After an exhaustive two-day search to find

, authorities announced early Tuesday morning that a body has been found in a recycling container on East Clayton Avenue in Clayton.

The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said, in a statement released at 1:27 a.m. Tuesday, that a female's body was found in a container around 10 p.m. that "has been preliminary determined to be that of 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale" who went missing from her home Saturday afternoon.

The Prosecutor's Office said it would not release the exact location of where the body was found, but said only that it was in Clayton. Members of Autumn's family have been notified, police said.

"This is a very sad day for the Pasquale family," said Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton, whose office led the search with the assistance of nearly 20 other law enforcement agencies. "Our hearts go out to the family and to all the residents of Clayton who stood together in support of this young girl."

Just hours earlier, hundreds of community members gathered on the front lawn of the Clayton Municipal Building in

. She was to turn 13 next week.

"Say your prayers for Autumn and all the children who are lost and can't find their way home," her uncle Paul Spadafora said over shouts in the crowd yelling for Autumn to follow the candle light to Clayton and "come home!"

During a press conference Monday afternoon, Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton, flanked by Autumn’s parents Anthony Pasquale and Jennifer Cornwell, announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to Autumn — $5,000 from the family and a matching amount from the prosecutor’s office.

It was not immediately clear how authorities found the body, or if the reward helped in the discovery. Check back on

for more updates as they're made available.

The Clayton Middle School student was last seen around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. She left her home on her white Odyssey BMX bike headed for a friend’s house. She was expected home at 8 p.m.

Search for 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale of Clayton, Oct. 22, 2012 25 Gallery: Search for 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale of Clayton, Oct. 22, 2012

When family members hadn’t heard from her by 9:30 p.m., they alerted the local authorities.

“It was typical for her to check in,” Spadafora said.

By Saturday night, about 50 local police officers from Clayton and across Gloucester County began the search for the missing girl. The search continued Sunday and by Monday morning more than 200 local, county and state officials from 18 different agencies including the FBI had joined up in the search, deploying officers on horses and with police dogs, as well as a state police helicopter.

Police conducted more than 75 interviews with friends, family and anyone who saw Autumn on Saturday before her disappearance.

Authorities targeted the search to areas Autumn was last seen, specifically Scotland Run Park and a bike trail from Clayton to Williamstown. They've also pulled surveillance video from surrounding businesses in Clayton and did a canvass of all the registered sex offenders in Clayton, Franklin, Monroe and Glassboro.

More than 2,500 friends and neighbors joined police in the search on Monday and those who couldn't tried to do their part by sharing the story on social media, tweeting#helpfindautumn. By late Monday night, more than 11,000 people had joined the Facebook group Find Autumn Pasquale.

Inside Clayton’s municipal meeting room, Clayton Crime Watch members and other volunteers divvied out highlighted maps volunteers who led groups of 12 on a grid search.

Some of them walked the streets of the borough and surrounding towns, pausing at intersections to hand out fliers with Autumn’s face on them.

One group — a mix of Clayton and Franklinville residents — spread out to the edge of Gloucester County to Holly Green Campground in Franklin Township near the Salem County border.

“In two days, who knows how far she could get,” said Paul Reina, of Deptford. They knocked on trailer doors, either leaving a flier with Autumn’s description or talking to the site’s occupants about how they can help find her.

Stories on Autumn Pasquale

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“If you see anything weird, let the police station know,” Clayton resident Lisa Mills told one woman, who had already heard about Autumn on TV. “If it is (something) or isn’t, every little bit helps.”

Reina kicked over a few piles of pine needles, and checked inside trash cans at every site. But volunteers’ power to leave no stone unturned was limited.

Civilian searchers — thousands of them — were instructed not to disturb any private property, not to ask for entry into homes or sheds, and to stay out of the woods.

“They don’t want us getting in trouble or having more search parties for lost [volunteers],” said Walt Seitz, leader of Clayton Crime Watch.

Authorities said any uncoordinated searches of woods near Scotland Run Park and the Glassboro/Clayton Fish and Wildlife Management Area — where law enforcement focused their search — could interfere with police and K-9 unit ground sweeps for Autumn’s scent.

According to sources close to the investigation, a privately-owned hound got a hit on the girl’s scent at a Sunset Avenue small bungalow in Franklin Township behind Gleason’s Place, a bar on Williamstown-Clayton Road.

The Gloucester County Prosecutors Office would not confirm if there were any other K-9 hits in the woods near Scotland Run Park.

Paul Craig was one of several area men who worked with police to comb the woods on four-wheelers, after police asked him and other ATV-riding friends to help.

Monday morning, a half-dozen four-wheeler riders, some volunteers on horseback and two dozen people on foot met on Sykes Road in Williamstown to start searching the forest near the Monroe Township Bike Path, Craig said.

“At this point, I’m just looking for anything suspicious,” Craig said, standing by his four-wheeler behind Gleason’s Place. “I hunt so I know these woods.”

“You try to keep hope as long as you can ... always hope for the best,” he added.

Clayton Mayor Tom Bianco said earlier Monday he was proud of the community’s support in searching for Autumn.

“I can only imagine what her parents and the rest of the family are thinking right now,” Bianco added. “I have kids. I can’t even tell you what I feel now. We’ll get through and find her.”

Reporters Melissa DiPento and Carly Romalino contributed to this report.

Contact the South Jersey Times at 856-845-3300 or at news@southjerseymedia.com