CHATEAUGAY — Police say the remains of a man found buried in the backyard at 14 White St. here are likely Dale Jarvis Sr., who had been missing for five months.

He was murdered, according to results of an autopsy performed on July 21 by forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Sikirica in Albany.

“The cause of death is not being released at this time,” State Police said in a press release.

Positive identification of Jarvis awaits results of DNA testing due back in about two weeks, Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne said Tuesday.

Jarvis, 48, was last seen at his home on Feb. 20 by his son, Dale Jr., known as D.J.

State Police investigators said they developed information about the man’s disappearance that led to a search warrant and the discovery of human remains in the backyard of the home on July 19. Authorities said no one had alerted police to the fact that Jarvis Sr. was missing.

So far, more than 40 investigators and troopers have been on the property in different shifts, collecting evidence on the 3-acre parcel situated on the dead-end street off Route 11 in the Village of Chateaugay.

“The crime-scene search is continuing,” State Police Troop B Bureau of Criminal Investigation Capt. Robert LaFountain said. “We will be there until the search is finished and we feel confident we have searched the entire premises for all of the evidence.”

Jarvis, a former construction worker and hired man, had lived in the home since 1988 and shared it with his 23-year-old son. Relatives say D.J. told them a man came to the door about midnight on Feb. 20 and met privately with his father for about an hour before the two drove off together.

They say D.J. told them that his father handed him the keys to his vehicle and his cellphone and told him if he wasn’t heard from or seen in a few days, he wasn’t coming back. And then he left. Jarvis’s father, Maynard Jarvis, said D.J. told relatives that his father advised him not to file a missing-persons report.

Contacted Tuesday, Maynard was to distressed to talk about the latest developments in the case.

The younger Jarvis remains held in Franklin County Jail on $50,000 cash bail following his arrest on July 17 for criminal contempt, in connection to a September 2011 domestic dispute with his wife.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, he was convicted of fourth-degree criminal mischief, ordered to pay a fine and given a one-year conditional discharge, meaning that if he remained arrest free until September 2012, the charges would have been dismissed.

A stay-away order of protection was also issued in the case.

But D.J. allegedly violated that order of protection last week, so he was charged with criminal contempt and jailed.

Email Denise A. Raymo:

draymo@pressrepublican.com