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Saturday, April 30, 2005
‘Spur-of-the-moment’ decision
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bill Elwell, an FBI spokesman in Albuquerque, said Wilbanks, who is a nurse, apparently decided shortly after purportedly leaving for her jog Tuesday night that she was going to run away.
‘‘Based on the information we received, it was a spur of the moment situation,’’ Elwell told The Associated Press.
Elwell said Wilbanks’ relatives were en route to New Mexico and were expected to pick her up in the afternoon and head back to Atlanta.
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Swank reception had been planned
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jennifer Wilbanks’ planned-but-now-cancelled wedding reception today at the exclusive Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth would have cost upwards of $10,000.
The country club for the well-heeled, with two 18-hold golf courses, indoor and outdoor tennis and many other amenities, is billed on its Web site as “one of the few facilities on the East Coast that offers” so many services in one place.
It also has one par 3 golf course, a 42,000 square foot athletic center, an Olympic-sized pool, plus large social areas.
The club says it averages at least one wedding reception per weekend, and often two.
Only people who are members or are sponsored by members are allowed to use the facilities.
The club was chartered in 1898 and originally was located downtown on Edgewood Avenue. The club hired its first athletic director, John Heisman of Heisman Trophy fame, in 1908.
The great golfer Bobby Jones grew up playing at the East Lake Country Club, built by the Atlanta Athletic Club in 1906.
Only people who’re invited to join are allowed to become memers.
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‘Jennifer was a runaway bride’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pastor Alan Jones, who was to have married the couple today, briefly addressed the media Saturday morning.
” John [Mason, Jennifer Wilbanks’ fiance] is a man of faith and he said just an hour ago, everyone has a right to make a mistake. There’s still a lot of pain. No one in this house had any idea that Jennifer was a runaway bride. Jennifer needs help.
“John Mason will not talk to the media for a couple of days” because he’s so tired.
He said he did not know about any future wedding plans.
“Remember what we were praying yesterday, let her be a runaway bride.”
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Timeline of events
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Developments surrounding the disappearance and reappearance of Jennifer Wilbanks:
Tuesday
Four days before her scheduled wedding, Wilbanks leaves the home she shares with her fiance in Duluth at 8:30 p.m. Her fiance, John Mason, believes she has gone jogging on her daily run through their neighborhood.
Wednesday
Mason calls police at around 1:30 a.m. to report that Wilbanks is missing. Later that day, more than a hundred volunteers, including members of the wedding party and invited wedding guests, search the area for any clues in Wilbanks’ disappearance. Local authorities canvass door-to-door into the night.
Thursday
In the morning, authorities announce they are treating Wilbanks’ disappearance as a criminal investigation and the FBI offers its assistance. However, hours later, Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher acknowledges: “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?”
Friday
Duluth police call off their search, saying they have “turned over probably every leaf in the city.” Soon after, Wilbanks’ family makes an emotional plea for her safe return and offers a $100,000 reward. Wedding guests plan to attend a prayer service the next day at the church and time where Wilbanks and Mason had been scheduled to get married.
Saturday
On the day of her scheduled wedding, Wilbanks places a collect call to her fiance at 1:30 a.m. She claims that she was kidnapped and was just released by her abductors. She claims she does not know where she is. Authorities trace the call to a pay phone in Albequerque, N.M., and Wilbanks is picked up by police there.
After being questioned by the FBI, authorities announce at 7:20 a.m. that they have determined Wilbanks was not abducted. They say she instead had cold feet about her wedding and left Georgia on a bus to Las Vegas. She then took a bus to Albuquerque soon before her call.
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As news emerged, house was closed down
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Around 7 a.m., as news was emerging about Jennifer Wilbanks having left Georgia on her own, everyone but immediate family was told to leave John Mason’s house. The blinds were drawn and the front door was closed.
Several police officers then began to converge on the front porch and news began to trickle among reporters and friends that something was amiss with Wilbank’s story that she had been abducted.
Then officers told everyone to get off of the front lawn and that a press conference would be held shortly.
Before news that Wilbanks was not abducted, Jennifer’s father, Harris Wilbanks expressed jubilation that his daughter had been found.
“This is a happy, happy day. I don’t even need a plane. I could just flap my arms and fly to Albuquerque and get her. When I went to bed last night, it was probably the lowest I’ve ever been in my life. When I got the call from her, it was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Wilbanks said his daughter told him that two people had picked her up and cut her hair. Jennifer later admitted that wasn’t true.
John Mason’s parents, Claude and Vickie Mason, said when they got the call at the house, it was cheers, high fives and hugs.
Claude Mason said his son was “on cloud nine” and Vickie said her son was “over the moon.”
They said that Friday had been a horrible day. That was the day they were to have had the rehearsal dinner. Instead they found themselves defending their son and dealing with issues surrounding a polygraph test.
“It was just horrible watching him like that,” Vicki Mason said. “The heartbreak of it. He was trying so hard to be brave. I don’t know how he held up.”
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Family makes a statement
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mike Satterfield, Jennifer Wilbanks’ uncle, and family spokesman, emerged from John Mason’s home to issue a brief statement. “We’re so proud Jennifer is alive and well,” he said. “It has been determined Jennifer had some issues the family was not aware of. The family would appreciate some time and space to assist Jennifer in dealing with these issues.”
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A case of cold feet, after all
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was a case of cold feet after all.
Duluth police chief Randy Belcher confirmed reports from Albuquerque, N.M., that Jennifer Wilbanks lied about being abducted.
She got on a westbound Greyhound bus.
Belcher said the 32-year-old medical assistant felt the pressure of the upcoming wedding and couldn’t deal with it.
“She got on a Greyhound bus and went to Albuquerque, New Mexico,” said the chief at an early morning press briefing.
Wilbanks was questioned by the FBI in Albuquerque and admitted the truth, Belcher said.
He would not comment on whether Wilbanks had cut her hair. Authorities in New Mexico said the woman “had a different appearance,” with shorter hair.
No criminal charges are going to be filed by Duluth authorities, said Belcher.
The scene at the Mason household went from jubilant, with fiance John Mason hopping from one TV interview to the next and joking about meeting Sean Hannity, to police putting crime scene tape up around the porch of the house to keep people away.
Belcher said the family will issue a statement later today.
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