Ex NFL Star Rae Carruth Released From Prison 19 Years After Pregnant Girlfriend's Murder

Rae Carruth is a free man. As RadarOnline.com has learned, the former NFL star has just been released from prison — almost two decades after being tossed behind bars for his involvement in the murder of his pregnant girlfriend.

In 2001, the Carolina Panthers player was sentenced to 18 to 24 years in prison after being found guilty of conspiring to kill Cherica Adams in 1999. This Monday, however, he was sent home.

Following his release, Carruth told reporters that he was excited to be free but "nervous" about how the public would receive him, according to 6ABC.

"I still have to work. I still have to live. I have to exist out there and it just seems like there is so much hate and negativity toward me. I'm actually somewhat frightened," he told WSOC-TV this Sunday.

As RadarOnline.com readers know, Carruth was accused of having hired Van Brett Watkins and Michael Kennedy to murder Adams in November 1999. She was eight months pregnant at the time, and the shooting caused grave injuries to her unborn child. On the day of the crime, Carruth was following Adams in a separate car, ad reportedly blocked the vehicle while the two men drove by and shot her. The baby somehow survived, but Carruth died four weeks later.

After he was found guilty, Carruth said he wanted to make amends, be forgiven by Carruth's family and get to know his child, Chancellor Lee Adams, now 18. The teen suffers from cerebral palsy and lives with his maternal grandmother. She's said that while she's let the past go, she will never give Rae Carruth custody of the boy after he tried to have him killed.

Stay with RadarOnline.com for updates.

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