CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Court TV) — Rae Carruth was caught with his pants down — literally — according to a special agent who captured the former Carolina Panther after he fled the state while free on bail.

On the stand Thursday, Mark Post offered jurors a play-by-play account of the former football player's capture from the trunk of a car parked outside a Tennessee motel.

According to Post's testimony, the FBI followed Carruth's trail to a Best Western in Wildersville, Tenn., where his friend Wendy Cole had checked in. There was no trace of him inside her motel room, but agents eventually located him in the trunk of Cole's 1997 Toyota Camry, where he had been holed up for nearly 24 hours.

"He was laying on his side and put his hands where I could see them," Post testified. Carruth asked Post to help him out of the trunk. "His pants were down to his knees," he said. The agents also found two bottles filled with urine in the trunk, along with several candy wrappers and Cole's pocketbook containing $3,900 in cash.

Carruth, who was released on $3 million bail for the Nov. 16, 1999, drive-by shooting that left his girlfriend Cherica Adams clinging to life, was supposed to surrender to authorities if either she or their baby died. Though the newborn survived, Adams succumbed to her injuries on Dec. 14.

His capture came after the FBI received a tip from Carruth's bail bondsman, who had been alerted by Carruth's mother, Theodry.

Theodry Carruth left the courtroom in tears as Post testified. She later explained that her emotional reaction stemmed from earlier fears that Carruth would have been killed if caught.

While prosecutors have attempted to show Carruth's flight as evidence of guilt, the defense claims that Carruth was distraught when Adams died, needed time to think before turning himself in and never intended to remain a fugitive.

The witness, who would later also spark an emotional reaction from defense attorney David Rudolf during cross-examination, faced the jury while recounting Carruth's capture.

"She didn't have much to say when I introduced myself and showed her my credentials," Post said.

According to Post, Cole revealed that she was on her way to California to take a beautician test. "She said she had been traveling for a long period of time. She had been taking No-Doze and was very tired," Post said.

When asked if she knew why the FBI was there, Cole admitted that she did, Post said.

"I asked Ms. Cole if Rae Carruth was in the room with her. She said 'No,'" Post testified. Cole gave Post permission to search the room. Although that failed to turn up Carruth, Cole continued to give the agents clues by throwing her car keys on the bed and telling them that "he might be in the area." Finally, she broke down in tears.

"I said, 'Ms. Cole, you're not in any trouble right now. If we find out that you're lying to us and you know where he is, then you might be in some trouble,'" he testified.

Post assured Cole that the agents would "treat him with respect as long as he cooperated. It was not our intention to hurt him," he testified.

"Her eyes went toward the bed. Her keys were on the bed," he said, prompting Post to ask her if Carruth was in the trunk.

Before leading the agents to the car, Cole pleaded with Post not to tell Carruth that she had revealed where he was, he testified.

"She placed the key in the lock of the trunk. She said, 'Rae, they know you're in there. They said they're not going to hurt you,'" he testified.

Cole, who is not expected to be called by the prosecution to testify, was later charged with harboring a fugitive, a charge that is still pending.

Before opening the trunk, Post asked Carruth if he had any weapons in the car, and Carruth murmured that he did not. "I told him although it might look dim and you think the world's outlook is not good right now you don't need to do anything irrational," Post testified.

Post opened the trunk about six inches and "both his hands immediately came out," Post said, explaining that Carruth was lying on his side.

The ex-Carolina Panther emerged from his fetal position and asked Post to help him out of the car and to pull up his pants.

During his testimony, Post referred to a diagram prepared by the prosecution depicting Carruth crouched inside the trunk with some "necessities."

The diagram omitted a few of the trunk's contents, including Cole's baggage, which filled the rest of the trunk — a point brought out during cross-examination. Defense attorney David Rudolf grilled Post about why no inventory of the trunk was ever recorded.

"You made the decision that you weren't going to document anything else inside trunk?" Rudolf said. "Yes," Post conceded.

Rudolf also grilled Post about his decision to allow Cole to keep her clothes and to continue on to L.A. "I took custody of what I felt was physical evidence at the time Mr. Carruth was placed under arrest," Post responded.

When asked whether clothes belonging to Carruth were in the car, Post answered, "I don't recall," touching off a heated reaction from Rudolf.

"The problem is you don't have an inventory," Rudolf shot back. "All you can say right now is, 'Gee, I don't recall.'"

Post agreed with Rudolf that an inventory could have had some evidentiary significance — but turned toward the jury and began saying that Carruth had mentioned clothing after he was in custody.

Rudolf swiftly cut him off, asking Judge Charles Lamm to instruct him "not to try to get in what he knows is inadmissible." Lamm sent the jury out and granted his request.

Post later confirmed that he saw no clothing in the trunk belonging to Carruth. The defense will likely use this fact to support its contention that Carruth never intended to leave for long and planned to surrender.