A missing mother-of-two had been making plans for the future the night before she vanished while walking her dog, her parents have revealed.
Nicola Bulley, 45, had dropped her two young daughters off at school on Friday, January 27, before taking her dog Willow for a walk alongside the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre.
However, less than an hour later another dogwalker found Willow wandering around on her own off-lead, raising concerns about Bulley's whereabouts.
Bulley's phone was found on a nearby bench, still connected to an active work conference call, however, she has not been seen or heard from since.
Her parents, Ernest and Dot Bulley, have now revealed that Bulley had spent the night before making plans for a spa break with her younger sister, as well as buying tickets to watch her six- and nine-year-old daughters perform in choir and gymnastics shows in recent weeks.
Her father, 73, told the Mirror that he doesn't believe Bulley's disappearance was intentional, explaining: "Her mind was great, we picked the children up the Thursday before she went missing, as we do every Thursday.
"We took them home, Nicola had had a meeting with her boss in Garstang and she said can you stay a bit later because I have an important client coming in on Zoom. We said no problem and stayed. She had done her work and she was very upbeat about getting her mortgage sorted."
He added that the pair had said goodbye at the front door, where he gave her a kiss and told her he loved her, which ended up being the last conversation the pair had.
Bulley's mother added that she has been unable to sleep since her daughter went missing, and that they worry about where she is and whether she is ok.
Her father added: "We will never stop looking. We just dread to think we will never see her again, if the worst came to the worst and she was never found, how will we deal with that for the rest of our lives?”
Bulley's partner, 44-year-old Paul Ansell, had previously revealed that the couple's daughters had "cried their eyes out" after being told that their mom was "lost" and are hoping for her safe return.
The police said in a press conference: "The police are keeping a really open mind about what could have happened but we do believe that the likelihood is that Nicola has gone missing and this is not a crime inquiry.
"We’ve mounted a really intensive operation to try to find Nicola. We’ve got a large area to search. People do go missing but, clearly, as time goes on we become more and more concerned for Nicola.
"But we’re very much hoping that we will find something to try to bring her home safe and well soon."