The hitman who was hired to kill the girlfriend of former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth died behind bars on Dec. 3.  He was 63.

According to the Associated Press, officials confirmed that Van Brett Watkins passed from natural causes.

In 2000, Watkins was found guilty of killing Cherica Adams and sentenced to more than 50 in prison. Watkins fired the gun and was accompanied by an accomplice who drove the getaway car.

Both men pleaded guilty and testified that Carruth hired Watkins to kill Adams and her unborn baby.

At the time of her death, Adams was eight months pregnant with Carruth’s child when he hatched the plot to kill her. While she died from multiple gunshot wounds several weeks later, their child, Chancellor Adams survived the shooting after being delivered by an emergency Caesarean section. He was born with cerebral palsy and was raised by Saundra Adams, Cherica’s mother.

Following Adams’ death, Carruth was on the run from authorities but was captured on Dec. 15, 2000, after a manhunt, and was found hiding in the trunk of a car outside a hotel in Parkers Crossroads, Tenn.

At the trial, Carruth was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child. He was sentenced to 18 years and 11 months to 24 years and 4 months in prison for his role in the killing. He was released in 2018.

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After his conviction, Watkins shared that he was remorseful for the heinous crime that he committed

“Every day I think of Mrs. Adams, every day I think of the Chancellor, and every day I think of Cherica Adams and the wrong that I did,” Watkins said.

When she learned of Watkins’ passing, Saundra Adams acknowledged the irony of his death being in December, the same month that Cherica was killed.

“It’s no coincidence that to me he passed away 24 years ago in December after he took my daughter’s life and that Chancellor is now 24 years old,” Saundra Adams said in an interview with local TV station WSOC.

Watkins even reached out to Saundra and asked her to visit him. Although she never visited him, she believed that was sincere about expressing his remorse.

“He sent me the visitation papers, and I really prayed about it, and I decided against it,” Saundra Adams said. “I thought I had a lot of questions to ask him, but none of the questions are going to bring my daughter back.”