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CNN Saturday Morning News
Bride-to-Be Staged Own Disappearance After Getting Cold Feet
Aired April 30, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Welcome back to CNN's coverage of the missing bride-to-be found alive earlier this morning. This is a story getting national coverage, has been for days. Police and family, friends and other people searching for Jennifer Wilbanks feared the worst.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they did. And we have been on the air for hours and the story has taken so many dramatic twists and turns. Here's what we know so far.
Her wedding was supposed to be in Georgia tonight, but Jennifer Wilbanks turned up today in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At first, she told police she had been kidnapped. Well now, the bride-to-be admits she got a case of cold feet. So instead of going jogging as she claimed, Wilbanks hopped on a Greyhound bus to Las Vegas Tuesday night and then got on another bus to New Mexico.
She called her fiance early this morning from a pay phone in New Mexico telling him this tall-tale. Now, a few hours later, Wilbanks admitted to police that she had made up the whole abduction story and that she couldn't handle the pressure of a big wedding.
Well, Wilbanks' wedding was to be a huge bash. Six hundred invitations had been mailed out. The wedding party consisted of 28 attendants. Today her pastor declared that Jennifer needs help. Despite the web of lies, police will not file charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY SCHULTZ, ALBUQUERQUE POLICE SCHULTZ: At 4:00 a.m. this morning, Ms. Wilbanks informed agents and detectives that she had not been abducted as she had originally claimed. Agents and detectives learned that Ms. Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided that she needed some time alone.
Ms. Wilbanks had traveled from the Georgia area to Las Vegas, Nevada, via bus. Earlier today, she traveled from Las Vegas back to the Albuquerque area. Again, via bus, arriving this evening. She remained in the Albuquerque area traveling around the southeast area heights until approximately 12:38 hours when she called 911.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Jennifer Wilbanks' wedding has been canceled, and her family heads to New Mexico today to reunite with their daughter. Reverend Alan Jones, the minister that planned to marry the couple tonight, well, he held a news conference last hour and spoke of the pain her family and fiance are going through at this hour.
Charles Molineaux is in Duluth, Georgia, with the latest on that -- Charles?
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'll tell you what, Duluth, this is an area that came together like one great big family when everybody thought that something may have happened to Jennifer. And now, of course, the situation is radically different. And people are relieved but also dealing with some other issues here as they realize that Jennifer snookered them with a story of theirs.
It has been a wild ride here over the past three days. First concerns that she was missing, perhaps kidnapped. Then the story that she was safe and sound after being kidnapped, and then finally this morning we got the final word that she had apparently had some issues with the entire idea of this huge wedding that she was going to be embarking upon and took off.
A dramatically disturbing story for her family, an issue that is probably, in most cases, a private one between a couple or at least a family that has taken in the entire community and made headlines all over this country. A good friend of Jennifer says that she had no idea -- she could have had no idea this would have turned into a great, big criminal case, that it took on a life of its own like, well, a wedding does, which may be part of the story as to how this all developed like this in the first place.
But we did hear from associate Pastor Alan Jones earlier this morning. Now, this is the fellow who's going to be marrying this couple. He had been counseling them on the way to their wedding, and then ended up counseling the family through the very frightening days when Jennifer's whereabouts were unknown and now is trying to look ahead and figure out whether there's going to be any wedding at all. Listen to what he said earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN JONES, PASTOR FOR JENNIFER WILBANKS: I don't know about future wedding plans. I can't speak for that. I will speak for John. He's probably not going to be talking to the media for a couple of days since he's had no sleep. And John's inside now resting. But again, thank you. Keep us in your prayers. Keep Jennifer in your prayers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLINEAUX: Pastor Jones says that this is a family that is disappointed, embarrassed. On the other hand, he said hearken back to where they were yesterday afternoon, when it was their most fervent prayer that Jennifer might turn out to be a runaway bride. Well, fortunately and unfortunately, those prayers have been realized -- Tony, Betty?
NGUYEN: Charles, tell us a little about what the reverend said about Jennifer's fiance. Because I think what struck me is when he said that John Mason said everyone has the right to make a mistake. Sounds like he's pretty forgiving of this.
MOLINEAUX: Well, yes. He was, of course, also not letting up on the fact that this is, in his eye, was a very, very big mistake. But that is exactly what he said.
He talked about Christ's forgiveness for people who make mistakes, and it sounds like he was indeed willing to be forgiving. And the people who we talked to -- and keep in mind, much of the family has been very quiet -- but those we have spoken to say, yes, they're going to be very forgiving. They love Jennifer. They're going to welcome her home. They're hoping that things will be worked out between the families.
But also, a lot of disappointment and perhaps a little anger, as well, at the way this all panned out and the way it turned out to be so very publicly a spectacle in front of everybody. And one thing that Pastor Jones said was that no man gone through what John Mason has gone through, not that no one's ever been left at the altar before. That certainly happens.
But to be put through all of this -- and he in particular, John Mason, the groom, has gone through an awful lot as he waited to see what has happened to his wife with concerns that something happened to her, as well as having this cloud of suspicion come over him. And there was some talk about possible culpability or whether he should be taken a lie-detector test and the like.
And he was, of course, rejoicing and feeling quite happy, and maybe a little bit vindicated in the face of those who might have been wondering about him when the news came out that she was OK with this story about abduction. But once again, all of that joy certainly dashed when word got out that she had, in fact, taken off on this big wedding that was supposed to be happening today.
NGUYEN: Charles, quickly, I also found it very interesting that the reverend says that he counseled this couple, yet he didn't even have an idea that Jennifer was hesitant about this wedding. Did that surprise you?
MOLINEAUX: That's exactly what he said, very surprising. And the family representative, the uncle of Jennifer, said that these were issues about which the family, the rest of the family, the people who you would think closest to her, were totally unaware.
I spoke with a friend of Jennifer's earlier who had in fact been preparing for her own wedding which is yet coming up. The two of them were eager brides looking ahead to what was coming. And she had no inkling, either, even as they both dealt with the jitters that anyone deals with on the way to a wedding.
This was a complete surprise, and whatever was tormenting Jennifer about this wedding, something apparently that even those closest to her, including her would-be husband, were unaware.
NGUYEN: Charles, have John and Jennifer spoken since the truth has finally come out? MOLINEAUX: Yes, they have. That is the word we also get from Pastor Jones. He says that they spoke. He says their conversation was, as he put it, very emotional, but that there was no hostility. But they have, in fact, been in contact since the truth came out, yes.
NGUYEN: All right. Charles Molineaux, in Duluth, Georgia, we appreciate that. Thank you -- Tony?
HARRIS: Today would have been Jennifer Wilbanks' and John Mason's wedding day. One can only wonder what that relationship is going through after such a public rejection. Marriage counselor Pat Love joins us from Seattle, Washington.
Pat, good morning.
PAT LOVE, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY COUNSELOR: Good morning.
HARRIS: Well, let me start with something that's very basic and very open-ended. You've been following this story, I'm sure.
LOVE: Yes.
HARRIS: You wouldn't be here with us. What are your thoughts? What sense can you make of it for us?
LOVE: Well, Jennifer's response and her feelings were very normal. Her response, of course, was very extreme. And I think if there's one gift or takeaway in this whole story is the necessity for marriage preparation and marriage education.
I mean, this very need that this couple has exemplified so dramatically has spawned a whole discipline, and that is marriage education, that it is a serious commitment. Marriage, in fact, even if you're living together, dating, have been going together, engaged for long period of time, the psyche views marriage much more seriously. So this whole idea of fight-and-flight in this response is not uncommon.
And actually, through education, through sitting with someone, maybe not even the pastor that you love and would be embarrassed to tell, "I have these feelings," but sitting with other couples, couples who are feeling the same thing, will help you discern, is this normal? Is this the cold feet everybody talks about? Or is this a red flag that I should pay attention to and not go ahead?
HARRIS: Pat, classic cold feet, pre-wedding jitters. What does it look like? What does it sound like?
LOVE: What it looks like is nervousness, questioning, maybe even pulling away, you know, this idea of fight-and-flight.
HARRIS: Yes. What is that? What is that?
LOVE: It's our natural survival mechanism, that when we're faced with danger, we have a tendency to either run away or get closer. And get closer for women, by the way, is often maybe tend, befriend, go in, make more plans, be kinder to people, take care of people.
But what lies beneath that is the terror. And we don't know if the terror is normal or if it's a red flag, as I said. So this is why taking time to prepare for marriage -- marriage, as we know, is very serious, and that...
HARRIS: OK, Pat. I want to get to into that a little bit more, but you're describing something that doesn't sound like marriage, a joyous day. You are talking about flight. You're talking about danger.
LOVE: Yes. Remember, when you get married, this person becomes an attachment figure. This means that your psyche views your partner as a survival -- it's like a lifeboat on the sea, in other words, that, because of our dependency -- we are dependent longer than any other species, and so we have to have the care of another person to survive as infants and thrive as an adult.
So when you make a commitment like marriage, this person is connected to your survival, so this is a survival issue. That's why fight-and-flight is so common.
HARRIS: I see. But seldom have we heard of it going to this length. I mean, if you don't want to get married, if you don't want to marry the guy anymore, you can go and hang out with your friends, and call your family, and call John and say, "Hey, look. I have had second thoughts about this. I don't want to do it." But to concoct a story, as she has here, there's extreme.
LOVE: But you think, if you have 600 people at your wedding party, and the people that you would normally turn to are the people who have the most invested, time, money, effort, in this wedding, you can understand how difficult.
I'm not condoning what she did or how she did it. I'm saying the feelings are normal. The response was extreme and it's totally unnecessary. The takeaway is we have to prepare for marriage. It's not uncommon to have these feelings.
Now, you said it's not -- we don't see this extreme. But you know what we often see? We often see couples getting married, having the big wedding, going through the showers, having the ceremony, all the money is spent, and within six months to a year, many marriages break up.
HARRIS: Hey, Pat. It's been suggested here this morning that she did this for attention.
LOVE: You know, I -- it doesn't feel like that to me. It seems to me this is a woman that did not want to hurt people, that did not see a way to say no or to go ahead without hurting someone and especially the people she loved. I just feel so much compassion for her, for John, for the families. The outpouring of this really is so touching.
HARRIS: Well, Pat, you talked about education. What do you do? What are the questions that you ask? What's the process that you use to try to help couples that might be going through some of these issues?
LOVE: Well, number one, you ask, "Who am I?" Number two, "Who is this person that I'm committing to?" But more importantly, number three, "What is marriage?"
I mean, marriage is really a lifetime commitment. It's an institution. I mean, it's really important to know not just, "Do I want to be with John? Do I want to be with Jennifer? But can I commit to the institution of marriage?"
Because that commitment is what keeps you together through thick and thin. And if I'm not committed to the marriage -- you know, some people marry for love. Love goes up and down. Some people marry a great person. People change.
You must commit to marriage, because marriage is what keeps you together while you fall in and out of love. And all of this comes out in a marriage education course that's taught all throughout the United States.
HARRIS: OK. Let's leave it there. Well said. Pat Love is a marriage counselor. She joins us this morning from Seattle, Washington.
Pats, thanks for taking the time.
NGUYEN: That's definitely one take on how people are viewing this situation and what went through Jennifer Wilbanks' mind. Well, when we come back, we're going to be speaking with a criminal profiler we has a totally different view on the situation. You don't want to miss this.
HARRIS: Boy, is that an understatement.
NGUYEN: It is very interesting, very blunt, mind you. Do stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And if you're just joining us, a story that prompted a three-day nationwide search ends with a bizarre twist this morning that you might not have anticipated, but then again maybe you did figure it out.
Georgia bride-to-be Jennifer Wilbanks turned up in New Mexico today. She initially told Albuquerque police she had been abducted Tuesday night. Now Wilbanks admits she had a case of cold feet. She was to be married tonight in a huge wedding in suburban Atlanta, the city of Duluth. Police say she couldn't handle the pressure. Police don't plan to file any criminal charges.
NGUYEN: Now, earlier, I spoke with criminal profiler Pat Brown. She is sympathetic to the family, but she has some harsh words for the runaway bride. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Huge wedding, a lot of pressure. Is it enough to make someone run away? Obviously, it is.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, let's start out with I'm not a psychologist. I'm a criminal profiler. So let me straighten that out.
NGUYEN: OK.
BROWN: But I have to agree with the reverend that I'm going through a lot of emotions, as well. But they're not the same ones he's going through. I'm going through disgust, and I'm really angry. And I don't understand why there's so much minimization of what has happened here, what Jennifer has done.
She did not simply run away. That is a minimization of what she did. She planned this, I think, for attention. And what also has been is that...
NGUYEN: Wait a second. More attention? Why would she want any more attention? She already has a wedding with 600 people.
BROWN: One would think, but I actually think she ran away to get attention. I think she ran away to get the media attention. And I think there's a lot more behavioral problems than we are hearing about.
NGUYEN: But what would she benefit from that media attention? I don't understand.
BROWN: Well, it's exciting. The same thing Audrey Seiler did out in Wisconsin. It's exciting.
She's disappeared, and everybody's going to be thinking about her, looking for her. It's going to be all over the news. She knows this when she leaves. I don't believe for a minute that she wasn't aware of this.
She put her family through hell. She put the community through hell. She put her friends through hell. And she spent a fortune of the taxpayer's money that has been taken away from true victims of crime.
She has committed a crime, but we're calling it a mistake. She has lied, but we're calling it a story. She should be ashamed, but we're calling it she's embarrassed.
NGUYEN: OK. But do you recognize the fact that there are runaway brides out there? This happens often.
BROWN: Well, not to this extent, and not for this long and of those circumstances where, sure, people run away. And usually you know they've run away. She make no attempts to contact her family, to let them know that she wasn't dead. And that is a terribly cruel thing to do.
She allowed her fiance, if he wasn't involved in any way, shape or form, she allowed him to become a murder suspect. That's a terrible thing to do.
I mean, she let every one of the friends to think she was dead. I mean, this is very narcissistic behavior. This is someone who says, "I'm more important than anybody else. Everything should be focused on me. Attention, attention, attention."
And I think we are going the find out in the future that -- this is a 33-year-old woman. This is not a 17-year-old child. This is a 33-year-old woman who is supposedly responsible. I think we're going to find out later on that she's had lots of behaviors exhibited in the past that show that she does like to get a lot of attention.
NGUYEN: But could it be possible that she did have wedding day jitters, she went off on this jog, and just realized that it was just too much for her to handle, so she ran away? Is that possible in your mind? Because everyone that we've spoken with says that she showed no hesitation before now.
BROWN: I don't think she showed hesitation before now. That's correct. She was planning something. I think she came up with a better idea.
I don't buy -- I could buy it if it was just temporary. For that length of time, I don't believe anybody who cared about other people could put people through that kind of agony. I know that I certainly couldn't run away from a situation, just leave my family suffering, thinking I was dead for day, after day, after day. I do not buy that at all.
NGUYEN: But couldn't she have just gotten scared, because of all this kind of spiraled out of control. It was on the news. And the searches were continuing that she really didn't know how to speak up, or even as the pastor just mentioned a little bit earlier, she was on a Greyhound bus and she may not have even had access to media reports until she got into Albuquerque and realized, "Oh my goodness, what has happened with all of this?"
BROWN: She wasn't on a Greyhound bus for five days straight. She was off of that bus some place, staying some place with access to media. I don't buy it.
I think it's a very nice way of looking at it. I think that's the way we like to look at things. But I don't believe that a 33- year-old woman doesn't have enough brains to know what she's doing and how she's affecting people. So I consider what she's done a crime, and I think the police should file charges, and we should call it what it is.
And it is a sad situation for everybody, but I don't think we should minimize it, because in the future, we're going to see this happen again, just after Audrey Seiler did it. She didn't really suffer any. She got more attention. This woman's going to get more attention.
So in the future, we're going to see more money wasted and more people saying, "Hey, I'm not going to go search for that missing person. She is probably another Audrey Seiler. Oh, she's probably like that runaway bride down in Georgia."
I mean, this is going to horribly impact investigations in the future, and we ought to say, "Let's stop this bad behavior, so that we can do things properly, and we can have our money spent well, and have our time spent well, and have our concern for real victims."
NGUYEN: But let me ask you this quickly. What does it say when she left her money, her I.D., and her keys at home? What does that tell you?
BROWN: That tells me that there's some other -- well, she's got a ticket in her hands, didn't she? Now, how did she do that?
NGUYEN: There are a lot of questions out there.
BROWN: Exactly. She purchased that ticket ahead of time.
NGUYEN: On the surface it seems like it may not have been planned.
BROWN: I heard she purchased the ticket ahead of time, and that makes me concerned. The fact that she was able to get a ticket means she had money with her. So if she didn't just run away into the bushes, she had a plan. She had to stay some place and she had to take yet another bus.
She had money with her, so she did plan this. She didn't just run of jogging and run off into -- you know, if that isn't the truth. And that's the problem. We need to face it truthfully, because it is going to affect future homicide investigations in the way we perceive victims. And I think it's a tragedy for them more so than it is a tragedy for this young woman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Oh, did we tell you? Very blunt about her feelings on this case.
HARRIS: Tough, tough, tough.
NGUYEN: Tough love right there.
HARRIS: There is more to report on the Wilbanks story. And we'll get to it all after break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Our developing story this morning, the Georgia bride-to- be who went missing Tuesday evening surfaced in New Mexico today. At first, Jennifer Wilbanks told police that she was kidnapped. Well, a few hours later, she admitted to having a case of cold feet, adding her huge wedding set for tonight was just too much stress for her to handle.
Well, instead of going jogging Tuesday, Wilbanks took a bus from Atlanta to Las Vegas. Her disappearance led family and police on an intense three-day search. But while they looked, Wilbanks hopped a second bus to Albuquerque, New Mexico. She finally telephoned her fiance with the kidnapping tale this morning. Police say Wilbanks won't face any charges, but we have learned that that kidnapping story was all just a hoax.
HARRIS: Jennifer Wilbanks' pastor spoke to reporters a couple of hours ago. He says the family understands she needs help, but Reverend Alan Jones says there's no anger, just relief that she is alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: The first question, obviously, is, how's John Mason? John Mason is experiencing something right now that probably nobody in this country has experienced in such a great way, with the media attention and the things that have been brought forth.
John is a man of faith, as I've been seeing all the way through. And I want to quote something that John said to both families about an hour ago. John said, "Everybody has a right to make a mistake." He said the Bible calls that sin. And he said, the Bible also says that every time we sin, we crucify Christ anew. And Christ forgives us, and that's what grace is all about.
I have never met such a strong person in all my life. John has spoken with Jennifer. There's no hostility. Obviously, there's all kinds of emotions, and I can't speak for John. But he's an incredible man.
I'd like to speak for the families. This human drama that has unfolded this week has been amazing. They have been running off of every emotion from every tidbit of information that they have been given.
Last night, hope was looking very, very small and emotions were at an all-time low. And this morning, they were given a tidbit of information, or we were given a tidbit of information. And I know for myself, it's the highest adrenaline I have ever had.
There were 150 people in this yard just having a party. An hour or so later, we all found that we had been given the wrong information and that Jennifer was a runaway bride.
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." So God was faithful. Jennifer's alive, and we're all thankful for that.
So beyond all the other emotions, there's a spirit of celebration that we have Jennifer. The churches, the community have been incredible to support families during this time. Churches come out to support them, even these guys that are with me right now, here just helping the family. And we'll continue to do that. We'll continue to encourage John.
And we need to ask the country to continue praying for this family because there's a lot of pain. Nobody in this house has one idea of what had happened, nobody. I've been asked many times, "You've been counseling with them for three months." I counseled with them Sunday night, and I had no idea. I had no idea.
I don't know about future wedding plans. I can't speak for that. I will speak for John. He's probably not going to be talking to the media for a couple of days since he's had no sleep. And John's inside now resting.
But again, thank you. Keep us in your prayers. Keep Jennifer in your prayers. Jennifer needs help. We know that. And we want to help the family, and we want to get her help.
You know, this is something that no one's experienced on this magnitude. Jennifer had no idea what was going on in the media. From what we understand, the buses that she was on, the bus station that she was in had no TVs and probably had no clue how it had been blown out of proportion.
But again, thank you for your help. God bless you. And have a great day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Pastor Jones there summing up the thoughts of a number of people inside that home, the family home, actually, John Mason's home in Duluth, Georgia. There is much more to add on to this story. We'll do that after we take a break. And we'll also check some other stories in the news today, as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Here's an update now on our top story of the day. Police say a missing Georgia woman is safe at this hour. They also say Jennifer Wilbanks reported missing last Tuesday had taken a bus from Atlanta to Las Vegas then headed to New Mexico on another bus. When she first talked to police in New Mexico, Wilbanks claimed she had been abducted.
Hundreds of people searched for Wilbanks after her fiance reported her missing on Tuesday. The couple was going to be married today. In her absence, a prayer vigil was to be held. Her uncle says that she it's been determined that Wilbanks had some issues the family wasn't aware of.
More violence in Iraq. Four American soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device that detonated in Tal Afar. The U.S. military made the announcement today. Two other U.S. troops were injured in that same blast west of Mosul.
The lawyer for Army Private First Class Lynndie England says she will plead guilty to seven charges connected to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. England was seen in notorious photographs depicting abuses that were taken in the Baghdad prison. Her plea is set for Monday at a military court. Her trial was to begin on Tuesday.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator says that country plans to make a decision to resume its uranium-enrichment program next week. Expert say that highly enriched uranium can be used as material for nuclear weapons. The European Union and Iran have been unsuccessful in reaching a deal on Iran's nuclear program.
NGUYEN: Not unexpectedly, the wedding is off. And as the Wilbanks family heads to New Mexico to reunite with Jennifer, there is concern for her fiance who seems to be the recipient of an elaborate, figuratively speaking, Dear John letter. Earlier this morning, the minister who planned to marry the couple said John Mason is clearly in pain, but has forgiven his bride-to-be.
Charles Molineaux is covering this story in Duluth, Georgia, with the latest on the situation there.
What have you heard lately?
MOLINEAUX: An elaborate and wrenching Dear John letter, Betty. And keep in mind that Duluth, Georgia, is not a real big community and that the families of Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason are a very big part of it. So this drama took this entire town on a real wrenching ride as one development came after another, fear, concern, joy, and then just a shocking surprise.
It was really a big disappointment. I talked to one fellow who lives around here who said that he really feels for John, but he also really feels for Jennifer, and wishes that maybe if only she had just written some little note. Well, it didn't happen that way.
And what happened was that, for three days this past week, this community was wondering whether Jennifer was dead or alive. And then, rejoicing in the fact that she had been rescued after apparently being kidnapped, and then all of a sudden we discovered that this was all a big hoax, and suddenly, a very stunning story, something that normally is played out very quietly within a family is suddenly a very public spectacle. And unfortunately, John Mason is at the heart of it and having a real rough time, as we heard from the pastor earlier.
Actually, Melinda Larson is a friend of John Mason's and became very close to Jennifer as she was preparing for her wedding. Melinda's actually got hers coming up in a few weeks, as well. She looks at this and is just amazed that the way it turned out, but also, has some understanding, she believes, for Jennifer. Listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELINDA LARSON, FRIEND OF FIANCE JOHN MASON: I think Jennifer had no idea that this would turn into a criminal investigation. And had she known, I think things would have been handled probably a little differently. But sometimes things take a life of their own, just like weddings.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MOLINEAUX: Which may be part of what we're going to learn, touched this whole drama off. The wedding of John and Jennifer was going to be a huge affair. Six hundred guests were going to be there, 14 bridesmaids. There had been eight showers, including one this past Sunday at which Jennifer was apparently in great spirits and eagerly looking forward to it, apparently, but apparently not, in fact, as we have since learned.
Her family saying that she seemed to have some issues that even they were unaware of. A lot of questions are still floating around. John Mason is keeping pretty quiet right now in his home. Jennifer's parents have gone to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for their reunion with her, a very relieved one.
The good news is that she is alive and well. The not so good news, apparently this wedding is not going to happen, at least not now. And well, it remains to be seen what happens to this couple from this point forward -- Betty, Tony?
NGUYEN: Charles, we learned earlier that John and Jennifer have indeed spoken after the truth has come out and everyone knows about it now. But have you learned exactly what went on in that conversation? How did it play out?
MOLINEAUX: According to associate Pastor Alan Jones, it was a brief conversation and it was, as he put it, very emotional. But we he also said was that there was no hostility.
And what John Mason said afterwards was, well, we have a right to make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Very much turning to the faith that has sustained this entire community and these two families throughout all this, saying that Christ forgives mistakes, that is sin. And something of a tone of forgiveness, at least, an offer of forgiveness involved. But a lot ahead for this couple.
NGUYEN: Charles, has any of her family members and friends -- we're talking about Jennifer Wilbanks today -- have they figured out why Las Vegas and ultimately Albuquerque, New Mexico? Does she maybe have friends there, know someone there, or are these just random places that she decided to run to?
MOLINEAUX: Of the ones we spoke to, no one had any clue. Just a complete mystery. You look at this, and keeping in mind that she apparently did this at something of the spur of the moment, as recently as Sunday. We're talking about a period of barely two days, Sunday, Monday. Tuesday she disappeared. Sunday she was at this shower at which she was apparently very excited about this wedding. So the circumstances that led to her taking of and choosing Las Vegas in particular, nope, no one's talking about that yet at all.
NGUYEN: All right. Charles Molineaux there in Duluth, Georgia. We thank you for that.
HARRIS: We are going to take a quick break and come back with more of our top story right after this. You're watching CNN SATURDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's get you a recap now of the Jennifer Wilbanks case. Nearly four days after her disappearance, and on the day that she was supposed to get married, a Georgia woman has turned up alive and safe in New Mexico.
Jennifer Wilbanks first told police in Albuquerque she had been kidnapped. But then, she changed her story. Wilbanks admitted that she was lying and left Georgia after getting stressed over her approaching wedding. Her family is still trying to sort out this whole ordeal. A friend of the young woman calls the case just shocking, overwhelming and baffling. Police say they don't plan to file any charges against Wilbanks.
HARRIS: Joining us now from Houston, Texas, former FBI special agent, Don Clark.
Don, good to see you.
DON CLARK, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Hey, Tony. Good to see you.
HARRIS: Well, I have to ask you from a FBI investigator's standpoint, was this one sort of easy to figure out?
CLARK: Well, you know, you started to look at the beginning of this Tony. We talked about before is that you have got to follow evidence. And if you don't have any real signs out there, you just have to keep going back to the scene, and talking about things, and talking to people close to her to really try to figure out something different and be creative to figure out what's going on.
And one thing that sort of threw me was sort of early on the police department said that, "Hey look. This runaway bride theory, we think we've just about dispelled that." And I wonder where the evidence came from, because obviously that wasn't the case.
HARRIS: Yes, that's interesting. Because for a while there, that whole theory went back and forth. First, it was dismissed out of hand and then it was brought back on the table by the Duluth police chief.
And then later in the day, it was dismissed again. The chief saying that such a long period of time had passed that certainly she would have called if she had just been going through a case of cold feet. So that told you a couple of things, huh?
CLARK: Yes, exactly right. And clearly, I think their heartfelt thoughts were, "Yes, this is not just some runaway bride." But again, you have got to stick with the evidence, you know?
HARRIS: Yes.
CLARK: And I remember, Tony, when an old agent who was probably about my age then told me that, "Look, if you don't have anything, keep going back to the scene, and look at the specific little bits, and talking about and talking to different people, and you'll eventually develop something."
HARRIS: Hey, Don, tell me about the instincts of an agent on something like this. You know, my mom always told me to keep it simple, you know, to keep it simple. And the simple story on all of this is, is that she got a case of cold feet. And yet, it turned into this whole other thing with her being missing, and the husband or the fiance having to take a polygraph, and we moved away from what seemed to be a pretty simple, straightforward investigation.
CLARK: Well, Tony, you are right. But look at where we have come from. I mean, look at some flashbacks. You know, we flash back to Chandra Levy, you know? We flash back to the pregnant woman killed out in California. You know, we flash back to those types of things.
HARRIS: Laci Peterson, sure.
CLARK: So law enforcement now is not going to hesitate as long as they have got something credible to get involved in it, because you just can't anymore. And I think that's the right thing to do. However, what they really have to follow is that they've got to follow the trails. And if you don't have a long trail, you follow the short one. And this one would have been trying to determine the mindset of this person.
I'm hard pressed to believe that someone didn't feel that there was something a little bit awry with this total situation.
HARRIS: Yes, let me follow up on that. I mean, as an investigator, don't you look at the facts on the ground, the fact that the keys are there, this, that and the other? And do you wonder if there could have been something else at work here? Is it part of the thinking of investigators that she might have been making this up, she might have just taken off?
CLARK: Yes, clearly.
HARRIS: You don't rule it out.
CLARK: That's right. You don't rule it out. You have got to look at all of these aspects. And I'll tell you one thing about joggers, being a runner myself. You know, joggers are fanatical about doing things exactly the same way all of the time, habits. They are creatures of habit.
And you look at that situation. And you determine, is this what she did all the time? We learned that her keys were there, her cell phone was there, other things were lined up on the table, her wedding ring. That sort of threw me a little bit, when I heard the wedding ring was there. You know, because I don't know. Maybe ladies do, because they wear a big diamond, sort of take them off, or at least turn them backwards to run with, you know, because of safety.
HARRIS: Don, I've been asking you a bunch of questions. And I really want to ask this one. And I should have started with this one first. When you finally have Jennifer, and can sit down and have a conversation with her, what are investigators looking for? What is it that you think tipped investigators off that this story was not consistent and there was more to it?
CLARK: Well, I think that's the key, is that they're looking for something inconsistent, Tony. Because the one thing that investigators, as well as prosecutors, find out is that you never ask a question that you don't know an answer to. And when you start to do those type of things, they have to develop a strategy and figure out early on which direction that their interview is going to take. And I think you can get these kinds of results.
HARRIS: Question leads to follow-up. And if the answers don't match, if they're not coherent, then you know you need to dig a little deeper?
CLARK: You've got to dig a little deeper. You've got to look at body language. And these guys are trained. These guys and gals are trained to do this.
HARRIS: Don, we appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time.
CLARK: OK, Tony. You bet.
NGUYEN: All these twists and turns happened early this morning. A lot of folks may have been asleep when it all changed. And boy, was it a bombshell when we heard about it.
But when we come back, we're going to take you to that news conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we learned that this was not a missing person case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, initially, Jennifer Wilbanks told police she had been abducted, snatched by a Hispanic man and a white woman in a blue van.
NGUYEN: That turned out not to be the case, after some questioning by both FBI agents and Albuquerque police. We learned that it all was just a story she made up. Let's listen to that news conference when we learned the bombshell that this was not a kidnapping case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY SCHULTZ, ALBUQUERQUE POLICE SCHULTZ: At approximately 4:00 a.m. this morning, Ms. Wilbanks informed agents and detectives that she had not been abducted as she had originally claimed. Agents and detectives learned that Ms. Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided that she needed some time alone.
Ms. Wilbanks had traveled from the Georgia area to Las Vegas, Nevada, via bus. Earlier today, she traveled from Las Vegas back to the Albuquerque area. Again, via bus, arriving this evening. She remained in the Albuquerque area traveling around the southeast area heights until approximately 12:38 hours when she called 911, at which time officers responded and met her at the 7-11.
Ms. Wilbanks is being assisted by the FBI and APD Victims Assistance Unit. We have her presently, and later today, we will be rejoining her with her family who will be flying to Albuquerque. As far as the Albuquerque Police Department goes, and the Albuquerque FBI office, our investigation is closed. We'll be turning this investigation over to the Atlanta FBI office, as well as the Duluth Police Department in Georgia.
Any questions?
QUESTION: Are there going to be charges filed in connection with this? A lot of resources were spent trying to find Ms. Wilbanks.
SCHULTZ: There will be no charges at this time charged here in Albuquerque or the state of New Mexico. That would be left up to the authorities back in Georgia.
QUESTION: So she's saying she got a case of cold feet?
SCHULTZ: Basically, she was just very concerned about the pending wedding and very nervous about it, yes.
QUESTION: Chief, what's her overall condition, her demeanor (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: She is just -- she's obviously very concerned about the stress that she's been through, the stress been placed on her family, so she is very upset.
QUESTION: What about the blue van (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: There was no blue van involved. She was on a bus.
QUESTION: But did she initially say she was kidnapped?
SCHULTZ: She initially responded to the 911 dispatchers, as well as the responding officers that she had been, yes.
QUESTION: Is she still here at the bus station? And is she going to be taken to the hospital?
SCHULTZ: She is no longer here at the substation. She is in the custody of victims assistance specialists who will stay with her until her family gets her.
QUESTION: Has she talked to her family?
SCHULTZ: Yes, she has.
QUESTION: How long was she in Albuquerque (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: We're not exactly sure. She arrived sometime Friday evening or afternoon.
QUESTION: From Las Vegas, Nevada?
SCHULTZ: Yes.
QUESTION: On Greyhound?
SCHULTZ: I believe it was a Greyhound, bus, yes.
QUESTION: Did she call her family first?
SCHULTZ: She did make more than one phone call. We're not exactly sure who she called in which order.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
SCHULTZ: Her appearance is different. But I'm not exactly sure. I know her hair has been cut.
QUESTION: Is there any indication that she was traveling with anyone else? Family member (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: She was not with any family members or friends. She did meet some folks, however, while she was on the bus.
QUESTION: Did she maintain (UNINTELLIGIBLE) she had made the 911 call?
SCHULTZ: It was a period of time before she eventually told us what the true story was, yes, sir.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
SCHULTZ: Las Vegas, Nevada.
QUESTION: No, but...
SCHULTZ: No, she was down, wandered the southeast area, yes.
QUESTION: Did she make any statements that she may have -- once she got to Albuquerque, met people? I mean, you said you she made some friends on the bus and she just meandered around aimlessly according to her (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: No. Basically she just walked around town for a while until she made that 911 call.
QUESTION: Does she have a personal connection to Albuquerque at all? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: No.
QUESTION: Was there any particular turning point that made her decide to tell the truth, like was she under intense questioning? How did she finally (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the truth? SCHULTZ: I don't know. I just know she was in discussion with detectives and agents. And she decided that she needed to do the right thing and tell the right story, the true story.
Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Can we get your name real quick on tape, your first and last name, and your title?
SCHULTZ: It's Ray Schultz, S-C-H-U-L-T-Z, Albuquerque Police Department, yes, sir. Chief of police. Thank you.
QUESTION: You said her family is going to come here. That's the next step?
SCHULTZ: That's what we're being informed of, yes.
QUESTION: And she has left the state?
SCHULTZ: She is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right, there you have it. Jennifer Wilbanks was not kidnapped after all. It turns out it was just a case of the runaway bride-to-be.
HARRIS: And we are going to encourage you to stay with CNN. Fredricka Whitfield joins you at the top of the hour for more of our continuing coverage of this developing story. We will see you back here tomorrow for CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Have a great day.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 30, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Welcome back to CNN's coverage of the missing bride-to-be found alive earlier this morning. This is a story getting national coverage, has been for days. Police and family, friends and other people searching for Jennifer Wilbanks feared the worst.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they did. And we have been on the air for hours and the story has taken so many dramatic twists and turns. Here's what we know so far.
Her wedding was supposed to be in Georgia tonight, but Jennifer Wilbanks turned up today in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At first, she told police she had been kidnapped. Well now, the bride-to-be admits she got a case of cold feet. So instead of going jogging as she claimed, Wilbanks hopped on a Greyhound bus to Las Vegas Tuesday night and then got on another bus to New Mexico.
She called her fiance early this morning from a pay phone in New Mexico telling him this tall-tale. Now, a few hours later, Wilbanks admitted to police that she had made up the whole abduction story and that she couldn't handle the pressure of a big wedding.
Well, Wilbanks' wedding was to be a huge bash. Six hundred invitations had been mailed out. The wedding party consisted of 28 attendants. Today her pastor declared that Jennifer needs help. Despite the web of lies, police will not file charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY SCHULTZ, ALBUQUERQUE POLICE SCHULTZ: At 4:00 a.m. this morning, Ms. Wilbanks informed agents and detectives that she had not been abducted as she had originally claimed. Agents and detectives learned that Ms. Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided that she needed some time alone.
Ms. Wilbanks had traveled from the Georgia area to Las Vegas, Nevada, via bus. Earlier today, she traveled from Las Vegas back to the Albuquerque area. Again, via bus, arriving this evening. She remained in the Albuquerque area traveling around the southeast area heights until approximately 12:38 hours when she called 911.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Jennifer Wilbanks' wedding has been canceled, and her family heads to New Mexico today to reunite with their daughter. Reverend Alan Jones, the minister that planned to marry the couple tonight, well, he held a news conference last hour and spoke of the pain her family and fiance are going through at this hour.
Charles Molineaux is in Duluth, Georgia, with the latest on that -- Charles?
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'll tell you what, Duluth, this is an area that came together like one great big family when everybody thought that something may have happened to Jennifer. And now, of course, the situation is radically different. And people are relieved but also dealing with some other issues here as they realize that Jennifer snookered them with a story of theirs.
It has been a wild ride here over the past three days. First concerns that she was missing, perhaps kidnapped. Then the story that she was safe and sound after being kidnapped, and then finally this morning we got the final word that she had apparently had some issues with the entire idea of this huge wedding that she was going to be embarking upon and took off.
A dramatically disturbing story for her family, an issue that is probably, in most cases, a private one between a couple or at least a family that has taken in the entire community and made headlines all over this country. A good friend of Jennifer says that she had no idea -- she could have had no idea this would have turned into a great, big criminal case, that it took on a life of its own like, well, a wedding does, which may be part of the story as to how this all developed like this in the first place.
But we did hear from associate Pastor Alan Jones earlier this morning. Now, this is the fellow who's going to be marrying this couple. He had been counseling them on the way to their wedding, and then ended up counseling the family through the very frightening days when Jennifer's whereabouts were unknown and now is trying to look ahead and figure out whether there's going to be any wedding at all. Listen to what he said earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN JONES, PASTOR FOR JENNIFER WILBANKS: I don't know about future wedding plans. I can't speak for that. I will speak for John. He's probably not going to be talking to the media for a couple of days since he's had no sleep. And John's inside now resting. But again, thank you. Keep us in your prayers. Keep Jennifer in your prayers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLINEAUX: Pastor Jones says that this is a family that is disappointed, embarrassed. On the other hand, he said hearken back to where they were yesterday afternoon, when it was their most fervent prayer that Jennifer might turn out to be a runaway bride. Well, fortunately and unfortunately, those prayers have been realized -- Tony, Betty?
NGUYEN: Charles, tell us a little about what the reverend said about Jennifer's fiance. Because I think what struck me is when he said that John Mason said everyone has the right to make a mistake. Sounds like he's pretty forgiving of this.
MOLINEAUX: Well, yes. He was, of course, also not letting up on the fact that this is, in his eye, was a very, very big mistake. But that is exactly what he said.
He talked about Christ's forgiveness for people who make mistakes, and it sounds like he was indeed willing to be forgiving. And the people who we talked to -- and keep in mind, much of the family has been very quiet -- but those we have spoken to say, yes, they're going to be very forgiving. They love Jennifer. They're going to welcome her home. They're hoping that things will be worked out between the families.
But also, a lot of disappointment and perhaps a little anger, as well, at the way this all panned out and the way it turned out to be so very publicly a spectacle in front of everybody. And one thing that Pastor Jones said was that no man gone through what John Mason has gone through, not that no one's ever been left at the altar before. That certainly happens.
But to be put through all of this -- and he in particular, John Mason, the groom, has gone through an awful lot as he waited to see what has happened to his wife with concerns that something happened to her, as well as having this cloud of suspicion come over him. And there was some talk about possible culpability or whether he should be taken a lie-detector test and the like.
And he was, of course, rejoicing and feeling quite happy, and maybe a little bit vindicated in the face of those who might have been wondering about him when the news came out that she was OK with this story about abduction. But once again, all of that joy certainly dashed when word got out that she had, in fact, taken off on this big wedding that was supposed to be happening today.
NGUYEN: Charles, quickly, I also found it very interesting that the reverend says that he counseled this couple, yet he didn't even have an idea that Jennifer was hesitant about this wedding. Did that surprise you?
MOLINEAUX: That's exactly what he said, very surprising. And the family representative, the uncle of Jennifer, said that these were issues about which the family, the rest of the family, the people who you would think closest to her, were totally unaware.
I spoke with a friend of Jennifer's earlier who had in fact been preparing for her own wedding which is yet coming up. The two of them were eager brides looking ahead to what was coming. And she had no inkling, either, even as they both dealt with the jitters that anyone deals with on the way to a wedding.
This was a complete surprise, and whatever was tormenting Jennifer about this wedding, something apparently that even those closest to her, including her would-be husband, were unaware.
NGUYEN: Charles, have John and Jennifer spoken since the truth has finally come out? MOLINEAUX: Yes, they have. That is the word we also get from Pastor Jones. He says that they spoke. He says their conversation was, as he put it, very emotional, but that there was no hostility. But they have, in fact, been in contact since the truth came out, yes.
NGUYEN: All right. Charles Molineaux, in Duluth, Georgia, we appreciate that. Thank you -- Tony?
HARRIS: Today would have been Jennifer Wilbanks' and John Mason's wedding day. One can only wonder what that relationship is going through after such a public rejection. Marriage counselor Pat Love joins us from Seattle, Washington.
Pat, good morning.
PAT LOVE, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY COUNSELOR: Good morning.
HARRIS: Well, let me start with something that's very basic and very open-ended. You've been following this story, I'm sure.
LOVE: Yes.
HARRIS: You wouldn't be here with us. What are your thoughts? What sense can you make of it for us?
LOVE: Well, Jennifer's response and her feelings were very normal. Her response, of course, was very extreme. And I think if there's one gift or takeaway in this whole story is the necessity for marriage preparation and marriage education.
I mean, this very need that this couple has exemplified so dramatically has spawned a whole discipline, and that is marriage education, that it is a serious commitment. Marriage, in fact, even if you're living together, dating, have been going together, engaged for long period of time, the psyche views marriage much more seriously. So this whole idea of fight-and-flight in this response is not uncommon.
And actually, through education, through sitting with someone, maybe not even the pastor that you love and would be embarrassed to tell, "I have these feelings," but sitting with other couples, couples who are feeling the same thing, will help you discern, is this normal? Is this the cold feet everybody talks about? Or is this a red flag that I should pay attention to and not go ahead?
HARRIS: Pat, classic cold feet, pre-wedding jitters. What does it look like? What does it sound like?
LOVE: What it looks like is nervousness, questioning, maybe even pulling away, you know, this idea of fight-and-flight.
HARRIS: Yes. What is that? What is that?
LOVE: It's our natural survival mechanism, that when we're faced with danger, we have a tendency to either run away or get closer. And get closer for women, by the way, is often maybe tend, befriend, go in, make more plans, be kinder to people, take care of people.
But what lies beneath that is the terror. And we don't know if the terror is normal or if it's a red flag, as I said. So this is why taking time to prepare for marriage -- marriage, as we know, is very serious, and that...
HARRIS: OK, Pat. I want to get to into that a little bit more, but you're describing something that doesn't sound like marriage, a joyous day. You are talking about flight. You're talking about danger.
LOVE: Yes. Remember, when you get married, this person becomes an attachment figure. This means that your psyche views your partner as a survival -- it's like a lifeboat on the sea, in other words, that, because of our dependency -- we are dependent longer than any other species, and so we have to have the care of another person to survive as infants and thrive as an adult.
So when you make a commitment like marriage, this person is connected to your survival, so this is a survival issue. That's why fight-and-flight is so common.
HARRIS: I see. But seldom have we heard of it going to this length. I mean, if you don't want to get married, if you don't want to marry the guy anymore, you can go and hang out with your friends, and call your family, and call John and say, "Hey, look. I have had second thoughts about this. I don't want to do it." But to concoct a story, as she has here, there's extreme.
LOVE: But you think, if you have 600 people at your wedding party, and the people that you would normally turn to are the people who have the most invested, time, money, effort, in this wedding, you can understand how difficult.
I'm not condoning what she did or how she did it. I'm saying the feelings are normal. The response was extreme and it's totally unnecessary. The takeaway is we have to prepare for marriage. It's not uncommon to have these feelings.
Now, you said it's not -- we don't see this extreme. But you know what we often see? We often see couples getting married, having the big wedding, going through the showers, having the ceremony, all the money is spent, and within six months to a year, many marriages break up.
HARRIS: Hey, Pat. It's been suggested here this morning that she did this for attention.
LOVE: You know, I -- it doesn't feel like that to me. It seems to me this is a woman that did not want to hurt people, that did not see a way to say no or to go ahead without hurting someone and especially the people she loved. I just feel so much compassion for her, for John, for the families. The outpouring of this really is so touching.
HARRIS: Well, Pat, you talked about education. What do you do? What are the questions that you ask? What's the process that you use to try to help couples that might be going through some of these issues?
LOVE: Well, number one, you ask, "Who am I?" Number two, "Who is this person that I'm committing to?" But more importantly, number three, "What is marriage?"
I mean, marriage is really a lifetime commitment. It's an institution. I mean, it's really important to know not just, "Do I want to be with John? Do I want to be with Jennifer? But can I commit to the institution of marriage?"
Because that commitment is what keeps you together through thick and thin. And if I'm not committed to the marriage -- you know, some people marry for love. Love goes up and down. Some people marry a great person. People change.
You must commit to marriage, because marriage is what keeps you together while you fall in and out of love. And all of this comes out in a marriage education course that's taught all throughout the United States.
HARRIS: OK. Let's leave it there. Well said. Pat Love is a marriage counselor. She joins us this morning from Seattle, Washington.
Pats, thanks for taking the time.
NGUYEN: That's definitely one take on how people are viewing this situation and what went through Jennifer Wilbanks' mind. Well, when we come back, we're going to be speaking with a criminal profiler we has a totally different view on the situation. You don't want to miss this.
HARRIS: Boy, is that an understatement.
NGUYEN: It is very interesting, very blunt, mind you. Do stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And if you're just joining us, a story that prompted a three-day nationwide search ends with a bizarre twist this morning that you might not have anticipated, but then again maybe you did figure it out.
Georgia bride-to-be Jennifer Wilbanks turned up in New Mexico today. She initially told Albuquerque police she had been abducted Tuesday night. Now Wilbanks admits she had a case of cold feet. She was to be married tonight in a huge wedding in suburban Atlanta, the city of Duluth. Police say she couldn't handle the pressure. Police don't plan to file any criminal charges.
NGUYEN: Now, earlier, I spoke with criminal profiler Pat Brown. She is sympathetic to the family, but she has some harsh words for the runaway bride. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Huge wedding, a lot of pressure. Is it enough to make someone run away? Obviously, it is.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, let's start out with I'm not a psychologist. I'm a criminal profiler. So let me straighten that out.
NGUYEN: OK.
BROWN: But I have to agree with the reverend that I'm going through a lot of emotions, as well. But they're not the same ones he's going through. I'm going through disgust, and I'm really angry. And I don't understand why there's so much minimization of what has happened here, what Jennifer has done.
She did not simply run away. That is a minimization of what she did. She planned this, I think, for attention. And what also has been is that...
NGUYEN: Wait a second. More attention? Why would she want any more attention? She already has a wedding with 600 people.
BROWN: One would think, but I actually think she ran away to get attention. I think she ran away to get the media attention. And I think there's a lot more behavioral problems than we are hearing about.
NGUYEN: But what would she benefit from that media attention? I don't understand.
BROWN: Well, it's exciting. The same thing Audrey Seiler did out in Wisconsin. It's exciting.
She's disappeared, and everybody's going to be thinking about her, looking for her. It's going to be all over the news. She knows this when she leaves. I don't believe for a minute that she wasn't aware of this.
She put her family through hell. She put the community through hell. She put her friends through hell. And she spent a fortune of the taxpayer's money that has been taken away from true victims of crime.
She has committed a crime, but we're calling it a mistake. She has lied, but we're calling it a story. She should be ashamed, but we're calling it she's embarrassed.
NGUYEN: OK. But do you recognize the fact that there are runaway brides out there? This happens often.
BROWN: Well, not to this extent, and not for this long and of those circumstances where, sure, people run away. And usually you know they've run away. She make no attempts to contact her family, to let them know that she wasn't dead. And that is a terribly cruel thing to do.
She allowed her fiance, if he wasn't involved in any way, shape or form, she allowed him to become a murder suspect. That's a terrible thing to do.
I mean, she let every one of the friends to think she was dead. I mean, this is very narcissistic behavior. This is someone who says, "I'm more important than anybody else. Everything should be focused on me. Attention, attention, attention."
And I think we are going the find out in the future that -- this is a 33-year-old woman. This is not a 17-year-old child. This is a 33-year-old woman who is supposedly responsible. I think we're going to find out later on that she's had lots of behaviors exhibited in the past that show that she does like to get a lot of attention.
NGUYEN: But could it be possible that she did have wedding day jitters, she went off on this jog, and just realized that it was just too much for her to handle, so she ran away? Is that possible in your mind? Because everyone that we've spoken with says that she showed no hesitation before now.
BROWN: I don't think she showed hesitation before now. That's correct. She was planning something. I think she came up with a better idea.
I don't buy -- I could buy it if it was just temporary. For that length of time, I don't believe anybody who cared about other people could put people through that kind of agony. I know that I certainly couldn't run away from a situation, just leave my family suffering, thinking I was dead for day, after day, after day. I do not buy that at all.
NGUYEN: But couldn't she have just gotten scared, because of all this kind of spiraled out of control. It was on the news. And the searches were continuing that she really didn't know how to speak up, or even as the pastor just mentioned a little bit earlier, she was on a Greyhound bus and she may not have even had access to media reports until she got into Albuquerque and realized, "Oh my goodness, what has happened with all of this?"
BROWN: She wasn't on a Greyhound bus for five days straight. She was off of that bus some place, staying some place with access to media. I don't buy it.
I think it's a very nice way of looking at it. I think that's the way we like to look at things. But I don't believe that a 33- year-old woman doesn't have enough brains to know what she's doing and how she's affecting people. So I consider what she's done a crime, and I think the police should file charges, and we should call it what it is.
And it is a sad situation for everybody, but I don't think we should minimize it, because in the future, we're going to see this happen again, just after Audrey Seiler did it. She didn't really suffer any. She got more attention. This woman's going to get more attention.
So in the future, we're going to see more money wasted and more people saying, "Hey, I'm not going to go search for that missing person. She is probably another Audrey Seiler. Oh, she's probably like that runaway bride down in Georgia."
I mean, this is going to horribly impact investigations in the future, and we ought to say, "Let's stop this bad behavior, so that we can do things properly, and we can have our money spent well, and have our time spent well, and have our concern for real victims."
NGUYEN: But let me ask you this quickly. What does it say when she left her money, her I.D., and her keys at home? What does that tell you?
BROWN: That tells me that there's some other -- well, she's got a ticket in her hands, didn't she? Now, how did she do that?
NGUYEN: There are a lot of questions out there.
BROWN: Exactly. She purchased that ticket ahead of time.
NGUYEN: On the surface it seems like it may not have been planned.
BROWN: I heard she purchased the ticket ahead of time, and that makes me concerned. The fact that she was able to get a ticket means she had money with her. So if she didn't just run away into the bushes, she had a plan. She had to stay some place and she had to take yet another bus.
She had money with her, so she did plan this. She didn't just run of jogging and run off into -- you know, if that isn't the truth. And that's the problem. We need to face it truthfully, because it is going to affect future homicide investigations in the way we perceive victims. And I think it's a tragedy for them more so than it is a tragedy for this young woman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Oh, did we tell you? Very blunt about her feelings on this case.
HARRIS: Tough, tough, tough.
NGUYEN: Tough love right there.
HARRIS: There is more to report on the Wilbanks story. And we'll get to it all after break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Our developing story this morning, the Georgia bride-to- be who went missing Tuesday evening surfaced in New Mexico today. At first, Jennifer Wilbanks told police that she was kidnapped. Well, a few hours later, she admitted to having a case of cold feet, adding her huge wedding set for tonight was just too much stress for her to handle.
Well, instead of going jogging Tuesday, Wilbanks took a bus from Atlanta to Las Vegas. Her disappearance led family and police on an intense three-day search. But while they looked, Wilbanks hopped a second bus to Albuquerque, New Mexico. She finally telephoned her fiance with the kidnapping tale this morning. Police say Wilbanks won't face any charges, but we have learned that that kidnapping story was all just a hoax.
HARRIS: Jennifer Wilbanks' pastor spoke to reporters a couple of hours ago. He says the family understands she needs help, but Reverend Alan Jones says there's no anger, just relief that she is alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: The first question, obviously, is, how's John Mason? John Mason is experiencing something right now that probably nobody in this country has experienced in such a great way, with the media attention and the things that have been brought forth.
John is a man of faith, as I've been seeing all the way through. And I want to quote something that John said to both families about an hour ago. John said, "Everybody has a right to make a mistake." He said the Bible calls that sin. And he said, the Bible also says that every time we sin, we crucify Christ anew. And Christ forgives us, and that's what grace is all about.
I have never met such a strong person in all my life. John has spoken with Jennifer. There's no hostility. Obviously, there's all kinds of emotions, and I can't speak for John. But he's an incredible man.
I'd like to speak for the families. This human drama that has unfolded this week has been amazing. They have been running off of every emotion from every tidbit of information that they have been given.
Last night, hope was looking very, very small and emotions were at an all-time low. And this morning, they were given a tidbit of information, or we were given a tidbit of information. And I know for myself, it's the highest adrenaline I have ever had.
There were 150 people in this yard just having a party. An hour or so later, we all found that we had been given the wrong information and that Jennifer was a runaway bride.
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." So God was faithful. Jennifer's alive, and we're all thankful for that.
So beyond all the other emotions, there's a spirit of celebration that we have Jennifer. The churches, the community have been incredible to support families during this time. Churches come out to support them, even these guys that are with me right now, here just helping the family. And we'll continue to do that. We'll continue to encourage John.
And we need to ask the country to continue praying for this family because there's a lot of pain. Nobody in this house has one idea of what had happened, nobody. I've been asked many times, "You've been counseling with them for three months." I counseled with them Sunday night, and I had no idea. I had no idea.
I don't know about future wedding plans. I can't speak for that. I will speak for John. He's probably not going to be talking to the media for a couple of days since he's had no sleep. And John's inside now resting.
But again, thank you. Keep us in your prayers. Keep Jennifer in your prayers. Jennifer needs help. We know that. And we want to help the family, and we want to get her help.
You know, this is something that no one's experienced on this magnitude. Jennifer had no idea what was going on in the media. From what we understand, the buses that she was on, the bus station that she was in had no TVs and probably had no clue how it had been blown out of proportion.
But again, thank you for your help. God bless you. And have a great day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Pastor Jones there summing up the thoughts of a number of people inside that home, the family home, actually, John Mason's home in Duluth, Georgia. There is much more to add on to this story. We'll do that after we take a break. And we'll also check some other stories in the news today, as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Here's an update now on our top story of the day. Police say a missing Georgia woman is safe at this hour. They also say Jennifer Wilbanks reported missing last Tuesday had taken a bus from Atlanta to Las Vegas then headed to New Mexico on another bus. When she first talked to police in New Mexico, Wilbanks claimed she had been abducted.
Hundreds of people searched for Wilbanks after her fiance reported her missing on Tuesday. The couple was going to be married today. In her absence, a prayer vigil was to be held. Her uncle says that she it's been determined that Wilbanks had some issues the family wasn't aware of.
More violence in Iraq. Four American soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device that detonated in Tal Afar. The U.S. military made the announcement today. Two other U.S. troops were injured in that same blast west of Mosul.
The lawyer for Army Private First Class Lynndie England says she will plead guilty to seven charges connected to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. England was seen in notorious photographs depicting abuses that were taken in the Baghdad prison. Her plea is set for Monday at a military court. Her trial was to begin on Tuesday.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator says that country plans to make a decision to resume its uranium-enrichment program next week. Expert say that highly enriched uranium can be used as material for nuclear weapons. The European Union and Iran have been unsuccessful in reaching a deal on Iran's nuclear program.
NGUYEN: Not unexpectedly, the wedding is off. And as the Wilbanks family heads to New Mexico to reunite with Jennifer, there is concern for her fiance who seems to be the recipient of an elaborate, figuratively speaking, Dear John letter. Earlier this morning, the minister who planned to marry the couple said John Mason is clearly in pain, but has forgiven his bride-to-be.
Charles Molineaux is covering this story in Duluth, Georgia, with the latest on the situation there.
What have you heard lately?
MOLINEAUX: An elaborate and wrenching Dear John letter, Betty. And keep in mind that Duluth, Georgia, is not a real big community and that the families of Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason are a very big part of it. So this drama took this entire town on a real wrenching ride as one development came after another, fear, concern, joy, and then just a shocking surprise.
It was really a big disappointment. I talked to one fellow who lives around here who said that he really feels for John, but he also really feels for Jennifer, and wishes that maybe if only she had just written some little note. Well, it didn't happen that way.
And what happened was that, for three days this past week, this community was wondering whether Jennifer was dead or alive. And then, rejoicing in the fact that she had been rescued after apparently being kidnapped, and then all of a sudden we discovered that this was all a big hoax, and suddenly, a very stunning story, something that normally is played out very quietly within a family is suddenly a very public spectacle. And unfortunately, John Mason is at the heart of it and having a real rough time, as we heard from the pastor earlier.
Actually, Melinda Larson is a friend of John Mason's and became very close to Jennifer as she was preparing for her wedding. Melinda's actually got hers coming up in a few weeks, as well. She looks at this and is just amazed that the way it turned out, but also, has some understanding, she believes, for Jennifer. Listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELINDA LARSON, FRIEND OF FIANCE JOHN MASON: I think Jennifer had no idea that this would turn into a criminal investigation. And had she known, I think things would have been handled probably a little differently. But sometimes things take a life of their own, just like weddings.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MOLINEAUX: Which may be part of what we're going to learn, touched this whole drama off. The wedding of John and Jennifer was going to be a huge affair. Six hundred guests were going to be there, 14 bridesmaids. There had been eight showers, including one this past Sunday at which Jennifer was apparently in great spirits and eagerly looking forward to it, apparently, but apparently not, in fact, as we have since learned.
Her family saying that she seemed to have some issues that even they were unaware of. A lot of questions are still floating around. John Mason is keeping pretty quiet right now in his home. Jennifer's parents have gone to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for their reunion with her, a very relieved one.
The good news is that she is alive and well. The not so good news, apparently this wedding is not going to happen, at least not now. And well, it remains to be seen what happens to this couple from this point forward -- Betty, Tony?
NGUYEN: Charles, we learned earlier that John and Jennifer have indeed spoken after the truth has come out and everyone knows about it now. But have you learned exactly what went on in that conversation? How did it play out?
MOLINEAUX: According to associate Pastor Alan Jones, it was a brief conversation and it was, as he put it, very emotional. But we he also said was that there was no hostility.
And what John Mason said afterwards was, well, we have a right to make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Very much turning to the faith that has sustained this entire community and these two families throughout all this, saying that Christ forgives mistakes, that is sin. And something of a tone of forgiveness, at least, an offer of forgiveness involved. But a lot ahead for this couple.
NGUYEN: Charles, has any of her family members and friends -- we're talking about Jennifer Wilbanks today -- have they figured out why Las Vegas and ultimately Albuquerque, New Mexico? Does she maybe have friends there, know someone there, or are these just random places that she decided to run to?
MOLINEAUX: Of the ones we spoke to, no one had any clue. Just a complete mystery. You look at this, and keeping in mind that she apparently did this at something of the spur of the moment, as recently as Sunday. We're talking about a period of barely two days, Sunday, Monday. Tuesday she disappeared. Sunday she was at this shower at which she was apparently very excited about this wedding. So the circumstances that led to her taking of and choosing Las Vegas in particular, nope, no one's talking about that yet at all.
NGUYEN: All right. Charles Molineaux there in Duluth, Georgia. We thank you for that.
HARRIS: We are going to take a quick break and come back with more of our top story right after this. You're watching CNN SATURDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's get you a recap now of the Jennifer Wilbanks case. Nearly four days after her disappearance, and on the day that she was supposed to get married, a Georgia woman has turned up alive and safe in New Mexico.
Jennifer Wilbanks first told police in Albuquerque she had been kidnapped. But then, she changed her story. Wilbanks admitted that she was lying and left Georgia after getting stressed over her approaching wedding. Her family is still trying to sort out this whole ordeal. A friend of the young woman calls the case just shocking, overwhelming and baffling. Police say they don't plan to file any charges against Wilbanks.
HARRIS: Joining us now from Houston, Texas, former FBI special agent, Don Clark.
Don, good to see you.
DON CLARK, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Hey, Tony. Good to see you.
HARRIS: Well, I have to ask you from a FBI investigator's standpoint, was this one sort of easy to figure out?
CLARK: Well, you know, you started to look at the beginning of this Tony. We talked about before is that you have got to follow evidence. And if you don't have any real signs out there, you just have to keep going back to the scene, and talking about things, and talking to people close to her to really try to figure out something different and be creative to figure out what's going on.
And one thing that sort of threw me was sort of early on the police department said that, "Hey look. This runaway bride theory, we think we've just about dispelled that." And I wonder where the evidence came from, because obviously that wasn't the case.
HARRIS: Yes, that's interesting. Because for a while there, that whole theory went back and forth. First, it was dismissed out of hand and then it was brought back on the table by the Duluth police chief.
And then later in the day, it was dismissed again. The chief saying that such a long period of time had passed that certainly she would have called if she had just been going through a case of cold feet. So that told you a couple of things, huh?
CLARK: Yes, exactly right. And clearly, I think their heartfelt thoughts were, "Yes, this is not just some runaway bride." But again, you have got to stick with the evidence, you know?
HARRIS: Yes.
CLARK: And I remember, Tony, when an old agent who was probably about my age then told me that, "Look, if you don't have anything, keep going back to the scene, and look at the specific little bits, and talking about and talking to different people, and you'll eventually develop something."
HARRIS: Hey, Don, tell me about the instincts of an agent on something like this. You know, my mom always told me to keep it simple, you know, to keep it simple. And the simple story on all of this is, is that she got a case of cold feet. And yet, it turned into this whole other thing with her being missing, and the husband or the fiance having to take a polygraph, and we moved away from what seemed to be a pretty simple, straightforward investigation.
CLARK: Well, Tony, you are right. But look at where we have come from. I mean, look at some flashbacks. You know, we flash back to Chandra Levy, you know? We flash back to the pregnant woman killed out in California. You know, we flash back to those types of things.
HARRIS: Laci Peterson, sure.
CLARK: So law enforcement now is not going to hesitate as long as they have got something credible to get involved in it, because you just can't anymore. And I think that's the right thing to do. However, what they really have to follow is that they've got to follow the trails. And if you don't have a long trail, you follow the short one. And this one would have been trying to determine the mindset of this person.
I'm hard pressed to believe that someone didn't feel that there was something a little bit awry with this total situation.
HARRIS: Yes, let me follow up on that. I mean, as an investigator, don't you look at the facts on the ground, the fact that the keys are there, this, that and the other? And do you wonder if there could have been something else at work here? Is it part of the thinking of investigators that she might have been making this up, she might have just taken off?
CLARK: Yes, clearly.
HARRIS: You don't rule it out.
CLARK: That's right. You don't rule it out. You have got to look at all of these aspects. And I'll tell you one thing about joggers, being a runner myself. You know, joggers are fanatical about doing things exactly the same way all of the time, habits. They are creatures of habit.
And you look at that situation. And you determine, is this what she did all the time? We learned that her keys were there, her cell phone was there, other things were lined up on the table, her wedding ring. That sort of threw me a little bit, when I heard the wedding ring was there. You know, because I don't know. Maybe ladies do, because they wear a big diamond, sort of take them off, or at least turn them backwards to run with, you know, because of safety.
HARRIS: Don, I've been asking you a bunch of questions. And I really want to ask this one. And I should have started with this one first. When you finally have Jennifer, and can sit down and have a conversation with her, what are investigators looking for? What is it that you think tipped investigators off that this story was not consistent and there was more to it?
CLARK: Well, I think that's the key, is that they're looking for something inconsistent, Tony. Because the one thing that investigators, as well as prosecutors, find out is that you never ask a question that you don't know an answer to. And when you start to do those type of things, they have to develop a strategy and figure out early on which direction that their interview is going to take. And I think you can get these kinds of results.
HARRIS: Question leads to follow-up. And if the answers don't match, if they're not coherent, then you know you need to dig a little deeper?
CLARK: You've got to dig a little deeper. You've got to look at body language. And these guys are trained. These guys and gals are trained to do this.
HARRIS: Don, we appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time.
CLARK: OK, Tony. You bet.
NGUYEN: All these twists and turns happened early this morning. A lot of folks may have been asleep when it all changed. And boy, was it a bombshell when we heard about it.
But when we come back, we're going to take you to that news conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we learned that this was not a missing person case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, initially, Jennifer Wilbanks told police she had been abducted, snatched by a Hispanic man and a white woman in a blue van.
NGUYEN: That turned out not to be the case, after some questioning by both FBI agents and Albuquerque police. We learned that it all was just a story she made up. Let's listen to that news conference when we learned the bombshell that this was not a kidnapping case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY SCHULTZ, ALBUQUERQUE POLICE SCHULTZ: At approximately 4:00 a.m. this morning, Ms. Wilbanks informed agents and detectives that she had not been abducted as she had originally claimed. Agents and detectives learned that Ms. Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided that she needed some time alone.
Ms. Wilbanks had traveled from the Georgia area to Las Vegas, Nevada, via bus. Earlier today, she traveled from Las Vegas back to the Albuquerque area. Again, via bus, arriving this evening. She remained in the Albuquerque area traveling around the southeast area heights until approximately 12:38 hours when she called 911, at which time officers responded and met her at the 7-11.
Ms. Wilbanks is being assisted by the FBI and APD Victims Assistance Unit. We have her presently, and later today, we will be rejoining her with her family who will be flying to Albuquerque. As far as the Albuquerque Police Department goes, and the Albuquerque FBI office, our investigation is closed. We'll be turning this investigation over to the Atlanta FBI office, as well as the Duluth Police Department in Georgia.
Any questions?
QUESTION: Are there going to be charges filed in connection with this? A lot of resources were spent trying to find Ms. Wilbanks.
SCHULTZ: There will be no charges at this time charged here in Albuquerque or the state of New Mexico. That would be left up to the authorities back in Georgia.
QUESTION: So she's saying she got a case of cold feet?
SCHULTZ: Basically, she was just very concerned about the pending wedding and very nervous about it, yes.
QUESTION: Chief, what's her overall condition, her demeanor (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: She is just -- she's obviously very concerned about the stress that she's been through, the stress been placed on her family, so she is very upset.
QUESTION: What about the blue van (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: There was no blue van involved. She was on a bus.
QUESTION: But did she initially say she was kidnapped?
SCHULTZ: She initially responded to the 911 dispatchers, as well as the responding officers that she had been, yes.
QUESTION: Is she still here at the bus station? And is she going to be taken to the hospital?
SCHULTZ: She is no longer here at the substation. She is in the custody of victims assistance specialists who will stay with her until her family gets her.
QUESTION: Has she talked to her family?
SCHULTZ: Yes, she has.
QUESTION: How long was she in Albuquerque (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: We're not exactly sure. She arrived sometime Friday evening or afternoon.
QUESTION: From Las Vegas, Nevada?
SCHULTZ: Yes.
QUESTION: On Greyhound?
SCHULTZ: I believe it was a Greyhound, bus, yes.
QUESTION: Did she call her family first?
SCHULTZ: She did make more than one phone call. We're not exactly sure who she called in which order.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
SCHULTZ: Her appearance is different. But I'm not exactly sure. I know her hair has been cut.
QUESTION: Is there any indication that she was traveling with anyone else? Family member (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: She was not with any family members or friends. She did meet some folks, however, while she was on the bus.
QUESTION: Did she maintain (UNINTELLIGIBLE) she had made the 911 call?
SCHULTZ: It was a period of time before she eventually told us what the true story was, yes, sir.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
SCHULTZ: Las Vegas, Nevada.
QUESTION: No, but...
SCHULTZ: No, she was down, wandered the southeast area, yes.
QUESTION: Did she make any statements that she may have -- once she got to Albuquerque, met people? I mean, you said you she made some friends on the bus and she just meandered around aimlessly according to her (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: No. Basically she just walked around town for a while until she made that 911 call.
QUESTION: Does she have a personal connection to Albuquerque at all? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHULTZ: No.
QUESTION: Was there any particular turning point that made her decide to tell the truth, like was she under intense questioning? How did she finally (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the truth? SCHULTZ: I don't know. I just know she was in discussion with detectives and agents. And she decided that she needed to do the right thing and tell the right story, the true story.
Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Can we get your name real quick on tape, your first and last name, and your title?
SCHULTZ: It's Ray Schultz, S-C-H-U-L-T-Z, Albuquerque Police Department, yes, sir. Chief of police. Thank you.
QUESTION: You said her family is going to come here. That's the next step?
SCHULTZ: That's what we're being informed of, yes.
QUESTION: And she has left the state?
SCHULTZ: She is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right, there you have it. Jennifer Wilbanks was not kidnapped after all. It turns out it was just a case of the runaway bride-to-be.
HARRIS: And we are going to encourage you to stay with CNN. Fredricka Whitfield joins you at the top of the hour for more of our continuing coverage of this developing story. We will see you back here tomorrow for CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Have a great day.
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