A spokeswoman for the German Federal Police (BKA) in Wiesbaden told German news agency DAPD that French investigators performed DNA testing on the remains.

Bones, teeth and remnants of clothing were found in a dead campfire on the island of Nuku Hiva, where 40-year-old Stefan Ramin was reported missing.

He and his girlfriend had stopped on the South Sea island after setting out in a catamaran three years ago to sail around the world.

Before he disappeared, Ramin was reportedly invited on a tour of the island by a local hunter, who is still at large.

The victim’s girlfriend claimed the hunter tied her to a tree and sexually assaulted her.

German media reports suggested the man was eaten by a cannibal, but the chief prosecutor in the case last week denied those claims. Authorities did, however, confirm that Ramin’s body had been dismembered.

The victim’s family confirmed his death in a post on Ramin’s website on Wednesday.

“He died where he spent his whole life wanting to be,” the message said. “There’s no hope left – let us together think of Stefan, let his pictures and his stories affect us, and let his cheerful, endearing and positive attitude be a model for us all.”

DAPD/DPA/arp