Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #7

[Rawler23]

I do wonder why the police seem to be focusing on the bench area. What if she walked further up to the left? Has this area in the river been searched also does anyone know?

 

[crystalline]

Fitbit wearers - are you usually always wearing them or like me an Apple Watch wearer a bit less frequent. If so do you keep a regular synching? Just wondered why it was last updated three days before going missing and if this is perfectly reasonable as a wearer?

Mine does tend to keep a regular sync - when I wear it. Battery power on mine from full will keep for a good three days. You can set them to sync and buzz etc. when you have phone messages for instance. They are very much or at least mine is dependent on Bluetooth. I do have to be in close proximity with my phone for it to sync - by that I mean say I can be upstairs and phone downstairs (normal house level) and it will sync - but I would say that's the maximum distance for mine. Mine is approx. 4 years old.

 

[Normanly]

Does anyone know if the path over the stile by the bench is a dead end and only goes to the weir or if it carries on?

I initially assumed NB stopped at the bench to put the harness back on Willow before going through the gate and back to the path and to the main road/car park. If she was carrying on over the stile she wouldn't have needed to put Willow back on harness at that point. Also I thought she put the phone on the bench to use both hands for harness but again if phone was on the ground then that also discounts this theory.

I have owned lots of Fitbits over the years and IMO unless you leave Bluetooth switch on they are unable to sync with your phone. I switch Bluetooth off to save battery life so have to manually sync, usually once a day. They are also very temperamental syncing anyway. I wouldn't personally think they would get much from the Fitbit, especially if NB hadn't synced it since the Tuesday before going missing.

Fingers crossed the sonar search today proves successful if she is in the river

 

[ginnyw]

His original hunch was that NB wasn't in the river at all. Now, he seems very experienced and has dealt with a fair few drownings. I'm inclined to go with his hunch at the moment. Plus it's strange that she has still not been found after the initial river searches and now his own searches.

 

[cottonweaver]

23 deaths recorded in rivers. And 6903 kidnappings in the space of one year.

Kidnapping offences England and Wales 2023 | Statista

In 2022/23 there were 7,420 kidnapping offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, an increase when compared with the previous year.

www.statista.com

Need to break it down to stranger-kidnappings of adult women in broad daylight (iirc bulk is children, family-related and males)

 

[I wonder]

Why would a dog follow someone?

Food, a ball, being fun, someone being assertive. Dogs need a pack leader. If the dog couldn’t see Nicola I can imagine him following another person because they need everything to be ok.

 

[Lincoln34]

If this search returns nothing, do they usually continue to search the river, in smaller resource, in case something does show up or just leave it completely and move on?

Police seem confident she is in the water. PF seems confident she's not, or will be if the search turns up no results, and there doesn't seem to be any other equipment that can yield better results.

I just wonder if she is there, but for some reason has been missed. Lodged deep in some crevice or something. But I'd expect the sonar to detect it still, maybe not.

That has been concerning me too. At what point do they call the search off? It is very resource heavy.

 

[Mycroft42]

From my reading, they are convinced she hasn't left that area. Ergo - in the river.

Yes, why are they so convinced - if they have info they have haven't released, why not?

 

[WestLondoner]

So, Peter Faulding - the experienced diver - can't understand why he hasn't located Nicola yet, he states that often people are found not far from the waters edge - i have linked below.
IF, and its a big if, but if she's not found, where do the police go from here? Is it a case that they're focusing on the water while still working behind the scenes on other theories?*
*(you would like to assume that this is the case)


Nicola Bulley head diver asks partner if she had 'enemies or stalkers'

But you can kind of turn this question on its head though. If she didn't drown and was taken by an abductor, what kind of abductor targets a woman who's

• nowhere near a vehicle or building she can be hidden in,
• on the phone to someone, so possibly raises the alarm or is missed instantly, and
• has a potentially aggressive and / or loud dog with her?

It's kind of Occam's Razor isn't it? Which is likelier - the above, or that the search has been c0cked up?

 

[Firstsnow4]

people were asking about the nature of the brick building they've seen in media coverageView attachment 400899

maybe this one? ( Measuring station)

The Fishing – St. Michaels Angling Association

stmichaelsaa.co.uk

I do hope they have checked in that measuring station!!!

 

[russeverton]

In other cases I've followed, i

In other cases I've followed, it's taken weeks to find bodies.

Even when they have had divers in there searching just hours later ?

 

[ginnyw]

Need to break it down to stranger-kidnappings of adult women in broad daylight (iirc bulk is children, family-related and males)

I'll look into that. In the meantime, this is how many sexual assaults there were on women within one year in this country:
40,572. Yep.

How many violent attacks and sexual assaults on women are there?

The deaths of Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, and others have highlighted the dangers women face in Britain.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[WestLondoner]

Food, a ball, being fun, someone being assertive. Dogs need a pack leader. If the dog couldn’t see Nicola I can imagine him following another person because they need everything to be ok.

Try influencing a strange dog in any of those ways next time you meet an apparently unaccompanied one. I guarantee it will either totally ignore you, or if it doesn't, it will do so as soon as it smells a squirrel, another dog, etc.

Dogs are not four-legged hairy people.

 

[Firstsnow4]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622936428907831296

 

[DFR3217]

If this search returns nothing, do they usually continue to search the river, in smaller resource, in case something does show up or just leave it completely and move on?

Police seem confident she is in the water. PF seems confident she's not, or will be if the search turns up no results, and there doesn't seem to be any other equipment that can yield better results.

I just wonder if she is there, but for some reason has been missed. Lodged deep in some crevice or something. But I'd expect the sonar to detect it still, maybe not.

This is a really interesting dilemma. Though it's difficult to see how she could have been attacked and her body removed from the riverside, if they can't find her in the river at what point should resources be shifted to more exploration of how this might have happened?

 

[todders]

But you can kind of turn this question on its head though. If she didn't drown and was taken by an abductor, what kind of abductor targets a woman who's

• nowhere near a vehicle or building she can be hidden in,
• on the phone to someone, so possibly raises the alarm or is missed instantly, and
• has a potentially aggressive and / or loud dog with her?

It's kind of Occam's Razor isn't it? Which is likelier - the above, or that the search has been c0cked up?

Somebody that knows her very well. But that doesn't answer the near a building or vehicle question. IMO

 

[Sw18jp]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it... would be interesting to know how frequently her fitbit had been syncing historically to see whether not syncing for a few days was abnormal. Joining a lot of dots but it could be a sign someone purposefully stopped it syncing (her or someone else)

 

[rojo]

No, that's just an assumption often made about dogs by people who aren't familiar with them.

I’ve had dogs all my life and ran several dog businesses. Trust me, most dogs will get distracted by food.

If you ever get a dog you’ll quickly learn this

 

[russeverton]

I'll look into that. In the meantime, this is how many sexual assaults there were on women within one year in this country:
40,572. Yep.

How many violent attacks and sexual assaults on women are there?

The deaths of Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, and others have highlighted the dangers women face in Britain.

www.bbc.co.uk

There was a woman who posted on here questioning that women never get abducted or assaulted in daylight. Wow that's a staggering figure!! but not at all surprising.

 

[Scotsleuth]

Yeah, I agree with your thinking.

My point was that it was a very long time (0930-1050) from the phone being found (0930) until someone phoned the partner/police (1050).

This potentially opens up a bigger window than the 10 minutes the police are going on.

Ah yes! I see what you mean! That also popped into my head when she said about the 10 minute window.. it doesn't really count as a 10 minute window because they still don't have a clue where she was at the end of that 10 minute window and nobody was searching yet