More than two decades after the skeletal remains of a 10-year-old boy were found under an Orange County billboard, the father of the boy pleaded guilty for his murder.

John Russell Whitt, 57, shared his plea of guilty in the Orange County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon. The official charges filed against Whitt were two murder charges and two cases of concealment of death.

Whitt’s plea is the latest chapter in the case surrounding local mystery of the ‘Billboard Boy,’ which began when the remains of a 10-year-old boy were originally found by a lawnmower crew under a billboard off I-85 near Mebane in 1998. The case remained cold until last February, when DNA technology helped Orange County investigators identify the remains as those of Robert “Bobby” Adam Whitt and contact the remaining family members.

Former Major and investigator on the case Tim Horne attended the hearing, as he said he has with all the others in the case. He said the resolution to the case is very important to him, having spent a large portion of his 28-year career trying to bring whoever killed the boy to justice.

“The way it worked for 20 years, it was kind of like spinning your wheels,” said Horne. “And then [December 26, 2018], it caught traction and things moved very quickly. Within two days of identifying who our possible family lineage was, we were already at the federal prison in Kentucky doing interviews with him.”

Through many conversations, authorities determined Whitt and his mother, Myong Hwa Cho, had not been seen since 1998. Further DNA testing found Cho’s body had also been found in 1998 off I-85 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Whitt was indicted on murder charges by Orange County in May. The prosecution revealed during Wednesday’s hearing Whitt confessed to killing Cho in the family’s Concord, North Carolina home before discarding her body in South Carolina.

Horne said he became close with the extended family of Bobby Whitt through the process, who helped provide information that led the investigation to his father. He said he feels a connection with them and would relay all information from Wednesday’s hearing to them, providing them with more closure.

“I was very proud to take Bobby’s ashes back for a burial to Ohio [where the family lives,]” Horne said. “When you’re interacting with a family like that, you become one of the family. They’ve certainly welcomed me as a family member. For them, I’m very happy and very proud of everybody’s work. This is the final day.”

Whitt has been in Orange County jail since August, when he initially appeared in court for the case. He’d been serving time in federal prison in Kentucky on armed robbery charges from 1999, shortly after the killings were allegedly committed. With 17 years left on that sentence, the new sentence from the two murder charges will add 104 more years to his sentence.

For Horne, he will continue with his retirement, which he declared directly after securing Whitt’s confession for the murders. As far as what life will be like now that the case is finally completed, he described it as uncharted waters.

“I don’t know what to expect, really,” said Horne. “I haven’t had that luxury for 20-plus years. I’m sure I’ll reflect and it will affect me differently, but it’s hard to let something go that you’ve held onto for so long.”

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