Missing Nicola Bulley: 10 key mysteries in search for dog walker ...

A dog walker has been missing since Friday morning as mystery shrouds where she could be.

Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen walking her brown cocker spaniel Willow at about 9.20am after dropping her two young daughters off at school in the village of St Michael's in Lancashire

The alarm was raised at about 10am when a member of the public recognised Willow alone and without her harness.

Nicola has not been seen or heard from since as family, friends and the close-knit community grow increasingly concerned about her whereabouts.

The mortgage adviser's disappearance has gripped large parts of the country as specialist officers along with volunteer groups launched a massive search to find her.

We've looked at some of the key mysteries surrounding Nicola's disappearance.

Has she been taken?

Nicola's parents told the Mirror they think her disappearance is totally out of character.

Dad Ernest, 73, said she had no health problems and the last time he spoke with her she was in good spirits.

Recalling their last conversation, he said: "Her mind was great, we picked the children up the Thursday before she went missing, as we do every Thursday."

"We took them home, Nicola had had a meeting with her boss in Garstang and she said can you stay a bit later because I have an important client coming in on Zoom. We said 'no problem' and stayed.

He added: "I gave her a kiss and told her I loved her and that was the last conversation I had with her."

Lancashire Police are keeping an 'open mind' but said they do not believe Nicola has been attacked.

Ernest said: "I think the police thought initially when they saw the phone on the bench and the dog wasn't tethered that she may have gone into the river and that was their main line of search.

"There was no sign of a slip or falling in so our thought was 'has somebody got her'?

"I asked the Sergeant from Fleetwood a few days ago, 'is there any chance of her being taken' and she said 'I don't think that's the case'.

"I said 'how can you know that?', it's such an isolated area, the only way that has happened is if it was someone who knew her."

Why are there no clues from river?

Since Friday, impressive search teams have been seen combing the River Wyre.

Specialist officers in boats have gone up and down the water, divers have gone below the surface to look at the river bed and teams have walked the riverbanks.

However, there hasn't been any update on if something was found along the river.

Where Nicola disappeared is a well-known walking route among dog walkers and she has shared online previous occasions she's been there with her dog.

A neighbour yesterday told the Mirror that the riverbank can be "very slippy".

Ernest told the Mirror: "There was no sign of a slip or falling in so our thought was 'has somebody got her'?

"I asked the Sergeant from Fleetwood a few days ago, 'is there any chance of her being taken' and she said 'I don't think that's the case'.

"I said 'how can you know that?', it's such an isolated area, the only way that has happened is if it was someone who knew her."

In a statement from police yesterday, Superintendent Sally Riley said: “We appreciate there is also a great deal of concern in the local community, and we appreciate people want to help.

"However, parts of the riverbank are treacherous, and we would ask that nobody puts themselves in danger and that the police and partner agencies’ efforts to find Nicola are not compromised."

And in 2000, two-year-old Reece Maybury's body was found half a mile downstream after drowning in nearby Singelton.

Family say she was making plans for future

Another reason Nicola's family say her disappearance is entirely unlike her is that she had been making plans.

Her father Ernest said the last time he spoke with her she "was very upbeat about getting her mortgage sorted".

Nicola had also been making plans to go to the spa with her younger sister Louise.

Louise, who has been out every day searching for Nicola, was looking excitedly making plans the night before her sister vanished.

Their mum Dot, 72, told the Mirror: "Louise had just booked Ribby Hall because they both had spa vouchers, she had just sent Nicola the night before the treatments.

"Louise booked it on Friday morning and sent it to Nicola but she never got back to her. They are very close."

Nicola who "lived for her children" had also bought tickets to watch them perform at choir and gymnastics shows in recent weeks.

When did dog run away?

Nicola was first reported missing when a member of the public recognised Willow alone.

The dog didn't have its harness on and it was found on a nearby bench along with Nicola's phone.

Willow appeared to have stayed close to where Nicola was last seen instead of running away.

What happened on her last phone call?

At the time of Nicola's disappearance, she was on a work call.

Superintendent Sally Riley told the Mirror police had found Nicola’s phone still ‘active’ on the bench and began searching for her immediately.

Supt Riley said: “It was on a meeting call, and that was still live it was connected to the conference call and that hadn’t been terminated.”

She was on a work call at the time she disappeared, but she appeared to have her camera off and was muted at the time.

Ben Pociecha, the director of Exclusively Mortgages, told The Daily Telegraph that she had logged onto a team meeting at 9.01am on Friday.

“It seems as if she was muted and didn’t have her camera on. She was listening in whilst walking her dog,” he said.

“There were numerous parties involved in this. A lot of people attended the call. The police are investigating the call.”

Parents say no signs of unhappiness

Many have come out to say Nicola's disappearance is unlike her because she would never leave her kids.

A neighbour insisted doting mum Nicola would never choose to leave her daughters and partner Paul Ansell, 44.

She told the Mirror: "The family is extremely close-knit, they are very loving and they will be in absolute pieces, it's a mystery they just have no idea where she is, we went out on the search on Sunday and she has taken the dog there loads of times but the banks of the river can be very slippy.

"You just don't know do you but I do know that she would have never ever left those children voluntarily. The whole family is doting.

"I would imagine Nicola was a doting mum. They are the loveliest people you could ever wish to meet.

"I think everyone is devastated because she seemed the kind of girl who didn't have a bad bone in her body, she was extremely pleasant and homely, she lived for her daughters and Paul.

"That family will be heartbroken. Every week they go to Nicola's and pick their grandchildren up and come back here.

"I can't imagine what they are going through and they just have no idea where she could be. It has made us quite upset.

"I can't tell you why anything would happen to her because she had a nice family and a nice job and she was a lovely person."

'Laughing and joking' in last sighting

The worried friend of a missing mum says she was "laughing and joking" just minutes before she vanished while walking her dog.

Nicola Bulley's springer spaniel Willow was found off her harness and lead on a path along the River Wyre in St Michael's-on-Wyre last Friday morning.

It's understood the 45-year-old's mobile phone was found on the ground next to a bench overlooking the water, which has an estimated 18ft underwater drop.

The friend, who wishes to stay anonymous, told the Mirror she has spoken to a pair who believe they were the last people to see Nicola before she went missing.

She said: "They say she was laughing and joking with them as she went by."

Nicola was last seen at about 9.20am on January 27th on a footpath by the River Wyre in the village of St Michael's in Lancashire by a man walking his labrador, it has been reported.

The man's wife said she would regularly see Nicola as she and her husband would walk their dogs on the same stretch of river.

Yesterday, Lancashire Police said they were speaking to the man they believe was one of the last people to see Nicola.

His wife, 57, told The Times how he told her that there was "nothing unusual" about Nicola when he saw her.

The software engineer, who didn't want to be named said: "In the field, there were about three people, including my husband. He said there was nothing unusual about her and she seemed completely normal.

“I’d often see her and say hello. I always thought she looked very nicely dressed, in her bobble hat and smart Wellington boots. It’s just horrible to know she’s missing.”

What clue led search crew to country house?

Yesterday, Kev Camplin, of Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue, told the Mirror a country house has been searched.

He led a team of 25 trained volunteers on the day Nicola went missing.

He said they scoured a long stretch of the river, including wooded areas, water margins and the grounds of a large unoccupied country house.

He told the Mirror about a house "opposite the bench on the other side of the river, over a 10ft garden wall."

Mr Camplin said: "We didn’t go into the house, as a volunteer search and rescue team we don’t actually go into buildings. We might go into a barn or something. We leave that to the police.

"While the team was searching the grounds, the owner was there for some reason, and we asked him to go in and he had a quick look around and she wasn’t there."

The team made use of equipment including a pickup truck that tows a trailer carrying floatation devices

No report of suspicious people

Lancashire Police have stressed from the beginning that they are not looking for anyone else regarding Nicola's disappearance.

Supt Sally Riley said: “We remain extremely concerned for Nicola and we continue to do everything we can to try and find her and to provide some answers for her family who are obviously beside themselves with worry.

"I must stress at this time that this remains a missing person inquiry and at this time there is nothing to suggest any third-party involvement in Nicola’s disappearance."

However, Nicola's disappearance has left some locals worried.

Villager Nicola Dewey told The Times she'd skipped her usual river walk two days in a row.

She said: "It's really stunned people. It's silly, but we are now locking our doors."

Where is the new evidence?

What has also been baffling about Nicola's disappearance is the lack of new evidence.

A search of the area has involved police specialist resources, working alongside colleagues from the Coastguard and Bowland Mountain Rescue.

They've combed the riverbanks, under the water's surface and surrounding areas.

Apart from initial clues of Nicola's work call and her dog being found close to where she was last seen, there hasn't been any other major update.

Anybody who has seen Nicola, or has information about where she might be, is asked to call 101, quoting log 565 of January 30th. For immediate sightings please call 999.

Read More Read More Read More Read More Read More