The remains of a Geelong man missing for almost five years have been found beneath the family home by the man's father.
Daniel O'Keeffe has been missing since July 2011 and on Monday his family confirmed his remains had been found beneath the family home on Summerhill Terrace in Highton.
"It is with heavy hearts that the family and friends of Dan O'Keeffe ... share that Dan's remains were discovered earlier today," the family wrote on a missing person's Facebook page they set up.
A crime scene has been established but police are yet to confirm the remains belong to Mr O'Keeffe.
"We're treating it at the highest level at this stage until we satisfy ourselves there's no suspicious activity," Detective Sergeant Adam Foreham told reporters outside the O'Keeffe home.
The bones were discovered just before 2pm on Monday by the missing man's father, the Herald Sun reports.
Det Sgt Foreham said the family were "distraught".
"You can only imagine the feeling one would go through when discovering remains of what you believe to be are your beloved son underneath your house," the detective said.
A post-mortem is expected to shed some light on how long the remains have been underneath the house.
Mr O'Keeffe was 24 when he disappeared from his family home on July 15, 2011.
He did not have his ID or wallet on him when he went missing, and his bank accounts have not been used since he was last seen.
Three days after he went missing, his family launched a Facebook campaign to try to find him.
They have previously said Mr O'Keeffe had been suffering depression and anxiety before he left the house on foot the morning he disappeared.
They believed he left because he didn't want to burden them with his illnesses.
The high profile case sparked social media outrage in December when the Melbourne Cricket Club refused to suspend his membership.
Since the 24-year-old went missing his family have paid his MCC membership renewal fees in the hope he would soon return.
The family applied to suspend his membership but the club said its rules do not allow memberships to be put on hold, and told them the membership would be cancelled.
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