DENVER -- The Douglas County Sheriff's Office has taken over the investigation into the discovery of two bodies in an Aurora wheat field and said the bodies may likely be the remains of two missing Highlands Ranch teens.

Aurora police began the investigation after the bodies were discovered by a farmer near 26th Avenue and Powhaton Road, but by Tuesday evening, the Douglas Count Sheriff's Office took over the investigation and crime scene.

Shawn Cerniglia, 16, and Carrie Heiden, 18 (pictured, left) were reported missing on Feb. 5. A burned-out car belonging to Cerniglia was found the next day in another Aurora field -- about 7 miles from the field where the bodies were found.

"There's no question that this is a suspicious death. We're treating it as a homicide," said Lt. Tim Moore of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said the bodies were badly decomposed because they were left exposed for about a month.

"Positive IDs will take several days because the bodies are not readily identifiable from normal features that you and I might recognize. So it will take forensic work before the coroner can rule on who they are," Moore said.

Evidence at the scene, possibly clothing or jewelry, led investigators to believe that the two missing teenagers may finally have been found, 7NEWS reported.

The Adams County coroner will perform the autopsy and rely on forensic evidence like dental records or DNA to determine positive identity. The coroner should also be able to determine time and method of death.

The two families, who had already feared the worst after Shawn's car was found burned and abandoned, will have to wait a few more days before they can receive word on the identities of the victims.

Ironically, Cerniglia's parents searched fields along Interstate 70 near Tower Road and Pena Boulevard in early March looking for the teens' bodies. However, they did not search as far east as the field where the two unidentified bodies were found, according to Dave Rogers, director of the Missing Children Task Force.

Although the area where the bodies were found seems pretty remote, investigators said it doesn't seem as if much effort was made to conceal the bodies because they were left only about 100 feet from a paved road.