Nicola Bulley’s disappearance has left private experts, investigators, and retired police officers scratching their brains and wondering, “What happened to the mother of two?”
Since her disappearance from the village of St. Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire on January 27, there have been opposing theories.
Others assume she was stolen and brought to an unknown destination, while police believe she fell into the River Wyre and drowned.
And 12 days later, the desperate search for clues continues with an abundance of unanswered questions.
What then do we know?
On January 27 around 9:10 a.m., the 45-year-old was last seen with her springer spaniel Willow.
A dog-walker who frequently encountered Nicola reported to police that she seen her in the ‘upper field’, near the wooden fence that borders the Rowanwater holiday park.
At approximately 9:20 a.m., her cell phone is discovered on a nearby bench, along with the dog’s harness.
A passerby raises the alarm and ties Willow to a bench while they call for assistance.
When the police arrive to the location, they find no trace of Nicola, but Willow the dog is agitated and unhappy but ‘bone dry.’
The drowning hypothesis
Lancashire Police claim that during the 10-minute interval between Nicola’s last sighting and the discovery of her phone, she approached the river, fell in, and perished before her body floated downriver into the sea.
In recent days, it has been reported that her black puffer jacket may have dragged her down and that she may have been collecting a tennis ball for her dog at the time of the sad tragedy.
Superintendent of Police Sally Riley saw that woman was wearing an additional garment underneath her puffer and ‘ankle-length wellingtons’ that may have absorbed water. She stated that all of that clothes would have been burdensome after entering the water, ‘especially for someone with a tiny physique and a height of barely five feet and three inches.’
Similarly, outdoor swimming specialist Camilla Golledge told MailOnline that a person’s ability to swim to safety could be hindered by the shock of the cold water.
The teacher from Kent stated, “People are currently experiencing cold water shock since the water is so chilly… Consequently, your natural instinct is to take a large breath of air, which will flood your lungs with water.
‘Everyone would encounter that, unless they are expert outside swimmers.
It has little to do with clothing. They are surely useless.
She stated that Ms. Bulley may not have been able to call for help due to the weight of her clothing and wellies.
Ms. Golledge stated, “The majority of people suffering from cold water shock or drowning in open water did not intend to be there.”
“You must train your breathing and enter the water slowly, rather than falling or jumping in.”
Even though I am an experienced open-water swimmer, I must train my breathing and enter the water gently. My body is shocked by that abnormal inhalation.
There were no reports of anyone in trouble, no shouting or splashing, and no footprints were seen on the bank, according to Superintendent Riley.
Nicola has not yet been located in the section of the river closest to the bench, but police are now concentrating their efforts in the lower estuary and towards the river’s mouth at the Irish Sea.
In spite of the police’s emphasis on the drowning scenario, an increasing number of friends and professionals are throwing doubt on the theory.
Peter Faulding, leader of underwater search experts Specialist Group International (SGI), was among those tasked with searching a part of the river for Nicola.
Mr. Faulding appeared to be at odds with the police from the beginning, since he continually suggested that a “third party” was involved in the disappearance.
The idea was reinforced by friends who pointed out that Nicola was a great swimmer and that Willow was discovered bone dry, claiming that if Nicola had fallen in, surely Willow would have jumped in after her.
They also stated that Nicola no longer brought Willow’s tennis ball on walks with her.
Mr. Faulding further asserted that if Nicola’s body was in the river, it would have been located in the section of water closest to where the phone and harness were found.
This region was examined by police divers on the day Nicola disappeared, but Mr. Faulding re-searched it with a high-tech sonar camera over the course of three days this week.
Today, though, he established with certainty that Nicola was NOT in the water.
He stated, “We are pleased to report that the area where Nicola’s phone and harness were discovered has been thoroughly searched from the weir to the bridge, about a mile upstream, and we have confirmed to Paul [her partner] that there is nothing in that area.”
Additionally, this has been dived by police dive teams three times… On the day Nicola went missing, it was dived in the afternoon, but there was no trace of her.’
He continued, ‘I’ve worked on some strange situations, but this is the most peculiar. For whoever’s mobile phone was discovered there… I would have anticipated the police dive team to find Nicola in the sea that afternoon, but there was no sign of her.’
He stated that he just ‘didn’t know’ where Nicola was, adding, ‘I was determined to find Nicola, but I didn’t want to find a dead, so I’m glad we haven’t found Nicola’s body, which can lead to other regions, so we don’t know if Nicola is still alive; this is a puzzling case.
“By the end of the day, we’ll have accomplished our mission, we’ll have cleared the area for the police and the family, and we’ll be able to confirm that she is not in the upper section of the river and a portion of the section leading down to the sea.”
His team was not checking the region “further down the estuary,” thus he was unable to remark.
“We just want to bring closure,” he continued. “I’m glad we never found a body, and Paul is relieved we didn’t find anything up there.”
The SGI crew will not assist Lancashire Police in their search of the “lower estuary” of the River Wyre, as they are departing today. However, the force informed MailOnline that their search is “ongoing” and that no end date has been set.
They have extended their search 10 miles in the direction of Fleetwood and the Irish Sea in the belief that her body has been carried away from the place of entry in St. Michael’s on the Wyre.
Mr. Faulding questions the police’s claim that the body could have traveled thus far to the Irish Sea.
On the basis of his two decades of experience in locating drowning victims, he believed that her body would have remained at the bottom of the river for several days, during which time the police would have located her.
While they are still sticking with the drowning idea, police admitted last night that Nicola could have fled the area with a third party when she disappeared.
She may have been abducted.
Superintendent Sally Riley of the Lancashire Police stated last night that it remained ‘possible’ that the 45-year-old departed the area via a way not covered by CCTV cameras, but that ‘every single’ suspicion or criminal suggestion had been ruled out at this time.
The area in question is traversed by the village’s main road, and authorities are frantically searching dashcam footage from 700 motorists who went along the route around the time she vanished.
The police are convinced that Nicola did not exit the field near the river via Rowanwater after studying more CCTV footage.
According to Google’s satellite imagery, there are only two ways out of the field: one leads behind a caravan park, while the other exits near the parish church.
Any potential abduction would have had only 10 minutes to subdue Nicola and remove her from an open field without being observed.
They were also extremely fortunate to have selected the sole route not monitored by CCTV cameras, or at least to have been aware that none were present in the region at issue.
It follows an allegation by Nicola’s companion that a camera that would have “seen everything” was not operational on the day she vanished, fueling rumors that it had been tampered with by a would-be assailant.
The precise location of the defective camera has yet to be determined.
Mr. Faulding had stated that if his team’s sonar technology failed to locate Nicola in the water, he believed she had not been in the river, raising the possibility that a “third party” was involved in her disappearance.
During a flurry of television interviews, he speculated that the phone left on the bench may have been a ‘decoy’ intended to deceive incoming investigators.
Who may want to kidnap Nicola?
But according to all accounts, Nicola has no enemies or anybody who would wish her harm.
Mr. Faulding stated last week that he updated Nicola’s ‘devastated’ partner Paul on the search by speaking with him.
He stated, “I spoke with Paul last night and asked him whether she had any enemies or stalkers, along with other typical inquiries. Nothing else, he said no. And she was quite average on the day she left, nothing out of the ordinary.’
He told LBC, ‘It was a completely regular day, she didn’t take anything with her, and she just vanished like if she were abducted by aliens.
Detectives are working around the clock to piece together the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that no one – no one – knows where Nicola is.
“The river must be combed, the police can’t ignore the river, but in the background there’s a great deal of other good work being done.” This is only a small portion of a massive police operation.
Even though harsh trolls indicated that Paul may have been involved, he was instantly cleared by the authorities.
CCTV footage and other evidence immediately revealed that he had been working from home on the day Nicola disappeared.
»Competing explanations for Nicola Bulley’s disappearance are described«