Katie Couric interviews 'runaway bride'

After the broken engagement, though, some serious problems spilled out into the open. In the 1990s, she was arrested twice for shoplifting and once for theft.

Couric: A $37 theft from Wal-mart. Later that year, $1,740 worth of merchandise from a shopping mall. In April of 1998, you were charged with taking $98 worth of merchandise from still another store. I know that time you spent two weekends in jail.

Wilbanks: Right.

Couric: They often say, Jennifer, and I'm sure you both know this, that this kind of behavior or committing this kind of crime isn't about the stuff.

Mason: Cry for help.

Wilbanks: Right.

Couric: Was that a cry for help? And was anyone listening?

Wilbanks: Maybe it was a cry for help. But no one was listening.

Couric: Your mom and dad knew, right, that you had shoplifted?

Wilbanks: Oh, yes. I mean, after the fact, yes, they knew.

Couric: But did they say, "Honey, you need to get some help," or what's going on here? Or did they just sort of brush it under the carpet in a way, too?

Wilbanks: Mmm-hmm.

Couric: That $37 theft from Wal-mart. What was that about? What did you steal for $37? I'm just curious.

Wilbanks: Funny enough, a bridal magazine. And I don't even--

Couric: Well, that didn't cost $37.

Wilbanks: No. I think a video--

Mason: DVD.

Wilbanks: A DVD. I think that's something else-- I never had to steal.

Couric: But looking back on it--

Wilbanks: I could've got… I could've--

Couric: Can you figure out: “what was I thinking, why did I do that” or was this just impulsive?

Wilbanks: It was definitely impulsive. Um, I am thinking, what in the world was I doing? What was I thinking, why?

Jennifer says the largest theft in question occurred when she was a department store employee and allowed friends to take merchandise. She says she actually turned herself in. Jennifer says she paid back the money to all the stores involved.

For the next several years, her life seemed on track. And in late 2003, it got even better. She had met Mr. Right. In the fall of 2003, eight years after her first engagement was broken, Jennifer Wilbanks was about to meet the perfect guy. She was 31.

Wilbanks: I think I was that person growing up that everybody thought would be the first one to get married and have children, and, you know, the white picket fence. I think they all knew and expected that when I did do it, it was going to be big.

Like Jennifer, 31-year-old John Mason, an office manager, had been waiting for just the right person to come along. He also had a small town Georgia upbringing. His father, an attorney, had served as mayor of Duluth, Georgia, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Mason: Loving families, well known, well respected. Yeah, we had-- I'm trying to think of the right word u-- very privileged, I would think.

Couric: And wholesome?

Mason: Very, very much so.

Couric: I understand though, speaking of wholesome, mister, that you were kind of wild when you were younger. Is this true?

Mason: Yes, unfortunately.

Couric: Tell me, why you've gotten that reputation in your youth as being a bit of a party animal.

Mason: Why I got that reputation? 

Couric: Because you earned it?

Mason: Because it's true.

But about six years ago, John became a born-again Christian. Jennifer and John's paths crossed when Jennifer's aunt noticed that like Jennifer, John was also a runner.

Mason: She called me at the office. And said, you know, I got a niece I'd love for you to meet. She's a runner like you are. She's a Christian. I think you two would really hit it off. Y'all go run sometime or something like that. Alright, Shirley, give me her phone  number, that's fine.

He called right away. And they spoke for six hours. 

Couric: What did you talk about? Everything?

Mason: Everything under the sun. I found out she has a love for football and Georgia football and the Falcons and all stuff that I loved. I was like--

Wilbanks: The Braves...

Mason: Oh my gosh. If this girl's pretty, she's perfect.

Couric: And what did you think when you all met each other, finally?

Mason: I was like, wow, yes. 

Wilbanks: That's sweet.

Mason: Yes, I said, thank you, Lord.

Couric: So, pretty soon after you all met, you knew that this was the real deal?

Mason: Oh, I knew before I met her. I just knew she was going to be beautiful. I didn't have any doubt in my mind. We talked about-- I mean-- Jennifer told me that either the day before or the day of, she's like, you know you might be coming to meet your wife. I just kind of-- but it was, once I met her, it was really easy. It was just-- everything about it was easy, I thought.

Wilbanks: It was.