A confession to a 2014 murder lands a man in jail and leaves a Wabash Valley family in shock. It happened after the case had been cold for more than four and a half years.  

Sunday night, Connor Scott walked into the police station in Danville, Ind. and confessed to the death of Kaylyn Whitaker. 

A short time later he was arrested.  

He now sits in the Hendricks County jail waiting to be taken back to Clark County, Ill., where the death happened. 

Illinois State Police say Scott faces a first-degree murder charge.  

Dave Whitaker and Leslie Roberts, Kaylyn’s parents, said while they are happy to finally see charges for Kaylyn’s death, they still miss their little girl.  

“I can truthfully say to him that I do forgive him,” Leslie Roberts said. “I couldn’t before when it first happened but that’s what I would say to him.” 

Forgiveness, it’s something Leslie Roberts and Dave Whitaker never thought they’d be able to do.  

But Monday, they were awoken by two ISP troopers at 5 a.m. with the news that an arrest had been made in their daughter’s case and their daughter’s former boyfriend, Connor Scott, was behind bars. 

“Then I’m at work and she calls and says he confessed on his own and I’m thinking I wouldn’t have guessed that one,” Dave Whitaker said. “I wouldn’t have guessed. I really thought he thought he was going to get away with this.” 

Back on Halloween of 2014, 20-year-old Kaylyn Whitaker was found with a gunshot wound to the head in Scott’s rural Martinsville, Ill. home. 

They were dating at the time, and initially, the death appeared to be a suicide. 

Ten months later an autopsy listed her death as a homicide.  

Back in September WTWO sat down with Kaylyn’s parents who say they were upset no charges had been filed.   

WTWO obtained Kaylyn’s death certificate that states homicide was her manner of death. 

A 2017 written review of Kaylyn’s death gives a list of evidence that the family says shows Kaylyn was murdered. That list included interviews, forensic testing, photos and a crime scene recreation video.  

“It is my opinion that Kaylyn could not have shot herself in the location where the bullet entered her skull…the amended finding as a cause of death as a homicide best fits the situation in this case,” Illinois Appellate Prosecutor Ed Parkinson said in that same review of the case. 

Since the story aired, WTWO continued to make repeated calls to the Illinois State Police, the Clark County state’s attorney and Illinois appellate prosecutors. 

Four and a half years later, Kaylyn’s parents say it’s been worth the wait for answers.  

“He loved Kaylyn,” Roberts said. “He just made a really bad choice.” 

Her parents say they plan on being in court every day.  

Scott has a bond of $1 million and his extradition to Illinois is pending.