University of Vermont College Student Vanishes
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, breaking news. Just moments ago, Vermont police announce a person of interest as the FBI and National Guard join the search for a Vermont coed now missing four days, police now openly warning students to travel in groups, staying off local streets. And tonight, a stunning twist to the so-called runaway bride. Jennifer Wilbanks fakes her own abduction on the eve of a high-society wedding, even telling police her kidnappers sexually assaulted her. After days of searching costing thousands, her fiance takes her back. But now, in a stunning turn of events, she sues, claiming she deserves half a million dollars from him. Well, I think we should sue her for emotional distress!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the fourth day since she disappeared. I beg of everyone that hears this broadcast that if they know anything at all about where my daughter Michelle is today, or where she might have been on Saturday morning -- Friday night, Saturday morning -- that they tell us instantly.</s>GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Tonight, the search for a 21-year-old coed now missing four days. Out to Art Harris, investigative reporter. What`s the latest on Michelle Gardner-Quinn?</s>ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Nancy, Burlington police have expanded their search, you know, beyond Burlington itself, expanded the grid, but they`re looking for a person of interest. They say now they have identified the driver of a white Subaru-type vehicle that was seen around the time that Michelle disappeared, 2:35 A.M. This vehicle, with the driver inside, tried to -- tried to coax a coed into his car at 2:35 AM Saturday morning, and police want to see him. They want any information leading -- that they can -- that will tell them where the car is. It`s a white Subaru hatchback-type vehicle with a gold stripe, and the driver is identified as someone who was about six feet tall, white male, about 25 years old, looks like he has a beard or 5:00 o`clock shadow, the chief said. And this is someone they are very interested in. They have now just recently classified him, Nancy, as a person of interest. Before, they had only told us it was a vehicle of interest.</s>GRACE: Take a listen to this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife, Diane (ph), and I and our son and daughter, on behalf of our family, we desperately are looking for our daughter and our sister, Michelle. We remain hopeful that we will find her and that she will be returned to us safe and sound. And we -- we pray that that will be today. This is the fourth day since she disappeared, and of course, we`re very worried. We are immensely grateful for the help that we`ve been getting here in Burlington, particularly at the university. Her friends have been a source of great help. They`ve taken this on as a major crusade.</s>GRACE: Let`s go straight out to the G-men joining us tonight, both former feds. To Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop, as well as with the FBI terrorism task force. Welcome, Mike. What can you tell me about the search right now?</s>MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Well, Nancy, you know, they tell us suspect lite (ph). I mean, they say it`s a person of interest. I call that suspect lite. Either name the guy as a suspect -- let`s get a composite out there so we can try to identify this person. I mean, they`ve got the assets of the FBI now, the Vermont state police, Burlington state police, campus police. But right now, the search -- they`re using air assets from the National Guard and from the FBI. They`re looking for both the car that this -- they`re looking for this Subaru, as well as any of her personal effects that might have been strewn about the neighborhoods, left there. You know, they don`t know exactly what happened to her, so they`re still searching for that. But they said that there was something that happened in the past 24 hours, and they received a number of good leads that has sent this investigation in a specific direction. And it sounds now as if, Nancy, this direction is towards this person in this white Subaru.</s>GRACE: And also, Mike Brooks, there`s the issue of him allegedly trying to get another woman into his car 15, 20 minutes or so before this young girl went missing?</s>BROOKS: That`s exactly right. Apparently, there was about a 20- minute timeframe from the time she went missing until the time that this guy approached this woman. Now, the lookout (ph) she gave, the description she`s given is quite detailed of this guy who`s in this car. So you know, they should have enough to get some kind of composite photo out there, so the public can possibly identify this person because, most likely, he probably lives in or around Burlington.</s>GRACE: Let`s go out to the lines. Laura in Kansas. Hi, Laura.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I would just like to say that I`m a huge fan of your show.</s>GRACE: Thank you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I have a question for you. Being a student myself, with all the recent, like, disappearances that go on with young girls on campuses, is there any way that they`re going to try to, like, beef up security on college campuses or even just in this area?</s>GRACE: Did you say beef up security? I couldn`t hear you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, like, up security for campus security and stuff like this</s>GRACE: That`s my understanding, as of right now -- back to Art Harris, investigative reporter -- that they are doing campus security checks. What does that mean?</s>HARRIS: Well, that means that they are -- they`re trying to put an alert out to see that nobody unauthorized is hanging out on the campuses. At the same time, Nancy, they have announced a community safety forum tomorrow night. Tonight, they`re actually also having a campus-wide candlelight vigil for Michelle. And police have put out -- you know, put the community on notice that they are concerned. This is considered a highly suspicious disappearance, and they have warned everyone to take extra precautions and be aware of their surroundings.</s>GRACE: Take a listen to what police had to say.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As of this morning, over 50 investigators are working full-time on this case. A number of investigative activities continue both in Burlington and surrounding communities. These include additional interviews, searches for evidence, use of canine search teams and a host of other investigative methods. Over the past 24 hours, we have received a number of helpful leads that have sent the investigation in a specific direction, though we all are still requested information from the public to ensure that all investigative avenues are appropriately pursued. We remain hopeful that Michelle will be found safe as soon as possible.</s>GRACE: Tonight, the search goes on for 21-year-old missing coed in Vermont. The FBI and the National Guard called in. Let`s go straight back to our G-men, both well respected former members of the FBI. To Jack Trimarco. Jack, why the FBI, why the National Guard called in?</s>JACK TRIMARCO, FORMER FBI PROFILER, POLYGRAPH UNIT CHIEF: Well, Nancy, I think that the National Guard is probably working in the area of search. They`re out there getting boots on the ground and searching for any evidence, searching for anything that might help fill in part of this puzzle. The FBI is a logical and an expected step. Whenever there`s a missing person, we`ve got the 48-hour presumptive clause, where Congress allows us to get involved in the case, even though we don`t have a ransom demand and even though we don`t have an interstate aspect to the missing person. This allows us, as it is didn`t allow us in the old days, by the way, before the tragic Walsh case, to get involved in those first 48 hours. We used to lose a lot of information and a lot of investigative leads waiting to get involved. And now, of course, Congress has taken care of that, and we`re in it when we should be. And I should say that it`s going to involve the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and the polygraph unit with the</s>FBI.  GRACE: Take a listen to this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is amazing to understand and to see this happen, and I`m so glad that in the six weeks that Michelle has been at the university, that she had made such good friends. There is nothing in my daughter`s past that is other than positive. She is a resourceful, creative, loving, loved person and deeply involved in -- in making the world better. I beg of everyone that hears this broadcast that they -- if they know anything at all about where my daughter Michelle is today or where she might have been on Saturday morning -- Friday night, Saturday morning -- that they tell us instantly, they call the Burlington Police Department and let us know.</s>GRACE: That tip line, 802-658-2700. The search for a 21-year-old girl is on. To Mike Brooks. Do we have a good timeline in the case, Mike?</s>BROOKS: From what I`m hearing, Nancy, they have a fairly good timeline, but there`s that one little space where she was meeting with her friends, and then she was with this person they`re calling a random guy, because her cell phone basically had died and she was using his cell phone. Then apparently, she left him, and that`s where the timeline kind of stops. So -- and then we`ve got -- picked up the timeline again with this person of interest, this vehicle of interest about 20 minutes after she left this random guy. So that`s the part that they need to fill in, that they`re not really sure exactly what had happened.</s>GRACE: And it`s also my understanding, Mike Brooks, that the timeline has changed a little bit. At first, we thought she left this birthday celebration and was going back to her dormitory, but the news is now, she was actually heading or trying to meet with her other friends. Possibly, that was the cell phone call she was making. I don`t know if she was actually going back to her dorm or not. That changes things, Mike Brooks. Why?</s>BROOKS: It does because then they`ll kind of decide, you know, OK, was she heading back to her dorm room, was she actually heading back to campus or was she heading back downtown? You know, and then you go back to the businesses. You go back to surveillance cameras on campus, try to glean whatever positive intelligence you can from them. Go downtown, ATMs, any place at all that could have some kind of surveillance cameras. Go back to them, see if you can get anything at all from that. But Nancy, there`s that little gap, and that`s a very, very important gap.</s>GRACE: It may be a bigger gap than we think. Let`s go out to the president of Beyondmissing, Marc Klaas. I believe -- and this is totally anecdotal. I believe that there`s a false sense of security on college campuses, Marc Klaas.</s>MARC KLAAS, BEYONDMISSING.COM: Well, indeed, Nancy, and we see this all around the country. Everybody understands -- the bad guys, too -- that college campuses are where you`re going to find vulnerable young women. You`re going to find the best the most beautiful, the brightest. You`re going to find people that are very comfortable in their environment and in their atmosphere, and they`re going to let their guard down. And it`s often that we`re hearing cases like this. So as your first caller had asked, Will they be beefing up security? I think they should beef up security on college campuses all over the United States and really start taking this issue seriously because we certainly don`t want to be sending our daughters out to be kidnapped or to otherwise disappear.</s>GRACE: Let`s go out to the lines. Michael in Texas. Hi, Michael.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. How`re you doing?</s>GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, my question is, have they checked any local businesses, convenience stores, anything that may have surveillance cameras, ATMs, that might have caught something, you know, with her riding with somebody or anything like that?</s>GRACE: You know, that`s an excellent question. Art, do we know if they`ve gotten that far? Are they looking at video? Because if they don`t, they`re going to lose the video.</s>HARRIS: Nancy, as you know, that is one of the standard things they go after. So you have to assume this. They have also assembled -- because they`ve got such a big task force -- a special sex crime investigator. So you`ve got to think they`re checking the predator sex crime register to see who might be in the area and if there are any young violent men perhaps enrolled in schools in that area. We don`t know. But they have got to be checking the rolls for any like-minded behavior in other people.</s>GRACE: You know, it`s interesting, Mike Brooks, how often we`ve looked back on cases -- for instance, in the Chandra Levy case and so many others, now in the Trenton Duckett case -- and say woulda, coulda, shoulda. If only the 7-Eleven had saved their video. If only the ATM hadn`t rolled over the video and started recording again. It`s almost laughable, if it weren`t so dire, that this happens over and over again.</s>BROOKS: It does, Nancy. And you know, they`re -- most video now is digital, so they will save it for maybe up to 30 days. Most businesses will save it for 30 days, but some of them are on a 24-hour loop. You know, hopefully, there is some video in this small downtown area. And the other thing, too, Nancy, they`re going to go back -- a lot of restaurants and bars, just for liability reasons, have surveillance cameras in the restaurants now, too, because, you know, people overdrink and then if you were over-served by the bartender, you know, the bars want to be able to say, No, we didn`t over-serve this person, especially in college towns. So they`ll go back to see if there`s anybody that fits the description of this person in the car and look to see if there was anybody that was in the different restaurants following her around throughout that night. That`s one of the things that`s almost Investigator 101, if you will, and I`m sure that`s one of the first things that they were actually trying to take a look at, to see if there was any surveillance video whatsoever in this small town and on campus.</s>GRACE: And of course, tonight, the FBI and the National Guard called in. Let`s go out to the lawyers. Joining us, Alan Ripka and Tiffany Koenig. To Alan. First of all, we heard of a, quote, "random" guy, as described by her friends, that walked her out of the first restaurant. Apparently, they walked along for a few yards, talking. She borrowed his cell phone, and then they peeled off, her going to the next celebration. Have police taken their focus off this random guy? And if so, why?</s>ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I don`t think they have, Nancy. Obviously, they`ve interviewed him. They`ve looked at the cell phone records. They`ve looked at anybody who was probably standing around them and spoke to them as witnesses to see what it looked like their relationship was. Was there an argument? Was there something she may have said that he picked up on? And I don`t think they haven`t. I`m sure they`ve done a great job in determining the facts of have meeting.</s>GRACE: And to Tiffany Koenig, defense attorney out of Des Moines. Tiffany, one thing we often see is when someone is named a person of interest, as opposed to a suspect, do you agree with Mike Brooks that that`s really just a suspect lite? And why are they no longer focusing on the random guy, the last guy seen with her?</s>TIFFANY KOENIG, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think not focusing, or at least not naming him as a suspect -- I don`t agree. I mean, he is -- this person is a person of interest, and what they`re looking for is just looking for information to try to find this girl. And you certainly don`t want to start calling somebody a suspect and have this person start hiding and not trying to come to the police and trying to clear their name because if they honestly have nothing to do with this crime, then there should be no problems coming in and talking with the police and saying -- you know, describing what even they saw that day.</s>GRACE: And let`s clarify. The young man that walked her out of the original restaurant is not a person of interest or a suspect. He`s the last one seen with her. Police seem to be focusing in on a white male, over six feet, blond hair, stubble, wearing a baseball cap, in a Subaru- type hatchback, white in color, gold trim. They seem to be focusing more and more on him. Very quickly, to tonight`s "Case Alert." In a parent`s worst nightmare, the search goes on for a missing 2-year-old Florida boy tucked into his bed, mom in the next room, she says the window screen found slashed, the baby gone. Police name Melinda Duckett, the mom, the prime suspect in Trenton`s disappearance. Tonight, that search expanding after a gas card receipt turns up the day before Trenton reported missing. Also on tonight`s docket, a newborn baby just hours old abandoned in a trash bag, tonight in serious condition, police combing the Boston neighborhood where baby boy Jordan was found, in search of his mother.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is a resourceful, creative, loving, loved person and deeply involved in making the world better.</s>GRACE: The search for this 21-year-old coed goes on. Tonight, a grid search is being conducted, as well as a search by air, in a small Vermont area. Let`s go out to the lines. Katherine in Arkansas. Hi, Katherine.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I sure appreciate your work and your show.</s>GRACE: Thank you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, how far did this young lady have to go to where she was going? And does anyone know why she was walking so late at night?</s>GRACE: I know why she was walking late at night, Katherine. She had gone to a birthday party with a group of her new friends there at school, University of Vermont. And they stayed there. They ate. They drank. They had a good time. It was a whole group of people. Around 2:00 AM, approximately, she leaves. There`s another group of revelers she was going to meet up with. That never happened. Katherine, she borrowed a guy`s cell phone as she was walking back. She was within a couple hundred yards from her dormitory, last I heard, when she was last seen and went missing. What was the other part of your question, Katherine? Ellie, was there another part of the question.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She asked how far it was. She was about five blocks, I think, from her dorm.</s>GRACE: Five blocks from her dormitory?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When she was last seen, yes.</s>GRACE: Yes. You know, interesting. Back to Mike Brooks. A couple of blocks from her dormitory. This is not a large city like New York City. I think the population is about 30,000. It`s very disturbing. You send your kid off to college. She`s 21 years old. Mike and Jack Trimarco, she had traveled the world, had been to South America, Costa Rica, Brazil, comes home, gone, Mike.</s>BROOKS: I know. And you know, Nancy, you touched on this, on the fact that people sometimes are lulled into a false sense of security, and then the viewer was asking, you know, how -- why was she out so late walking around? You know, this is a very, very quiet college town, relatively little crime rate. She probably felt very comfortable, as other kids do, walking around that campus.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The disappearance we`ve classified as highly suspicious. We still have not located her. We have at this stage certainly continued our investigation, and it becomes a criminal focus. But to say we have specific information what crime has occurred or if there is a crime that`s occurred, I can`t say.</s>GRACE: A 21-year-old coed, Burlington, Vermont, seemingly vanishes into thin air after a night of partying with friends at a birthday party. We now know a person of interest has been named, with a general description of white male over six feet tall, blond hair, wearing a baseball cap, stubble. We also know that he`s driving a white Subaru hatchback-type vehicle. There`s the tip line, 802-658-2700. Back out to Art Harris. Art, I understand now sex crime investigators have been called in?</s>HARRIS: They`re part of the task force, Nancy. And in situations like this, you know they`ve got to be combing the record for any sexual predators who are registered in that area, anything that they can tick off the list. They`re going to go to those people, make sure they`ve got alibis.</s>GRACE: Out to the G-men, Jack Trimarco and Mike Brooks, both formerly with the feds. To Jack Trimarco. An air search is being conducted. How do you go about doing that?</s>TRIMARCO: Well, Nancy, actually, it`s very similar to a ground search, of course on a much larger scale. What the air searchers are going to be looking for is anything suspicious. These are things such as abandoned cars, any car, of course, that matches the description of the car of interest. But what we have to keep in mind is that things that weren`t suspicious before Michelle disappeared are now going to be suspicious and they`re going to be investigated.</s>OPERATOR: Albuquerque 911 operator. What is your emergency?</s>JENNIFER WILBANKS, RUNAWAY BRIDE: I`m at the -- I don`t know where I am. I`m right here at the 7-Eleven. 911</s>OPERATOR: OK, what`s going on?</s>WILBANKS: I`ve got my family and the police on the phone. I was kidnapped earlier this week, and I`m here now. 911</s>OPERATOR: What is your name, ma`am.</s>WILBANKS: Jennifer. 911</s>OPERATOR: Were you hurt, Jennifer? Do you need any medical attention?</s>WILBANKS: No, I don`t need any medical attention. (</s>END VIDEO CLIP  GRACE: I don`t need any medical attention. I need my room service. I`m in the Hyatt. I mean, I`m abandoned at a 7-Eleven. I hope you`re sitting down. Jennifer Wilbanks, the so-called runaway bride who pulled the wool over all of our eyes, is now suing her long- suffering former fiance, who took her back in a miracle, for half a million dollars. Can anybody say "countersuit"? Out to Lateef Mungin with the "Atlanta Journal Constitution." Please tell me, Lateef, where does she get the nerve to sue the fiance?</s>LATEEF MUNGIN, "ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION": Well, Nancy, she thinks she has some strong legal grounds for this suit. She`s saying that, while she came back from New Mexico and she was in Atlanta and she put herself into inpatient therapy, John Mason, her ex-fiance, got power of attorney, signed a deal with a media company for their story, but she`s seeing none of the money.</s>GRACE: OK, wait a minute, wait a minute. You know how people get power of attorneys, don`t you, Lateef?</s>MUNGIN: Yes, I do.</s>GRACE: You sign them over yourself.</s>MUNGIN: Yes, I saw her signature.</s>GRACE: And there`s a little question as to that whole corporation those two -- I hope the IRS isn`t listening, because I think it could be against the tax code to create a sham corporation, get a bunch of money for a book you made off of a crime, and then use the corporate money to buy a house, Lateef. Can you enlighten me?</s>MUNGIN: According to the suit, Jennifer Wilbanks is alleging that John Mason took the money and put it into a house in Hamilton Mill area of Gwinnett County, a real pricey area. She lived in the house with John Mason until May of this year. For some reason that I have not been able to learn but I`m searching, she`s been kicked out of the house, and...</s>GRACE: You don`t know why she`s been kicked out of the house, Lateef? Now, I don`t think it takes a crack reporter to figure out he was way fed up to his eyeballs with Miss Thing.</s>MUNGIN: I hear you, I hear you. Well, I have not had an interview with her or him, but her attorney said that she was kicked out of the house in May and, when she got kicked out of the house, she got kicked away from the money.</s>GRACE: Joining me right now is the mayor of Duluth, Georgia. Her name is Shirley Lasseter. Mayor, it`s great to have you with us. Mayor, how much did the search for Ms. Jennifer Wilbanks cost the people?</s>MAYOR SHIRLEY LASSETER, DULUTH, GEORGIA: It was a little over $50,000 from what I remember, Nancy. It`s been about a year and a half ago. And we recouped a great percentage of that.</s>GRACE: You did? I thought that she only had to pay back around -- how much, Ellie, $30,000?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $13,000.</s>GRACE: $13,000, sorry, $13,000.</s>LASSETER: Then we were recouped a small amount of that.</s>GRACE: So I guess you`re at the point...</s>GRACE: I guess you`re at the point where all you can do is laugh. You`re seeing video of when the nation joined together in their search for Jennifer Wilbanks, the so-called runaway bride. In case you`re wondering why this is such a debacle, such a black eye to Lady Justice, do you remember this?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going to be down on our knees praying, and God bless you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate everything the media has done to get the word out. And...</s>GRACE: Yes, sir.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, as hard as it was, an emotional time... Jennifer, if you can hear this, we love you. Please call us. If you are someone that has Jennifer against her will, please let her go. Please. If anybody has any information that can help us, that can lead Jennifer up to us or us to Jennifer, please call the Duluth city police or any police agency.</s>GRACE: The father on our show in tears. Everybody holding hands and praying to find Jennifer Wilbanks, when the whole time she was probably in the presidential suite at the Hilton there in New Mexico, coincidentally passing right by a former flame`s abode. I`d like to unleash the lawyers, but first we need a shrink. Out to clinical psychologist Dr. Patricia Saunders. She has the nerve to sue the fiance that she put straight through Hell -- that`s a technical legal term, Patricia -- for half a million dollars, including $250,000 punitive damages?</s>DR. PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Nance, if this wasn`t so disgusting and sick, it would be funny, but it`s not. I think the key - - one of the key words is can you say "egocentric"? This is somebody who only sees other people in terms of her own needs. And money`s a big part of it. She has really poor impulse control. She went out for a run, and she ran. This is also somebody who has a history of being arrested three times for shoplifting. Not good control. Lousy judgment, but in the most infantile kind of way. "I was abducted. I was raped." Serious, hundreds of people looking for her, torturing her family and her fiance. But it`s really like a little kid saying, "Oh, I put some ketchup on me. I got shot. Look at me, help me, I got shot."</s>GRACE: And then to add insult to injury, naming a Hispanic male and a white female as sexually assaulting her, leading police on a wild goose chase, just to make it a little worse. Does anybody beside me remember this 911 call? Take a listen.</s>OPERATOR: Albuquerque 911 operator. What is your emergency?</s>JENNIFER WILBANKS, RUNAWAY BRIDE: I`m at the -- I don`t know where I am. I`m right here at the 7-Eleven. 911</s>OPERATOR: OK, what`s going on?</s>WILBANKS: I`ve got my family and the police on the phone. I was kidnapped earlier this week, and I`m here now. 911</s>OPERATOR: What is your name, ma`am.</s>WILBANKS: Jennifer. 911</s>OPERATOR: Were you hurt, Jennifer? Do you need any medical attention?</s>WILBANKS: No, I don`t need any medical attention.</s>GRACE: Breaking news: Emergency meeting of the academy. Reese Witherspoon, no Oscar for you. It`s going to Jennifer Wilbanks. To Andy Kahan, director of the Victim`s Crime Office for Houston, Andy, if it weren`t so serious, it would be laughable, because rape victims call the hotline and the 911 every day and every night. About every six minutes in this country, someone is physically raped, someone is heinously assaulted. And she called in with that fiction, that work of fiction, plus blaming people of assault, of rape, of kidnap, leaving the fiance in the lurch, and now she wants money?</s>ANDY KAHAN, DIRECTOR, VICTIMS CRIME OFFICE FOR HOUSTON MAYOR: Oh, Nancy. She`s a self-centered, narcissistic, psychopathic, convicted felon. You know, I would encourage you, Nancy, go back to your home state. File a civil suit on behalf of the citizens of Duluth. Try to recoup some of the money. But here is what I would really encourage the citizens of Georgia to do: Arizona, several years ago, the attorney general filed a civil asset forfeiture against Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, who received a quarter of a million dollars for writes to his story. Arizona attorney general won in court, based upon the fact that the proceeds were called racketeering, which basically meant a convicted felon was profiting off his notoriety. I don`t understand why the people of Georgia are just sitting back and allowing this convicted felon to basically profit off of her ill-gotten notoriety. And, second of all, I really think, if she was really serious, she should go to Aruba, meet with Beth Twitty, Dave Holloway, and find out what it`s really like to have a loved one missing. Maybe then she`d finally learn something. This is a really sick, twisted person.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She captured the nation`s attention last year by fleeing Georgia just days before her wedding. She took a bus ride to New Mexico. And overnight, Jennifer Wilbanks was coined the runaway bride. Now, she`s back in the media spotlight. According to this lawsuit, Wilbanks is suing her former fiance, John Mason. The couple reportedly agreed to sell their highly publicized story for half a million dollars and divide the cash; instead, the lawsuit claims Mr. Mason used the money to buy himself this home and did not share a penny with Wilbanks.</s>GRACE: It`s Trial 101, called Son of Sam laws. You cannot profit from your own criminal wrongdoing. And it sounds a lot like that`s what happened here, a $500,000 book deal. She pled guilty to a felony. Long story short, that legislation, Son of Sam, was revered by our wise U.S. Supreme Court, but in many jurisdictions it`s been replaced. Amazing to me, Art Harris, that she can try to make money -- she did make $500,000 approximately off a book deal, but now what does she want? What specifically does she want from her former fiance?</s>HARRIS: Well, what she wants, Nancy, is outlined in this letter from her lawyer, Michael Wetzel. And one of the things that caught my eye, she wants the wedding gifts, the wedding shower, and wedding gifts that were given to her by family and friends. She wants a vacuum cleaner that her father gave her for Christmas, and she would like the gold sofa in the parlor, and the dining room table and chairs, and buffet, also, that she paid for with a Macy`s charge card. And she`s making deferred payments on those.</s>GRACE: Do we still have the mayor with us, Elizabeth? Out to Mayor Shirley Lasseter, joining us from Duluth, Georgia. Shirley, I know you`re the mayor there in a very thriving and growing city. But under Emily Post, don`t you have to give up all those wedding presents back when you run away to New Mexico the night before the wedding and pretend you`ve been raped?</s>LASSETER: Well, under Emily Post, that`s absolutely correct. And I`m sure that was quite shocking to everyone else.</s>GRACE: Mayor Lasseter, you`ve got a lot to do in Duluth, given the leaps and bounds under which it is growing in population. But this has brought so much scrutiny to the city of Duluth, and a lot of people think the plea deal was awfully light.</s>LASSETER: A lot of people do believe that it was light, Nancy. They really do.</s>GRACE: Including me.</s>LASSETER: And, you know, that wasn`t anything that we could do about it. It was strictly up to the district attorney. And as this case just keeps going on and on and on, which is unbelievable, the people who are really suffering are the parents of these two adults.</s>GRACE: Man, you`re not kidding. Out to the lines. Sherri in Georgia, hi, Sherri.</s>CALLER: Hi, Nancy. How are you?</s>GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?</s>CALLER: I`d like to know, why are we giving her more media attention? Is this just a ploy for her to make more money?</s>GRACE: Well, the reason I`m focusing on this tonight is because I think it`s a total distortion of the law, specifically because real crime victims were suffering as police and volunteers were combing the woods, the waterways, the highways for Jennifer Wilbanks. She got a slap on the wrist and a $500,000 book deal, $500,000 book deal. And you know what, Sherri? I think that was a real kick in the pants for Lady Justice. Out to the lines, Amy in Pennsylvania, hi, Amy.</s>CALLER: Hi, Nancy. What are the chances of this actually getting to trial?</s>GRACE: Well, figure this in, Miss Amy from Pennsylvania. Lawyers get a third cut, 33 percent of anything they bring home, so I would say there`s a very good likelihood, Amy, that this will end up in a courtroom. Let`s go out to the lawyers, Alan Ripka and Tiffany Koenig. It`s interesting to me -- have you taken a look, guys, at the lawsuit, as well as the corporate papers? To Alan Ripka -- also, she`s suing for the money the honeymoon cost her. What honeymoon? Hello? You spent the honeymoon that would have been a honeymoon at the police station. But interesting, this corporate meeting, they had the only two corporate members are her and him. The only corporate meeting lasted 14 minutes. Sounds like a sham corporation to me. The IRS doesn`t like that.</s>RIPKA: Well, Nancy, first of all, I completely disagree with you. This woman has every right to bring a lawsuit for money if she is owed the money. If she has an agreement with this book company or with her former fiance for $500,000, no one has the right to take her half of it or her share of it and buy himself a house. And I don`t see you stripping the right...</s>GRACE: Question, question?</s>RIPKA: Yes, Nancy.</s>GRACE: Sham corporation?</s>RIPKA: Well, a sham corporation -- you could form a corporation with two people and have a quick meeting about it, of course not. There`s no evidence...</s>GRACE: What`s the purpose of the corporation, to buy the house that you two live in?</s>RIPKA: That could be the purpose of the corporation, to run and manage the house, yes.</s>GRACE: You`re kidding.</s>RIPKA: No.</s>GRACE: You know what? Will you be my tax lawyer?</s>RIPKA: Well, if you need me, Nancy, always.</s>GRACE: Yes, I think I do. And what about it, Tiffany Koenig? Are you going to follow the party line along with Ripka and say that this is not a sham and they`re ripping the government off?</s>KOENIG: Well, the one thing that I find interesting is, did she just sue herself, since she is part of this corporation...</s>GRACE: Actually, I think she did. I think she sued herself.</s>KOENIG: So I`d be a little concerned about that.</s>GRACE: And the corporation -- she`s suing the corporation for honeymoon money. Come on, Ripka. Are you saying that with a straight face, that that`s OK?</s>RIPKA: Well, Nancy, I`m not saying...</s>GRACE: The IRS wants your client list, buddy.</s>RIPKA: Well, wait a second. First of all...</s>GRACE: Get ready. Dig in.</s>RIPKA: ... I don`t know whether or not he has indicated any of this on his tax returns, so I don`t know why we`re talking tax fraud yet. But at the end of the day, I don`t know if every element of her claim is true. But I do know, if she has a contract for half of $500,000, she should be permitted to pursue it. She pled guilty to a crime, she got her sentence, and now she`s moving on.</s>GRACE: And, of course, whether money should be made off one`s criminal activity remains up in the air. Joining us, special guest, the wedding caterer, Kim, on the phone. Was it a very special wedding cake she had ordered, Kim?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She did not order the cakes from us. She ordered those from an outside vendor.</s>GRACE: And what were the plans for the wedding?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, there were 500 people. I met with her for over a year. She came in just about to six or seven weddings to look at how it was going to be set up.</s>GRACE: So she had somebody else...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The day that I got the phone call, I did the shower for the week prior. She held up a picture and said, "Look, this is going to be me next week!" I mean, you`re absolutely right. You have no idea. Our members searched in those woods for days.</s>OPERATOR: Albuquerque 911 operator. What is your emergency?</s>JENNIFER WILBANKS, RUNAWAY BRIDE: I`m at the -- I don`t know where I am. I`m right here at the 7-Eleven. 911</s>OPERATOR: OK, what`s going on?</s>WILBANKS: I`ve got my family and the police on the phone. I was kidnapped earlier this week, and I`m here now. 911</s>OPERATOR: What is your name, ma`am.</s>WILBANKS: Jennifer. 911</s>OPERATOR: Were you hurt, Jennifer? Do you need any medical attention?</s>WILBANKS: No, I don`t need any medical attention.</s>GRACE: No, she didn`t go away. Jennifer Wilbanks is back in court, asking for half a million dollars from her long-suffering fiance. Back out to Andy Kahan with the Houston mayor`s office. Explain the whole Son of Sam law predicament.</s>KAHAN: Well, quite frankly, Nancy, the Son of Sam laws do not exist any more. And look at your recent cases. California, Frank Sinatra, Jr., kidnap victim. Columbia pictures won a court order to allow the two kidnappers a quarter of a million dollars. Child molester Mary Kay Letourneau, book and movie deals. Jennifer Wilbanks, $500,000. And last week in Houston, we had a child molester actually release a CD. Bottom line is, convicted felons are profiting and making money off of committing crimes.</s>GRACE: Very quickly to Lateef Mungin with the "AJC," Lateef, are you planning to go to the courthouse? What`s the next step in this thing?</s>MUNGIN: Oh, yes, I`m definitely going to go to the courthouse. There`s 30 days...</s>GRACE: Please take a handheld. I`ve got to see this.</s>MUNGIN: There`s 30 days for John Mason`s attorneys to answer these allegations from Jennifer Wilbanks.</s>GRACE: OK. With us, Lateef Mungin from the "AJC," "Atlanta Journal Constitution." Right when you think you`ve heard it all. Very quickly, we stop tonight to remember First Lieutenant Ashley Huff, just 23, Belle Meade, New Jersey. Huff, a newlywed, just graduated from the University of Georgia. A Dog fan and a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority. Huff down in the line of duty just six weeks before she was to come home, leaving behind her new groom, Brian, and loving parents. Ashley Huff, American hero. Thank you to our guests. Good night to you, and a special good night to my mom visiting here in New York, Elizabeth. Good night, everybody. And until tomorrow, good night, friend. END