Missing Bride Found

[injuredinmelee]

She is so Full of Crap

Woman who vanished days before her wedding is found alive
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A 32-year-old woman who vanished just days before her wedding was found alive early Saturday in New Mexico after calling her fiance from a pay phone and saying she had been kidnapped, authorities said.

Jennifer Wilbanks had been missing since Tues., when her fiance reported that she went for her nightly run and didn't come home.
AP

Jennifer Wilbanks was safe and in police custody more than 1,420 miles from her home in Duluth, Ga., said Kathy Mabry of the Albuquerque Police Department.

The bride-to-be had been missing since Tuesday, when her fiance reported she went for her nightly run and didn't come home, according to Duluth police.

Wilbanks called her fiance, John Mason, early Saturday and said she had been kidnapped, her stepmother said. "Jennifer said she thought the people got scared because of all the media coverage and just let her go," Ann Wilbanks told The Associated Press.

As she spoke to Mason, Duluth police traced the phone call to Albuquerque, the stepmother said. She said the family would fly to Albuquerque later Saturday.

Mason told CNN that he wanted to "bust into tears" when his wife called.

"I grabbed the phone and just started talking to her until the police came here. She was scared, she didn't know where she was."

On Friday night, police in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth began dismantling a search center, saying they had no solid leads. Relatives offered a $100,000 reward for information.

The couple's wedding was set for Saturday. Six hundred invitations had been mailed, and the wedding was to feature 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen, Wilbanks' family has said.

from USA TODAY

[CHS_CG]

I am happy she was found alive and safe.. but something seems a lil fishy to me.. I dunno, maybe its just me..

[CHS_CG]

They are now sayin it was a case of cold feet. she told the FBI or police that she was concerned about her upcoming wedding and needed to have some time to herself.:mad:

[LH Panther Mom]

He needs to dump her sorry butt!

[jason]

i would leave her.....no girl is worth going thru what that guy went through......

[CHS_CG]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
He needs to dump her sorry butt!

Her parents need to beat the living snot outta her! I was watchin Hannity and Colmes last night and her dad was about to break down! I felt bad for the guy, he seems like a very nice guy. I wonder how she got to NM and WHO is in NM she went to see. My mom had a feeling she had a lil something something on the side.

[footballmom]

Originally posted by CHS_CG
Her parents need to beat the living snot outta her! I was watchin Hannity and Colmes last night and her dad was about to break down! I felt bad for the guy, he seems like a very nice guy. I wonder how she got to NM and WHO is in NM she went to see. My mom had a feeling she had a lil something something on the side.

I just heard on the news that she road a bus to Las Vegas then to New Mexico. I would dump her ass too. The police were looking at him as a suspect. Poor guy, he deserves better.

[Maroon87]

Reminds me of the girl last year up in Wisconsin who staged her own "kidnapping" because she was under "stress."

[Ranger Mom]

If I was one of the volunteers living in that community who wasted hours searching the woods for her, I would be HOT!!

Her dad said "she has issues that we weren't aware of"--------ya think??

I hope her fiance moves on, this is the potential mother of his children. I hope she doesn't get "cold feet" when she has babies, no telling what she would do!

[Bandera YaYa]

omg ! What a dumb thing to do!! If she didn't wanna marry the guy, she just should have told him......and their relationship must not be that good...if he couldn't tell how upset she apparently was about it all.

[pirate44]

she wsa on the verge of having the world think her fiance was a murderer. this is a relief she aint dead, but she is a sick lowlife if this is what happened.

[44INAROW]

The fact she needed 14 bridesmaids explains alot to me :D :D she has some issues for sure....... Poor fiance' I bet they grilled him non-stop!

[Haunta Yo]

I know a guy that went AWOL for a week during his student teaching...It was about 3 months before his wedding and he just went camping on his own to think about all the changes. No one knew anything about his safety until he came back. It was really weird for that week he was "missing"...

Lots of people have "issues that their loved ones aren't aware of" , but consider the emotional roller coaster has she put everyone that cares about her through:

She's missing - Fear, frustration, panic, hopelessness and helplessness to pointlessly hopeful, yet still having to be defensive with inqusitions.
She's found alive - Relief, unadluterated joy coupled with disdain for those that accused you of being involved.
She's lied - Shame for being associated with the whole mess and involving thousands of people, confusion as to WHY she let this go on.

This is probably why police don't act so quickly on "missing person" reports when it's an adult. There's no crime in wanting to get away from everyone, but saying you've been kidnapped is another thing entirely.

[injuredinmelee]

Originally posted by pirate44
she wsa on the verge of having the world think her fiance was a murderer. this is a relief she aint dead, but she is a sick lowlife if this is what happened.

I heard OReilly hinting at her fiance was in on her disappearance on his radio show friday.

[AP Panther Fan]

Originally posted by injuredinmelee
I heard OReilly hinting at her fiance was in on her disappearance on his radio show friday.

television at it's finest!:rolleyes:

[District303aPastPlayer]

Originally posted by AP Panther Fan
television at it's finest!:rolleyes:

umm... he said radio show :)

[ILS1]

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- On the surface, Jennifer Wilbanks was a happy bride-to-be who showed no sign to friends or family that she wanted to call off her extravagant wedding.

But underneath, as she would later tell police after running away to New Mexico, Wilbanks was scared and not sure she wanted to go through with her big day.

Marriage counselors say Wilbanks' actions are 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 who has counseled people about marital concerns. "The current is so strong, you can't fight it."

Shame about canceling a wedding at the last minute can lead to feelings of helplessness, counselors say.

"They've committed themselves out there in public, to their partner, their minister, their community, their friends while they've been perhaps nursing some ambivalence, mixed feelings and they feel isolated without being able to share it with anyone," said marriage counselor Andrew Gee. "It's like they've committed themselves to a course of action they're not comfortable with. That would be a nightmare to me."

Police say Wilbanks cut her hair to disguise her appearance so no one would recognize her during her bus trip west. She left her identification, credit cards and diamond ring behind. There was no note, and, for four days, no call home.

Then, late Friday, Wilbanks called her fiance and said she had been kidnapped -- a story police later said was made up.

Raison said the size of the wedding -- as many as 600 guests and 14 bridesmaids -- may have overcome Wilbanks.

"Weddings are terrible stresses on people," he said. "They really try people's relationships, especially when they're one of these big productions."

Dr. Joan Miller, a marriage counselor in Marietta, Georgia, said Wilbanks' case of second thoughts before marriage is common, though people don't always react to their situations the same way.

"She had everything planned and had an effective way to address the situation," Miller said. "It's hard to understand what's going on in her head because we're not in her situation."

Gee said some brides-to-be are open with their families about their jitters, while others keep the feelings bottled up.

Running away "seems a little extreme," Gee said. "But it feels extreme if you feel like you're about to break a commitment or you can't break a commitment. So, she resorted to extreme measures it seems."

Another Atlanta marriage counselor, Leslie L. Brenner, said the case suggests better communication is important between couples.

"It's a good wake-up call for everybody going through an engagement," Brenner said.



Wedding Stress Experts Say........ (www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/30/wedding.stress.ap/index.html)