Murders of Bobby Whitt and Myoung Hwa Cho
Bobby Whitt and Myoung Hwa Cho | |||
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Born | Myoung Hwa Cho January 27, 1954 Robert Adam Whitt January 7, 1988 | ||
Disappeared | strangulation (Whitt) | ||
Body discovered | May 13, 1998 Spartanburg, South Carolina (Cho) September 25, 1998 Mebane, North Carolina (Whitt) | ||
Known for | Formerly unidentified murder victims |
Robert "Bobby" Adam Whitt and Myoung Hwa Cho were two formerly unidentified murder victims who were killed in 1998. They remained unidentified until they were both identified using GEDmatch in early 2019.[1] While unidentified, Whitt was nicknamed Mebane Child and the Boy Under the Billboard.
Discovery
On May 13, 1998, the nude body of an Asian female was found on the side of a road parallel to Interstate 85 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The victim had been bound at the wrists, with ligature marks present upon her discovery. An autopsy determined her cause of death as suffocation.[2]
On September 25, 1998, a landscaping crew cutting grass under a billboard along Industrial Drive along Interstate 85/40 in Mebane, North Carolina, discovered the skeletal remains of a young boy. There was no sign of trauma at the scene and was likely that the child was killed elsewhere. The child was wearing khaki shorts, white socks and matching underwear, and black and white shoes that appeared to have been purchased recently. His shorts pocket was found to contain $50. The child had straight, dark brown hair about 3 to 4 inches in length, likely had a light brown to fair complexion, and likely had brown eyes.[3] The boy was initially thought to have been Hispanic and possibly a migrant worker. The boy had no fillings, but preventative dental sealing in multiple teeth, as well as a slight overbite with erupting upper canines, which may have been noticeable when he smiled or spoke. The boy likely died during the spring or summer of 1998.
Investigation
Sketches of the decedents were created in attempts to identify them, but to no avail. The boy's case received wider attention. Through the use of
In October 2018, 20 years after the boy's discovery, more details about the boy's case were released.
Identification
In December 2018, Dr.
Shortly after Whitt and Cho's identifications, Whitt's father, John Russell Whitt, who was serving a prison sentence for armed robbery in
Legal proceedings
John Russell Whitt pled guilty on January 15, 2020, to two charges of second degree murder and two charges of concealment of death in the case and was sentenced to 26 to 32 years for each murder, to be served consecutively after he completes his sentence in federal prison for robbery in 2037.[10][11] During his sentencing hearing, he begged for forgiveness, saying he had been haunted by the murder for years and had tried to kill himself in prison out of guilt in 2001. Whitt has now been moved to Federal Correctional Complex, Butner.[12]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Grubb, Tammy (5 February 2019). "A dogged investigator made sure the 'Boy under the Billboard' was not forgotten". newsobserver.
- ^ "233UFSC". The Doe Network. 25 August 2004.
- ^ "437UMNC". The Doe Network. 5 January 2006.
- ^ James, Susan Donaldson (11 February 2010). "Sculptor Puts Face to Murdered N.C. Child". ABC News.
- ^ Boudin, Michelle (9 October 2018). "Skeleton of Strangled Boy Abandoned by an Interstate May Finally Be Identified — and Killer Found". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Two decades ago, a 10-year-old was killed. Now, his father's been charged with murder". WCNC. 15 May 2019.
- ^ Hauser, Christian (May 18, 2019). "Brown Co. family says final goodbye to missing boy found murdered in 1998". WKRC.
- ^ "Father charged in death of boy whose remains were found under Mebane billboard in 1998". WRAL.com. May 13, 2019.
- ^ Bridges, Virginia; Grubb, Tammy (13 May 2019). "Father charged with cold-case murder of boy found under billboard". newsobserver.
- ^ "Father of boy whose skeletal remains were found in Mebane in 1998 pleads guilty to two counts of murder".
- ^ "Man to spend rest of life behind bars for killing wife, boy whose remains were found under Mebane billboard". 15 January 2020.
- ^ "Inmate Locator".