It was definitely misleading, the way the communication was handled. I don't know why they thought it was okay to handle it the way they did. If they wanted her to be positively identified, then all they had to say was that they ML was missing, that they found a body, but that they were waiting to release a name until they had positive i.d.
They even could have postponed the announcement a reasonable time (24 hours?) to allow notification of next-of-kin. But then they needed to tell the public what was up.
People didn't know if she was dead or alive, if she had set fire to her house and run off, if she had been kidnapped, and I don't know how "no search parties at this time, continue to pray for the family, no danger to the public" is supposed to convey anything meaningful to the community.