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Body of Mom Who Disappeared 3 Weeks Ago Found in a River | “She Was the One Who Made Our Lives So Special”
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Body of Mom Who Disappeared 3 Weeks Ago Found in a River | “She Was the One Who Made Our Lives So Special”

"We will never forget Nikki, how could we, she was the center of our world," her family said in a statement.

Cover Image Source: Twitter | @LancsPolice

Editor's note: This article contains themes of grief that some readers may find distressing

Nicola Bulley, a 45-year-old mother of two, whose unexplained disappearance from a small village in Northwest England last month gripped the country, was found dead on February 19, according to British authorities, the Washington Post reported. At a press conference, Peter Lawson, the assistant chief constable for Lancashire police, reportedly said, per CBS News, "Sadly we are now able to confirm that yesterday we recovered Nicola Bulley from the River Wyre."

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After dropping off her daughters at school on the morning of January 27, Bulley vanished while walking her dog along a nearby river. Bulley's cell phone was discovered on a park seat beside the river while still connected to a conference call at her place of business as a mortgage broker.



 

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At the news conference on February 20, police read aloud a statement from Bulley's family that perfectly expresses the anguish and frustration that her loved ones had felt ever since she vanished, per PEOPLE. "We will never forget Nikki, how could we, she was the center of our world, she was the one who made our lives so special and nothing will cast a shadow over that," the family wrote.

"Our girls will get the support they need from the people who love them the most," the statement continued. "And it saddens us to think that one day we will have to explain to them that the press and members of the public accused their dad of wrongdoing, misquoted and vilified friends and family … Finally, Nikki, you are no longer a missing person, you have been found, we can let you rest now," they concluded.

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The mishandling of the investigation led to a media frenzy that resulted in criticism of how the police handled the search, with dozens of amateur detectives prowling through Bulley's hometown of St. Michael's on Wyre, per The Guardian. More than 40 detectives were working on the case when her body was found by two dog walkers less than a mile from where Bulley went missing. Police were also accused of letting private details about the mom come into the public domain.

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Investigators had long assumed that she had fallen into the river by her own fault, but when divers were unable to find the missing mother, a horde of social media influencers arrived in her community and began nudging locals and the police to search for evidence properly. 



 

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On Friday, Lancashire police were criticized for disclosing sensitive information about Bulley in a manner that was “as sexist as it comes.” The force's “dreadful” choice to release Bulley's medical records was denounced by former victims’ Commissioner Dame Vera Baird as being “the biggest error that I have seen for quite a long time”. After the police revealed that Bulley, 45, had "major issues with alcohol," brought on by menopause, the media ran the story constantly. This put the Lancashire police under considerable fire, per The Guardian.

References:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/20/nicola-bulley-missing-identified/

https://people.com/human-interest/body-nicola-bulley-missing-mom-disappearance-riveted-united-kingdom-found-river/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/18/criticism-police-nicola-bulley-search-unfair-former-chief

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicola-bulley-body-found-during-search-for-missing-woman-england/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/17/police-release-of-nicola-bulleys-personal-details-as-sexist-as-it-comes

Cover Image Source: Twitter | @LancsPolice