The body of mother-of-two Nicola Bulley has been discovered in a patch of reeds beside a river, just over 1km from where she went missing more than three weeks ago.
Ms Bulley failed to return from walking her dog along a river in the north-west English county of Lancashire in January.
"We were called today at 11.36am to reports of a body in the River Wyre, close to Rawcliffe Road," local police said in a statement on Sunday.
"An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water and have sadly recovered a body."
A day after announcing the body had been found, police confirmed it was Ms Bulley.
Ms Bulley's family released a statement, which said their worst fears had been confirmed.
"We will never be able to comprehend what Nikki had gone through in her last moments, and that will never leave us," the statement said.
"She was the centre of our world. She was the one who made our lives special and nothing will cast a shadow over that."
Just 15 minutes unaccounted for
Ms Bulley was last seen walking her dog along the river on January 27th.
It was a routine of hers and, just like every other day, she had dropped her children off at school, left the car parked and took the dog to exercise in the nearby riverside field.
Ms Bulley joined a work call at 9:01am, camera off and on mute, sent a few messages and crossed paths with another walker who knew her and the dog.
Roughly 15 minutes after she was last seen, just 25 minutes after first joining the work call, another walker found Ms Bulley's phone on a bench next to the river, still on call.
Her dog was untethered and hanging around the bench, but there was no sign of Ms Bulley.
From the outset, it was the theory of the local police that she had fallen into the river, and her disappearance was not suspicious.
This theory did not budge even after a specialist diving team spent days searching the river to no avail.
Ms Bulley's partner, however, told the media he was "100 per cent" certain she had not fallen in the river.
His comments, along with the police's reluctance to publicly consider alternative theories, spurred a social media circus.
Police operation 'hampered' by social media sleuths
As the days went by and police investigations into Ms Bulley's disappearance continued to come up empty, amateur sleuths on social media began to piece together their own theories into her fate.
As time went on without answers, the police's theory of the river increasingly became the subject of online scepticism, and some accused Ms Bulley's partner of wrongdoing.
Many flocked to the area to do their own investigating, which included breaking into the derelict houses and caravans that border the fields.
"In 29 years in the police service, I've never seen anything like it," said Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith, who led the investigation.
"Some of it's been quite shocking and really hurtful to the family."
Police warned they would not tolerate harmful speculation and "online abuse", and eventually ordered a dispersal order on the area.
"There is also a huge amount of commentary from so-called experts and conspiracy theories which are damaging to the investigation and, worst of all, to Nicola's family," Lancashire police said.
Ms Bulley's family had shied away from the media in recent days after the social media obsession with her partner.
Upon finding the body Ms Bulley, police did not name her partner as a person of interest.
"Our girls will get the support from the people who love them the most. It saddens us that we will have to one day explain to them that the press and members of the public had accused their dad of wrongdoing," the family's statement said.
Police are yet to formally announce the cause of death, and said the coroner would take over the investigation.
ABC/ Reuters
