Missing bride-to-be Victoria Taylor is feared to have entered a river in her hometown, police said today.
Victoria, 34, has been missing for nine days since she vanished without trace after leaving her home in Malton, North Yorks., last Monday (September 30).
Police searching for her today (Wed) said there is a "significant possibility" that she entered the River Derwent, near where she was last seen.
Victoria, known as Vixx to her friends, was captured on CCTV at a BP garage and more footage showed her with this bag of items at Malton Bus Station.
CCTV then shows her headed towards a riverside playpark near the River Derwent, where her purchased items were later recovered.
Victoria, 34, has been missing for nine days since she vanished without trace after leaving her home in Malton, North Yorks., last Monday (September 30).
Police searching for her today (Wed) said there is a "significant possibility" that she entered the River Derwent, near where she was last seen.
Victoria, known as Vixx to her friends, was captured on CCTV at a BP garage and more footage showed her with this bag of items at Malton Bus Station.
CCTV then shows her headed towards a riverside playpark near the River Derwent, where her purchased items were later recovered.
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FunTranscript
00:00Okay, thank you for attending today as we continue to search for 34-year-old Victoria Taylor, who is known locally as Bix.
00:10She's still missing from her home in the Norton area of Moulton.
00:14I'm here today to provide an update to the local community on the police response to finding Victoria.
00:22But firstly, I want to acknowledge the unimaginable level of distress that Victoria's family are going through following her disappearance nine days ago.
00:32We have put specialist officers in place to link in directly with the family and provide them with support to keep them updated with our strategy and any developments.
00:42The family are supportive of the police response and we are working together in our efforts to find Victoria.
00:50Victoria left her home at 9am on Monday 30th September.
00:56She was then seen on CCTV at 11.35am at the BP garage on Welland Road. That's in Norton.
01:05She's then purchased several items and we've further confirmed sighting of Victoria, which was captured at 11.53am on the Monday at Moulton bus station, which is on Railway Street.
01:18Victoria is seen to be carrying a bag, which we believe contained the items that were purchased at the BP garage.
01:27Additional witness evidence supports the fact that Victoria did not enter the station and we have no reason to believe that she's used transport at that time, public transport.
01:38In the last 24 hours, we've also recovered further CCTV footage which shows Victoria walking towards the play park on Riverside Walk.
01:48This was at 12.30pm.
01:51Various items that belong to Victoria have been recovered from this location.
01:56Since receiving the initial report of Victoria going missing, we've made every effort to find her.
02:02Previous releases of information made by North Yorkshire Police highlight the scale of inquiries undertaken to date.
02:09And I would like to reiterate that based on the current information, no indication of any form of third party involvement has been established and we're still treating this as a missing person inquiry.
02:21As with any investigation, we are very open minded and will continue to explore all lines of inquiry.
02:29Based on the discovery of Victoria's belongings so close to the water's edge, we must accept the significant possibility that Victoria has entered the River Derwent.
02:41Searches are currently underway taking place in the river and those searches have been taking place above and below the water's surface.
02:51The team are using specialist sonar equipment which gives officers a view below the surface.
02:57This search is slow and complex and the team are working methodically in very difficult conditions.
03:05The use of this specialist resource will continue in the coming days and we are very much supported by this work on a national level by police and advisers.
03:15Additional specialist police search officers are using drones to scour the rural areas close to where Victoria's possessions were also found.
03:26Over the coming days we will continue our search to find Victoria and ensure that we are doing all that we can to support the family.
03:34Understandably, the disappearance of Victoria has shocked the local community and the family take comfort in the overwhelming amount of support from people both local and family.
03:47We have seen a small amount of misinformation and speculation which is not helpful and is causing unnecessary anguish to Victoria's family at this time.
03:57Victoria's family have made it clear on various social media platforms following the sharing of this inaccurate information that their wish is to work only with North Yorkshire Police in our efforts to locate Victoria.
04:12They have asked that I take this opportunity to reiterate their position.
04:17Finally, we have taken advice on a national level to ensure that we are doing all that we can to achieve the best possible outcome for Victoria and her family.
04:28As Head of Local Policing for North Yorkshire Police, I have every confidence in our ongoing response to the missing person search for Victoria.