The dog of missing mum Nicola Bulley was discovered "bone dry" next to the river where she disappeared, according to a local. The 45-year-old had been walking her springer spaniel, Willow, in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on the morning of Friday, January 27, before she mysteriously vanished.
Nicola had dropped her two young daughters at school at about 8.45am before taking her dog on her usual walk along a nearby town path by the River Wyre, the Mirror reports. The mum-of-two was last sighted at around 9.15am by fellow walkers who said she was "laughing and joking" on her stroll.
Nicola has not been seen since and the alarm was raised after another dog walker discovered Willow wandering around alone nearby. The missing mum's phone and Willow's lead were found discarded on a bench near the water, and Nicola's partner Paul was contacted and raced to the scene before 999 was dialled.
Officers have no reason to believe at present that Nicola was attacked but insist they were remaining "open minded" throughout the investigation. Her desperate parents asked the police if there was a chance she was "taken", as there are no signs of their daughter slipping or falling in.
A major police search was launched and hundreds of locals residents have been seen desperately looking for the mother who has two young kids. A villager said: “It’s such an isolated area, the only way that has happened is if it was someone who knew her.
"I know the woman who found Willow. She said the dog was near the river bank and close to the bench that Nicola's phone was found. Willow was bone dry and so hadn't been into the water but the dog was in an agitated state."
The search team focused their efforts on a tidal stretch of the river yesterday amid fears the mum fell in and has been swept downstream towards the coast. A business owner who wishes to remain anonymous says she raised the alarm after finding Willow.
She claims the phone was located under a tree, which had a deep water warning sign nailed to it. The underwater drop is estimated to be around 14 feet at the spot by the bench.
The woman said: "I saw the dog and I recognised it, but I suddenly couldn't think whose dog it was. There was a mobile phone on the bench and there was also something between the bench and the river so I went and looked, and it was a dog harness."
The woman revealed the dog looked "worried" and, after speaking to her daughter-in-law, she was told Willow belonged to Nicola.
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