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WEBVTT IT TOOK 20 YEARS, BUT AN INVESTIGATOR WITH THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT IS FINALLY ABLE TO SAY HIS MURDER CASES CLOSED, ALL THANKS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND DNA EVIDENCE. BRIANA: MALLORY LANE TALKED WITH MAJOR TIM HORNE AND EXPLAINS HOW HIS PERSEVERANCE PAID OF MALLORY: WHO WAS THE LITTLE BOY WHOSE SKELETAL REMAINS WERE FOUND UNDER A BILLBOARD SEPTEMBER, 1998? IT’S A QUESTION THIS MOR, MAJOR TINHORN -- T HORN SAYS HE NEVER GAVE UP ON. >> INVESTIGATOR RETIRED MAJOR OVER THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION FOR ORANGE CO SHERIFF’S OFFICE. BACK IN SEPTEMBER OF 1998, WE GOT A CALL FROM A MOWING CREW THAT SKULL AND SKELETAL REMAINS HAD BEEN LOCATED UNDER A BILLBOARD NEAR MEBANE. >> MAJOR HORNE SAYS ORIGINALLY, THINGS MOVED PRETTY SLOWLY THANKS TO INVESTIGATIVE LIMITATIONS, SPECIFICALLY WITH DNA EVIDENCE. HE SAYS IT TOOK A COUPLE O YEARS TO EVEN DETERMINE THAT THE REMAINS WERE MAL THEN, FINALLY THANKS TO AN ANCESTRY DNA MATCH, THE BREAK THEY HAD BEEN WAITING FOR. >> DECEMBER 26 AT 1:44 P.M. THE CALL WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR FOR 20 YEARS. A CLOSE FAMILY MEMBER SAID HIS NAME WAS BOBBY WITT. I HAD MY LITTLE NOTEPAD. I WROTE, BOBBY WITT, CIRCLED IT, ASTERISKS PUT BESIDE IT, WE WAITED ALL THIS TIME TO HEAR THAT NAME. >> HOW DID THAT FEEL? [SIGH] >> I FELT LIKE WE WERE THERE. THERE HAD BEEN SEVERAL POSSIBILITIES THROUGH THE YEARS THAT WERE OFFICIALLY ELIMINATED THROUGH DNA OR SOME OTHER MEANS. YOU GET KIND OF EXCITED FOR IT NOT TO WORK OU THERE WERE TOO MANY THINGS GOING RIGHT AT THIS STAGE OF THE INVESTIGATION. WE AD THE MOMENTUM WHEN I HEARD THE NAME, I KNEW IT WAS RIGHT. MALLORY: THE TIMING COULDN’T HAVE BEEN MORE PERFECT. WITH A RETIREMENT ALREADY PENDING, MAJOR HORNE SAYS HE WORKED THROUGH HIS JANUARY VACATION DAYS INTERVIEWING , FAMILY MEMBERS, STATES AWAY FOR DAYS ON END. ON JANUARY 31, HIS LAST DAY IN OFFICE, HE CLOSED THE CASE. >> MY VERY LAST DAY, JANUARY 31ST, WE RESOLVED NOT JUST THIS CASE, BUT THE MURDER OF HIS MOTHER AS WELL. COULDN’T THINK OF A BETTER WAY TO GO OUT. MALLORY: MYONG HWA’S REMAINS WERE FOUND IN SOUTH CAROLINA IN 1998, AROUND THE SAME TIME AS BOBBY’S REMAINS WERE FOUND IN MEBANE THE VICTIM’S FAMILY SAYS THEY THOUGHT MYONG AND BOBBY WERE IN KOREA. TODAY THEY SAY THEY’RE , HEARTBROKEN BUT GRATEFUL TO , INVESTIGATORS FOR HELPING TO BRING THEIR LOVED ONES HOME.

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Twenty years.It’s how long a cold case out of Orange County took investigators to solve. The mystery: who was the little boy whose skeletal remains were found underneath a billboard in Mebane in September 1998?BOBBY WHITT AND MYONG HWARobert Adam Whitt, known as Bobby, was born on January 7, 1988. His family describes him as a “smart, beautiful little boy with a bright smile and gentle heart.”His life was cut short ten years later, his family says, at the hands of his father. For 20 years, they thought Bobby and his mother were in Korea. In a written statement, the family said, “Our hearts are broken into a million pieces. We had no idea that Bobby and Myong Hwa were no longer with us and had not been for a very long time.”Bobby’s mother, Myong Hwa’s, remains were found in Spartanburg County, South Carolina on May 13, 1998, around the same time as Bobby’s and have remained unidentified, until now. Investigators in South Carolina said Myong was nude when she was found, with what appeared to be ligature marks around her wrists. Her death was ruled a homicide by suffocation.THE INVESTIGATIONMajor Tim Horne has been on this case since Bobby’s skeletal remains were first found in 1998. “We got a call from a mowing crew that skull and skeletal remains had been located under a billboard near Mebane,” Maj. Horne said. “We responded. That particular day, I did the crime scene processing for this particular incident.”Eventually, Horne took the case over full time. He said originally, things moved pretty slowly, thanks to investigative limitations, specifically with DNA evidence. He said it took a couple of years to even determine that the remains were male. Horne said over the years, advanced technology and DNA evidence were key to solving the case. “Through the years, we’ve had a number of DNA test done, we’ve also had anthropologists look at the skeletal remains. At that time early on, they believed that the child was possibly Hispanic, and we explored those avenues,” Horne said. “Each time we had a drawing, or a rendering done, we provided whichever entity was doing the most updated information we had. So, through the years, we’ve just kind of kept the ball, trying to march downfield. Each test revealed something new and we kind of plug in the information to see where it led us.”Recently, working through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Horne said a company called Parabon rendered a drawing of the victim.“They determined that it was Caucasian, Asian first generation biracial. That was something we didn’t know. They were also able to determine hair color, which we kind of fact checked them at that point because we had hair from the scene. What they said the hair color should be, it was,” Horne said. “They had the eye color that we didn’t have because it was skeletal remains. They had skin tone, which was really important. Horne said it’s not just eye, hair color or skin tone that is important.“It’s prominent brow, prominent chin, recessive chin, freckles, there are a number of different aspects that can help narrow it down,” Horne said. A genealogy consultant, Dr. Barbara Rae-Venter, took a closer look at the ancestry DNA and identified a close relative of Bobby. Then, finally, the break they had been waiting for.THE PHONE CALL“That phone call December 26th at 1:44 p.m. The call we’ve been waiting for 20 years,” Horne said. “A close family member said his name was Bobby Whitt.”The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. With retirement already pending, Major Horne said he worked through his vacation days in January, interviewing Bobby’s family members states away, for days on end.“You get kind of excited for it not to work out, but there were too many things going right at this stage of the investigation. We had momentum. When I heard the name, I knew it was right,” Horne said. On January 31, his last day in office, he closed the case.“My very last day, January 31, we resolved not just this case, but the murder of his mother as well,” Horne said. “Couldn’t think of a better way to go out.”A SUSPECTAuthorities with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said they are waiting to release the name of the suspect. However, the said he is currently in federal prison on a separate case and is not expected to be released until 2037.“There are a lot of jurisdictions involved and the District Attorneys in those jurisdictions need to pick the proper venue and decide how we proceed from here,” Horne said. Authorities said the man has been interviewed by investigators from both agencies several times and last week, he confessed to murdering both victims within several months of each other in 1998.BRINGING BOBBY AND MYONG HOMEBobby and Myong’s family said they’re heartbroken, but thankful to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, especially Major Horne, for never giving up hope and finding Bobby’s family.“It came as a total shock to us when we spoke to Major Horne,” a family spokesperson wrote. “Our world fell apart.”The family said they thought Myong had brought Bobby back to Korea to raise him.“Now we need to bring him and his mother home where they belong and bury them next to his grandmother who adored him,” the family said. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses to bring the bodies back home. The Associated Press contributed to this story.