Paul Horton just got back from Alexandria, Va., where a long-standing and painful chapter of his life finally closed.

About seven years after his younger brother was stabbed to death and dumped in the street, his killer was convicted of second-degree murder.

“It’s a whirlwind of emotions,” said Horton of Butler.

The case began June 18, 2009, when Butler native Mike Horton, then 45, was traveling in Virginia for unknown reasons. He was planning to return home when he was killed.

The killing was an open cold case until 2014, when that city got a new commonwealth attorney: Bryan Porter.

It was Porter’s decision to dust off open cases, and ultimately file charges relating to Horton’s death.

“When I assumed office in 2014, the Alexandria Police Department and I reviewed the investigation into the death of Michael Horton. We concluded that, despite the passage of several years, there was sufficient evidence to secure a conviction,” Porter said.

Police charged Willie Burnett Smith Jr., a now 49-year-old Maryland man already serving prison time for an unrelated robbery in Virginia.

“Horton and the defendant were acquainted and a passer-by indicated that they appeared to be engaged in an argument prior to the murder,” a news release issued by the prosecutor’s office said.

Porter said there seemed to be some evidence the connection between the men was drug related, but it wasn’t completely established.

Court records indicate Horton had a criminal history that included a robbery conviction, and there was a fugitive warrant for his arrest when he was killed.

The evidence indicates Horton was stabbed multiple times while in a vehicle with the defendant. Horton was then pushed from the vehicle before it drove away, Porter said.

Smith was arrested weeks later on another matter in the same vehicle, Porter said. Additionally cellular telephone records and witness accounts put the two men together at the time of the killing.

Paul Horton said that during the weeklong trial he was subjected to images of the crime scene, autopsy photographs of his brother and a threat from Smith.

At points, Paul Horton said, he was worried that with the lapse of time and the savviness of the defense attorney that the jury could acquit Smith. But the guilty verdict came Friday, and Paul Horton’s lone chance to speak followed.

Paul Horton explained to the jury that he attended the trial alone because after his brother’s death his mother, Judy Horton, had a stress related heart attack. She never recovered, spending the rest of her life in a nursing home unable to speak. She died in 2013 prior to Smith’s arrest.

“He was her baby, her number one son,” Paul Horton said.

Paul Horton said he and his brother had their ups and downs, as most siblings do. But they had reconciled, and he’d last spoken to his brother about a week before his death.

“He was taken too short,” Paul Horton said.

The jury recommended Smith serve the maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. However, in Virginia sentencing is ultimately determined by a judge. That proceeding is set for May 19 in Alexandria Circuit Court.