I just heard a blip on GMA this morning that they(or someone) believes that this was a hoax? :confused:

Has anyone else heard this?

well, she's changed her story and said that she was still abuducted, but not from her apartment. That she'd gone out on Saturday night because she wanted to be alone, and was abducted somewhere else in the city.

This is so wierd... I feel bad for her if this really did happen, because right now pretty much no one believes her. On the other hand... it's WAY shady.

i agree... hopefully time will tell if she was really abducted or if this was a hoax for some attention. i really hope it's not the latter because i can only imagine how people like dru sjodin's family and the families of the thousands of other abducted children would feel - it's like giving them hope that their child could be found and then saying just kidding :(

It sounds like someone REALLY needs some hard-core counselling.....

(Article was linked from Fox News but the AP, CNN, etc are essentially carrying the same story.)

Cops: Audrey's Kidnap Story a Hoax
Police said Friday they are no longer seeking a suspect in the case of the 20-year-old college student who originally claimed she was abducted from her apartment building at knifepoint, after they discovered several inconsistencies in her story.......


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115959,00.html

(Don't miss the part where the authorities claim a video tape showing her purchasing the rope, tape, etc, she was allegedly bound with.)

Sad. This young lady needs some help.

--add
:(

I've been following this today. So sad.

Doesn't it make you wonder what was so "wrong" in her life she felt she had to do something like this?

Somewhere between recanting WHERE she was abducted, she told police she just wanted to be alone...

This is really, really so sad.

http://www.kpvi.com/index.cfm?page=n...es.cfm&ID=1679

ACCORDING TO CHIEF NOBLE WRAY, WISCONSIN STUDENT CHANGES STORY


Our top story this afternoon-- a University of Wisconsin student who disappeared from her apartment nearly a week ago has changed her story.

Audrey Seiler (see'-lur) now says she was not abducted from her apartment, but from somewhere else in Madison. Jeannie Ohm has the latest from Madison, Wisconsin.

There's been another strange turn in the case of the Wisconsin college student. Audrey Seiler first disappeared over the weekend. She was found four and a half days later in a marshy area.

Madison police just wrapped a very brief news conference. They did not take any questions. But they did not ever use the word hoax, but they did say that there were a lot of inconsistencies among Audrey Seiler's statements, a witness statement and the physical evidence.

But most significantly Chief Noble Wray of the Madison Police Department said Audrey herself had changed her story.

(Chief Noble Wray/Madison Police)
"She was presented with these confirmed inconsistencies that resulted in Audrey admitting that in fact she had not been abducted at her apartment at all."

Adding to some confusing out here, the chief went on to add that Audrey (regarding that composite sketch), Audrey said she was not abducted from her apartment building, but she was taken at knife-point at a different location in the city.

So the chief on the one had said that Audrey admitted that she had in fact not been abducted, but later on went to say that she was taken at knife-point in a different location rather than her apartment building.

And the police chief and other officials have refused to clarify at this point only to say that the investigation continues.

More info:

http://www.madison.com/captimes/news/stories/71518.php

One of my sisters told me that Audrey had been dealing with depression (I'm not sure if she read this/saw it on the news or knows the girl personally) so that could play into what happened. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some other mental issues at play. However, it's still really sad/scary/frustrating/sick that she could do that.

I have known how she feels in the "I just wanted to be alone" thing and I know many many other people who have, and none of them have pulled anything like this. Not to mention that getting caught pulling a stunt like this isn't going to make you feel any less alone -- people feel really manipulated now. I wouldn't be surprised if she transfers again/takes off from school entirely.



And no, I'm almost positive she's not Greek (unless she joined during spring rush).

If she did this to herself, it is a serious cry for help. I feel badly for everyone involved. :(

It is a serious cry for help.

When I was in the 8th grade my mom started dating again. I ran away from home for 3 days because I wanted attention. I know it's not the same but something must've made her want to do this.

So sad that this woman used this particular method of attracting attention. It sounded so fishy to a lot of people, right from the beginning.

Similar scenarios have occured twice here in the DFW area in the past several months. Those women are being prosecuted for the waste of law enforcement manpower & expense. The same thing should happen to Audrey Seiler. This "crying wolf" will eventually make us (communities) less willing to believe REAL victims & abduction reports.

this saddens me after dru's story. now it's getting to be spring so she's likely to be found. how sad.

What really scares me is the next woman who really IS abducted - how seriously will it be taken? Will it be seen as another woman with a mental disturbance or PMS, or will they really try to find her?

Just like mmcat said, it's only a matter of time before Dru is found. Let's not forget that one person abducted against his or her will is one person too many!

I was kind of waiting for her to just explain that she was getting extra credit in her "Victims in the Media" class or something. It is amazing how the media jumped on the bandwagon and even though it's a hoax, many networks have decided to create their own news. I saw Fox had an "expert" psychiatrist on this morning trying to diagnose her behavior as crazy.

For me, it's actually kind of entertaining to watch this stuff go on.

Actually, I don't think that it will make that much of a difference. From what I've heard, most police stations face a number of faked crimes every month, including faked abductions. It's not usually not that difficult to tell whether or not the allegations are legitimate. There's a reason why the Madison police department took this case so seriously despite its inconsistencies -- a few years ago a woman accused someone of rape and because of the inconsistencies/lack of evidence, the police basically said she was lying. A while later she came back with proof that the rape had actually happened. So the police station did NOT want that kind of thing to happen again.

In general I don't think Audrey's case will have much effect on the rest of the abduction cases in the U.S.

This is one of the times that I'm very, very glad to be wrong!!