Where Are Sherri Papini's Parents Now? A Look at Their Relationship After Her Mom Denied That She Was Kidnapped
After she went missing in November 2016, Papini's parents helped lead the search for her
In ID's May 2025 docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, her parents said that they didn't believe her latest claims that she was actually kidnappedSherri Papini vanished from her home in Redding, Calif., on Nov. 2, 2016. Her parents, Richard Graeff and Loretta Graeff, were in the middle of organizing a balloon release in her honor when they learned that she had been found.
'My friend gets a phone call from a lady in the gas station on I-5,' Sherri's father said in the 2025 Investigation Discovery docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. 'The [California Highway Patrol] went into that gas station and said, 'We found her.' We just fell apart.'
The mom of two told police that she had been kidnapped by two armed and masked Hispanic women who allegedly chained her in a bedroom and subjected her to 22 days of torture, including branding the word 'EXODUS' on her back. Sherri claimed that one of the women let her go on Thanksgiving Day, when she was found walking along a rural road 150 miles from her home.
Days after her return, Richard told PEOPLE that the family was 'so thankful' to have Sherri back and that she needed 'time to heal.'
But a six-year-long investigation revealed that Sherri had fabricated the abduction and spent those 22 days hiding out in her ex-boyfriend's apartment in Costa Mesa, Calif. In 2022, she was charged with making false statements and mail fraud and received an 18-month federal prison sentence.
Two years after her release in 2023, Sherri claimed in the docuseries that she lied only about her kidnapper's identity and that it was her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, who abducted and held her captive.
She told Caught in the Lie filmmakers that she wanted to keep the details of their prior emotional affair hidden out of fear husband, Keith Papini, would use it to take full custody of their children. Reyes denied Sherri's claims, and Richard said in the docuseries that 'nobody knows what the real truth is.'
Here's everything to know about what Loretta and Richard Graeff have said about Sherri Papini's case — and what their relationship is like with their daughter now.
Loretta and Richard Graeff raised Sherri and her sister, Sheila Koester, in northern California. In the 2024 Hulu docuseries Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, Koester claimed that they bonded over shared childhood trauma stemming from drug and alcohol abuse in their home.
Sherri's childhood friend, Jenifer Harrison, told filmmakers that Sherri would come over to her house to escape 'whatever was going on with her parents.' She also alleged that she witnessed 'Loretta grabbing Sherri by her hair, cursing at her and dragging her down the hallway.'
Sherri ran away from home at 16, and in recorded interviews featured in Perfect Wife, Richard, described her to detectives as a 'couch hopper' who drifted between friends' homes.
The Sacramento Bee reported in 2017 that 13 years before her disappearance, the family had made multiple 911 calls regarding Sherri's behavior. Richard accused his daughter of vandalizing his home in 2000 and of making an unauthorized withdrawal from his bank account in 2003, according to call logs and incident reports obtained by the outlet.
In 2003, Loretta also alleged that Sherri, then 21 years old, was 'harming herself and blaming the injuries on [her]' and called the police seeking advice on how to handle the situation.
None of the cases resulted in charges or arrests, and the family called the newspaper's decision to publish them 'shameful' and 'victim-blaming' in a statement to ABC News.
In Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, Loretta told filmmakers that she didn't believe her daughter was kidnapped.
"My daughter was very, very unhappy in her marriage,' she said. 'She wanted some kind of happiness. When [Reyes] showed up and Sherri went with him, it wasn't a kidnapping, it was more 'I want to have a little bit of happiness in my life because it's been very, very hard.' "
Loretta also alleged that her daughter needed to 'get away' from Keith and that she didn't abandon her two kids, Tyler Papini and Violet Papini.
Loretta and Richard have maintained a low profile since their daughters' alleged abduction and subsequent arrest. However, they both participated in the 2025 docuseries Caught in the Lie.
After Sherri was released in 2023, she moved in with her parents. Richard told filmmakers that he and Loretta have lost jobs, friends and family because of how highly publicized and controversial the case was.
'It's difficult to explain what they've been through,' Sherri said in the docuseries. 'I've watched my parents be crucified in the media … It's horrifying to think that I'm even a little bit a part of that.'
When asked if they felt like they knew what really happened with their daughter, Richard responded, 'You'd have to ask Sherri.'
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