BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Coroner's Office identified remains found at the North Landfill as Ja'Derrius Minnieweather's.

The office put out a statement saying that they made a "positive identification of the remains of Ja'Derrius Minnieweather using DNA comparison." The cause of his death is still pending.

Minnieweather was reported missing June 5. Nearly two weeks later, police arrested 51-year-old Maurice Parms and charged him with first-degree murder in connection with Minnieweather's death. Parms is accused of killing Minnieweather and putting his body in a garbage can.

In five weeks, law enforcement crews have combed through 4,000 tons of material in the East Baton Rouge Parish North Landfill while trying to find Minnieweather's body. 

BRPD Chief TJ Morse said Tuesday that human remains had been found during the search; he said he was "very hopeful" that the remains belonged to Minnieweather.

While investigating the teen's disappearance, police found messages between Parms and a 16-year-old girl who knew Minnieweather. In the messages, Parms allegedly told the girl that he loved her and referred to the two as being in a relationship. 

Parms was arrested for indecent behavior with juveniles and computer-aided solicitation of a minor on June 10, which led to a search warrant being issued for his home. 

After the search, Parms was booked for first-degree murder. Additional BRPD documents said Parms and Minnieweather got into a fight on June 4 and Parms was seen badly beating a smaller person fitting Minnieweather's description for several minutes. 

Police said they found large, suspected bloodstains near where the altercation happened. Additionally, Parms was reportedly seen on surveillance footage dragging a garbage can to the road and getting rid of a child's bike that likely belonged to Minnieweather. 

On Friday, Parms was arrested for the third time in this case. He was booked for forcible rape, trafficking and indecent behavior with a juvenile, additional charges related to his alleged inappropriate relationship with the 16-year-old girl. In a second interview with law enforcement, she said Parms had previously raped her. 

Parms is being held without bond in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. District Attorney Hillar Moore spoke about seeking the death penalty for Parms, saying "it’s something we always look at on a first degree murder case."

"It's really way early in the proceedings to make that decision," Moore said. "But that surely will be a decision that we discuss thoroughly with the family. And the family's thoughts and their ideas on that will weigh heavily in our decision, but we also at the same time weigh not only what their wishes are, but also what the evidence is and what the facts are. And then we'll make that appropriate decision then."