Granted, everyone freaked out and the police launched a massive search over this. The ONLY reason - and I mean THE ONLY reason the media picked up on it was because the woman was so close to her wedding day. That was the hook. That was the element that the media knew would tear at the heartstrings of the average American viewer.
Yes, the police should not have made a big thing out of this - the media was a BIG player in growing this story to national proportions. THe woman DOES have a right to go off to think about the biggest decision a person will make in their lives. However, she should have been adult enough to cll in the moment she say herself on TV or in the papers if only to say "Hey - I'm OK, I just need to think. You can call off the search, I'll be home in a day or two."
That's all she needed to do and this thing would never have gotten the legs it did.
She didn't just go off. She made it appear that foul play was involved. All her personal effects were left behind keys, money ect. If she wanted to go off to think she could have took ker car, left a note not make it look as tho she was abducted while out for an evening run.
Heck, she did not even have to call. All she had to do was leave a note, if she was too immature even for a telephone call.
Wait a minute.....if it was YOUR fiance or daughter that went out for a jog, and never showed up in a reasonable time, are you saying that you WOULDN'T expect the police to make a big deal of it?