ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. – The family of a 10-year-old boy who was found dead under a billboard in 1998 is speaking out.

• Bobby Whitt, whose remains were found in Mebane in 1998, was identified this week.
• The suspect in his death is his father, who is thought to have also killed his mother.
• The family says they were told Bobby and his mother moved to South Korea in 1998. 

Bobby Whitt’s remains were discovered on September 25, 1998, next to a wooded area on I-85 in Mebane. The remains were completely skeletal, so an identity was unable to be made at the time.

But in December 2018, a DNA match from Ancestry DNA blew the 20-year-old case wide open. A relative was able to be located in Ohio, and Whitt was able to identified at last.

RELATED: Major Break Made in 20-Year Case of Boy's Death

Whitt’s mother was also killed in 1998. Their killer is thought to be Whitt’s father, who is in federal prison.

We spoke with Bobby’s family who says the father, who they say is John Russel Whitt, told them that Bobby’s mother had left and taken him back to South Korea.

“I don't know if any of us want to see him again,” says John’s niece, Natalie Mosteller. “Even if it is to see him be convicted."

They say they found it odd that he didn’t try to maintain contact with him, even using social media to try to find the boy and his mother.

Formal charges have not been filed against John Whitt for this particular murder.

The charges he’s currently serving under are unknown, but we are told they are unrelated.