A mother and son accused of putting a man in a wheelchair and then murdering him as part of a “mob” attack have learned their fates.

On Monday, Samantha Watts, 42, was sentenced to 45 years, and her son, Payton Watts, 18, was sentenced to 35 years in prison – after both pleaded guilty to murder. The sentences were given as part of a plea deal, South Carolina’s Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office announced, with prosecutors asking that the younger Watts be sentenced to between 30 and 40 years as long as his mother pleaded guilty “without any agreement or recommendation from prosecutors.”

The case stemmed from a 2023 attack that took place between Jan. 8 and 9. Corey Adam Soles, 29, was “beaten and suffered blunt force trauma to his head while he lay in a wheelchair,” the solicitor’s office said. Soles was allegedly given a broken leg “from an earlier assault by Payton Watts with a blunt force object.”

Prosecutors painted a troubling picture in court of Samantha Watts running a “drug distributing business.” She also “controlled her family, specifically using Payton as her muscle, who was 16 at the time of the murder,” the solicitor’s office added. Some of Samantha Watts’ other children also pleaded guilty to being involved.

Amber Watts, 23, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder and was sentenced to six years in prison – suspended release – and five years of probation. She was suspected of hiding evidence from the crime scene and helping move Soles’ body.

Jonathan Watts, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and battery, and he was sentenced to time served.

Soles was reported missing on Jan. 10, 2023, and his body was found six days later in the Galivants Ferry area of Horry County, South Carolina, WPDE reported that month.

At least eight people were arrested in the “mob” attack on Soles, including Ryan James Porter and Joshua Thomas Brown, then 25 and 20, respectively. The other arrests are believed to have been minors and thus their names were not released.

Prosecutors said in court that the mob attack landed Soles in the wheelchair, and from there he died due to further attacks. It was Soles’ sale of surveillance equipment to Samantha Watts that served as key evidence for prosecutors, the Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. She is believed to have suspected him of stealing from her drug operation.

“One thing that sticks out in my mind is, anyone who’s ever broken a bone or broken more than one, it’s a very painful thing,” said South Carolina Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Michael Nettles, per the Post and Courier. “Can you imagine what it would be like to break one of the biggest bones in your body and sit there for 11 hours? I take that into consideration as well.”

Prosecutors also said that Payton Watts was given drugs by his mother beginning at the age of 12 as a way of “grooming” him to work for her. According to prosecutor Brandon Lanier, Samantha Watts “had complete control over everything in that area.”

Soles was from Chadbourn, North Carolina. He left behind a wife and three children, according to his obituary.

“Corey ‘Adam’ Soles was a loving father, a son, a hard worker, and a man who loved the outdoors,” Lanier said on Monday. “He was 29 years old when he was murdered. We hope that this outcome provides Mr. Soles’ family with at least a sense of justice, because nothing will replace their son.”