Bride To Be Missing: Foul Play or Cold Feet?
 

Search halted in case of missing bride-to-be

Investigators testing hair, but have no other leads
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:07 p.m. ET April 29, 2005

DULUTH, Ga. - Police halted their search for a missing bride-to-be on Friday, saying they had “turned over probably every leaf in the city.”

The announcement came minutes after the family of 32-year-old Jennifer Carol Wilbanks announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to anyone responsible for her disappearance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7665482/

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Do you think she got cold feet and left or what? I'm not sure.:confused:

No, if she had gotten cold feet she would have taken her ID and her cc and probably some cash.

I suspect foul play.

I was just talking about this with a co-worker. I think she's dead. :(

So do I. :( I hope that I am wrong, but I doubt it.

I think she's dead too. :(
Cold feet-- you would likely take id, ccards or some cash at least.
And was it a random crime, or the hubby-to-be?

I think she's dead too. :(

This case reminds me a little of what happened to someone I was friendly with in high school. He was getting married in San Francisco (early 1996, if I recall correctly) and had left the rehearsal dinner the night before and was never seen alive again. His body was found the next morning outside of a parking garage; it has never been determined if he fell, jumped or was pushed. It was upsetting for me, someone who hadn't even seen him in probably 10 years and I can't even imagine how horrible of an ordeal it was for his fiance and family.

I hope Ms. Wilbanks is okay, though.

She's been found alive in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The mystery continues...

She has admitted that she hopped on a bus to Vegas and then went to New Mexico because she had gotten cold feet. It sounds to me like this family is pressuring her to get hitched. Read this line from the newest update on CNN:


Her father, Harris Wilbanks, said a new wedding date will be set after they talk to her.


Uhhh..HELLO??? She went to pretty huge extremes to avoid getting married. Think maybe she shouldn't marry this guy???

I cannot believe that she did not confide in any family member about her reservations. I think the least she could have done was to leave a note for someone to say that she needed some time alone.

I think she's the most selfish person alive. How can anyone do that to their families? Did she ever think about their suffering? How about all the people who searched for her? I hope her fiance doesn't want to marry her after this.

Georgia bride-to-be fabricated abduction story
 

Georgia bride-to-be fabricated abduction story
Saturday, April 30, 2005 Posted: 9:22 AM EDT (1322 GMT)


Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, was missing since she went jogging Tuesday evening.

(CNN) -- A Georgia woman, who was found in New Mexico early Saturday and who said she had been abducted, admitted today she had made up the story because she was nervous about her upcoming wedding, police said.

Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, had told them she had taken a bus to Las Vegas, Nevada, and on Saturday had taken another bus to New Mexico.

Earlier, Wilbanks had told family members and police that she had been abducted by a man and a woman in a van. She was to be married Saturday.

"Agents and detectives learned Miss Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided she needed some time alone," Schultz said.

Police in New Mexico said she will face no criminal charges, despite her false kidnapping story. When asked what would happen in Georgia, Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher told reporters: "No criminal charges."

Spokesman Mike Satterfield read a statement from the family.

"It has been determined that Jennifer has some issues the family was not aware of. We're looking forward to loving her and talking with her concerning these issues," Satterfield said. "There have been so many people who helped us through this and we want to thank all of them."

Rest of article

In an article she claimed that she didnt expect it to gain national attention - but with the fact that she is pretty and wealthy, the media jumped all over it .

Yesterday, I was watching John Walsh from AMW on CNN, and he was talking about why the media picks the abduction/missing person cases that it does (which was because of looks, race and wealth) because according to the FBI's website, there are currently over 22,000 missing women over 18 (and that's just the one's that are reported).

Its sad that there are more serious cases out there, and the media hopped all over this one when in fact, she was hitching a hreyhound to New Mexico.

I am glad that she is alive and I was wrong. She must have felt really desperate to run away like that.

I can understand why she could bolt because of wedding pressures.

What I don't understand is why, after all the national media, did she not contact her family immediately.

Surely in towns from Duluth GA to Nevada to New Mexico, they have newspapers and/or TV!

A lot of the emotional stress was brought on by the media attention, and the insistance of so many that they repeat their uncertainty over and over, cry for the cameras, etc.

None of those people would have cared had the media not picked this up as a major story.

If she had, for example, been a poor minority, this wouldn't have mattered at all to anyone but the family and friends.

This kind of thing is really not all that uncommon.

That said, she apparently has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old.

Coming from a family that uses heavy pressure on others, I can understand. Yeah, she should've left a note or something, but I don't think she was the only one being insensitive....IF her folks really were pressuring her to get married. With some people, you have to do extreme things to convince them that you are serious. I realllly hope they don't get married - for her and his sake. :rolleyes:

Me too.

Just heard on CCN...which may/may not be true;)

Supposedly Jennifer had bought a bus ticket before she
"vanished".... so it sounds planned to me... stay tuned....

14 bridesmaids?

Anybody who wants to blow so much money on a wedding is missing the toy in her Happy Meal.

I'm glad she is alright but that is NOT cool to do that to her family and friends.

We need to stop agreeing hoosier, it's bad for business...

You know what this dumb dumb daddy's girl needs to do? Pay back EVERY SINGLE tax dollar that was spent looking for her stupid ass. Every minute that a police officer or emergency worker searched for her, every cent that the flyers were printed on, every single minute of face time the media wasted on this.

She certainly seems like she has the money.

What he said! 14 bridesmaids...who the hell does she think she is...Star Jones?????


Also I am with you Stan...Daddy needs to pay back all that money spent looking for her. Better yet, make her ass pay it off.

Oh yeah as for her fiance, i would dump her ass!
She F-ed up! NOT cool to do that to family and friends... She was DEAD WRONG!

I am really not surprised.

From Yahoo
 

Please if she didnt know it got so blown out of proportion why make up the kidnapping story? :rolleyes:


Her cowardly ass should make a public apology to everyone that got involved in all this. Who needs 14 bridesmaids and 600 guests?? Who knows that many people to invite to a wedding anyways? Cut back on the wedding expenses and pay back tax dollars.

I love this woman on CNN who's like "anyone who's planned a wedding before knows the stress of it, and it should be no surprise...."

No bitch, most of my friends who got cold feet told their respective loved ones...

I'm sorry, but when rich people get mad at dirty people like me and complain that "we have problems too".....I have to say "shut up".

Re: From Yahoo
 

small hijack...
If the dad/mom were rich execs, they probably invited a good chunk of their respective board members to "show off" what their money can do. It's really sad, but it happens all too often. :rolleyes:

And I agree... the fiance needs to run far far FAR away. No need for this kind of showy drama. Gosh, imagine what would happen if they had a small squabble after they were married.

She should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Imagine if the social class, race, or gender of this person were different. They wouldn't be able to depict her as "America's sweetheart who is an innocent victim of wedding stress and her own indecisiveness."

Convict this woman and stop wasting time on her. While people were looking for this idiot there are tons of thousands of people who really ARE missing, murdered, and/or exploited.

I wouldn't be so disgusted if she hadn't called her parents and made up the story. If she just returned home sheepishly, I would be a little more forgiving.

Yeah.

I suspect if she had done that, this wouldn't be a newstory and no one but her friends and family would be talking about it/give a damn.

My cousin got married today, and his bride showed up an hour and a half late. As we were waiting, someone said, "I hope that she's didn't go to New Mexico!" :p

:eek:

I totally agree. I can understand her stress and freaking out, but surely she could have been HONEST about it!! Let's face it, someone having 600 guests and 14 bridesmaids probably also had a wedding planner doing the lion's share of the work, too!


Btw, I did think it was FOWL PLAY!
http://www.everythingchickens.com/si...3lg-68x100.jpg

I know. It was raining so she had hair trouble. Then the car got lost going to pick her up. Then they got stuck in traffic. Then aliens came along and abducted her to run a few experiments. Then she realized that it was Daylight Savings Time, and we had sprung forward an hour. Then she finally arrived for her wedding.

:p ;)

I was just annoyed because I could have slept an extra hour this morning if I had known.

Apparently none of you have ever realized you were making a huge mistake three days before your wedding, bawling your eyes out in your apartment because you don't know how to stop this huge $20,000/ 400 guest wedding machine. I wish I'd disappeared, instead of marrying the jerk and putting up with his abuse for a year before filing for divorce and getting nailed big time financially. Some of you assume that all families are functional and would take a wedding cancellation in stride and be supportive. Not all are.

Why, after she went to such lengths to avoid this wedding, would the father say that they would reschedule it? Do you think someone who would say that would have been supportive if you'd told him you wanted to call it off a week before the wedding? How many people are told "Oh, it's just cold feet" and push them to go through with it? If you have any hesitancy at all, you should NOT go through it. If the only way to do that is to disappear, then you disappear. It isn't against the law for an adult to go away without telling anybody. But, don't make up a story about being abducted either. That part was wrong.

Dee

I can appreciate the idea of getting cold feet. It's a few days before the wedding, everything is in place, tens of thousands of dollars have been spent, and suddenly you're not sure you want to go through with it. It might seem like the only option is to run away.

What gets me is that she didn't leave a note. All she had to do was write a quick note about needing a little time alone to think things through. Getting married is a big step. Worse, she made up that abduction story. This all shows how irresponsible she is. She's got some serious growing up to do before she even thinks about getting married.

I was thinking about this and I had to go back to look and see how old this woman was.I could sympathize with the cold feet,however she is 32 years old.That is old enough to be able to stand up,even to the parents,and voice an opinion about the path she wants her life to take.SHe can't use the argument that she didn't want to hurt or upset people because what she did is far worse than just upsetting them by voicing an opinion. I don't even want to use the word selfish to describe what she did because I think it goes even beyond that.This was callow and callous, insulting,uncaring and immature.

I definitely have to agree with this. It only takes a second to write a quick note to her parents or even fiancee. What was she planning on doing if she wasn't found in New Mexico? Just let her parents and fiancee believe she was abucted and worse probably killed? That's really sad--especially considering all the hundreds or maybe even thousands of women who have disappeared and turned up dead or just never found at all. She probably didn't even think of all the police officers and volunteers who spent so much time looking for her.. just about herself.

I don't care about her "wedding woes." That's her business. That's life. Mentally and emotionally unstable people (such as this woman) are ill equipped to deal with life's issues without going over the edge and that's their business.

This became headline news because she lied. She should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law without consideration for ANYTHING ELSE that's going on in her looser life.