Southern Fried true crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit language used. Listener discretion is advased. At
twelve thirty am on November sixteenth, nineteen ninety nine, it was the dead
of night in Charlotte, North Carolina. The skies were clear of clouds,
the wind was barely blowing, and the temperature was at chilly forty three degrees.
When twenty four year old Shreika Adams left for a date night with her
boyfriend earlier that evening, she wasn't in fear of her life. If anything,
she was afraid of losing her boyfriend. She was eight months pregnant with
a child he had not wanted, but she didn't feel unsafe, just happy
he wanted to spend time with her. Growing up around Charlotte, Sharika was
part of a melting pot of diverse cultures, often compared to its beautiful seasons.
In nineteen ninety nine, Charlotte was still in the first glow of a
new NFL team, The Carolina Panthers, made their debut in nineteen ninety five,
thrilling North Carolinians statewide. But Charlotte had a fairly high homicide rate in
the nineties. In general, statistically, it is still in the bottom ten
percent of cities reporting violent crime, making it one of the more dangerous cities
in the nation. Polling suggests many locals would disagree. Charlotteans are proud of
their city and its distinct character, and a great number insists it is safe,
while acknowledging there are some rougher parts of town. But no one can
deny the homicide issue in the nineties, even if you didn't live in one
of the more dangerous areas. Law enforcement maintain that it was related to the
crack epidemic, and Shirka's case hearkens back to that mindset when her murderer's defense
would be a drug deal gone wrong. Not that Shirka was doing drugs,
know that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But we
are all familiar with another depressing statistic that the number one cause of death for
pregnant women is murder. Welcome to episode two oh eight, The Murder of
Sharika Adams. Serika Lavina Adams was born on June thirtieth, nineteen seventy five,
to her mother, Sondra Adams and her father, Jeff Mooney, near
Charlotte, North Carolina. Serika's mother, Sondra, would later see in interviews
that she named Sharika in part because of the singer's share, and she chose
Serika's middle name, Lavina because that was Sondra's mother's middle name. Sondra gave
birth to Sharika when she was seventeen years old. At the time, she
was a senior in high school. Sondra and Shrika's father, Jeff, didn't
stay together as her families grew. Sherika had two sisters, a brother,
and a stepbrother, and Sherika was mostly raised by Sondra and her parents in
King's Mountain, North Carolina. King's Mountain is about thirty two miles west of
Charlotte, but still within the metropolitan area of Charlotte. Sherika was a young
woman known for her confidence and kindness. She had a magnetic presence and made
those around her feel good about themselves. Shika was also very beautiful. Her
friend Valerie Brooks said that her looks could rival icons like Halle Berry and Beyonce.
Shirika was an absolute knockout, she said, but she wasn't aware of
how pretty she was, Valerie pointed out, emphasizing that Shirka's beauty was actually
more internal. Between her charismatic personality, generous nature, and stunning good looks,
people flocked to her. She had so many friends who spoke highly of
her. In nineteen ninety three, Sherika graduated from West Charlotte High School.
The next fall, she attended North Carolina's Winston Salem State University, but by
nineteen ninety five, Shika had stopped pursuing her degree. Instead, she entered
the workforce. While she did try out several different jobs, she primarily worked
in real estate, and she was really good at it. In nineteen ninety
seven, twenty two year old Cherika won a million dollar Circle award. The
specific award she received was dubbed Silver and meant she had sold high value homes
worth at least two million dollars. Then she also took on a second job.
In the late nineteen nineties, she became a dancer at a strip club,
although she was doing well otherwise. According to Sherika's mother, Sondra,
the money Shika earned from dancing was really helpful for her financial stability, which
was important to the young woman. In June of nineteen ninety eight, twenty
three year old Cherika went to a pool party. There she met us man
named Ray Caruth. Ray was twenty four years old and an NFL player.
He was a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, and Sriika met him right
when his star was on the rise. The year before. In April of
nineteen ninety seven, Ray had been a first round draft pick for the Carolina
Panthers. He had signed a four year contract for three point seven million dollars,
and his first season had started off strong. He caught forty four passes
for five hundred and forty five yards, as well as four touchdown passes.
As a result, Ray was named wide receiver for the NFL All Rookie Team.
Whether you know much about football or not, you can see Ray Caruth's
undeniable talent. When he and Serika began talking, I'm sure she was completely
dazzled. How could she not be? She was seeing an actual Panther.
I was about her age when the Titans came to Nashville, and it was
huge. For years. The team still foll so new and brought so much
pride to our city. I was a bartender at a nightclub and players would
sneak into the VIP room. They were an even bigger deal than the rock
stars and rappers who graced our doors. I met lots of musicians, but
players were off limits unless they asked to meet you. I imagine it was
a heady experience to meet a celebrity like that and for him to be interested
in her, especially the toast of the town, a new panther for the
home team that still had that new shine to them. Srika would have been
wild from the beginning, and Ray Caruth's meteoric rise was attractive to her.
How could it not be. She was a catch herself, also talented,
beautiful, and with a bright future. But they still were not an exclusive
couple. Ray made sure to keep a cash They were two attractive, charismatic
young people having fun but also working hard towards their own goals. But it
became more complicated seventeen months later when Ray would become the father of Serika's child.
I'm going to pause now for a short commercial break. Ray Lamar Theotis
Wiggins was born on January twentieth, nineteen seventy four, to his mother,
Theodre and his father Charles Wiggins. He had one sibling. Ray's father,
Charles, didn't have much of a role in his son's life. Instead,
Ray was mostly raised by his mother and his stepfather, Samuel Caruth. That's
why Ray started going by Ray Caruth. It was his stepfather's surname. In
nineteen eighty eight, when Ray was about fourteen years old, his mother and
stepfather divorced, but Ray kept using the name Caruth. Sometimes his middle name
is listed as Theotis, other times it's listed as Lamar. It's unclear what
formal name is change paperwork Ray did or did not fill out, but court
documents would later list him as Ray Lamar Wiggins, also known as Ray Caruth.
Ray was originally from Sacramento, California. He lived in an area known
as Oak Park in Ventura County, and he attended Valley High School. He
played football and was quickly noticed for his talent on the field. He was
also a popular kid. The Charlotte Observer reported that Ray was named his high
school prom king not once, but twice. Ray wasn't your stereotypical big football
player. He stood five feet eleven inches tall and weighed one hundred and ninety
four pounds that he was fast, incredibly fast. He could run forty yards
in four point three seconds. According to The Sacramento b Ray knew he needed
an athletic scholarship to achieve his goals. He told his friends and family that
he wanted to be famous. He wanted a bee career in football, but
his grades were a problem. His mother, high school teachers, and guidance
counselors helped him to develop an academic plan. It was the only way he'd
be able to get a full ride to college, so with the help of
that support system, Ray took extra summer and night classes. By nineteen ninety
two, he graduated from Balley High with a three point two GPA, and
he was offered a football scholarship from the University of Colorado, Boulder. As
an eighteen year old kid heading off to college, Ray was known for being
a reserved young man. People described him as quiet, slow to trust,
with very few friends. When Ray visited the University of Colorado for recruiting purposes,
he treated it like a business trip. He wrote down notes. He
brought a briefcase. While other potential football recruits were partying it up in Boulder,
Ray didn't join in He preferred to play video games in his free time.
But even though Ray was a serious person and not really a joiner,
he was well liked at u C. Boulder. Ray played four seasons as
a Buffalo. He became an All conference wide receiver. He majored in English,
went to class, and, as most of us do in college,
dated around. Ray was quite the charmer with the ladies, and according to
those who knew him, he preferred to date women casually. He wasn't interested
in monogamy or long term relationships, as his defense attorney David Rudolph later said,
his focus was pretty much on sports, football and women back in the
day. In the winner of nineteen ninety three to ninety four, Ray went
home to Sacramento for a visit. That's when he reconnected with an old high
school flame. Her name was Michelle Wright, and about nine months later,
in August of ninety four, Michele gave birth to Ray's first child, a
son named Junior. Ray, like his own dad, was not a good
father. When Ray Junior was born, Ray himself was a sophomore at CU
Boulder. He wasn't present for his son's birth. Instead, he chose to
go to the university's football camp. Then, after Michelle was granted full custody
of their son, Ray refused to make his child support payments. By the
time Ray was on the Carolina Panthers football team, Michelle was forced to take
him to court for child support. She was also forced to submit to a
paternity test. Ray simply was not going to pay her child support otherwise.
According to Sports Illustrated, the court issued a temporary order for Ray to pay
five thousand, five hundred and fifty dollars a month for Ray Junior's care.
This was based on Ray's massive NFL salary. Of course, he was making
about thirty seven grand each game, with sixteen games a year and six hundred
thousand dollars in Ray's pocket. Five grand a month is peanuts, at least
it should be when it comes to supporting your child. But according to Michelle's
testimony, she and Ray discussed this child support payment privately, and she agreed
to let Ray pay only two thousand, seven hundred a month on the condition
that he would spend more time with his son, but he didn't do it.
Over the next two decades, Ray rarely saw his son, only coming
into his life off and on. Michelle said that when she confronted Ray about
his lack of follow through on their child support agreement, he made a joke.
He said that Michelle shouldn't be surprised if she quote gotten a fatal car
accident. Yeah, real funny. At the same time that Ray was kicking
his feet of her child' support payments for Michelle and Ray Junior, he was
seeing another woman. Her name was Amber Turner, and while Ray couldn't fathom
paying the mother of his son for childcare expenses, he would lavish Amber with
gifts. He gave her five hundred dollars a month, He bought her Alexis
clothes, the whole nine yards. But when Amber became pregnant in March of
nineteen ninety eight, Ray quickly changed his tune. He wanted her to get
an abortion. According to Amber's court testimony, Ray threatened her he said,
don't make me send somebody out here to kill you. You know I'd do
it. In the end, Amber did have the abortion. In nineteen ninety
seven, Ray graduated from CU Boulder. He had played four seasons for the
Buffaloes and was named a first team All American in nineteen ninety six. As
he headed for his first job in his dream career. This time he took
a skateboard instead of a briefcase. He was much more laid back now,
maybe too laid back, as we'll see. He was a first round draft
by the Carolina Panthers in nineteen ninety seven, and he was making absolute bank.
He signed a four year, three point seven million dollar deal that included
a one point three million dollar signing bonus. Over the next few years,
he would purchase a white Ford Expedition, a red Mercedes, and a nice
house in Charlotte, though not a mansion. He paid two hundred and thirty
seven thousand then, which would be about four hundred thousand now, depressingly averaged
in this housing market. But Ray's financial situation wasn't all peaches and cream.
In his second season, he broke his right foot in the very first game.
Consequently, he missed out on most of the nineteen ninety eight season.
Sports Illustrated reported that Ray felt shunned by his Carolina teammates following his injury,
but rather than spending time bonding with them, he would play video games at
home. So you got a wonder who was doing the shunning. The next
season. In nineteen ninety nine, Ray was benched in September. He had
dropped an important pass in a game against the Jaguars. During this season,
Then Panthers coach George Seaffert tried to move to a new position. He wanted
Ray to be a punt returner, not a wide receiver. According to the
Charlotte Observer, Ray was not happy about this. He made intentional errors so
that Seaffert would change his position back The next month, in October, Ray
suffered a left ankle sprain, and just like that, Ray's nineteen ninety nine
football season had been cut short again. All this is to say race football
career, which had started off well, was going nowhere fast. But back
to Ray and Shika. They had first met at that pool party in the
summer of ninety eight, before Ray started having problems on the field. According
to Sandra Adams, Sharika took Ray to meet her father, Jeff Mooney,
just a few hours after that pool party. Jeff, who Sharika had reconnected
with in her teenage years, lived nearby. From that point on, Ray
and Shirika would meet up a few times during the summer. Despite the impromptu
visit with Sherika's father. Ray and Shirika weren't technically boyfriend and girlfriend. They
both dated other people. Serika even moved out of state briefly before returning to
Charlotte. After the summer of nineteen ninety eight, they had stopped seeing each
other and it looked like it was over for good, except by pure chance.
In November of nineteen ninety eight, Ray and Serika crossed paths once more.
He was at a birthday party for a fellow Panthers player, and the
party was being held at the Strip club where Shuika danced. Serika and Ray
left the party together, and their casual relationship began once more. By April
of nineteen ninety nine, Shika was pregnant. After they verified her pregnancy by
a doctor, Ray asked her to get an abortion. She said no.
Serika said she had already had an abortion before and wasn't going to do it
again. According to her friends, she would have been open to settling down
and starting a family with Ray, but he was clearly not interested in that.
Still, Suika was unfazed. She decided to have the baby and raise
the child by herself. After all, she had lots of family in the
area, her support network was strong, she was confident that she could be
a single mom. At this time, Serika had started working as a financial
manager at a bank, and she had always dreamt of being a mother.
Her friends knew that she already had the baby names picked out. If it
was a little girl, she'd name her Chase. If it was a boy,
she would name him Chancellor. I'm going to pause now to hear a
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Evolve Bank and Trust Member FDIC. By November of nineteen ninety nine, twenty
four year old Sharika was about eight months pregnant. While she and Ray weren't
considering marriage, they did do baby related activities together. They had gone to
a lama's class, Ray had helped by baby furniture. The two soon to
be parents seemed to be friendly, if not a serious couple. On the
evening of Monday, November fifteenth, Ray invited Sharika to go to the movies
with him. It was a double date. Ray's friend and fellow Panthers player,
Hannibal Navis and his girlfriend were also going, so that night, Sharika
drove to Ray's house. Before the movie began, she left her car at
his place. Then they drove to the theater together. They watched the nine
forty five showing of The Bone Collector at the Regal Cinemas in South Charlotte.
Afterwards, Ray and Sharika hopped in his suv to head back to his house.
Serika was under the impression that this was the end of the night.
She was just getting her car to go home. But when they got back
to the house, Ray insisted that they go back to her place. He
wanted to drive his car there, with Shika in her own car following behind
him. At twelve fifteen am, Sharika called her cousin and roommate Maudre Floyd
and asked him to straighten up their apartment. She wasn't expecting company, much
less Ray that night, and she didn't want her place to be messy.
Serika told Maudri they'd be there in about fifteen minutes. Then she watched Ray
make a phone call. At twelve nineteen am. Ray told someone something along
the lines of we're getting ready to leave the house. Reports very but that's
the gist. But Sharika had no reason to think this was strange, so
she got in her black BMWSUV and Ray got in his white Ford Expedition.
As they headed to Shiika's place, Ray drove in front of her to lead
the way, so when he unexpectedly slowed to a near stop, Sharika had
two as well. Ray and Shika were on a two lane residential street.
There were no stop signs or traffic lights in the area, so she didn't
understand why Ray was driving this way. Between Ray's big SUV and her own
suv, Sharika didn't have the space to go around him to see what was
up. Moments later, a Nissan Maxima pulled up beside Sherika's driver's side window.
The unknown car was very close to her, only about a foot away.
Someone in the back seat rolled their window all the way down and opened
fire into Shika's driver's side window. Five gunshots rang out, four hit Shika,
one in the neck and three in her torso. Right after the shooting
was over, the Nissan Maxima drove away from the scene, and so did
twenty five year old Ray Caruth. Later, the driver of that Maxima would
tell authorities that he noticed something odd as he left Shiika to die, and
that was Serika's break lights they were on. The driver wondered if Sherika wasn't
dead, because if she was, wouldn't her body have gone slack, making
it impossible to press on the brakes, But the driver was too preoccupied to
give it much thought as he vanished into the night. At twelve thirty one
am, Sika, who was not dead, pulled her vehicle into the nearest
front yard. She leaned on her horn, and she called nine one one
with her cell phone. After Ray Caruth heard five gunshots aimed at the mother
of his child's car and drove away. He did not call the police,
He did not notify a hospital. As far as we know, he did
not tell a single soul that Sharika needed help, and he didn't go to
Shirika's apartment, which was his original destination when he left his house with her
behind him. Instead, her court documents, Ray went to his football teammate,
Hannibal Navy's home and they played video games. Remember Hannibal was the guy
they went on a double date with that night. Meanwhile, Sika Adams was
bleeding out. Somehow she had maneuvered her car into someone's front yard and driveway.
That was where she called nine one one. Sureka stayed on the phone
with the nine one one operator and dispatcher for twelve minutes, and the information
she provided during those twelve minutes was absolutely vital to the ensuing investigation and to
saving her unborn child's life. Here are some small snips of that call.
The full transcript is in today's source list on my website, Southern Fried Truecrime
dot com My one. You know not where are you at now? I
made that just happened. I was putting me and he put down and I
think he did it. I don't know what to think of all right?
What did they okay? What did name name? At twelve forty three,
a m officer, Peter Grant arrived on the scene. Srika told him the
situation exactly as it happened. She explained how she and Ray had gone to
the movies, how they had returned to Ray's house to get her car,
and how she had followed him to her apartment. Serika explained that Ray had
slowed down, blocked her car in, and that a vehicle had come up
beside her. Then someone in that vehicle had shot at her. When Officer
Grant asked her, did your boyfriend do this to you? Sreka nodded yes.
By one ten am, she was at the Carolinas Medical Center, where
a trauma team was waiting for her. Right away. She underwent two surgeries,
an emergency cesarean section and another to remove the bullets from her body and
attempt to repair the massive damage they had caused. At one two am,
less than ninety minutes after Sharika had been ambushed, Chancellor Lee Adams was brought
into this world. He was ten weeks premature, three pounds and eleven ounces.
Immediately following his birth, doctors described his condition as fair, but he
did have brain damage due to oxygen deprivation. Later, as doctors feared Chancellor
would be diagnosed with cerebral palsy. By four am, Sriika was in the
trauma intensive care unit. On Chancellor's birth certificate, the box under father was
left blank, and Sondra later said that Sharika had planned to name her baby
Chancellor Lee Caruth, but at the hospital she changed her mind and put her
own last name on the birth certificate. Three hours later, an endotracheal tube
had to be put down her throat so she could breathe. Then Serika couldn't
speak. The morning, nurse Tracy Willard asked Shika if she could remember what
happened. Sharika nodded and wrote down the events on a piece of paper.
Later on, her father spoke to her he explicitly asked, in no uncertain
terms, were there any stop signs on this road that could have given ray
a good reason to stop? Sharika shook her head no. Not long after
all this, doctors and she had to rest and gave her medication to help
her go to sleep. Serika fell into a coma and never woke up.
She had sustained damage to her spleen, pancreas, large and small intestine,
stomach, and liver. She was losing blood at a rate of six liters
per day. Scott Fowler for the Charlotte Observer reported that the hospital staff had
initially believed that Sika would live, but the chancellor would not make it.
But after losing consciousness that last time, Shriika went downhill fast. For nearly
four weeks, she was on life support. Her body retained so much fluid
that her weight more than doubled. She weighed one hundred and twenty pounds,
eight months pregnant, and about two hundred and eighty after she swelled so severely
with fluid. She did not even look like herself anymore, and there was
no hope. She showed no sign of recovering. On Tuesday, December fourteenth,
nineteen ninety nine, at twelve forty three pm, Shika's family made the
unimaginable decision to let her go. Her funeral services were held at eleven am
on Saturday, December eighteenth at the Victory Christian Center. More than one thousand
people attended. They released twenty four purple balloons to recognize Shirika's twenty four years
of life. She was buried in the Sunset Memory Gardens of Mint Hill,
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Serika was survived by many family members, including
her son, Chancellor Lee, who was doing well. He had been moved
out of neonatal care earlier that month and he was in the care of Shika's
mother, Sondra. Hours after Shika was brought to the hospital for treatment,
Ray arrived. Adams angrily says in interviews that he showed up with an entourage.
He came with his friend Hannibal Navi's Hannibal's girlfriend, and unbelievably, Ray
actually brought another woman with him. Her name was Candace Smith. According to
Serika's mother's interviews with The Charlotte Observer, Ray sat between Candace's legs as they
waited for news about Sharika, she rubbed his shoulders. Sondra later said that
Ray did not ask her how either Sharika or the baby were doing, but
he did later ask to take a photo of the baby, even though he
didn't want to touch his son, which is sadly ironic because, according to
neonatal doctor Dosha Hickey, even though Ray Caruth insisted on a paternity test,
she and the other nurses believed the tiny baby looked just like him. I'm
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yourself to Honeylove because you deserve it. Homicide Detective Darryl Price and Sergeant Tom
Athey arrived at the hospital at around seven am to talk to the Adams family
and to carefully confront Ray Caruth, who was still in the waiting room.
The police had heard Sharika's desperate nine one one call. That's how they knew
to Approachray without letting him know about the nine to one one call or its
contents. They asked him what he knew about the situation. Ray denied knowing
anything. The police wanted to take him in for questioning, but later that
same day, Ray had hired a will known Charlotte defense attorney, George Laughren.
Lawfren immediately stopped him from participating in a police interview, but before Ray
lawyered up, he had let the police search his vehicle and phone. The
SUV did not provide much, if any, usable evidence. However, Ray's
phone was another story. The investigators wrote down Ray's recently called phone numbers.
Later, the police with subpoena more of Ray's phone records, along with Shirikas.
Ray's cell phone records led law enforcement to twenty four year old Michael Eugene
Kennedy. During his court testimony, he admitted that he was a drug dealer
by trade. According to sources from the Washington Post, Ray had known Michael
for less than a year. They had met in nineteen ninety nine, sometime
around January or February, they crossed paths at a car parks shop. As
soon as the police identified Michael's phone number from Ray's phone, they contacted him
and with an a week Michael had told the authorities everything as it happened.
According to the testimony of Michael and others, Ray had planned Sherika's murder from
months, just like with Michelle and Amber. He did not want to pay
Shika child support, and since she would not have an abortion, he decided
to ever killed. On the night of Shika's murder, at about seven or
eight o'clock, Ray called Michael. He asked him to come over and watch
a football game, but this request was a ruse. Ray wasn't interested in
watching football for an hour or so before his date with Sharika. He wanted
Michael to get a car that wouldn't draw attention, one that they could use
to kill Shirka in a seemingly random drive by shooting. Michael soon showed up
at Ray's house driving a rented Nissan Maxima, and he brought a friend of
his, nineteen year old Stanley Drew Abraham Junior. Stanley and Michael became best
friends when they were neighbors in Charlotte described them to be as close as brothers,
and Stanley, like Michael, was also a drug dealer. After Michael
and Stanley arrived at Ray's house, Stanley went inside and waited while Ray and
Michael talked outside. Then a man who neither Michael or Stanley knew showed up.
It was thirty nine year old Van Brett Watkins from Brooklyn, New York.
According to the North Carolina Department of Corrections, Watkins also went by the
alias William Edward Watkins, which was his dead brother's name. Later, Watkins
of tel authorities, that's who he was. He had even given them his
brother's birth date. For weeks, there was misreporting around watkins name and age,
but we've got it correct here. He was born in nineteen sixty,
his name was Van Brett Watkins, and he was thirty nine at the time
Shriika Adams was murdered. Watkins was a big guy. He was six foot
four inches tall and two hundred and eighty six pounds, and he prided himself
on being both massive and scary. During his later testimony, Watkins would tell
Ray's lawyer David Rudolph, I would rip you like a rag doll. I've
seen so many people exaggerate and say he threatened Rudolf, but if you watch
it, it's more like bragging. He was a big guy who liked to
intimidate people. While Watkins did spend some time working in construction, he was
primarily a career criminal. By the time he was in his late thirties,
he already had five felonies under his belt. They included gun possession, assault,
and threatening to kill people. When he was incarcerated in the state of
New York, he once lit an inmate on fire for speaking poorly about one
of his female family members. Her court documents, Watkins had also pistol whipped
a man, threatened his own wife with a meat cleaver, and stabbed his
brother. During interviews with Scott Fowler and many others, Watkins bragged that he
had killed four men for contract killings. Police were not able to verify this
claim, and Watkins never offered to help solve any related cold cases. But
really, he has given a lot of interviews over the years. You can
pull up all kinds of YouTube videos and watch him bragging about bullshit. Ray
met Watkins at a strip club in nineteen ninety nine. Watkins was the bouncer
at the door and Ray was a customer, And when Ray needed a fence
built at his home, a mutual friend connected him to Watkins. Watkins was
supposed to give Ray a cost estimate for the construction work, but the fence
was never built. In another one of his charming interviews, he said that
this building of fence stuff with Ray was actually code for killing Sharika. He
said Ray kept saying he needed to hurry up with the fence because he didn't
want the dog to get out. Watkins said the dog was code for his
unborn son. He wanted Sharika dead before she gave birth. But according to
the Washington Posts, Watkins did complete other odd jobs for Ray. Some of
these tasks included washing and detailing raised to vehicles. By the summer of nineteen
ninety nine, the two men had developed at least a working business relationship.
In an exclusive interview, Watkins told journalist Scott Fowler that Ray asked Watkins how
much would it take to beat up a girl and make her aboard her baby,
to which Watkins responded, I don't beat up girls, I kill people.
This conversation was also verified by Michael Kennedy's court testimony later on. Eventually,
Ray and Watkins settled on a price of six thousand dollars for the contract
killing and the orchestration of Serika's murder. Began, I'm going to pause now
for a short commercial break. On the evening that Sharika was shot, Watkins
arrived at Ray's house. Michael and Stanley were already there. According to court
transcripts, no one had a gun. Watkins later told the Charlotte Observer he
hadn't brought a gun on purpose. He was hesitant to do the hit because
he was averse to murdering women. However, he felt pressure to complete the
job. He claimed he was worried Ray new gang related people who would harm
him or his loved ones if he didn't. At this time, Watkins had
a girlfriend and at least one child. I think this is more crap,
and that he probably didn't want to be the one to procure the gun so
it couldn't be traced back to him. But it didn't matter whether or not
Watkins had brought a gun. Michael briefly left to purchase one from a friend
for one hundred dollars. Ray gave him the money. Then Michael returned with
a three fifty seven caliber Charter Arms revolver and a box of bullets. Watkins
loaded the gun with as many bullets as it would hold, which was five,
then he disposed of the rest of the bullets. While Ray and the
three other men were preparing for Serika's murder and Ray's home, Serika was there,
at least for part of their planning. She had arrived at Ray's house
for the movie date. At nine fifteen pm. She was on the phone
with her mother, Sondra. Serika told Sondra that she was worried about why
Ray had all these people at his house. She also noticed Ray had been
on the phone a lot. He was obviously trying to discuss something in secret.
Serika told her mother she thought Ray was talking to another woman. Right
as she was about to bail in the movie, Ray said it was time
to go, and Serika went. While they were at the movies with Hannibal
Navies and his girlfriend Watkins, Michael and Stanley got into the rental car.
Michael was driving. Stanley was in the front passenger seat, and Watkins,
who was to be the shooter, was in the back seat. He wore
gloves. The three men in the car communicated with Ray via cell phone throughout
the evening. That's how they knew where Ray and Shrika were. During the
movie, the three men drove around to kill time. During later court proceedings,
Stanley's lawyers would assert that Stanley had no idea that they were riding around
to go fulfill a hit on Shrika Adams. The Washington Post reported that his
attorney said he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stanley's council
would assert that he thought he and Michael were going out in the town that
night, and according to Michael's police interviews, there is some truth to this.
Michael claimed that Stanley didn't know what was going on until they stopped at
a gas station while waiting for the movie to end. After finding out what
they were really doing, Stanley asked to go home, but Michael wouldn't let
him. He was too afraid of Watkins to finish this job without his friend
there. As soon as the three men received word that Ray was leaving to
go to Sherrika's apartment, they got into position. When Ray slowed down on
that residential street, Michael pulled the car up beside Sherika's BMW and van Brett
Watkins fired five shots at Shrika Adams, four of them hit the twenty four
year old pregnant woman. Watkins bragged in multiple televised interviews that he usually would
have killed any witnesses who saw him shoot someone, but he couldn't he had
used all five bullets in the gun, so afterward, Watkins, Michael,
and Stanley parted ways. Watkins fled to New York to lay low for a
while, but nine days later he returned to North Carolina. He stated at
a motel known as the Villager Lodge, and the police had been staking it
out because they saw a phone number from the lodge listed on Ray's phone records.
When law enforcements saw Watkins, they recognized him immediately from Michael's descriptions during
police interviews. They picked him up at about two o'clock in the morning on
November twenty fifth, It was the early hours of Thanksgiving Day. As soon
as Watkins understood that Michael had already told the police everything, he also folded.
While the police were questioning him, twenty five year old Ray Caruth was
arrested at his home. It was six thirty am. He opened the door
completely naked, and officers said he had a woman in there with him.
That same Thanksgiving Day, the Carolina Panthers dismissed Ray from the team. About
one week later, authorities arrested. Nineteen year old Stanley Abraham, Ray,
Caruth Van Brett, Watkins, Michael Kennedy, and Stanley Abraham were charged with
conspiracy, attempted murder and related charges. According to The New York Times,
Watkins, Michael, and Stanley's bond was set at one point five million.
Ray's bond was three million, and he was the only one who could afford
to post bill. Ray's bond was granted on two conditions. One he couldn't
leave Charlotte, and two if Sherika or Chancellor died, he was to turn
himself. But when Serika passed on Tuesday, December fourteenth, Ray did not
turn himself in. Instead, he fled the state. For a while,
no one knew his whereabouts. His mother, Theodrey, gave a nationally televised
interview. She stated that she had spoken to him recently and that Ray would
turn himself in when he was ready. Police Deputy Chief Larry Snyder said to
AP it's quite obvious the information the mother was supplying was incorrect. He didn't
turn himself in, and he was found hundreds of miles away from Charlotte.
Upon learning of Shirka's death, Ray now officially on the hook for first degree
murder, contacted his friend, Wendy Cole. Wendy was a hair salon owner
who had known Ray and his family for quite some time. Wendy was traveling
to California and Ray begged her to let him come too. She agreed to
let Ray hide on the trunk of her gray Toyota Camray. Ray took thirty
nine hundred dollars in cash, bottles for water, bottles for urine, and
some energy bars, and he climbed into Wendy's trunk. Wendy drove through the
night with Ray in her trunk. They communicated via cell phone. She made
it five hundred and eleven miles west of Charlotte, and then she stopped at
a Best Western and Waldersville, Tennessee, to rest. Wendy checked into the
motel and Ray remained in the trunk. When she got to her room,
she called Ray's mother. Wendy told the Odrey their location. Then Theodrey called
Ray's bell bondsman. She told them where he was. The bondsmen were worried
that Ray would get away before they arrived, so, per the arrest affidavit,
they contacted local law enforcement and they got in touch with the FBI.
At about six forty five pm on Wednesday, December fifteenth, FBI agents approached
Wendy in her motel room. After some questioning, the FBI realized that Ray
was hiding in her trunk. Wendy was initially charged with her bring a fugitive,
but it was later dropped. According to the Associated Press, Ray surrendered
to the FBI peacefully. By this point, he had been on Wendy's trunk
for twenty one hours. Surrendering anything but peacefully would have been hard. The
next day, on Thursday, December sixteenth, the Panthers officially severed all ties
with Ray, citing a morality clause in his contract, and the next day
the NFL suspended him indefinitely. Coach George Seaffert told the Washington Post, Obviously
this has to do with what has taken place in the last forty eight hours.
We are not trying to demonstrate guilt or innocence or anything else. It
is just our reaction to what has taken place. And also on this same
day, the prosecution announced they would treat Shirika's slang as a capital offense.
They were seeking the death penalty. If you're wondering how the hell Ray Caruth,
of all people could manage to run, you're not alone. Sergeant Athey
said, quote, We've got a one hundred thousand things going on in the
city. We don't have the resources to sit and watch one guy because of
who he is. Like I said in the opening, Charlotte was in the
middle of a drug epidemic and high homicide rate. It sounds crazy, but
they didn't think famous Ray Caruth would run and didn't have the manpower to sit
on him either. I haven't explicitly said it yet, but I'm sure you've
guessed as much. This case drew national attention. Even if you don't follow
football, it was hard to avoid all the coverage. An NFL player who
orchestrated the death of his baby's mother to avoid child support payments, one who
fled the state when it came time to face the consequences of his actions.
It was big, big news, and it came at a time when NFL
football players committing crimes were already in the public's mind. In October of nineteen
ninety five, only four years before former Buffalo Bills running back O. J.
Simpson was acquitted for the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. On
January thirty first of two thousand, less than two months after Shirika's death,
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was involved in an altercation that ended in the deaths
of two men. Lewis pled guilty to obstruction of justice. So Lewis was
in the press at the exact same time as Ray. Oj never recovered financially
After several messy years, He went to prison for armed robbery and kidnapping in
two thousand and seven. He claimed he was only trying to take back his
stolen memorabilia. Ray Lewis, however, played in the Super Bowl in January
two thousand and one, literally a week after Ray Kruth's trial would end.
Lewis earned Super Bowl MVP honors as well as Defensive Player of the Year.
Just like OJ and Lewis's cases, Ray's case made the front page a lot
newspapers wrote hundreds of articles twenty twenty released in episode HBO's Bryant Gumbel series.
Real Sports covered it later. Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer would help create
a video docum, a print series, and a seven episode podcast on it.
So yeah, people were aware of Ray's case then and probably now,
even people who aren't necessarily sports fans. After some decision making by the powers
that be, the co defendants accused of planning Sherika's murder were to be tried
separately. They were all offered plea deals, but before Ray's trial, only
Watkins showed interest in one. Ray, Michael, and Stanley did not want
plea deals. I'm going to pause now for a final commercial break. Ray's
trial was up first. In preparation, he hired a defense attorney we've mentioned
before on this podcast, David Rudolph. Rudolph would go on to represent Michael
Peterson in two thousand and three. If you're not familiar with the case,
check out my coverage. I did a four episode series on the death of
Kathleen Peterson and Michael Peterson's trial, made famous by the Staircase documentary It's My
Longest Deep Dive. I was especially fascinated by the pop cultural response to the
Peterson case it's episodes one seventy three to one seventy six. But back to
this case. Twenty six year old Ray Caruth's trial began on November twentieth,
two thousand, It was just over a year since Shriika was murdered. The
court proceedings were nationally televised by Court TV. You can actually watch the whole
thing from start to finish on their website. The prosecution's case was clear Ray
did not want to pay Shrika child support for their unborn son, so he
masterminded her death to avoid that. The state brought twenty witnesses to support their
arguments, including Candace Smith, the girlfriend Ray had brought to the hospital the
morning after Shirika was ambushed. She testified that Ray had previously said he wished
Shriika would die, but after Shirika was shot, Candace asked Ray if he
had anything to do with it. She said, he wouldn't even look at
me. And he said that he had been trying to be nice to her
and go to doctor's appointments and give her money and keep her happy, and
that he had been getting money out of the bank a little bit at a
time, so it wouldn't look suspicious to give to the guy. Andy said
he watched the guy well. He hit his brakes in his car to slow
her down. Andy saw the guy's pull up and shot into her car,
and he said, I just drove off and went to Hannibal's house. That's
a confession. Ray Caruth is not just an evil man, he is an
idiot. Michael Kennedy also testified for the state. His testimony was extremely valuable
because he did it without the benefit of a plea deal. There was no
question as to if he was telling the truth, what would he have gotten
out of Lyne. Michael provided many of the details I've already shared with you.
He also explained Ray's motive with pinpoint accuracy. Ray told Michael he was
upset Serika wouldn't have an abortion. Ray thought she was trying to quote juice
him for money, and that he was already paying like five thousand in child
support and he didn't want to pay another five thousand. Van Brett Watkins also
later said in one of his interviews that Ray said he couldn't be having a
baby with no stripper. I don't think the bastard cared who was carrying a
child of his. This was his third shot at being a father, and
each time he railed against it. I guess he was that damn cheap anyway.
There were also phone records backing up Michael's testimony, Ray and Watkins had
called each other six times within twenty four hours of Sharika's murder, and Ray
called Michael multiple times to verify where he and Serika were at. Michael's testimony
and later Watkins' testimony verified that, And of course, the most important pieces
of evidence the prosecution brought to the table where Serika's nine to one one call
discussions with Officer Grid and the notes she had written to Nurse Willard. In
all three instances, Serika had explained exactly what had happened leading up to and
during her attack, and all three times Serika gave close to identical accounts,
and her nine one one call it was like she was speaking from the grave.
Prosecutor Gentry called ill said she was the strongest witness for herself to her
own murder, and that was all the prosecution really needed to nail right of
the wall. Serika had gotten nearly all of her details right in that call,
including the direction that Ray and Michael had driven off after the attack they
had gone opposite ways. In response, rai'sed defense counsel, led by Rudolph,
proposed an alternative theory, one that was based on the testimony of Watkins's
jailer. The jailer claimed that Watkins had said the whole thing was a drug
deal gone wrong, that Ray had agreed to buy a large amount of marijuana
from Watkins and then had gone back on his word. Watkins was mad,
and so he organized the shooting with Michael Kennedy. That's why Ray wanted to
drive with Shariga back to her apartment, because he was scared of Watkins,
who was supposedly livid about this drug deal, and he had made multiple phone
calls to Kennedy not to let him know where he and Shrika were located,
but to see if Watkins had calmed down. Yet, Watkins has always denied
that he said this, and speaking of him, he was supposed to be
a witness for the state. It was actually part of his flea deal,
but he was such a hostile witness that the state decided not to use him.
But the defense actually called Watkins to the stand. David Rudolph questioned him
with permission to treat him as a hostile witness, which seems like a strange
idea because Watkins supported everything Michael had already testified to but he also tried to
qualify his own guilt, saying he hired me to kill Serika Adams and the
baby. I couldn't bring myself to kill the baby. I shot at the
top of the car, not through the door. First, he doesn't beat
up on women, Now he doesn't kill babies. JFC. This guy,
Rudolf kept pushing at him because he didn't carry a gun that night. The
argument was that Caruth had not planned out this hit, and part of that
proof was that the supposed hitman didn't even bring a gun that night. He
said, so, you're a hit man without a gun, goading Watkins until
he basically said, look at me. I don't need a gun. I'm
two hundred and eighty six pounds. I would rip you like a rag doll.
This was the short scene where folks say Watkins threatened Rudolf. Rudolf never
said that himself, but he did say he was glad that the sheriff deputies
were between them. Shortly after that exchange, Rudolf ended his questioning. I
think his point was to show how violent Watkins was, perhaps in contrast with
his client, who did have a clean record up until then, and that
it might also drive home his argument that the shooting was because Watkins was angry
at Caruth and Shirika was caught in the middle. He was obviously easily angered.
On the stand, Rudolph also pointed out that neither Kennedy nor Watkins had
ever been paid. It was a clever defense, the best Rudolph could have
come up with. It explained all the phone calls and why Caruth ran that
night, And like I told you in the opening, Charlotte was experiencing a
record number of homicides due to the crack epidemic. A drug deal gone bad
wasn't exactly a stretch for Charlotte, North Carolina. In nineteen ninety nine,
Ray's defense called an additional forty five witnesses to the stand, most of whom
were there to attest to raise good character and gentle nature. In rebuttal,
the prosecution introduced the testimony of Ray's x's Michelle Wright and Amber Turner. They
both corroborated that Ray became angry at their pregnancies and how he asked them both
to get abortions. Michelle didn't, but Amber did. It showed a pattern
that Ray Caruth couldn't be bothered to use birth control, but refused to be
a parent. Amber Turner also provided the court with the four page letter Ray
had written to her from jail. In it, he had outlined fifteen things
he wanted her to say in court. He asked her not to talk to
the cops, to his lawyers, and wrote the words here's what you recall.
Amber said what she was supposed to recall her Ray was blatantly false.
Stanley Abraham did not testify, neither did Ray himself. In total, the
trial was six weeks long and the jury struggled to make a decision. They
deliberated for three days before asking the judge for additional instruction. The judge's instructions
were, in essence, keep going. Then on January twentieth, two thousand
and one, on Ray's twenty seventh birthday, the jury made a decision.
After twenty hours of deliberation. The jury convicted Ray Caruth of conspiracy to commit
murder, discharging a firearm into occupied property, and attempting to destroy an unborn
child. He was acquitted a first degree murder. Jury foreman Clark Pannell Junior
said to The New York Times that they couldn't convict Ray for first degree murder
because all elements of the charge weren't proven. Basically, Ray hadn't actually pulled
the trigger that killed Shirika. Prosecutor Gentry called Ill said the jury didn't follow
the law. How can he be guilty of conspiracy firing into a vehicle and
attempting to kill an unborn child but not be guilty of the first degree murderer
of that child's mother. Sondra Adams later said the prosecution was over confident by
not putting second degree murder on the table. It looks like she might have
been right. Another juror, Jerry Karst, said Caruth should have been convicted
of first degree murder, but that there was one holdout durer who would not
convict on first degree. Karst said he would have voted for the death penalty
if he could have, but because of the holdout, the compromise verdict.
So it was guilty on every charge except first degree murder. We don't know
who the holdout was, and maybe he didn't like that the trigger man got
a plea deal for second degree that wasn't offered to Caruth. I am a
proponent of kitchen sink charges. I think it's always safer to give a jury
options when prosecutors refuse. I've seen this work both ways. Michael Peterson was
convicted with this gamble, but then won an appeal and took an Alford plea
and got out of prison. I've got another case I'm about to update this
month, where pretty much the same thing happened, and in this instance,
the prosecution lost their gamble. That holdout juror may have been more likely to
convict on a lesser murder charge since Ray didn't actually pulled the trigger, but
we don't know that for sure. All we have is that Jerry Cars telling
us that the jury wanted to convict Ray Caruth all but for one juror.
I'm still with Ms Adams on this one, and so for the charges he
was convicted of, Ray Caruth was sentenced to eighteen to twenty four years in
prison. He appealed his conviction once in two thousand and three, and requested
habeas relief in twenty eleven. Both were denied. Despite a few issues in
the courtroom, the evidence was overwhelming that Ray had masterminded Shirika's murder. To
this day, Ray has never admitted his guilt, though he has apologized to
Sharika's family. He has given differing interviews, one where he refused to accept
any responsibility after about fourteen years in prison, even being the reason that Sharika
was near these men he associated with. But later he has also said things
like he is responsible for the situation, but not that he actually planned it,
and he is now a freeman. He was released from prison in twenty
eighteen at the age of forty four. He had been incarcerated for eighteen years.
Van Brett Watkins, the shooter, took a plea deal for second degree
murder, conspiracy, and other charges, and was sentenced to fifty years in
prison. Michael Kennedy, the driver, was convicted of second degree murder and
other related charges and spent almost fifteen years in prison. He was only thirty
six when he was released, with his whole life ahead of him. Stanley
Abraham, Michael's buddy, who got roped in wound up pleading guilty to a
lesser accessory charge and spent ninety days in jail. In October of two thousand
and three, Serika's mother, Sondra, won a civil lawsuit against Ray,
Watkins, Michael, and Stanley for five point eight million dollars. None of
the four men contested the lawsuit, likely because they won't ever have enough money
to pay it. The former NFL player's bank accounts were depleted by the time
his trial started. A defense by the likes of David Rudolph ain't cheap,
but by the time Ray got to trial, he was broke. His house
was sold at auction, he was declared indigent, and Rudolph and his team
were instructed to stay on as public defenders. During the hearing for this civil
lawsuit, Stanley, Michael and Watkins apologized, Ray, who was in the
midst of an appeal, remained silent, though it's obvious he wouldn't have apologized
then anyway. Watkins claimed he had turned down book deals to avoid making money
off of this regretful situation. Again, this is bullshitting. Because of the
civil suit, any money he made would have gone to Sondra and Chancellor.
So if he was sorry, why not write a book and help them?
To be fair? Watkins said, according to ESPN, when I do get
money from my family, I try to help. If I do get some,
I'll be glad to send you some money. Sondra reported that Watkins has
sent her checks for five dollars and ten dollars. She believes he was remorseful.
Van Brett Watkins died in prison on December third, twenty twenty three,
at the age of sixty three. The doc said his death was due to
natural causes. In twenty twenty one, twenty one year old Chancellor Lee Adams
graduated from a Charlotte area high school. He spent four years on the high
school's Exceptional Children's program. Two additional years were in a transition program that taught
life skills. Sondra has told journalists that she is certain Serika would be overjoyed
at Chancellor's accomplishments. He is, by the accounts of many televised interviews,
a very happy guy who is living his best life. Ray did actually express
interest in being involved in Chancellor's life. This became public knowledge when Ray,
who was still incarcerated, sent the day WBTV news station a fifteen page handwritten
letter in early twenty eighteen. Inn said letter Ray suggested he would seek custody
of Chancellor once Sondra had passed. Since then, he has rescinded that suggestion.
He now says he will only be in Chancellor's life if it feels comfortable
for Sondra and Chancellor's close family. But as it stands currently, Ray and
Chancellor do not have a relationship, although Sondra had said her heart was softening
towards him at one point. Sondra Adams is a deeply Christian woman who has
said in many interviews that she has forgiven the men responsible for her daughter's murder.
She also gave an interview saying she wanted people to know that Caruth had
sent a few thousand dollars for the support of Chancellor, though it was through
the court system and he had not reached out personally. He was probably required
to send her any money he had received because of the civil suit. Why
else would it go through the court if Ray was just being magnanimous. I
am obviously glad she got some support from Caruth, But other than that,
I'll just say that miss Adams is a much better woman than me. Ray
Caruth had his twenty four year old girlfriend murdered because she refused to get an
abortion. This was the third woman he had gotten pregnant and tried to pressure
into an abortion. It only worked once with Amber. Maybe the son of
a bitch should have tried using condoms if he was so violently opposed to being
a father. Van Brett Watkins died in prison, and frankly, that's where
Ray Caruth deserved to die. But he is a free man now. He
might not be a millionaire, but he still walks this earth. He turned
fifty years old last month and very much enjoys his anonymity. Serika Adams would
be forty eight years old today. She might have had more children, she
could have even been a grandmother by now. All of that was stolen from
her, and she was stolen from her son, her adoring mother, and
countless family and friends. And while I feel Ray Caruth should be writing in
prison, he could have gotten off scot free if Serika had not been so
brave and strong, not only on the nine to one one call, but
also in the hospital as she was fighting for her life. I keep hearing
her pitiful voice on that call, Ray Caruth Number eighty nine. Southern Fried
True Crime is hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched
and written by me and Andrea Marshbank. As usual, any editorial comments and
opinions are my own. Southern Fred's original music is by Rob Harrison of Gamma
Radio and the original graphic artist by Kully Horner. Today's case was suggested by
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