Time to Return the Wedding Gifts

It's become part of the media's template--obsess about the case of one person, even though thousands of individuals are classified as "missing persons."

It happened again this week. The nation was engrossed by the story of missing Georgia bride-to-be Jennifer Wilbanks.

John Mason, her fiance, was deemed the latest Scott Peterson.

As it turns out, poor Jennifer got the pre-wedding jitters and decided to runaway.

She put her family, friends, and fiance through hell. She depleted the resources of law enforcement and exploited the concern of strangers as they tirelessly searched for her.

FOR NOTHING!

From AP:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A Georgia bride-to-be who vanished just days before her wedding turned up in New Mexico and fabricated a tale of abduction before admitting Saturday that she got cold feet and "needed some time alone," police said.

Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, was in police custody more than 1,420 miles from her home on what was supposed to be her wedding day Saturday.

"It turns out that Miss Wilbanks basically felt the pressure of this large wedding and could not handle it," said Randy Belcher, the police chief in Duluth, Ga., the Atlanta suburb where Wilbanks lives with her fiance. He said there would be no criminal charges.

Wilbanks had called her fiance, John Mason, from a pay phone late Friday and told him that she had been kidnapped three days earlier while jogging, authorities said. Her family rejoiced that she was safe, telling reporters that the media coverage apparently got to the kidnappers.

But Wilbanks, who is a nurse, soon recanted, according to police.

Her uncle, Mike Satterfield, thanked people who had helped in the search.

"Jennifer had some issues the family was not aware of. We're looking forward to loving her and talking to her about these issues," he said.

Ray Schultz, chief of police in Albuquerque, said Wilbanks "had become scared and concerned about her impending marriage and decided she needed some time alone." He said she traveled to Las Vegas by bus before going to Albuquerque.

"She's obviously very concerned about the stress that she's been through, the stress that's been placed on her family," he said. "She is very upset."
_______________________________

I sympathize with Wilbanks' stress. She does indeed have serious "issues."

BUT, what she did cannot simply be dismissed.

Tax-payer dollars went into the search of this bogus missing person. Her story was a nationwide media fixation and she let it drag on. Wilbanks had the power to end it at any point with a simple phone call.

She let her family suffer, no doubt causing hours and hours of agony and sleeplessness. She let doubt be cast on her fiance, allowing him to be looked upon as a possible murderer, causing him to undergo a polygraph test.

Reports that today's scheduled wedding was going to be a prayer vigil played on the heartstrings of millions across the country.

All of this because Wilbanks got cold feet. I hope she receives the help she needs and gets over her ME, ME, ME issues.

I assume the wedding is permanently postponed. I wonder if they'll lose their deposits on the caterer, flowers, etc., etc., etc.

Hands down, Wilbanks wins the selfish award of the week.