More Sex, Lies and Depravity (2013) Movie Script
- Where would you like to start?
- I... have no idea.
- Okay. So on November 2, 2016,
what happened?
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- The missing mother of two,
Sherri Papini,
went for a run,
and she didn't come home.
The community of Redding,
California,
is still very much on edge.
- Police in California
are working around the clock
to get to the bottom
of an alleged kidnapping.
- Several experts tell us
that this has all the telltale
signs of human trafficking.
-
Until we identify the suspects,
the public should
remain cautious.
- On November 2nd of 2016,
we received an email
from a family friend
that Sherri Papini was missing.
A mother went on a jog
and never came home.
Well, in the newsroom, you get
a lot of missing people reports
and initially, it felt like
the other missing people cases,
But after a few hours,
it seemed different.
More people were calling
the newsroom,
and it was being spread
like wildfire on social media.
People were coming forward
and telling us
that Sherri was someone
who was devoted to her husband,
she was devoted
to her children.
- Sherri used to work
in telecommunications,
but she ultimately decided
to leave work
and stay at home
and raise their two children.
- They're a working-class
family. Keith works at Best Bu
He was part of the computer
squad there, the Geek Squad.
- It looked like Sherri
had a great life.
Those photos of her
with her children,
and her and Keith lovingly
looking into each other's eyes,
they painted a picture.
They painted a narrative
of somebody who did have it all.
- Sherri fit the profile of who
the media and the public
often "care about"
when it comes to missing people.
She was white.
She was blonde.
She seemed to have
this perfect life,
a perfect marriage,
perfect children.
- Some members of
the community say
they aren't taking
any chances and safety
is at the forefront
of their minds.
- The FBI was involved
from the very beginning.
We had multiple agents
that were working hand in hand
with the Shasta County
Sheriff's Office.
- We just tried to figure out,
was it a kidnapping?
Did she run off somewhere?
- We do not have any persons
of interest or suspects
that have been identified
in the investigation so far.
- We all know,
watching the news,
that many times,
when a woman disappears,
it's her significant other.
It's her husband
or her boyfriend.
So people did have questions
about Keith.
What's their relationship like?
Have they been fighting?
Have they been separated?
Initially, yeah, I think
everybody wondered,
was Keith involved?
- So police, when they
examined Sherri's cell phone,
discovered that there had been
some angry texts back and forth.
There had been arguments,
and they'd been through a rough
patch a few months prior.
- Everybody had an opinion
on what their relationship was.
There was just
so much information that--
that it was good,
and it was bad.
- So of course,
when Sherri went missing,
they wanted to talk to Keith
and find out
whether he could have anything
to do with her disappearance.
And they had Keith
take a polygraph test.
- He was very cooperative
in that respect,
and his information
was checked out.
- There's something really
innocent, in a way, about Keith.
You see him in interviews
with law enforcement,
kind of making jokes
and having a little bit of this
"aw, shucks,"
folksy personality.
It really makes you think
that he's just--
he's just a regular guy.
- So I'm going to go off script
just a little bit here.
We have a mini crisis
in our town.
This doesn't happen,
where somebody comes and pleads
with the city council
to help find their loved one.
So it was unusual.
He would like
to reach out to see
if there's anybody
who can help him find his wife.
Mr. Papini.
- Thank you for giving me
this opportunity.
Um, I'm Keith Papini.
Sherri is my wife.
And I'm just trying
to do everything I can
to get her face everywhere,
her name out to everybody.
- The community
really rallied around Keith
and the entire Papini family.
They went out on search parties
People donated money
and really tried to help
as much as they could
to bring her home.
- Obviously, a lot of tips
started coming in,
from all aspects
ranging from
"Was it a convicted sex offend
that may have abducted her?"
"She just left willingly?"
- Sherri and Keith,
on the outside,
seemed to have
this perfect marriage.
But there was a lot more
going on than met the eye.
- The investigation
definitely started to turn,
because they were starting
to get things from her phone.
They found a lot
of text messages
with people who were not
her husband and men's names
that were concealed
under the name of women.
[dramatic music]
- The first person that
investigators wanted to speak to
was a man
named Donovan Miske.
And this was a man
Sherri had been texting
for the previous five years.
- He said Sherri
was very forthcoming
about complaining
about her husband.
[dramatic music]
- She was painting
a picture of Keith
that would cause others
to be empathetic towards her.
- The law enforcement looked
into some of these stories
that were told about
Keith's abusive nature.
No evidence was ever found.
- Every person had
a different opinion of Sherri
that we talked to--
all of her close friends,
all of her acquaintances.
[suspenseful music]
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- So behind the scenes,
the clues were really starting
to stack up for investigators.
As a member of the media,
that information
was not shared with us.
For us, she was
still the supermom,
and everyone was concerned
about her safety.
We waited for some clue,
some development,
and it came...
[claps]
Out like a lightning bolt.
No one saw it coming.
for a missing Shasta County search
mother continues tonight,
and Action News Now
has live team coverage.
- Sherri was gone for 22 days.
Her community came together
to try to find her,
but they also were
living in fear.
As far as they knew,
Sherri had been kidnapped,
and did this mean
that there was an active,
you know,
kidnapper and criminal
at large who could come
after other people?
- Several people are
calling 911, saying,
"There's this crazed lady
along Interstate 5.
She needs help.
We need some help out here."
- The people calling
were reporting
that she looked frantic.
This was someone desperately
looking for help,
for someone to stop
along the side of the road.
- Keith called me about 4:00
that Thanksgiving morning.
He was frantic.
He was yelling, saying
that Sherri had been found.
Very, very excited.
- We are very ecstatic
to report
that Sherri Papini
has been located.
We learned that she was released
by her captor on a rural road
near I-5 in Yolo County.
- It was a Thanksgiving miracle
People had gotten the holiday
miracle they were looking for.
[tense music]
- When she was initially found
on the side of I-5,
there was a chain
around her waist,
and she was zip-tied
to the chain.
- The California Highway Patrol,
Yolo County Sheriff's Office,
and medical personnel
responded to assist.
Sherri was freed
from her restraints,
transported to an area hospital,
and treated for her injuries.
- Every mark on her body
was a potential clue.
All of those clues in those
first early moments
at the hospital
were really, really vital.
- She looked dramatically
different.
She had bruises upon bruises.
She had a burn on her arm.
Her long hair
had been cut off.
And she just looked
so frail sitting there.
- At that point, what changed
for investigators is,
now they had--
this missing person shows up,
and she has this
incredible story.
So that changes everything.
- So we contacted her
at the hospital.
She was very emotional,
upset, crying.
- So Keith came into the room,
because at that point,
we weren't able to interview her
based on her emotional state.
- [crying]
- Having a family member
participate in an interview
is not standard procedure
for police investigations.
But they didn't have
a lot of options.
She was not going
to talk to them,
but she was willing
to talk to Keith.
- She said that she was
on a run in her neighborhood
when an unknown-type SUV
drove in front of her,
turned around, came back,
and she was confronted
by two Hispanic females,
one of which had a handgun,
ordered her into the vehicle.
- Her conversation with Keith--
I wouldn't even describe it
as a story.
It was more just kind of
throwing out
little bits and pieces.
So she kind of would give
a little bit of information,
but she would also give, like,
why she couldn't remember.
- The reason that
she had been taken,
which she had overheard
the kidnappers say--
someone wanted to buy her,
and she had been taken
to be delivered to a buyer.
In essence, human trafficking.
- Perhaps most terrible of all,
she had a branding
on her right shoulder,
where her skin was seared
with a branding iron,
the word "exodus."
She said the branding was meant
to appeal to the buyer.
- Her kidnappers
apparently suggested
that the man who was buying
her was a police officer.
- She also said
when she was confronted
by the kidnappers
at gunpoint, she crouched down
put her cell phone on the side
of the road with her earbuds,
and snatched some hair out
of her head with the cell phone
to perhaps send a message
to Keith
that she was being taken
against her will.
- It seems really unlikely.
When you are in a crisis,
survival mode is fight
or flight,
not "How can I leave
some clues?"
- She actually says many, many,
times, "I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
And this, to me, was very odd,
because why would a victim
of an abduction apologize?
found alive in what
some are calling a miracle.
- During her captivity,
Sherri Papini
had lost so much weight,
she was down to 87 pounds,
her body covered in bruises,
severe burns, red rashes,
and chain markings.
- Keith called me up not very
long after she'd been found,
and they came over to my house.
She had all the body language
of somebody with PTSD.
I worked in the ER for 12 years,
and I've definitely seen PTSD.
And I totally believed
her, 100%.
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- Law enforcement was
very tight-lipped with us
about what they were looking at.
We now know those investigators
had so much reason
to be suspicious
of what she was telling them.
- A few days
after Sherri reappears,
she and Keith sit down
with law enforcement.
And it's really remarkable
to see footage
from these interviews.
- You're in control.
If you need to take a break,
say when, and we'll go out there
and all
that kind of stuff, okay?
- I feel like sometimes
it's easier...
with my eyes closed.
- Sure.
- Is that okay?
- Absolutely. - She said
the kidnappers told her
that a cop wanted to buy her.
And so here, in her home,
are two cops
wanting to talk to her,
which made her very,
very uncomfortable.
I think she saw Keith
as her protector.
- I don't know you guys.
I don't know
if you're in my corner.
I know my husband.
I know my husband's
in my corner, but, um,
you know,there was
a lot of other things.
And I know that you guys know
everything about everything.
- Yeah.
- That's embarrassing and...
- Well--
- Yucky, and that's weird
for me. That's weird for me.
- No one's perfect.
No one does everything right.
[chatter] - There was a lot
of kind of chitchatting
and really trying to make
her feel comfortable.
- So before all of this,
I watched those shows.
I watched those shows.
And I, you know-- and I've read
Elizabeth Smart's book.
- She's admitting to having
an interest in true crime shows.
She's almost dropping clues
about what's really going on.
- On November 2, 2016,
what happened?
-
Stretched a little on the porch,
like I usually do.
Started running. I see a vehicl
go past Sunrise Drive,
and then it backs up.
And I immediately have that
feeling of "Oh, that was weird."
- You're doing good, Sherri.
- I...
walked towards
where the vehicle had backed up
and then she opened the door.
And then I saw
the small revolver.
- She told us a mask
was put over her head,
or a bag of some sort,
and then she was placed
in the back seat of the vehicle.
- Do you remember any music
as you were driving around?
- Yes.
- In the car?
- Mariachi music.
- Hmm.
- She described being placed
in a room that she described
as a raised foundational house.
- The first day with the zip
ties, getting out of them,
because they were behind--
they were behind my back.
So I pulled them.
I did one of these moves.
And that's what this scar
right there is from,
is the very beginning,
when I got them off.
And I bit them,
because I couldn't--
because Keith and I have even
tried this move before,
the whole, you know,
power through it and bust it.
And I tried that
and was unsuccessful.
And--and it cut right here.
So then I just chewed it off,
and I cut my lip right here.
And then I busted them.
Um, and then it was like--
I tried the door.
I could tell that the door
had a deadbolt at the top,
so I couldn't open the door.
- She talks a lot, so it sounds
like a lot of detail,
but if you actually look
at what she's saying,
it isn't helpful to them at all.
- She described--
she was kept in a single room
with the window boarded over.
There was a closet in the room
that had a metal pole,
to which she was chained.
- Let's draw the whole room.
- There was this pole--
stupid pole--
that was attached here.
Came down, like, all the way up.
-- --ing pole is the only reason
why I was there.
The cable was here.
And it made a turn.
Sorry for swearing.
At all times, there was a bucket
in the, um, closet.
That's what I used
to go to the bathroom in.
- What about the bathroom?
What's that look like?
- There was a crack in the tile.
It was a light-colored tile
that was speckled.
It was always hands on the wall.
It was a really
high-pressured shower,
with just your standard
cheapie shower head.
- I would describe her
being annoyed
at things very inconsistent
with being an abducted person,
not talking about the urgency
to escape
or the fear
of not being rescued.
[somber music]
- Investigators first
interviewed her at her home
November 28,
and then the next day,
they interview her another time
at another location.
Her story is slowly coming out.
She told investigators
she wasn't quite sure why
or how they cut her hair.
- After she cut it,
she had it in her hand.
I was down.
She was over me, and she said...
"I'm gonna send it
to your mother."
- She was very specific about
the different personalities
of the two captors.
The younger person she saw
as a more sympathetic person.
- I feel like the bigger
one enjoyed it,
and the little one did not.
The things like the burn,
cutting my hair,
the burn on my arm,
the chain, the lock--
that was all
from the bigger one.
- When the police ask her
about the brand on her shoulder
which is one of the most
singular gruesome details,
Sherri kind of deflects
from their conversations.
- My head was on the table.
I feel like I was in and out,
because the pain
was so excruciating,
um, in between, from--
and I apologize, guys,
but I--from my implants.
They--it was all of my weight
directly on them, also.
- These are male investigators.
And so, consciously or not,
she's drawing attention
to her breast implant surgery
in, perhaps,
an effort to get them
to change the subject.
- She said after three weeks,
suddenly, she heard the gunsho
And after that point,
she never heard
from the older captor again.
The younger one said,
"Let's go."
She was taken to a car,
driven for an unknown
period of time.
At some point, the car stops,
the door opens,
and she's told to get out.
It very quickly came to an end.
- Why did they decide
to release her?
In many ways, it almost left
everyone with more questions
than answers.
of abducting her
- Good afternoon.
- So after Sherri reappeared,
law enforcement
give a press conference.
And it's the first time
that they reveal
that she'd been kidnapped
by two Hispanic women.
And so immediately,
the public is freaked out.
- Shasta County,
historically speaking,
has been primarily Caucasian.
At the time of Ms. Papini's
discovery,
Shasta County was already
lathered up to hate Latinos.
Certainly, with Mr. Trump
going into office,
it sort of exacerbated
some bigotry
and out-and-out racism.
After she had been discovered,
from a variety of sources,
we started hearing reports
of an alleged hate manifesto
from Ms. Papini.
And this was when she was
in high school.
- It was published
under her maiden name.
This author makes some
pretty disturbing statements.
"I used to come home in tears
"because I was getting
suspended from school
"all the time for defending
myself against the Latinos.
"The chief problem was that
I was drug-free, white,
and proud of my blood
and heritage."
- It's really, really
racist and ugly.
The detectives asked
Sherri about it.
- My life wasn't perfect
before this. Um...
it's just an awful feeling,
that all of the--
all of everything,
and the made-up things.
It's just a disgusting,
yucky feeling
of what it's doing
to my family.
- Obviously people are drawn
to conclusions,
that you're reporting
two Hispanics did this.
You wrote some-- I'm assuming--
did you write the blog?
- No.
- Both Sherri and her family
unequivocally deny
that she had anything
to do with it.
But it's a curious detail.
And then, on top of that,
when she accused two Hispanic
women of kidnapping her,
she was tapping into
this age-old narrative
that we have in this country
that white women need to be
protected from non-white people.
- Law enforcement want to hear
what she has to say.
But this undercurrent
is starting to build
because they have so much
information they're collecting
about the legitimacy
of her story
and how it's stacking up.
[dramatic music]
- I observed Sherri did a lot of
sort of unintended admissions.
And one great example is,
she says,
"It's easier for me to remember
with my eyes closed."
- I feel like sometimes
it's easier with my eyes closed.
- Sometimes it is beneficial
to close your eyes.
But if you're lying,
it's way easier to lie
if you're not looking
somebody in the eye.
- And I know that you guys know
everything about everything.
- I call that fishing.
She needs to know what they know
so she can come up
with a response.
- I've read Elizabeth
Smart's book.
- She just happened to say that
she read Elizabeth Smart's book
Elizabeth Smart was abducted
in Salt Lake City.
Elizabeth Smart was secured
by her abductor
with a cable and a lock.
Sherri Papini said she was
secured with a cable and a lock
Elizabeth Smart said
that she was made
to use the bathroom in a bucket
- At all times, there was
a bucket in the, um, closet.
That's what I used to go
to the bathroom in.
- Sherri Papini
exhibited these sort of cluster
of deceptive body language.
She would groom her hair.
She was scratching a lot.
She was covering her face
with her hands.
She would put her head down
on her knees.
I am reading between the lines
from my own experience,
but I will say this.
It is also valuable,
with someone
who is lying to you,
to get them to tell you the lies
as completely as possible.
- You're doing good, Sherri.
- I think they did
a pretty good job of making her
believe they were in her corner.
[tense music]
- Sherri returned home
Thanksgiving Day in 2016.
By spring of 2017,
law enforcement has talked
to Sherri a couple of times.
But all the while,
there are certain pieces
to the story
that don't quite add up.
But they're not quite sure
yet what that answer is,
and it's going to take more time
to find out
what really happened.
- Within a few months
of her returning home,
Sherri was entering therapy
to talk out
what had happened to her.
As a victim of a crime
in California,
she was eligible
for the Victims Compensation
Fund to get public funds
to undergo therapy.
- I believe the total figure
that she received was, like,
$30,000 worth of therapy
or something.
- Throughout this process,
Sherri was still in contact
with investigators,
providing them with snippets
of details
that might come to mind
with the passage of time.
She remembered a type of table
that she had been laid on
for the branding process.
Keith was looking up tables
on the Internet
and providing them to her
and investigators
to try to narrow down
the type of table
that was in that place
where she was held.
- Keith seems to really want
to be a partner
to law enforcement
and really help them solve
the case as much as possible.
- Today, a break in the case.
Two sketches
of Papini's kidnappers.
- Almost a year
into the investigation,
we get the release
of the composite sketch.
- One female captor
is described as a 5'5",
20 to 30 years old,
with a medium build
and curly dark hair.
The other woman is between 40
and 50 years old,
around 5'7",
with straight black hair.
- After the terrible
descriptions
of the alleged abductors
came out,
Latinos in Shasta County
pretty much went underground.
The impact was tremendous on
the Hispanic Latino community.
- Just as they get that
information, another bombshell
is dropped by law enforcement.
- Although Sherri claims she was
abducted by two Hispanic women,
this morning,
investigators revealing
she had male DNA on her clothing
when she was found.
- It was not Keith's DNA.
It was an unknown male.
That seems to be at odds
with Sherri's version of events
that she had been kidnapped
by two women.
- She had not told a story
about a man involved
in her kidnapping,
yet there was male DNA
on her underwear.
What sense does that make?
Nearly a year later,
there are still no arrests.
- It was now a big question
the police had to solve.
So Sherri is telling everyone
she was kidnapped by two women,
but DNA from the clothing
she had belongs to a man.
Then what happened?
[suspenseful music]
At this point, in 2017, we don'
really know what was going on.
- During that time, she wasn't
going out in the public much.
She was staying
inside the house.
- Publicly,
Keith was as supportive.
But man, if you are Keith,
you must have a lot
going on in your mind
about who your wife is.
Over two long years go by
without any breaks in the case.
They are not able to find a hit
on that DNA sample.
- That DNA was scrutinized
at every available level.
We were able to get to a point
where we could do
the familial DNA searches.
- A couple of years later,
through family connections,
they find out that a former
boyfriend, James Reyes,
might be the person
linked to that DNA.
They lived together in Southern
California about 10 years prior
So investigators have to head
to Costa Mesa, California,
to talk to James Reyes.
- James's interview
with law enforcement
was not made public
until very recently.
After so many years of mystery
behind what happened,
it was really stunning
to hear all of the details.
- James Reyes is this laid-back
Southern California dude,
playing hockey,
working at the hockey shop.
They say, "We can tell
you're nervous."
He goes, "No, no, no.
I'm not nervous."
- They did have to do
some convincing to James
'cause he wasn't telling them
the truth in the beginning.
- After 50 minutes of him
saying,
"Oh, I don't have anything
to help you,"
they confront him and say,
"Look, you need to tell us what
happened with Sherri Papini."
- When I first heard
that interview,
it kind of boggled
my mind a little bit.
All of the missing puzzle pieces
to the case
finally snapped into place.
- I mean, the lengths
he went to assist
Sherri in this crazy hoax
was--was pretty extraordinary.
- In the audio of their
discussion with James,
you can hear them
going around the apartment
and recognizing the similaritie
with the place
that Sherri has described.
- James told investigators
that he helped
Sherri commit acts
of self-harm.
- Technically, he was involved,
but it doesn't seem
that he played any part
other than the patsy.
- So the ex-boyfriend's account
of how she had started
to harm herself
and the things that she
was doing matched up exactly
with the physical evidence
that we had in the case,
and that physical evidence
was not put out to the public.
- He didn't really remember
what it was
that was branded
onto Sherri's shoulder,
but Sherri told law enforcement
that the branding on her
right shoulder said "exodus."
We don't know what, if any,
personal significance
"exodus" had to Sherri,
but exodus can be understood
as a reference
to the biblical book
that describes an escape
from bondage.
One of the more
interesting revelations
James tells investigators
is that during the three weeks
Sherri stayed with him,
they never had
a physical relationship.
- DNA can come
from several sources.
It doesn't always have to, you
know, include sexual contact.
Because it was a transfer
of some sort,
we didn't understand
how the transfer occurred.
- So to put it into perspective
here is an ex-boyfriend
who drives 8 to 11 hours nonsto
to pick her up,
and then turns around and does
that drive all over again,
lets her stay in his bedroom
while he's sleeping
on the couch,
helps her as she inflicts
harm on herself,
and kind of--
to put it crassly--for what?
Sherri has a very
particular pattern with men.
She would create a dynamic
in which she is sort of the
proverbial damsel in distress,
and men can be
her white knight.
And maybe that is what was
going on with James.
- Ultimately, one day, she says,
"I want to go see my kids.
I want to go home.
Take me back."
- So when Sherri decided
that she wanted to go home,
prior to leaving,
she asked him to go
and get some chain
and some zip ties.
- She told him to pull over.
He did.
She jumped out of the car.
There was no communication
after that.
He really didn't know
what happened
after she left that day.
- One by one by one,
James debunked
all of Sherri's lies.
She didn't go out for a jog.
She had planned
to leave with James.
She did not get
brutally tortured
and branded by two kidnappers.
All of her injuries
were self-inflicted.
And most importantly,
she wasn't kidnapped.
- If James' story is true,
Sherri has made up the biggest
lie a lot of us have ever heard
and carried it out
for a number of years.
They need to confront Sherri
with James Reyes's story.
- In August of 2020,
days after investigators speak
with Sherri's ex, James Reyes,
they bring Sherri and Keith
back in for another interview.
At this point, law enforcement
have spoken to Sherri
and Keith countless times
over the years,
but finally,
they have the evidence
they need to confront Sherri.
- Come on in. [chatter]
- When you're doing
a confrontational interview,
you've got to keep
any rapport you have built.
You want the person
to keep talking to you
and tell you the truth.
[dramatic music]
[dramatic music]
- The FBI showed
Sherri evidence
of the apartment
of her ex-boyfriend.
And we had photographs of it,
and we wanted to ask her
what she thought
of those photographs.
- They're very clear.
You know, "If you lie to us,
that's a crime."
And then they start laying out,
piece by piece,
the tidbits of information
they've collected.
- Keith is starting
to really get excited.
He even stands up.
You can see that Sherri
is not that excited.
- She sits up very alertly now,
and she's kind of
on the edge of her seat,
wanting to know what they know.
- He is saying,
"This is what you drew.
This is what you drew."
- We showed another picture of
the closet that was very unique.
Keith was exuberant and
couldn't control his emotions.
She wanted to dismiss it
because it wasn't the same.
It seemed different.
- A lot of their questions
are answered with "I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know."
But that fits her pattern.
- Where Sherri was
drastically nervous,
Keith right next to her,
who's been a part of the
investigation the whole time,
was jumping up and down.
It was a unique thing to watch.
- I don't know if "deer
in the headlights"
is an apt description,
but it's that.
She--she freezes.
[tense music]
- So Sherri Papini
and the Shasta County
Sheriff's detectives
and her husband, Keith.
- As they continue to confront
her with these facts,
it's becoming crystal
clear to Keith
that she is not
telling the truth.
- When the detectives
are asking,
"Do you want Keith in the room?"
they are basically saying,
"because you now know
we know the truth."
- She is stuck.
And then she does something
that is really,
really common
with deceptive people.
She gets right face
to face with him.
She's starting to attack him.
- So she was telling Keith,
"I don't want to point
the finger"
at that captor who let her go.
So she was still
keeping up this story.
- You can hear in his voice
the desperation.
He's asking why.
He wants an explanation.
He wants to understand.
- He seems pretty baffled.
It's a stunning moment,
because it's--
it's among the first times
we see him start to realize
that the woman he loves,
the woman he married,
has been keeping a really
huge secret from him.
- It's interesting, comparing
this interrogation
to some of the earlier ones.
You know, back in 2016,
when she was first
talking to law enforcement,
Sherri seems pretty convincing.
- I know my husband.
I know my husband's
in my corner.
- Like a rational person
who has suffered
this really
traumatic experience.
But four years later, suddenly,
whatever rational
clear-headedness
she evoked at first
is starting to disappear.
And you see someone
that is rapidly losing control,
and that's a really
stunning thing to watch.
- They were very clear,
telling her,
"This is the point of no return.
"This is where this
investigation changes forever."
- Keith seemed shocked,
that he was trying to process
what they were
presenting to him.
He seemed to be leaning away
from her, laid in his chair,
kind of reclined.
Not closing the distance.
- So investigators
are telling Sherri
that they know
she's been lying,
and one by one,
they are meticulously refuting
each of the lies
she's told them over the years.
- Basically, the Earth
just opened up,
and it's getting ready
to swallow her.
- And it's at this point
that you have to wonder,
what is Sherri going to say now
that she's been confronted
with all of her lies?
- At this point,
we're all waiting
for what Sherri's
going to do next.
- And now she's starting
to come up with her plan.
"I can't believe
James is involved."
So she's taking
what they're saying,
and she's twisting it
to fit her narrative
that James is the abductor.
- Investigators have
pretty ironclad proof
that she's been lying.
And--and rather than admitting
then and there,
she just keeps doubling down,
doubling down.
It's really shocking,
actually, watching it,
because you just feel like here
is this person painted
into a corner.
And they know
there's no way out,
and yet they just kind of grasp
at whatever straws they can.
And it just no longer
makes any sense.
- So Keith steps
out of the room.
So at that point,
you wonder, watching,
is she going to come clean
without her husband there?
[sobbing]
[sobbing]
[sobbing]
[sobbing]
- I am the worst liar
in the world.
I cannot fathom what was
going through her mind.
But I think Sherri
always thought
she was ahead of the game.
She was a very gifted person
at telling tales.
And I think maybe,
at that point,
she thought she could still
carry on the narrative.
- She was told again,
and she continued this lie.
She continued this behavior,
even confronted with all of
the information that we had.
- He seemed like he was
kind of beating himself up
for having followed through
and tried to help her
solve this mystery.
So he was almost shellshocked
at that point.
- It makes you wonder
whether Keith was,
in some ways, the perfect spous
for someone like Sherri,
someone who perhaps was prone
to trusting people,
to seeing the good in people,
and perhaps leaving himself open
to being manipulated by someone.
- At this point, it's reasonable
to think
that this might be
the end of their relationship.
But as we know,
in a story like this one,
full of so many twists
and turns,
what actually happened
was not necessarily
what you would expect.
view,
when Sherri is confronted by
law enforcement over her lies,
Keith tells the investigators
that he doesn't want Sherri
to go home with him.
He doesn't want her
around their children.
But as far as we know,
they went home
and continued about their lives
- During that interim time,
we are working
with the prosecutors
to continue to collect evidence
to further corroborate
the ex-boyfriend's story.
And so it's just
a very laborious process.
- So it's 2022. It's six years
after Sherri first went missing.
- We really weren't following
the Sherri Papini story anymore.
And then suddenly, in early
2022, the bombshell news.
- It was a shocking kidnapping
that turned into
an even more shocking hoax.
- A lot of folks will remember
the case of Sherri Papini.
Investigators saying
she faked all of it.
- So on March 3, 2022,
Sherri Papini was arrested
in downtown Redding, California,
by FBI and
Shasta County Sheriff's Office.
- Sherri Papini now faces
several charges,
including lying
to federal agents.
- There were a lot of people
who were outraged
that they had invested
five years,
you know, of goodwill
and prayers towards this woman.
- I feel bad for our community,
that, you know,
we are so trusting,
and we got behind her 100%.
She just was a con artist.
- Because of Ms. Papini's lies,
the Latinos in Shasta County
went into sort of
a self-protective mode.
There's still a palpable fear
related to the choices
that Ms. Papini made.
- So as far as the public knew,
she sticks to her guns
and insists
that she was kidnapped.
But that's what made
what happened
next all the more shocking.
- Of course, we thank everyone
for all the work they did.
But we're sorry.
We're going to try and fix this.
- Sherri pleaded guilty
and admitted to having made
the whole thing up.
It was a stunning twist to hear
someone just give it all up
and say,
"You're right. I was lying."
Based on what her defense
attorney has claimed,
what Sherri herself
has admitted to,
there were some pretty
significant mental health issue
going on.
Sherri tried to put some of
the blame on her behavior
to a troubled childhood
and upbringing.
And so it's hard to know
what exactly is true
and what's just another
one of Sherri's lies.
after she admitted
she faked her own kidnapping.
- "People" magazine
obtained this statement
from Keith Papini today.
He said...
- So although the public though
that Keith was supporting her
through the ongoing effects
of what had happened,
in reality, their marriage
was starting to crumble.
[soft music]
- Well, I've known
this judge for decades,
and he is a fair man.
And as far as we're concerned,
whatever punishment he chose
is what we're going
to live with.
- Redding mother of
two Sherri Papini
was sentenced for her
kidnapping hoax back in 2016.
18 months in federal custody.
- Her sentence includes
$300,000 in restitution.
The restitution refers
to the amount of money
Sherri received
from the California
Victims Compensation Board.
It also refers to the resources
spent by law enforcement
trying to investigate
and solve her case.
- And it's validating,
for all the work
that was put into this case,
for everybody to know
that our time wasn't wasted.
Somebody is being held
accountable for their actions,
which is-- which is important.
It feels--feels nice.
- I mean,
there's a thousand questions:
the question
of what her end game was.
Yes, it seems like a cry
for help and attention,
but what would drive someone
to go to this extreme
is still a big mystery.
- I think, as much
as we can speculate
why Sherri behaved
the way she did,
we'll probably always
come up a bit short.
After her sentencing, her
defense attorney spoke to me,
and the analogy he made
was to a suicide.
He tried to compare
the unknowableness of a suicide
and not being able to
really know what was going on
in someone's mind that
would drive them to do this.
Because although Sherri did not
actually take her own life,
metaphorically,
she took her own life.
She took her reputation,
her family, her relationships,
and just kind of
threw them all away.
- [sobbing]
Please. Please!
- I think Sherri did
what she did to get attention.
I think that her need to get
attention just became greater,
and greater,
and more dramatic.
And it--it's completely
spun out of control.
- So before all of this,
I watched those shows.
I watched those shows.
And I, you know--and I've
read Elizabeth Smart's book.
- I cannot think
of one person
that was not manipulated
or lied to by her.
And while there are victims
in this case,
Sherri Papini
is not one of them.
- And I know that you guys
know everything.
- I... have no idea.
- Okay. So on November 2, 2016,
what happened?
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
- The missing mother of two,
Sherri Papini,
went for a run,
and she didn't come home.
The community of Redding,
California,
is still very much on edge.
- Police in California
are working around the clock
to get to the bottom
of an alleged kidnapping.
- Several experts tell us
that this has all the telltale
signs of human trafficking.
-
Until we identify the suspects,
the public should
remain cautious.
- On November 2nd of 2016,
we received an email
from a family friend
that Sherri Papini was missing.
A mother went on a jog
and never came home.
Well, in the newsroom, you get
a lot of missing people reports
and initially, it felt like
the other missing people cases,
But after a few hours,
it seemed different.
More people were calling
the newsroom,
and it was being spread
like wildfire on social media.
People were coming forward
and telling us
that Sherri was someone
who was devoted to her husband,
she was devoted
to her children.
- Sherri used to work
in telecommunications,
but she ultimately decided
to leave work
and stay at home
and raise their two children.
- They're a working-class
family. Keith works at Best Bu
He was part of the computer
squad there, the Geek Squad.
- It looked like Sherri
had a great life.
Those photos of her
with her children,
and her and Keith lovingly
looking into each other's eyes,
they painted a picture.
They painted a narrative
of somebody who did have it all.
- Sherri fit the profile of who
the media and the public
often "care about"
when it comes to missing people.
She was white.
She was blonde.
She seemed to have
this perfect life,
a perfect marriage,
perfect children.
- Some members of
the community say
they aren't taking
any chances and safety
is at the forefront
of their minds.
- The FBI was involved
from the very beginning.
We had multiple agents
that were working hand in hand
with the Shasta County
Sheriff's Office.
- We just tried to figure out,
was it a kidnapping?
Did she run off somewhere?
- We do not have any persons
of interest or suspects
that have been identified
in the investigation so far.
- We all know,
watching the news,
that many times,
when a woman disappears,
it's her significant other.
It's her husband
or her boyfriend.
So people did have questions
about Keith.
What's their relationship like?
Have they been fighting?
Have they been separated?
Initially, yeah, I think
everybody wondered,
was Keith involved?
- So police, when they
examined Sherri's cell phone,
discovered that there had been
some angry texts back and forth.
There had been arguments,
and they'd been through a rough
patch a few months prior.
- Everybody had an opinion
on what their relationship was.
There was just
so much information that--
that it was good,
and it was bad.
- So of course,
when Sherri went missing,
they wanted to talk to Keith
and find out
whether he could have anything
to do with her disappearance.
And they had Keith
take a polygraph test.
- He was very cooperative
in that respect,
and his information
was checked out.
- There's something really
innocent, in a way, about Keith.
You see him in interviews
with law enforcement,
kind of making jokes
and having a little bit of this
"aw, shucks,"
folksy personality.
It really makes you think
that he's just--
he's just a regular guy.
- So I'm going to go off script
just a little bit here.
We have a mini crisis
in our town.
This doesn't happen,
where somebody comes and pleads
with the city council
to help find their loved one.
So it was unusual.
He would like
to reach out to see
if there's anybody
who can help him find his wife.
Mr. Papini.
- Thank you for giving me
this opportunity.
Um, I'm Keith Papini.
Sherri is my wife.
And I'm just trying
to do everything I can
to get her face everywhere,
her name out to everybody.
- The community
really rallied around Keith
and the entire Papini family.
They went out on search parties
People donated money
and really tried to help
as much as they could
to bring her home.
- Obviously, a lot of tips
started coming in,
from all aspects
ranging from
"Was it a convicted sex offend
that may have abducted her?"
"She just left willingly?"
- Sherri and Keith,
on the outside,
seemed to have
this perfect marriage.
But there was a lot more
going on than met the eye.
- The investigation
definitely started to turn,
because they were starting
to get things from her phone.
They found a lot
of text messages
with people who were not
her husband and men's names
that were concealed
under the name of women.
[dramatic music]
- The first person that
investigators wanted to speak to
was a man
named Donovan Miske.
And this was a man
Sherri had been texting
for the previous five years.
- He said Sherri
was very forthcoming
about complaining
about her husband.
[dramatic music]
- She was painting
a picture of Keith
that would cause others
to be empathetic towards her.
- The law enforcement looked
into some of these stories
that were told about
Keith's abusive nature.
No evidence was ever found.
- Every person had
a different opinion of Sherri
that we talked to--
all of her close friends,
all of her acquaintances.
[suspenseful music]
[suspenseful music]
[suspenseful music]
- So behind the scenes,
the clues were really starting
to stack up for investigators.
As a member of the media,
that information
was not shared with us.
For us, she was
still the supermom,
and everyone was concerned
about her safety.
We waited for some clue,
some development,
and it came...
[claps]
Out like a lightning bolt.
No one saw it coming.
for a missing Shasta County search
mother continues tonight,
and Action News Now
has live team coverage.
- Sherri was gone for 22 days.
Her community came together
to try to find her,
but they also were
living in fear.
As far as they knew,
Sherri had been kidnapped,
and did this mean
that there was an active,
you know,
kidnapper and criminal
at large who could come
after other people?
- Several people are
calling 911, saying,
"There's this crazed lady
along Interstate 5.
She needs help.
We need some help out here."
- The people calling
were reporting
that she looked frantic.
This was someone desperately
looking for help,
for someone to stop
along the side of the road.
- Keith called me about 4:00
that Thanksgiving morning.
He was frantic.
He was yelling, saying
that Sherri had been found.
Very, very excited.
- We are very ecstatic
to report
that Sherri Papini
has been located.
We learned that she was released
by her captor on a rural road
near I-5 in Yolo County.
- It was a Thanksgiving miracle
People had gotten the holiday
miracle they were looking for.
[tense music]
- When she was initially found
on the side of I-5,
there was a chain
around her waist,
and she was zip-tied
to the chain.
- The California Highway Patrol,
Yolo County Sheriff's Office,
and medical personnel
responded to assist.
Sherri was freed
from her restraints,
transported to an area hospital,
and treated for her injuries.
- Every mark on her body
was a potential clue.
All of those clues in those
first early moments
at the hospital
were really, really vital.
- She looked dramatically
different.
She had bruises upon bruises.
She had a burn on her arm.
Her long hair
had been cut off.
And she just looked
so frail sitting there.
- At that point, what changed
for investigators is,
now they had--
this missing person shows up,
and she has this
incredible story.
So that changes everything.
- So we contacted her
at the hospital.
She was very emotional,
upset, crying.
- So Keith came into the room,
because at that point,
we weren't able to interview her
based on her emotional state.
- [crying]
- Having a family member
participate in an interview
is not standard procedure
for police investigations.
But they didn't have
a lot of options.
She was not going
to talk to them,
but she was willing
to talk to Keith.
- She said that she was
on a run in her neighborhood
when an unknown-type SUV
drove in front of her,
turned around, came back,
and she was confronted
by two Hispanic females,
one of which had a handgun,
ordered her into the vehicle.
- Her conversation with Keith--
I wouldn't even describe it
as a story.
It was more just kind of
throwing out
little bits and pieces.
So she kind of would give
a little bit of information,
but she would also give, like,
why she couldn't remember.
- The reason that
she had been taken,
which she had overheard
the kidnappers say--
someone wanted to buy her,
and she had been taken
to be delivered to a buyer.
In essence, human trafficking.
- Perhaps most terrible of all,
she had a branding
on her right shoulder,
where her skin was seared
with a branding iron,
the word "exodus."
She said the branding was meant
to appeal to the buyer.
- Her kidnappers
apparently suggested
that the man who was buying
her was a police officer.
- She also said
when she was confronted
by the kidnappers
at gunpoint, she crouched down
put her cell phone on the side
of the road with her earbuds,
and snatched some hair out
of her head with the cell phone
to perhaps send a message
to Keith
that she was being taken
against her will.
- It seems really unlikely.
When you are in a crisis,
survival mode is fight
or flight,
not "How can I leave
some clues?"
- She actually says many, many,
times, "I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
And this, to me, was very odd,
because why would a victim
of an abduction apologize?
found alive in what
some are calling a miracle.
- During her captivity,
Sherri Papini
had lost so much weight,
she was down to 87 pounds,
her body covered in bruises,
severe burns, red rashes,
and chain markings.
- Keith called me up not very
long after she'd been found,
and they came over to my house.
She had all the body language
of somebody with PTSD.
I worked in the ER for 12 years,
and I've definitely seen PTSD.
And I totally believed
her, 100%.
[suspenseful music]
- Law enforcement was
very tight-lipped with us
about what they were looking at.
We now know those investigators
had so much reason
to be suspicious
of what she was telling them.
- A few days
after Sherri reappears,
she and Keith sit down
with law enforcement.
And it's really remarkable
to see footage
from these interviews.
- You're in control.
If you need to take a break,
say when, and we'll go out there
and all
that kind of stuff, okay?
- I feel like sometimes
it's easier...
with my eyes closed.
- Sure.
- Is that okay?
- Absolutely. - She said
the kidnappers told her
that a cop wanted to buy her.
And so here, in her home,
are two cops
wanting to talk to her,
which made her very,
very uncomfortable.
I think she saw Keith
as her protector.
- I don't know you guys.
I don't know
if you're in my corner.
I know my husband.
I know my husband's
in my corner, but, um,
you know,there was
a lot of other things.
And I know that you guys know
everything about everything.
- Yeah.
- That's embarrassing and...
- Well--
- Yucky, and that's weird
for me. That's weird for me.
- No one's perfect.
No one does everything right.
[chatter] - There was a lot
of kind of chitchatting
and really trying to make
her feel comfortable.
- So before all of this,
I watched those shows.
I watched those shows.
And I, you know-- and I've read
Elizabeth Smart's book.
- She's admitting to having
an interest in true crime shows.
She's almost dropping clues
about what's really going on.
- On November 2, 2016,
what happened?
-
Stretched a little on the porch,
like I usually do.
Started running. I see a vehicl
go past Sunrise Drive,
and then it backs up.
And I immediately have that
feeling of "Oh, that was weird."
- You're doing good, Sherri.
- I...
walked towards
where the vehicle had backed up
and then she opened the door.
And then I saw
the small revolver.
- She told us a mask
was put over her head,
or a bag of some sort,
and then she was placed
in the back seat of the vehicle.
- Do you remember any music
as you were driving around?
- Yes.
- In the car?
- Mariachi music.
- Hmm.
- She described being placed
in a room that she described
as a raised foundational house.
- The first day with the zip
ties, getting out of them,
because they were behind--
they were behind my back.
So I pulled them.
I did one of these moves.
And that's what this scar
right there is from,
is the very beginning,
when I got them off.
And I bit them,
because I couldn't--
because Keith and I have even
tried this move before,
the whole, you know,
power through it and bust it.
And I tried that
and was unsuccessful.
And--and it cut right here.
So then I just chewed it off,
and I cut my lip right here.
And then I busted them.
Um, and then it was like--
I tried the door.
I could tell that the door
had a deadbolt at the top,
so I couldn't open the door.
- She talks a lot, so it sounds
like a lot of detail,
but if you actually look
at what she's saying,
it isn't helpful to them at all.
- She described--
she was kept in a single room
with the window boarded over.
There was a closet in the room
that had a metal pole,
to which she was chained.
- Let's draw the whole room.
- There was this pole--
stupid pole--
that was attached here.
Came down, like, all the way up.
-- --ing pole is the only reason
why I was there.
The cable was here.
And it made a turn.
Sorry for swearing.
At all times, there was a bucket
in the, um, closet.
That's what I used
to go to the bathroom in.
- What about the bathroom?
What's that look like?
- There was a crack in the tile.
It was a light-colored tile
that was speckled.
It was always hands on the wall.
It was a really
high-pressured shower,
with just your standard
cheapie shower head.
- I would describe her
being annoyed
at things very inconsistent
with being an abducted person,
not talking about the urgency
to escape
or the fear
of not being rescued.
[somber music]
- Investigators first
interviewed her at her home
November 28,
and then the next day,
they interview her another time
at another location.
Her story is slowly coming out.
She told investigators
she wasn't quite sure why
or how they cut her hair.
- After she cut it,
she had it in her hand.
I was down.
She was over me, and she said...
"I'm gonna send it
to your mother."
- She was very specific about
the different personalities
of the two captors.
The younger person she saw
as a more sympathetic person.
- I feel like the bigger
one enjoyed it,
and the little one did not.
The things like the burn,
cutting my hair,
the burn on my arm,
the chain, the lock--
that was all
from the bigger one.
- When the police ask her
about the brand on her shoulder
which is one of the most
singular gruesome details,
Sherri kind of deflects
from their conversations.
- My head was on the table.
I feel like I was in and out,
because the pain
was so excruciating,
um, in between, from--
and I apologize, guys,
but I--from my implants.
They--it was all of my weight
directly on them, also.
- These are male investigators.
And so, consciously or not,
she's drawing attention
to her breast implant surgery
in, perhaps,
an effort to get them
to change the subject.
- She said after three weeks,
suddenly, she heard the gunsho
And after that point,
she never heard
from the older captor again.
The younger one said,
"Let's go."
She was taken to a car,
driven for an unknown
period of time.
At some point, the car stops,
the door opens,
and she's told to get out.
It very quickly came to an end.
- Why did they decide
to release her?
In many ways, it almost left
everyone with more questions
than answers.
of abducting her
- Good afternoon.
- So after Sherri reappeared,
law enforcement
give a press conference.
And it's the first time
that they reveal
that she'd been kidnapped
by two Hispanic women.
And so immediately,
the public is freaked out.
- Shasta County,
historically speaking,
has been primarily Caucasian.
At the time of Ms. Papini's
discovery,
Shasta County was already
lathered up to hate Latinos.
Certainly, with Mr. Trump
going into office,
it sort of exacerbated
some bigotry
and out-and-out racism.
After she had been discovered,
from a variety of sources,
we started hearing reports
of an alleged hate manifesto
from Ms. Papini.
And this was when she was
in high school.
- It was published
under her maiden name.
This author makes some
pretty disturbing statements.
"I used to come home in tears
"because I was getting
suspended from school
"all the time for defending
myself against the Latinos.
"The chief problem was that
I was drug-free, white,
and proud of my blood
and heritage."
- It's really, really
racist and ugly.
The detectives asked
Sherri about it.
- My life wasn't perfect
before this. Um...
it's just an awful feeling,
that all of the--
all of everything,
and the made-up things.
It's just a disgusting,
yucky feeling
of what it's doing
to my family.
- Obviously people are drawn
to conclusions,
that you're reporting
two Hispanics did this.
You wrote some-- I'm assuming--
did you write the blog?
- No.
- Both Sherri and her family
unequivocally deny
that she had anything
to do with it.
But it's a curious detail.
And then, on top of that,
when she accused two Hispanic
women of kidnapping her,
she was tapping into
this age-old narrative
that we have in this country
that white women need to be
protected from non-white people.
- Law enforcement want to hear
what she has to say.
But this undercurrent
is starting to build
because they have so much
information they're collecting
about the legitimacy
of her story
and how it's stacking up.
[dramatic music]
- I observed Sherri did a lot of
sort of unintended admissions.
And one great example is,
she says,
"It's easier for me to remember
with my eyes closed."
- I feel like sometimes
it's easier with my eyes closed.
- Sometimes it is beneficial
to close your eyes.
But if you're lying,
it's way easier to lie
if you're not looking
somebody in the eye.
- And I know that you guys know
everything about everything.
- I call that fishing.
She needs to know what they know
so she can come up
with a response.
- I've read Elizabeth
Smart's book.
- She just happened to say that
she read Elizabeth Smart's book
Elizabeth Smart was abducted
in Salt Lake City.
Elizabeth Smart was secured
by her abductor
with a cable and a lock.
Sherri Papini said she was
secured with a cable and a lock
Elizabeth Smart said
that she was made
to use the bathroom in a bucket
- At all times, there was
a bucket in the, um, closet.
That's what I used to go
to the bathroom in.
- Sherri Papini
exhibited these sort of cluster
of deceptive body language.
She would groom her hair.
She was scratching a lot.
She was covering her face
with her hands.
She would put her head down
on her knees.
I am reading between the lines
from my own experience,
but I will say this.
It is also valuable,
with someone
who is lying to you,
to get them to tell you the lies
as completely as possible.
- You're doing good, Sherri.
- I think they did
a pretty good job of making her
believe they were in her corner.
[tense music]
- Sherri returned home
Thanksgiving Day in 2016.
By spring of 2017,
law enforcement has talked
to Sherri a couple of times.
But all the while,
there are certain pieces
to the story
that don't quite add up.
But they're not quite sure
yet what that answer is,
and it's going to take more time
to find out
what really happened.
- Within a few months
of her returning home,
Sherri was entering therapy
to talk out
what had happened to her.
As a victim of a crime
in California,
she was eligible
for the Victims Compensation
Fund to get public funds
to undergo therapy.
- I believe the total figure
that she received was, like,
$30,000 worth of therapy
or something.
- Throughout this process,
Sherri was still in contact
with investigators,
providing them with snippets
of details
that might come to mind
with the passage of time.
She remembered a type of table
that she had been laid on
for the branding process.
Keith was looking up tables
on the Internet
and providing them to her
and investigators
to try to narrow down
the type of table
that was in that place
where she was held.
- Keith seems to really want
to be a partner
to law enforcement
and really help them solve
the case as much as possible.
- Today, a break in the case.
Two sketches
of Papini's kidnappers.
- Almost a year
into the investigation,
we get the release
of the composite sketch.
- One female captor
is described as a 5'5",
20 to 30 years old,
with a medium build
and curly dark hair.
The other woman is between 40
and 50 years old,
around 5'7",
with straight black hair.
- After the terrible
descriptions
of the alleged abductors
came out,
Latinos in Shasta County
pretty much went underground.
The impact was tremendous on
the Hispanic Latino community.
- Just as they get that
information, another bombshell
is dropped by law enforcement.
- Although Sherri claims she was
abducted by two Hispanic women,
this morning,
investigators revealing
she had male DNA on her clothing
when she was found.
- It was not Keith's DNA.
It was an unknown male.
That seems to be at odds
with Sherri's version of events
that she had been kidnapped
by two women.
- She had not told a story
about a man involved
in her kidnapping,
yet there was male DNA
on her underwear.
What sense does that make?
Nearly a year later,
there are still no arrests.
- It was now a big question
the police had to solve.
So Sherri is telling everyone
she was kidnapped by two women,
but DNA from the clothing
she had belongs to a man.
Then what happened?
[suspenseful music]
At this point, in 2017, we don'
really know what was going on.
- During that time, she wasn't
going out in the public much.
She was staying
inside the house.
- Publicly,
Keith was as supportive.
But man, if you are Keith,
you must have a lot
going on in your mind
about who your wife is.
Over two long years go by
without any breaks in the case.
They are not able to find a hit
on that DNA sample.
- That DNA was scrutinized
at every available level.
We were able to get to a point
where we could do
the familial DNA searches.
- A couple of years later,
through family connections,
they find out that a former
boyfriend, James Reyes,
might be the person
linked to that DNA.
They lived together in Southern
California about 10 years prior
So investigators have to head
to Costa Mesa, California,
to talk to James Reyes.
- James's interview
with law enforcement
was not made public
until very recently.
After so many years of mystery
behind what happened,
it was really stunning
to hear all of the details.
- James Reyes is this laid-back
Southern California dude,
playing hockey,
working at the hockey shop.
They say, "We can tell
you're nervous."
He goes, "No, no, no.
I'm not nervous."
- They did have to do
some convincing to James
'cause he wasn't telling them
the truth in the beginning.
- After 50 minutes of him
saying,
"Oh, I don't have anything
to help you,"
they confront him and say,
"Look, you need to tell us what
happened with Sherri Papini."
- When I first heard
that interview,
it kind of boggled
my mind a little bit.
All of the missing puzzle pieces
to the case
finally snapped into place.
- I mean, the lengths
he went to assist
Sherri in this crazy hoax
was--was pretty extraordinary.
- In the audio of their
discussion with James,
you can hear them
going around the apartment
and recognizing the similaritie
with the place
that Sherri has described.
- James told investigators
that he helped
Sherri commit acts
of self-harm.
- Technically, he was involved,
but it doesn't seem
that he played any part
other than the patsy.
- So the ex-boyfriend's account
of how she had started
to harm herself
and the things that she
was doing matched up exactly
with the physical evidence
that we had in the case,
and that physical evidence
was not put out to the public.
- He didn't really remember
what it was
that was branded
onto Sherri's shoulder,
but Sherri told law enforcement
that the branding on her
right shoulder said "exodus."
We don't know what, if any,
personal significance
"exodus" had to Sherri,
but exodus can be understood
as a reference
to the biblical book
that describes an escape
from bondage.
One of the more
interesting revelations
James tells investigators
is that during the three weeks
Sherri stayed with him,
they never had
a physical relationship.
- DNA can come
from several sources.
It doesn't always have to, you
know, include sexual contact.
Because it was a transfer
of some sort,
we didn't understand
how the transfer occurred.
- So to put it into perspective
here is an ex-boyfriend
who drives 8 to 11 hours nonsto
to pick her up,
and then turns around and does
that drive all over again,
lets her stay in his bedroom
while he's sleeping
on the couch,
helps her as she inflicts
harm on herself,
and kind of--
to put it crassly--for what?
Sherri has a very
particular pattern with men.
She would create a dynamic
in which she is sort of the
proverbial damsel in distress,
and men can be
her white knight.
And maybe that is what was
going on with James.
- Ultimately, one day, she says,
"I want to go see my kids.
I want to go home.
Take me back."
- So when Sherri decided
that she wanted to go home,
prior to leaving,
she asked him to go
and get some chain
and some zip ties.
- She told him to pull over.
He did.
She jumped out of the car.
There was no communication
after that.
He really didn't know
what happened
after she left that day.
- One by one by one,
James debunked
all of Sherri's lies.
She didn't go out for a jog.
She had planned
to leave with James.
She did not get
brutally tortured
and branded by two kidnappers.
All of her injuries
were self-inflicted.
And most importantly,
she wasn't kidnapped.
- If James' story is true,
Sherri has made up the biggest
lie a lot of us have ever heard
and carried it out
for a number of years.
They need to confront Sherri
with James Reyes's story.
- In August of 2020,
days after investigators speak
with Sherri's ex, James Reyes,
they bring Sherri and Keith
back in for another interview.
At this point, law enforcement
have spoken to Sherri
and Keith countless times
over the years,
but finally,
they have the evidence
they need to confront Sherri.
- Come on in. [chatter]
- When you're doing
a confrontational interview,
you've got to keep
any rapport you have built.
You want the person
to keep talking to you
and tell you the truth.
[dramatic music]
[dramatic music]
- The FBI showed
Sherri evidence
of the apartment
of her ex-boyfriend.
And we had photographs of it,
and we wanted to ask her
what she thought
of those photographs.
- They're very clear.
You know, "If you lie to us,
that's a crime."
And then they start laying out,
piece by piece,
the tidbits of information
they've collected.
- Keith is starting
to really get excited.
He even stands up.
You can see that Sherri
is not that excited.
- She sits up very alertly now,
and she's kind of
on the edge of her seat,
wanting to know what they know.
- He is saying,
"This is what you drew.
This is what you drew."
- We showed another picture of
the closet that was very unique.
Keith was exuberant and
couldn't control his emotions.
She wanted to dismiss it
because it wasn't the same.
It seemed different.
- A lot of their questions
are answered with "I don't know.
I don't know. I don't know."
But that fits her pattern.
- Where Sherri was
drastically nervous,
Keith right next to her,
who's been a part of the
investigation the whole time,
was jumping up and down.
It was a unique thing to watch.
- I don't know if "deer
in the headlights"
is an apt description,
but it's that.
She--she freezes.
[tense music]
- So Sherri Papini
and the Shasta County
Sheriff's detectives
and her husband, Keith.
- As they continue to confront
her with these facts,
it's becoming crystal
clear to Keith
that she is not
telling the truth.
- When the detectives
are asking,
"Do you want Keith in the room?"
they are basically saying,
"because you now know
we know the truth."
- She is stuck.
And then she does something
that is really,
really common
with deceptive people.
She gets right face
to face with him.
She's starting to attack him.
- So she was telling Keith,
"I don't want to point
the finger"
at that captor who let her go.
So she was still
keeping up this story.
- You can hear in his voice
the desperation.
He's asking why.
He wants an explanation.
He wants to understand.
- He seems pretty baffled.
It's a stunning moment,
because it's--
it's among the first times
we see him start to realize
that the woman he loves,
the woman he married,
has been keeping a really
huge secret from him.
- It's interesting, comparing
this interrogation
to some of the earlier ones.
You know, back in 2016,
when she was first
talking to law enforcement,
Sherri seems pretty convincing.
- I know my husband.
I know my husband's
in my corner.
- Like a rational person
who has suffered
this really
traumatic experience.
But four years later, suddenly,
whatever rational
clear-headedness
she evoked at first
is starting to disappear.
And you see someone
that is rapidly losing control,
and that's a really
stunning thing to watch.
- They were very clear,
telling her,
"This is the point of no return.
"This is where this
investigation changes forever."
- Keith seemed shocked,
that he was trying to process
what they were
presenting to him.
He seemed to be leaning away
from her, laid in his chair,
kind of reclined.
Not closing the distance.
- So investigators
are telling Sherri
that they know
she's been lying,
and one by one,
they are meticulously refuting
each of the lies
she's told them over the years.
- Basically, the Earth
just opened up,
and it's getting ready
to swallow her.
- And it's at this point
that you have to wonder,
what is Sherri going to say now
that she's been confronted
with all of her lies?
- At this point,
we're all waiting
for what Sherri's
going to do next.
- And now she's starting
to come up with her plan.
"I can't believe
James is involved."
So she's taking
what they're saying,
and she's twisting it
to fit her narrative
that James is the abductor.
- Investigators have
pretty ironclad proof
that she's been lying.
And--and rather than admitting
then and there,
she just keeps doubling down,
doubling down.
It's really shocking,
actually, watching it,
because you just feel like here
is this person painted
into a corner.
And they know
there's no way out,
and yet they just kind of grasp
at whatever straws they can.
And it just no longer
makes any sense.
- So Keith steps
out of the room.
So at that point,
you wonder, watching,
is she going to come clean
without her husband there?
[sobbing]
[sobbing]
[sobbing]
[sobbing]
- I am the worst liar
in the world.
I cannot fathom what was
going through her mind.
But I think Sherri
always thought
she was ahead of the game.
She was a very gifted person
at telling tales.
And I think maybe,
at that point,
she thought she could still
carry on the narrative.
- She was told again,
and she continued this lie.
She continued this behavior,
even confronted with all of
the information that we had.
- He seemed like he was
kind of beating himself up
for having followed through
and tried to help her
solve this mystery.
So he was almost shellshocked
at that point.
- It makes you wonder
whether Keith was,
in some ways, the perfect spous
for someone like Sherri,
someone who perhaps was prone
to trusting people,
to seeing the good in people,
and perhaps leaving himself open
to being manipulated by someone.
- At this point, it's reasonable
to think
that this might be
the end of their relationship.
But as we know,
in a story like this one,
full of so many twists
and turns,
what actually happened
was not necessarily
what you would expect.
view,
when Sherri is confronted by
law enforcement over her lies,
Keith tells the investigators
that he doesn't want Sherri
to go home with him.
He doesn't want her
around their children.
But as far as we know,
they went home
and continued about their lives
- During that interim time,
we are working
with the prosecutors
to continue to collect evidence
to further corroborate
the ex-boyfriend's story.
And so it's just
a very laborious process.
- So it's 2022. It's six years
after Sherri first went missing.
- We really weren't following
the Sherri Papini story anymore.
And then suddenly, in early
2022, the bombshell news.
- It was a shocking kidnapping
that turned into
an even more shocking hoax.
- A lot of folks will remember
the case of Sherri Papini.
Investigators saying
she faked all of it.
- So on March 3, 2022,
Sherri Papini was arrested
in downtown Redding, California,
by FBI and
Shasta County Sheriff's Office.
- Sherri Papini now faces
several charges,
including lying
to federal agents.
- There were a lot of people
who were outraged
that they had invested
five years,
you know, of goodwill
and prayers towards this woman.
- I feel bad for our community,
that, you know,
we are so trusting,
and we got behind her 100%.
She just was a con artist.
- Because of Ms. Papini's lies,
the Latinos in Shasta County
went into sort of
a self-protective mode.
There's still a palpable fear
related to the choices
that Ms. Papini made.
- So as far as the public knew,
she sticks to her guns
and insists
that she was kidnapped.
But that's what made
what happened
next all the more shocking.
- Of course, we thank everyone
for all the work they did.
But we're sorry.
We're going to try and fix this.
- Sherri pleaded guilty
and admitted to having made
the whole thing up.
It was a stunning twist to hear
someone just give it all up
and say,
"You're right. I was lying."
Based on what her defense
attorney has claimed,
what Sherri herself
has admitted to,
there were some pretty
significant mental health issue
going on.
Sherri tried to put some of
the blame on her behavior
to a troubled childhood
and upbringing.
And so it's hard to know
what exactly is true
and what's just another
one of Sherri's lies.
after she admitted
she faked her own kidnapping.
- "People" magazine
obtained this statement
from Keith Papini today.
He said...
- So although the public though
that Keith was supporting her
through the ongoing effects
of what had happened,
in reality, their marriage
was starting to crumble.
[soft music]
- Well, I've known
this judge for decades,
and he is a fair man.
And as far as we're concerned,
whatever punishment he chose
is what we're going
to live with.
- Redding mother of
two Sherri Papini
was sentenced for her
kidnapping hoax back in 2016.
18 months in federal custody.
- Her sentence includes
$300,000 in restitution.
The restitution refers
to the amount of money
Sherri received
from the California
Victims Compensation Board.
It also refers to the resources
spent by law enforcement
trying to investigate
and solve her case.
- And it's validating,
for all the work
that was put into this case,
for everybody to know
that our time wasn't wasted.
Somebody is being held
accountable for their actions,
which is-- which is important.
It feels--feels nice.
- I mean,
there's a thousand questions:
the question
of what her end game was.
Yes, it seems like a cry
for help and attention,
but what would drive someone
to go to this extreme
is still a big mystery.
- I think, as much
as we can speculate
why Sherri behaved
the way she did,
we'll probably always
come up a bit short.
After her sentencing, her
defense attorney spoke to me,
and the analogy he made
was to a suicide.
He tried to compare
the unknowableness of a suicide
and not being able to
really know what was going on
in someone's mind that
would drive them to do this.
Because although Sherri did not
actually take her own life,
metaphorically,
she took her own life.
She took her reputation,
her family, her relationships,
and just kind of
threw them all away.
- [sobbing]
Please. Please!
- I think Sherri did
what she did to get attention.
I think that her need to get
attention just became greater,
and greater,
and more dramatic.
And it--it's completely
spun out of control.
- So before all of this,
I watched those shows.
I watched those shows.
And I, you know--and I've
read Elizabeth Smart's book.
- I cannot think
of one person
that was not manipulated
or lied to by her.
And while there are victims
in this case,
Sherri Papini
is not one of them.
- And I know that you guys
know everything.