The Runaway Bride

Aquajock

Aquajock

Cathlete
I must say, I'm about as appalled as a person can be at the "Runaway Bride" Jennifer Wilbanks, who flew the coop from her home in Georgia and lit out for parts west to avoid a wedding she couldn't cope with - while at the same time letting her family and friends, as well as public safety officials, think she'd been kidnapped or worse. That kind of selfishness and thoughtlessness is cruel, in my opinion, and Wilbanks at age 32 is a little long in the tooth to be pulling a stunt like that.

The upper Midwest where I live had a similar situation that I'm sure many remember, young Audrey Seilers who pretended to go missing because she was on the outs with her boyfriend and allowed her own family and her community to anguish about her fate for days.

I'm getting a little tired of people who abuse the love and trust, not to mention concern, of their community because of their infantile need for attention or escape.

A-Jock
 
My husband and I couldnt agree with you more. We would like to see people who do this criminal charged, and the law enforcement agencies reimbursed by the person or the families. How hard can it be to say "I dont want to get married"? SHEEEESH!
 
It is a real shame she and the other woman did this, What if one day the police officers will not take this things seriously any longer. They need to realize they put other people in danger because of their action's are on the selfish side, if she was having trouble with the wedding she should have contacted her family at least to say she needs a break and taking off to clear her mind and to think things through.
 
Don't you think that this could be part of the reason that they say you have to have at least 24 hours, or whatever it is, before you can file a missing persons? It really heats me up because a handful of people who want to be immature and selfish make everyone else suffer, at least the people who really need help. I don't want to sound cold-hearted or self-righteous, but they really need to start making examples of people who make the headlines like this so other people will be discouraged from doing it. I will be p.o.ed if she just gets a slap on the wrist.
 
I live near Jennifer Wilbanks, so it's been all over the local media here, and seeing her parents' anguish again and again was heartbreaking. This is the most senseless, selfish, narcissistic act of irresponsibility I've ever seen. The worst part is what she put her friends and family through, but then she wasted taxpayer money by allowing the intense search to go on for 3 days, she put her fiance in a position where he was under suspicion and being compared to Scott Peterson, all of the financial investment that must have gone into that ridiculously large wedding??!!

Grrrrr...I'm so furious about her behavior I could go on and on....Think I'll take it out on a Slow and Heavy chest and back workout }(

Joni
 
I agree with everyone here. Something like this really makes me mad as it is not right in so many ways. I hope she pays in some way for what she did. I always believed in "what comes around, goes around"
Geez!

Charlotte~~
 
I agree with an earlier post. She should have said something instead of disappearing like that. The disappearing act was something a teenager may have done but a 32yr old woman should have and did know better than that. If I was her fiance the wedding would be off. I would not want to go thru life with someone that fickle.

Kim
 
I was so shocked to hear the news when I woke up this morning! On one hand, I don't want to pass judgment on the woman, because I don't know anything about her personal life or what type of things she might be going through that we don't know about. On the other hand, from what I do know, I have to say that what she did is so irresponsible and stupid. Even if she got cold feet and wanted to get aaway, she could have said to someone, anyone, "I just need to get away for a few days."

She is obviously quite embarrassed- has anyone else seen the footage of her walking through the airport with a blanket over her head?
 
She needs to be put in jail for all the trouble she caused and all the police man-hours that it took to find her loser @ss. I hope her fiance moves on without her. Sorry this is so harsh, but it really ticks me off that she got away with this with hardly no repercussions. There was no excuse for that kind of immaturity.
Debbie in OH
 
I feel so bad for the family and the fiance! I wouldn't marry her after that. How inconsiderate can you be!?!
 
The thing that struck me about this whole thing was how anorexic she looked in the pictures they showed of her. Her dad was interviewed a few days ago and said she no longer ran marathons but was running to "keep her weight down." An alarm went off when he said that and I thought that this was a woman with some problems. It is sad how everyone was fooled.
 
When the story first aired, my first thought was, "Oh boy, I hope it's not another one of these abduction/rape/murder cases." Well, I'm thankful it's not, but I'm quite annoyed by what it really is -- a cowardly woman's attempt to ditch a commitment that she could very easily have ended by saying, "I don't. Sorry I changed my mind." And that would've saved a lot of time, effort, worry and grief, not to mention taxpayer's money. This woman sorely needs therapy. I hope she gets it.

Pinky
 
I just read this in today's paper. The outcome was not reported but they sure drug the fiance through the muck. "He teaches Sunday School and helps out with the church's youth group...He declined a lie detector test...He took the test and he passed." What in the world were they trying to say?

I feel for him. How will he ever manage to live and work in the same community?

Trish
 
I must be the odd one out here because I really feel sorry for her. I remember when I was planning my wedding everything spiraled out of control because it became everyone else's wedding too.It was so stressful and annoying. Ireally wished I could have run away. Kudos to Jennifer for running away and getting away from it all. She is more brave than I was. I don't agree with her connocting that whole kidnpping story. That part was a bit too much.
 
I don't feel sorry for her. She put her family, fiance and friends through hell, she cost the police and FBI time that could have been spent on a case that really needed help, she cost taxpayers money and she had made up a description of her abductors,,, a Hispanic man and a Caucasian woman with short blond hair. Imagine all the innocent people fitting that description that could have been subjected to questioning if the truth didn't come out. I don't think this woman is right in the head and I think what happened is just a sign of a major personality disorder or other serious problem. This is not just something that happened, it is a symptom of something else that is seriously wrong in the psyche of this individual... the wedding brought out an extreme behavior but I bet she has a history of odd behavior or thought proceses.(She looked a little odd in all of her pictures too....but I digress) She needs help.
 
I do not feel sorry for her at all. I was actually very pissed at her. If I were her fiance, I'd dump her and move on. It wasn't fair he was a suspect, her family went through hell, etc. But what do we know?? We don't know their background or anything.

Frankly, I do not know if she has a problem or not but would you be very, very stressed out if you were getting married in front of 600 people?? I bet your booty her parents and his parents put her through a lot of stress. You know how controlling a lot of parents are about their child's wedding. They could've forced her to do this or that like most parents during planning for the wedding. Stress can make people do very strange things. And personally, I do not think she's anorexic or anything. Most of us work out to keep out weight down and be healthy so does that make us have an eating disorder??

The reason why she's not being charged is because no one is pressing charges against her. The police and the FBI should've pressed charges against her and sue her for the loss of taxpayer's money but she has a sob story which I am sure most people feel sorry for her about so she's gonna get away with murder this time. People can be so stupid and ruin things for the future by being so childish.
 
I don't feel sorry for her but I must confess that I immediately assumed that her fiance had something to do with her disappearance. Too many cases like Scott Peterson, OJ Simpson, Mark Hacking, etc. have made me very cynical about these situations. Jennifer Wilbanks is alive, which is good, but she has a LOT to answer for. I just think it's sad that I have been conditioned by other events to jump to the conclusion that he had something to do with it. I never used to be so judgemental. :(
--Lois

"Don't forget to breathe!"
 
I feel sorry for her. Obviously she has a mental illness, either pre-exsisting, or brought on by medication or stress. The family has illuded to issues they were not aware of. Before everyone judges her, it would be wise to wait and hear the rest of the story unfold. I've recently met a woman who was put on anti-depressants, and it made her manic. She was on the medication for 6 weeks, and she did not sleep more than a few hours during that time, and took several, out of the blue trips to Canada. It wasn't until her family brought the issues to the doctor that they concluded she has medication induced bipolar disorder. Once the medication was stopped, she returned to her normal personality. Now she has the proper medication and is highly successful. Mental and emotional disorders are so misunderstood in this country. Mostly pushed into the corner or under the rug. Sorry to rant. Just my .02.

Tina
 
I agree it was horrible!

But maybe there are deeper issues and she had a nervous breakdown or something. Maybe she has a serious mental disorder. We don't know the whole story I'm sure. Just a thought.
 
>I'm getting a little tired of people who abuse the love and
>trust, not to mention concern, of their community because of
>their infantile need for attention or escape.


Me too. I was shocked when I heard about this lady's stunt. She also wasted the valuable time of the police and that's unforgivable.
 
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