Kidnapping or Hoax?- The Case of Sherri Papini
This case has always interested me, and I think I’ve heard it on all of my favorite podcasts, the most recent was True Crime Garage. This case has really made me think because it’s just so crazy and I don’t know what to believe, so we’ll get into it.
Background
Sherri Papini was a 34 year old, who lived with her husband, Keith, and their two kids in Redding, California. It’s rumored that Sherri was an avid runner, and that’s what she did the day she was allegedly kidnapped. (I say allegedly because it hasn’t been proven to this day).
Sherri and Keith Papini
Keith and Sherri
Kidnapping
On November 2, 2016, Sherri went out jogging and didn’t return. Keith noticed something was wrong when he came home from work at Best Buy. He went looking for her, and decided to use the find my iPhone app, he found her phone and headphones a mile from their house.
Keith called the police right away. When he was interviewed, he took and passed a polygraph.
The Return of Sherri
On November 24, 3 weeks after she went missing, Sherri was dumped on the side of County Road 17, about 150 miles from where she was first kidnapped. She was freed around 4:30am, still wearing restraints.
Sherri had a drastic change in appearance. Her long blond hair was cut off, she was down to 87 pounds and her nose was broken. She was also branded by her kidnappers, on her right shoulder. She has never revealed any details about this, and neither has Keith.
When Sherri met with the police, she said she was kidnapped by two Hispanic women at gunpoint. She also said she never got a good look at them because her face was always covered, and they would also cover their faces. However, she knew that they drove a dark colored SUV.
Sheriff Tom Bosenko, of the Shasta County police, said that he hasn’t ruled out Keith Papini, and believes he has even tried to compromise the investigation.
Questions about the investigation
One of the strangest parts of this case, is that male DNA was found on Sherri, even though she said she was abducted by two women. Keith Papini’s DNA has been ruled out.
Sherri has said that her captors always covered their faces, but she described her captors and there was a composite sketch that recently came out. The first woman is described as having long, curly hair, thin eyebrows and pierced ears. The other woman is described as being the older one, with straight black hair, and thick, gray eyebrows.
Sherri Papini Kidnapping suspects
The police looked into the Papini’s bank records, cell phone records and social media pages, and they found that Sherri was in a texting relationship with another man prior to her kidnapping. There’s not too much other information about it, but it’s rumored that Sherri would disguise names of men in her phone with woman’s names.
Conclusion
We may or may not ever know what really happened, but Sherri Papini barely leaves her home nowadays. Her neighbor, Joyce Allison, has have even reported that they barely see the couple, or their kids. She stated:
““She doesn’t come out of the house,” “I don’t see the kids out playing in the yard. I honestly don’t know if the story is true. If it is, I’m sure we’ll find out. If it’s fake, we’ll find out soon enough.””
Other
There is also a $10,000 reward out, and no one has ever come forward and no arrests have been made.
I couldn’t find too much information about this, but I also heard that Sherri had a blog at one point in time, and that she was stating some not so nice things about other races and cultures.
She has also had some issues with her family in the past, including an incident with Sherri robbing her own family, and kicking in her sister’s door. True Crime Garage goes into more details about it, so I definitely recommend checking out their episode about it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It seems like the neighbor is throwing major shade at the couple. I don’t know if I believe it either, especially with the multiple inconsistencies of Sherri’s story, and the male DNA. I hope that one day the truth actually comes out, and that the Papini’s are ready to explain the truth as well.
I hope that if it is true, then the couple and their family are coping the best they can. I can imagine it’s really hard to have a normal life again, but this is what happens when you’re on the news and in the media for years.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Sherri_Papini
https://www.newsweek.com/sherri-papini-case-765923
UPDATE!!!
Sherri Papini has been charged with faking her own abduction. According to The New York Times, the Shasta County sheriff, Michael L. Johnson, said Sherri had cost taxpayers more than $15,000 in resources to investigate her abduction.
Sherri could face up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Sherri’s family claims that she was ambushed by her kids on the day that she was arrested.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/us/sherri-papini-fake-abduction.html
https://abc7.com/sherri-papini-family-kidnapping-husband/11623930/
