Cops Suggest Wis. Abduction Story a Hoax

MADISON, Wis. - Police strongly suggested Friday that a college student's tale of being kidnapped at knifepoint was a hoax, saying she researched places to hide and bought a knife, rope and duct tape to make her disappearance look like an abduction.

"We do not believe there is a suspect at large, period," Assistant Police Chief Noble Wray said.

University of Wisconsin sophomore Audrey Seiler, 20, was found cold and dehydrated but otherwise unharmed Wednesday in a marsh, four days after she disappeared. She told police she had been abducted from outside her apartment about two miles away, but surveillance video showed her walking out of the apartment wearing only sweats.

Investigators also obtained a videotape from weeks earlier showing Seiler buying the knife, duct tape, rope and cold medicine that she claimed her abductor used to restrain her.

Wray said Seiler used her computer to search Web sites for information about Madison parks and the extended weather forecast. In addition, he said, evidence indicated someone had used the computer during the four days she was missing, and at least two witnesses said they had seen her walking freely in the city during that time.

Wray declined to speculate on Seiler's motivation or her mental state, and he said it was too soon to say whether she could face charges. Authorities are trying to construct a timeline of her movements, he said.

Seiler also reported an unexplained attack in early February, telling police that someone struck her from behind and knocked her unconscious.

Wray disclosed Friday that Seiler had changed her story about last weekend's supposed abduction. She said she was abducted by a knife-wielding man — but from somewhere else in the city, not from her apartment, as she first claimed.

Seiler has been in seclusion with her parents since her release from a hospital Wednesday. A phone call to a listing for them in their hometown of Rockford, Minn., was not immediately returned.

On Thursday, Wray had acknowledged to reporters that "there may be inconsistencies" in the case. But he said then that the hunt was still on for a suspected abductor, and police issued a composite sketch based on Seiler's account.

On Friday, he said police were obligated to pursue the case fully despite their doubts. "We do not have the luxury of being able to speculate (and) draw conclusions before an investigation is completed," he said.

Ryan Fisher, Seiler's boyfriend, had not noticed any signs that Seiler was unhappy or having problems, his brother David said.

"He didn't see this coming. But he says he loves her and wants to be there for her," David Fisher said.

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2 posted on 04/02/2004 4:34:39 PM PST by Support Free Republic (Don't be a nuancy boy)

The story began to stink when we were first told that the time she left her apartment was after 2 in the morning.

No sane woman would go out alone at that hour only weeks after having been supposedly whacked over the head and rendered unconscious by an unknown assailant.

3 posted on 04/02/2004 4:56:30 PM PST by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (I don't have the time every day to put on makeup. I need that time to clean my rifle.)

No sane woman would go out alone at that hour only weeks after having been supposedly whacked over the head and rendered unconscious by an unknown assailant.

Obviously that didn't get her enough attention.

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