The woman who pled guilty to one of the most elaborate hoaxes ever now shares a different version of her story; her ex-husband speaks out after he and the world were conned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the shocking allegations against Sherri Papini?
What she now claims actually happened. Her then-husband speaking his truth. I mean, essentially, you were the target of one of the biggest hoaxes perpetrated on America in years.
Next tonight here, the desperate search for a missing mother in California. Sherry Papini. Sherry Papini. Why did you lie? I didn't do anything wrong. Right now, you're not telling the truth. Which is doing something wrong?
branding hockey pucks against her arms and legs. I wish I could just say, I don't remember getting in the car. And you're trying to get there, and you're trying to get to this moment where I can't tell you.
There were definitely lots of people saying, oh, this is BS. It's an obvious hoax. and now it all comes crumbling down.
This is very weird for me, because I know that you know everything about everything.
It's important to remember, there was no trial, so she's never spoken for herself.
Oh.
Sherry Papini, world famous for her disappearing act in California in 2016. First, she claimed she'd been kidnapped and her captors had beaten, bound and unbelievably branded her. Then she admitted she just made it all up. She pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and now after prison, divorce and public humiliation, she has something to say for herself in a new documentary.
It's called Sherry Papini Caught in the Lie, which premieres on May 26th on ID and streams on Max. The Sherry Papini that's out there, it's not me. She's not real. It's just this version of me that has been created.
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Chapter 2: How did Sherri Papini's disappearance unfold?
The briefing was, we have a lady that's out jogging, came up missing, her husband came home not to find her, and then the kids were still at daycare. Sherry was last seen about a mile from her home in Mountain Gate. Search teams are looking everywhere, trying to piece together what happened to Sherry Papini. She is considered at risk due to the suspicious circumstances.
There was definitely a sense of fear. We just knew that a young woman had been taken somewhere near the I-5 freeway. Her family suspecting something went terribly wrong. Someone took our daughter, snatched her out of the thin air.
What does it feel like to have that thought that somebody has abducted your wife?
Scared. I was scared. Everything from day one had your hairs up on the back of your neck just trying to figure out what was going on.
Sherry's disappearance was the start of a mystery. that would grip the entire country as detectives searched for answers in the rural Northern California town of Redding.
Redding is unique. Northern California, two hours north of Sacramento. Roughly 180,000 people live in Shasta County, but half of those people live in the greater Redding area. It's just a very get-or-done kind of community that helps one another.
sherry has been described as a super mom yeah she's always wanted to be home with her babies and to be an important role in their lives from everyone we talked to sherry who was a stay-at-home mom cherished her family life doting on their four-year-old son tyler and their two-year-old daughter violet i know my sister would never leave her children never leave her babies
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.
Keith and Sherry's love story is really rather sweet. They shared a very electric first kiss in the seventh grade, and they stayed close and continued to communicate all through junior high.
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Chapter 3: What evidence was found during the investigation?
Keith goes to the Find My Phone app, and he starts to track where Sherry's iPhone is.
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.
Keith was so smart, he took a picture of the phone when he found it because he thought it was weird, but he knew it was important and he wanted to show it to the police.
Where exactly did Keith find Sherry's phone?
Chapter 4: How did Keith Papini react to his wife's disappearance?
So the phone was found right near the intersection of Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise, just a short distance away.
I knew something was wrong. My first thing was somebody took her.
And that begins the search for Sherry Papini. I said, there's not going to be a happy ending to this. I thought she's going to turn out dead. This is the next phase in my therapeutic work. Nicole Kidman returns for the Hulu original Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2. Breathe in. This is safe. We take you back to a core trauma. Breathe in. Breathe out.
She is manipulating us. Breathe in. Breathe out. Why are you resisting? Is it too late to get a refund? The all-new season of Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu and Disney+. New episodes Wednesdays.
I started an organization called the Elite Lady Bull Riders. To give women a space in bull riding. Thursdays at 10. Do you want to be a pro rider? That's what you're working towards. It's risky, but I can't stop. Everything is riding. The finals are coming. On their next. Everyone's got a shot. Eight seconds. Let's do this. Not her first rodeo. Thursdays at 10 on Freeform.
This morning, search teams scouring these rural roads and trails trying to piece together what happened to Sherry Papini. We're just using a map and we're doing some grid searches. The married mother of two vanishing without a trace last Wednesday afternoon while jogging near her Redding, California home.
It wasn't just that Sherry was missing and her cell phone was found. It's that her wallet, her purse, her keys were all at home. She hadn't used her credit cards. She hadn't been to the bank, the ATM, nothing. Ms. Papini has been entered into a national computer for missing persons. She is considered at risk due to the suspicious circumstances.
Everybody, put your good thoughts out there, put your prayers out there, and let's find Sherry. Peace.
How quickly did public attention start to focus on this case and the Papinis?
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Chapter 5: What led to the discovery of Sherri Papini?
The longer that someone's missing, that's a very critical time within the first, you know, 24 hours. We're working our way down on houses.
It was really a wide variety of our community coming together to help the Pepini family.
Not only does the family offers a reward for the safe return of Sherry, but so do perfect strangers. A GoFundMe page is set up.
That page, set up by Keith's friends, promises all funds will go directly to the family to aid in search efforts to bring Sherry home. In total, it raises nearly $50,000.
They probably had a couple of hundred volunteers that were scouring this area looking for any evidence. Keith is volunteering in the search. He has tremendous support from friends and family, and they had a single mission to leave no stone unturned.
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.
All this time you're dealing with this, you've still got two little kids to think about.
Fortunately, I have an amazing family and amazing friends, and they really, really came to the rescue on that, kept them happy.
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Chapter 6: What was Sherri's condition when she was found?
About three weeks after Sherry disappeared on the morning of Thanksgiving before the sun has even come up. This trucker calls 911. 911 emergency, what are you reporting? There's a lady on the side of the road who's needing help. Can I talk to her? Please, please. Oh my god, this is unbelievable.
Hello, it's Robin Roberts here. Hey guys, it's George Stephanopoulos here. Hey everybody, it's Michael Strahan here. Wake up with Good Morning America.
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it's now been more than two weeks since sherry disappeared on november 2nd there's no leads and thanksgiving is just around the corner thanksgiving morning there's a tradition here of a big race called the turkey trot and so keith had asked that balloons be released that day in honor of sherry in honor of the the search for her you know we're all looking for you and here's just a symbol here's home and i really like that
Happy Thanksgiving. It's going to be a cold morning. You've got the turkey trot in Redding. Bundle up.
If you're up just getting your turkey ready, I want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
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Chapter 7: What are the new claims made by Sherri Papini?
Many reports have said that this was a little bit of a attention-seeking kind of couple, sort of a reality show ready to go.
And there started to be rumors that circulated that Sherry had something to do with her own disappearance. Did that anger you?
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.
With mystery still swirling about who's responsible, this Northern California community is on edge. Did the community be worried? The community should be concerned. The police are mystified. It was frustrating. I did not want this to be a cold case when I retire someday. I assume you were also looking into Sherry's background. Oh, yeah.
There's some red flags there. She had been talking to a man in the days before she was abducted, not her husband.
And five months later, there is still a lot police don't know.
There is concern about inconsistencies in Sherry Papini's case.
There were no witnesses at the time. We had very little to go on. Some things just weren't adding up.
While the police are mystified, the Papinis go quiet and lay low.
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Chapter 8: How has public perception changed regarding Sherri Papini?
Investigators asked permission of the courts to be able to run that DNA against all those DNA ancestry type websites where people contribute their own DNA, looking for familial DNA.
They're hoping somebody in this guy's family had used one of those DNA websites. If they find a relative, they've got a lead. And it worked.
the familial DNA. This man has two sons. One of those sons used to date Sherry Papini.
It came back to James Reyes, an ex-boyfriend. And you see James Reyes in a photo with Sherry from one of her social media posts.
It's a massive break in the case.
So the FBI field officer and myself went down to James' residence to do the confrontation.
Hello, good morning. Good morning.
Obviously, he was a little reluctant. He was scared. We're here guarding Sherry Papini. OK. And just trying to figure out how you know her, when was the last time you talked to her.
Well, me and Sherry dated back in 2002, and I haven't talked to her in years. There's information that I think you have. about the abduction. Yeah, I mean, I just, that's all I can, I don't, all I know is what I read about it.
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