Commerce City Interim Police Chief Chuck Saunier and Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said human remains recovered at the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site last week are that of 7-month-old Torrey Brown Jr., who has been missing since March 29.

“I am grateful for the family members that the baby’s body was recovered,” Quick said in a prepared statement. “I realize this has been a seemingly endless wait. I am also appreciative to the Commerce City Police Department for their extraordinary efforts in the recovery.”

Although the Adams County Coroner’s Office declined to release any further details about the case, including the boy’s time or cause of death, a prepared statement from the Adams County District Attorney’s Office said DNA testing was used to confirm his identity.

The boy’s mother, 23-year-old Commerce City resident Sharrieckia Page, has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. Krista Flannigan, the Adams County District Attorney’s Office public information director, said Page could spend the rest of her life in prison, if she is convicted on the first-degree murder charge.

At a June 8 press conference, Saunier called the search “the first recovery effort of its kind” in the Commerce City Police Department’s history.

Saunier declined to say why the dump site became the focal point of the investigation but said the Commerce City Police Department and volunteers assisting in the search were committed to locating the infant.

“At the very beginning of this operation, it became clear very quickly that we weren’t looking for evidence any more,” said Sgt. Joe Dougherty, a Commerce City Police Department recovery-incident commander. “All those employees, citizens and people that were out here at the landfill helping us out were dedicated and working through hell so one small soul can go to heaven.”

Over a 53-day period, the Commerce City Police Department reported that 500 people from 34 agencies and community organizations across the state and nation participated in the search. In all, about 19,300 hours were spent sifting through nearly 13,000 tons of solid waste in a 2.5-acre area of the regional landfill. Crews working in 12-hour shifts sorted through more than 1 million square feet (9,900 tons) of waste — enough to cover at least 17 football fields — before the baby’s body was found.

Michelle Halstead, the Commerce City communications director, said the city and its police department will cover the costs used to search for the boy, which totaled $574,670, an average of about $10,000 a day.

Page is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. July 20 in Adams County District Court.