Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

Gina Bateman, left, and her sister Carmen Bateman watch as investigators gather at a house on Clayton Avenue in Clayton N.J. on Oct. 23, after the discovery of a girl's body in a home's recycling bin.

Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

Investigators gather at a house on Clayton Avenue in Clayton N.J. on Oct. 23, after the discovery of a girl's body in a home's recycling bin.

Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

An investigators photographs evidence in the back yard of a house in Clayton, N.J. on Oct. 23, after the discovery of a girl's body in a home's recycling bin.

Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

Clayton Mayor Tom Bianco speaks to members of the news media Clayton, N.J. on Oct. 23.

By NBC News staff and wire

A relative confirmed Tuesday that a body found in a Clayton, N.J., recycling container is that of missing 12-year-old girl Autumn Pasquale, The Associated Press reported.

Paul Spadafora, the girl's uncle, thanked the community Tuesday morning for helping search for Autumn, whose body was found in a recycling bin at a Clayton home around 10 p.m. Monday, according to The AP. No arrests have been announced so far and authorities said they don't have any suspects.

Autumn was last seen around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday leaving her Clayton home while riding a white BMX bike to a friend's house. The girl’s parents called police after she never made it to that friend's house. Full story.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports the bike was found late Tuesday morning and brought out from inside the house to the audible gasp of those gathered at the scene.

Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

A teen who declined to be identified is overcome with grief after visiting the crime scene on Clayton Avenue in Clayton, N.J. on Oct. 23.

Thousands of people gathered earlier in the evening on Monday for a tearful candlelight vigil to pray for her safe return.  

Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

Members of the community participate in a candlelight vigil for Autumn Pasquale, on Oct. 22, in Clayton, N.J. About 200 law enforcement officials and hundreds more volunteers searched Monday for a southern New Jersey girl who disappeared over the weekend, raising anxiety in a rural town and pulling residents together.

Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

Anthony Pasquale, second from left, father of Autumn Pasquale, is comforted during a candlelight vigil for the missing girl, Oct. 22, in Clayton, N.J.

Members of the community took part in a candlelight vigil for Autumn Pasquale, a missing New Jersey girl, on Monday in Clayton, N.J., according to the Associated Press. Read the full story.

Joseph Kaczmarek / AP

John Reed hands out missing posters of Autumn Pasquale, 12, on Oct.22, in Clayton, N.J. Authorities say Autumn Pasquale was last seen on her white bicycle on West High Street in Clayton at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 20. Her family reported her missing at 9:30 p.m. Police are still searching for her.

Geoff Mulvihill / AP

Volunteer searchers looking for a missing girl are reflected in the windows of a van with a flier about the disappearance on Oct. 22 in Clayton, N.J. Twelve-year-old Autumn Pasquale was last seen on Oct. 20.

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Members of a mountain rescue team search the River Dyfi as the hunt for missing April Jones continues on Oct. 4 in Machynlleth, Wales.

Rebecca Naden / Reuters

Police forensic officers enter Mark Bridger's house in Esgairgeiliog, Mid Wales on Oct. 4. Police continued to question Bridger about the disappearance of five-year-old April Jones, who went missing from her home town of Machynlleth, on Monday.

Welsh Police via AFP- Getty Images

Missing five-year-old girl April Jones.

The search for a missing five-year-old girl in a rural area of Wales was stepped up on Thursday, three days after she went missing. Jones was last seen getting into a vehicle on Monday near her home in the rural market town of Machynlleth.

Police have arrested 46-year-old Mark Bridger in connection with her disappearance.

Rescuers appealed for volunteers with "good local knowledge" to search 32 villages around the town as it emerged that the missing girl needs regular medication for cerebral palsy.

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Rebecca Naden / Reuters

Volunteer Kirsty Kelly helps to search for missing schoolgirl April Jones, near Aberangell, Mid Wales on Oct. 4.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Jaffan Muslim holds a picture of her daughter Arum, 13, who went missing last August, Muslim and others have set up a camp near the parliament in Islamabad, Pakistan, to demand answers. Picture taken Feb. 23, 2012.

The Associated Press reports from Islamabad — Abdul Hameed last saw his son a year ago, being dragged away from their home by Pakistani intelligence operatives along with an Indonesian al-Qaida suspect who had been staying there. The ailing 59-year-old father now has a simple wish.

"I just want to see the face of my son before I die," said Hameed, who has been bedridden for much of the last year with multiple illnesses. "Just that. I have no enmity with anybody, any agency or any government. If you were in my position, what would you do?"

Kashif, who is a student, is among the ranks of Pakistan's "missing" — people seized by security forces for months or years, never to be brought to trial, their families never informed of their fate. Many of the men are presumed to be suspected Islamist militants, swept up in a post-Sept. 11, 2001, crackdown supported by the United States. Some are alleged to have been killed or tortured in custody.

Pakistan's Supreme Court has now given the families a measure of hope by bringing a landmark case against the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the country's most feared spy network, which is suspected to be behind most of the seizures. The agency, which works closely with the CIA, operates largely outside of the law. Read the full story.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A photograph of Gulzar Jaan Ghullzir Jan, 35, who went missing in 2010, is left on a chair inside a tent near the parliament in Islamabad on Feb. 24, 2012.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Zuhra Pirzada holds a picture of her husband Fadel, who went missing in 2004, near the parliament in Islamabad on Feb. 23, 2012.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Rahat Dar / EPA

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

Launch slideshow

Toshihito Aisawa's father, mother and grandmother are all missing. For days the 9-year-old has been desperately searching for them at evacuation centers in the Japanese city of Ishinomaki, holding up hand written signs pleading for information. On one is written their names, on the other the simple message "I will come again tomorrow."

Kuniaki Nishio / Asahi Shimbun via EPA

Nine-year-old Toshihito Aisawa pictured at an evacuation centre in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan on March 15. He is holding two handwritten signs as he continues his search for his father, mother and grandmother lost in the quake and tsunami of March 11. On one is written their names, on the other "I will come again tomorrow".

Toshihito's father picked him up from school shortly after the earthquake struck last Friday, and the family were driving towards higher ground when the tsunami struck.

Toshihito and his teenage cousin Yuto managed to crawl out of the car's broken window, but they became separated and the younger boy then lost consciousness. When he came to, a man fished him out of the water.

Kuniaki Nishio, a journalist with Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, met Toshihito on Tuesday as he searched for his missing relatives. The boy remained determined that he would find his family. "When the roads clear up, I'm going to check our home," he said.

A family friend, 64-year-old barber Mitsunari Kitahara, who is looking after the boy, said Toshihito had not shown any emotion since losing his family. "I'm sure that it has been tough on him," Mr Kitahara said.

Asahi Shimbun reported that Kitahara repeatedly told the Toshihito to "stop worrying so much" and to "come back home as soon as you can."

"Yes, I'll do as you say. I won't worry about it," Toshihito replied, although the paper said "his face betrayed his show of bravery."

Kuniaki Nishio / Asahi Shimbun via EPA

Nine-year-old Toshihito Aisawa pictured at an evacuation centre in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan on March 15, searching for his missing father, mother and grandmother.

However, as flagged by Newsvine user acidrain, The Australian newspaper, citing Asahi Shimbun, reported some good news Friday: Toshihito has been reunited with his cousin. Another cousin, Yuna, who was also in the car, is still missing.

Read the original story, written before Toshihito found his cousin, at Asahi Shimbun.

Follow the latest developments in Japan and see more images in our slideshow.

Find out how you can help victims of the Japanese quake.

Fellow photo editor Robert Hood was struck by the number of images he started seeing in our photo database of family photos and albums lying among the wreckage in Japan. But none is more poignant than the photo Takashi Noguchi captured hanging from a man's back, as he made himself a walking missing persons notice as he hunts for his missing wife.

Takashi Noguchi / AFP - Getty Images

Kenji Sugawara, with a photo of his missing wife, searches for her through the remains of the devastated city of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture on March 17, following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami the hit Japan's northeast coast. The official number of dead and missing after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that flattened Japan's northeast coast has hit 14,650, police said, a rise of nearly 1,000 in just a few hours.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Personal photos from a photo album sit in the rubble of a house March 17, in Minamisanriku, Japan.

Chris McGrath / Getty Images

Kensennuma, Japan

Chris McGrath / Getty Images

Kensennuma, Japan

Matt Dunham / AP

Kamaishi, Japan

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Minamisanriku, Japan.