What the heck is wrong with people? I heard a story about a college kid who started writing hate mail to other minority students at Trinity College in hopes that her parents would get scared and take her out of the school. She faces 5 years in prison.
This woman launched a nationwide manhunt because she was "nervous about her wedding?"
Maybe we should stop certain people from watching sitcoms. I mean, this is like a bad plot from Friends or I Love Lucy.
Sheesh.
And, if this woman gets married without resolving the concerns she obviously has, then she, the fiance and the minister are all idiots.
I wonder if the couple went through pre-marital counseling. If so, its an argument for different kinds of counseling if it didn't pick up on THIS!
Chalk me up as having NO SYMPATHY at all for this woman. Other than the basic sympathy I would feel for anyone who has panic disorder. But seriously, she needs to go back and take Life 101 over again.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Bob, at my college, my sophomore year, there was a black student in the freshman dorm. (yes, this was remarkable at my college) There were racial slurs written all over his door and room. It hit the front page of the Boston Globe.Students were up ij arms, searching for who might have done it, posting a watch on his room, making sure he was with someone at all times, etc. Turns out, it was him writing the slurs. That news came out in a small paragraph in the middle of the Globe. Maybe. It gave the college really bad press.
Posted by dawnmaria (Member # 4142) on :
My beef is how did she think this would make her parents feel? She may not be real clear on her feelings for the fiance right now but she put her family through hell! She needs serious counseling. Make her pay back the money spent on the manhunt with all her wedding gift money! No she has to give that all back now doesn't she?
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Yeah, I'd say the wedding gift money is not hers to spend.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
I wonder if the guy is starting to reconsider.
--j_k
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
I wouldn't, she seems like a prime catch.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
A pathetic story. But at least she's still alive. I feel sorry for her family, what an emotional roller coaster they've been on!
You know, when I first heard her kidnapping story at 5am, I had a sneaking suspicion it was phony. But I chalked it up to my innate cynicism about people and what liars we can be.
When news that the missing woman, Wilbanks, was found still alive spread among her family and friends, an impromptu pre-dawn celebration started at her family's home. Bridesmaids and others eagerly chatted with reporters. Later when it came out that the kidnapping story was a hoax, everybody stopped talking to the press and the party broke up.
Now a reporter just said the media outnumbers people at the house 4-1.
[ April 30, 2005, 12:43 PM: Message edited by: Morbo ]
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
This is nothing new.
Back in the early 19th-century in my home town, a wealthy eccentric did a mock funeral, with him in his coffin, and then got up and berated his wife for not showing enough grief.
-Bok
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I was wondering why nationwide media decided that this story was so much more important than the millions of other people who go missing in this country. What set this woman apart from the rest, anyway? Maybe I'm just being cynical.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
quote: why nationwide media decided that this story was so much more important
That's a question I ask myself everytime I hear about a kidnapping. It makes me wonder if one of my little girls ever goes missing, will the nation be up in arms to find them, or will it be a fight to get even the local police to give a damn.
I'm afraid I don't live in a nice enough neighborhood to get the attention I'd want.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I am sure that the fact that she was about to get married gave it that soap opera feel the media loves.
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
I knew she just ran off. I don't know why, but as soon as I heard that story, I knew she had just skipped out. Just a hunch. Probably totally irrational.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Maybe we should just find a way to make it legal to bill people like this for the expenses they thrust upon others.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I had the same reaction, Book. It was just a little too convenient that she disappeared right before the wedding.
And I read in another news article that she and her fiance are already living together. Isn't it a little late to be getting cold feet?
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Rakeesh, many communities do bill for the cost of services of police, etc. when someone turns in a false alarm.
I suspect that even without such a law, they might be inclined to file a civil suit against her.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
It's difficult, though, because as best I can tell she didn't turn in a false alarm until after she was "found," which means all the search before her call wasn't due to her false alarm.
It will be an interesting case if it happens.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
While it was certainly rude of her to leave without telling anyone where she was going, and extremely inconsiderate towards her family, friends, and intended, like Dags said, she did not actually turn in a false alarm. She might not have even considered that people would think she had been kidnapped, which would be stupid of her, but not criminal.
Last I checked it was not illegal to take an unplanned road trip. So in this case... stupid, misguided, inconsiderate. Not illegal, and as far as I'm concerned it would be wrong to try to make her pay the expenses of the search. We have the system in place for when it's needed, and in order to do that we have to accept that sometimes we're going to use it when it's not needed. *shrug*
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I'm pretty much with Rakeesh on this one.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
But the question is what expenses were "thrust" on others here? The search predated her wrongdoing.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Me, I always try to look for the silver lining (aside from the obvious one - that she is alive and freaked rather than kidnapped and dead) in these things.
quote:Less than 12 hours after returning home, Jennifer and her parents hired an agent to field offers. Several people were rushed to the hospital this morning. The pack of reporters camped outside the Wilbanks family home collided with the pack of film producers bidding for the rights to Jennifer's story.
quote:Athletic shoe maker Nike has been developing a running shoe with self-contained cooling, based on advanced technology developed by the Army. They have offered the athlete with cold feet a seven figure endorsement contract. Ad agency executives are putting the finishing touches on a presentation scheduled for 9AM Monday. They will pitch Nike a unique "Just Don't Do It" campaign built around Jennifer.
Posted by Peter (Member # 4373) on :
maybe a hatracker should pull this and try to get money off of it, wouldn't that be a sweet deal.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
AH...
Well, at first she claimed she had been kidnapped and that started a "man hunt" ... it only lasted a few hours. Still, it cost some agency some money.
Anyway, it's too bad. I'm glad she wasn't really kidnapped, and I'm sure she just was under too much pressure. But a class in coping skills is probably not too much to ask for.
Weddings are fairly stressful, but there are other things that are also daunting and have long build ups. She'll need to develop a better repetoire of strategies.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
I realize it's legally shaky ground, and in fact the cure might be worse than the disease. In a likely absence of any real proof, such things would have to be based on, "This is obviously what you meant," and I'm not comfortable with that.
Even though I expect that at some point she certainly realized what would happen after her disappearance.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Oh, poor girl. I mean, she's obviously a pansy (It's not that hard to call off a wedding), but she must have been feeling so trapped.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Actually, what I learned from this is that the police assume that polygraphy is practiced by underhanded rat's patooties who will testify to whatever the detectives want them to. The police chief overseeing this case essentially accused the fiance of being the primary suspect of her murder simply because the fiance wanted a video recording made of the police polygrapher's questioning session -- ie the police chief refused to give permission on the grounds that it was against standard operating procedures of all law enforcement agencies -- even though the fiance had already given the police the results of a private polygraph test conducted on advice from his lawyer.
Standard operating procedure is to grant law enforcement personnel the right to make up damned*well anything they please to obtain a conviction??? If not, then video recordings of all questioning as well as preservation of all other audio/visual recordings and investigative notes should be the StandardOperatingProcedure.
* And I do mean as in hellbound.
[ May 02, 2005, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by Portabello (Member # 7710) on :
quote:she's obviously a pansy
I find it interesting that pansies are actually extremely haredy flowers.
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![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)