MISSING Nicola Bulley's parents fear someone has "got her" as she was in "good spirits" when they spoke a day before she vanished.
The 45-year-old was last seen in St Michael's in Wyre, Lancashire, at around 9.15am on Friday.
Mystery surrounds her disappearance after her mobile phone was found nearby still connected to a work conference call.
Nicola's pet springer spaniel Willow was also discovered - and was found in an "agitated state" when it was found close to where the mum was last seen.
Her parents Ernest, 73, and Dot, 72, have now expressed their fears and say Nicola's disappearance is totally out of character.
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They also told the Mirror "we will never stop looking for her" as the search entered its fifth day.
Recalling the last conversation with his daughter, Ernest said: "Her mind was great, we picked the children up the Thursday before she went missing, as we do every Thursday.
"We took them home, Nicola had had a meeting with her boss in Garstang and she said can you stay a bit later because I have an important client coming in on Zoom. We said 'no problem' and stayed.
"She had done her work and she was very upbeat about getting her mortgage sorted.
"I said we better go now and Nicola came to the front door, and I gave her a kiss and told her I loved her and that was the last conversation I had with her."
Lancashire Police said they are treating the case as a missing person investigation but are keeping an open mind.
The force also says there is nothing to suggest the dog walker was attacked.
But Ernest said there is no evidence Nicola fell in the river as she walked dog Willow so fears somebody may have "got her".
He said he asked the sergeant if there was a chance she was "taken" but was told police do not think that's the case.
But Ernest added: "I said 'how can you know that?', it's such an isolated area, the only way that has happened is if it was someone who knew her."
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Ernest said the family "dread to think" they will never see Nicola again as he does not how they would deal with that "for the rest of our lives".
Speaking about her daughter's children, he added: "We don't know how long we can keep going before they realise, they think mummy is coming home soon, but if this keeps going on and on I don't know where we are going to go or what to say to them."
Nicola's mum Dot also told how the nights are the hardest "when it gets dark" as she wonders how and where her daughter is.
It comes as the mum revealed her daughter was excitedly planning a spa break with sister the night before she vanished.
Dot told The Mirror sister Louise booked Ribby Hall on Friday morning and sent the confirmation to Nicola, "but she never got back to her".
Police tracked down a "potentially key witness" who may have been the last person to see Nicola as he walked his own dog at around 9.15am.
A timeline has also started to emerge of the minutes leading up to Nicola's disappearance.
The mum-of-two had taken her daughters, aged six and nine, to school then headed out on her regular morning dog walk.
At 9.01am, Nicola's employer, Exclusively Mortgages, said she had logged on to a team meeting but her camera and microphone were off.
She was last seen walking east along the towpath of the River Wyre at 9.15am on January 27.
A woman has now revealed how she raised the alarm after discovering a "worried" looking Willow running alone.
She also found her dog lead and harness and Nicola's phone on a bench heading towards Wyreside Farm Caravan Park.
The business owner said: "The dog looked worried so I tied her up and rushed home as I had to go to an appointment.
"I then went and spoke to my daughter-in-law and she immediately knew who the dog was, alerted the woman's partner and that was it - the police were on it."
Nicola is local to the area and regularly shared images of her walks with Willow along the river on app Strava.
Her last post on November 7 shows her walking her along the bank in the same route she is understood to have been on when she vanished.
An extensive search was launched to find the mum-of-two, involving police, firefighters, mountain rescue, underwater teams and the local community.
Officers are continuing to scour wooded areas, ditches, water margins and the grounds of an abandoned house.
Nicola's partner Paul Ansell told the kids at the weekend "Mummy's lost" causing them to break down in tears.
Speaking at the family home in Inskip, Paul said previously: "It is just perpetual hell. Utter disbelief.
"All we can say is we need to find her. She's got two little girls that need their mummy home.
"We have got to get some good news now."
Nicola has been described as white, 5ft 3ins tall with light-brown shoulder-length hair
She was last seen wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood, black jeans and olive green ankle wellies with her hair in a ponytail.
Nicola has an Essex accent and links to the Thornton-Cleveleys area near Blackpool.
Anybody who has seen her, or has information about where she might be, is asked to call 101, quoting log 473 of January 27.
The force said to call 999 to report immediate sightings.
