NC man solved own murder with equipment he sold to his killer. See video of crime
A missing persons case quickly became a murder case when a North Carolina man’s body was found near Galivants Ferry with severe injuries.
On Monday afternoon, Samantha Watts, Amber Watts, Jonathan Watts and Payton Watts, four of the eight suspects arrested in the 2023 case, appeared in court. Each were sentenced after pleading guilty to their charges.
Payton Watts was a minor at the time of the crime.
Payton Watts, now 19, of Green Sea, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for murder.
Several character witnesses were called for Payton Watts, including family friend Amber Riveira, who shared that Payton Watts was always a good kid, until around the age of 12, when his mother, Samantha Watts started giving him drugs in return for help with her drug dealing.
“She had a serious control that you would just have to see to understand,” Riveira said of Samantha Watts.
Payton Watts was tearful throughout his sentencing, wiping at his face with the collar of his beige jumpsuit.
Amber Watts, 23, of Nichols, will serve six years in prison and five on probation for being an accessory after the fact to a felony or murder. Amber Watts was arrested under suspicion that she concealed evidence and helped dispose of Soles’ body. She was released on bond and had her ankle monitor removed in June 2023, The Sun News previously reported.
Amber Watts is the mother of a 1 1/2-year-old child, and was not involved in the assault or murder of Soles, according to testimony.
Samantha Watts, 43, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for obstructing justice and murder. She was initially arrested for drug charges after the discovery of Soles’ body.
Samantha Watts requested leniency for her three children, Amber, Jonathan and Payton Watts. Tears dripped from her face as she said she was sorry both to Soles’ family and her own.
Jonathan Watts, who was 18 at the time, was given credit for 908 days of time already served for first-degree assault and battery.
Soles solved his own murder
A missing persons report was filed on Jan. 10, 2023, for Corey Adam Soles, 29, of Chadbourn, North Carolina, The Sun News previously reported. Soles’ body was discovered about a week later, prompting an investigation and raising suspicions of an assault.
Police claimed at the time that Soles was assaulted by a mob of suspects, who inflicted serious bodily injuries upon him. Video footage of the alleged assault showed Soles suffering a broken leg, among other injuries, and eventually passing out. It also showed him being put into a wheelchair and wheeled into a shed on Samantha Watts’ property in Green Sea.
Later, the video showed two suspects carrying a wheelchair and a large object to a vehicle. The entire ordeal took place over about 11 hours.
According to the prosecution on Monday, Soles sold Samantha Watts the surveillance equipment that captured these videos, and installed it on the property. Samantha Watts allegedly thought that Soles had stolen drugs from the drug dealing operation she ran from her home, leading her to call for his punishment.
According to Soles’ autopsy report, he died from blunt force trauma, taking eight to 10 blows to the head. Payton Watts administered the blows that ended Soles’ life.
Soles was later found in the Galivants Ferry area.
Soles was married and had three children, according to his obituary, and he operated Soles’ Towing & Recovery Service in Chadbourn with his father, Scotty Soles.
Victim’s family craved closure
Soles’ parents, Christy Priest and Scotty Soles, addressed the court ahead of the sentencings, requesting two simple things: justice for their son and closure for their family.
“Please don’t have mercy on them because they didn’t on my son,” Priest cried as she struggled to speak through her tears. She clutched a tissue to her face as she continued.
“I don’t know how people can be so cruel and evil in this world,” she said.
Scotty Soles expressed his frustration that little progress had been made in the case over the past two years. He said he and his family simply want “to go on with our lives, have some closure.”
He also recalled working with his son each day, and the profound loss he continues to feel in the wake of his son’s death.
Others involved in case
Four other suspects were arrested in 2023 in connection to this case.
Ryan Porter, of Tabor City, North Carolina, was arrested for second-degree assault and battery by a mob.
Joshua Brown, of Nichols, was arrested for accessory after the fact, as well as third-degree domestic violence related to a former relationship between himself and Amber Watts.
Two other juveniles arrested in this case in 2023 remain unnamed.
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 4:09 PM.
