The 'Runaway' Story That Wasn't
May 9, 2005 — -- Why would a young woman fake her kidnapping just four days before her wedding?
Why would the news media give the story 24/7 coverage and still continue to report on the story even after it turned out to be a hoax?
And why the heck would the American people be so fascinated by the case?
Maybe, it's because 32-year-old Jennifer Wilbanks is an attractive, white Southern belle.
Maybe, because the media thought this might be another Laci Peterson case. You remember the pregnant woman in California whose husband was convicted of killing her and sentenced to death.
Or, maybe it's because Americans' taste in news can sometimes be pretty screwed up.
A lot of people don't get it. When Wilbanks went missing on Tuesday, April 26th, there were likely thousands of other women, men and children all over the country, who also disappeared. Quoting the National Crime Information Center, which puts all reported missing persons into one computerized system, The Atlanta Constitution reported that nearly 166,000 adults were reported missing last year. That's 787 just reported in Georgia, most from the Atlanta area. There are estimates that another 40,000 bodies found around the nation are buried every year, with no names. No one could identify them.
So why did Jennifer Wilbanks get so much attention?
In Duluth, Ga., you can understand the initial interest. A woman goes jogging at night and after several hours doesn't show up. That's a big event for her fiancé, her family, her community and the Georgia news media. A big local story.
But aha! Cable news channels swarmed to this incident like flies to a pecan pie. Could the rest of the national media be far behind? To tease their coverage, many in the media cleverly used the title of the Julia Roberts/Richard Gere movie, "Runaway Bride."
Where was Wilbanks? Was there foul play? Did her fiancé, John Mason, kill her? She hadn't taken her purse and keys. She was getting married in four days during a huge wedding she had planned to include 28 attendants and 600 guests. Not calling her family was "not like Jennifer," her sobbing relatives emphasized during press conferences and interviews.
