BATON ROUGE — The search for 15-year-old Ja'Derrius Minnieweather's body at a Baton Rouge landfill has entered its fourth week, with dozens of local and state police working alongside FBI specialists.

Minnieweather disappeared from the "Ghost Town" area of Baton Rouge in early June. Police later arrested 51-year-old Maurice Parms and charged him with first-degree murder in connection with Minnieweather's death.

Following Parms' arrest, Mayor-President Sid Edwards and the Baton Rouge Police Department announced that evidence led them to believe Minnieweather's body may be located in the north landfill.

According to police, search teams have excavated 3,400 cubic yards of material with more than 4,600 total man-hours invested in the search so far.

Rotating teams are combing through 40 yards of material at a time, examining it inch by inch. Anthropologists from LSU are also on scene to assist with any human remains that are discovered.

Investigators have already processed more than 1,000 tons of material. The search is expected to take weeks, maybe even months.

Forensic scientist George Schiro has worked similar crime scenes where investigators had to search piece by piece through debris. Other than after the Sept. 11 attacks, he said he has rarely seen a search this meticulous and massive go on for so long.

"This is an unusual crime scene," Schiro said. "I can kind of sort of relate it to almost working a crime scene on another planet."

Schiro said the nature of the landfill creates a unique set of challenges, including biological, physical and chemical hazards that make protecting search personnel the first priority.

"This time, they will still probably find at the very least skeletal remains," Schiro said. "Plus there may also be some soft tissue associated with the body, but of course it's probably going to be an advanced state of decomposition," he said.

He said the search will continue as long as resources allow.

"If they haven't found him, they will continue to search and continue to search until, again, they run out of resources, time or personnel," Schiro said.

Lasonia Harris said the case hits close to home. Her son Steven disappeared before investigators found his body along a rural road in Mississippi. Authorities say Steven's body could only be identified by his clothing, and his family held a closed casket funeral.

Harris said finding Minnieweather's body matters not only for prosecutors but also to give his family closure.

"It's just disheartening," Harris said. "It's so disheartening."

She said the thoroughness of the search is worth the time it takes.

"And if it takes an extra month, two months, three months for that to happen, then I'm all for it," Harris said. "And I think that that's what this family wants as well."