Everything we know about the search for Nicola Bulley

Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen on the morning of January 27 walking her dog on a footpath by the River Wyre.

Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen on the morning of January 27 walking her dog on a footpath by the River Wyre.

The search for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley in Lancashire has entered its thirteenth day and the questions are mounting.

Police believe the mortgage adviser tragically fell into the water while walking her dog by the River Wyre.

But family and friends have questioned the theory, and diving experts have been recruited to get to the bottom of the mystery.

What do we know?

Nicola, 45, from Inskip, Lancashire, went missing from St Michael’s on Wyre on January 27 after taking her daughters, aged six and nine, to school

Lancashire Police say they were walking their spaniel, Willow, along the path by the River Wyre, towards a gate and bench in the lower field.

Nicola emailed her boss followed by a message to her friends before logging into a Microsoft Teams call.

Her phone was back in the bank’s area before the team call ended ten minutes later, though her cell phone stayed connected after the call.

Another dog walker found her phone on a bench by the river while Willow darted back and forth between the two.

According to police, she was wearing a black coat by Engelbert Strauss, black jeans and long green hiking socks tucked into her pants under ankle-length green rubber boots.

Her hair was tied in a ponytail and she wore a pale blue Fitbit.

Nicola Bulley’s last known moves.

Nicola Bulley’s last known moves.

What is the Police Theory?

Lancashire Police said they were working on the hypothesis Nicola may have fallen into the River Wyre.

Superintendent Sally Riley pushed speculation but said it was “possible” that a “problem” with Nicola’s dog could have led her to the water’s edge.

The force have worked with the Coastguard, Lancashire Fire and Rescue and underwater experts to search the river and riverbank using sonar, stick cameras and underwater drones.

Police say they will also search an area upstream where the River Wyre meets the sea at Morecambe Bay.

Police have described the search for Nicola as “unprecedented”, with a team of 40 detectives investigating 500 different lines of investigation and police obtaining “thousands” of pieces of information.

Lancashire Police Superintendent Sally Riley speaks to the media in the village hall of St Michael’s on Wyre.

Lancashire Police Superintendent Sally Riley speaks to the media in the village hall of St Michael’s on Wyre.

What did the family say?

Family and friends have questioned the police theory that she fell into a river.

In a Facebook post, her sister Louise Cunningham urged people to “keep an open mind” as there was “absolutely no evidence” to support this hypothesis.

A family friend, Heather Gibbons, said “nothing makes sense” and the speculation about the disappearance, which has been rife on social media, is “hard” for the family to take.

She said her disappearance has resulted in members of the public arriving from far and wide, some bringing children and taking selfies, making the area feel like a “tourist spot”.

Nicola’s two daughters miss their mother “desperately” and “need her back,” her partner Paul Ansell said in a statement last week.

What do the diving experts say?

Peter Faulding, head of the Underwater Search Specialists Group International (SGI), searched the river for two days after being called for help by the family.

Faulding, who is sometimes deployed by police, has said if his team can’t find Nicola in the river then she isn’t there and he wouldn’t rule out “third party involvement” in her disappearance.

He has suggested the phone left on a bench overlooking the river could be “bait”.

Workers from the private underwater search and salvage company Specialist Group International on the river at St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.

Workers from the private underwater search and salvage company Specialist Group International on the river at St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.

Faulding said he had never seen such an “unusual” case in his 20-year search experience and was “baffled” by what happened.

He said: “If Nicola isn’t in that stretch of river then I think there could be third party involvement and that (phone) was a bait that was placed on the river.”

What else fuels speculation?

Questions have also been raised about gaps in video surveillance of the area from which she disappeared.

A camera near where Nicola disappeared was not working at the time of her disappearance, and police say there is still a “possibility” that she left the area via a route not covered by cameras and is crossed by the main road through the village.

Officers are trying to track down dashcam footage of 700 drivers driving down the street at the time of her disappearance.

Police admit there is a ten-minute window during which they cannot explain Nicola’s movements: between 9.10am, the last confirmed sighting, and 9.20am, when Nicola’s phone is believed to have been on the bench.

Police: Not a victim of crime

However, police have dismissed suggestions that Nicola could have been a victim of a crime.

Superintendent Riley said “every single” potential suspicion or criminal suggestion that was received was reviewed and discounted by detectives.

She said: “I want to reassure the community that nothing in this investigation has been checked to date as to whether it indicates a crime, it has been checked and discounted.

“So every single potential third-party line of investigation and every potentially suspicious or criminal element was checked and ruled out.

“We continue to believe that unfortunately Nicola fell into the river and that this is a missing persons inquiry.”

The National Crime Agency has also looked at the Lancashire Police investigation and has not identified any other suspicious line of inquiry, she said.

Riley told reporters at a news conference in the village that Faulding was not included in “all of the investigative details.”

She said: “Our search didn’t find Nicola in the river and then a repeat search of parts of SGI found the same thing.

“It doesn’t mean… Nicola wasn’t in the flow.”

Source