Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #2

[Edinlass]

So many people in the area but none saw NB at the river, unless I missed that.

 

[Loobyloo]

So many people in the area but none saw NB at the river, unless I missed that.

Nobody reports hearing any screams or shouts, either.

 

[MoiraRose]

The sticking point for me is, even if she fell into the river, unless she’d hit her head/was unconscious, it’s shallow enough for her to just stand up. Even if she’d slipped and broken her ankle for example, she could have knelt up, shouted - it sounds like there were other people around. I can sort of see how/why she might have ended up in the river, but I can’t see how she would have been swept away in the space of an hour in a relatively shallow, meandering river. There are lots of points that are shallower, trees and branches where she would have gotten snagged I think. Plus that coat would have been hugely heavy when waterlogged, so I don’t think she would have just floated downstream.

 

[Nancywho]

Yes, another angle here showing the bank is not a level entry point to the water

View attachment 399332

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...skip-mum-entered-its-fifth-day-4008800?page=3

This is so useful - thanks for posting. I would really think with a bank like this, if she'd fallen down it and into the river, there would likely be marks in the grass/mud. I know others here have said it had been raining recently in the area, so probably quite muddy, and her friends have described the bank as slippery, but it wasn't raining on that specific day to wash away any tracks from slipping.

The current also doesn't seem to be very strong, so if she was in the water, it would make sense for her to have been found by now, but then even relatively still/shallow water is so often really difficult to locate people in. It just seems very odd that it's been several days now and still no sign of her in there.
MOO.

 

[SanT88]

I just don’t understand the conflicting reports from the MSM outlets. How one can state the phone was found on the ground by others and then the other outlet states the woman saw it on the bench. Such disjointed reporting is not helping anyone.

 

[Officer Dibble]

Yes, another angle here showing the bank is not a level entry point to the water

View attachment 399332

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...skip-mum-entered-its-fifth-day-4008800?page=3

Looking at this photo, If I had the harness by the waters edge and it was wet underfoot and I had an excited dog running around me I feel from looking at this photo I could easily topple in. JMO MOO

 

[Edinlass]

Nobody reports hearing any screams or shouts, either.

Vanished without a trace. Baffling. I would have expected willow to have at least barked had NB went in the water.

 

[Danny Dnipro]

Witness or People Who Were In Close Proximity

So these are all the people who have been mentioned so far as being in the area / proximity to where NB and Willow the dog were on their walk.

Witness One – Confirms seeing NB at 9:15am

Witness Two & Three – The anonymous friend of NB who gave this interview says she spoke with two people who believe they are the last people to see NB who laughed and joked with NB Nicola Bulley seen 'laughing and joking' moments before she vanished by river, says pal - Mirror Online

Witness Four – The unnamed business woman who recognised who Willow was and ‘tied her up’ who called her daughter in law who in turn knew who’s dog it was and alerted NB partner. Nicola Bulley: Passerby raised alarm after finding 'worried' dog alone and off leash - Mirror Online

Witness Five & Six – The same anonymous friend who accounts for Witness Two & Three, then says “two other dog walkers later came across her phone and recognised the screensaver photo”. She says these witnesses are a woman dog walker who walked through the gate onto the path, followed behind by a ‘gent’. Nicola Bulley seen 'laughing and joking' moments before she vanished by river, says pal - Mirror Online

Witness Seven – The key witness police sought, described as in his 70’s, white hair and well built Nicola Bulley: Police seek potential key witness in search for missing dog walker - Mirror Online

We do not know if Witness One knew or knew of NB.

We do not know if Witness Two & Three knew or knew of NB

We know that Witness Four recognised NB dog Willow, and Witness Four daughter in law knew NB and partner and had partner number/contact details of some sort in phone

We know that at least one of Witness Five & Six knew or knew of NB

We do not know if Witness Seven knew or knew of NB

Thanks for this, but I still can't work out which witness contradicts the mobile phone on the bench story with this:

"A man then came through behind her with his dog and spotted the phone.

""The gent has looked on the floor and two feet from the bench there’s a phone," she said.""

It seems very descriptive. And totally goes against the statement made by the lady who claims to have found the phone on the bench.

I know that in such times witness statements can be very foggy and unreliable.

 

[tedtink]

Witness or People Who Were In Close Proximity

So these are all the people who have been mentioned so far as being in the area / proximity to where NB and Willow the dog were on their walk.

Witness One – Confirms seeing NB at 9:15am

Witness Two & Three – The anonymous friend of NB who gave this interview says she spoke with two people who believe they are the last people to see NB who laughed and joked with NB Nicola Bulley seen 'laughing and joking' moments before she vanished by river, says pal - Mirror Online

Witness Four – The unnamed business woman who recognised who Willow was and ‘tied her up’ who called her daughter in law who in turn knew who’s dog it was and alerted NB partner. Nicola Bulley: Passerby raised alarm after finding 'worried' dog alone and off leash - Mirror Online

Witness Five & Six – The same anonymous friend who accounts for Witness Two & Three, then says “two other dog walkers later came across her phone and recognised the screensaver photo”. She says these witnesses are a woman dog walker who walked through the gate onto the path, followed behind by a ‘gent’. Nicola Bulley seen 'laughing and joking' moments before she vanished by river, says pal - Mirror Online

Witness Seven – The key witness police sought, described as in his 70’s, white hair and well built Nicola Bulley: Police seek potential key witness in search for missing dog walker - Mirror Online

We do not know if Witness One knew or knew of NB.

We do not know if Witness Two & Three knew or knew of NB

We know that Witness Four recognised NB dog Willow, and Witness Four daughter in law knew NB and partner and had partner number/contact details of some sort in phone

We know that at least one of Witness Five & Six knew or knew of NB

We do not know if Witness Seven knew or knew of NB

5 is 4 and 6 is 7 AFAIK

 

[3point5]

The sticking point for me is, even if she fell into the river, unless she’d hit her head/was unconscious, it’s shallow enough for her to just stand up. Even if she’d slipped and broken her ankle for example, she could have knelt up, shouted - it sounds like there were other people around.

If she did go in the water id imagine it was the cold shock that caused the biggest issue. People underestimate just how cold the water is. Look at those poor boys that went through the ice recently, I bet the water temp now is only a handful of degrees warmer than that.

 

[Lucy6226]

The sticking point for me is, even if she fell into the river, unless she’d hit her head/was unconscious, it’s shallow enough for her to just stand up. Even if she’d slipped and broken her ankle for example, she could have knelt up, shouted - it sounds like there were other people around. I can sort of see how/why she might have ended up in the river, but I can’t see how she would have been swept away in the space of an hour in a relatively shallow, meandering river. There are lots of points that are shallower, trees and branches where she would have gotten snagged I think. Plus that coat would have been hugely heavy when waterlogged, so I don’t think she would have just floated downstream.

Plus this happened in broad daylight with apparently plenty of people around...it wouldn't have been long before someone saw her in the water surely?

 

[kittythehare]

I just don’t understand the conflicting reports from the MSM outlets. How one can state the phone was found on the ground by others and then the other outlet states the woman saw it on the bench. Such disjointed reporting is not helping anyone.

It is always like this.
We get used to it.
<modsnip> papers mess up a lot.
We just regroup.

 

[Cuko]

But nothing has been found in the water.

Phone on the floor, dog loose

Says more to me someone else involved.

If my dog was in danger, I wouldn’t think twice about where I dropped/put my phone. My dog’s safety and well-being would override everything else.

 

[kittythehare]

Is anybody able to pull up an overhead or ordinance of the whole area?
I just want to look at the possibility that somebody may have expected her and lain in wait.
Is it a possibility or not?

 

[pineapple23]

Plus this happened in broad daylight with apparently plenty of people around...it wouldn't have been long before someone saw her in the water surely?

Nobody saw me and the border collie struggling in the river - this was in the village and me in a high viz jacket! She might have gone under very quickly.

 

[Noseyposy76]

The dog being bone dry rules out NB going in the river to rescue it then. But by the looks of the riverbank, you could quite easily lose your footing, especially if she was possibly trying to untangle Willow. Could she have thrown a ball for Willow and it rolled down the riverbank, so she went to retrieve it, but then slipped into the river. As for the depth of the river, the one near me varies from one area to another, within very little distance. Even in the summer months when water levels are pretty low anyway, there will still be parts that are very deep and people have drowned, where as most parts my Westie can wade through.

I wonder why the police are so convinced she hasn’t been taken, maybe as no signs of a struggle. But it could be she was abducted from elsewhere and that the phone, harness, lead and dog were just left in that spot, to make it look like NB had drowned. But then would the dog have stayed in that area if it’s not the last place where they saw their owner. The police could also already be closing in on someone. If the perpetrator believes that foul play is not suspected and is unknown to NB, they might be less likely to panic and make a fatal decision.

Also, I have only just joined this discussion, so don’t know if it’s been mentioned before…the neighbour who was interviewed spoke in past tense several times about NB, which I find strange.

JMOO

 

[Cuko]

Is it a bit strange that there’s been no further police update, nor any broadcast appeal from the partner or other family members?

 

[pineapple23]

Is anybody able to pull up an overhead or ordinance of the whole area?
I just want to look at the possibility that somebody may have expected her and lain in wait.
Is it a possibility or not?

Peronally I think this is just misadventure in the water though it did strike me, from the location of the bench, that someone could have come up quickly from behind.

 

[brownbread]

Lots of dogs wouldn't jump off a high bank into the water, they like to wade i.e enter the water where it's shallow, then swim.

Although I've seen dogs jump from high banks into the Thames close to where I live, in the summer, I think a dog might find it confusing to see their owner in a river too, so might not necessarily follow them in.

That’s interesting - so NB could have had the dog off leash in that area feeling fairly confident it wasn’t going to jump in because of the bank, but wary of the difficulty it would have getting out if it did.

So if the dog started pawing around the edge of the bank, NB may have acted quickly to try to bring him away (potentially dropping her phonr and bringing the harness down the bank with her mk), and while trying to grab the dog she could have fallen in herself. But the dog, still being averse to jumping in from a bank, stays on the side, hence is found dry.

 

[philthesaddler]

Hi guys, first time poster.

One thing I've not seen mentioned is whether the river at this location is tidal? From the photos I've seen, there appears to be a lack of foliage on the banks which often suggests it might be tidal. If it is tidal, this could play a part as tidal flows can be quite strong.

I don't however particularly buy the 'fallen in to the river' theory, it's a bit far fetched. I've owned 3 different springers, and whilst they love the water, they are competent swimmers and don't really struggle to get out of tangles they get themselves in to.

Also, if she'd fallen in to the river, as others have said, I think there'd be some signs, and they'd have likely found her by now. The river is very meandering and shallow at certain points by the look of it, so doubt she could have been carried far.

Hope she's found safe and well, but I'm suspicious there's foul play involved here. Not many will have known she was there, and it all seems a bit random.