BATON ROUGE — The Baton Rouge Police Department said a landfill search for the body of 15-year-old Ja'Derrius Minnieweather will continue as testing is done on human remains that were found during the search. 

Minnieweather was reported missing June 5, with police arresting 51-year-old Maurice Parms and charging him with first-degree murder in connection with Minnieweather's death nearly two weeks later. 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. 

During the press conference Tuesday, BRPD Chief TJ Morse said that human remains had been found during the search. 

"Evidence gives me hope that these remains belong to Ja'Derrius," he said. "Professionally, I am unable to make any speculations, but I remain very, very hopeful."

Morse said that while the remains are being tested to confirm a DNA match, crews searching the landfill will continue to comb through the trash. 

As of Tuesday, the team has put in 17,000 man-hours across 821 shifts. The chief said the search team has found more than 4,000 animal bones while processing the material. 

Mayor-President Sid Edwards said a priest visited the search site on Tuesday morning and sprinkled Holy Water on the area. He said the national success rate for landfill searches is less than 12 percent, but a photo of Ja'Derrius at the search site kept crews motivated.

"It was because of the determination and grit of these professionals that this baby, a son of Baton Rouge, will be brought home," Edwards said.