CASE OF THE EX
SHERRI Papini’s 13-year marriage ended in shambles after it came to light that the mother of two faked her abduction to hide out with an ex-boyfriend.
Papini plead guilty to multiple counts of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud in April 2022 and was sentenced in July of that same year.
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Two days after her guilty plea, her husband, Keith Papini filed for divorce asking for custody of the couple’s children.
When she first reappeared after her false claim of being kidnapped while jogging in 2016, her husband publicly supported her claims.
The California woman was arrested in March of 2022, nearly six years after she was reported missing.
She was found on November 24, 2016, three weeks after she vanished, with a chain around her waist.
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Investigators said it was her over-the-top behavior that tipped them off to her lies.
Shasta County Sheriff Sergeant Kyle Wallace and Captain Brian Jackson worked on the case following her disappearance.
They told Dateline something wasn't right in the case from the start.
A tuft of Papini's hair was found with her phone near where she was allegedly abducted.
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She told detectives she pulled her own hair out when taken at gunpoint by her captors, so her husband would know where she was kidnapped.
In hindsight, Wallace said "I think, ultimately, being able to look at each piece of evidence now with the clarity of what was going on,"
"Not just in the moments, but the drama or the theatrics that Sherri brought with every step of this investigation was really part of the undoing."
REAL LIFE 'GONE GIRL'
Papini’s actions have drawn comparisons to the 2014 film Gone Girl, based on the 2012 novel of the same name, in which a woman fakes her disappearance to frame her husband for a crime.
“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,” read a statement from Papini after pleading guilty.
She also pledged to “work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.”
Papini had claimed that two Hispanic women took her DNA on her clothing, however, led police to her ex-boyfriend, whom she was hiding out with the entire time.
When questioned, the former lover told detectives Papini asked him to hit her. He says he refused to do so but agreed to hold up a hockey stick for her to run into.
He also branded her when she allegedly asked him to do so.
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Detectives say what made her story more confounding was the fact her lies had some truthful elements. For example, she was able to describe the pain of being branded, because it actually happened.
Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison in her case and ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution to federal, state, and local agencies.
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