| | CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Rae Carruth's mother wants her son to understand that she had his well-being in mind when she turned him
in.
Her son is charged with murder in the shooting of his pregnant
girlfriend.
Theodry Carruth said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America"
that she hasn't yet told her son she was the one who told
authorities where to find him, but added: "I know he'll
understand."
FBI agents on Wednesday arrested Carruth, a third-year Carolina
Panthers wide receiver, after Ms. Carruth told a bail bondsmen he
was hiding at a west Tennessee motel. He was apprehended as he
emerged from a car trunk at the motel.
Carruth, 25, was returned Sunday to Charlotte to face charges
stemming from the shooting of Cherica Adams, 24, who died Dec. 14.
He is scheduled to make a first appearance in Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Superior Court on Tuesday.
Carruth was required to surrender immediately if Adams died, but
didn't. At the time, he was free on $3 million bond after being
charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and other charges in her
Nov. 16 shooting.
"He didn't run," his mother said. "He said all along he was
scared, he needed some time to think, that his hope had just died.
When she died, that was his hope."
Ms. Carruth said a woman who was with her son called her after
her son disappeared.
"I told her I was going to call somebody she could trust to get
them back to Charlotte safe," she said, adding that she "felt in
my heart if someone else had caught my son, he would have been
killed."
Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty against Carruth and three other defendants, but Ms. Carruth said Monday she doesn't think about it because she believes her son is innocent.
Carruth faces a first-degree murder charge and other counts. Carruth is the first active NFL player to be charged with murder. He was cut by the team following his arrest.
Also facing first-degree murder charges in Adams' death are
William Watkins, 44; Michael Kennedy, 24; and Stanley Abraham, 19.
They and Carruth are jailed without bail.
Carruth was placed in protective custody Sunday away from other
jail inmates. He had told friends and relatives after earlier
spending 12 days in isolation that he never wanted to return to
jail.
Prosecutors have said Carruth instigated the plot to murder
Adams. As she drove in her car, she was hit in the neck and chest
by four bullets fired from a passing vehicle. Authorities said
Carruth and the other men were in two vehicles in Adams' vicinity
and communicating by cell phone when she was shot.
The shooting led to the emergency Caesarean delivery of Adams'
boy, Chancellor. After spending several days in intensive care, the
baby, born 10 weeks premature, is doing well.
On Saturday, about 1,000 people attended Adams' funeral in Charlotte.
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