Police say female body found in Medford

A woman's body was found by a volunteer search party looking for a missing woman in Medford, Suffolk police said Thursday night.

The searchers called 911 about the body shortly after 6 p.m., police said in a news conference. The woman was described as a "young female" by Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer, commanding officer of the Suffolk police homicide squad. She was found in a "thickly wooded" area of Medford, Beyrer said, behind a residential neighborhood.

Police did not release the identity of the woman, but they said her body was found within a mile of where the car of the missing woman, Sarah P. Goode, 21, was located.

A positive ID will be made by the medical examiner, police said.

The search party that found the body was composed of 40 to 45 people who are friends and family of Goode, police said.

Goode had failed to return home from a friend's house last week, triggering a major search effort by friends, family and authorities.

She disappeared early Saturday under what detectives call "suspicious" circumstances.

Her car was found two days later in a residential neighborhood next to a large wooded area, at least a mile from where she lives.

Joseph Miller, 18, of East Setauket, said his father was part of the search party who found the body.

"Yesterday I was searching and today I got here right after they discovered the body," he said.

Goode's gray BMW, a 1999 328i model, was found near Fire and Watch Hill avenues.

Goode has a 4-year-old daughter who friends said has been in the care of her family since the disappearance.

Goode, who works in Patchogue as a medical technician, was last seen about 1 a.m. Saturday at a friend's house in Shirley, police said.

The youngest of nine children, she graduated from Longwood High School and then attended business school.

Goode's family could not be reached Thursday night.

With Tania Lopez