announced that because there were no other explanations, Wilbanks' disappearance was being handled as a criminal investigation. The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were now involved in the case. April 29 – Wilbanks' relatives offered a $100,000 reward and planned vigils. Later that day, Wilbanks called Mason from a pay phone and told him that she had been kidnapped, but had just been released. She also called 911, declaring in a frantic voice that she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a Hispanic man and a Caucasian woman in their 40s driving a blue van. When asked if she knew what direction her captors went after setting her free, she said, "I have no idea. I don't even know where I am." The calls were traced to a pay phone at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was picked up by local police. Her family publicly thanked the media for getting through to the kidnappers. Later, during FBI interrogation, Wilbanks admitted that she had not been abducted, but needed time and space to escape the pressures of her upcoming wedding. May 9 – Wilbanks entered a treatment facility "to address physical and mental issues which, she believes, played a major role in her running from herself." May 17 – Wilbanks canceled her engagement to her fiancé. May 25 – Wilbanks was charged with making false statements. May 31 – Wilbanks reached an agreement with the city of Duluth to repay more than $13,000 in costs incurred by the city in their search. October 10, 2006 – Wilbanks filed a lawsuit against her ex-fiancé for $500,000, claiming it is her share of a home the ex-fiancé purchased with the proceeds to a book deal he negotiated for them when she was medicated, plus punitive damages. Her ex-fiancé, Mason, counter-sued. December 2006 – Both parties dropped their respective lawsuits. Aftermath and lawsuit On May 22, 2006, People magazine reported that Wilbanks and Mason had officially called off their engagement. According to the BBC, Jennifer Wilbanks sold the media rights to her story to a New York City company for $500,000. Wilbanks did not offer to repay the whole cost of the search for her, which totaled almost $43,000. In September 2006, Wilbanks filed a lawsuit against her ex-fiancé, claiming that while she was hospitalized and under medication, she granted Mason power of attorney to negotiate