Police say Wisconsin college student lied about abduction Madison Police Department spokesperson Larry Kamholz holds examples of items, including duct tape, rope and a knife, at a news conference, Friday, that police say Audrey Seiler is shown buying at local stores in a videotape. (AP Photo/Andy Manis) By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press Writer MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Police Friday accused a college student of lying about being held captive by a knife-wielding man for four days, saying she planted a knife in the marsh where she was found to make it appear she had been kidnapped. "We don't think an abduction occurred at all," Madison Police spokesman Larry Kamholz said. Assistant Police Chief Noble Wray said a videotape shows University of Wisconsin-Madison sophomore Audrey Seiler buying a knife, duct tape, rope and cold medicine before she vanished March 27. He added that a search of her computer turned up maps of wooded areas in Madison and extended weather forecasts, suggesting she planned the whole thing. Wray would not comment on whether the 20-year-old Seiler could face charges for lying to police, saying investigators were still working to put together a timeline of Seiler's activities while she was missing. Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard declined to comment. Police estimated costs for the intensive manhunt for Seiler would exceed $70,000, said Melanie Conklin, a spokeswoman for Mayor David Cieslewicz. Milwaukee assistant city attorney Rudolph Konrad said there's no provision in state law that allows a city to sue someone to recover the cost of police services, although a judge could order restitution of police costs as part of a potential criminal sentence. Friday's announcement defuses a mystery that attracted dozens of reporters and television crews to Madison. The story was compelling: a young, attractive coed suddenly vanishes without a trace. A surveillance camera at Seiler's apartment building showed her walking out alone about 2:30 a.m. last Saturday. That was the last anyone saw of her. Friends and family from her hometown of Rockford, Minn., quickly descended on Madison, searching woods and neighborhoods. She turned up Wednesday in a marsh near the state Department of Revenue building. A worker there saw Seiler in the marsh during a lunch-hour stroll and called police. Seiler told police when they arrived that a man with a knife had kidnapped her. Police combed through the brush with weapons drawn, but found only the knife, duct tape and rope. Speculation quickly began to mount that she had faked the whole thing. Adding to the mystery was news that Seiler reported being attacked from behind by an unknown assailant in a separate incident in February. The police announcement Friday came as a shock to some who know Seiler, many of whom described her as a good student who was captain of her high school basketball and volleyball teams. "Our whole family is not doing well at this point," said David Fisher, the brother of Seiler's boyfriend, Ryan. "But we love her. Whatever happens. We'll love her through whatever." A message The Associated Press left Friday at a listing for her father, Keith Seiler, in Rockford, was not returned, and no one answered the door at the family's home. Police said Seiler and her family were in an undisclosed location in Madison. The "Dateline NBC" news program reported Friday night that Audrey Seiler was in a psychiatric facility. Kamholz said he spoke with Keith Seiler for about an hour Friday after Wray's announcement. He said Keith Seiler feels badly about what police and everybody else went through, but was happy to have his daughter back. "No matter what type of issues are out there, his daughter is alive and she's now safe," Kamholz said. Earlier Friday, Wray disclosed that Seiler had changed her story about what happened, saying she left her apartment building because she wanted to be alone and was kidnapped by a man with a knife elsewhere in Madison. But detectives continued to pick apart the story, and two hours later Wray held another press conference to say they didn't believe her. Kamholz said investigators got a tip from a Madison business that Seiler had been caught on tape buying the knife, rope and duct tape. Wray added the search of her computer indicated someone had used it while Seiler was missing, and at least two witnesses saw her walking freely in the city during that time. He said her apartment building has two other doors without video surveillance, suggesting she may have gotten back in through one of them. Around Rockford, stores still displayed signs saying "Welcome Home Audrey." Yellow ribbons were tied to nearly every mailbox and fence post along her family's cul-de-sac. And pink ribbons still decorated the nearby bridge across the Crow River. Rockwell's Family Cafe owner Sue Elsen watched Madison police lay out Seiler's lies on live television. Elsen said she didn't feel betrayed. She felt sorry for Seiler's family, even for Seiler. "She's a lost little soul," Elsen said.