Former Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth apologized to the family of Cherica Adams for her 1999 death, and though he said he hoped to one day have a relationship with the son who was born prematurely as a result.
But his son’s caretaker, grandmother Saundra Adams, said Monday it was unlikely that would come to pass.
“I don’t see Rae Carruth having custody of Chancellor Lee Adams ever,” Adams told WBTV’s Steve Crump. “I’m not concerned about him getting custody of Chancellor.”
Carruth wrote an open letter to Adams and talked to the Charlotte television station about his future, saying Adams would not return messages and letters in recent years. He also said he hoped to have a relationship with his son, who suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of the trauma that took his mother’s life.
And as you might expect from a grieving mother who has cared for a handicapped child while Carruth has spent 18 years in prison, she has mixed feelings about Carruth’s words which come less than a year before his scheduled release from prison, after he was found guilty of conspiring to kill her daughter Cherica Adams.
“On one side, it’s what I’ve been praying for, That he would have a change of heart,” Adams said. “On the other side, there was a lot of untruths in what I heard because I’ve never received any correspondence from him. Especially saying that he’s apologized or that he’s taken responsibility for Cherica’s death. . . .
“It does give me a sigh of relief because I don’t think we could go forth with the real relationship until there was some kind of repentance. I’m glad to hear that he matured over these 17 years. I’m really glad to hear that he has a relationship with God because I definitely know that was missing prior to this.”
Adams has said in the past that she intended to be at the prison with her grandson when Carruth is released (scheduled for October), and has suggested in the past that she was open to Carruth having a relationship with her son.
But for a situation that would seem to be irretrievably broken, the idea that a reconciliation would be an easy process is also hard to imagine.
