Nicola Bulley is still seen walking her dog, shortly afterwards the mother of two children disappeared. The whole of Great Britain is puzzled as to what the disappearance of the 45-year-old is all about. After a week, the police have a first guess.
It’s a case the Lancashire Police Chief has described as “strange and confusing” and is causing a stir in the UK. Nicola Bulley has been swallowed up by the face of the earth for over a week. The disappearance of the 45-year-old in the small town of St. Michael’s on Wyre, around 75 kilometers northwest of Manchester, is a great mystery to family, friends and the police, because the circumstances are mysterious.
Using mobile phone data, videos and witness interviews, the police have drawn up a precise log of the disappearance of the mother of two. On the morning of January 27, she brought her two six- and nine-year-old daughters to school and then went to the Wyre River with the family dog, where she regularly walked him. Around 8:50 a.m. she met a dog walker and the two dogs played together, a few minutes later she sent an email to her boss from her cell phone.
Bulley also logged into Teams for a meeting at 9:01 a.m. and followed the meeting with the camera and microphone switched off. At 9:10 a.m., another witness saw her walking the dog in a field along the river. When the meeting ends at 9:30 a.m., Bulley is the only one left logged in to the conference room, five minutes later her cell phone and dog are found by another dog walker on a bench near the river, who calls the police.
Nicola Bulley’s mobile phone was found on this bank by the River Wyre. Police suspect Bulley fell into the river
© Dann Lawson/DPA
Ten-minute window comes into focus when searching for Nicola Bulley
Based on the mobile phone data and the comparison with the radio network, investigators determined that Bulley must have arrived at the bank at 9:20 a.m. “There is only a 10 minute window when we cannot recap what happened,” said Sally Riley, the Lancashire Police Commissioner who is investigating the case. The entire case is “strange and confusing,” but that doesn’t mean it can’t be solved, Riley said.
After a week of investigations, Riley also presented a hypothesis on Friday for the first time as to what may have happened. “We are currently assuming that this is not a matter of third-party negligence or a crime, but of a tragic accident,” said the police chief. It is currently suspected that Bulley slipped on the river bank and fell into the water. The Telegraph writes that the river is not entirely harmless. Although the water is relatively calm at the point where the accident is suspected, after a turn it is full of sharp and large stones and a weir. At the scene of the accident, the water is around 4.50 meters deep, and according to the responsible authority, the water temperature was five degrees. “It’s a steep drop into the water where the bench is, but the bank isn’t very high,” Riley said.
Dog Willow could provide a solution. According to the reports, she was walking around freely, and her leash and harness were found on the cell phone at the bank. “It’s possible there was some problem with the embankment, Ms. Bulley got up off the bench and walked over there and then fell into the water,” Riley explained. One thing is certain: dog Willow was not in the water. She was not seen by witnesses in the river, nor was the dog’s fur wet when police arrived at the scene of the accident. After checking camera images, there are no indications that Bulley left the bank and walked along another path – even if there are some areas without cameras.
UK: Family doesn’t believe police theory
Meanwhile, Louise Cunningham, Bulley’s sister, warned to keep an eye out. “There is no evidence that she entered the water. This is just a police theory so far,” Cunningham wrote on Facebook. So far, not all the information and camera images have been checked. “Police have confirmed that this case is far from resolved,” Cunningham said. Bulley’s girlfriend, Emma White, also doubts the police’s theory. “This assumption is based on limited information,” White told “Sky News” and was annoyed by the police investigation. “When a human life is at stake, we can’t just work with a hypothesis. You need actual evidence.” As long as there is no evidence, the family and friends still have hope and continue to look for the 45-year-old. White also considers the police theory that a tennis ball that fell into the water the accident to be nonsense “Willow loved balls. But because she was always distracted by the ball on the walks, Nicola hasn’t taken anyone with her in over a year,” she quotes.The Independent“.
Divers, sniffer dogs and drones are used to search for Nicola Bulley
© Peter Byrne / DPA
Paul Ansell, Nicola Bulley’s partner, also made his public debut this week. “We will never lose hope of finding her, but right now it’s like she just vanished into thin air,” said Paul Ansell, Nicola Bulley’s partner, in an interview with “Sky News“In his head he plays through every possible scenario, but every scenario ends in a dead end, it’s like a “nightmare”. But he wants to give away as little thought as possible about what happened. “My whole focus is on our daughters, I have to be strong for her.”
Navy divers, the fire brigade and volunteers are now also involved in the search for Nicola Bulley, but after a week without any results, the work of the police has also come under criticism. “We’re no further than the day she disappeared,” Louise Cunningham said on Friday. A criticism Sally Riley dismissed. “We used drones, underwater drones and helicopters, cops went door to door, we interviewed key witnesses who helped us create the timeline,” Riley said. Even the Coast Guard is on duty, the Wyre flows 16 kilometers upstream into the Irish Sea. The emergency services do not want to give up the search. “This remains a missing person case and we will do everything we can to find Nicola and provide her family and community with the answers they so desperately need.”
Sources: Evening Standard, Telegraph (1), Telegraph (2), Guardians, TheTimes