HOMICIDE detectives have found partial human remains in their search for teenager Gary Adams, who has been missing since 2003.
A warrant was executed at a Hughesdale home last night, with police digging up the backyard, reported The Herald Sun.
Anthropologists have confirmed the remains are human.
It comes after Gary’s stepfather John Xypolotis, 55, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with killing the teenager eight years ago.
Mr Xypolotis, a small bespectacled man, appeared confused as he was led into the prisoner’s dock by security guards.
Prosecutor Huw Roberts told the court police would need a longer than normal period of 12 weeks to prepare the hand-up brief because there was a large amount of forensic sampling to be completed.
Gary, 17, vanished in December 2003 after leaving his home in Raisell Rd, Cranbourne West, on his BMX bicycle.
He left behind his backpack, which he carried everywhere he went, and a half-eaten meal in his bedroom.
The teenager did not use bank accounts or his mobile phone after he went missing.
His mother, Jo-Ann, made a public appeal for information about his disappearance in 2004. Mr Xypolotis has been charged with one count of murder, committed at Cranbourne on December 5, 2003.
His court appearance came after he was questioned by homicide squad detectives for three hours.
Mr Xypolotis was quizzed last year over the missing teenager but was not charged.
He made no application for bail and magistrate Jack Vandersteen remanded him in custody until August 2 for a committal mention.