Missing Bride Case Now 'Criminal'

Neighbors, Police, Bloodhounds Comb Atlanta Suburb For Clues

(CBS/AP)  A 32-year-old bride-to-be vanished just days before her wedding, and scores of volunteers joined police and search dogs in an all-out search of her wooded suburban neighborhood.

Authorities said they now consider the case of Jennifer Wilbanks a criminal investigation.

Wilbanks was reported missing by her fiancé, John Mason, who said she disappeared Tuesday on her nightly jog in this Atlanta suburb.

Her keys, cash, credit cards and identification also were found in her home. Her fiancé said she left with only her radio and the clothes she had on.

Hundreds of the bride-to-be's neighbors in the Atlanta suburb had joined police, who set up a mobile command center and brought in search dogs, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

Police Maj. Don Woodruff said police had checked the banks of the nearby Chattahoochee River and that the state Department of Natural Resources would be searching in the river.

"Based on the circumstances of her disappearance, we have determined that this would have to go forward as a criminal investigation at this time," he said Thursday on CBS News' The Early Show.

About 100 police officers took part in the search and brought out bloodhounds to help. They also searched a river nearby.

Police gave mixed signals about whether they believe Wilbanks, a hospital nurse, may have gotten cold feet four days before her wedding.

Woodruff said authorities did not believe Wilbanks was a runaway bride. But under questioning from reporters, Police Chief Randy Belcher later said: "It's a very real possibility she did get cold feet. I mean, how many husbands have gone out for a pack of cigarettes and not come back?"

Mason and Wilbanks were to be married Saturday in what was expected to be a big bash, with 600 invitations sent out and 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen, said Mason's mother, Vicki.

"She was so in love. The wedding is huge. It's the talk of the town. Everybody knows her and was so excited," said Killie McCauley, who went to high school with Wilbanks and joined the search.

McCauley and other friends and relatives have told police Wilbanks seemed happy and was looking forward to the wedding.

Friends on Thursday gathered at the home Wilbanks shares with her fiancé on a tree-lined street close to the town square. They brought food to share and hugged each other as police kept others at a distance.

McCauley described the former high school track runner and cheerleader as an "avid matchmater" who introduced McCauley to her future husband. She said Wilbanks was looking forward to a future that included children.

"She's just such a caring person. Being a mother would be her ultimate," she said.

"We have interviewed numerous friends, family, co-workers, and people who know her," Woodruff told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "All of them report that her disappearance would be totally uncharacteristic of her behavior and for that reason, we feel that it's not just simply a matter of cold feet."