A body has been found amid a search for a Texas teenager who was last seen on Christmas Eve, authorities said Tuesday.

Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, was last seen Wednesday morning, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s office.

SEE ALSO: Texas 19-year-old mysteriously vanishes on Christmas Eve. Family in SoCal seeks answers

At around 4:40 p.m. local time, authorities found a body while searching a field approximately 100 yards from Mendoza Olmos’ home, in northwest Bexar County, said Sheriff Javier Salazar.

The area where the body was found had been previously searched, Salazar said during a press briefing Tuesday.

“Due to tall grass, we felt that there would be a benefit to checking the area once again,” said Salazar.

About ten minutes into the search, authorities with the sheriff’s office and FBI found the body.

Salazar said that “it’s too early to tell if the body that we found is that of Camila but at this point we don’t suspect foul play.”

The Medical Examiner’s office will determine the body’s identity and cause of death, he said.

The body was found in clothing similar to a description of what Mendoza Olmos may have been wearing when she went missing, Salazar said.

“This is certainly not the outcome we were hoping for,” he said.

Salazar noted there were some indicators of self-harm.

A firearm was located at the scene where the body was found, Salazar said. A firearm belonging to a relative of Mendoza Olmos’ has been missing, he said. Authorities have not yet determined if the missing firearm is a match for the one observed at the scene, he said.

Salazar said one possibility investigators were working under regarding the teen’s disappearance was the “fear of self-harm,” and that there were some “indicators of suicidal ideation” and undiagnosed signs of depression.

“From what’s being described to us, it sounds like it was a young person going through a very tough time in their life,” he said.

Mendoza Olmos grew up in Southern California and still has close family ties.

“It’s been very heartbreaking,” Priscilla Flores, Mendoza Olmos’ cousin, told Eyewitness News Monday. “It’s just unbelievable, everything that’s going on, especially this time of year.”

The worried family that’s hundreds of miles away from Texas is desperate for answers. Mendoza Olmos was born in Ontario and went to elementary school there.

“(It’s) very overwhelming for everyone. All these scenarios running through our heads… none of us really know what happened,” family member Jaclyn Flores said. “We just know this is not her. It’s not like her.”

Dashboard camera video released this week may show Mendoza Olmos right when she went missing. Investigators believe footage shows the college student walking near her home the morning she disappeared.

Mendoza Olmos was seen on surveillance video rummaging through her car Christmas Eve morning, then walking out of sight.

Her family said she left without her phone.

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK], or text TALK to 741-741 for free confidential emotional support 24 hours a day 7 days a week.


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