Rugby league star’s disappearance ‘exactly the same’ as missing Nicola Bulley, brother says

The brother of an ex-rugby league player who disappeared in the US more than a year ago says his case is “exactly the same” as that of missing dog walker Nicola Bulley.

Bryn Hargreaves, 36, vanished in Virginia on 3 January last year but while detectives believe his body may be in a lake, he has yet to be found.

Police were first called to his house after a neighbour reported water had been leaking into their apartment.

On arrival, officers found his door unlocked and the shower still running, with all his belongings - including a phone and laptop - inside.

“I feel like it’s exactly the same, I literally do,” his brother Gareth Hargreaves said, referring to Ms Bulley. “She’s disappeared without a trace. There’s no evidence of anything, except for her phone, the same as Bryn, and the police have just postulated that she might be in the river.”

“She could have been abducted for all they know, but they’re just thinking she might be in the river,” he told Wales Online. “And we’re just thinking maybe Bryn’s in the lake, but we don’t know. There’s no evidence. It’s just a theory.”

Mr Hargreaves, originally from Wigan, Greater Manchester, retired from rugby league aged just 26 after becoming disillusioned with the game and moved to the US 10 years ago.

He worked in the oil and gas industry and lived in Pittsburgh with his American wife who he’d met on holiday in Mexico.

When the couple split, he moved to West Virginia, but his brother said he was left feeling isolated during lockdown and had suggested he might move back to the UK.

His comments come as Ms Bulley remains missing nearly two weeks after she was last seen walking her dog near the River Wyre.

A specialist rescue team helping with the search pulled out of the investigation after suggesting that her body was “categorically not” in the stretch of river where she was seen.

Peter Faulding, from Specialist Group International, described the case as “baffling” and told reporters that he was “absolutely 100 per cent” sure that Ms Bulley’s body was not in the stretch of river scoured by his team of divers and sonar equipment.