CHULA VISTA (CBS 8) - Two young friends will finally be honored with a lasting tribute 19 years after they were murdered in the South Bay.
The county has signed off on a plan to build a park and activity center along San Diego Bay dedicated to Charlie Keever and Jonathan Sellers.
Milena Sellers-Phillips is beaming as she speaks about an Imperial Beach park project being built in her late son Jonathan's memory 19 years after the 9-year-old and his 13-year-old friend Charlie Keever were murdered.
"It's going to be a place where schools can come and they can teach the kids outside… I'm just so excited that it's something positive in memory of the boys," she said.
On March 27, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved spending $175,000 for the Jonathan Sellers and Charlie Keever Educational Activity Center next to the Bayshore Bikeway at the end of 13th Street at the southern edge of San Diego Bay.
"And now here it is, 19 years later. Thank the lord for County Supervisor Greg Cox. When I actually spoke to him he told me, you know what, we're actually going to make this happen, and here it is, it's actually happening," Milena said.
On March 25, 1993, the boys vanished after going to buy burgers and candy. They were coming back home on their bikes next to the Otay River when they were kidnapped by sadistic sexual predator Scott Thomas Erskine. It took investigators eight years before they connected Erskine to the brutal crime through DNA evidence. He was sentenced to die for killing the boys in 2004.
"Every time I heard about someone dying or a child missing, it just made me so depressed. But when Chelsea King was killed, though it depressed me, it also made me want to get up and do something," Milena said.
Jonathan's mom says she misses many things about her little boy, who remains in her heart and soul.
"His wet kisses, his beautiful eyes, his smile, him saying 'mom,' just everything," she said.
So if her son knew he and his friend would be honored with a park, what would his reaction be?
"I think he'd say mom that's pretty cool. I think he'd love it. Both the boys would absolutely love it. They'd be like wow, you're kidding. For us?" she said.
Besides Supervisor Greg Cox, other guest speakers at Thursday's vigil include Senator Juan Vargas and City Councilman David Alvarez.