Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Real Story of The Runaway Bride - The Jennifer Wilbanks story

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

This is the story of Jennifer Wilbanks aka the Runaway Bride.

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Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler. It's the Paradise Podcast. I am your host, Ryan Michelle Bathay, with my husband Sterling. What's up? Join us here on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus,

where we'll discuss each episode with the cast and crew of Paradise. I'll be getting all the secrets from Dan Fulglement, James Marsden, Shailene Woodley, Julianne Nicholson, and Sterling Calbee Brown. Who! Paradise, the official podcast, is now streaming. And stream Paradise on Kulu and Kulu on Disney Plus. One night, a man calls police and he's panicking and he tells them his fiance has gone missing.

She went for a jog one night like she normally does and then she just vanished and never came home. And he is convinced that something really bad has happened to her. So police, they hear this and they spring into action. I mean, this immediately launches a manhunt and people in the community, they quickly organize, they're making phone calls and putting up flyers and by the next day, 200, 250 volunteers are actively looking for this missing woman. And they're combing the area for any sign of her. But so far, nothing.

Now the woman who's gone missing, her name's Jennifer. And Jennifer is about to get married to the guy who called the police, this guy, John Mason. And it was about to be a big wedding. 600 people were invited. She had 14 bridesmaids. But unfortunately, four days before the wedding, that's when she went jogging, and that's when she vanished. And so everyone in the community, they really, rally together and they start looking for her. But still, police have no leads so far. So the FBI has to

get involved and this story makes national news like everyone's talking about it. And Jennifer's family, like her parents and her fiance, they're all worried sick. They hold nightly vigils for her, billboards are put up. They talk to the news and they get on camera begging for the safe return of Jennifer. Jennifer's family even offers a hundred thousand dollar reward for any information that helps them find her. But still, they got nothing. No significant evidence, no meaningful leads. Jennifer is just gone. Until, it's 1.30 a.m. on the day of her and John Mason's scheduled wedding. And John Mason, he gets a phone call. And holy shit, to his surprise, it's Jennifer. And she's crying and she's frantic, but she's alive. And strangely, she's calling from a payphone at a 7-Eleven

on the other side of the country. How in the hell does it? did she get there? Well, here's what she says happened to her. So three nights ago, Jennifer's out jogging like she normally does. When suddenly, boom, a blue van screeches up, and two people jump out. A Hispanic man and a heavy-set white woman. And they grab Jennifer and they throw her in the van and they speed away. And while she's in the back of that van, they tie her up with some rope. And then they take turns and they essay her.

And then they drive all the way from Georgia to Albuquerque, New Mexico, before they drop her off in the parking lot of some rain. 7-Eleven. And that's when she calls her fiance from a payphone and she says she shook up, but that she's otherwise unharmed. So that's what she says happened. So Albuquerque police, they go and they pick her up from this 7-Eleven parking lot. Meanwhile, back home, her friends and family and John Mason, they're all overjoyed. I mean, she's found and she's alive and she's not seriously physically injured. But in Albuquerque, the FBI have some questions. So they go to the police station to talk to Jennifer. Because they need more information on this Hispanic

man and this heavyset white woman who are apparently just running around kidnapping people. So they sit Jennifer down and they start asking her questions. And she describes the essay and everything that happened in detail. But pretty quickly, the FBI realizes something in this story isn't adding up. The details keep changing and she's fumbling and she's not able to remember things that people would normally be able to remember. So they get suspicious. And in that interview, they start challenging some of her claims. And their questions, they get tougher and tougher. And these are questions that Jennifer just isn't ready for.

But she sticks to her story. And then hours go by, and they're still pressing her hard. And then finally, after all that, after hours of being in there, she gives in. And she drops a bomb on them. She confesses to them, she was never kidnapped. There was never any blue van or Hispanic man or heavyset white woman. she made it all up. She was just nervous about her 600-person wedding

and she wanted to back out of it. But I guess she didn't have the courage to just go and break it off. So she left town, hopped on a bus to Las Vegas for a couple of days, and then later she went to Albuquerque, a trip just long enough to miss her wedding. And there is where she called her fiancé John Mason

from a pay phone and made up this whole fake kidnapping story. So then what happened to Jennifer? Well, she was not arrested, but she was eventually charged with making false statements to the police and falsely reporting a crime. Here's her mugshot, and she took a plea deal and got two years probation and had to pay $13,000 restitution to the city. And I know this is going to shock you, but she and her fiance did not end up getting married. Good for them.