adams in 12 minutes this is after she dialed 9-1-1 tarika
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Adams was transported to Carolina's Medical Center where her baby was delivered via emergency cesarean section
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approximately 80 minutes after she was shot the initial prognosis was to put it very blunt it was bad very bad at best
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they thought Sharika might somehow survive the shooting but her baby would likely die
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Sharika regained Consciousness approximately seven hours after giving birth she couldn't talk
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but she was able to scribble notes to detectives in order to communicate regarding the questions they were asking
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about what had transpired one of the notes that she wrote was he was driving in front of me and stopped
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in the road she also wrote and a car pulled up beside me and he blocked the front and never came back she's
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obviously talking about Ray Carruth here as far as her response to the question of whether Carruth was involved she Drew
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only a question mark after a short bit Sharika Adams went back to sleep and never regained
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Consciousness the baby was named Chancellor Lee and just like some sort of Miracle he was beginning to improve
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in spite of doctors concerns of brain damage sharika's condition however got worse and worse now while this is all
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going on we have an investigation that is happening and we have detectives that are looking and talking to Ray Carruth
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because one thing they know and he does not know is that Sharika was able to give his name during the course of the
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9-1-1 call so they're talking to Ray Carruth and they went ahead and they pulled his cell phone records well one
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thing that's interesting about his cell phone records is they see a number on there a phone number on there that they
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didn't know who this belonged to yet he had called this number like 150 times in
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the course of a very short period of time over the course of a couple months okay so they give him his phone records
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and they're like you know who is this number who is this number who does this number belong to and they're going
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through the the numbers and Ray skips over that phone number the one that they wanted to know the most about why
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because what they have is his cell phone information they could figure out through the uh pings of the cell phone
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that not only could Sharika Adams verbally state that he was in front of her car around the time that she was
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shocked they could put his cell phone with her or near her at this same time and on top of that that day that evening
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leading up to that shooting he's making phone calls some of them are to shriek Adams and some of them are to this
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unknown phone number well yeah the unknown phone number is going to a hotel motel Holiday Inn hotel and who is at
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the hotel none other than fan Brett Watkins the gunman yes after they speak with Watkins he's going to give them
00:25:47
other names arrest are going to be made this includes Watkins Abraham Kennedy and Ray Carruth Ray Carruth was able to
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post a three million dollar bail but this came with conditions one he was not to leave Mecklenburg County and two he
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was to turn himself in if either Sharika Adams or Chancellor Lee died [Music] thank you
00:26:19
[Music] all right cheers mates cheers now tragically in the early afternoon of December 14 1999 Sharika Adams died at
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the age of just 24 after spending almost a month in a coma now facing charges of first-degree
00:26:46
murder Ray Carruth always the coward fled North Carolina a young woman named Wendy Cole an acquaintance of Carruth
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who was planning to attend Cosmetology School in California agreed to take him with her late that December night karuth
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hid in the trunk of Cole's Toyota Camry after driving through the night Cole checked into a Best Western hotel along
00:27:11
the interstate this was in Tennessee she would eventually call Ray carruth's mother and say hey he's with me
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we've been traveling he was fleeing the area Ray carruth's mother then calls the
00:27:26
Baal bondsman that set bail for Ray Carruth this is a three million dollar bail right they posted it for him if he
00:27:34
doesn't show up if he doesn't turn himself in they're going to lose their bail money so they want to find him the
00:27:41
reason that carruth's mother called them was because she feared that the longer he ran
00:27:47
that police would eventually catch up with him and when they did it might go down in a way that he gets killed during
00:27:54
the course of attempting to arrest him right so the police the FBI the bail bondsmen all these people armed with
00:28:02
this information knowing what hotel that they're staying at in Tennessee they show up to this location they speak with
00:28:10
this woman Wendy Cole and God bless her I know that from the outset from the onset of this
00:28:17
she was doing the wrong thing letting him flee but we we should be thankful that she did the right thing before it
00:28:25
was too late she phones this thing in they go to the hotel and she still feels some kind of loyalty to Ray you know at
00:28:33
this time we he's innocent until proven guilty not with that forehead and she doesn't
00:28:38
outwardly tell the detectives or the FBI exactly where where Rey is because he's
00:28:44
not in the hotel room with her he's still in the trunk of her car parked in the parking lot
00:28:50
so they keep asking her where is Rey well she's hinting to them it takes them a minute to pick up on it she keeps
00:28:56
looking at the keys at the car keys because they actually thought that once that they checked the hotel that Ray was
00:29:02
out on foot you know maybe looking for food or just out in the area right they go to the car and they open up the
00:29:09
trunk and they arrest Ray Carruth without incident Ray had actually been in the trunk of that vehicle for like 20
00:29:16
hours by this time this leads us to the trial right and this trial is a very interesting one for many reasons first
00:29:26
this was one of the most high profile criminal cases in the history of Charlotte North Carolina as well as the
00:29:32
history of the NFL Ray carruth's defense attorney was David Rudolph now anybody that's seen the staircase knows who
00:29:40
David Rudolph is yeah Rudolph's defense of Carruth centered around Caruth being caught up in a drug deal with Watkins
00:29:48
that had gone wrong not a hired hit to kill Sharika what this means is their story because you have these three
00:29:57
individuals Watkins Abraham Kennedy they're all saying the same thing Watkins was hired to kill Sharika Adams
00:30:06
that Ray Carruth hired him to kill this woman to get rid of her and the baby that she was going to have
00:30:13
Ray carruth's defense is I was using my money as an investment with Watkins we meaning Rey was going to fund the
00:30:23
purchase of a truckload of drugs and that when the truckload was to come in Ray backed out and told Watkins I
00:30:32
don't want to do this it's illegal I'm not paying for this Watkins what they allege is that Watkins
00:30:39
killed Sharika Adams in retaliation for not for Rey not paying for those drugs right and there was some weight to this
00:30:49
claim because you have Rudolph's defense that centered around a quote that Watkins had supposedly told a Jailer
00:30:57
while they were waiting trial where he stated if he had just given us the money none of this would have happened you
00:31:05
know meaning that it was Rey's fault if he would have just paid for that truckload of drugs I wouldn't have had
00:31:10
to retaliate and kill Sharika Adams yeah so Rey's story is basically this that the night of the murder when they left
00:31:21
the movie Rey was getting nervous that Watkins was going to come after him so he didn't
00:31:27
want to stay at his home so he tells Sharika let's go get my car or get your car whoever's car they weren't in we'll
00:31:35
ride separately back to your place I can stay at your place he won't know that I'm there
00:31:40
he says that when he saw Watkins and Kennedy and Abraham in that car pull up that he panicked Ray Carruth panicked
00:31:47
and fled the scene at trial Kennedy testified claiming that Ray Carruth commissioned Watkins for the
00:31:55
hit and that he had threatened to kill Kennedy if he did not assist with the plot testimonies were also given by
00:32:02
Michelle Wright who had birth karuth's first child and then Amber Turner carus former girlfriend who aborted a
00:32:10
pregnancy that she had via Carruth the most compelling testimony came from Van Brett Watkins who maintained over the
00:32:18
course of two days that Carruth had hired him to kill Adams karruth for his part never took the stand again let me
00:32:25
set this up this is the shooter this is the guy that pulled the trigger and he is being
00:32:33
cross-examined and they're trying to get him to slip up now the audio is rough it's coming from a VHS tape but I think
00:32:41
you'll find it compelling and uh you've uh you've got a gun there that you said he
00:32:50
told you to get down in Atlanta right he did the purpose of that gun according to
00:32:56
you is to carry out to shoot right exactly and so you get this call and you're and you're petrified and so you
00:33:05
go over there um because you feel petrified but you don't bring the gun that you supposedly bought for purposes
00:33:16
of this hit right exactly so you're sort of a Hitman without a weapon is that what you are if that's
00:33:24
what you want to say well that's what you were according to you if that's what you I can tell you with my hands
00:33:31
okay is that what you were I could tell you with my hands brother I don't need it again okay I
00:33:40
didn't need a gun okay I put I left the gun there in hopes that he would deter him from doing what he
00:33:48
did yeah he must have been pretty angry at you for not bringing the gun that he had told you to get wasn't he
00:34:06
was ordering everybody around what the heck I mean I mean show up the Hitman and he made sure excuse me sir I'm still
00:34:16
asking a question and his vicious criminal who's never had as much as a parking ticket in his life that takes a
00:34:24
that commits a murder that commits the murder on his first time out for Crime what was he going to escalate to Mr
00:34:32
Watkins yes sir I'm sorry I'll be quiet just a minute let him finish the question but
00:34:39
again Mr Rudolph I know it's called examination don't be argumentative in your questions yes sir
00:34:47
he must have been mighty angry at you to show up at his house for this hit without the gun wasn't he wasn't he
00:34:57
excuse me wasn't he I just answered you what's your answer yes or no wasn't he yeah
00:35:06
and so did he say well you go on back and you go get that gun because I don't need to be spending
00:35:13
another 200 and having this accounting running all around all night looking for a gun when I didn't need a gun
00:35:21
okay for me to kill somebody I don't need a gun going to look and see I'm 286 pounds
00:35:31
okay I would rip you like a rag doll okay is that what you're gonna do to Sharika
00:35:38
I could have but I didn't okay I could have killed her the baby okay that wasn't my beef I didn't kill
00:35:47
my wife with the meat clever I threatened her okay I didn't hit Bridget with the
00:35:52
Crowbar I threatened her I was a dog barking I didn't do nothing I ran after my wife did that to me I left New
00:36:03
York packed up took my tools and said I'm a good looking man I'll be able to get another woman left went to Atlanta
00:36:09
it was in the strip club with hundreds when I had a problem with the girl I was dealing with in Atlanta packed up went
00:36:18
to Charlotte met Bridget when I had a problem with Bridges I packed up went back to Atlanta I ran
00:36:25
this is what I tried to encourage the young man I told him not to do it for six months I avoided him I didn't go
00:36:32
ahead and do it I couldn't do it he forced me to do it he threatened me and the ones I love
00:36:42
they're not over so feel it feel the truth okay I come from a city where you could
00:36:52
feel it you can tell when someone's selling your [ __ ] and when somebody's telling the truth feel it
00:36:59
or your city is doomed it'd be like New York and Atlanta within 10 years remember what I said
00:37:08
he's representing a person who killed had his baby's mama and baby contracted out to kill
00:37:17
and all the time I'm looking at my girl and baby how did you think I felt I'm Still Human
00:37:23
even though I have a long criminal history I did it all but I'm still human God forbid
00:37:37
I think further you're right about that just did you say to the tension officer Griffin
00:37:50
two weeks after you caused that I hope the [ __ ] dies you say that that's the [ __ ] I was
00:37:59
talking about oh I see breaker Roof oh that's the [ __ ] I was referring to who got me into
00:38:08
this oh okay this is the [ __ ] I was referring to oh he didn't stand up I stood up for mine I said I did it I did
00:38:17
it because he made me do it okay he made the other two also do it okay that's your client the [ __ ]
00:38:27
at the time that you made that statement Sharika Adams was fighting for her life
00:38:36
right did the captain tell you what happened that day my question is Sharika Adams was
00:38:45
fighting for her life wasn't she she was but this this wasn't about three guys it
00:38:51
was about the person who got me involved in all this for six months your client did this
00:38:59
this wasn't a one day Affair it was for six months he dragged me into something that I didn't want to be involved with
00:39:07
your client now have you ever referred to women as [ __ ] it's not uh it's not uh something I would do all the
00:39:23
time if I did it I did it in Anger right if you were angry at a woman you'd say you [ __ ] right but if a dude acts like
00:39:30
a [ __ ] okay like your client the insult doubles I think with a woman there it is who didn't stand up who
00:39:44
didn't say look I did this look I am sorry I did this I'm gonna I'm gonna what he said was I'm gonna
00:39:52
save myself after the murder you're defending this will you were you hoping that Miss Adams died
00:40:04
I got a second degree murder charge the rest of my life in prison if she would have lived
00:40:14
I wouldn't have the rest of my life in prison sure so you could answer that question you
00:40:22
you claimed in this statement you made to the police that Mr Carruth had threatened you is that right yeah he
00:40:36
threatened me and my family right and I think you told me you were particularly concerned about uh your family right
00:40:43
most of them than me right because you're a pretty big guy right size doesn't have nothing to do with it
00:40:52
well you're a lot bigger than he is right he's a lot more dangerous than I am though yeah because he has a really
00:41:00
violent background compared to yours is that he took murder as his first child okay I never murdered nobody in my
00:41:08
business this was his business yes sir he took murder for the first child we understand it that's your story sir we
00:41:16
understand that's your story to save your life sir save my life my life is still gone
00:41:22
save one life it's gone are you going to be strapped to a gurney sir either way are you going to be strapped to a gurney
00:41:29
either way are you going to be strapped to a gurney are you going to be strapped through
00:41:33
Gurnee I don't know who the intense intensity of that cross-examine and it gets me every time
00:41:42
it's like a pressure cooker yeah I mean he just he's like talking when he's not supposed to talk right he
00:41:51
just keeps going and and he'll tell you he'll he'll lay out all the ways he's a piece of [ __ ]
00:41:58
yeah and Rudolph would later say that from time to time he was making sure that the bailiff was present in the
00:42:05
courtroom that there were law enforcement members present in the courtroom because he was worried that
00:42:10
this guy was going to come over this the stand and come at him right and at one point when you watch this on TV you
00:42:17
could see the jurors they all start leaning back they want to get as far away from Watkins as possible as you see
00:42:25
him amping up and amping up right because all of this footage I believe it was all covered by Court TV well Watkins
00:42:32
is a big dude and he's for 280 290. and he's mean and he's evil I mean there's no way around it yeah and he'll tell you
00:42:41
he'll tell you that on January 19 2001 Ray Carruth was found guilty of discharging a firearm into an occupied
00:42:49
property of conspiracy to commit murder and using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child but not found
00:42:57
guilty a first degree murder this was a very difficult thing this case was very difficult this trial was
00:43:05
very difficult yeah and the jurors were put in a tough spot here and the reason why that they didn't find
00:43:12
him guilty of first-degree murder they said that they wanted to give him second-degree murder which ultimately he
00:43:20
would end up getting a longer sentence the problem they had with this was they were instructed at the beginning of the
00:43:27
trial that these are the charges that Ray Carruth faces right one of them is first degree murder if you you can find
00:43:33
him guilty of that or innocent of that however if you find him guilty of I'm sorry innocent a first degree murder you
00:43:41
can't charge him you know he won't be tried for second-degree murder it's either first-degree murder or not guilty
00:43:47
yeah and the reason why I believe the jurors were put in a tough spot here is they are seeing these other three
00:43:54
individuals that were involved in the murder of Sharika they take the stand they get to hear their side of the story
00:44:01
their versions of the events and they're seeing these guys and these guys are getting second degree murder
00:44:08
charges right specifically Watkins the jurors said you know what we had a real problem with seeing Watkins on the stand
00:44:14
knowing he's getting charged with second-degree murder and he pulled the trigger five times and killed this woman
00:44:19
yet this guy that's on trial right in front of us is getting charged with first degree murder yeah so so it's one
00:44:26
of those things that like if you could hop in the DeLorean and go back in time and restructure this thing I'm not
00:44:32
saying anyone was to fault here Great Scots but if the jurors were given the opportunity to convict Rey of
00:44:38
second-degree murder yeah they would have gave him that without a doubt and that ended up leading to a shorter
00:44:46
sentence than Most Wanted for Ray Carruth and in fact he was facing the death penalty if he was going to be
00:44:52
convicted of first degree murder Ray Carruth was sentenced to a period of no less than 18 years and 11 months and no
00:44:59
more than 24 years and four months in prison he was given credit for the 13 months that he served in prison
00:45:06
following December of 1999 towards his sentence as far as carus co-conspirators are concerned Kennedy served 11 years in
00:45:14
prison before he was released in 2011 and Abraham went to prison for less than two years prior to his release in 2001.
00:45:23
Watkins is not slated to be released until 2046. yeah it doesn't make a lot of sense here I think one on how each each
00:45:32
individual was charged but I think again I think the system sucks because here's somebody with money
00:45:42
and money is going to get you a better defense and and that I think ultimately is why you got
00:45:48
a lesser sentence than he deserved I mean I believe everybody involved not only did they take somebody's life
00:45:56
but they because of the complications of birth this person is affected with these handicaps for the rest of
00:46:05
their life yes and and Chancellor Lee right and not only that but now other family members have to Rally around to
00:46:14
support him and help him through these challenges so yeah you know but again that's if you
00:46:22
have some money you'll get a lighter sentence well let's talk about something here because often
00:46:28
in the cases we cover captain there are no Heroes you know in in an unsolved case often we are left with no
00:46:35
Heroes sometimes there are heroes this case is weird because we have a lot of Heroes okay obviously we have the law
00:46:43
enforcement individuals that made these arrests that did the you know the hard work deducing what actually happened and
00:46:49
went down that night that this woman was killed we have the EMT for showing up yeah we we got all the First Responders
00:46:56
that we get to hear about often but on the flip side on the reverse side of the coin the the side that's away from all
00:47:04
these monsters that were involved in ending this young woman's life right the victim herself who's no longer with
00:47:12
us Sharika is a superstar hero I mean she she was not most people would not have lived through that experience
00:47:21
minutes or hours or even the length that she did but on top of that she was able
00:47:27
to assist in the investigation to lead investigators directly to Ray Carruth and
00:47:34
ultimately to give birth to Chancellor Lee yeah Chancellor Lee Another Hero and we'll get to him in just a second but we
00:47:42
have Sandra Adams sharika's mother this woman is a saint this is with this woman
00:47:48
I tell you what I've read and viewed many interviews with this woman yeah if everyone had her heart and her
00:47:57
intelligence this world would be the perfect place to live in she is a saint she took on this this challenge every
00:48:07
child is a challenge yeah but Chancellor Lee had special challenges and she took
00:48:13
on that challenge and she has raised this boy for the whole time that this terrible
00:48:19
father who wanted him dead sat in prison and she has asked nothing of no one along the way she has she had the
00:48:29
strength man and she gave that to her daughter and her daughter passed that along to her son yeah well now you get
00:48:35
this five headed monster getting out of prison and he you know he makes these claims that
00:48:43
he wants to be involved in this kid's life now you're responsible for the death of
00:48:47
his mother you're you're responsible for his extra challenges that he faces on a daily basis and you're responsible
00:48:57
for that and you want to be involved in this kid's life like he he used to be he's a bigger
00:49:05
piece of [ __ ] than I thought well and I want to talk about Chancellor Lee here for a little bit because he is
00:49:11
now 19 years old he just recently turned 19 years old yeah and kudos to this young man because he has done a lot of
00:49:20
things that medical professions professionals said he would never do you know they
00:49:26
said he would never walk he would never talk these were the challenges that this
00:49:30
little boy faced because of Ray Carruth and guess what he talks he walks yes he needs some assistance and he's learning
00:49:38
more and fighting through every day but guess what I like the cut of his jib that's right he's a special individual
00:49:46
yeah and so I just wanted to make sure that through the whole mess of what happened that night
00:49:52
we don't we don't lose track that there are some Heroes here there are some Superstars and it's Sandra Sharika and
00:50:00
Chancellor Lee and like you said all these years later Ray Carruth he gets out of prison at the age of 44 he was
00:50:08
released from prison and to this day he maintains that he did not conspire to kill sharik Adams right but he has
00:50:15
publicly stated that he accepts responsibility for her death I I scoff at that I laugh at that although karuth
00:50:22
has long disputed the words of sharika's mother Sandra Adams Carruth followed a February 2018 letter
00:50:31
to Adams and this was published by WBTV this was apologizing for his role in the
00:50:39
death of her daughter and he States I'm apologizing for the loss of your daughter I'm apologizing for the
00:50:45
impairment of my son but again never accepting guilt yeah what I think is interesting here
00:50:52
Captain is the dynamic of these individuals and at the soul and heart of who these individuals are
00:51:01
Ray Carruth is a coward he's a runner and for whatever reason his speed is what led him to the NFL but what we saw
00:51:10
time and time again with Ray Carruth and what we will continue to see with Ray Carruth in the future
00:51:16
when something when he has a problem when he has an issue when he has a challenge
00:51:22
he runs from it he ran from the birth of his first child he had one of his children aborted
00:51:30
he tried to kill the mother of of rate of Chancellor Lee yeah tried to kill Chancellor Lee and then when he's due to
00:51:38
get arrested he fled the state as well now that he's out of prison yes he claimed he wanted to be or have some
00:51:45
kind of involvement with his son and what we would ultimately see is him turn away from that as well
00:51:52
personally I'm kind of glad that he did I don't trust this guy at all I wouldn't
00:51:56
want him anywhere near me and I don't want him anywhere near Sandra Adams or Chancellor Lee well what's really
00:52:03
interesting to me is he writes his long letter he doesn't really like you said take
00:52:08
responsibility for it but he says he wants to be involved blah blah blah blah blah flippity flu
00:52:15
right right but then it's like a day or two later that he then there's a new statement I
00:52:23
mean we're talking about Pages upon pages in a letter and his new statement that is
00:52:30
uh he's gonna respect their wishes and it's probably best for everybody involved that there is no relationship
00:52:39
between him and his son I find that strange I think like you said he's a coward I I think somebody threatened him
00:52:51
I think somebody said you're a piece of [ __ ] you don't you should never be involved in this
00:52:57
kid's life and I think somebody stood up for um her family the grandmother and the son I
00:53:05
think somebody stood up for them and said hey you're not going to come around here and if you do there's going to be
00:53:10
trouble and then he said I don't need to be involved on the flip side of the coin what's
00:53:17
what's interesting to me is that we have Ray Carruth who is a coward a runner a man that flees from any challenge in
00:53:24
front of him real son of a [ __ ] we have three generations of the atoms that when given a challenge they meet it
00:53:33
head-on they accept the challenge and they defeat the challenge all three very strong very strong individuals
00:53:42
[Music] I want to send everybody Point them in a direction if they want to learn more
00:53:54
about this case or about the atoms or about Ray Carruth there's an individual who's got an
00:54:01
incredible body of work his name is Scott Fowler he works for the Charlotte Observer he was there from the very
00:54:08
beginning of this whole story he was working in Charlotte for the Observer when they drafted Ray Carruth so before
00:54:15
this whole nightmare happened he was there covered everything regarding Rey's professional career up to the murder the
00:54:23
trial and all the aftermath and he spent a good deal of time with Sandra Adams and with Chancellor Lee Adams so I
00:54:32
recommend looking up any of his articles you can find plenty of them online again
00:54:37
that's Scott Fowler his last name spelled f-o-w-l-e-r and he also did a podcast called Carruth so I recommend that you
00:54:46
check that out and we will put that on our page at truecrime garage.com all right thanks so much for listening
00:54:52
thanks for telling a friend make sure you check us out all of our old shows on Stitcher and off the record on Stitch or
00:55:00
premium till next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause] [Music]