Did Facebook help or hinder search for missing Corrie Mckeague?

The airman, who became a dad to daughter Ellie nine months after his disappearance, was officially declared dead in 2022, but his body has never been found.

After years of searching an inquest ruled he had died after climbing into a Biffa bin before it was tipped into a waste lorry.

Nicola, a former police sergeant, came to accept the ruling and eventually said the Suffolk Police had “got it right”, after previously being critical of its handling of the investigation.

When she felt the force was not listening to her or taking her theories and suggestions seriously, she took to social media to put pressure on officers.

One Facebook post, next to a photograph of Nicola searching through woodland, was shared almost 270,000 times around the globe.

“We wouldn’t have had the investigation we did without the support we had from local people and over 100,000 people giving me a loud voice,” Nicola told the BBC.

“I would write a post on Facebook and the public would then get right behind it – there was a direct correlation between social media and the local people and [action].

“It probably made it very difficult for the police, but for us social media was fantastic, had a massive impact and it was so good for me as someone searching for their son.”