Chancellor Lee Adams, the boy Carolina Panthers star Rae Carruth tried to kill, turns 18 today. Chancellor suffered a brain injury and cerebral palsy due to lack of oxygen when his mother, Cherica Adams, was shot multiple times in November 1999.
Chancellor was born 10 weeks prematurely via c-section as doctors fought to save his mother's life.
Cherica, a beautiful 24-year-old real estate agent, died because Carruth, who already had a son in California, didn't want to pay child support.
Carruth, who has never seen his youngest son, will be released from prison next year after serving a 18 year sentence.
Chancellor was raised by Cherica's mother, Saundra Adams, who says she has forgiven Carruth and his three accomplices for her daughter's murder.
William Watkins, the triggerman who was paid to kill Cherica and her unborn baby, is serving a life sentence in prison.
His accomplices -- Michael Kennedy and Stanley Abraham -- have since been released from prison.
Saundra plans to take Chancellor to the prison to see his father when he is released in 2018.
“Rae is not remorseful," she tells the Charlotte Observer. "He has not asked for forgiveness. He still contends that he was never at that scene. And that’s on him. He’ll have to answer for that."
She added: "I don’t expect that he will ever acknowledge his part in my daughter’s death."
Saundra says she doesn't expect Carruth to confess, "I simply want him to see his son and see what a fine young man he has grown into. And that he is not just surviving, but that he is indeed thriving."