(CBS NEWS) ALPINE, Texas -- Human remains found in a shallow grave in West Texas on Friday have been identified as missing student ZuZu Verk, CBS affiliate KOSA reports.

Alpine police Lt. Felipe Fierro says 26-year-old Robert Fabian of Alpine faced a magistrate Monday at the Brewster County Jail. 

Fabian, Verk’s boyfriend, was arrested Saturday on a charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence by concealing a human corpse.

Bond was set at $500,000 for Fabian after the remains were found amid the search for Verk, a 22-year-old Sul Ross State University student from Fort Worth. The body was found near Sunny Glen Canyon by a U.S. Border Patrol officer who was in the area checking on an unrelated lead regarding undocumented immigrants, reports KOSA.

Verk had been missing since Oct. 12 after a date with Fabian. A forensics team in Dallas made the identification Monday, the station reports.

“Nobody ever gave up,” Lori Verk, Zuzu’s mother, told the station. “Nobody ever gave up and their hope kept our hope alive… so grateful for the wonderful job they’ve done.”

An attorney for Fabian didn’t immediately return a message Monday.