← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · weisbrot
Thread ID: 18044 | Posts: 13 | Started: 2005-05-01
2005-05-01 12:38 | User Profile
[url]http://abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=718708[/url]
Many in Bride's Town Feel Betrayed by Hoax
Some in Duluth, Ga., Feel Betrayed by Bride-To-Be Who Fled, Initially Claimed She Was Kidnapped By KRISTEN WYATT The Associated Press
May. 1, 2005 - The hunt for Jennifer Wilbanks consumed this tight-knit town when she went missing four days before her wedding. Still, despite a safe return 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 initially told authorities that she had been abducted while jogging.
But Wilbanks was picked up late Friday by police in New Mexico after a cross-country bus trip that took her through Las Vegas, Nev., to Albuquerque, where she eventually admitted her kidnapping story was fabricated.
When Duluth residents learned that Wilbanks ran away because she had cold feet, they thanked God she 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, although more than 100 officers led a search that involved several hundred volunteers, including many wedding guests and members of the bridal party.
She was "scared and concerned about her impending marriage and decided she needed some time alone," Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said. "She's obviously very concerned about the stress that she's been through, the stress that's been placed on her family."
Wilbanks returned later 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 called for Wilbanks to face criminal charges, even though Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher said none would be filed.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, however, said he still has 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. "It is premature to talk about criminal charges, but I do have some questions.
"But if we learn that this was a premeditated act, that would push me closer to pressing charges," he said.
Some residents 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."
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."
Associated Press writers Anna Macias Aguayo in Albuquerque, N.M., and Harry R. Weber in Atlanta, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright é 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures
2005-05-01 14:32 | User Profile
[QUOTE=weisbrot] "She's obviously very concerned about the stress that she's been through, the stress that's been placed on her family." [/QUOTE]
[I]Stress[/I] is definitely a female problem; practically every issue of a woman's magazine that hits the newstands has the S word on it in some shape or form. What a lovely excuse to taint what would have been a man's joyous day.
2005-05-01 15:01 | User Profile
She ain't Claudette Colbert. "Runaway Bride", my heinie.
Look, if her old man has the juice to cater a swank nouveau riche hitching then the codger has the cutter to reimburse the 100+ cops who wasted days on this hoax.
Or nail the C-word on Fraud charges...
2005-05-01 15:28 | User Profile
The man found out his fiancée is totally nuts just in time.
I don't believe love is really blind, just short-sighted. This guy knows it would be stupid to marry that woman. But, he may still do it.
2005-05-01 15:50 | User Profile
The groom sure dodged a bullet there!
2005-05-01 16:51 | User Profile
If a man did what this broad did, he would be stewing behind bars. Its the great female double standard at work here. A good-looking chick can get away with anything, up to and including murder.
2005-05-01 19:30 | User Profile
[QUOTE=CornCod]If a man did what this broad did, he would be stewing behind bars. Its the great female double standard at work here. A good-looking chick can get away with anything, up to and including murder.[/QUOTE]
And, while the man is being sent to jail, the media would be bemoaning how bad men are to women and that the man is getting off easy because he's a man. Magnify this double standard by 100 for the black/white double standard.
2005-05-01 23:54 | User Profile
[QUOTE=CornCod]If a man did what this broad did, he would be stewing behind bars. Its the great female double standard at work here. A good-looking chick can get away with anything, up to and including murder.[/QUOTE]Yep, its disgusting really.
Did you hear that old saw, a radical feminist is a woman who only sleeps with policeman and prosecutors?
I hope some dim-witted man doesn't get some dumb idea that he could do the same thing from this. The police would lock him up and throw away the key - probably with his fiance's blessing.
2005-05-02 22:17 | User Profile
She lied to a police officer about being kidnapped and needs to be charged. I hope that that her groom and the taxpayers get to sue her in court for the expenses and damages that she caused them. If she didn't want to marry, then she should have broken up with the man earlier.Yes, I agree with you guys, it is a double standard. There have been cases of women suing men for expenses and distress when the guy left them at the altar.
2005-05-03 14:51 | User Profile
The well-intentioned but totally clueless groom has already announced that he will take her back, even though she apparently bought the bus ticket a week in advance, so this little escapade was not a result of sudden panic. What a moron. :wacko:
2005-05-03 15:52 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Quantrill]The well-intentioned but totally clueless groom has already announced that he will take her back, even though she apparently bought the bus ticket a week in advance, so this little escapade was not a result of sudden panic. What a moron. :wacko:[/QUOTE]
Caving in to women like this is like giving in to terrorists. It only encourages them to make more and more unreasonable demands. Actually I am exaggerating, terrorists are much more rational and predictable :lol:
2005-05-03 15:58 | User Profile
I'm sure this chick's book and movie are already in the works by some schlomo looking to make a quick buck on the media hype.
Look for the "bride's" long laundry list of all those "little things" wrong with her husband-to-be that really drove her into "depression" and an "addiction" to xanax to alleviate her feelings of being "trapped" in a likely "unfulfilling marriage". The "pressure" of 600 people at the wedding would be too much but her "mean" fiance insisted on the "big wedding" when all she wanted to do was elope.
Shed a tear, it's a story that's big in 'Merrikuh.
2005-05-03 16:11 | User Profile
My thoughts on this, the lady is over 21 and she is free to do as she wishes.
They want money from her for the time that was wasted in looking for her and that's wrong. That's like last year when the only individual that I know in this are came to my door and I didn't aswer it (hes a pest) so the guy turned around and called the cops.
The cops cames and when I opened the door they asked me if I was OK and I said "yes, why?" they answer me back "because you dind't answered the door when your friend called on you" and I said "why should I? this is my home and if I don't want to answer the door that's my business" they thank me and left.
Remember now that I live in the middle of nowhere and the cops came from a long way, soooooooo should I pay the cops time for comming all the way up here because I didn't want to answer my door?
Like I said this lady is over 21 and a free woman and she can do what she wants and the fact that she didn't tell anyone does not mean that she should pay anything for her search, however, she is guilty of filing a false report and should pay for this by serving time but she will only be on provation for two years......any bets?
PS: I told this guy to get F*ck and never to come into my property ever again or I would have him arrested for tresspassing.