Above: 911 call reports related to the disappearance of Stephanie Parze.

A body was discovered Sunday afternoon in a wooded area off Route 9 in Old Bridge, roughly a half-mile from where family and friends of missing Freehold woman Stephanie Parze searched for her in late November.

UPDATE: Body positively identified as that of Stephanie Parze

The body was found at 2:46 p.m.just south of Old Mill Road, according to Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Christopher L.C. Kuberiet and Old Bridge Police Chief William Volkert.

Authorities said the body was unidentified and that an autopsy was scheduled to be performed Monday by the Middlesex Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.

Stephanie Parze disappearance: Here's everything we know now

Unnamed law enforcement sources told NBC New York that they believed the body, which was heavily decomposed, could be that of Parze, 25, who disappeared Oct 30.

Police activity was heavy in the area around 6:30 p.m. By 9 p.m., police presence had been reduced to two cars.

The area is about a half-mile from where a search party looked for Parze in late November.

Stephanie Parze disappearance:New report shows how cops searched for her in early hours

Family, friends and volunteers searched a wooded area after Thanksgiving around nearby Cheesequake Farms and Jake Brown Road in Old Bridge, one of 46 areas the family searched for their daughter in New Jersey. They also searched an additional eight sites in and around Staten Island.

A representative of the Parze family said they were aware of the investigation in Old Bridge but declined to comment.

Authorities did not publicly disclose whether there was any connection between the Old Bridge investigation and Parze’s disappearance. Representatives of the Middlesex County and Monmouth County prosecutor offices did not immediately respond to reporters’ questions on Sunday.

A person of interest in Parze's disappearance, one-time boyfriend John Ozbilgen, killed himself at his parents' Freehold Township home on Nov. 22, two days after being released from jail on an unrelated child pornography charge.

More:Parze's parents open up about ex-boyfriend's role

Prosecutors revealed that the day before Parze vanished, Ozbilgen had sent her a series of 10 unanswered texts in nine minutes, ending with a expletive-laden complaint.

Parze was reported missing after she did not show up for a babysitting job and did not return several calls from family members. She had been living in her late grandmother's home in Freehold Township and caring for her grandmother's dogs.

She was last seen around 10 p.m. Oct. 30 after a trip to a psychic medium in New Brunswick.

More:Stephanie Parze, missing Freehold Township woman: Listen to the 911 tape

Video:Stephanie Parze's parents still hope for her return

Keith Schubert is the morning breaking news reporter. He can be contacted via text, call or signal at (732) 239-8731 or emailed at kschubert@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @keithsch94.

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.