The remains of a 10-year-old boy have been identified after they were found under a North Carolina billboard in 1998 - the same year his mother's body was discovered along a service road.

Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood told reporters Tuesday that the child was Robert 'Bobby' Adam Whitt, who was born in Michigan and raised in Ohio.

The child's skeletal remains were found by a mowing crew in September 1998 near a billboard in Orange County.

The remains of 10-year-old, Robert 'Bobby' Adam Whitt (left), have been identified after being found under a North Carolina billboard in 1998 - the same year his mother's body was found along a service road. Police said Myoung Hwa Cho (right) was also found dead in 1998

The child's skeletal remains were found by a mowing crew in September 1998 near a billboard (top left) in Orange County, North Carolina

According to the News Observer, an autopsy determined Bobby had been strangled around April 1998.

Last year, the consultant who helped solve the Golden State Killer case, Barbara Rae-Venter, used DNA to determine the child was half-Asian and half-white.

Online DNA ancestry services identified a possible relative in Ohio.

That relative disclosed Bobby's name, saying family didn't report him missing because they assumed his mother took him to South Korea.

Based on that information, police determined an unidentified woman found in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, around the same time was Bobby's mother.

She was identified as Myoung Hwa Cho with the help of the Korean National Police and INTERPOL, Spartanburg Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt Kevin Bobo said.

Police said Cho was found dead in May 1998, the same year her son's body had been dumped near the billboard along Interstate 40-85.

Her body was found along a service road near Interstate 85 in South Carolina.

Investigators (pictured in 1998) are seen processing the scene where Bobby's skeletal remains were found

Police said one of their initial clues that Bobby was a little boy was his shoes and other clothing found in the area

An autopsy at the time determined Bobby had been strangled around April 1998, a month before his mother's body was found

A pathologist who examined Cho after she was found reported that she had ligature marks around her wrists, from where they had been tied, and that she had been suffocated, according to the Observer.

Authorities said Cho's husband and Bobby's father confessed to both murders last week after being interviewed by investigators.

Police did not release his identity but they did say that he has been serving a lengthy sentence in a separate case.

According to Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood, the suspect was sentenced to federal prison for armed robbery. He is not eligible for parole until 2037.

The suspect has not been charged with either murder yet.

According to Orange County Sheriff's Office Maj Tim Horne (pictured), who delayed his retirement until he solved the cold case, said he does not believe Bobby and his mother were killed in Orange County or Spartanburg

According to Orange County Sheriff's Office Maj Tim Horne, who delayed his retirement until he solved the cold case, said he does not believe Bobby and his mother were killed in Orange County or Spartanburg.

'I always kept the case file box under my desk, where it was purposefully in my way,' Horne told the Observer.

'Every time I turned, I hit it with my leg. I did this so the little boy couldn't be forgotten.'

Horne said he had the help of hundreds of people and multiple agencies who worked on the case.

Now, after 20 years, the boy's cremated remains will now be able to go home with his relatives in Ohio.