Carruth's mother said she led police to son

Rae Carruth's mother said today she feared her son might be killed if she didn't tell authorities where to find the American football player as he fled charges he killed his pregnant girlfriend.

Rae Carruth's mother said today she feared her son might be killed if she didn't tell authorities where to find the American football player as he fled charges he killed his pregnant girlfriend.

Theodry Carruth contacted a bail bondsman last Wednesday, the day after Cherica Adams died of wounds from a November 16 drive-by shooting, and told him her son was at a west Tennessee motel.

Authorities arrested Carruth as he emerged from the car trunk where he had been hiding.

Theodry Carruth said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that she "felt in my heart if someone else had caught my son, he would have been killed."

Carruth's mother said a woman who was with her son called her. "I told her I was going to call somebody she could trust to get them back to Charlotte safe," she said.

Theodry Carruth said she hasn't yet told her son she turned him in, but "I know he'll understand."

Carruth was returned to Charlotte on Sunday by investigators and is scheduled for a court appearance Tuesday. He faces a first-degree murder charge and other counts. A third-year wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, Carruth, 25, became the first active National Football League player to be charged with murder. He was cut by the team following the arrest.

Carruth had been free on $3 million bond since being charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and other counts after Adams' shooting. Three other men also are charged. A condition of Carruth's bond was that he turn himself in immediately if Adams died.

"He didn't run," his mother said. "He said all along he was scared, he needed some time to think, that his hope had just died. When she died, that was his hope."

Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty against the four suspects, but Theodry Carruth said today she doesn't think about it because she believes her son is innocent.

Carruth was returned to protective custody Sunday away from other inmates at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg jail. He had told friends and family members after earlier spending 12 days in isolation that he never wanted to return to jail.

Investigators did not interview Carruth in Tennessee, but talked to "other people that needed to be interviewed in reference to the investigation," Deputy Chief Larry Snider said.

Prosecutors have said Carruth instigated the plot to murder Adams, 24.

The shooting led to the emergency Caesarian delivery of Adams' boy, Chancellor. After spending several days in intensive care, the baby, born 10 weeks premature, is doing well.

On Saturday, about 1,000 people attended Adams' funeral in Charlotte.

Adams died 28 days after being struck in the neck and chest by four bullets fired from a passing car as she drove through a Charlotte neighborhood. Prosecutors have said Carruth was in a car near the shooting, and three other men were in a separate vehicle talking with him by cell phone.