Chicago ? Anu Solanki wanted out of her marriage, so the 24-year-old met a male friend at a forest preserve on Christmas Eve, jumped into his car and fled for what she hoped would be a new life in Southern California.

Only days later, she told investigators, did she learn that her disappearance had made headlines and prompted a costly search by authorities, who had feared that Solanki might have drowned in a river.

“She expressed regret and embarrassment,” Cook County sheriff’s spokesman Bill Cunningham said Saturday.

Authorities spent about $250,000 on their search, which included divers and a helicopter. Her family also handed out flyers with Solanki’s picture.