Keith Papini

it never occurred to me at first that people would think it was me and then you know when you step back and you kind of look at this from an outside perspective i'm sure you'd be oh it's it's the it's the husband i remember family members were like you need to you need to get a lie detector test and you need to get this and this because they're they're saying all these mean things about you i never cared what other people were saying

It is very difficult for me and for my family. I would never wish this feeling upon anybody. It is taking its toll on me.

I'm just wondering about her health. Are they feeding her? Is she hot? Is she cold?

I was like, no problem, let's hurry up and get this over with. It's a crazy feeling just going through that.

These tests, they don't tell you if it's a big lie or a small lie. They just know, like, when you're lying.

I knew, obviously, it had nothing to do with it, and I didn't care. I looked past all that.

There was no idea or thought that if I think could work, that I was not going to try.

For me, I was going to do everything I could to get my wife back.

911, what is your emergency? So I just got home from work and my wife wasn't there, which is unusual.

My cell phone rang. I didn't pick up the first call. I was just getting done shaving. I didn't recognize the number. Immediately after that, my home phone rang. I pick it up and it was a very mixed emotion. It was my wife screaming in the background. I'm panicked, but I'm happy because at this point, this is the first time I've heard her voice. I know she's laughing. And I hear screaming.

Found her phone and it's got like hair ripped out of it, like in the headphones. So I'm like totally freaking out thinking like somebody like grabbed her. What's your wife's name? Sherry, S-H-E-R-R-I.

So then I get the phone and, oh my God, honey. And of course she's screaming. It's very emotional. And I love you, I love you, I love you. Oh my God, you're here, you're back. Where are you? And then the phone gets like taken away from her, like super quick.

The paramedics were the first people to tell her Happy Thanksgiving. It just blew her mind, and then she's like, oh, it's Thanksgiving night? And they said, no, it's Thanksgiving morning.

One of the officers kind of braced me and put his arm around me and he said, you know, prepare yourself.

Okay, what's your last name? Yes, Papini, P-A-P-I-N-I. And your first name? Keith.

The bruises were just intense. Her hair, everybody knows Sherry. She's always had very long, blonde hair. And, you know, they chopped it off. She lost almost 15% of her body weight in 22 days. That is traumatic physically. It made me sick that there is people out there that could do something like this.

Don't even look at them. I'm not leaving you.

We have to do this and we have to catch these people. Let's just answer everything they want to know.

What was the car? Where did she look?

Dark-colored SUV. And there was just one person?

Two?

That first day, you were supposed to have been in the car for a while. Is that right?

Their faces were always covered.

He hugged her, and my wife, obviously, very emotional, and started crying. And she said, I'm so happy. And my son, of course, is like, you don't cry when you're happy. And my wife said, when you're this happy, you cry. Then it was two-year-old Violet's turn. She just said, mommy, and just took off running. And she picked her up, and then we all went to the ground for a big family hug.

She literally lived through hell.

In my darkest hours, I obviously explored any possible outcome, you know. Could she have just left? I mean, there's no evidence. And then, as everybody will tell you, no, she couldn't have. I knew it in my heart.

When lights are off, when doors shut, when she hears certain sounds, I mean, it's something that I don't know how to deal with, and we'll need somebody that, you know, can help her through that from a professional standpoint.

They were a very nice couple, sweet, sweet young people. She's just very kind-hearted and different from other girls that I have dated throughout the years. She's just so down to earth.

We have a unique story. Years later, we kind of reconnected, and I remembered that I kept her notes that she wrote me. I took her out on a date, and I handed her a box, and of course it was like all our little love notes back and forth.

Yeah, yeah. No, like we were always meant to be, for sure.

I'm the idiot husband that stayed around the whole time.

It was a little cold in the morning, but it was a nice day. I went to work, and I didn't get home until around 5 o'clock.

Now you're telling me, okay, you guys can go home now.

I looked in a few different rooms, and I couldn't find anybody. So I thought, OK, maybe they're outside. I looked around outside and couldn't find them.

Then I called our daycare type place. First thing I said is, what time did Sherry pick up the kids today? And when she said the kids are here, that was like, something is wrong.

It's about a mile away, actually, near our mailbox. I wasn't looking for a phone. I was looking for Sherry. When I didn't find Sherry, I parked, and I got out. And now I'm looking for a phone because it's saying it's here, it's here.

I knew something was wrong. My first thing was somebody took her.

I remember hiking, looking for evidence, looking for Sherry. Then we start to see some birds circling. They're like, you know, there's a lot of birds starting to circle over there. And I just went to my knees and I thought, am I really, am I really hiking out here to look for my wife? And do I even want to, I don't want to find her right now, but I do want to find her.

One of my good friends came over and just, you know, hugged me and let me cry on her shoulder for a little bit. That was a tough one for me that day.

Fortunately, I have an amazing family and amazing friends, and they really, really came to the rescue on that, kept them happy.

I told him I had something important to tell him, and he jumped up on the couch with me, and he knew something was up. And he said, Dad, you can tell me anything. For a little four-year-old to say that, I wasn't prepared for that, and I just said, uh, Son, you know, Mommy went running and she didn't come home and we just held each other. And I said, she said, are you looking for her?

And I said, everybody in the whole world is looking for her right now. And I said, we're gonna find her and we're gonna get her back.

I don't like to think too much about it because You know, I just assume that I'm going to get a phone call any second or she's going to, you know, show up at my house.

We have reached out to James Reyes for comment, but have not heard back. The Shasta County Sheriff's Office fully investigated James, corroborated his story with a polygraph, cell phone records and witnesses, and has cleared him of any crimes. The sheriff's office declining to comment on Sherry's latest allegations, saying, quote, we are choosing to focus on current public safety matters.

Keith, a couple of times you said her face, her poor face.

I will say that no, it's not on her face, no. She lost almost 15% of her body weight in 22 days. That is traumatic physically.

Sherry Pippini arrested on charges that she allegedly lied to federal agents about being kidnapped. News breaks that the mother of two has been arrested.

And over the next six years, investigators would piece together how Papini had lied about everything, from her fictional abduction to injuries which were largely self-inflicted. DNA from her clothing eventually leading them to her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes.

Authorities say Papini's allegations of abuse against her husband were unfounded and that James Reyes had no knowledge of her plan. And with Reyes's cooperation, investigators now believed they had solid proof Sheriff Papini's kidnapping was a hoax.

I sat down with Keith Papini nearly eight years after I first met him to hear how he says he was fooled by Sherry's lies for so long. So many people watching this would wonder, was his spidey sense going off? Didn't he notice that something was off?

Sherry was sentenced to 18 months and was ordered to pay restitution. She served just under a year in federal prison and is now free.

Hello, can I help you? Yeah, so I just got home from work and my wife wasn't there, which is unusual. And my kids should have been there by now from like daycare. So I was like, oh, maybe she went on a walk. I couldn't find her, so I called the daycare to see what time she picked up the kids. The kids were never picked up. So I got freaked out, so I hit, like, the find my iPhone app thing.

And it said that her – it showed her phone, like, at our end of our driveway. We don't have really good service.

Not the end of our driveway, but the end of our street. So I just drove down there, and I saw her phone with her headphones because she started running again. And it – I found her phone, and it's got, like, hair ripped out of it, like, in the headphones. So I'm, like, totally freaking out thinking, like, somebody, like, grabbed her.

Yes. Papini, P-A-P-I-N-I.

Keith.

Yes.

No, I'm going to call my mom and have her do it.

I'm going to, like, knock on every door. Sherry, S-H-E-R-R-I.

Yes.

Yes.

It is June 11, 1982.

She has a vehicle. It's at the house.

She's running.

Yes, I'm in it right now driving, and I took a picture of her phone on the ground before I picked it up. Okay, how tall is she? 5'3", 5'4".

100 pounds.

Like a bluish blue.

Blonde.

I'm assuming she went running.

By herself.

She sent me a text asking me if I was coming home for lunch. What time was that? Give me one second.