Missing Bride
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 2:38 pm
DULUTH, Ga. - The family of a missing bride-to-be announced a $100,000 reward Friday for information that helps find the woman. A day before the planned wedding, they also said her fiance passed a lie-detector test.
Police resumed their search Friday for Jennifer Carol Wilbanks, but without the manpower that more than a hundred volunteers had provided the day before.
"We love Jennifer very much. We would give our life and everything that we own to have her returned," her uncle Mike Satterfield said during a news conference.
Friday's search centered on the same five-mile radius around the woman's home that police searched Thursday, but this time authorities planned to focus on the wooded areas closer to the house of Wilbanks and her fiance, John Mason, both 32.
The couple was scheduled to wed Saturday. Mason reported to police that Wilbanks disappeared Tuesday after leaving the house for her nightly jog.
Satterfield, who spoke over the sobs of family members behind him, said Mason took a polygraph earlier Friday and passed. Mason, dressed in a black polo shirt, was among the relatives at the news conference but did not speak.
"We support each other very much in all areas. It's my understanding that John took a lie detector test this morning and passed," Satterfield said, adding he did not know if other family members had been asked to take a polygraph.
Wilbanks' fiance reported her missing Tuesday night, saying she did not come home after her nightly jog in this Atlanta suburb. He said she left with only her radio and the clothes she had on. Police found her keys, cash, credit cards and identification in the couple's home on a tree-lined street close to the town square.
Police Chief Randy Belcher said investigators took three computers from the home and were reviewing e-mails.
Officers who searched Wilbanks' neighborhood were also testing several sweat shirts for any connection to the case, though the police chief seemed doubtful. "We've picked up pieces of clothing all over," he said.
Authorities said they considered the case a criminal investigation, but police have given mixed signals about whether they believe Wilbanks may have gotten cold feet about the wedding.
Maj. Don Woodruff said authorities did not believe Wilbanks was a runaway bride. But under questioning from reporters, Belcher later said: "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?"
Mason and Wilbanks were to be married Saturday in what was expected to be a big ceremony, with 600 invitations sent out and 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen, said Mason's mother, Vicki.
Melinda Larson, a friend of Mason's, said the guests will show up at the church Saturday, either to pray for Wilbanks or for a wedding, if she is found. But she was befuddled at the lack of evidence.
"Right now there are no new leads, and it's been 48 hours. It's very baffling."
On Thursday, about 100 police officers took part in an all-out search of the wooded suburban neighborhood and used bloodhounds to help. They also searched a river nearby.
A clump of hair found during the search likely was not that of Wilbanks because the hair appeared to have been cut, not pulled, Belcher said.
She is a beautiful woman. I hope they find her safe.
