A “no body” murder probe has been launched after a woman vanished from a sleepy village several weeks ago – with enquires from police so far suggesting “she is likely to have come to serious harm”.
Julie Buckley, 54, has not been seen since late January. Detectives have not yet found a body during searches for the woman, from Christchurch near March in Cambridgeshire. However, as reported by the Mirror, the circumstances surrounding the incident have concerned officers enough to treat her disappearance as a murder.
Police said: “Although we have always wanted to find Julie alive, the circumstances suggest she is likely to have come to serious harm, so we continue to treat her disappearance as murder.”
It comes as two bungalows eight miles apart were cordoned off during the investigation. A 47-year-old man, from Christchurch, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody. Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit launched a “no-body” murder investigation on Friday. They have been carrying out inquiries into Julie’s disappearance “but so far to no avail”.
Detective Inspector Richard Stott said: “We are trying to piece together Julie’s movements before she disappeared so I would appeal for anyone who has seen her in the past few weeks to get in touch. We know she has links to places in the surrounding area including March, Manea, and Chatteris so I would urge people who live in those areas to consider if they have information that could be of use to our inquiry.
“We are in touch with family of Julie and specially trained officers are keeping them up to date on the police inquiry at this very difficult time. Although we have always wanted to find Julie alive, the circumstances suggest she is likely to have come to serious harm, so we continue to treat her disappearance as murder.”
Julie, who was at the centre of the murder investigation, was named in an update from Cambridgeshire Police today, Saturday (February 15). Anyone with information should contact the investigation team online here. Anyone without internet access should call 101 and quote Operation Dragonfish.