In the end, the Californian mother of two revealed that she had made up her November 2016 abduction and pleaded guilty to several felony charges.
Sherri Louise Graeff-Papini, an American woman, vanished on November 2, 2016, reportedly while jogging a mile from her home in Redding, California. At the time of her disappearance, she was 34 years old.
Her husband, Keith Papini, realized something was wrong when he came home that evening to find Sherri missing and their kids still at daycare. He quickly reported her disappearance.
After more than three weeks of being missing and an extensive search, a motorist spotted Sherri on Thanksgiving morning, walking along the side of the road in Yolo County, California—about 148 miles from where she had vanished—and alerted authorities.
Sherri appeared malnourished and badly beaten. She told police that she had been abducted at gunpoint by two Hispanic women in a dark SUV, who tortured her and branded her skin.
Upon hearing she was found alive, Keith rushed to a hospital in Woodland, California to see her.
“As soon as I saw her face, the way she looked up at me in that moment, I just felt, this is fake, this is not real,” the husband said.
Sunday, November 24, marks eight years since Sherri Papini was found. After several years of investigation, the truth about her alleged abduction came out, and Sherri eventually admitted to fabricating the entire story.
Despite his initial suspicions, Keith, who actively assisted in the investigation, stood by Sherri for years, believing she had been taken against her will.
“I was constantly trying to solve the case,” Keith told the media in June 2024. “I always was reaching out to the FBI. Every time she would tell me something, I would write it down or trying to find a picture of it, and I would give that to the FBI.”
However, the case was going cold, with no leads on the suspects Sherri described. During the investigation, authorities began to question her claims. They discovered that during the 22 days she was missing, Sherri had been staying voluntarily at her ex-boyfriend James Reyes’ home in Costa Mesa, California.
James Reyes informed authorities that Sherri Papini had requested him to inflict injuries on her to make it seem like she had been tortured by her abductors. Reyes stated that while he refused to hit her, he did throw hockey pucks at her. He also mentioned that she made him hold a hockey stick so she could run into it. Reyes claimed he dropped her near Interstate 5 on Thanksgiving Day, allowing her to return home. When Sherri was found, she had a chain around her waist and was covered in bruises.
In March 2022, Sherri was arrested for orchestrating the hoax. Keith told police he was “blindsided” and “in shock” upon learning that she had faked her own disappearance.
After the truth emerged, Sherri expressed her deep shame through a statement from her attorney, saying she was “deeply ashamed” of her actions and sorry for the pain caused to her family, friends, and everyone involved. She vowed to spend her life making amends.
Sherri was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Where is Sherri Papini now?
Sherri Papini was released from prison in August 2023 and subsequently placed in community confinement in Sacramento County. She was fully released on October 29, 20232. In October 2023, she was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary trial readiness conference regarding her divorce but failed to show up. Following her divorce and ceased communication with her. He now has sole custody of their two children, and Sherri has supervised visits once a month to see their son, Tyler, and daughter, Violet. She had also been released from community confinement a few days prior, and her lawyer reported not knowing her whereabouts, according to local news station KRCR.
Sherri Papini still owes approximately $340,000, which includes a 10% litigation surcharge, as per an application for writ of garnishment filed in March 2024 by the Eastern District of California’s D.A. office. The government has issued a writ of garnishment against Sherri Papini’s law firm, Kinney & Kinney, believing she has property that could help settle the debt.
