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SHERRI Papini has pleaded guilty to faking her own abduction - as the ex-mayor of the city she terrified by making the bogus claim says she hopes she can finally get the psychiatric help she "clearly needs."
A tearful Papini, 39, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count each of mail fraud and lying to a federal officer after admitting her story about being kidnapped for over three weeks in 2016 was a complete lie.
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Papini's plea came just days after she struck a deal with prosecutors, who promised to recommend lighter sentencing in exchange for her confession.
The shamed mom-of-two appeared in Sacramento federal court via Zoom on Monday morning and seemed to be on the verge of tears throughout the 35-minute hearing.
When asked by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb how she was feeling, Papini responded: "I’m sorry, your honor.
"I’m sad. I feel very sad, your honor. I feel very sad."
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Papini is due to reappear in court on July 11 for sentencing.
Her admission has brought a close to a six-year saga that began on November 2, 2016, after she vanished while out jogging in her hometown of Redding, California.
She then mysteriously reappeared 22 days later on Thanksgiving Day at the side of a road 120 miles away. Shackled and bruised, Papini claimed to have been abducted and held captive by two gun-wielding Hispanic women for reasons unknown.
The mayor of Redding at the time, Missy McArthur, told The US Sun how Papini's frightening claims sent shockwaves rippling out across the Northern California city of 95,000.
Following her arrest and subsequent guilty plea, McArthur, who worked for 25 years as a physician's assistant, said she hopes Papini will now have access to what she deems to be much-needed physiatric help.
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"Thank goodness she's finally admitted to it," McArthur said in an interview before the court hearing. "Hopefully now she's going to get some help, some psychiatric help that she clearly needs."
McArthur also expressed her deepest sympathy to Papini's husband Keith, and their two young children, calling it a "horrible thing" they've all endured.
OSCAR-WORTHY PERFORMANCE
McArthur played an active role in the hunt for Sherri.
The ex-mayor said she was "completely duped" by Papini and her Oscar-worthy theatrics upon her miraculous return, just as law enforcement and members of her own family were.
McArthur, who has since retired, recounted to The US Sun how she met with Sherri and Keith at her home just two weeks after she was found emaciated and shackled at the side of a road on Nov. 24, 2016.
She said she was convinced Papini had been "traumatized", with her behavior exhibiting all the signs someone suffering from PTSD would be showing.
“I truly felt she had been traumatized and believed she had been through this awful thing,” McArthur said.
“I worked in an Emergency Room for 12 years so I saw some people go through some very traumatic things and I felt like she was legit."
“She was so good,” Missy added. “I don’t know if she’d studied how someone with PTSD acts but she was very convincing.
"She really had a good act going.”
'FEIGNING PTSD'
Throughout the duration of their meeting, Missy said Papini remained relatively silent, save for a few mumbles, as she allowed Keith to do the talking while she cuddled up next to him and stared vacantly into space.
Missy said Papini’s body language was akin to someone who was frightened and needed to be protected.
Papini also never made eye contact as Keith explained that she was too frightened to look anyone in the face because her captors had threatened to hurt her if she looked at them.
“So she kept her eyes down the whole time,” Missy remembered. “She stayed in character and she didn’t speak.
“Maybe that was one of her good ploys, you know, ‘ you can’t get caught up in lies if you don’t speak.’
“[But] I fell for it hook, line and sinker,” she added. “I was completely duped.”
A 'FRIGHTENING' TIME
The frightening tale spun by Papini about her fictitious abduction also hoodwinked the wider Redding community, many of whom became fearful a boogeyman was lurking in the shadows, McArthur said.
“It was a very concerning and frightening time,” Missy said. “Suddenly people didn’t want their loved ones out jogging alone or walking their dogs, so everyone was kind of on edge for a while.
“We felt relieved to have found her, because we had a similar case a few years earlier, Tara Smith, who went missing and was never found.
“But it felt like there was a boogeyman on the loose. It felt like, you know, everyone was asking ‘Who was it? Where are they now? And are they coming back?’”
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Providing the community of Redding some kind of relief, Missy said, was that Papini was found 120 miles away in Woodland, leading residents to assure themselves that Papini’s kidnappers were likely not locals.
However, the disturbing nature of her alleged abduction, and claims that she had been abused and tortured, caused fears to fester still.
'A HORRIBLE THING'
Even as questions were raised about Papini’s story in the aftermath of her reappearance, Missy was steadfast in her support of Sherri and Keith, discrediting any naysayers as “just trolls” in an interview with local media in 2016.
She ran into Keith weeks later, asking him how Sherri was. He replied she was “doing okay” but seldom wanted to venture outside any longer.
Having witnessed Keith’s devastation first-hand when Sherri first went missing, and Sherri’s apparent trauma in the wake of her kidnapping, Missy said she had no reason to doubt the story.
It wasn’t until Papini’s arrest last month, six years on from the ordeal, that the doubt started to creep in.
“I’d say the arrest was the first time I’d seen any proof that made me doubt her story,” Missy said. “I just believed her, I especially believed Keith and I still do. It’s clear he had no idea either.”
While the lasting effects of Papini’s lies are yet to be realized, Missy said she worries local residents - who pride themselves on being kind and caring - may be less willing or more skeptical of banding together in the future should a similar missing persons case arise.
“She absolutely took advantage of this kind and caring community,” she said. “And now I think, will the community rally like that again?
“I hope they do, and I’m sure they will,” Missy added. “I think they'll say, ‘shame on her for doing that. Not shame on us for trying to help.’”
GONE GIRL FAKER COMES CLEAN
Before her virtual appearance in court on Monday, Papini admitted to staging her own kidnapping in a statement released through her attorney last week.
“I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so sorry for the pain I’ve caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story and those who worked so hard to try to help me," Papini's statement read.
She also pledged to "work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done."
The case has been likened to the plot of the 2014 movie Gone Girl, an adaptation of a Gillian Flynn novel of the same name, in which the lead character stages her own abduction to spite her husband.
In addition to being found shackled and in a state of emaciation, Papini was also covered in bruises, had her long blond hair shaved off, a "brand" on her right shoulder, and had a broken nose.
Prosecutors said she inflicted the injuries on herself to substantiate her bogus claims.
After a six-year investigation, authorities determined that Papini was staying with her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, at the time she was presumed missing.
During Monday's court hearing, Papini was asked by Judge Shubb whether she was kidnapped, to which she replied "No, your honor", The Sacramento Bee reports.
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"Did you lie to government agents when you told them you were kidnapped?” Shubb further pressed.
"Yes, your honor," replied a misty-eyed Papini.
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