The body found in northeast Jefferson County is now confirmed to be that of Jewel Bendolph who vanished Sunday morning.

Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said the remains of 38-year-old Bendolph recovered from a clandestine shallow grave in a wooded area off Dewey Heights Road in the Pinson area. He was identified through fingerprints.

Bendolph was last seen alive about 4 a.m. Sunday at the BP gas station in Birmingham’s Mason City which is near Ishkooda Road.

He then called his grandmother’s phone at 5:07 a.m. but he said nothing.

Instead, family said, his grandmother could hear a struggle and Bendolph saying, “Get off me. Don’t touch me.”

Bendolph had not been heard from since then.

Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies were called shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday to the 5200 block of Dewey Heights Road on a report of an abandoned vehicle.

Lt. Joni Money said the vehicle appeared to have been intentionally covered to conceal it. There was also evidence of the possibility of someone deceased in the area.

Detectives and a cadaver dog were called to the location to further the investigation. Human remains were located.

Investigators with the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office were called to the location Wednesday morning to collect the remains for identification and notification of the family.

Authorities have not said how Bendolph was killed.

As investigators were at the crime scene, family and friends had gathered in east Birmingham and were actively searching for the victim near where his phone had lost “pinged.”

“We’ve told the police who we think he was around,’’ said his cousin Fred Spencer. “I’ve never experienced this in my life.”

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call sheriff’s investigators at 205-325-1450 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.