Bride-To-Be Was Faking It
Got Cold Feet, Needed Time Alone, She Tells Police
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Play CBS Video Video Missing Bride Had Cold Feet Missing Georgia bride-to-be Jennifer Wilbanks was found in New Mexico after she called police and told them she was abducted. It turns out she ran away from home, Randall Pinkston reports.
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Video Bride's 911 Call Police released a recording of the 911 call placed by Jennifer Wilbanks, the missing bride-to-be who faked her abduction. Wilbanks told the dispatcher that a Hispanic man had taken her hostage.
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Police officers escort a blanket-covered Jennifer Wilbanks through the Albuquerque airport as she is taken to her flight and back to Atlanta. (AP)
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John Mason reacts in front of his home in Duluth, Ga., early Saturday, to news that his bride-to-be, Jennifer Wilbanks had been found alive. (AP)
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Jennifer Wilbanks (AP)
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Photo Essay Runaway Bride A Georgia bride-to-be claimed she was abducted, then admitted she had gotten cold feet.
Bill Elwell, an FBI spokesman in Albuquerque, said Wilbanks apparently decided to flee shortly after purportedly leaving for her jog Tuesday without her keys or wallet.
"Based on the information we received, it was a spur of the moment situation," Elwell told The Associated Press.
She had enough money to take a bus to Las Vegas before going to Albuquerque, where she found herself broke. Elwell said that is probably why she called home and authorities when she did.
In her 911 call, Wilbanks sounds frantic and confused, telling an operator she was kidnapped from Atlanta by a man and a woman in their 40s who were driving a blue van.
At one point, the operator asks if Wilbanks knows what direction her captors went after dropping her off in Albuquerque.
"I have no idea. I don't even know where I am," she says.
Wilbanks cut her hair so no one would recognize her, but gave no indication that she had watched news reports of the search or realized the magnitude of the situation, Elwell said.
After police reported the hoax, the mood outside Wilbanks' home went from jubilant to somber. Family members ducked inside and the blinds were drawn.
They later expressed relief that she was safe.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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