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Ptl. Eric Caveng of the Washington Township Police Department and Jim Donahue from the Washington Township Fire Department look at a map of the wooded area near Lambs Road during a search for Renee L. Sheppard, a 39-year-old township woman who went missing late last week. A body matching her description was found Tuesday afternoon in a wooded area near Salina Road. Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. (Staff Photo by Tim Hawk/South Jersey Times)

A body matching the description of Renee L. Sheppard, the 39-year-old township woman who was reported missing last Thursday, has been found in a wooded area off Salina Road behind the Zimmerman farm according to Washington Township Police.

Renee L. Sheppard, 39, has been missing from Washington Township since Thursday morning. A body matching her description was found Tuesday afternoon. (Photo provided by Washington Township Police Department)

Police were still on the scene Tuesday afternoon and are working to officially retrieve and identify the body, but Capt. Richard Leonard said they believe it to be Sheppard.

She was reported missing by family on Thursday morning after she entered the woods in the area of Miller Drive with a book and her cellphone. A massive search on Thursday — which included a State Police thermal-imaging helicopter, ATVs and K-9s — was called off that night, and police worked investigating her whereabouts on Friday. The full-scale search resumed on Tuesday morning, when local police departments as well as the Gloucester County Emergency Response Team and a special search and rescue K-9 from Pennsylvania was called in to help with the search. Leonard said the thick brush and rough terrain of the 500-acre wooded area complicated search efforts.

On Tuesday afternoon, Police Chief Rafael Muniz said there were no indications of foul play, but that would be officially determined later on. Her family has been notified, he added.

Her body was found near a creek at the bottom of a ravine with about a 40-ft drop, and Muniz said it did not appear Sheppard, who has a history of hiking and mountaineering, fell accidentally.

Muniz said police first located her cellphone on Tuesday in an area that was previously searched on Thursday, and that the area her body was found in was the last area of land they had left to search Tuesday.

Local neighbors, friends and family had gathered at the Washington Township Fire District Headquarters on East Holly Avenue on Tuesday morning to help distribute missing persons flyers throughout the day.

Contact staff writer Michelle Caffrey at 856-686-3686 or mcaffrey@southjerseymedia.com