Missing backpacker's body ID'd

DUBROVNIK, Croatia, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A body found earlier this week in Croatia has been identified as missing Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne, officials said Friday.

The body was discovered Monday in the water off the ancient port of Dubrovnik, The Daily Telegraph reported. Ivan Kukrika, a Croatian police official, said that DNA tests definitively identified the body as the missing 21-year-old.

Lapthorne's father, Dale, and her brother, Carren, had traveled to Dubrovnik from Melbourne after she disappeared on Sept. 18. They had been told during the week that the body could not be Britt's because it appeared to have been in the water for some time, only to be told Friday that police were wrong.

Lapthorne was last seen in a nightclub in Dubrovnik.

Kukrika said police were unsure whether Lapthorne was the victim of foul play.