Janice
04-28-2005, 12:55 PM
Hundreds Search for Missing Bride-to-Be
DULUTH, Ga. (April 28) - The case of a woman who disappeared just days before she is to be married is now considered a criminal investigation, authorities said Thursday.
Jennifer Wilbanks' family told authorities it is "totally uncharacteristic of her behavior" not to let someone know where she is, police Maj. Don Woodruff said.
Her fiance, John Mason, said Wilbanks, 32, left home Tuesday night to go jogging. When she did not return in a couple of hours he began looking for her and then notified police.
At a news conference Thursday, Woodruff said the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have offered assistance in the search. But authorities did not have any suspects, he said.
Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America" later Thursday morning, Woodruff dismissed the idea that Wilbanks' disappearance was a case of a bride getting cold feet.
"There's been a lot of speculation from that perspective that it could have been a case of the premarital jitters," Woodruff said. "But again, according to all of her friends that have been interviewed, all of her family, that's simply not the case.
This is totally uncharacteristic of her to have just simply disappeared this way."
Hundreds of volunteers searched Wednesday for the woman, who is to marry Mason on Saturday. Authorities called off the volunteer search late in the day but continued canvassing door-to-door in this northeastern Atlanta suburb seeking clues in the disappearance.
Woodruff said police had checked the banks of the nearby Chattahoochee River and that the state Department of Natural Resources would be searching the river.
Wilbanks is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, about 123 pounds, with shoulder-length dark brown hair. She was wearing a gray sweat shirt and blue sweat pants when she went out, police said.
"She left out of here with just a radio and the clothes she has on," Mason said. "Her cell phone is in there, her credit cards, her pocket book, her money, her keys to her car, her diamond. Everything she owns is in the home. If this is cold feet, it is the weirdest case of cold feet I have ever seen."
Mason's father, Claude Mason, is a former Duluth mayor and municipal judge.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/0e/00/20050428094009990012
Jennifer Wilbanks left home Tuesday night to go jogging and never returned.
DULUTH, Ga. (April 28) - The case of a woman who disappeared just days before she is to be married is now considered a criminal investigation, authorities said Thursday.
Jennifer Wilbanks' family told authorities it is "totally uncharacteristic of her behavior" not to let someone know where she is, police Maj. Don Woodruff said.
Her fiance, John Mason, said Wilbanks, 32, left home Tuesday night to go jogging. When she did not return in a couple of hours he began looking for her and then notified police.
At a news conference Thursday, Woodruff said the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have offered assistance in the search. But authorities did not have any suspects, he said.
Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America" later Thursday morning, Woodruff dismissed the idea that Wilbanks' disappearance was a case of a bride getting cold feet.
"There's been a lot of speculation from that perspective that it could have been a case of the premarital jitters," Woodruff said. "But again, according to all of her friends that have been interviewed, all of her family, that's simply not the case.
This is totally uncharacteristic of her to have just simply disappeared this way."
Hundreds of volunteers searched Wednesday for the woman, who is to marry Mason on Saturday. Authorities called off the volunteer search late in the day but continued canvassing door-to-door in this northeastern Atlanta suburb seeking clues in the disappearance.
Woodruff said police had checked the banks of the nearby Chattahoochee River and that the state Department of Natural Resources would be searching the river.
Wilbanks is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, about 123 pounds, with shoulder-length dark brown hair. She was wearing a gray sweat shirt and blue sweat pants when she went out, police said.
"She left out of here with just a radio and the clothes she has on," Mason said. "Her cell phone is in there, her credit cards, her pocket book, her money, her keys to her car, her diamond. Everything she owns is in the home. If this is cold feet, it is the weirdest case of cold feet I have ever seen."
Mason's father, Claude Mason, is a former Duluth mayor and municipal judge.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/0e/00/20050428094009990012
Jennifer Wilbanks left home Tuesday night to go jogging and never returned.