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Official: Body of missing NJ girl believed found

Anthony Pasquale, second from left, father of Autumn Pasquale, is comforted during a candlelight vigil for the missing girl, Monday Oct. 22, 2012, in Clayton, N.J. About 200 law enforcement officials and hundreds more volunteers searched Monday for Autumn, a southern New Jersey girl who disappeared over the weekend, raising anxiety in a rural town and pulling residents together. (Joseph Kaczmarek / Fr109827 Ap)
Anthony Pasquale, second from left, father of Autumn Pasquale, is comforted during a candlelight vigil for the missing girl, Monday Oct. 22, 2012, in Clayton, N.J. About 200 law enforcement officials and hundreds more volunteers searched Monday for Autumn, a southern New Jersey girl who disappeared over the weekend, raising anxiety in a rural town and pulling residents together. (Joseph Kaczmarek / Fr109827 Ap)
Geoff Mulvihill Associated Press

CLAYTON, N.J. (AP) — The small New Jersey town where a missing girl’s body is believed to have been found has turned from desperate searching to mourning.

Officials say a body preliminarily identified as 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale (pas-KWAHL’-ee) was found in a recycling bin in Clayton around 10 p.m. Monday.

That was about 48 hours after her family reported her missing and two hours after community members gathered blocks away for a candlelight vigil filled with both tears and hope.

On Tuesday morning, Clayton Mayor Thomas Bianco asked that the family be given room to grieve.

An autopsy was to be conducted Tuesday. No arrests have been announced in the case.