The mysterious case of missing mum Nicola Bulley has gripped the nation after the 45-year-old went missing on January 27 while walking her dog. Nicola was spotted in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire that morning but her pet was later found wandering alone while her phone and its harness left on a nearby bench.
Since then, there has been no trace of Nicola as police and specialist divers have thoroughly searched the River Wyre, checked CCTV cameras and interviewed passers by who saw Ms Bulley. However, there is still no update and it's feared the mum-of-two will never be found, the Mirror reports.
Sadly, this is an all too common reoccurrence in the UK as it's not the first time someone has seemingly vanished into thin air. In Britain, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds with 170,000 people reported missing every year.
According to the charity Missing People, more than 70,000 of those people are children but thankfully statistics also show that most people are found within 24 hours. However, at the end of March 2020 there were 5,300 people who had been missing for over a year.
The Mirror have taken a look into some of the tragic missing persons cases of those who were never found.
Sheila Fox, aged six
Little Sheila went missing on her way home from school on August 18, 1944. She was nicknamed as the 'girl in the green coat' who was last seen outside a local bakery in wartime Bolton with an unknown man on a bike.
Witnesses claimed the little girl was riding on the handlebars at one point and when asked what she was doing, she replied: "Going with this man."
The case tragically went cold for 60 years until police received a tip from a local who had seen a man digging in his garden during the time Sheila disappeared. The garden was dug up but nothing was found.
Her family have never stopped hoping they will find out what happened to Sheila one day. Her older sister Rene said: "I will be so glad if they find her because it was all so sudden.
"It left us all feeling so empty. It was a terrible time. We never even found her shoes or a ribbon.
"It was as if the earth had swallowed her up. It would be such a comfort if she could have a Christian burial."
Tapiwa Matuwi, 21
Tapiwa vanished after a night out in Swansea on February 7, 2019. The IT graduate had been in the city's Fiction nightclub with friends and was last seen walking by the marina at 7am on CCTV.
Unfortunately, he has never been seen again. His family have spoken of their unbearable pain of no closure after they held a concert, launched appeals and posted flyers but there were never any leads.
His father Munyaradzi Zvada told the BBC: "We are scarred forever, we have an important part of our family missing. There is the CCTV, and then no information, it is like a wild goose chase. I know somebody knows something or saw something, but no-one is saying anything."
Claudia Lawrence, 35
Claudia Lawrence vanished from her home in Hemsworth, York after a phone call with her mother Joan on the evening of March 17, 2009. The chef was reported missing by her dad Peter after she didn't show up for work at York University the following day.
Her disappearance remains unsolved and North Yorkshire Police are now treating it as suspected murder. Mr Lawrence led a nationwide search for his daughter which has cost police around £1m in the last decade.
Nine people have been questioned in regards to the case but no charges have ever been brought. Claudia's father sadly died in 2021 aged 74 without ever finding out what happened to his daughter.
In 2022, a mysterious floral tribute that claimed Claudia 'is in the water' was found near a beauty spot. While the exact location wasn't disclosed, it's believed the tribute wasn't found at Sand Hutton gravel pits, near York where investigations took place last September.
Elizabeth Chau, 19
Elizabeth Chau was last seen handing over a university assignment in April 1999 when she was 19. The student from Vietnam was spotted just a mile from her home on CCTV before she disappeared.
She was seen walking past west London's Earling police station on her way back from Thames Valley University at around 6pm. In a 2012 interview, her brother Minh Cahu said: "She was a very responsible girl and would always contact us if she was going to be late."
Lola Shenkoya, 27
Mysteriously, only nine months after Elizabeth's disappearance, another young woman, Lola Shenkoya, 27 went missing on the same road after returning home from work. Lola is believed to have been locked out of the house because her sister had the key and is said to have caught a bus to Haven Green and got out near Burger King at Ealing Broadway Tube station.
The 27-year-old was never seen again and her bank accounts have never been touched. Serial rapist Andrezej Kunowski, known as the 'The Beast' had a history of offending in the area and was interviewed by police.
The monstrous man who is now dead was jailed for raping a student and is thought to have committed at least 17 rapes in Poland. He murdered 12-year-old Katerina Koneva in her west London home when she returned home from school.
However, a lack of evidence meant he was never formally charged over Elizabeth and Lola's tragic disappearances and both women remain missing to this day.
Peter Baglin, 55
Peter Baglin recently disappeared on December 28, 2022, after he set out to go his 'favourite walk' along Bridgewater Canal to 'clear his head' and never returned. The grandfather of four was last seen at the Texaco garage on East Lancs Road in Mosley Common in Wigan at 7.38pm.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed his phone, hat and headphones were found on the towpath of the canal on the morning of December 29 but there was no trace of him. His wife Michelle reported Peter missing after phoning him multiple times while he was out on his walk but not hearing anything back from him.
Officers launched a huge search which included underwater specialists, mountain rescue and drones. Michelle also organised searches of the entire canal with over 200 volunteers helping out but there have been no results from any of their efforts.
Michelle said: "It's a very surreal feeling. It's like it's happening, but it's not happening to me. I never thought I would ever be in this position and I just want Pete home.
"I am convinced that there is someone out there who knows where he is. He is instantly recognisable by the tattoo of 'Michelle' on the left side of his neck and I'm urging anyone who may have seen him, or been with him, to get in touch. I just want to know he's okay."
Genette Tate, 13
Genette was doing her newspaper round in her home village when she seemingly vanished on August 19, 1978. Her mystery disappearance sparked one of the biggest missing persons inquiries launched by British police but she has never been found.
For four decades her heartbroken father John tried to find his daughter who vanished from Aylesbeare near Exeter but he sadly died in 2020 without ever knowing the truth. Devon and Cornwall Police held a cold case probe into the murder a few years ago and their 'only suspect' was Scottish serial killer Robert Black who was serving a life term for child murder.
The killer died in an Irish jail days before police were set to charge him. Genette's father said in his last main interview in 2018: "My life is coming to an end. I dearly want to know where Ginny is.
"To know she has been found and given a Christian burial would be enough. I could go to my grave in the knowledge we were together again.
"I'm not 100 percent sure Black did it. If we could find her body that would give me proof."
Mary Flanagan, 16
Mary Flangan disappeared on New Year's Eve, 1959 when she was sixteen-years-old. She was last seen kissing her siblings goodbye as she left her home in East London to attend a party in Newham with her friends from the Tate and Lyle factory.
It was later discovered that the teen hadn't been to work for two weeks before she went missing and that she had fallen in love with a seaman called Tom McGinty. Despite testing the DNA of 100 bodies, Mary nor Tom has ever been seen again.
It's thought she may have fallen pregnant with her secret lover and ran away to have the baby. Mary's sister Brena spoke of the last time she saw her sibling in 2020.
She said: "We all think Mary might be embarrassed after all this time, or worried if she got in touch she might be rejected, but that's not going to happen. She is welcome in our lives and we want her with us.
"Dead or alive, we just want to know so we can be together, or we can grieve."
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