Two years after a depressed Audrey Seiler faked her own kidnapping while a student at UW-Madison, she is paying restitution, preparing for another year of college and continuing to get counseling, her attorney said.

Seiler, then 20, disappeared March 27, 2004, after she left her off-campus apartment. She was found four days later in a marsh near the Beltline Highway and John Nolen Drive, after an exhaustive search that cost the Madison Police Department about $96,000. She at first told police she had been abducted from her room, but later recanted.

The Rockford, Minn., woman pleaded guilty to two counts of obstructing police by lying and was placed on three years probation, during which she agreed to pay $250 a month restitution.

"She wanted to put this behind her and move on, and put her life in some semblance of order," said Seiler's attorney, Randy Hopper of Minneapolis.

"She has declined any media interviews. What she's doing is exactly what the court ordered her to do. She is doing her 250 hours of community service, mostly for the Jacob Wetterling Foundation," a group that advocates for missing children, Hopper said. "She also is working with children through her church. She's continuing with her counseling as the court ordered her to do. She's continuing to make restitution to the city."

Seiler attended the University of Minnesota full time during the 2005-06 school year, Hopper said. "She's making extremely high grades, as she always has." Seiler also is working, he said. "She has several jobs."

- Brenda Ingersoll

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