The family of a mother-of-two who vanished while walking her dog in Lancashire have described how they are “stuck in a nightmare” in an emotional appeal for her whereabouts.
Police have been searching for Nicola Bulley since she went missing last Friday, on a route she has taken “a thousand times” after dropping her children at school.
Ms Bulley’s younger sister Louise Cunningham and father Ernie Bulley, 76, shared their anguish as they urged anyone with any information to come forward.
“It’s just been so painful,” Mr Bulley said. “We’re such a close-knit family, we talk to each other every day. This has just emptied our lives at the minute, we just feel so empty.”
In an interview with Sky News, Ms Cunningham added: “It just feels like I’m just stuck in a nightmare. We’re going round and round in circles trying to piece together what could have possibly happened ... It’s like she’s just vanished into thin air, there’s no evidence to point us in any direction.”
Ms Bulley’s mobile phone was discovered on a bench by the banks of the River Wyre, still logged on to a work conference call, along with her dog’s lead.
Police were alerted after her springer spaniel Willow was reported to be running loose by a member of the public. But there was no sign of the 45-year-old, who is a mother to two young girls, aged six and nine.
Discussing the impact on her nieces, Ms Cunningham said: “Their little minds are trying to process, they don’t really understand – none of us understand, to be honest. But we’ve just got to try, when there’s children involved you have to carry on, you’ve got to get through every day and that’s all we’re trying to do.”
“They know that mummy’s missing,” her father added. “But they know that she’s going to be coming home and everyone’s looking for her. So it’s only a matter of time, they’re thinking in their minds, that she’s going to walk through that door.”
Asked how much he missed his daughter, Mr Bulley replied: “Oh don’t”, as he became tearful. “It’s hard. We’re such a close-knit family, we’d do anything for any one of us and the children would do the same for us.
“We’re getting on in life and the grandchildren and our own children are more and more important to us as we’re getting older, so I just hope she comes home.”
Lancashire Police are now appealing for two potential witnesses, publishing a CCTV image on Thursday showing a second woman who was spotted on Allotment Lane, near to where Ms Bulley went missing.
“We just need something,” said Ms Cunningham. “We’re nearly a week on tomorrow and we’re just going round in circles. Something’s got to have been missed. Somebody must know something. “People don’t just vanish into thin air.”
Mr Bulley said the route is one his daughter has taken with her “beloved” dog “day in, day out” after dropping her children at school, adding: “It’s just routine, and we’re just baffled by it.”
Police have described the terrain by parts of the riverbank as “treacherous”, especially after the recent rain, as they urged members of the community not to put themselves in danger during the search for Ms Bulley.
In their most recent update, as divers continued to search the river, the force said that there remained “nothing to suggest any third party involvement” in Ms Bulley’s disappearance.
Ms Cunningham urged the public to “keep an open mind” as to what has happened to her sister and not to be “blindsided” by any set narrative, “because there’s no evidence to point any other way”.
