Authorities in Texas believe they have found the body of Leanne Hecht Bearden, a 33-year-old who traveled all over the world only to go missing soon after returning to the United States.
Bearden had last been seen January 17, heading for what was supposed to be a one-hour walk from her in-laws' house in Garden Ridge, Texas. When she didn't come back, her family joined authorities in conducting an extensive search and a public outreach blitz urging people to be on the lookout.
Police got their first indication the hunt might be over in a phone call from a man around 12:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m. ET) saying there was a body "in a wooded area near his home in Garden Ridge," city police Chief Donna O'Conner said.
O'Conner said responding officers "located what we believe to be the body of Leanne Bearden."
"We will reserve any information regarding the cause of death until an autopsy has been performed," the chief said. "Our thoughts are with the Bearden and Hecht families and (we) ask that you respect them in their time of grief."
Bearden and her husband, Josh Bearden, had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, gone swimming in the Dead Sea and attended an Indian wedding, among many, many adventures. Leanne Bearden documented their epic 22-month trek in a blog.
Then, in December, the couple returned to the United States, spending a short time in Georgia before heading to visit Josh's family in Garden Ridge, just northeast of San Antonio, according to her brother Michael Hecht.
Coming back to her native country wasn't necessarily easy, her family suggested.
"The pressure of transitioning from her two-year trip back into what we consider 'normal' life seems to have left her very anxious and stressed," they said.
After she went missing, relatives and friends worked intently to spread the word as the search for her -- on the ground and from the air, using helicopters -- expanded. One such search, on one day in January, covered 23 acres.
Garden Ridge police noted their serious concern about Bearden that month, while adding "there is no indication at this time that (her disappearance) is criminal in nature."
Her family, meanwhile, acknowledged on a Facebook page devoted to finding the young woman that "there is evidence that Leanne may have voluntarily left the area."