Police are still searching for missing dog walker Nicola Bulley, who disappeared almost three weeks ago after dropping her daughters off at school.
Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen on Friday 27 January at around 9.20am while walking her dog alongside the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire. Friends and family of the mother-of-two have said they will never give up hope of finding her.
Ms Bulley’s phone was found, apparently still connected to a Microsoft Teams work call, on a park bench nearby, along with the harness and lead for her dog, Willow, a springer spaniel.
Around 30 minutes before her phone was discovered, the mortgage advisor had sent an email to her boss, followed shortly by a text to a friend to arrange a playdate. She sent the text at 8.57am shortly before logging into the Teams call, locals at a village meeting were told.
Below we take a look at her last known movements as the search continues.
Timeline of Nicola Bulley’s last known movements
8.43am – Nicola walked along the path by the River Wyre, having dropped her children off at school
8:50am (approximately) - A dog-walker – somebody who knows Nicola – saw her walking around the lower field with her dog. Their two dogs interacted briefly before the witness left the field via the river path
8.53am – She sent an email to her boss
9.01am – She logged into a Teams call
9.10am (approximately) – A witness – somebody who knows Nicola – saw her on the upper field walking Willow. Work is ongoing to establish exactly what time this was.
9.30am – The Teams call ended but Nicola stayed logged on
9.35am (approximately) – Nicola’s mobile phone and Willow were found at a bench by the river by another dog-walker.
What is the latest news from the search?
Lancashire Constabulary has said they are still searching the River Wyre, but have so far come up empty despite underwater divers joining the search in week two.
Elsewhere, one of Ms Bulley’s friends revealed that she was carrying her car keys when she disappeared, rubbishing internet theories about her keys being left in the ignition.
According to friend Heather Gibbons, Ms Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell has asked Mercedes to track her car keys.
“Paul has been clear about Nikki’s keys being missing from the get go,” Ms Gibbons she said inThe Sun. “In the local searches he specifically asked people to keep their eyes open for them and even organised for people to go out with metal detectors. One of the first things he did was to contact Mercedes to see if they could be tracked.”
Mick Neville, a former Scotland Yard veteran, said he thinks Ms Bulley could have fallen into the river.
“Every picture I see of that river bank shows the edge is a sheer drop. So the lack of foot slip marks or any disturbed ground doesn’t stop me thinking she has fallen in. I think it is most likely she is in that river,” he told Mail Online.
However, he said it was strange that diving experts were searching a specific area.
“She has been missing for over 14 days now – she could be four miles away,” he said. “They must do everything they can to stop a body getting to the sea where it will be lost.”
Despite insisting the case remains a missing person’s investigation, the authorities have said they are keeping an open mind and have also expressed interest in a red van spotted in the area.
However, Lancashire Police has since said there is “nothing to suggest” the red van is suspicious.
Meanwhile, another witness has reportedly told police they saw two suspicious “hooded” men hanging around the village the day before the disappearance carrying fishing rods and “trying to hide their faces”.
“It was very strange. It made me uneasy,” the witness told The Sun.
How far could she have got in the 10-minute mystery window?
Lancashire Police have a 10-minute window in which they cannot account for Ms Bulley’s movements.
Substantial CCTV in the surrounding areas has ruled out that Ms Bulley left the park via the majority of the gates. The path leading to Garstang Lane, however, has proven to be a black spot.
From the last place she was sighted at approximately 9.10am, and where her phone was seen at 9.20am, there is a baffling 10-minute window where Ms Bulley could have walked or driven to the surrounding areas.
Ms Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell, 44, has said he is in “perpetual hell” as the search goes on.
We have mapped out the rough radius where the 45-year-old could have walked and driven to in those 10-minutes.
This map shows an estimated radius Ms Bulley could have walked to within 10 minutes:
This map shows the rough distance Ms Bulley could have gone in a car in the unexplained 10 minutes:
What have her family and friends said?
Ms Bulley’s neighbour, Charlotte Drake, has said it feels like “time has stood still” while the search for her friend continues.
Speaking to Sky News, she said: “She’s the mum you would want to be, she’d do everything for those girls and nothing is ever too much trouble.
“She’s one of us and that’s why it’s hit so many of us around here, all the mums.
“We’ve all done this walk and it feels like it could have been any one of us.”
Ms Bulley’s parents, Ernest and Dot Bulley, have also spoken of their “dread” at the thought of never seeing her again and of hearing their grandchildren “sobbing” after being told “mummy is lost
The couple’s two young children believe it is “only a matter of time” until she comes home, their grandfather said.
And in an emotional interview with Sky News, Louise Cunningham, Ms Bulley’s sister, said she felt as though she was “stuck in a nightmare.”
“We’re going round and round in circles trying to piece together what could have possibly happened,” she said.
“It’s like she’s just vanished into thin air. We just want her home, we need her home, her children need her home. It’s absolutely heartbreaking."
Ernest Bulley spoke of the “pain” his “close-knit” family was feeling over the disappearance.
The case meanwhile continues to cause unease in the local community – where yellow ribbons have begun to appear expressing hope that Ms Bulley will be found – and attract fascination online, with amateur detectives following its every turn, eager to help.
