BRIDGEPORT, Conn. » The remains of missing Easton residents Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin were identified Friday and a federal prosecutor called son Kyle Navin “a suspect in the murder of his parents.”

State police sources close to the investigation late Friday confirmed remains discovered in the back yard of a vacant Weston home were of the couple, missing since Aug. 4.

Kyle Navin appeared earlier in federal court for a detention hearing on a gun charge, and the judge ordered him to remain in custody, saying he is a potential flight risk.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Dayton said in court, “The evidence very strongly suggests the defendant killed his parents.”

Among the evidence, she said, is a series of text messages in which his father questioned whether Kyle Navin had murdered his mother and the fact that both Navins’ cellphones had “magically stopped working near his house in Bridgeport.”

Dayton also noted that Kyle Navin gave police conflicting information.

“Giving three completely different renditions to police after his parents disappeared is not what I would call cooperating — but lying,” she said.

Kyle Navin, wearing an olive green prison outfit, sat next to his attorney, Eugene Riccio, and had no reaction when Dayton told the court authorities had found the remains and that he was a suspect in the deaths.

He did not speak during the 15-minute hearing. Riccio asked U.S. Magistrate William Garfinkel to release Navin on a bond.

“The charge is not a violent offense,” Riccio said. “And under normal circumstances, which I admit these are not, he wouldn’t even be detained.”

Riccio argued that Kyle Navin didn’t run when police first started questioning him about his parents’ disappearance and made it clear they suspected he had killed them.

He added Navin has no criminal record, lives and works in the area and could put up his home on Aldine Avenue in Bridgeport for bond. Riccio also noted that Navin needs surgery on his back.

Dayton questioned Navin’s back issues, telling Garfinkel that Navin looked a lot better Friday than he did at his first court appearance two months ago when he limped into court.

“That he appears a lot healthier today is probably from being off drugs for two months,” Dayton said.

Investigators found more than 100 empty heroin vials and more than 30 empty Oxycodone bottles Kyle Navin’s home, Dayton said. In addition, she said, there were fresh heroin marks on Navin’s feet and arms when he was arrested on Sept. 8.

As the hearing went on, police continued to search a home in Weston, where human remains were found in the back yard Thursday.

Police went to 89 Norfield Road Thursday afternoon after Thomas F. Kerrigan, the homeowner, called them to say he had found something behind his house while cleaning the back yard.

“We … located areas that appeared suspicious,” said Weston Police Chief John Troxell.

Weston police called the state police about 3 p.m. and the Western District Crime Squad took over the scene, closed the road and brought flood lights, dogs and a helicopter to aid in the search of the woods behind the house.

The Navins lived in Weston for years on Osborne Farm Road, less than 5 miles from where the remains were found. They were living on Staples Road in Easton, less than 8 miles from the search site, at the time they disappeared.

A law enforcement source said that Kyle Navin knew the Kerrigan family.

A relatively quiet, tree-lined suburban street ringed by expansive homes, Norfield Road was closed to traffic Friday morning. Police vehicles came and went from the scene throughout the morning, while at least one helicopter could be heard overhead.

A Norfield Road resident, Erin Moore, said the house has been vacant for several years. She said there was no activity until late summer or early fall when she saw excavation equipment on the property.

Kyle Navin was arrested on Sept. 8 by federal authorities and charged with possession of a firearm by someone who is an unlawful user of, or addicted to, any controlled substance. He has remained in federal custody since then making one brief court appearance.

Search warrants indicate that Kyle Navin changed his story four times as to when the last time he saw his parents. They also revealed a strange series of texts with his father on Aug. 4 in which Jeffrey Navin asked his son if he had hurt his mother and if Kyle was trying to frame him for murder.

State police have searched other areas looking for the Navins. Earlier this month, they used cadaver dogs to search the woods to search the woods behind their home in Easton. Investigators also searched the Putnam Ash Residue Landfill and a visited a waste-to-energy plant since the two disappeared.

The couple were reported missing on Aug. 7 by a relative after Jeffrey Navin didn’t show up for his garbage route. The couple’s truck was found abandoned in a commuter lot in Westport.