Police could refer Audrey Seiler to Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard for criminal charges. Blanchard refused to comment Friday. <

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz Friday accused the national media of creating a frenzy that frustrated Madison police. <

"Frankly some hysteria was created by the national news media needlessly," the mayor said. <

Cieslewicz said he didn't know why Seiler's case attracted intense national media attention. "The national news media has to ask itself why this merited national coverage given the fact that there are 100,000 people at this very moment who are missing across the country. I'd like to hear the answers out of national news producers." <

The national media, driven by a 24-hour news cycle, kept clamoring for answers, he said. "They are just an insatiable animal that needs constant feeding," he said. "That conflicts with an investigation that just needs time." <

Former Madison Police Chief Richard Williams said he was also curious about national interest in Seiler and praised the police command staff and officers for their handling of the case. <

"This was really a very strange case," Williams said. "I'm sure there's lots of people who won't be satisfied with the way this was done but when you're sitting in that hot seat you're damned if you do damned if you don't. People will say you did it too slow. Some will say you did it too fast." <

Wray told reporters that police could not assume that Seiler was lying. "We do not have the luxury of being able to speculate (and) draw conclusions before an investigation is completed," he said. <

"It would have been a disservice to the community, a disservice to the country and a disservice to the family for a professional law enforcement organization in the U.S. to jump to conclusions and assume that this is bogus." <

At the first of the two press conferences Friday at Monona Terrace, Wray said Seiler recanted her story about being abducted from the apartment building after being confronted with conflicting evidence. She told police she "just wanted to be alone," Wray said, then added that she was abducted in a different part of the city. <

But barely two hours later, police had enough key evidence to decide her story was false. "Things just weren't officially adding up," Kamholz said. <

Two family friends in Rockford, Minn., Audrey Seiler's hometown west of Minneapolis, said boyfriend trouble likely prompted the honor student and talented athlete to fake her own abduction. <

Adam Morris, 19, is the freshman roommate of Seiler's boyfriend, Ryan Fisher. Morris said Friday that Fisher is now with his parents. Morris said he doesn't know if Fisher is returning to Slichter Hall before the end of the semester. <

Morris said Fisher was doing well. "He's happy as can be, just as all of us are." <

Close friends in Rockford, Minn., first heard late Thursday that the UW-Madison sophomore's disappearance a week ago was likely her own doing, said Francis, a member of the search party that had traveled from Rockford to Madison earlier this week. <

About 25 detectives worked the case throughout the week. Helicopters, search dogs, tactical teams, including rooftop snipers, and more than a dozen law enforcement agencies took part in Wednesday's developments when Seiler told police an armed man was in the area of the marsh. <

Police are still trying to find out where Seiler was from Saturday through Wednesday. The marsh where she was found is across the street from the Holiday Inn Express, the hotel where most of her family and friends stayed during the search. <

Mayoral aide Melanie Conklin said the case would cost substantially upwards of $75,000 when all police overtime and bills for supplies are in. <

Seiler was reported missing Saturday afternoon after she failed to show at a friend's home to watch movies. A check of her apartment at the The Regent apartments, 1402 Regent St., showed Seiler had left behind her purse, keys and other belongings and had left the apartment unlocked. <

Police said they issued a press release Saturday afternoon because of Seiler's reliability, her attack on a Downtown street Feb. 1 and intensifying concern from family and friends. <

Police were also concerned about two other recent abduction attempts in the city, one Jan. 18 at West Towne Mall, the other at Comfort Inn, 4822 E. Washington Ave., on Feb. 6. <

Student leaders and UW-Madison officials who helped in the search for Seiler say they have no regrets. <

Two days after the reported disappearance, the dean of students' office put up a Web site with information about the case and Seiler's picture. <

By Tuesday, Austin Evans, who leads UW-Madison's student government association, had another Web site running with a way for students to sign up as volunteers in the search. <

Dean of Students Luoluo Hong said university officials would do nothing different if they were presented with the same set of circumstances again. <

Advice from the police and their own interest in keeping students safe pushed their decision to take an active role, Hong said. <

"We would rather err on the side of being overly cautious," Hong said. "And the students had a tremendous amount of feeling for this. This was one of their own." <

UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear and Hong appeared at a police press conference Wednesday announcing Seiler's return, and Spear spoke briefly about the university's relief. <

With national media descending on the city to cover the story, the pressure for information became crushing, officials said. <

It was widely reported that police were looking for a white man with a big nose and dirty clothes. <

Fearing that an armed abductor was on the loose, people pushed for composite sketches of the man. Police said they had no evidence of an abduction but couldn't rule out the possibility. <

"We didn't have enough information to confirm anything at that point," Kamholz said. "Suspicion and facts are two different things. We can't act on suspicions." <

Capt. Cheri Maples, asked if the "Patty" case influenced the department's response to Seiler's report of being abducted, said it did. <

"Yes, absolutely," Maples said. "We would be inhuman not to be influenced by the Patty case. We didn't want to make the same mistake twice." <

The Patty case involved a Madison woman known as Patty, whose report of being raped in 1997 was disbelieved by police, who had her charged with lying to them. It turned out Patty was raped, after all. <

A DNA match was made in 2001 between semen on Patty's sheet and a prison inmate named Joseph Bong. Bong was convicted last month of raping Patty and faces 200 years in prison. <

Seiler hasn't commented publicly on her motives, but counselors who advise college students said the pressures on young people to do well in school and make potentially lifelong decisions about their future can be enormous. <

"There's a sense that, 'when I graduate from college, I'm going to have to make it big immediately or I'm going to be a failure,'" said Madison psychotherapist Tamar Zick. <

"I have seen college students drop out of all their classes and basically become shut-ins and not letting anyone know, including their parents or their roommates or their friends, that they're just not functioning," Zick said. <

Counselor Mary Beth Manning said she has seen a number of students recently stressed out about mid-term exams. Despite getting a week off for spring break last month, many are being hit with a barrage of post-break exams, she said. <

"It seems to be a time of year when many students feel they're on a treadmill and they can't get it to stop," Manning said. Lisa Schuetz contributed to this story, reporting from Rockford, Minn. Reporters Karen Rivedal, Brenda Ingersoll, Phil Brinkman and Nathan Leaf also contributed to the story. <