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Dad Indicted in 21-Year-Old Murder Case After Son's Remains Found Under Mebane Billboard

John Whitt's indictment comes decades after the remains of a 10-year-old boy were found beside Mebane billboard off I-40/85.

ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. — For two decades, investigators, family and others touched by the case have waited for any information about who killed the "billboard boy" found along I-40 in Alamance County back in 1998.

John Russell Whitt was indicted on First-Degree Murder and Concealment of Death charges by an Orange County grand jury on Monday in connection with the cold case.

The indictment comes decades after the bodies of a woman and a 10-year-old boy were found in separate states beside a southern interstate highway.

According to Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall, investigators believe Whitt killed the boy and his mother in Concord, North Carolina.

He was only indicted in Orange County for the murder of the 10-year-old because that's where the body was buried, Woodall shared.

As of right now, John Whitt's is set to be in prison in Kentucky until 2037 for armed bank robbery charges.

The district attorney says Whitt will be brought to North Carolina within the next week or so, where he'll be served with the indictments, go before a judge and have a lawyer appointed.

If he's convicted of murder in this case, he would likely spend many more years behind bars.

RELATED: Remains of Murdered Boy Found in Mebane in 1998 Identified; Mom Remains Found in SC

In February, investigators discovered the bodies were mother and son and that Whitt, 57, confessed to killing them. 

Using the latest DNA technology, the Orange County Sheriff's Office was able to positively identify that child as Robert "Bobby" Adam Whitt. The DNA technology also allowed them to locate family members which led investigators to the father. 

Robert Whitt was born on Jan. 7, 1988 in Michigan and raised in Ohio, officials said. 

But investigators in both states said they had never stopped trying to solve the 1998 cases that they never knew were related, separated by 215 miles along Interstate 85.

RELATED: 3D Sketch Made of Boy Whose Bones Were Found Off I-40/85 in Mebane in 1998

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