Groom Hopes They'll Still Marry

The groom whose bride-to-be ran away four days before their wedding still wants to marry Jennifer Wilbanks, saying, "Haven't we all made mistakes?"

"Just because we haven't walked down the aisle, just because we haven't stood in front of 500 people and said our I Do's, my commitment before God to her was the day I bought that ring and put it on her finger, and I'm not backing down from that," John Mason said Monday in an interview.

It was Mason's first public statement since he learned on the morning of his scheduled wedding day that his fiancée had gotten cold feet.

As her family and friends feared the worst, police say Wilbanks cut her hair and took a Greyhound bus to Las Vegas to back out of a lavish, 600-guest wedding planned for Saturday. She then went on to Albuquerque, N.M., where she eventually called Mason and police from a pay phone at a convenience store, saying she had been kidnapped. She later said it was simply a case of cold feet.

Mason said he has given the 32-year-old Wilbanks her ring back — she had left it at the house — and said they still planned to marry.

But if Mason is ready to forgive the jittery bride, authorities are still peeved.

The mayor said Monday she is looking into the possibility of suing Wilbanks for the estimated $100,000 cost of searching for her. That option would have to be approved by the city council. The groom's father, Claude Mason, is a former mayor of Duluth and a local judge.

"We feel a tad betrayed and some are very hurt about it," Mayor Shirley Lasseter said.

She added that they want to hear from Wilbanks' family, to see if perhaps there was a good reason for the woman's disappearance. "I would love to hear from the family and know there might have been a problem and know we should work with this lady on some recourse other than legally."

A local prosecutor said Monday he would conduct a thorough investigation, which could take weeks, before deciding whether to charge Wilbanks for falsely claiming she had been kidnapped. District Attorney Danny Porter said he has not yet interviewed Wilbanks.

Porter said Wilbanks could face a misdemeanor charge of false report of a crime or a felony charge of false statements. The misdemeanor carries a penalty of up to a year in jail; five years in prison is the maximum sentence for the felony.

"At first I've got to find out whether or not I can legally do it. I'm not sure of the jurisdiction," Porter said on CBS News' The Early Show. "After that, I'm going to look at all the facts of the case and the pre-med case that's involved and then I'll make a decision whether or not to prosecute."

Porter told Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler that there are some factors that indicate she may have been planning this, specifically that she cut her hair to avoid being recognized even though she told police in Albuquerque that she hopped this bus sort of on the spur of the moment

"There is also some information that she may have purchased the bus ticket before she actually left," Porter said. "That does seem to indicate there was a degree of premeditation there."

An FBI spokesman said that Wilbanks apparently made a sudden decision to flee her looming wedding and did not realize hundreds of people were looking for her. But he also noted she cut her hair to avoid being recognized.

"If there's criminal responsibility, that's something I have to do something about," Porter said. "I think it's really going to depend on the circumstances on how this was done."

Porter said he would speak on Monday to police in Albuquerque, where Wilbanks turned up late Friday and called her fiancée and police to report that she had been kidnapped.

In Duluth, her neighbors are relieved to find she's safe and sound, but very upset with the turmoil she put the community through, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

On Sunday, members of Peachtree Corners Baptist Church, where Wilbanks' fiancé, John Mason is a member, said prayers and expressed concern for the couple. Wilbanks and Mason did not attend services Sunday morning.

The Rev. Bob Horner thanked church members who had helped in the search and provided support for family members.

"Number one, we are so thankful that Jennifer has been found," Horner told the congregation. "Number two, I want to publicly thank all of you who prayed and you who went to Duluth to be with the family."