BULLEY -- On Location with Crime Scene 2 Courtroom

BULLEY -- On Location with Crime Scene 2 Courtroom May 12, 2023 12:17:21 GMT -5

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Post by Tom Sorensen on May 12, 2023 12:17:21 GMT -5

A fairly long video was posted by Crime Scene 2 Courtroom to show the area around River Wyre where Nicola Bulley allegedly disappeared. The video, embedded below, does an excellent job at illustrating the pathways Nicola is assumed to have taken, and equally important, another route that would make much more sense if she committed suicide by drowning herself. This path can be reached by climbing a stile visible from the bench, and is often claimed to be the area where Willow was found, although no solid evidence of this claim seems to exist.

The video does nothing but reinforces my suspicion of foul play. If no third party was involved, only suicide or an accidental drowning make sense. But I'll argue why none of them actually make sense:

SUICIDE

If we assume the one sighting of Nicola walking the dog upstream from the bench is true, why would she walk the dog before committing suicide instead of simply getting on with it when she first passed the bench by the gate? To prevent Willow from following her into the water, she would have tied him to the bench, put down the phone and entered the water.

If Willow was like the third child of the family, why would she leave him off the leach and/or harness to run off and get harmed? Why even bring the dog to the river when she could have left him in the car, knowing he would be found within a couple of hours? In fact, she could have claimed to not feeling well (menopause, right?) and asked Paul to do the school run, which would have given her at least an hour to drive anywhere to finish her life.

If you seriously want to commit suicide, you don't want to be found until you're beyond saving. That's why her actions leading up to arriving at the bench and entering the water from the bench area don't make sense. As CS2C suggests, taking the path downstream makes more sense. However, Willow should have no problem negotiating the stile and follow her. Once again, not tying Willow makes no sense. The suicide scenario is absolutely bonkers.

ACCIDENT

Based on what we are told about her cell phone activity, the accident would have happened as Nicola was leaving the dog path. The phone on the bench suggests she was seated while putting the harness back on Willow. The problem is to come up with something that would have interrupted her and taken her to the edge of the water or into the water. Without third party involvement, only chasing Willow into the water makes sense. Nobody heard screams of any kind, and Willow was dry when found.

The fact that several search teams failed to find her in the river downstream from the bench is another nail in the coffin to this theory. The same goes for the suicide scenario, with the exception that she might have walked further downstream to clear the weir. Leaving the phone behind without disconnecting Teams also doesn't make sense if she didn't want to be found. And the dog running loose, as I've already mentioned.

BULLEY -- On Location with Crime Scene 2 Courtroom Jun 28, 2023 16:09:09 GMT -5

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Post by Tom Sorensen on Jun 28, 2023 16:09:09 GMT -5

Crime Scene 2 Courtroom has posted another video produced by the Lancashire Constabulary to show the properties of the River Wyre. The cameraman enters the river from beneath the bench area, where Nicola allegedly entered the river, and continues downstream beyond the weir. He does not, however, continue all the way to the location where her body appeared three weeks later. Video embedded below, followed by comments pointing out the highlights.

@08:35 They searched this part of the river in a line! To slip through that line of searchers, she must have floated downstream over the weir.

@13:15 Cameraman floats over the weir, no doubt about it. If Nicola had the buoyancy to stay afloat, she would have passed the weir. Fact. Also note they search just below the weir in case she was trapped there.

@13:50 Below the weir, the river is tidal. Even at 4 pm, the flow was downstream, so Nicola would have had at least 6 hours to continue toward the sea. The fire brigade arrived before the LC team, but I'm not sure of their search method.

@14:30 His team started diving at 4 pm! If Nicola didn't sink to the bottom of the river, she would have passed the weir hours prior to the arrival of this search team. Peter Faulding also did a search using high-tech equipment, likely to check the deeper channel.

@14:40 The trees....theoretically, Nicola could have been caught up in those branches. OK, so the fire brigade searched from boats and would have checked the fallen trees.

@16:10 400 meters from the point of entry, supposedly, and the bridge is about 500 meters away. Doing the math, this means Nicola was found roughly 700 meters further down from the bridge.

@16:50 Risk of being caught in the tree to the right.

SUMMARY

For the LC scenario to work, Nicola must have been floating for like 10 minutes to get up to speed and past the weir. She must then have sunk to the button in order to "escape" the search teams in boats, and also not being spotted by those searching the river banks. The way she was found indicates she was actually floating (again) during the end of week three, at least. Does the condition she was found in support such a scenario?