Runaway Bride

Wouldn't it been better to just say i got cold feet? Or i don't want to get married.

The hunt for Jennifer Wilbanks consumed this tight-knit town when she went missing four days before her wedding. Despite a safe return Saturday welcomed by family and close friends, some residents of this Atlanta suburb feel betrayed by what turned out to be an elaborate hoax.
Volunteers searched woods and alleys, crawled in sewage drains and stayed up late looking for the 32-year-old local woman who was picked up late Friday by police after a cross-country bus trip that took her through Las Vegas, Nev., to Albuquerque, N.M.
She initially told authorities that she had been abducted while jogging, but eventually admitted her kidnapping story was fabricated and she had run away because she had cold feet.
When Duluth residents learned the truth, they thanked God Wilbanks was safe "? then shook their heads at her act.
"I'm glad that she's alive and OK, but it was a dirty trick," said Louise McCoy, waiting in line at the Duluth post office Saturday "? the same day Wilbanks was supposed to be married in a lavish ceremony that included 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen.
Police said there would be no criminal charges, but Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said he still had some questions.
"A tremendous amount of law enforcement resources was used in what turned out to be a hoax," Porter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for Sunday's editions.
More than 100 officers led a search that involved several hundred volunteers, including many wedding guests and members of the bridal party.
Porter said based on the information he had received, falsely reporting a crime is the only charge that would fit Wilbanks' case. The misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
"It is premature to talk about criminal charges," Porter said. "But if we learn that this was a premeditated act, that would push me closer to pressing charges."
A Wisconsin college student who faked her own abduction last year and turned up curled in a fetal position in a marsh was ordered to repay police at least $9,000 for their search. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of obstructing officers and was given three years' probation.
Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said Wilbanks was "scared and concerned about her impending marriage and decided she needed some time alone."
Wilbanks returned Saturday by plane to Atlanta, where she was picked up in a squad car on the tarmac "? with a towel covering her head "? to avoid the media.
There were no family members at the airport to greet her, but her stepfather and an uncle had flown to Albuquerque to escort her home, authorities said.
Wilbanks decided to call her fiance and police with the story about the kidnapping when she found herself broke in Albuquerque, according to authorities.
In her 911 call, Wilbanks sounds frantic and confused, telling an operator she was kidnapped from Atlanta by a man and a woman in their 40s who were driving a blue van. Through sobs, she tells the dispatcher they had a small handgun.
At one point, the operator asks if Wilbanks knows what direction her captors went after dropping her off in Albuquerque.
"I have no idea. I don't even know where I am," she says.
Moments after the word came Saturday that Wilbanks fled town and hadn't been kidnapped, most of the police who'd been guarding her house since Tuesday night pulled away. Fliers with Wilbanks' picture were pulled down from local store windows. Some residents removed yellow ribbons they'd put on their mailboxes.
Many were visibly angry Saturday.
"There should be some responsibility for all this expense to the police," said Jo Cripps, eating boiled crawfish at a downtown Cajun restaurant. "Certainly she owes an apology to all the people who came out and volunteered."
Another resident, Amanda Melby, called the disappearance "a disgrace."
But some marriage counselors said running away was an extreme but understandable reaction to the stress of the wedding and the fear of disappointing others by backing out.
"Sometimes it's like being stuck in a river getting whisked over a waterfall," said Dr. Charles Raison, a psychiatrist and Emory University instructor. "The current is so strong, you can't fight it."
After police reported the hoax, the mood outside Wilbanks' home went from jubilant to somber. Family members ducked inside and the blinds were drawn. They later expressed relief that she was safe.
"Sure, we were all disappointed, maybe a little embarrassed, but you know what, if you remember all the interviews yesterday we were praying, 'At this point let her be a runaway bride,'" said the Rev. Alan Jones, who was to perform the wedding. "So God was faithful. Jennifer's alive and we're all thankful for that."

[Craes]

weddings apparently are very scary, had no problems at mine...

Recently (last week) same thing kinda happened in Lee Co. Groom made it to the porch of the chuch, but never inside. He left, came back 30 minutes later, they are still together just not married.

[imported_Belle]

I would hate to be the person left at the altar. I wonder how he felt, especially after it was all over the news. Embarrassing.

[imported_elp6n]

DULUTH, Georgia (CNN) -- While authorities pondered whether to charge her with a crime, runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks stopped short of a full apology when she met with state investigators Monday, an agent said.

Wilbanks cried when she met with them, said Carter Brank, an assistant special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

"She was somewhat remorseful for what she had done. She didn't come right out and apologize," Brank said. "She didn't feel like she really had done anything wrong. But she did -- in her way -- make somewhat of an apology."

Wilbanks recounted how she cut her hair to disguise her appearance before she caught a bus heading west to escape her wedding, he said.

Authorities said they believe a crime occurred when Wilbanks, a 32-year-old medical assistant from the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, reported she had been abducted by two people and driven away in a van, but they have yet to determine if they will prosecute.

She could face a charge of making a false police report, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail, or making false statements to authorities -- a felony that carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment.

"I guess the thing that doesn't make sense to me ... is this idea that she said I didn't really think anybody would look for me or I didn't think the police would look for me," Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said Tuesday morning. "It flies in the face of common sense."

Porter said he was still looking at the facts before deciding how to proceed with the case.

The city of Duluth may also take civil action to recoup about $40,000 to $60,000 from Wilbanks for costs incurred in her hometown's search for her, Police Chief Randy Belcher said at a Monday evening news briefing.

Wilbanks's attorney, Edward L. Hartness, said neither he nor his client had any comment. She "needs time to heal with her family and time to heal with her fiance," Hartness said.

Wilbanks' fiance, John Mason, 32, told CNN his "only concern now is to get Jennifer well."

According to The Associated Press, Mason told a Fox TV interviewer he had given Wilbanks back the engagement ring she left at the house before she disappeared for four days. The couple still planned to marry, Mason told the interviewer.

"My commitment before God to her was the day I bought that ring and put it on her finger, and I'm not backing down from that," Mason told Fox.

Wilbanks, who had been scheduled to get married last Saturday in front of 600 guests and 28 attendants, disappeared last Tuesday evening, prompting three days of searching.

On Friday, she called Mason from a pay phone in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and said two people had abducted her, then retracted her story during questioning by the FBI and police. Albuquerque police said they will not file charges.

Returning to Atlanta late Saturday, Wilbanks handed a statement for reporters to a flight attendant shortly before landing.

Porter said Monday he was not persuaded Wilbanks had come clean yet.

"There's something about the statement she gave today that doesn't ring completely true and, <font color="brown"> to tell you the truth, I think that her absorption with herself is so great that she just really doesn't understand what the consequences of what she did are," </font color> Porter said.

He would not say whether he plans to file charges.

Duluth residents, including some of the 150 volunteers who had helped search for Wilbanks, had a mixed reaction to her return. (More hometown reaction)

Duluth Mayor Shirley Lasseter said the cost of the search was more than $60,000.

Last year, a Wisconsin college student who faked her abduction was sentenced to probation and ordered to reimburse police. (Full story)

Timeline of case
At Monday evening's briefing, Belcher gave an extensive timeline of the case.

He said Wilbanks purchased a Greyhound bus ticket from Atlanta to Austin, Texas, on April 19.

Belcher said she called a taxi from a gas station April 26 before she went on her run, telling the taxi to pick her up at the Duluth library.

Authorities said they believe that before she hopped into the cab she cut her hair with scissors and left a clump of it near the library -- evidence found during the search for her.

She then took the cab to the main Greyhound station in Atlanta and boarded a bus. She got off in Dallas, Texas, and changed to a bus bound for Las Vegas, Nevada, that passed through Albuquerque.

After spending some time in Las Vegas, she made her way back to Albuquerque before she called her fiance early Saturday, Belcher said.

Belcher said he drove to Mason's home to join the call.

He said he "clearly identified" himself to Wilbanks as the chief of police and that she told him that when she was jogging last Tuesday, a Hispanic male and white female jumped her from behind, placed her in a van and drove off.

"At this point, she did violate Georgia law by advising me of this situation -- that she was kidnapped," Belcher said.

[imported_elp6n]

GAINESVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- Jennifer Wilbanks, the so-called runaway bride who went missing for days in advance of her wedding, will "make amends" for money and time spent on the extensive search for her, her attorney said Thursday.

In an interview on CNN's "American Morning," attorney Lydia Sartain painted a sympathetic portrait of her client as a woman who -- overwhelmed by pressures stemming from her upcoming nuptials -- bought a cross-country bus ticket "sort of as a safety precaution."

The 32-year-old medical assistant was "feeling if she couldn't get through in the days to come, that she would have that, that she could leave on the bus," Sartain said. "In her mind, she used that ticket at the last time she could.

"I'm grateful she got on the bus and used the ticket rather than doing something harmful to herself."

Wilbanks failed to return to the home she shared with her fiance in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth on April 26 after telling him she was going jogging. She resurfaced four days later in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a false story about a Hispanic man and white woman kidnapping her, police said.

She has acknowledged that she bought a bus ticket on April 19 and arranged a taxi to drive her to an Atlanta bus station the night of her disappearance.

Sartain said Wilbanks "very definitely is apologetic" and has made a public apology.

"She's spoken with the mayor of the city of Duluth," Sartain said. "She deeply regrets the inconvenience and the pain she has caused people."

Duluth estimates the search cost as much as $60,000 -- and that Wilbanks should pay for some of it -- but Sartain said a number hasn't been finalized.

"We're just trying to assess the situation and see really what the issue is going to be and see what those costs may have been or may not have been," Sartain said. "That's something that's certainly under discussion.

"She knows she has caused a lot of problems and cost people time and money. She's very sorry about that. She will certainly do whatever she needs to do to make amends for that."

But Sartain added that "Jennifer is not a criminal."

"She did not act with criminal intent," she said. "What she really is is a very troubled young woman who got caught up in something she was not able to adequately manage. I do not believe she has committed a crime in Georgia, in Gwinnett County. I do not believe jail time would serve any purpose in this case."

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter has said he is considering a criminal case against Wilbanks, who could face a charge of making a false police report -- a misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail -- or making false statements to authorities -- a felony that carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment.

Sartain said Wednesday night that Wilbanks "has not been physically or emotionally able to speak on her behalf."

"She can't even get through a conversation with me without breaking down," she said.

The attorney added that her client is seeking professional help but didn't elaborate. Her fiance, John Mason, has been "very supportive, he's very protective," she said.

The attorney first issued a written statement to the media Wednesday as demands for a public apology increased.

Sartain and the Rev. Thomas Smiley, pastor of Wilbanks' church, are expected to hold a news conference at 4 p.m. ET Thursday at Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville, north of Atlanta. Wilbanks attends the church.

On Tuesday, Fernando Mateo, president of Hispanics Across America, a New York-based group, called for an apology to the Hispanic population of the United States, and especially those living in Georgia and New Mexico, because Wilbanks had falsely accused a Hispanic man of kidnapping her.

"The Hispanic community has been hurt enough," Mateo said. "She should apologize to us first, then her fiance and her family."

This is getting more bizarre as it goes along. Susposedly now this woman has been arrested 3 times for shop lifting. Once she actually had to pay restituition and do community work.
People are now questioning whether she will be charged for the false 911 call, and who is gonna pay for the $45,000 dollars spent looking for her.
Sounds like this womans problems run a little deeper than just cold feet.
Beginning to sound like she is psycho or a drama queen.
I do wonder though what they will do about the fake 911 call.
Anyone else would of done been locked up, for making a false police report.
Story just gets stranger the more things come out.
What gets me is the details she give police.
What would of happened had police acted on that, false report, and ended up in a lawsuit.
And after today's news. Geesh if anything, i think if i was the groom i'd be running. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]