PORT ORCHARD, Wash. -- The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office Saturday said that human remains found at a construction site near here earlier this month belong to a teenager or young man.

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said that the King County Medical Examiner's Office, where the parts were sent, identified them as belonging to one person -- a male in his late teens or early twenties.

The investigation was initiated at around 6:30 p.m., June 6, when a worker from the nearby construction site found a discarded athletic shoe-boot. Inside the boot were the remains of a severed human foot.

The human remains recovery site was located in the 3100 block of Harold Drive SE, north of SE Lund Avenue and south of SE Lundberg Road, in close proximity to a construction site for future residential homes.

Excavation began at the site Monday afternoon with assistance from the Washington State Patrol Crime Scene Response Team.

Human bones were recovered around 8:30 p.m. Monday evening and turned over into the custody of the Kitsap County Coroner, for transfer to the office of the King County Medical Examiner (KCME). The medical examiner is providing assistance to Kitsap County Sheriff's detectives with the expertise of a forensic anthropologist on the KCME staff.

Based upon a recommendation provided by the medical examiner, sheriff's detectives resumed excavation on Wednesday. Additional remains were recovered. Sheriff's detectives employed a commercial screening machine operated by Sound Excavation, Inc., of Bremerton, to assist in searching and processing a large amount of soil over the course of hours.

The remains recovered on Wednesday also were transferred into the custody of KCME.

During the course of Wednesday's excavation sheriff's detectives unearthed evidence that altered the focus of the investigation from recovery of human remains to a homicide investigation. Further information about the evidence is not being released publicly, Deputy Wilson said.

Wilson told KIRO TV News that anyone with information about this case should contact Detective Mike Rodrigue at (360) 337-4479, or Detective Chad Birkenfeld at (360) 337-5619 or Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 1-800-222-8477.