Latest news with #Sherri
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
She used to work at the cafe below Milwaukee's City Hall. Now she owns it.
Among the wheeling and dealings of city government, there is a thriving food establishment in City Hall — if you know where to find it, or just follow your nose. The aroma of smothered pork chops, oven-baked mac and cheese, and baby back ribs leads to RCW's Cafe in the lower level of City Hall, where Rhonda Carter-Watson juggles taking orders from the lunchtime crowd of office workers while her lone chef, Javier, is busy at the grill. Being behind the café's counter isn't new for Carter-Watson. She worked as a fill-in manager at the former Aladdin's City Cafe when it was owned and operated by her then-boss, chef and entrepreneur Azmi Alaeddin. Now she owns it. She took over the establishment, aptly renamed after Carter-Watson's initials, in January 2024. The café operates Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is located in the underground walkway between City Hall and the Zeidler Municipal Building. Carter-Watson said she had some big shoes to fill. The previous manager, Sherri, 'knew everyone's name. Everyone's order. I was like, there is no way I can follow someone like that." But a year and a half in, she's found ways to put her own spin on things and build new traditions. "I think everyone is enjoying everything we are offering here.' Carter-Watson already knew her way around the restaurant business. She worked as a short-order cook at Harold's Country Kitchen on 35th and Capitol. She also worked for the original owner of Ashley's Bar-B-Que. She worked for Alaeddin for 35 years, managing several of his cafes and restaurants throughout Milwaukee. She managed his Middle Eastern café, Aladdin - Taste of the East, in the Milwaukee Public Market, and filled in as a manager at the now-closed All Aboard Café in the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, and Aladdin's City Café when staff were on vacation. When Sherri retired, Alaeddin opted not to renew the license for the café he had operated for eight years. Instead, he encouraged Carter-Watson to bid to operate the space. She did and won. Carter-Watson, a mother of three, said her family was very encouraging, telling her: "Mom, it's your time. You've been doing this for so long." Her love for cooking was imbued in her as a child. As the oldest in her family, she was expected to cook for her three siblings. Growing up, her mom's home was the family gathering spot for the holidays. Now it's her home. 'Even when I say, 'I am not going to cook,' I always cook something,' Carter-Watson said. Since taking over the café, Cater-Watson has slightly changed up the menu while keeping some staples like the falafel hummus wrap. One menu change stands out. The previous owner did not serve pork because of his Middle Eastern background. Now, Carter-Watson has added staples like bacon cheeseburgers and limited-time themed menu items for Black History and Hispanic Heritage months. The biggest hit was the soul food menu for Juneteenth. It featured smothered pork chops, green beans, baby back ribs, dressing, collard greens, oven mac and cheese, catfish and coleslaw. 'We were selling out of everything,' Carter-Watson said, adding that the from-scratch cream cheese pound cake and banana pudding were also top sellers. She plans to bring the Juneteenth menu back this year. Carter-Watson wants the café to be more of an experience. She incorporated communal activities into the space. During Lent, she had a jelly bean jar guessing contest. The winner got a free meal. And for Black History Month, she put a multicultural puzzle in the cafe that customers slowly pieced together while waiting for their orders. But moving from employee to entrepreneur came with sticker shock. Inflation drove up food prices. She said a case of eggs used to cost $15. Now it's $40. A 10-pound tube of ground beef now costs $52 when it used to be $37. And a 40-pound case of chicken breasts is now $120, up from $75. Carter-Watson laments the same decision many businesses face: raise prices or cut back on products. 'You really don't have a choice,' she said. 'The bills still have to be paid. The employees still have to be paid. You still have to be able to buy the supplies.' Carter-Watson signed a five-year lease with the city to operate the café, but wants to stay longer. 'I still think I got a few years left in me,' she said. Carter-Watson's daughter, Asia Carter, couldn't be prouder of her mother. She's been innovative, trying different dishes and bringing in other ethnic cuisine like Horchata or tres leches cake. Asia Carter is often the taste tester for some of her mom's new dishes, like the chicken mole. Asia helps manage the cafe, and her dad and two sisters sometimes help also. 'I feel very excited for her … to see her strike out on her own and be as successful as she has been,' she said. La Risa Lynch is a community affairs reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Email her at llynch@ This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: At RCW's Cafe in Milwaukee City Hall, new owner puts own spin on menu
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Where Are Sherri Papini's Parents Now? A Look at Their Relationship After Her Mom Denied That She Was Kidnapped
Sherri Papini was born the younger of two girls to her parents, Richard and Loretta Graeff After she went missing in November 2016, Papini's parents helped lead the search for her In ID's May 2025 docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, her parents said that they didn't believe her latest claims that she was actually kidnappedSherri Papini vanished from her home in Redding, Calif., on Nov. 2, 2016. Her parents, Richard Graeff and Loretta Graeff, were in the middle of organizing a balloon release in her honor when they learned that she had been found. 'My friend gets a phone call from a lady in the gas station on I-5,' Sherri's father said in the 2025 Investigation Discovery docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. 'The [California Highway Patrol] went into that gas station and said, 'We found her.' We just fell apart.' The mom of two told police that she had been kidnapped by two armed and masked Hispanic women who allegedly chained her in a bedroom and subjected her to 22 days of torture, including branding the word 'EXODUS' on her back. Sherri claimed that one of the women let her go on Thanksgiving Day, when she was found walking along a rural road 150 miles from her home. Days after her return, Richard told PEOPLE that the family was 'so thankful' to have Sherri back and that she needed 'time to heal.' But a six-year-long investigation revealed that Sherri had fabricated the abduction and spent those 22 days hiding out in her ex-boyfriend's apartment in Costa Mesa, Calif. In 2022, she was charged with making false statements and mail fraud and received an 18-month federal prison sentence. Two years after her release in 2023, Sherri claimed in the docuseries that she lied only about her kidnapper's identity and that it was her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, who abducted and held her captive. She told Caught in the Lie filmmakers that she wanted to keep the details of their prior emotional affair hidden out of fear husband, Keith Papini, would use it to take full custody of their children. Reyes denied Sherri's claims, and Richard said in the docuseries that 'nobody knows what the real truth is.' Here's everything to know about what Loretta and Richard Graeff have said about Sherri Papini's case — and what their relationship is like with their daughter now. Loretta and Richard Graeff raised Sherri and her sister, Sheila Koester, in northern California. In the 2024 Hulu docuseries Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, Koester claimed that they bonded over shared childhood trauma stemming from drug and alcohol abuse in their home. Sherri's childhood friend, Jenifer Harrison, told filmmakers that Sherri would come over to her house to escape 'whatever was going on with her parents.' She also alleged that she witnessed 'Loretta grabbing Sherri by her hair, cursing at her and dragging her down the hallway.' Sherri ran away from home at 16, and in recorded interviews featured in Perfect Wife, Richard, described her to detectives as a 'couch hopper' who drifted between friends' homes. The Sacramento Bee reported in 2017 that 13 years before her disappearance, the family had made multiple 911 calls regarding Sherri's behavior. Richard accused his daughter of vandalizing his home in 2000 and of making an unauthorized withdrawal from his bank account in 2003, according to call logs and incident reports obtained by the outlet. In 2003, Loretta also alleged that Sherri, then 21 years old, was 'harming herself and blaming the injuries on [her]' and called the police seeking advice on how to handle the situation. None of the cases resulted in charges or arrests, and the family called the newspaper's decision to publish them 'shameful' and 'victim-blaming' in a statement to ABC News. In Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, Loretta told filmmakers that she didn't believe her daughter was kidnapped. "My daughter was very, very unhappy in her marriage,' she said. 'She wanted some kind of happiness. When [Reyes] showed up and Sherri went with him, it wasn't a kidnapping, it was more 'I want to have a little bit of happiness in my life because it's been very, very hard.' " Loretta also alleged that her daughter needed to 'get away' from Keith and that she didn't abandon her two kids, Tyler Papini and Violet Papini. Loretta and Richard have maintained a low profile since their daughters' alleged abduction and subsequent arrest. However, they both participated in the 2025 docuseries Caught in the Lie. After Sherri was released in 2023, she moved in with her parents. Richard told filmmakers that he and Loretta have lost jobs, friends and family because of how highly publicized and controversial the case was. 'It's difficult to explain what they've been through,' Sherri said in the docuseries. 'I've watched my parents be crucified in the media … It's horrifying to think that I'm even a little bit a part of that.' When asked if they felt like they knew what really happened with their daughter, Richard responded, 'You'd have to ask Sherri.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Where Are Sherri Papini's 2 Kids Now? All About Their Lives Nearly a Decade After Their Mom's Alleged Abduction
Sherri Papini was reported missing by her family in 2016 and was found 22 days later Though she claimed she had been kidnapped, police later determined it was a hoax and she was sentenced to 18 months in prison for false statements and fraud Her husband, Keith Papini, said the ordeal "traumatized" their two children, Tyler Papini and Violet PapiniWhen Sherri Papini went missing while on a run in November 2016, her now ex-husband, Keith Papini, and their two kids, Tyler and Violet, feared the worst. And when she resurfaced 22 days later — branded, beaten and bruised — it appeared that the worst had happened. The mom of two told police that she had been kidnapped and held hostage by two masked Hispanic women. Though police initially believed her, forensic evidence and cellphone records contradicted her claims, and in 2022, Sherri admitted the entire abduction had been staged. She was sentenced to 18 months in jail for mail fraud and for giving false statements to police. In reality, Sherri had allegedly spent those 22 days with her ex-boyfriend James Reyes, who told investigators that she had wanted to get away from her ex-husband's sexual and physical abuse. Keith later denied those claims on Good Morning America. James said she decided to go home on Thanksgiving Day because she missed Tyler and Violet, who were 4 and 2 at the time. "Both I and, especially our children were traumatized by her disappearance,' Keith wrote in court documents obtained by the Associated Press in April 2022 after he filed for divorce from Sherri. 'The trauma inflicted on our children at the unexpected loss of their mother was heartbreaking." After her arrest and sentencing, Keith was awarded full custody of Tyler and Violet. Here's everything to know about Sherri Papini's kids and where they are now, almost a decade after their mom's alleged kidnapping hoax. After they tied the knot in 2009, Sherri and Keith welcomed two children: son Tyler and daughter Violet. The family of four lived outside of Redding, where Keith worked as an audiovisual specialist at Best Buy. When Sherri was laid off from her job as an AT&T account executive, she refocused her attention on being a stay-at-home mom and homeschooling her children, The Sacramento Bee reported. 'My wife is a very involved mother,' Keith told PEOPLE in 2016, adding that she and their kids were always 'doing stuff' like going out on 'nature hikes' and making scrapbooks. On Nov. 2, 2016, Keith reported his wife missing from their home in Redding, Calif., after she failed to pick up Violet and Tyler from daycare. Twenty-two days later, she was found walking along the side of a road 150 miles away. Her face was covered in bruises, her nose was broken and she had been branded. The mom of two claimed she had been kidnapped and tortured, but authorities later discovered she had been staying with James the entire time. Six years after the alleged abduction, Sherri admitted it was all a hoax and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. (In 2025, however, Sherri claimed that she really was kidnapped — only James was the one who took her.) Days after Sherri took a plea deal, Keith filed for divorce and asked for sole custody of Tyler and Violet. In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, he said his goal was to 'provide a loving, safe, stable environment' for the kids. He was granted full custody and his marriage to Sherri, who has monthly supervised visits with the kids, was dissolved in May 2023. The California mom was released from prison in August 2023. KRCR reported in March 2025 that she was seeking reunification with one of the couple's two kids and increased visitation with another. Because of all the media coverage of Sherri's case, Keith considered changing his kids' last names and even gave them a list of options to look over. But Tyler, who was 11 at the time, wasn't interested. "My son basically said, 'Is this about mom?' And I said, 'Well, maybe,' and he goes, 'Well, I don't think we should have to change our last name because of mom's mistakes,' " Keith told PEOPLE in 2024. "Him saying that just kind of hit me like, 'Oh wow, this kid is ... He's right.' " In 2024, Keith told PEOPLE that Tyler and Violet were 'happy kids' who were 'thriving' in school and extracurricular activities like dance and basketball. "A lot of their childhood years were, in my opinion, stolen from them,' he said. 'So my biggest goal is giving them a happy and healthy life and surrounding them with loving people." Sherri and her family have been thrust into the spotlight yet again when the mom of two changed her story and claimed it was James who kidnapped her in 2016. She is set to speak publicly for the first time in a new four-part docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, premiering on Investigation Discovery on May 26. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
5 Things We Learned From ‘Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie' Docuseries
When Redding, California resident Keith Papini called first responders on Nov. 2, 2016, he feared the absolute worst. He had returned home from his job to find his two children alone in the house, and his wife Sherri Papini nowhere to be seen. After using the Find My app to track her location, Keith found Sherri's phone lying in the dirt on the side of the road, headphones coiled around several strands of her hair. Local law enforcement brought in the FBI, and the search turned into a national media frenzy. Sherri was found 22 days later, starving, bruised, branded, and claiming to police she was abducted and held captive by two masked Hispanic women. But after a six-year investigation, officials had an alternative hypothesis, eventually accusing Sherri of manufacturing the kidnapping to run away with her former boyfriend, James Reyes. More from Rolling Stone His Wife Went Missing. The Way He Responded Convinced Cops He'd Killed Her Mexican Beauty Influencer Shot and Killed on TikTok Live A Bullet Killed Him. AI Brought Him Back to Life in Court The claims skyrocketed the attention, painting Sherri as a real-life Gone Girl. She was convicted for mail fraud and making false statements to the FBI and sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. After leaving prison, Sherri remained out of the public eye, refusing to comment even as her story was turned into a Lifetime original movie (Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini) and the Hulu documentary Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini. But now, Sherri is speaking publicly for the first time since her disappearance about what she says really happened nine years ago. In the new docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, out May 26 and May 27 on ID and Max, Sherri tells her firsthand account of her experience — including the revelation that she did lie about her whereabouts, but was actually held against her will. 'The story that the world thinks they know is that I am a master manipulator who has fooled everyone,' Sherri says in the opening moments of the docuseries. 'The Sherri Papini that's out there, it's not me. She's not real. I've gone from teenage sex worker to criminal mastermind to master manipulator. I poisoned my children. [I'm a] liar, cheater, whore. . . . I'm so f—ing tired of keeping the secret and living the lie. Now I get to tell the truth.' Here's five things we learned from Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. According to Papini, she and her now ex-husband Keith had an incredibly toxic marriage. She claims he was often emotionally abusive, and controlled her finances, friendships, and even when she was allowed to speak in the home (Keith denied all of these allegations through an attorney statement in the docuseries.) Because of this tension, Sherri claims she started an emotional affair with a former boyfriend James Reyes. The two spoke often on burner phones, but never met up, she says. According to Sherri, when she went for a run that Nov. afternoon, Reyes pulled up and abducted her. 'I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open,' Sherri says. 'And then the next time I woke up was when he was getting me out of the vehicle to go inside, and it was dark. He had one hand underneath my arm trying to help me walk. And I just remember thinking, 'This is not where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be picking my kids up from day care. I am not supposed to be here.'' Police interviewed Reyes during their investigation, who claimed that he picked up Sherri with consent and allowed her to stay at his house — where she planned her injuries and often refused to eat. (Reyes did not participate in the documentary, declined to comment to filmmakers, and has not been charged with any crimes.) But Sherri claims she was held against her will. Sherri's ex-husband Keith and several members of her family participated in Hulu's 2024 docuseries Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini. The series also included testimony from the case's lead investigators and FBI officials. But according to Denise Farmer, the FBI's lead investigator on Sherri's case, ID's docuseries is the first time investigators have been able to freely speak about the case. During previous interviews, they had public relations officers in the room to make sure they didn't spill any sensitive techniques or confidential case files. This one is different because no FBI minders were present during any law enforcement interviews — allowing Farmer to speak in more detail to the ID team about the investigation and when they first began to suspect Sherri of lying. 'Our work speaks for itself, but we don't speak about our work. We're silent professionals. We don't wanna just tell the whole world how we investigate these cases,' Farmer says in the docuseries. 'That's just not something we're gonna publish. This time is different, because I'm retired now.' Sherri was found on Thanksgiving day by a motorist near Interstate 5, 22 days after she disappeared. When police questioned her at the hospital, she claimed that she was abducted by two Hispanic women who kept their faces hidden behind masks. She kept this claim up throughout the investigation, even self-publishing a book about her time in captivity called 22 Days. In the book, she nicknamed the two women Smegma and Taint, and described several instances of being injured, beaten, and starved. Officials said she lied to keep the kidnapping hoax going, something that eventually led to her and Keith's divorce. 'To go back and watch the footage to see all the people that were affected, and knowing that she's lying — not just lying; she's watching videos of everyone search for her. All the signs, and knowing that her children are at home, and being OK with that? It's painful, and it definitely separates into, this isn't just a lie,' he told Rolling Stone in 2024. This was planned. So it's very painful, and it really shows the level of manipulation and deceit that she put upon us.' But in the docuseries, Sherri claims she lied when she was found because she was afraid of Reyes and that her husband would find out about her emotional affair with him. Sherri had signed a postnuptial agreement, which gave Keith a large portion of their funds if she ever cheated on him. 'The truth is,' she says in the series, 'I was concealing an affair from my husband, threatening to take everything from me if he found out that I was having any involvement [with another man].' Much of the trouble with Sherri's case is her shifting story about what happened to her. During the investigation, Police could not find any record of the two women she claimed had kidnapped her. After speaking to Reyes, they found several people who corroborated the fact that Sherri was in his home. The investigation also confirmed that she and Reyes were in communication prior to her disappearance. Sherri confirms in the docuseries that she was speaking with Reyes, and even might have mentioned in passing a plan to meet up, but never consented to leaving. Her psychologist, Dr. Stephen Diggs, claims in the series that Sherri has self-defeating personality disorder, which makes her susceptible to pleasing behavior. Diggs says this could explain why Sherri kept communicating with Reyes and might have even agreed to meet up with him over the phone. In the docuseries, Sherri even tries to recreate her abduction, but says the exercise doesn't jog any memories. 'I was abducted,' she says. 'I don't remember if I got into the car.' Sherri maintains that while she lied about many things, she is not lying about her interactions with Reyes. For the docuseries, Sherri passed a polygraph saying that she did not ask him to brand her. 'The injuries that occurred, the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my back, the brand, the melting of my skin,' she says. 'I am telling you there was no consent.' Best of Rolling Stone Every Super Bowl Halftime Show, Ranked From Worst to Best The United States of Weed Gaming Levels Up
Newsweek
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Daughter Gives Mom Gift 'From My Heart'—She Can't Cope When She Sees It
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. An adult woman gave her mother a special gift usually reserved for newborns, and may have started a hilarious new trend. Amanda Newkirk, 38 and from Georgia, has gone viral alongside her mother after she surprised her with a unique gift for Mother's Day. "My mom has always been hard to shop for because, when she wants something, she just buys it for herself," Newkirk told Newsweek. And so, struggling with what to get her mom, Newkirk resorted to Google: "Things to get your mom for Mother's Day." "It mistakenly showed me baby feet ornaments, and I thought, 'Oh that would be funny if I used my 38-year-old foot!'" In a video shared to her TikTok @mandalee86 on May 10, viewed more than 2.2 million times, Newkirk sits at the table with her mother, Sherri, 62, and declares the gift, which should go on Sherri's Christmas tree, is "from my heart." And as Sherri takes the gift from the bag, she immediately bursts out laughing—as Newkirk has handcrafted a large mold of her footprint, something usually done by parents when their child is a newborn. Amanda Newkirk's mother, Sherri, opens her gift to find an imprint of her 38-year-old daughter's foot. Amanda Newkirk's mother, Sherri, opens her gift to find an imprint of her 38-year-old daughter's foot. TikTok @mandalee86 Amid peals of laughter, Sherri tells her daughter, "I don't have one of these"—and then turns the mold around to find an inscription on the back: Amanda, 461 months. And showcasing exactly where Newkirk gets her sense of humor from, Sherri then said: "Not only is she 461 months, I'm still trying to lose the baby weight." In the first six months of their lives, newborns grow around 1 inch a month, according to the Mayo Clinic, and making a print of their feet as a reminder of their size is a common tradition. TikTok users were in stitches, awarding the video more than 312,000 likes, as one commenter followed on the theme: "Fallen arches and plantar fasciitis; forever your baby I'll be." Another debated doing this same gift, but wrote: "I'm a size 12 women's. It's gonna be a dinner plate hanging from the tree." A third posted: "this is gonna be a trend." Sherri shows off the gift, featuring Newkirk's foot on the front, and her age in months on the back. Sherri shows off the gift, featuring Newkirk's foot on the front, and her age in months on the back. TikTok @mandalee86 And as one person wrote: "Please tell your mom she has the BEST laugh. Her laugh made me laugh along, it's so infectious!" Newkirk, who works in nonprofit, said she made the ornament with her stepson, who helped her make the mold and roll out the air clay. Newkirk added she is really close with both her parents, and she knew her licensed clinical social worker mom "would find it hilarious." "My mom and dad are both brilliantly funny," she said. Newkirk said of the gift: "It will absolutely go on the Christmas tree. I am her only baby so she will hang it with pride!" Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures you want to share? Send them to life@ with some extra details, and they could appear on our website.
