Mother-of-two Nicola Bulley remains missing a week after she disappeared while out walking her springer spaniel Willow.
The 45-year-old mortgage adviser had just dropped off her daughters, aged six and nine, at primary school before setting out east along a towpath by the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, on 27 January.
She was seen by at least one fellow dog walker moments prior to vanishing.
Last spotted at approximately 9.15am, Ms Bulley has been described by Lancashire Police as a 5 ft 3in white woman with light brown shoulder-length hair wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood, black jeans and olive green ankle wellington boots.
Her hair was in a ponytail at the time of her disappearance.
A lead and harness belonging to the dog and a mobile phone belonging to Ms Bulley were found on a bench along the towpath approximately 20 minutes later.
Her phone was still connected to a Microsoft Teams conference call she had joined at 9.01am that morning with her employer, Exclusively Mortgages.
The call was muted and she did not have her camera on, company director Ben Pociecha has since told The Daily Telegraph.
Willows was also found shortly after, having been recognised by a member of the public, and reportedly appeared distressed.
Emergency crews including Lancashire Fire and Rescue, Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue team and the North West Underwater Search Team have all joined the hunt for Ms Bulley while a police appeal to track down a second possible witness in the area ended in disappointment when the person concerned said they had not seen her.
The map below charts Ms Bulley’s last known movements.
According to superintendent Sally Riley of Lancashire Police, there is so far no evidence to suggest the missing woman was attacked.
“This remains a missing person inquiry and at this time there is nothing to suggest any third-party involvement in Nicola’s disappearance,” she said.
“I appreciate that there are unanswered questions about what has happened to Nicola, but I would urge people not to speculate or spread false rumours. We will share updates when we can, but we must be factual.”
Paul Ansell, 44, Ms Bulley’s partner of 12 years with whom she lives in Inskip, commented in a statement: “It is just perpetual hell. It is just utter disbelief.
“We are living through this but it doesn’t feel real. All we can say is we need to find her. She’s got two little girls that need their mummy home.
“We have got to get some good news now.”
Speaking to broadcasters on Friday morning, he added: “We're never going to lose hope, but right now it’s as though she vanished into thin air, it’s just insane.
“I can’t believe we're a week on and of yet it seems we're no further on, it seems absolutely impossible.
“It’s like a dream, I can’t get my head around it.”
Offering an update on the case on Friday afternoon, Superintendent Riley told a press conference: “We believe that Nicola was in the riverside area and remained at the riverside area. We remain open to any inquiries that might lead us to question that, but at this time we understand that she was by the river.
“Our main working hypothesis therefore is that Nicola has sadly fallen into the river, that there is no third party or criminal involvement and that this is not suspicious, but a tragic case of a missing person.”
