Lancashire Police has confirmed that the "main working hypothesis" remains that Nicola Bulley fell into the River Wyre.
Speaking at a press conference, senior investigating officer Detective Supt Rebecca Smith said the mother-of-two has been branded a "high-risk" missing person with "specific vulnerabilities." She also confirmed that detectives have found no evidence of a "criminal aspect or third party involvement."
During the press conference, Supt Smith said she hope to clear up some false information, accusations and rumours which are distracting in the search for Nicola. The 45-year-old disappeared while walking her springer spaniel, Willow, in the village of St Michael's on Wyre after she dropped her two daughters - aged six and nine - at school on January 27.
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After 19 days of searching, a press conference was held today at Lancashire Police HQ, Detective Supt Rebecca Smith said: "As soon as she was reported missing, following the information that was provided to the police by her partner Paul, and based on a number of specific vulnerabilities that we were made aware of, Nicola was graded as high-risk.
"That is normal in a missing person investigation with the information we were in possession of. As any senior investigating officer does, you form a number of hypotheses, that is scenarios which are possible from the information to hand.
"Those hypotheses included the one that she possibly could have gone into the river, that there could have been third-party involvement and lastly, that she could have left the area voluntarily.
"Those hypotheses have remained in place throughout, are reviewed regularly. At the initial stages based on the information I received, I made it clear that it was my working hypothesis at that time based with all the facts that the main hypothesis I was working on at that time was that Nicola had gone in the river."
Detective Superintendent Smith, refused to give more details of the mother-of-two's "individual vulnerabilities". Referring to Ms Bulley's partner Paul Ansell, she told a press conference: "It's normal in any missing person investigation that you obviously gather as much information at an early stage about the person in question, which is no different and we did that with Paul.
"I'm not going to go into the details of those individual vulnerabilities. I've asked you to respect the family, who are going through unimaginable pain and distress at this moment.
"But those vulnerabilities based our decision-making in terms of grading Nicola as high risk and have continued to form part of my investigation throughout."
Asked if she hoped to find her alive, Det Supt Smith said: "I hope with all my heart that we find Nicola Bulley alive more than anything."
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