He played as a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL).
Carruth played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes, earning first-team All-American honors in 1996.
[9] On November 16, 1999, near Carruth's home in Charlotte, North Carolina, Cherica Adams, a real estate agent he had been dating, was shot four times using a .357 caliber Charter Arms revolver by Van Brett Watkins Sr., a nightclub manager and an associate of Carruth.
Carruth went to the police and posted $3 million bail, on condition that if either Adams or the infant died, he would turn himself in.
The baby, named Chancellor Lee Adams, survived, but suffered permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy as a result of being without oxygen for 70 minutes before he was born.
[12] Carruth quickly fled after Adams' death, but was captured on December 15 in West Tennessee, found hiding in the trunk of a car outside a motel in Parkers Crossroads.
[13] The trunk also contained $3,900 cash, bottles of his urine, extra clothes, candy bars, and a cell phone.
[15] At trial, prosecutors contended that Carruth hired Watkins and others to murder Adams because of her refusal to abort their unborn child.
[17] Carruth was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child.