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On the quiet morning of January twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,
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Nicola Bully set out on a routine walk with her
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dog alongside the scenic river Wire in Lancastershire. What began
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as an ordinary day quickly spiraled into a mystery that
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would grip the nation. With Nikola's bone found on the
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riverside bench and her dog nearby, but with no trace
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of her, the search efforts became a race against time.
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I'm Danielle and I'm Megan, and this is off the trails.
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We are in the full swing of December slash holiday chaos.
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We are it's we started to record, well, we set
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our time to record forty six minutes ago, and I've
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gone through two computers, several mics, several sets of headsets,
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several adult tantrums, and here we are starting four to
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six minutes after we intended to.
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And the funny part about that is and now my
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dog And now my dog is barking in the background,
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so I'm really patiing. Is fine? Everything is fine?
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All right? So now that we got through my chaotic
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introduction for the episode, do we have any other business
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or things we want to discussed before we get going.
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I don't believe, so.
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Okay, and our next two episodes are going to be
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mini episodes, correct.
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No, I think I still have a full length one
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and then the last two are minis.
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You are correct, all right? Some month's going by so
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fast it is, so today we're heading to Lancashire, England. Okay,
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fun have we done any cases in England yet?
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I believe the only time we've mentioned it is in
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one of our Sunday Scary episodes when we talked about
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the Bolton Strid.
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With the little man jumping over the.
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Don't even start. If you want to get through this episode.
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Do not put that image in my head. Once they
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start laughing, I can't stop.
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All right. So the River Wire is a picturesque waterway
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kind of like what I pictured, what you described in
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that episode, and it is a tidal river flowing approximately
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twenty eight miles or forty five kilometers from its source
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in the forests of Poland, and then it ends up
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in an estuary and and Irish Sea. Eventually it passes
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through charming little villages, including Saint Michael's on Wire and
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there is also a long distance footpath and nearby reserves
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like Fleetwood marsh make the river like a popular destination
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for walking and outdoor enthusiasts, So that's where we're heading today.
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Kind of just a nice area among neighborhoods and villages.
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On the morning of January twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,
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so just just under two.
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Years ago, this is recent.
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It is just before eight thirty am, Nicola or she
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went by Niki Bully, left her home with her two
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daughters to drop them off at school. After drop off,
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she briefly chatted with another parent before heading to the
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riverside path near River Wire with her dog Willow. Around
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eight point fifty someone who knew Nikki was also walking
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their dog and they spotted her on the path. And
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this apparently was kind of like a working walk for
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her because at eight fifty three she sent an email
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to her boss. Then just before nine o'clock, she messaged
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a friend before jumping on a team's call at nine
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oh one. So, unlike a lot of the cases we cover,
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there's a very specific and tight timeline leading up to
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her disappearance.
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Yeah, that must be helpful in what I'm assuming will
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be a coming investigation.
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It's interesting, it's not really helpful despite being like so
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so specific.
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Well, damn, it's funny.
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Not funny, but it's interesting. How you know, we've covered
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cases where there are literally days unknown activity prior to
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someone going missing, and we have minute by minute and
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it's like the same outcome. Nobody knows. So after she
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logged into that call at nine oh one, her video
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and microphone were off and they remained that way throughout
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the call. So she was logging in and just there
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to lurk. That's what I call that when I when
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I do.
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That, I was gonna say, we've all been there in
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those meetings. Camera off, mike off.
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Hope, nobody addresses me specifically. At nine to ten, another
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person walking along the path spotted her, and this is
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believed to be the last confirmed sighting of her. Although
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the team's call ended at nine thirty, her phone actually
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stayed connected.
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Beyond that, her phone stayed connected to that meeting. Correct, okay.
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Her partner Paul noticed around nine thirty that Nikki hadn't
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returned as she usual would have by that time. Initially,
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he wasn't concerned, assuming she must have run into somebody
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and stopped for you know, just a longer chat than usual.
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At nine thirty three, though, another person who was out
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with their dog came across Nicki's phone, which was placed
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on a bench by the river. The dog's harness was
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on the ground between the bench and the river, and
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Willow was by the river. She was dry, but alone
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and appeared distressed.
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Whoa yep.
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So by ten thirty Paul began to worry because he
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knew that Nicky had a meeting at eleven. So even
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if she had run into somebody and ended up chatting longer,
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or ran an error or something, it's now ten thirty.
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He knows that she's got some at eleven o'clock, so
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he's starting to be concerned. So that's when he started
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trying to get in touch with her and was unsuccessful. Strangely,
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her phone ended up at the children's school. I'm not
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sure how that happened. I don't know if that person
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who found the phone at nine thirty three brought it
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to the school. I don't know if they went into
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the phone and saw it was a local parent. I'm
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not sure what the scenario was, but somehow it ended
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up at the children's school, and then the school ended
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up calling Paul to inform him that both the phone
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and the dog Willow had been found, but there had
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been no sign of Niki.
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So someone dropped the phone off at the school. M hmm,
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what about the dog? Where did Willow end up?
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I don't know. It didn't specifically say, but I'm assuming
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I'm assuming the dog went with went to the school.
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I don't know. I just thought it was strange that
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the phone ended up at the school, or that the
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school was the one calling about the phone. Yeah, I agree,
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But I'm also not sure if the person who found
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the phone and the dog doing the same thing, like
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they had dropped their kids off and then they take
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the dog for a walk and you know, maybe it's
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like their routine and they typically saw me as well.
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You know, I'm not sure. Despite the detailed timeline of
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her movements that morning, it's unclear what immediate actions were
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taken on that first day to search for her. I'm
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sure searching was done, but I was unable to find
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any detailed information about any searching that was done before
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January twenty eighth, so she was reported missing. I did
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listen to the initial Uh is it nine ninety nine
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in the UK?
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Maybe confirm that?
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Yeah, I think nine nine nine and yeah, so she
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was reported missing and obviously you know things were set
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in motion, so.
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You are correct. Just to confirm for all of our listeners,
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the UK's main emergency phone number is in fact nine
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nine nine.
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Thank you. So on the twenty eighth, that's when the
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Lancashire constablary I always feel like these English words have
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like too many syllables for me to say properly.
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Some of them are tongue twisters.
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They are launched a major search trinicky. They used drone,
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helicopter search dogs. They were also supported by the Lancashire
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Fire and Rescue Service, the Boland Mountain Rescue Team and
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the Northwest Underwater Search Team. Then on the twenty ninth,
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about one hundred volunteers from the area join the search.
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On the thirtieth, police said that they were keeping an
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open mind about what may have happened, but they didn't
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I believe Nikki's disappearance was suspicious. Essentially, they didn't believe
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any foul play or a third party was involved. At
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that point, they were continuing to look for any eyewitnesses
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who may have been in the area that morning, and
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they were just following up on any leads that were
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coming in. Underwater search teams were focusing heavily on the
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area around the bench where her phone and the dog
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were found, and in this area it's the river isn't
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very wide, but there is a little bit of a
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steep slope going into the river. But from what I read,
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typically the river isn't very deep either, usually running about
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like three feet deep in this stretch, but they're had
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been a lot of rain in December and January, so
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it may have been a little bit deeper. The thinking
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also was because there's quite a lot of raw in
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this river, that if there was a body in the river,
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they were kind of expecting it to get caught up
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and not travel quickly to the sea.
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At least did they say anything about the temperature of
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the water being a concern or the strength of the current.
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I didn't see anything specific noted about either. I mean,
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I think it was cold, right, but I didn't see
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anything really specific about current. I did see some video,
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and there is obviously a flow to the river. It
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is a tidal river, but I wouldn't classify it as
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like a rushing river necessarily. But there is a pole,
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there is a pull to it by February third, police
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publicly stated their belief that Nikki had likely fallen into
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the river, and given the heavy focus of the search
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on the river from the beginning, it seems to me
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at least this would have and their working theory all along. However,
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the official announcement might have been intended to just provide
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clarity to the public and to the media, just ensuring
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that everybody understood the direction of the investigation, because speculation
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and accusations had already been starting to fly in this case,
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and at this point the family sort of disagreed that
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that was the situation. You know, they were still holding
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out hope that you know, she had not gone into
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the water, and were asking people to still keep an
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eye out for her. In a lot of the cases
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we've covered, we've talked about a lot of the positive
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ways that social media can help in these searches, you know,
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spreading the word about missing people, rallying volunteers, raising funds
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for either the search effort or medical expenses, even helping
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families cover ultimately, you know, funeral costs, which without social media,
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a lot of those things would not be possible. However,
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as we know, social media also has a much darker side,
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which sadly did play a big part in this case.
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Oh man, Okay.
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From the start, alongside traditional media coverage, theories surrounding Nicky's
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disappearance began trending on Google and TikTok and wherever else
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pretty much immediately. This case just really caught people's attention,
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like across England in real time. I kind of.
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Picture it similar to how Gabby Patito's case kind of
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really resonated with people here and people really got very
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invested in her search for her case.
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Yeah, people were extremely intrigued with her case and just
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chomping at the bit for the next development.
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Yeah. Through the power of the Internet, people with just
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no personal connection to either of those women were able
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to get deeply invested in their stories and research their backstories,
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and find their social media and really involved themselves in
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these women's lives in a way that prior to social
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media never would have happened. In Nikki's case, the online
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activity just quickly spiraled and beyond the usual trolls, amateur
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sleuths began digging into her personal life and that of
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her family, while they were also just really scrutinizing every
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action taken by law enforcement during the investigation and search.
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Which not saying that scrutinizing law enforcement is a bad thing,
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but I think it does pack or can impact the
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active investigation.
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Right.
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Just think about trying to type your password in if
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your boss is standing behind you. You can't do it.
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Try and format an Excel file with somebody watching you,
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you can't do it. Stressful good examples, you know, totally
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same level as Surgic furmasing person. The location where her
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phone and dog were found turned into almost a tourist attraction,
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with people visiting to take photos and like create videos
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for themselves. Some people were even as terrible to go
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and exploit hashtags or video titles like Nicola Bully found
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just in an attempt to go viral, because rible. That's
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you know, people were keeping an eye out for that
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or looking for that, or put a Google alert for
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those things, and you put that in your video and
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now people are going to see it.
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Yeah.
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Escalated so much that police ended up having to issue
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a dispersal order to just manage the number of visitors
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using like visitors to the area. And this is all
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just while Nikki is still missing. It's one thing for
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certain locations to become kind of like a morbid tourist
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destination over time. But this is during an act of
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search and investigation. Just I don't know, it just makes
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the behavior, particularly in foretastes in my opinion anyway.
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Yeah, I was just about to say the same thing, like,
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let them do their jobs, because right now you are
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taking them and those resources from the investigation because they
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are trying to control these people who are so fixated
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on the case and going to that location and just
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taking things a little too far in there when it
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comes to their interest in the case.
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Yeah. Definitely, Internet slothing and social media involvement in these
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high profile cases have serious consequences in any type of case.
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It makes investigations and searching just more complicated or they
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take longer, and in situations where foul play or criminal
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activity is involved and these people are just interjecting themselves,
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it really can screw up the legal process. And then
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of course then you have misinformation rumors, the conspiracy theories
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that just spread so quickly online, and depending on the
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type of investigation, a lot of those leads have to
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be followed up on, and when they're fake, it's just
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a huge waste of time. Yeah, and unfortunately a lot
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of times people share information that they know is not true.
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You know, another negative aspect of social media in these
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situations is people are put on trial by public opinion
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despite their not being legal evidence. And that's what happened
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to Nicky's partner, Paul. I think we all know the
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common saying in the true crime space, the husband did it.
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And yes, statistically you are most likely to be killed
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by your partner versus a stranger or some other type
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of relationship, but that statistic alone doesn't stand as evidence.
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Right, And unfortunately, some people take their speculation too far
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and it becomes just blatantly accusing someone of something and
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where they don't have any evidence to back that up.
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And also it's not their job to accuse anyone. That
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this is when it's like, let the investigators do their jobs.
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Yeah. But despite continued daily searches of the river and
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the fact that police were still saying that they didn't
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believe i wul Play was involved and that they were
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continuing to investigate the slim possibility that she may have
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left the area on foot unseen, people felt certain that
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Paul had killed her. So beyond people just theorizing that
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he caused her disappearance. People were actually sending Paul threatening
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and just horrible messages. They were reaching out to him,
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and these people totally harassing him and threatening him. And
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these were people that did not know Nicki, did not
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know Paul, had no connection to their family in any way,
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just total strangers taking it.
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Way too, way too far.
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On February fifteenth, police stated that social media and people
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playing detect sims both hurt Nicki's family and the investigation.
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They also mentioned that Nicki was considered a person with
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specific vulnerabilities, which only added to the speculation fire. So
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they later tried to clarify things and said that what
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they had meant was back in January, the police and
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health professionals had been called to the house due to
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concerns related to alcohol and menopause. So I think the
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00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:36.279
implication was that maybe she had been leaning a little
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too heavily on drinking to deal with Perry or menopause symptoms.
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But they're very strange details to share if you're trying,
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especially if you're trying to stop people from making wild
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speculation and accusations, to share that information. It's just enough
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information to I think continue speculation, but just it gives
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people new things to speculate about. I don't know. I
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just thought it's very strange.
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Yeah, it's a it's very odd information to disclose.
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Yeah, and typically health information isn't disclosed unless it's going
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to create a like a variance from typical lost person behavior.
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You know, if somebody has dementia or if someone has autism,
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something of that nature, where if you're searching for somebody
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and their behavior might be different than expectations, or if
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or if they're trying to create a sense of urgency,
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like someone is insulin dependent or they have seizures and
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you know, without their medication, reaching out to the public
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for help or something like that. But I don't I
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don't know what the intent behind sharing that inform. Yeah,
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I don't know.
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I agree, And I don't know if it's.
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One of those things where like you have pressure from
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like all angles and you're feeling flowed us and you
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00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:03.359
just say something and you're like, I don't know why
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I said that, but like on a professional level in
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a press conference, I don't know.
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Just like you got to give us something like, well,
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she was going through menopause, has the metopause, she had
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the menopause, Like what is why did I say that?
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Right?
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How did I share that?
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And I know that right? And I don't know if
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if the information makes more sense to people who live
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in the UK, you know obviously, like just because we
334
00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:40.200
speak English, I sometimes you think like, oh, like Canada
335
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and the UK Australia, like we speak English, I know
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what it's like to live there. We don't. There are
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nuanced things and cultural things that we don't get. So
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I don't know if there's more nuanced information to them
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disclosing that information that I just don't get or or not.
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I don't know, or if everybody was like it was
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just weird. On February nineteenth, a couple walking their dog
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discovered Nicolo Bully's body near a fallen tree in the
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river wire approximately one mile or one point six kilometers
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downstream from Saint Michael's on wire.
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And that's where she went in or that's where they is.
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It was about a mile downstream from where they found
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her phone and Willow m hm. Weird. Feels like that
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would have done within the search radius.
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It definitely was. The police quickly recovered the body from
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the reads and undergrowth. While police were working in the area,
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some random people climbed over a fence pretending to be journalists,
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which I think even journalists you're not allowed to just
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climb over fence to do what they were doing. And
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they were taking photographs and videos of them removing the
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body from the river. So oh my god. Yeah, so
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one person ended up being arrested later. So people, this
357
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was just like a media frenzy this case.
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Wow.
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The following day, February twentieth, Lancashire Constant Hilary confirmed that
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the body was Nikki's and they had used her dental
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records to make the identification. The cause of death was
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not immediately determined, and a coroner's inquest was open on
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June twenty sixth. The ink quest revealed that data from
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her fitbit indicated she likely entered the water at nine
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twenty two. Unfortunately, that fitbit hadn't backed up or synced
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to her phone since the prior day to her disappearance,
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so that's why that wasn't any help to investigators until
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the fitbit itself was found, and the inquest concluded that
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her death was an accidental drowning, with no evidence suggesting
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that she had been harmed before entering the water, or
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that she had entered the water intentionally. Everything indicated that
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it really was just some type of accident. The police
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were criticized for releasing the comments about Nikki's health and
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the alcohol use. Many people did see the comments as
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sexist because just why and if the information was truly
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00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:28.599
key in helping to find her, the information should have
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00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:31.160
been shared in the very early days of the investigation.
378
00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:37.440
And to your point about that area being within the
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00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:45.200
search radius, there was so much scrutiny and critical commentary
380
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about the fact that it was so close to what
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00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:53.920
they believed was the initial entry point to be there.
382
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I think that scrutiny was warranted because there was They
383
00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:02.599
spent a lot of time searching. There was a lot
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of search teams, and I'm not saying that they weren't
385
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:09.920
doing their job. I think people definitely weren't doing their job.
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00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:14.720
But I think the point of scrutiny in this situation
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00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:17.559
is to look at say like, hey, can we do
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00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:20.960
something better, look at it constructively, can we do something
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00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:25.519
differently next time, or how can we change things to
390
00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:30.200
improve our process? Because so there was never a question,
391
00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:32.839
there was never a question.
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00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:39.880
That they searched that area when her body was not there,
393
00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:42.720
and then her body ended up there after the fact,
394
00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:46.519
or they just it was just a really bad oversight
395
00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:50.079
and they should have seen they should have found her
396
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:50.680
body there.
397
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:55.200
I didn't read anything that indicated that there was concern
398
00:26:55.480 --> 00:27:01.319
that perhaps there was third party involvement and her body
399
00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:06.359
had been dumped in the river after the area had
400
00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:10.680
initially been searched, if that's what you're asking. So I
401
00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:16.240
did see a comment that these search teams were looking
402
00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:20.200
in the water and where her body was found was
403
00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:23.279
like kind of like up on the side of the bank,
404
00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:27.000
a little bit like in the reeds. So although I
405
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:32.960
feel like searching along the river bank would fall within
406
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.960
the searching of the river, in my opinion, the comment
407
00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:39.440
was kind of like, well, we were searching in the water,
408
00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:41.440
and she wasn't found in the water.
409
00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:46.680
Like they didn't walk search dogs or cadaver dogs up
410
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.680
and down the banks or both sides of the banks,
411
00:27:50.119 --> 00:27:52.279
like at least a mile down the river.
412
00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:55.720
They had search dogs. So I don't know if it
413
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:59.599
was one of the situations where body was caught somewhere
414
00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:06.519
and then later ended up there and that's why the
415
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:10.319
dogs missed it visually. It was missed because they did
416
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:12.559
have drones and helicopters the first couple of days.
417
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.240
Okay.
418
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:18.160
In October of twenty twenty four, a documentary was released
419
00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:21.559
on BBC one, which I couldn't find any way to
420
00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:25.880
access because we're outside the UK. I was even going
421
00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:28.960
to be willing to pay for a month of some
422
00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:31.160
sort of streaming to be able to watch it, and
423
00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:33.720
I couldn't get it. So if somebody knows how to
424
00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:37.200
get it, let me know. But I couldn't figure it out. Oh,
425
00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:40.720
and the documentary focuses on her family, and her family
426
00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:44.359
just expressed how difficult it was to be at the
427
00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:48.039
center of all that attention and for Paul to be
428
00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:53.039
the target of those false accusations. This was the worst
429
00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:57.000
time of their lives, and Paul was trying to cope,
430
00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.240
and he was trying to take care of their two
431
00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:05.440
small kids, and there were just strangers that were harassing
432
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:08.519
him and essentially just out to get him that whole time.
433
00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:12.319
Yeah.
434
00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:17.559
Viewers criticized the documentary for spending too much time discussing
435
00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:21.880
the armchair detectives and the social media frenzy, which I
436
00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:25.759
think is funny because it's probably the same pool.
437
00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:27.519
Of people exactly.
438
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:34.119
Like, Yeah, we didn't like being called out, and we
439
00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:37.640
both do this podcast because it's something we enjoy. But
440
00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:43.759
we know that behind every headline there are real people, victims,
441
00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:48.640
their families, and the communities, some of which, no matter
442
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:53.480
how long ago the incident happened, these people may still
443
00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:56.920
be grieving or dealing with the aftermath. Yeah, so we
444
00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:01.119
really do try and handle these stories respond possibly try
445
00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:05.440
and prioritize accuracy by finding credible sources. If we can't
446
00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:10.000
fact check something, we either don't include it or we
447
00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:12.880
make it clear that we weren't able to verify. You know,
448
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:15.039
I think we both do that. We're like, I tried
449
00:30:15.079 --> 00:30:17.880
to find this out but we couldn't find it, but
450
00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:19.599
I'm going to share it, but just know that we
451
00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:24.680
couldn't verify it. And then if something is our opinion
452
00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:28.039
or our personal theory, we always make that clear as well.
453
00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:32.319
We're mindful of the language we use, refraining from unnecessary
454
00:30:32.359 --> 00:30:36.680
graphic details to inform rather than exploit or sensationalize.
455
00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:41.160
Yeah, for these cases and episodes involving tragedies, we really
456
00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:46.160
try and focus on promoting safety and awareness whenever possible.
457
00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:50.599
And I also try and go beyond just retelling the
458
00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:56.039
event and try and look for other takeaways from the story.
459
00:30:56.519 --> 00:31:01.039
Like today's story, Nicky had a simple accident during an
460
00:31:01.079 --> 00:31:05.440
everyday activity. But the bigger takeaway I think is just
461
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:11.640
a reminder of how our words online really can impact others.
462
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.400
You know, jumping into chat forums or groups can be fun,
463
00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:20.400
but it's just a good reminder to remember that anybody,
464
00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:24.519
even victims' families, could read your words, so just be
465
00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:29.279
mindful of that. Obviously, a lot of the people that
466
00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:35.400
were harassing Paul and reaching out to Nicky's extended family,
467
00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:39.759
they were doing way more than jumping into a Reddit
468
00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:45.279
forum and having some discussions on theories.
469
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:48.440
But yeah, things to.
470
00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:55.160
Keep in mind just in other situations. Talking through theories
471
00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:57.799
I think is always going to be part of our
472
00:31:57.880 --> 00:32:02.880
discussions here, but I hope that we do always approach
473
00:32:02.920 --> 00:32:07.400
it respectfully and you know, from a place of curiosity
474
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:14.640
and interest and not out of just speculation. And it's
475
00:32:14.759 --> 00:32:21.279
off the cuff commentary, right. So that is the story
476
00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:30.079
of Nicola Bully, and unfortunately it was just one of
477
00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:36.119
those incidents that you can't predict, which resulted in someone
478
00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:40.160
losing their life. And two young girls losing their mom
479
00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:43.799
and someone losing their partner daughter family.
480
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:47.640
And I'm looking at pictures of the area where her
481
00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:52.440
phone was found on that bench, and it does it
482
00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:57.559
just looks like a really quiet river. It's not. It
483
00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:06.839
doesn't look aggressive or exceptionally big. So it's just really
484
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:09.240
sad to think that there must have just been some
485
00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:13.240
sort of misstep or you know, she slipped in or
486
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:17.359
got too close to the bank, and I don't know
487
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:20.279
what happened. We don't know what happened, obviously, but yeah,
488
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:22.200
it's very sad.
489
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:28.319
And I think, and I do wonder if part of
490
00:33:28.359 --> 00:33:32.759
the reason that people were so drawn to this case
491
00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:39.720
is that it was such an everyday activity where she
492
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:44.480
went missing. You know, people literally walk their dogs in
493
00:33:44.519 --> 00:33:49.599
their neighborhood every day. And I think sometimes I think
494
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:56.680
sometimes you don't want to believe that a simple accident
495
00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:00.599
can occur like that. You know, you want it to
496
00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:06.240
be something else. You want there to be something to blame,
497
00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:10.000
something that is a one in a thousand chants, or
498
00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:12.480
one in a probably more than one in a thousand,
499
00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:16.639
one in one hundred thousand chants of something happening, or
500
00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:19.880
one in a million chants. You don't want to think like, oh, well,
501
00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:22.559
she just slipped, because that could be any one of us.
502
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:26.480
It could be. And I do just want to say
503
00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:35.239
regarding the people who filmed the recovery of her, there
504
00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:41.719
is a headline that says TikTok Ghoul, who filmed police
505
00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:46.639
recovering Nicola Bully's body, says he's learned his lesson, but
506
00:34:46.760 --> 00:34:48.760
calling him a TikTok ghoul.
507
00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:57.880
I mean, mm hmmm, it's it's fitting, it is, and
508
00:34:57.960 --> 00:34:59.599
I think that there is and I don't know if
509
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:02.480
this is this same person or if it was somebody different,
510
00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:08.320
but there was also somebody I think on YouTube and
511
00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:11.920
he like also filmed himself getting like fined for doing
512
00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:15.639
some of this stuff. And it's like, wow, no lessons
513
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:18.000
learned to her, No lessons's learned.
514
00:35:18.519 --> 00:35:19.599
Just looking for the attention.
515
00:35:20.920 --> 00:35:21.360
Mm hmm.
516
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:29.440
Wow. Well that's a tragic accident story that I wasn't
517
00:35:29.480 --> 00:35:34.400
familiar with. And you can just see when you type
518
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:38.199
in her name into Google all of the different articles
519
00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:44.440
that were clearly obsessively like following this case, so it
520
00:35:44.599 --> 00:35:46.599
had a lot of eyes and ears on it.
521
00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:50.960
Yeah, it definitely did. This is probably the first case
522
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:56.800
that I've researched that I haven't combed through every piece
523
00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:01.840
of source material out there. Typically, any article that is
524
00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:07.920
available I am browsing through. But this case had just
525
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:14.000
so much out there. So if anybody's interested in learning more,
526
00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:19.280
there is just an enormous amount of information out there.
527
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:26.159
I think people were probably wanting some outlandish story to
528
00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:30.119
unfold as to what happened to her. But you know,
529
00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:32.679
as you said, it was as unassuming as going for
530
00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:35.679
a walk with your dog and something happening.
531
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:43.159
Yeah, unfortunately, Yeah, all right, Well until next week, stay safe,
1
00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:04.639
On the quiet morning of January twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,
2
00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:07.759
Nicola Bully set out on a routine walk with her
3
00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:13.160
dog alongside the scenic river Wire in Lancastershire. What began
4
00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:17.399
as an ordinary day quickly spiraled into a mystery that
5
00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.000
would grip the nation. With Nikola's bone found on the
6
00:00:21.079 --> 00:00:24.239
riverside bench and her dog nearby, but with no trace
7
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of her, the search efforts became a race against time.
8
00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:44.240
I'm Danielle and I'm Megan, and this is off the trails.
9
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We are in the full swing of December slash holiday chaos.
10
00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:56.200
We are it's we started to record, well, we set
11
00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:01.119
our time to record forty six minutes ago, and I've
12
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gone through two computers, several mics, several sets of headsets,
13
00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:11.799
several adult tantrums, and here we are starting four to
14
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six minutes after we intended to.
15
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And the funny part about that is and now my
16
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dog And now my dog is barking in the background,
17
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so I'm really patiing. Is fine? Everything is fine?
18
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.719
All right? So now that we got through my chaotic
19
00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:36.560
introduction for the episode, do we have any other business
20
00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.120
or things we want to discussed before we get going.
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I don't believe, so.
22
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Okay, and our next two episodes are going to be
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mini episodes, correct.
24
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No, I think I still have a full length one
25
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and then the last two are minis.
26
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You are correct, all right? Some month's going by so
27
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fast it is, so today we're heading to Lancashire, England. Okay,
28
00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:12.360
fun have we done any cases in England yet?
29
00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:18.439
I believe the only time we've mentioned it is in
30
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one of our Sunday Scary episodes when we talked about
31
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the Bolton Strid.
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With the little man jumping over the.
33
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Don't even start. If you want to get through this episode.
34
00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:32.280
Do not put that image in my head. Once they
35
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start laughing, I can't stop.
36
00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:39.479
All right. So the River Wire is a picturesque waterway
37
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kind of like what I pictured, what you described in
38
00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:48.759
that episode, and it is a tidal river flowing approximately
39
00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:52.879
twenty eight miles or forty five kilometers from its source
40
00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.719
in the forests of Poland, and then it ends up
41
00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:03.039
in an estuary and and Irish Sea. Eventually it passes
42
00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:09.439
through charming little villages, including Saint Michael's on Wire and
43
00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:15.319
there is also a long distance footpath and nearby reserves
44
00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:19.520
like Fleetwood marsh make the river like a popular destination
45
00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:26.120
for walking and outdoor enthusiasts, So that's where we're heading today.
46
00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:33.599
Kind of just a nice area among neighborhoods and villages.
47
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:38.039
On the morning of January twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,
48
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so just just under two.
49
00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:41.919
Years ago, this is recent.
50
00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:47.439
It is just before eight thirty am, Nicola or she
51
00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:51.360
went by Niki Bully, left her home with her two
52
00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:54.800
daughters to drop them off at school. After drop off,
53
00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:57.919
she briefly chatted with another parent before heading to the
54
00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:03.280
riverside path near River Wire with her dog Willow. Around
55
00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.479
eight point fifty someone who knew Nikki was also walking
56
00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:10.719
their dog and they spotted her on the path. And
57
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this apparently was kind of like a working walk for
58
00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.879
her because at eight fifty three she sent an email
59
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to her boss. Then just before nine o'clock, she messaged
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a friend before jumping on a team's call at nine
61
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oh one. So, unlike a lot of the cases we cover,
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there's a very specific and tight timeline leading up to
63
00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:38.399
her disappearance.
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00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:42.600
Yeah, that must be helpful in what I'm assuming will
65
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be a coming investigation.
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It's interesting, it's not really helpful despite being like so
67
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so specific.
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Well, damn, it's funny.
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Not funny, but it's interesting. How you know, we've covered
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cases where there are literally days unknown activity prior to
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00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:05.000
someone going missing, and we have minute by minute and
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it's like the same outcome. Nobody knows. So after she
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logged into that call at nine oh one, her video
74
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and microphone were off and they remained that way throughout
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the call. So she was logging in and just there
76
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to lurk. That's what I call that when I when
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I do.
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That, I was gonna say, we've all been there in
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those meetings. Camera off, mike off.
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Hope, nobody addresses me specifically. At nine to ten, another
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00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:37.759
person walking along the path spotted her, and this is
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believed to be the last confirmed sighting of her. Although
83
00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:45.759
the team's call ended at nine thirty, her phone actually
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stayed connected.
85
00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:52.839
Beyond that, her phone stayed connected to that meeting. Correct, okay.
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00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:58.480
Her partner Paul noticed around nine thirty that Nikki hadn't
87
00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:02.759
returned as she usual would have by that time. Initially,
88
00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.839
he wasn't concerned, assuming she must have run into somebody
89
00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:09.399
and stopped for you know, just a longer chat than usual.
90
00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:15.800
At nine thirty three, though, another person who was out
91
00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:20.279
with their dog came across Nicki's phone, which was placed
92
00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:24.680
on a bench by the river. The dog's harness was
93
00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.519
on the ground between the bench and the river, and
94
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Willow was by the river. She was dry, but alone
95
00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:38.480
and appeared distressed.
96
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Whoa yep.
97
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So by ten thirty Paul began to worry because he
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knew that Nicky had a meeting at eleven. So even
99
00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:55.480
if she had run into somebody and ended up chatting longer,
100
00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:58.959
or ran an error or something, it's now ten thirty.
101
00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.160
He knows that she's got some at eleven o'clock, so
102
00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:04.800
he's starting to be concerned. So that's when he started
103
00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:09.560
trying to get in touch with her and was unsuccessful. Strangely,
104
00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:13.000
her phone ended up at the children's school. I'm not
105
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sure how that happened. I don't know if that person
106
00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:21.399
who found the phone at nine thirty three brought it
107
00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.759
to the school. I don't know if they went into
108
00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.600
the phone and saw it was a local parent. I'm
109
00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:31.279
not sure what the scenario was, but somehow it ended
110
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up at the children's school, and then the school ended
111
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up calling Paul to inform him that both the phone
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and the dog Willow had been found, but there had
113
00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:44.360
been no sign of Niki.
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So someone dropped the phone off at the school. M hmm,
115
00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.360
what about the dog? Where did Willow end up?
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I don't know. It didn't specifically say, but I'm assuming
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I'm assuming the dog went with went to the school.
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I don't know. I just thought it was strange that
119
00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:05.519
the phone ended up at the school, or that the
120
00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:09.560
school was the one calling about the phone. Yeah, I agree,
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But I'm also not sure if the person who found
122
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the phone and the dog doing the same thing, like
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00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:19.959
they had dropped their kids off and then they take
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the dog for a walk and you know, maybe it's
125
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like their routine and they typically saw me as well.
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You know, I'm not sure. Despite the detailed timeline of
127
00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:32.440
her movements that morning, it's unclear what immediate actions were
128
00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:36.240
taken on that first day to search for her. I'm
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sure searching was done, but I was unable to find
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00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.440
any detailed information about any searching that was done before
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January twenty eighth, so she was reported missing. I did
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listen to the initial Uh is it nine ninety nine
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in the UK?
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00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:57.559
Maybe confirm that?
135
00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:02.559
Yeah, I think nine nine nine and yeah, so she
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00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:05.320
was reported missing and obviously you know things were set
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in motion, so.
138
00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:10.759
You are correct. Just to confirm for all of our listeners,
139
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the UK's main emergency phone number is in fact nine
140
00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:15.480
nine nine.
141
00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:19.440
Thank you. So on the twenty eighth, that's when the
142
00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:24.120
Lancashire constablary I always feel like these English words have
143
00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.840
like too many syllables for me to say properly.
144
00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:31.000
Some of them are tongue twisters.
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They are launched a major search trinicky. They used drone,
146
00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:40.840
helicopter search dogs. They were also supported by the Lancashire
147
00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:45.840
Fire and Rescue Service, the Boland Mountain Rescue Team and
148
00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:50.159
the Northwest Underwater Search Team. Then on the twenty ninth,
149
00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:53.200
about one hundred volunteers from the area join the search.
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On the thirtieth, police said that they were keeping an
151
00:09:56.919 --> 00:09:59.919
open mind about what may have happened, but they didn't
152
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.240
I believe Nikki's disappearance was suspicious. Essentially, they didn't believe
153
00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:07.840
any foul play or a third party was involved. At
154
00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:12.120
that point, they were continuing to look for any eyewitnesses
155
00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:15.000
who may have been in the area that morning, and
156
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they were just following up on any leads that were
157
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coming in. Underwater search teams were focusing heavily on the
158
00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:25.639
area around the bench where her phone and the dog
159
00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:32.120
were found, and in this area it's the river isn't
160
00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:37.480
very wide, but there is a little bit of a
161
00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:42.720
steep slope going into the river. But from what I read,
162
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typically the river isn't very deep either, usually running about
163
00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:50.320
like three feet deep in this stretch, but they're had
164
00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:53.200
been a lot of rain in December and January, so
165
00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.320
it may have been a little bit deeper. The thinking
166
00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:00.879
also was because there's quite a lot of raw in
167
00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:06.320
this river, that if there was a body in the river,
168
00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.000
they were kind of expecting it to get caught up
169
00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:13.480
and not travel quickly to the sea.
170
00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:17.360
At least did they say anything about the temperature of
171
00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:20.840
the water being a concern or the strength of the current.
172
00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.600
I didn't see anything specific noted about either. I mean,
173
00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:27.759
I think it was cold, right, but I didn't see
174
00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:33.080
anything really specific about current. I did see some video,
175
00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:36.840
and there is obviously a flow to the river. It
176
00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:40.679
is a tidal river, but I wouldn't classify it as
177
00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:44.399
like a rushing river necessarily. But there is a pole,
178
00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.639
there is a pull to it by February third, police
179
00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.639
publicly stated their belief that Nikki had likely fallen into
180
00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:55.320
the river, and given the heavy focus of the search
181
00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:58.679
on the river from the beginning, it seems to me
182
00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:03.080
at least this would have and their working theory all along. However,
183
00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:06.720
the official announcement might have been intended to just provide
184
00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:10.559
clarity to the public and to the media, just ensuring
185
00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:15.360
that everybody understood the direction of the investigation, because speculation
186
00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:19.559
and accusations had already been starting to fly in this case,
187
00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:25.679
and at this point the family sort of disagreed that
188
00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.919
that was the situation. You know, they were still holding
189
00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:30.559
out hope that you know, she had not gone into
190
00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:32.840
the water, and were asking people to still keep an
191
00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.039
eye out for her. In a lot of the cases
192
00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:38.799
we've covered, we've talked about a lot of the positive
193
00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:43.159
ways that social media can help in these searches, you know,
194
00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:49.039
spreading the word about missing people, rallying volunteers, raising funds
195
00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:53.679
for either the search effort or medical expenses, even helping
196
00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:58.879
families cover ultimately, you know, funeral costs, which without social media,
197
00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:02.480
a lot of those things would not be possible. However,
198
00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:08.039
as we know, social media also has a much darker side,
199
00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:12.639
which sadly did play a big part in this case.
200
00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:14.080
Oh man, Okay.
201
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From the start, alongside traditional media coverage, theories surrounding Nicky's
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disappearance began trending on Google and TikTok and wherever else
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pretty much immediately. This case just really caught people's attention,
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like across England in real time. I kind of.
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Picture it similar to how Gabby Patito's case kind of
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really resonated with people here and people really got very
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invested in her search for her case.
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Yeah, people were extremely intrigued with her case and just
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chomping at the bit for the next development.
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Yeah. Through the power of the Internet, people with just
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no personal connection to either of those women were able
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to get deeply invested in their stories and research their backstories,
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and find their social media and really involved themselves in
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these women's lives in a way that prior to social
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media never would have happened. In Nikki's case, the online
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activity just quickly spiraled and beyond the usual trolls, amateur
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sleuths began digging into her personal life and that of
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her family, while they were also just really scrutinizing every
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action taken by law enforcement during the investigation and search.
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Which not saying that scrutinizing law enforcement is a bad thing,
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but I think it does pack or can impact the
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active investigation.
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Right.
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Just think about trying to type your password in if
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your boss is standing behind you. You can't do it.
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Try and format an Excel file with somebody watching you,
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you can't do it. Stressful good examples, you know, totally
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same level as Surgic furmasing person. The location where her
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phone and dog were found turned into almost a tourist attraction,
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with people visiting to take photos and like create videos
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for themselves. Some people were even as terrible to go
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and exploit hashtags or video titles like Nicola Bully found
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just in an attempt to go viral, because rible. That's
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you know, people were keeping an eye out for that
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or looking for that, or put a Google alert for
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those things, and you put that in your video and
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now people are going to see it.
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Yeah.
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Escalated so much that police ended up having to issue
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a dispersal order to just manage the number of visitors
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using like visitors to the area. And this is all
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just while Nikki is still missing. It's one thing for
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certain locations to become kind of like a morbid tourist
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destination over time. But this is during an act of
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search and investigation. Just I don't know, it just makes
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the behavior, particularly in foretastes in my opinion anyway.
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Yeah, I was just about to say the same thing, like,
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let them do their jobs, because right now you are
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taking them and those resources from the investigation because they
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are trying to control these people who are so fixated
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on the case and going to that location and just
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taking things a little too far in there when it
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comes to their interest in the case.
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Yeah. Definitely, Internet slothing and social media involvement in these
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high profile cases have serious consequences in any type of case.
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It makes investigations and searching just more complicated or they
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take longer, and in situations where foul play or criminal
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activity is involved and these people are just interjecting themselves,
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it really can screw up the legal process. And then
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of course then you have misinformation rumors, the conspiracy theories
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that just spread so quickly online, and depending on the
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type of investigation, a lot of those leads have to
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be followed up on, and when they're fake, it's just
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a huge waste of time. Yeah, and unfortunately a lot
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of times people share information that they know is not true.
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You know, another negative aspect of social media in these
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situations is people are put on trial by public opinion
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despite their not being legal evidence. And that's what happened
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to Nicky's partner, Paul. I think we all know the
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common saying in the true crime space, the husband did it.
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And yes, statistically you are most likely to be killed
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by your partner versus a stranger or some other type
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of relationship, but that statistic alone doesn't stand as evidence.
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Right, And unfortunately, some people take their speculation too far
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and it becomes just blatantly accusing someone of something and
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where they don't have any evidence to back that up.
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And also it's not their job to accuse anyone. That
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this is when it's like, let the investigators do their jobs.
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Yeah. But despite continued daily searches of the river and
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the fact that police were still saying that they didn't
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believe i wul Play was involved and that they were
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continuing to investigate the slim possibility that she may have
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left the area on foot unseen, people felt certain that
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Paul had killed her. So beyond people just theorizing that
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he caused her disappearance. People were actually sending Paul threatening
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and just horrible messages. They were reaching out to him,
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and these people totally harassing him and threatening him. And
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these were people that did not know Nicki, did not
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know Paul, had no connection to their family in any way,
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just total strangers taking it.
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Way too, way too far.
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On February fifteenth, police stated that social media and people
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playing detect sims both hurt Nicki's family and the investigation.
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They also mentioned that Nicki was considered a person with
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specific vulnerabilities, which only added to the speculation fire. So
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they later tried to clarify things and said that what
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they had meant was back in January, the police and
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health professionals had been called to the house due to
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concerns related to alcohol and menopause. So I think the
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implication was that maybe she had been leaning a little
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too heavily on drinking to deal with Perry or menopause symptoms.
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But they're very strange details to share if you're trying,
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especially if you're trying to stop people from making wild
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speculation and accusations, to share that information. It's just enough
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information to I think continue speculation, but just it gives
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people new things to speculate about. I don't know. I
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just thought it's very strange.
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Yeah, it's a it's very odd information to disclose.
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Yeah, and typically health information isn't disclosed unless it's going
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to create a like a variance from typical lost person behavior.
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You know, if somebody has dementia or if someone has autism,
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something of that nature, where if you're searching for somebody
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and their behavior might be different than expectations, or if
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or if they're trying to create a sense of urgency,
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like someone is insulin dependent or they have seizures and
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you know, without their medication, reaching out to the public
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for help or something like that. But I don't I
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don't know what the intent behind sharing that inform. Yeah,
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I don't know.
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I agree, And I don't know if it's.
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One of those things where like you have pressure from
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like all angles and you're feeling flowed us and you
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just say something and you're like, I don't know why
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I said that, but like on a professional level in
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a press conference, I don't know.
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Just like you got to give us something like, well,
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she was going through menopause, has the metopause, she had
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the menopause, Like what is why did I say that?
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Right?
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How did I share that?
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And I know that right? And I don't know if
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if the information makes more sense to people who live
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in the UK, you know obviously, like just because we
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speak English, I sometimes you think like, oh, like Canada
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and the UK Australia, like we speak English, I know
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what it's like to live there. We don't. There are
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nuanced things and cultural things that we don't get. So
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I don't know if there's more nuanced information to them
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disclosing that information that I just don't get or or not.
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I don't know, or if everybody was like it was
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just weird. On February nineteenth, a couple walking their dog
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discovered Nicolo Bully's body near a fallen tree in the
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river wire approximately one mile or one point six kilometers
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downstream from Saint Michael's on wire.
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And that's where she went in or that's where they is.
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It was about a mile downstream from where they found
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her phone and Willow m hm. Weird. Feels like that
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would have done within the search radius.
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It definitely was. The police quickly recovered the body from
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the reads and undergrowth. While police were working in the area,
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some random people climbed over a fence pretending to be journalists,
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which I think even journalists you're not allowed to just
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climb over fence to do what they were doing. And
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they were taking photographs and videos of them removing the
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body from the river. So oh my god. Yeah, so
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one person ended up being arrested later. So people, this
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was just like a media frenzy this case.
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Wow.
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The following day, February twentieth, Lancashire Constant Hilary confirmed that
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the body was Nikki's and they had used her dental
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records to make the identification. The cause of death was
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not immediately determined, and a coroner's inquest was open on
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June twenty sixth. The ink quest revealed that data from
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her fitbit indicated she likely entered the water at nine
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twenty two. Unfortunately, that fitbit hadn't backed up or synced
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to her phone since the prior day to her disappearance,
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so that's why that wasn't any help to investigators until
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the fitbit itself was found, and the inquest concluded that
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her death was an accidental drowning, with no evidence suggesting
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that she had been harmed before entering the water, or
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that she had entered the water intentionally. Everything indicated that
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it really was just some type of accident. The police
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were criticized for releasing the comments about Nikki's health and
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the alcohol use. Many people did see the comments as
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sexist because just why and if the information was truly
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key in helping to find her, the information should have
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been shared in the very early days of the investigation.
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And to your point about that area being within the
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search radius, there was so much scrutiny and critical commentary
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about the fact that it was so close to what
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they believed was the initial entry point to be there.
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I think that scrutiny was warranted because there was They
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spent a lot of time searching. There was a lot
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of search teams, and I'm not saying that they weren't
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doing their job. I think people definitely weren't doing their job.
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But I think the point of scrutiny in this situation
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is to look at say like, hey, can we do
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something better, look at it constructively, can we do something
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differently next time, or how can we change things to
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improve our process? Because so there was never a question,
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there was never a question.
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That they searched that area when her body was not there,
393
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and then her body ended up there after the fact,
394
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or they just it was just a really bad oversight
395
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and they should have seen they should have found her
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body there.
397
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I didn't read anything that indicated that there was concern
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that perhaps there was third party involvement and her body
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had been dumped in the river after the area had
400
00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:10.680
initially been searched, if that's what you're asking. So I
401
00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:16.240
did see a comment that these search teams were looking
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00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:20.200
in the water and where her body was found was
403
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like kind of like up on the side of the bank,
404
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a little bit like in the reeds. So although I
405
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:32.960
feel like searching along the river bank would fall within
406
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.960
the searching of the river, in my opinion, the comment
407
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was kind of like, well, we were searching in the water,
408
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and she wasn't found in the water.
409
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Like they didn't walk search dogs or cadaver dogs up
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and down the banks or both sides of the banks,
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like at least a mile down the river.
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They had search dogs. So I don't know if it
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was one of the situations where body was caught somewhere
414
00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:06.519
and then later ended up there and that's why the
415
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:10.319
dogs missed it visually. It was missed because they did
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have drones and helicopters the first couple of days.
417
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.240
Okay.
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00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:18.160
In October of twenty twenty four, a documentary was released
419
00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:21.559
on BBC one, which I couldn't find any way to
420
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access because we're outside the UK. I was even going
421
00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:28.960
to be willing to pay for a month of some
422
00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:31.160
sort of streaming to be able to watch it, and
423
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I couldn't get it. So if somebody knows how to
424
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get it, let me know. But I couldn't figure it out. Oh,
425
00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:40.720
and the documentary focuses on her family, and her family
426
00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:44.359
just expressed how difficult it was to be at the
427
00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:48.039
center of all that attention and for Paul to be
428
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the target of those false accusations. This was the worst
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time of their lives, and Paul was trying to cope,
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and he was trying to take care of their two
431
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small kids, and there were just strangers that were harassing
432
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:08.519
him and essentially just out to get him that whole time.
433
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Yeah.
434
00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:17.559
Viewers criticized the documentary for spending too much time discussing
435
00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:21.880
the armchair detectives and the social media frenzy, which I
436
00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:25.759
think is funny because it's probably the same pool.
437
00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:27.519
Of people exactly.
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00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:34.119
Like, Yeah, we didn't like being called out, and we
439
00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:37.640
both do this podcast because it's something we enjoy. But
440
00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:43.759
we know that behind every headline there are real people, victims,
441
00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:48.640
their families, and the communities, some of which, no matter
442
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:53.480
how long ago the incident happened, these people may still
443
00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:56.920
be grieving or dealing with the aftermath. Yeah, so we
444
00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:01.119
really do try and handle these stories respond possibly try
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00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:05.440
and prioritize accuracy by finding credible sources. If we can't
446
00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:10.000
fact check something, we either don't include it or we
447
00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:12.880
make it clear that we weren't able to verify. You know,
448
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:15.039
I think we both do that. We're like, I tried
449
00:30:15.079 --> 00:30:17.880
to find this out but we couldn't find it, but
450
00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:19.599
I'm going to share it, but just know that we
451
00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:24.680
couldn't verify it. And then if something is our opinion
452
00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:28.039
or our personal theory, we always make that clear as well.
453
00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:32.319
We're mindful of the language we use, refraining from unnecessary
454
00:30:32.359 --> 00:30:36.680
graphic details to inform rather than exploit or sensationalize.
455
00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:41.160
Yeah, for these cases and episodes involving tragedies, we really
456
00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:46.160
try and focus on promoting safety and awareness whenever possible.
457
00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:50.599
And I also try and go beyond just retelling the
458
00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:56.039
event and try and look for other takeaways from the story.
459
00:30:56.519 --> 00:31:01.039
Like today's story, Nicky had a simple accident during an
460
00:31:01.079 --> 00:31:05.440
everyday activity. But the bigger takeaway I think is just
461
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:11.640
a reminder of how our words online really can impact others.
462
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.400
You know, jumping into chat forums or groups can be fun,
463
00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:20.400
but it's just a good reminder to remember that anybody,
464
00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:24.519
even victims' families, could read your words, so just be
465
00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:29.279
mindful of that. Obviously, a lot of the people that
466
00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:35.400
were harassing Paul and reaching out to Nicky's extended family,
467
00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:39.759
they were doing way more than jumping into a Reddit
468
00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:45.279
forum and having some discussions on theories.
469
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:48.440
But yeah, things to.
470
00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:55.160
Keep in mind just in other situations. Talking through theories
471
00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:57.799
I think is always going to be part of our
472
00:31:57.880 --> 00:32:02.880
discussions here, but I hope that we do always approach
473
00:32:02.920 --> 00:32:07.400
it respectfully and you know, from a place of curiosity
474
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:14.640
and interest and not out of just speculation. And it's
475
00:32:14.759 --> 00:32:21.279
off the cuff commentary, right. So that is the story
476
00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:30.079
of Nicola Bully, and unfortunately it was just one of
477
00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:36.119
those incidents that you can't predict, which resulted in someone
478
00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:40.160
losing their life. And two young girls losing their mom
479
00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:43.799
and someone losing their partner daughter family.
480
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:47.640
And I'm looking at pictures of the area where her
481
00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:52.440
phone was found on that bench, and it does it
482
00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:57.559
just looks like a really quiet river. It's not. It
483
00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:06.839
doesn't look aggressive or exceptionally big. So it's just really
484
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:09.240
sad to think that there must have just been some
485
00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:13.240
sort of misstep or you know, she slipped in or
486
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:17.359
got too close to the bank, and I don't know
487
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:20.279
what happened. We don't know what happened, obviously, but yeah,
488
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:22.200
it's very sad.
489
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:28.319
And I think, and I do wonder if part of
490
00:33:28.359 --> 00:33:32.759
the reason that people were so drawn to this case
491
00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:39.720
is that it was such an everyday activity where she
492
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:44.480
went missing. You know, people literally walk their dogs in
493
00:33:44.519 --> 00:33:49.599
their neighborhood every day. And I think sometimes I think
494
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:56.680
sometimes you don't want to believe that a simple accident
495
00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:00.599
can occur like that. You know, you want it to
496
00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:06.240
be something else. You want there to be something to blame,
497
00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:10.000
something that is a one in a thousand chants, or
498
00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:12.480
one in a probably more than one in a thousand,
499
00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:16.639
one in one hundred thousand chants of something happening, or
500
00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:19.880
one in a million chants. You don't want to think like, oh, well,
501
00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:22.559
she just slipped, because that could be any one of us.
502
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:26.480
It could be. And I do just want to say
503
00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:35.239
regarding the people who filmed the recovery of her, there
504
00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:41.719
is a headline that says TikTok Ghoul, who filmed police
505
00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:46.639
recovering Nicola Bully's body, says he's learned his lesson, but
506
00:34:46.760 --> 00:34:48.760
calling him a TikTok ghoul.
507
00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:57.880
I mean, mm hmmm, it's it's fitting, it is, and
508
00:34:57.960 --> 00:34:59.599
I think that there is and I don't know if
509
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:02.480
this is this same person or if it was somebody different,
510
00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:08.320
but there was also somebody I think on YouTube and
511
00:35:08.360 --> 00:35:11.920
he like also filmed himself getting like fined for doing
512
00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:15.639
some of this stuff. And it's like, wow, no lessons
513
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:18.000
learned to her, No lessons's learned.
514
00:35:18.519 --> 00:35:19.599
Just looking for the attention.
515
00:35:20.920 --> 00:35:21.360
Mm hmm.
516
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:29.440
Wow. Well that's a tragic accident story that I wasn't
517
00:35:29.480 --> 00:35:34.400
familiar with. And you can just see when you type
518
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:38.199
in her name into Google all of the different articles
519
00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:44.440
that were clearly obsessively like following this case, so it
520
00:35:44.599 --> 00:35:46.599
had a lot of eyes and ears on it.
521
00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:50.960
Yeah, it definitely did. This is probably the first case
522
00:35:51.159 --> 00:35:56.800
that I've researched that I haven't combed through every piece
523
00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:01.840
of source material out there. Typically, any article that is
524
00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:07.920
available I am browsing through. But this case had just
525
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:14.000
so much out there. So if anybody's interested in learning more,
526
00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:19.280
there is just an enormous amount of information out there.
527
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:26.159
I think people were probably wanting some outlandish story to
528
00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:30.119
unfold as to what happened to her. But you know,
529
00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:32.679
as you said, it was as unassuming as going for
530
00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:35.679
a walk with your dog and something happening.
531
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:43.159
Yeah, unfortunately, Yeah, all right, Well until next week, stay safe,