The
Runaway Bride case was the case of
Jennifer Carol Wilbanks (born March 1, 1973), an
American
who ran away
from home on April 26, 2005, in order to avoid her wedding with John Mason, her fiancé, on April
30. Her disappearance from Duluth, Georgia
, sparked a nationwide search and intensive media
coverage, including some media speculation that Mason had killed
her. On April 29, Wilbanks
called Mason from Albuquerque, New Mexico
, and falsely claimed that she had been kidnapped and sexually
assaulted by a Hispanic male and a
white woman.
Wilbanks gained notoriety in the United States and internationally,
and her story persisted as a major topic of national news coverage
for some time after she was found and her safety was assured. Many
critics of the
mass media attacked this
as a "
media circus".
Howard Kurtz, an influential media critic for
the
Washington Post and
CNN-TV, wrote that the runaway bride had become
a "runaway television embarrassment," and he compared the story to
a TV
soap opera.
Wilbanks's repeating of the false claims to investigating police
officers resulted in a
felony indictment
against her of giving false information to the police, a charge
that could have resulted in up to five years of imprisonment. On
June 2, 2005, Wilbanks pleaded
no
contest to this charge.
As part of her plea
bargain, she was sentenced to two years of probation and 120
hours of community service, and she was also ordered to pay $2,250
in restitution to the Gwinnett County
Sheriff's Department. Also as part of the
plea bargain, a
misdemeanor charge of
filing a false police report was dismissed. Wilbanks's criminal
record will be expunged if she successfully completes her period of
probation. Wilbanks's engagement to marry was over.
On March 15, 2008, Wilbanks's ex-fiancé, John Mason, married
another woman, Shelley Martin, in a quiet ceremony at his parents'
home in Duluth, Ga.
Timeline
- April 26, 2005 — Mason notified police that Wilbanks was
missing two hours after she failed to return from her evening
jog.
- April 27 — 250 people took part in the
search for Wilbanks. Local police speculated publicly that
Wilbanks' disappearance might be "a case of the premarital
jitters," but the search continued. The mayor of Duluth later
reported the city spent between $40,000 and $60,000 in the
search.
- April 27 — Police received numerous
pieces of evidence that later turned out to be false leads,
including large clumps of dark brown hair in an area next to a
retention pond, a variety of clothing, and purported murder
weapons.
- April 28 — Woodruff announced that
because there were no other explanations, Wilbanks' disappearance
was being handled as a criminal investigation. The FBI
and the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation were now involved in the case.
- April 29 — Wilbanks' relatives offered
a $100,000 reward and planned vigils. Later that day, Wilbanks
called Mason from a pay phone and told him that she had been
kidnapped, but had just been released. She also called 911, declaring in a frantic voice that she had been
kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a Hispanic man and a Caucasian
woman in their 40s driving a blue van. When asked if she knew what
direction her captors went after setting her free, she said, "I
have no idea. I don't even know where I am." The calls were traced
to a pay phone at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Albuquerque, where she was picked up by local police.
Her family publicly thanked the media for getting through to the
kidnappers. Later, during police interrogation, Wilbanks admitted
that she had not, in fact, been abducted, but needed time and space
to escape the pressures of her upcoming wedding.
- May 17 — Wilbanks canceled her engagement
to her fiancé.
- May 25 — Wilbanks was charged with
making false
statements.
- May 31 — Wilbanks reached an agreement
with the city of Duluth to repay more than $13,000 in costs
incurred by the city in their search.
- October 10, 2006 — Wilbanks filed a lawsuit against her
ex-fiancé for $500,000, claiming it is her share of a home the
ex-fiancé purchased with the proceeds to a book deal he negotiated
for them when she was medicated, plus punitive damages.
Media frenzy
Since this story had become nationally newsworthy as a search for a
possibly kidnapped or murdered bride, it lost some of its
importance when it was discovered that Wilbanks had merely run
away. However, the coverage by some reporters and news outlets
continues, discussing issues such as:
- editorializing upon her choice of a fictional Hispanic man for
her accusation
- reporting on the gratuitous details of her lies to the
police
- speculating about what should be done to people who exact a
cost on public services when they run away
- reporting on biographical details including her previous record
of petty crimes and her entry into psychological counseling
Major Donald L. Woodruff of the City of Duluth's Police Department
was the department's Public Information Officer who kept the press
advised on the events surrounding the case.
Aftermath and lawsuit
On May 22, 2006,
People
magazine reported that Wilbanks and Mason had officially called
off their engagement.
According
to the BBC, Jennifer Wilbanks sold the media
rights to her story to a New York City
company for $500,000. Wilbanks did not offer
to repay the whole cost of the search for her, which totaled almost
$43,000.
In September 2006, Wilbanks filed a lawsuit against her ex-fiancé,
claiming that while she was hospitalized and under medication, she
granted Mason power of attorney to negotiate the sale of the
couple's story to a publisher in New York. According to her, Mason
negotiated a deal for $500,000 and then used the money to buy a
house, in his name only, from which he later
evicted Wilbanks. She claimed $250,000 as her share of
the house, and another $250,000 in punitive damages. Mason
countersued, claiming emotional distress from being left at the
altar. In December 2006, both of the parties dropped their
respective lawsuits.
Impact of the events
Wilbanks has inspired a "Runaway Bride" action figure and a hot
sauce called "Jennifer's High Tailin' Hot Sauce." An auction on
eBay of a slice of toast
carved with a likeness of Wilbanks closed with a
winning bid of $15,400.
Nearly two years after Wilbanks ran away, the incident was used by
the Albuquerque Police Department as a means of attracting new
recruits to the police force. This police department used the image
of a bride in a white wedding dress and veil being apprehended by
Police Officer Trish Hoffman, posted on a billboard with the
advertisement reading "Running away from your current job? Call APD
Recruiting" followed by the police department's telephone number.
Hoffman was the officer who was pictured in the media leading
Wilbanks through the Albuquerque, N.M., airport after being taken
into custody. The Police Department's reasoning for using the image
was the fact that many people would recognize the reference to the
incident and that people still talked about Ms. Wilbanks.
A musical play based on the story of Jennifer Wilbanks opened on
March 13, 2008 at the Red Clay Theater in Duluth, Georgia.
A photo of Wilbanks appears in the trailer of the 2008 movie about
professional poker,
The
Grand, as one of the many women
Woody Harrelson's character has been married
to in the past.
See also
References
- (page B01)
- http://www.apple.com/trailers Apple Movie Trailers
External links
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