The state medical examiner's office has positively identified remains found by Anne Arundel County police last week as those of missing Gambrills teen-ager Joseph Aaron Demarest.

The skeletal remains were found Jan. 8 in a wooded area at the end of Conway Road in Wilson Town, about 12 miles from Demarest's home on Red Fall Lane.

Christopher Allen Bolen, 23, of Gambrills and Stefan Tyson Bell, 25, of Waldorf are charged with murder in the case. Both are being held without bail.

Detectives from Anne Arundel County's cold-case squad began reinvestigating the case in early 2001.

Demarest was reported missing Sept. 3, 1996, after he waved goodbye to his father and said he was going to a friend's house.

The Demarest family has long suspected foul play in the disappearance of their son, who was 17 at the time.