The boyfriend of a Midfield woman whose decomposing body was found under an old mattress in Bessemer pleaded guilty today in her 2020 death.

Cedric Earl Watts Jr., 39, was initially charged with murder in the death of Tiffany Osborne, a 30-year-old mother who vanished Feb 17, 2020. Her remains were found two months later in an industrial area off Lakeshore Parkway.

Watts on Friday pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter before Jefferson County Bessemer Circuit Judge David Carpenter. In according with the plea agreement, Carpenter sentenced Watts to 18 years in prison with credit for time served.

Watt has been in the Jefferson County Jail since late 2020.

Osborne was last seen that Monday in the Fairfield Highlands area of Midfield.

Fairfield police said Watts told investigators she left her Seventh Street home to go to a neighborhood store and never returned.

She was reported missing two days later.

Osborne was a mother to three children, including a 3-month-old.

Police and family members had been searching for her since her disappearance.

Law enforcement carried out a search warrant at her home in March.

The detectives said friends and family were in contact with Osborne all during the weekend prior to her disappearance. Police said those who knew her best say it was unusual for her to not be in contact with them.

Osborne’s body was discovered April 1, about 9:20 a.m., in the 4200 block of Turin Drive in an industrial Bessemer area of off Lakeshore Parkway. The scene was at the end of an unfinished road that is a frequent site of trash dumping.

Bessemer police said the body was wrapped up and had been hidden under an old mattress. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene at 9:25 a.m.

Authorities said a dispute took place between Osborne and Watson, at which point he fatally shot her and then transported and dumped her body where it would later be found.

The car in which her body was transported was recovered in Georgia.