Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina was reported missing on March 22, a day after he was last seen during a night out amid a layover

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, American Airlines flight attendant who went missing during a layover in Medellin, Colombia

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina.Credit : Alejandro Murcia/X

A body has been found in the search for the American Airlines flight attendant who disappeared in Colombia.

Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez announced the update in the search for 32-year-old Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina in a statement on X on Friday, March 27.

Gutiérrez said there is a “high probability” that the remains are Molina’s, after the man disappeared during a layover in Medellín days earlier.

“There is a very high probability that it is this person,” Gutiérrez wrote, referring to the missing flight attendant. “The body is being transferred to the forensic medicine department in Medellín for identification and recognition.”

The mayor added in his statement, translated from Spanish, that the body was found between the towns of Jericó and Puente Iglesias five days after the search for the Texas resident began. (Molina went missing on Sunday, March 22.)

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, American Airlines flight attendant who went missing during a layover in Medellin, Colombia

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, the flight attendant who went missing in Columbia.Alejandro Murcia/X

Gutiérrez said he shared the “painful news” with Molina’s father, who was in Medellín amid the search.

“We express our solidarity with his family and friends,” Gutiérrez wrote in the statement.

The investigation into the disappearance is “very advanced,” and investigators “have very clear leads on those responsible,” the mayor said.

The National Police of Colombia did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, March 28.

At a press conference on Thursday, March 26, Manuel Villa Mejía, secretary of security of Medellín, said Molina went out with a male and female coworker on March 21, and later headed out with the woman and other unknown people to another establishment, according to NBC affiliate KXAS.

Officials said those individuals, whose names have not been released, have previously used a drug known as scopolamine, or “devil’s breath,” to commit thefts.

Ernesto Carranza, Molina’s longtime partner, and Sharom Gil, Molina’s best friend, told CBS News they had last communicated with Molina on March 21.

“I spoke with him Saturday evening, he was just telling me he had a layover in Colombia and he was going to go out with his friends,” said Gil.

Carranza explained that he grew concerned after he was unable to reach Molina on Sunday morning.

He later learned Molina’s phone pinged at two locations that “were nowhere near” the flight attendant’s hotel. Gil also said Molina’s female colleague said she could not recall parts of the night.

Carranza also said he was “shattered” about his partner’s absence and was having a hard time waking up without knowing the flight attendant’s whereabouts.

“I want to believe that he’s alive, and I want to continue believing that he’s alive, but throughout each day you wake up not knowing anything, and it makes the days go by longer and slower,” Carranza previously told CBS News.

Gil echoed Carranza’s statements, telling the outlet that he’s “missing a part of me” without his best friend, who he described as “the most joyful person to ever to be around.”

“We’re so lost right now,” said Gil.

The U.S. State Department warned Americans to “reconsider travel” to Colombia “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping” in April 2025. The travel advisory remains in effect.