The Disappearance of Nicola Bulley

What happened?

› Nicola Bulley, aged 45, was last seen on Friday 27th January after dropping her children at school at around 8:40.

› She then walked along the river Wyre with her dog named Willow and at 9:01 she logged into a teams conference call.

› At approximately 9:10 a witness, who knows Bulley, saw her walking her dog.

› At 9:20 Bulley’s phone was linked to the area of a bench by the river

› 9:30 the conference call ends but Bulley stayed logged in.

› At 9:35 Nicolas phone was found on a bench along the riverside, the dog was found alone near the bench and Nicola was nowhere to be seen.

› At 11am Bulley is reported missing by the police.

› From 9:20 -9:30 there is a 10-minute window where something happened to Nicola that caused her to go missing.

Where is Nicola?

An investigation began by the police but also local residents who set off on their own search for Bulley. The main focus for the police was to search the river and a specialist underwater search team were brought in to do the job. However, by the 8th February the team looking for Bulley reported that that they believe she is not in the section of the river where detectives believe she fell in.

At this point the investigation gained even more attention, especially online, as people began to create new theories about what happened and where she is now. She couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air! New conspiracies began to appear around their being a thirdparty involvement and theories that she could have been kidnapped began to form.

In a press conference on the 15th the police stated that the users of social media platforms such as TikTok had been visiting the river and this could negatively impact the results of the case. Police warned the public to stop visiting the crime scene as it was making the chance of finding her decrease and also to show respect to Nicola and her family. Later on, further information was released by the police outlining that Bulley was at high risk because of a vulnerability due to issues associated with alcohol and menopause. This classification increased the priority and recourses assigned to the investigation as the police began to look into the fact Nicola could have been drunk when dropping her children at school.

Tragically, on the 19th February Nicola Bulley’s body was discovered in the river about one mile away from where she was last seen. The family released a statement soon after in which they commented on the fact that Nicola, ‘was the centre of our world,’ and ‘she was the one who made our lives so special, and nothing will cast a shadow over that.’ The body was confirmed to be Bulley’s on the 20th .

The police have received huge backlash from how they handled this investigation. The fact that they did not shut of the river to the public, which lead to people visiting the site and destroying evidence. Speculations also rose, as if Nicola was in the river all along, to why it took the police 3 weeks to find her. Perhaps she was placed back there by someone or maybe she was hidden from view?

The cause for death has not been released yet. The positive side is that the body has been found and the family and Nicola can get closure.