The body, found in the Grand Teton National Park in the state of Wyoming where the search for Gabby Petito was ongoing on Sunday, is "consistent" with Petito's description, according to the FBI.
The FBI indicated that DNA testing has not yet established the identity of the remains and that the investigation is ongoing.
"Earlier today, human remains were discovered consistent with the description of Gabby Petito. Full forensic identification has not been completed to confirm 100% that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified of this discovery," the representative of the agency said on broadcast press briefing.
The agency also stated that the cause of death has not yet been established.
Police in North Port, Florida, expressed regret over the news, promising to continue working to find the answer to what happened to the woman.
Social media users shared markers on the national park map which show the alleged position of Petito's van and the location of the remains. As noted by netizens, a local vlogger filmed a van matching the description of the one in which the couple was traveling, parked on the side of the road near bushes.
After the FBI announcement, the father of the missing woman, Joseph Petito, shared a photo of his daughter, adding a broken heart emoji and the caption: "she touched the world."
Earlier in the day, it was reported that police found the body during an extensive search of the park, particularly in the Moran Vista camping area.
According to local media reports, it is unlikely that Petito could survive in the area alone overnight, due to freezing temperatures and active apex predators.
Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, 23, departed from North Port, Florida, in late June, on a trip across the country. They intended to stop at state and national parks along the way, but their eventual destination was the West Coast. The couple actively shared their impressions of the trip on their social media accounts and on YouTube.
In late August, the couple reached the Grand Teton National Park, and the last message from Petito was received by her family, presumably at the end of the month, which read "No service in Yosemite" which prompted relatives to believe that Petito was not the author of the text. Her boyfriend, Laundrie, returned alone to Florida on September 1, and, according to media reports, behaved as if nothing had happened, and did not report that his girlfriend was missing.
When her family reported Petito's disappearance to the police, Laundrie refused to talk to detectives or tell them where he last saw her. Police, at the time, did not interrogate the man further. The Laundrie family, now that the boyfriend was considered a person of interest in the case, reportedly hired a lawyer and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Several days later, the boyfriend disappeared, presumably driving a Ford Mustang to Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, Florida. His family supposedly only reported him missing several days later.
The search for the man continues, and it is unclear at the moment whether he has done himself physical harm.