Cold feet and hot tempers as runaway bride found safe

The hunt for Jennifer Wilbanks consumed Duluth, a tight-knit Atlanta suburb, when she went missing four days before her wedding.

But after her safe return, some residents feel betrayed by what turned out to be an elaborate hoax. Volunteers had searched woods, alleys and sewers looking for Ms Wilbanks, 32, who told police when she was found that she had been abducted while jogging.

But the bride, who was picked up late on Friday by police in New Mexico after a cross-country bus trip that took her through Las Vegas to Albuquerque, eventually admitted her kidnapping story was fabricated.

When Duluth residents learnt that she ran away because she had cold feet, they thanked God she was safe - then shook their heads at her act.

"I'm glad that she's alive and OK, but it was a dirty trick," said Louise McCoy, waiting in line at the Duluth post office on Saturday, the day Ms Wilbanks was supposed to be married in a lavish ceremony that included 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen.

Police said no criminal charges would be laid, although more than 100 officers led a search involving several hundred volunteers, including wedding guests.

Ms Wilbanks flew back to Atlanta on Saturday where she was picked up in a police car on the tarmac - with a towel covering her head - to avoid the media. She had decided to call her fiancé and police with the story about the kidnapping when she found herself broke in Albuquerque.

In her emergency call, she sounded frantic and confused, telling an operator she was kidnapped from Atlanta by a man and a woman in their forties who were driving a blue van. Through sobs, she told the dispatcher they had a small handgun.

At one point, the operator asked if Ms Wilbanks knew what direction her captors went after dropping her off. "I have no idea. I don't even know where I am," she said.