Police are exploring a number of lines of inquiry to discover what happened to missing mum Nicola Bulley.
Ms Bulley vanished while taking her pet springer spaniel Willow for a walk in the Lancashire village of St Michael's on Wyre after dropping her two daughters off at school on January 27. In the search for any trace of her, police have said there has been an "unprecedented amount of work" with more than 40 detectives looking through hundreds of hours of possible leads.
According to Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson, more than 300 premises have been visited with roughly 1,500 pieces of information being received. Meanwhile, extensive searches have been carried out along the River Wyre and have even been moved as far as the sea.
Senior investigating officer Detective Supt Rebecca Smith said: “As any senior investigating officer does, you form a number of hypotheses, that is scenarios which are possible from the information to hand. Those hypotheses included the one that she possibly could have gone into the river, that there could have been third-party involvement, and lastly, that she could have left the area voluntarily.”
Here's a breakdown of all the main areas of the police's investigation
CCTV
A "substantial amount" of CCTV footage has aided the police in tracking down some of Ms Bulley's movements. Despite this, they are unable to "complete" every step she made as the footage only covers part of the area of the route she took.
Dept Supt Smith said: "The area at the top of the field, Rowanwater, has CCTV that covers the gate that enters the field and the front of the site.
“That is working, the site managers have been cooperating with us and supporting this investigation at every stage. We can say that Nicola has not entered that area or left.”
Footage also revealed that she did not go down Allotment Lane of the path at the rear of the Grapes pub onto Garstang Road. She added: “What I can say – which we’ve established only yesterday – was that if Nicola had left out of the river path and turned right, she has not reached the Grapes pub.”
Dashcam footage
A lack of CCTV footage on the main footpath by the river has led to a police appeal for dashcam footage from motorists and cyclists. Det Supt Smith said: "From the iron bridge to the school there is nothing there, which is why it’s so important for the dash cam.
“Because even though they’re going to be tiny bite-size information, they’re not going to be as good as CCTV – we need to be able to piece together as much of that road as we can.”
Meanwhile, a "substantial" number of the 700 drivers who went through the village on the morning of Ms Bulley's disappearance have been contacted but there has been no sign of her on any footage received so far.
Witnesses
A number of dog walkers have been approached by police who were in the area at the time of Nicola's disappearance and have been identified as "key witnesses". Dept Supt Smith noted that police have "thoroughly" looked into the possibility of Ms Bulley's colleagues who were on a Microsoft Teams call with her knowing what happened, but this is "not the case".
Digital Devices
Officers, alongside digital experts, have carried out an "exhaustive amount of work" on Ms Bulley's phone. Dept Supt Smith said this enabled the force to monitor her movements corroborated with witness accounts.
She added that Ms Bulley's Fitbit device did not provide further information because it wasn't "synced for a number of days". Police also analysed her social media accounts, which the family is aware of.
The River Wyre
Officers continue to search through the river, but it is an "inherently challenging medium" to investigate, according to Mr Lawson. He added: "The reality is there will be a point in which I need to review the extent of proportionality of continuing to deploy significant search resources around the River Wyre.”
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