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Scottish Sun
23-06-2025
- Scottish Sun
‘Gone Girl' kidnap hoaxer Sherri Papini now claims she really WAS abducted by ex & didn't tell cops truth for key reason
SHERRI Papini went for her usual morning jog after dropping the kids at school, but when her husband came home from work to find that she still wasn't home, panic set in. Keith Papini quickly took measures to find the 34-year-old mum of two, tracing her phone to her last location and driving straight there, but his panic soon turned to horror when he found her phone lying on the side of the road. 7 Sherri Papini was kidnapped while ona run in 2016 7 Local residents and church groups came out in their hundreds to bring her home Credit: Social Media - Refer to Source 7 Her husband begged for the mum to come home and apologised for not being able to find her Credit: AP It was November 2nd, 2016, in California, and Keith, who was the prime suspect in her disappearance at the time for police, was doing the media rounds begging for his wife's return to him and their two children. 'If she is listening, I want to say, 'We are trying. We are trying the best we can, and I am sorry I'm not there,' he said in a tearful interview. 'I'm doing everything I can, and I love you.' News of the disappearance dominated the news across the world, as hundreds of local residents took time out of their lives to find the mum and bring her home. Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving, Sherri was miraculously discovered 150 miles away from her home running across a church car park with a chain around her waist. Her hands were zip-tied together, her body was bruised and burned, her nose was broken, and she had been branded with a hot iron. Sherri spent weeks with police going over the details of her kidnapping, claiming two Hispanic women had taken her and put her in a small dark room, beating her and starving her until the abductors had an argument and one decided to release Sherri. Her memory was foggy, and the trauma she endured seemed severe, as she recounted the incident to police, her husband stood by her every step of the way. Sherri claimed to have overheard a conversation about a 'buyer', implying the two women intended to sell her into sex trafficking. It seemed like a miracle that Sherri was let go, considering the extent of the abuse she endured, and law enforcement was quick to hunt for the perpetrators as they feared it was part of a larger pattern of human trafficking. 7 Sherri was eventually found in a car park with a broken nose and letters branded into her skin Credit: Facebook Sherri Papini admits she's 'embarrassed' she staged kidnapping during tearful police interrogation 7 She spend two years telling the police of her abduction, but it all turned out to be a lie Credit: ABC Web of lies But after years of dead ends, the two women were never caught, in fact, they never even existed. Now, 42, Sherri has been dubbed the real life 'Gone Girl' after faking her own kidnapping to run away with her ex-partner. In 2020 police found DNA on her clothes that matched with her ex James Reyes. She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that. Keith Papini When they tracked him down, he was quick to reveal that Sherri had asked him to pick her up at a staged abduction site, then to take her back to his home in Costa Mesa, hundreds of miles down the coast. She'd even asked him to help her injure herself to bolster her kidnapping claims by branding her and holding a hockey stick up so she could run into it and break her nose. Sherri's 'Gone Girl' Timeline 2 November 2016: Sherri Papini was reported missing after failing to return from a jog near her home in Mountain Gate, California. She also missed picking up her children from daycare. Sherri Papini was reported missing after failing to return from a jog near her home in Mountain Gate, California. She also missed picking up her children from daycare. 24 November 2016 (Thanksgiving Day): Papini was found around 146 miles away in Yolo County, near Woodland, California. She was discovered with injuries and restraints, claiming she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. Papini was found around 146 miles away in Yolo County, near Woodland, California. She was discovered with injuries and restraints, claiming she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. August 2020: Papini was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County Sheriff's detective, where she continued to maintain her story of being kidnapped by two Hispanic women. Papini was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County Sheriff's detective, where she continued to maintain her story of being kidnapped by two Hispanic women. 3 March 2022: Sherri Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement and mail fraud. Authorities revealed she had been staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa, California, and had inflicted injuries on herself. Sherri Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement and mail fraud. Authorities revealed she had been staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa, California, and had inflicted injuries on herself. April 2022: Papini signed a plea agreement. Papini signed a plea agreement. 19 September 2022: Sherri Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution. Sherri Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution. 8 November 2022: Papini reported to federal prison at the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex in Adelanto, California, to begin serving her 18-month sentence. James was never tried for a connection to the crime and three weeks after he 'kidnapped' Sherri, she wanted to return home as she missed her kids. Before dropping her off, Sherri asked him to brand her with the word 'EXODUS' using a wood burning tool. Looking back, Keith reveals the heartbreak he felt when his wife Sherri came home, telling him, 'I have to live with the fact that you never found me.' 'I remember I was pleading with her,' Keith says now. 'Like, 'I did everything I could, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.'' 'She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that.' Sherri was ultimately charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements in 2022, and spent ten months in jail. Her husband, Keith, divorced her soon after she was sentenced and has custody of the children. 7 This is the moment police told Sherri they knew she had lied about the entire ordeal Credit: The Mega Agency Bold new claims Now, Sherri has claimed all is not as it seems in a new Investigation Discovery's docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. "Haven't you ever lied? And then, has the lie been blown up?" Sherri said in the trailer. "I went missing in 2016, was gone for 22 days. I was tortured; I was branded; I was chained to a wall. All that is true. I did keep some secrets from you, though." Now, the mum-of-two claims she was in fact kidnapped by her lover James Reyes but made up the two Hispanic women as she was terrified about what her husband would do if he found out about the affair. "I was concealing an affair from my husband, who (was) threatening to take everything from me if he found out that I was having any involvement with another man," she said. Now she claims she went to meet James to break things off, but alleges he soon turned violent. "I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open," she said. She claims the next thing she knew it was dark and she was being carried out of the car into a house. "I just remember thinking, 'This is not where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be picking my kids up from day care. I am not supposed to be here,'" she adds. "The injuries that occurred… the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my back, the brand, the melting of my skin — I am telling you there was no consent." Sherri alleges that James then had her chained up to a pole inside his home so she could not escape. 'I wanted to leave,' Sherri claimed. 'So I tried to pull one of the boards off the window and James came in and hit me in the face. And that's the first bruise that I got ... And after being knocked out and waking up, that's when the chain was around my waist, secured with a padlock attached to a cable that was attached to a pole in the closet.' Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie. Sherri Papini Just before she 'escaped,' Sherri says she had a conversation with James, who agreed to let her go on the condition she lied about what really happened and blamed two Hispanic women for the abduction. Her claims continued: 'James had let me off the chain. "I said, my husband's going to find me. He's never going to stop looking for you ... You need to let me go. He was like, 'Well, there's too much has happened.' "So it all came down to me. It all came down to my cover-up, and that's [when] I agreed to ... make up that someone else did it.' "I lied about James' identity. I lied about the man who abducted me to keep him a secret," she said in the docuseries. James denies these claims. "It wasn't the right choice and I know that... I wish I would've told the truth from the day I was in the hospital — that it was James," she continued. 7 Now, she shares her side of the story and says it's not all as it seems Credit: YouTube/investigationdiscovery "I wasn't thinking about my neighbor that was searching for me. I wasn't thinking about the churches that were lighting candlelit vigils," she continued. "I was thinking about myself." "Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie," she adds. Mother knows best? Keith, who has full custody of the children they share, was accused by Sherri throughout the show of being abusive; he heavily denies these claims. And it seems even Sherri's own mum doesn't believe her new story. Speaking to the filmmakers, Loretta Graeff said: "No, it wasn't a kidnapping." "My daughter was very, very unhappy in her marriage. She wanted some kind of happiness. "When he 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.'" "She needed to get away from him and she didn't abandon her children," Graeff told People. Where is Sherri now? Sherri was released from prison in August 2023 and transferred to a residential reentry facility in Sacramento County, California. She left the home that October — eight months early — and will remain on supervised release until late 2026.
The Irish Sun
23-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
‘Gone Girl' kidnap hoaxer Sherri Papini now claims she really WAS abducted by ex & didn't tell cops truth for key reason
SHERRI Papini went for her usual morning jog after dropping the kids at school, but when her husband came home from work to find that she still wasn't home, panic set in. Keith Papini quickly took measures to find the 34-year-old mum of two, tracing her phone to her last location and driving straight there, but his panic soon turned to horror when he found her phone lying on the side of the road. Advertisement 7 Sherri Papini was kidnapped while ona run in 2016 7 Local residents and church groups came out in their hundreds to bring her home Credit: Social Media - Refer to Source 7 Her husband begged for the mum to come home and apologised for not being able to find her Credit: AP It was November 2nd, 2016, in California, and Keith, who was the prime suspect in her disappearance at the time for police, was doing the media rounds begging for his wife's return to him and their two children. 'If she is listening, I want to say, 'We are trying. We are trying the best we can, and I am sorry I'm not there,' he said in a tearful interview. 'I'm doing everything I can, and I love you.' News of the disappearance dominated the news across the world, as hundreds of local residents took time out of their lives to find the mum and bring her home. Advertisement READ MORE REAL LIFE STORIES Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving, Sherri was miraculously discovered 150 miles away from her home running across a church car park with a chain around her waist. Her hands were zip-tied together, her body was bruised and burned, her nose was broken, and she had been branded with a hot iron. Sherri spent weeks with police going over the details of her kidnapping, claiming two Hispanic women had taken her and put her in a small dark room, beating her and starving her until the abductors had an argument and one decided to release Sherri. Her memory was foggy, and the trauma she endured seemed severe, as she recounted the incident to police, her husband stood by her every step of the way. Advertisement Most read in Fabulous Sherri claimed to have overheard a conversation about a 'buyer', implying the two women intended to sell her into sex trafficking. It seemed like a miracle that Sherri was let go, considering the extent of the abuse she endured, and law enforcement was quick to hunt for the perpetrators as they feared it was part of a larger pattern of human trafficking. 7 Sherri was eventually found in a car park with a broken nose and letters branded into her skin Credit: Facebook Sherri Papini admits she's 'embarrassed' she staged kidnapping during tearful police interrogation 7 She spend two years telling the police of her abduction, but it all turned out to be a lie Credit: ABC Advertisement Web of lies But after years of dead ends, the two women were never caught, in fact, they Now, 42, Sherri has been dubbed the real life 'Gone Girl' after faking her own kidnapping to run away with her ex-partner. In 2020 police found DNA on her clothes that matched with her ex James Reyes. She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that. Keith Papini Sherri's Husband When they tracked him down, he was quick to reveal that Sherri had asked him to pick her up at a staged abduction site, then to take her back to his home in Costa Mesa, hundreds of miles down the coast. Advertisement She'd even asked him to help her injure herself to bolster her kidnapping claims by branding her and holding a hockey stick up so she could run into it and break her nose. Sherri's 'Gone Girl' Timeline 2 November 2016: Sherri Papini was reported missing after failing to return from a jog near her home in Mountain Gate, California. She also missed picking up her children from daycare. 24 November 2016 (Thanksgiving Day): Papini was found around 146 miles away in Yolo County, near Woodland, California. She was discovered with injuries and restraints, claiming she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. August 2020: Papini was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County Sheriff's detective, where she continued to maintain her story of being kidnapped by two Hispanic women. 3 March 2022: Sherri Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement and mail fraud. Authorities revealed she had been staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa, California, and had inflicted injuries on herself. April 2022: Papini signed a plea agreement. 19 September 2022: Sherri Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution. 8 November 2022: Papini reported to federal prison at the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex in Adelanto, California, to begin serving her 18-month sentence. James was never tried for a connection to the crime and three weeks after he 'kidnapped' Sherri, she wanted to return home as she missed her kids. Before dropping her off, Sherri asked him to brand her with the word 'EXODUS' using a wood burning tool. Looking back, Keith reveals the heartbreak he felt when his wife Sherri came home, telling him, 'I have to live with the fact that you never found me.' Advertisement 'I remember I was pleading with her,' Keith says now. 'Like, 'I did everything I could, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.'' 'She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that.' Sherri was ultimately charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements in 2022, and spent ten months in jail. Her husband, Keith, divorced her soon after she was sentenced and has custody of the children. Advertisement 7 This is the moment police told Sherri they knew she had lied about the entire ordeal Credit: The Mega Agency Bold new claims Now, Sherri has claimed all is not as it seems in a new Investigation Discovery's docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. "Haven't you ever lied? And then, has the lie been blown up?" Sherri said in the trailer. "I went missing in 2016, was gone for 22 days. I was tortured; I was branded; I was chained to a wall. All that is true. I did keep some secrets from you, though." Advertisement Now, the mum-of-two claims she was in fact kidnapped by her lover James Reyes but made up the two Hispanic women as she was terrified about what her husband would do if he found out about the affair. "I was concealing an affair from my husband, who (was) threatening to take everything from me if he found out that I was having any involvement with another man," she said. Now she claims she went to meet James to break things off, but alleges he soon turned violent. "I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open," she said. Advertisement She claims the next thing she knew it was dark and she was being carried out of the car into a house. "I just remember thinking, 'This is not where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be picking my kids up from day care. I am not supposed to be here,'" she adds. "The injuries that occurred… the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my back, the brand, the melting of my skin — I am telling you there was no consent." Sherri alleges that James then had her chained up to a pole inside his home so she could not escape. Advertisement 'I wanted to leave,' Sherri claimed. 'So I tried to pull one of the boards off the window and James came in and hit me in the face. And that's the first bruise that I got ... And after being knocked out and waking up, that's when the chain was around my waist, secured with a padlock attached to a cable that was attached to a pole in the closet.' Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie. Sherri Papini Just before she 'escaped,' Sherri says she had a conversation with James, who agreed to let her go on the condition she lied about what really happened and blamed two Hispanic women for the abduction. Her claims continued: 'James had let me off the chain. "I said, my husband's going to find me. He's never going to stop looking for you ... You need to let me go. He was like, 'Well, there's too much has happened.' Advertisement "So it all came down to me. It all came down to my cover-up, and that's [when] I agreed to ... make up that someone else did it.' "I lied about James' identity. I lied about the man who abducted me to keep him a secret," she said in the docuseries. James denies these claims. "It wasn't the right choice and I know that... I wish I would've told the truth from the day I was in the hospital — that it was James," she continued. 7 Now, she shares her side of the story and says it's not all as it seems Credit: YouTube/investigationdiscovery Advertisement "I wasn't thinking about my neighbor that was searching for me. I wasn't thinking about the churches that were lighting candlelit vigils," she continued. "I was thinking about myself." "Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie," she adds. Mother knows best? Keith, who has full custody of the children they share, was accused by Sherri throughout the show of being abusive; he heavily denies these claims. And it seems even Sherri's own mum doesn't believe her new story. Advertisement Speaking to the filmmakers, Loretta Graeff said: "No, it wasn't a kidnapping." "My daughter was very, very unhappy in her marriage. She wanted some kind of happiness. "When he 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.'" "She needed to get away from him and she didn't abandon her children," Graeff told Advertisement Where is Sherri now? Sherri was released from prison in August 2023 and transferred to a residential reentry facility in Sacramento County, California. She left the home that October — eight months early — and will remain on supervised release until late 2026.
The Sun
23-06-2025
- The Sun
‘Gone Girl' kidnap hoaxer Sherri Papini now claims she really WAS abducted by ex & didn't tell cops truth for key reason
SHERRI Papini went for her usual morning jog after dropping the kids at school, but when her husband came home from work to find that she still wasn't home, panic set in. Keith Papini quickly took measures to find the 34-year-old mum of two, tracing her phone to her last location and driving straight there, but his panic soon turned to horror when he found her phone lying on the side of the road. 7 7 It was November 2nd, 2016, in California, and Keith, who was the prime suspect in her disappearance at the time for police, was doing the media rounds begging for his wife's return to him and their two children. 'If she is listening, I want to say, 'We are trying. We are trying the best we can, and I am sorry I'm not there,' he said in a tearful interview. 'I'm doing everything I can, and I love you.' News of the disappearance dominated the news across the world, as hundreds of local residents took time out of their lives to find the mum and bring her home. Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving, Sherri was miraculously discovered 150 miles away from her home running across a church car park with a chain around her waist. Her hands were zip-tied together, her body was bruised and burned, her nose was broken, and she had been branded with a hot iron. Sherri spent weeks with police going over the details of her kidnapping, claiming two Hispanic women had taken her and put her in a small dark room, beating her and starving her until the abductors had an argument and one decided to release Sherri. Her memory was foggy, and the trauma she endured seemed severe, as she recounted the incident to police, her husband stood by her every step of the way. Sherri claimed to have overheard a conversation about a 'buyer', implying the two women intended to sell her into sex trafficking. It seemed like a miracle that Sherri was let go, considering the extent of the abuse she endured, and law enforcement was quick to hunt for the perpetrators as they feared it was part of a larger pattern of human trafficking. 7 Sherri Papini admits she's 'embarrassed' she staged kidnapping during tearful police interrogation 7 Web of lies But after years of dead ends, the two women were never caught, in fact, they never even existed. Now, 42, Sherri has been dubbed the real life 'Gone Girl' after faking her own kidnapping to run away with her ex-partner. In 2020 police found DNA on her clothes that matched with her ex James Reyes. She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that. Keith PapiniSherri's Husband When they tracked him down, he was quick to reveal that Sherri had asked him to pick her up at a staged abduction site, then to take her back to his home in Costa Mesa, hundreds of miles down the coast. She'd even asked him to help her injure herself to bolster her kidnapping claims by branding her and holding a hockey stick up so she could run into it and break her nose. Sherri's 'Gone Girl' Timeline 2 November 2016: Sherri Papini was reported missing after failing to return from a jog near her home in Mountain Gate, California. She also missed picking up her children from daycare. 24 November 2016 (Thanksgiving Day): Papini was found around 146 miles away in Yolo County, near Woodland, California. She was discovered with injuries and restraints, claiming she had been abducted by two Hispanic women. August 2020: Papini was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County Sheriff's detective, where she continued to maintain her story of being kidnapped by two Hispanic women. 3 March 2022: Sherri Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement and mail fraud. Authorities revealed she had been staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa, California, and had inflicted injuries on herself. April 2022: Papini signed a plea agreement. 19 September 2022: Sherri Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution. 8 November 2022: Papini reported to federal prison at the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex in Adelanto, California, to begin serving her 18-month sentence. James was never tried for a connection to the crime and three weeks after he 'kidnapped' Sherri, she wanted to return home as she missed her kids. Before dropping her off, Sherri asked him to brand her with the word 'EXODUS' using a wood burning tool. Looking back, Keith reveals the heartbreak he felt when his wife Sherri came home, telling him, 'I have to live with the fact that you never found me.' 'I remember I was pleading with her,' Keith says now. 'Like, 'I did everything I could, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.'' 'She knew what she was doing in that moment. And to this day, I remember that time, and it hurts. I'll forever remember that.' Sherri was ultimately charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements in 2022, and spent ten months in jail. Her husband, Keith, divorced her soon after she was sentenced and has custody of the children. 7 Bold new claims Now, Sherri has claimed all is not as it seems in a new Investigation Discovery's docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. "Haven't you ever lied? And then, has the lie been blown up?" Sherri said in the trailer. "I went missing in 2016, was gone for 22 days. I was tortured; I was branded; I was chained to a wall. All that is true. I did keep some secrets from you, though." Now, the mum-of-two claims she was in fact kidnapped by her lover James Reyes but made up the two Hispanic women as she was terrified about what her husband would do if he found out about the affair. "I was concealing an affair from my husband, who (was) threatening to take everything from me if he found out that I was having any involvement with another man," she said. Now she claims she went to meet James to break things off, but alleges he soon turned violent. "I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open," she said. She claims the next thing she knew it was dark and she was being carried out of the car into a house. "I just remember thinking, 'This is not where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be picking my kids up from day care. I am not supposed to be here,'" she adds. "The injuries that occurred… the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my back, the brand, the melting of my skin — I am telling you there was no consent." Sherri alleges that James then had her chained up to a pole inside his home so she could not escape. 'I wanted to leave,' Sherri claimed. 'So I tried to pull one of the boards off the window and James came in and hit me in the face. And that's the first bruise that I got ... And after being knocked out and waking up, that's when the chain was around my waist, secured with a padlock attached to a cable that was attached to a pole in the closet.' Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie. Sherri Papini Just before she 'escaped,' Sherri says she had a conversation with James, who agreed to let her go on the condition she lied about what really happened and blamed two Hispanic women for the abduction. Her claims continued: 'James had let me off the chain. "I said, my husband's going to find me. He's never going to stop looking for you ... You need to let me go. He was like, 'Well, there's too much has happened.' "So it all came down to me. It all came down to my cover-up, and that's [when] I agreed to ... make up that someone else did it.' "I lied about James' identity. I lied about the man who abducted me to keep him a secret," she said in the docuseries. James denies these claims. "It wasn't the right choice and I know that... I wish I would've told the truth from the day I was in the hospital — that it was James," she continued. 7 "I wasn't thinking about my neighbor that was searching for me. I wasn't thinking about the churches that were lighting candlelit vigils," she continued. "I was thinking about myself." "Every injury, every incident, the description of the room down to every last bit of fragment, was not a lie," she adds. Mother knows best? Keith, who has full custody of the children they share, was accused by Sherri throughout the show of being abusive; he heavily denies these claims. And it seems even Sherri's own mum doesn't believe her new story. Speaking to the filmmakers, Loretta Graeff said: "No, it wasn't a kidnapping." "My daughter was very, very unhappy in her marriage. She wanted some kind of happiness. "When he 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.'" "She needed to get away from him and she didn't abandon her children," Graeff told People. Where is Sherri now? Sherri was released from prison in August 2023 and transferred to a residential reentry facility in Sacramento County, California. She left the home that October — eight months early — and will remain on supervised release until late 2026.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Yahoo
9 years after her fake abduction, Sherri Papini is still making news
Sherri Papini is still making national news nine years after she claimed she was abducted from Shasta County. In June, Papini appeared in court to fight eviction from a Shingletown home owned by her former boyfriend. It's the latest in a series of events that include a criminal case, civil court battles and vitriolic online community discussion that began in 2016, when Papini was reported missing. Here's a look back in video at Papini's highly publicized disappearance, and a roller coaster of events leading up to her return to court in spring. On Nov. 2, 2016, Papini — then 34 — failed to return from a jog near her north Redding home. Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know. A 22-day search for the missing wife and mother of two ensued, during which Shasta County Secret Witness offered a $10,000 reward, and Papini's family offered another $40,000, for information leading to her return. Her disappearance prompted her family to reach out to law enforcement and local news sources for help finding her. Her then-husband, Keith Papini, issued pleas to kidnappers to return his wife on television and in the Record Searchlight. North State community members supported a BringSherriHome campaign for the Central Valley High School alumna. Her mysterious disappearance captured national and international media attention, as did Sherri Papini's reappearance three weeks later. Papini was found on the side of Interstate 5 in Yolo County in the early morning on Thanksgiving Day, 2016. She was bound with restraints, trying to flag down a vehicle for help, according to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office. News she'd been found spread two hours after family, friends and supporters gathered at Diestelhorst Landing in Redding to release balloons in an effort to raise awareness about her disappearance. At that time, Papini told officers she was kidnapped, held against her will and physically abused by two Hispanic women. However, contradicting genetic evidence, weaknesses and inconsistencies in her story and refusal to answer some questions from investigators cast doubt Papini was telling the truth. Skepticism and trust split the community, then went viral as news outlets as far as Europe reported she'd been found. The case was still open but cold. Lead investigator Sgt. Brian Jackson said in 2018 that 'Something is going to reveal itself someday.' That day came in 2022. The FBI and Shasta County Sheriff's Office announced they'd formally accused Papini of making up the entire story, and arrested her on March 4. Prosecutors said she misled investigators, wasted law enforcement resources and profited from about $30,000 of payments from the California Victim's Compensation Board. Steadfast in their support, Papini's family issued a public statement after her arrest that said, "We love Sherri and are appalled by the way in which law enforcement ambushed her this afternoon in a dramatic and unnecessary manner in front of her children." But in April, 2022, Sherri Papini admitted she was with a former boyfriend at his home in Costa Mesa during the time she was missing. She officially pleaded guilty in federal court to lying to the FBI and defrauding federal, state and local officials out of more than $150,000. Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to repay some $309,902 for losses incurred by the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the sheriff's office and the FBI. Again, the story made international news. In the three years following her 2022 arrest, Papini's husband divorced her; her former mother-in-law sued her to recoup $50,000 she said she loaned Papini for her legal defense, and Papini took her ex-husband to court to request visitation rights with her children. Her story took a new turn in spring 2025. Papini appeared in a documentary about the incident in which she claimed she really was abducted, and it was her ex-boyfriend in Costa Mesa who held her against her will and physically abused her. This spring, as well as fighting the eviction notice, Papini filed a temporary restraining order against a Shingletown woman in April. The woman claimed Papini became involved with her longtime boyfriend. That restraining order was dismissed on Wednesday, June 4. Record Searchlight journalists Damon Arthur, David Benda, Michele Chandler and Silas Lyons contributed to this report. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you. This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: 9 years after her 'abduction,' Sherri Papini is still in the news
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sherri Papini on Good Morning America says she lied about 'one thing'
Sherri Papini made national news again when she appeared in an interview, broadcast on Good Morning America on Friday, June 20. 'I think everyone involved in this case has culpability here, not just me,' Papini told ABC News reporter Juju Chang in the interview. Chang's report recounted information about Papini's 2016 faked kidnapping by two non-existent Hispanic women, and continuing fallout from her conviction of fraud and lying to the FBI. Papini now claims it was her ex-boyfriend James Reyes who abducted her. 'There was one thing that I lied about. Everything else was accurate and true. I lied about the identity of my captor,' she told Chang in the interview. Papini told Chang she initially lied because she was afraid of Reyes and of her ex-husband, Keith Papini, who she said was emotionally abusive. 'Prison was far safer than the consequences that I would suffer if my ex-husband found out I was having an emotional affair,' she said in the interview. Both Keith Papini and Reyes denied Sherri Papini's claims, Chang reported, and the Shasta County Sheriff's Office told ABC News Reyes passed a polygraph test while making statements about his part in the kidnapping story. Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know. More: After her fake abduction in 2016, Sherri Papini is still making news Sherri Papini also discussed with Chang her new self-published book titled 'Sherri Papini Doesn't Exist." The book is her version of the story, she said, and 'it's backed by loads and loads of evidence.' The full interview with Papini will be broadcast on Nightline, said Chang, who co-anchors the late night show. The mother of two is fighting her ex-husband in court for the right to get unsupervised visits with their two children. "You have to love your children more than you hate your ex," she said through tears in response to Chang's question regarding what she wants to impart to Keith Papini. The Shasta County woman's story reemerged when she made news several times in 2025: In spring with the launch of a docuseries about the incident in which she claimed she was abducted and abused by Reyes, and again in June when she appeared in court to fight eviction from a Shingletown home owned by a former boyfriend. Sherri Papini appeared to go missing in November 2016 while jogging near her home north of Redding. She turned up in Yolo County 22 days later with bruises and other injuries. At the time, she told law enforcement two Hispanic women kidnapped and physically abused her. The FBI arrested Papini in March 2022, and she eventually confessed to faking the incident and inflicting the injuries to herself after spending the time in Costa Mesa with Reyes. She pleaded guilty to mail fraud and lying to the FBI, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. She was also ordered to repay approximately $309,000 to state, federal and local government for expenses related to her case. Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you. This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Sherri Papini on GMA insists 2016 kidnapping story was real
