The Tragic Story of Aaron Hernandez, Reminds Me of Rae Carruth

I think most of us were surprised when New England Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested and charged with murder yesterday. Rumors and speculation had been building for more than a week, after the body of Odin Lloyd was found in a field in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, but it largely alluded to Aaron being charged with something like obstruction of justice. Even though we don't know all of the facts of this case yet, it's clear that Odin is the victim here, and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. At 27 years old, it's sad that his life was taken away. Another tragedy in this case: Aaron Hernandez.

Aaron Hernandez during better days. Credit: patriots.com

Yes, if Aaron committed or is responsible for Odin's murder, he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. And the case against him, while still in its early stages, looks strong. But as I watched his bail review hearing this afternoon live on ESPN, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Here's a 23-year-old, who had a great career, a lucrative ($40 million) NFL contract (the Patriots released him from the team an hour after he was arrested Wednesday), and a fiancé and eight-month-old daughter at home (7,000-square-foot home at that), who seems to have thrown it all away. After statements from the defense and the prosecutor, the judge denied Aaron's request to be granted bail. So, he'll sit in jail for at least the next year or so until he goes to trial.

It seems likely that Aaron will never see the outside world again. But one thing's for certain: Odin will never see life again.

It's always baffling to me when a person senselessly takes the life of another human being. Don't they realize they're taking that person's life, ruining that person's family's lives, AND destroying their own life as well as devastating the lives of the people who love them?

Aaron Hernandez (left) and Rae Carruth.

The Aaron Hernandez case is quickly drawing comparisons to Rae Carruth, the then-25-year-old Carolina Panthers wide receiver who, in November 1999, hired hitmen to shoot and kill his pregnant girlfriend. In 2009, I wrote a cover story for Creative Loafing, titled "Remembering Infamy: The life and crimes of Rae Carruth — 10 years later," that I think is worth revisiting in light of this new case. Like Aaron--if he's guilty--Rae ruined many lives, including his own.

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Creative Loafing Publishes 25th Anniversary Edition with 25 Most Important Stories...and I Made the List

Creative Loafing, Charlotte's alternative weekly newspaper, published its 25th Anniversary Edition this week, celebrating its "relationship with Charlotte over the past quarter-century." In the process, its editorial staff combed through its catalog of hundreds of issues and thousands of stories to select "the 25 most important stories in CL's history." Creative Loafing also debuted a new logo and redesign with this issue.

I haven't written for CL since last summer, but I was pleased to learn today that a story I wrote two and a half years ago made the 25th anniversary list. It's the cover story I wrote in November 2009 on the ten-year anniversary of former Carolina Panthers player Rae Carruth hiring hitmen to shoot and kill his pregnant girlfriend, Cherica Adams. Even though it's a tragic tale, it's one of my favorite stories I've ever written. I was able to tell the story of the criminal circumstances that took place on a night in 1999 in Charlotte; the nationally televised trial and media circus that followed, which many of you still remember; what Rae had been doing in prison over all these years; what his attorney thought about the case years later; and, most importantly, how Chancellor, the son of Rae and the late Cherica, born with cerebral palsy, has been raised by her mother.

Click here to read that story from 2009. Click here to read what CL's Senior Editor Matt Brunson wrote in this week's issue about my story and the paper's original coverage of the Carruth case.

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Read About It: Ten Years After Rae Carruth Became Infamous

November 16, 2009 marks 10 years since Rae Carruth had his pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams shot during a planned drive-by shooting as the two left a south Charlotte movie theater. Carruth was just 25 years old and was a promising wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. Adams was 24, and even though she was riddled with bullets she managed to tell police that she believed her boyfriend had arranged the shooting, and she gave birth to a son, born 10 weeks premature. Adams died four weeks later.

You can relive what took place that night in 1999, along with what followed a year later when the infamous "Rae Carruth Trial" got underway, and what has evolved over the past decade. In the cover story of this week's issue of Creative Loafing (Nov. 11-17), I chronicle Carruth's life behind bars, how he and Adam's son Chancellor is about to be 10 years old and is being raised by Adam's mother, and how so many lives were forever changed by such a senseless murder. The issue of Creative Loafing is on newsstands now, or you can read the article online, "Remembering Infamy: The life and crimes of Rae Carruth — 10 years later."


I was in college at USC in Columbia when the murder and subsequent trial took place. I remember watching the trial play out on CourtTV. The cable network would re-air the day's testimony at night. At times, it was more entertaining, suspenseful, and drama-filled than anything you might see fictionalized on Law and Order. Charlotte had become home to a media circus.

But when I was researching and doing interviews for this article, I took on a whole new perspective of the events. I was reminded of the harsh realities that a young woman lost her life. That a young man lost his professional football career and freedom. That a child suffers from cerebral palsy from having been delivered too soon and now doesn't know either of his parents.

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