Every Town - Missing Bride To Be - Jennifer Wilbanks - Duluth, GA

Episode Date: April 8, 2022

Jennifer Wilbanks was excited about having her dream wedding. However,  just days before the big day she mysteriously vanished. When she finally resurfaced she had a wild story to tell of being kidnapped by a couple who assaulted her. A media frenzy ensued after this with lot's of questions about her strange story - and how it ended is something right out of romance mystery novel. Welcome to Every Town.🥇 Watch This Episode on Youtube! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTVFwfgtgj4&ab_channel=ScaryMysteries🎉 Patreon (videos too hot for youtube) -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJVtrLuIxoI🎧 More Podcasts, we got you - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579 Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Everytown. Thank you guys so much for tuning into our podcast. If you guys enjoy listening to Everytown, then I wanted to let you know that there are always a video component to each episode over on our YouTube channel called Scary Mysteries. They're really well put together and put faces to the names, so you can always head over to our Scary Mysteries YouTube channel if you want to view them.

There's also two other videos that come out on our YouTube channel. each and every Monday and Wednesday, where we cover strange and creepy stories from all around the world. Those can also be listened to in podcast form on our other podcast channel called Scary Mysteries. We have tons of cool content for you all around. Thanks so much for the support and tuning in. Hope you enjoy the episode. Everytown has a dark side. In the spring of 2005, a woman named Jennifer Wilbank simply vanished.

just four days before her wedding was to take place to her fiancé John Mason. Her story generated intense media coverage and involved a large nationwide search, and when she finally resurfaced, Jennifer told her story of being kidnapped by a Hispanic man and a white woman who sexually assaulted her. But was her story even real? I'm Andrew Fitzgerald, and welcome to another strange episode of Everytown. Now, let's head to Duluth, Georgia, and learn more about Jennifer Wilbanks, the missing bride-to-be. Many women dream of getting swept off their feet by their ideal man, leading to an exchange of marital vows as lifetime partners in a lavish wedding ceremony. And 32-year-old Georgia native, Jennifer Wilbanks, was one lucky individual who had all the reasons to feel that way back.

when she was getting ready to get married. She had a stable job as a medical assistant in her hometown, Duluth. She was also bashed in the love and support of her family, friends, and most especially her fiancé John Mason, also 32 years old and a Duluth resident. Jennifer seemed to have hit the jackpot by having John as her future husband. John had an established career as an office manager at Mason, primary care, care, a family owned and operated medical practice that had been serving the Duluth community

since 1951. Together, the couple had already built their own house that they had been sharing. John was also an active member of the Peach Tree Corner's Baptist Church, teaching Sunday school classes and coaching the church's youth basketball team. The Mason family's management consultant Andy Parsons met up with John every week for private Bible study sessions. Andy had glowing things to say about John. He is one of the most decent, upstanding Christians I've ever met. John's other friends described him as one of the kindest people you'll ever meet, and a big teddy bear.

So what more could Jennifer ask for in an ideal husband? Despite some sort of details about Jennifer's past, particularly about her previous brushes with the law, John chose her to be his future wife. Jennifer was charged with shoplifting on three instances in the 1990s. In 1996 at the age of 23, she allegedly took $37 worth of merchandise from a Walmart store in Gainesville

and was consequently charged with misdemeanor shoplifting. Two years later, she spent two weekends in jail as a consequence for shoplifting goods amounting to $98. In the third case, Jennifer committed with shoplifting items worth $1,740 from a shopping mall. When she worked as a babysitter, Jennifer was also accused of stealing from the homes of her employers. These instances besmirched Jennifer's character, yet John was so supportive of her dream of a lavish and elaborate wedding that was set to happen on April 30, 2005. With 600 invited guests, a 28-member entourage, 14 of which were bridesmaids, John and Jennifer's huge wedding, was touted as the talk of the town. It indeed became talked about, not only in the Duluth community, but even beyond the state of Georgia because Jennifer became an on-screen Julia Roberts wannabe, who jilted or would-be groomed and just disappeared out of the blue.

The story of Jennifer, as a runaway bride, was as real as it could get, with twist and turns that we thought only happened in the movies. As the Mason-Will Bank's nuptial was fast approaching, everyone involved was busy prepping for a big wedding celebration in Duluth. On top of all this prep was, of course, the bride-to-be herself, Jennifer. Like every woman who was walked down the aisle knows, the magical moment of exchanging I-Dews, is preceded by fulfilling a list of 101 things to do. From sending out invitations, menu tasting for the wedding reception, deciding on the cake design, church decor, wedding entourage, attires, wedding rings,

and choosing the perfect gown for the perfect wedding. The pressures can turn a woman into a bridezilla. Will Banks wasn't a superwoman, and she wasn't immune to pre-wedding jitters and stress. So it was a good thing that she liked to partake in marathons, which to her was a great way to de-stress and achieve sharp focus as she was being physically active. So on the night of April 26, 2005, Jennifer told her fiancé that she'd be going out for a five-mile evening jog. Two hours later, she still hadn't come back, which naturally worried her would-be husband.

Distressing thoughts kept running through John's mind, like was she abducted? Did she figure into an accident and was brought to the hospital? Or, pray not, was Jennifer randomly killed? But it never crossed John's mind that his fiancé could have possibly ran away, leaving him by his lonesome on their wedding day. Immediately, John filed a missing persons report that embroiled Duluth in a costly search for Jennifer. Data from the Atlanta Constitution reported that nearly 166,000 adults were reported missing in the previous year of 2004. Of these, 787 were reported in Georgia,

mostly from the Atlanta area, and Duluth is a suburb of the state's capital city. On the following day, April 27, the search for Jennifer began with 250 police officers and volunteers taking part. Authorities in Duluth speculated that Jennifer's disappearance might be a case of premarital jitters and that she'd possibly show up in due time. Yet, they continued, scouring the woods and alleys, crawling in sewage drains and staying up late looking for any sign of the missing bride to be. Police received certain pieces of evidence, such as large clumps of dark brown hair found in an area next to a retention pond, as well as pieces of clothing and alleged murder weapons. These were signs of a

possible homicide, but thankfully they turned out as false leads, raising hopes that Jennifer was still alive. For a few days, the tight-knit Duluth community was consumed in looking for Jennifer. Her picture and newspaper articles about her disappearance were posted on telephone polls and store windows. On April 28th, Major Donald L. Woodruff of the city of Duluth's police department announced that Jennifer's disappearance was being handled as a criminal investigation because it lacked solid leads and explanations why she went missing. At that point, the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were now involved in the case. Desperate and fearful of Jennifer's plight, the Wilbank's family, turned to the media for help.

They made the rounds on the local stations and cable networks pleading for Jennifer to return home and saying that it wasn't in her personality to just run off. expectedly the search for Jennifer dominated the news with all kinds of speculations about a whereabouts and allegations about what happened to her since it was Jason who last saw Jennifer before she hit the road the would-be groom became a suspect of media speculation that he actually killed his fiancee John was investigated as a suspect much to his disbelief in humiliation According to Duluth police chief, Randy Belcher, John refused to take a police polygraph exam unless it met the conditions outlined by his lawyer.

Later, the result of a privately administered polygraph in which John had aced was turned in by his lawyer, but the police chief wanted to talk to him. Authorities also seized John's three computers at home, but they were mum about finding something useful. When John attended, the family's news, conference. He didn't talk to reporters in order to not make the speculations worse. Andy Parsons, Jason's colleague and churchmate, said the fiancé was scared for Jennifer's safety, yet he remained positive. On April 29th, a day before the doomed wedding, the Wilbank's family offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who could provide details that would be helpful in finding Jennifer.

They were supposed to spend the night for a rehearsal dinner, but instead they invited the wedding guest to gather at the church for a prayer vigil. But even before they knelt down and said their prayers, Jason received an answer about his missing fiancé. Jennifer called him from a payphone in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was alive, thankfully, but would she end up as a comeback bride? Jennifer's call to Jason was both good and bad. It was a relief that Jennifer's life wasn't taken, but her tale brought shock to Jason and her family. Jennifer claimed that she had been kidnapped

and sexually assaulted in Albuquerque by her abductors. She further told Jason at the time of her call that the captors had just released her. Prior to contacting Jason, Jennifer had frantically called 911, and declared that a Hispanic man and a Caucasian woman, both in their 40s, driving a blue van, had abducted and sexually assaulted her. When asked by the 911 operator about the direction her captors were headed to, after setting her free, Jennifer answered, I have no idea. I don't even know where I am.

The local police were able to trace her call to a pay phone at a 7-Eleven store in Albuquerque and right away picked her up. When police and FBI investigators asked how she ended up in New Mexico, more than 1,400 miles from Georgia, Jennifer came up with this gruesome story. On the night of April 26th, when she went out for that jog, a Hispanic man with bad teeth and a heavyset white female in their 40s kidnapped her in Duluth. She was bound with a rope so she couldn't escape and placed in the back of the kidnapper's blue van. The couple then drove from Georgia to Albuquerque and sexually assaulted her inside the van. Jennifer asserted that her male abductor raped her and then forced her to perform sexual acts on the female kidnapper. The investigators' reports mentioned how Jennifer went into detail in describing her position on the floor in the back of the band,

the background Spanish music playing, what the surroundings were, and what she saw outside. from the van's windows. By the end of the questioning, Jennifer told investigators she was distraught running out of money and wanted to go home to Georgia. Her account, though, raised the FBI suspicion, and they told her it didn't seem credible. It was then that Jennifer finally broke down, recanted her story, and admitted that she had lied about getting kidnapped and sexually assaulted. The truth was, Jennifer had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage.

and decided she needed some time alone. The FBI report stated, she had left Georgia because of the pressures of her wedding. The list of things she needed to get done in no time to do it made her feel overwhelmed. Rather than call off or postpone the wedding, Jennifer then opted to run away. So what was the truth that happened on the night of April 26th?

Jennifer didn't go jogging as she had told John, She actually withdrew $40 from her bank account, called a taxi that took her to a Greyhound bus terminal, purchased tickets to Las Vegas, Nevada, and from there, she proceeded to Albuquerque. On April 30th, the day of her supposed wedding to John, Jennifer came back to Georgia from New Mexico, escorted by her stepfather and uncle. After the airplane had landed, a flight attendant handed out a written statement from the Willbank's family to the news media saying, She has spoken to her fiancé. He cannot wait to see her. She says the wedding is not called off, just postponed. With the public saw, was a runaway bride who returned not wearing lacy bridal veil, but covering her head with a wide striped towel looking like a criminal.

Following her return to Georgia, Jennifer issued a public apology to her family friends and the people of Duluth through her family's pastor, Reverend Tom Smiley. of the Lakewood Baptist Church. After admitting the truth and dealing with the media circus that reached national levels, Jennifer revealed through the senior pastor of the church that she would enter

an inpatient treatment program. The pastor didn't disclose the type of treatment Jennifer would undergo the location of the facility and how long she was expected to remain there. Part of the statement said,

Ms. Wilbanks entered a highly regarded inpatient treatment program on her own volition to address physical and mental issues which she believes played a major role in her running from herself. These were smart moves, but it didn't absolve Jennifer from her misdemeanors. Quinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said that under Georgia law, later recantation didn't excuse Jennifer from her criminal behavior. So on May 25, 2005, she was charged with one countessalue. of making false statement, a felony punishable of up to five years in prison, and one count of

making a false report of a crime, a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail. Less than a week later, she reached an agreement with the local government in Duluth to repay the $13,250 cost incurred in the search operation. The amount, which was originally $43,000, actually covered the overtime hours and out-of-pocket expenses for food, clothing, and gas. On June 2nd, Jennifer pleaded no contest to the first charge and entered a plea bargain that lowered her sentence to two years of probation and 120 hours of community service. Moreover, part of the plea bargain was the dismissal of the second charge.

Jennifer was also ordered to pay $2,250 in compensation to the Gwynet County Sheriff's Department. Through all these troubles, Jennifer had one consolation. She still had Jason by her side. The couple remained together, but the controversy continued to hound them, so much so that it finally took a toll on their relationship. While the former bride-to-be said that she wouldn't be tying the knot with her fiancé anytime soon because they had some things to work out, John reportedly had a contrasting feeling. A friend of John disclosed that the couple had some fundamental differences in their personalities

that John wasn't going to be able to deal with. On May 22, 2006, it was reported that John and Jennifer had officially called off their engagement. From a soon-to-be bride to a runaway bride, Jennifer had to settle being the bride that never was. Their love story had been a downer for suckers of romance and should have ended there, but, it didn't, and it got nastier. Jennifer's stunt as a runaway bride gained her notoriety not only in the United States, but in other countries as well. Even after she resurfaced, intact, and unharmed,

her bewildering story was allotted space and time and news coverage that critics of sensationalism and mass media viciously called the coverage as a media circus. But for Jennifer, strike while the iron is hot, became her motive to cash in on her tail of getting cold feet a day before her wedding. In June of 2005, she sold the rights to her story for production of a movie made for TV. She was still engaged with John, so the deal would make them a half a million dollars richer. The New York-based Regan Media then confirmed that it had acquired all media rights to the life stories of Jennifer Wilbank's and her fiancé John Mason for development of the script of their life stories.

But remember, the couple officially ended their extended engagement in May of 2006, and things between John and Jennifer got more hostile. On October 10th that year, Jennifer filed a lawsuit against John involving financial matters over the TV movie deal with that production company. Jennifer claimed that since she was in an inpatient treatment program, She granted John, power of attorney, to negotiate the sale of their story for half a million dollars. However, Jennifer accused John of using the amount to purchase a house, but only in his name. And when they later separated, John evicted Jennifer, which the latter found utterly unfair and infuriating.

Thus, filing a case against her ex-fiancee was the logical thing to do. So in her lawsuit, Jennifer claimed $250,000 as her share of the house and an additional $250,000 for punitive damages. John, who still welcomed Jennifer with open arms after her Albuquerque escapade, definitely did not take it sitting down. The jilted lovers didn't make it to the altar for a romantic exchange of love-filled vows, but seemed headed to the courtroom for an intense legal battle. John's counterclaims criticized Jennifer's actions as intentional, reckless, extreme, and outrageous. Moreover, he still carried the scars of humiliation from being considered a suspect in Jennifer's disappearance. John's countersuit stipulated compensation for the emotional and financial losses he

suffered when his ex-fiance made a mountain out of a molehill over some crazy decision she had made. being stood up by your bride can be any groom's worst nightmare, right? Thankfully, in December of 2006, both John and Jennifer decided to drop their respective lawsuits. Perhaps whatever tinge of love left between them had softened their hearts. Jennifer Wilbanks may have regretted what she had done that made her infamous, or perhaps not. The runaway bride agreed to immortalize her notoriety in different ways.

She inspired a number of entrepreneurs looking to make some money off the media coverage of her disappearance. One product was a hot sauce that claimed it could cure cold feet, known as Jennifer's high-tail-in hot sauce. Another product made by an action figure manufacturer was a doll representing Jennifer that came wearing jogging pants and a t-shirt with Vegas baby written on the front of it. That doll also came with a striped towel. similar the one Jennifer used to cover her head in order to avoid the media's cameras when she was in the custody of the Albuquerque police. There's more. A musical play based on Jennifer's story was staged on March 13, 2008, at a Duluth theater. Her case of pre-wedding cold feet has also been cited in scholarly and mainstream feature articles and books.

And then, three years after the infamous incident, John Mason got married to a different woman in a quiet ceremony. As for Jennifer, she stayed in Georgia and declared bankruptcy in June of 2010. However, she's been in a long-term relationship since late 2009, with a twice-married, twice-divorced, landscaping company owner, although there aren't wedding bells yet. Will, the once-upon-a-time runaway bride, finally have her happily ever after?

Only time will tell. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. Tune in next week for another one filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because who knows? Maybe your town will be next.