Latest news with #SherriPapini:CaughtinaLie
New York Post
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
California mom Sherri Papini who faked kidnapping reenacting disappearance for docuseries
Coming clean hasn't been easy for Sherri Papini. In 2022, the California mother of two was sentenced to 18 months in prison for faking her own kidnapping so she could go back to an ex-boyfriend. Her disappearance resulted in a three-week multi-state search before she surfaced on Thanksgiving Day in 2016. Advertisement Now, the 42-year-old is reenacting her disappearance and taking a lie detector test in the Investigation Discovery (ID) true crime docuseries, 'Sherri Papini: Caught in a Lie.' 'She really did not want to do either one of those things, but I think she saw this as her one shot at getting her story out, and she was going to do whatever it took,' director Nicole Rittenmeyer told Fox News Digital. 'We made sure that we were in close contact with her therapist,' Rittenmeyer explained. 'We had safe words in case she couldn't handle stuff. She had emotional support, and humans were there for her so she could get a hug.' Despite Papini's hesitations, she ultimately agreed to do both for the docuseries and have it filmed. She's now alleging that she was the victim of a violent kidnapping. Advertisement The lie detector test was conducted by polygraph expert Brett Bartlett, a retired police officer with 20 years of experience in law enforcement. 3 In 2022, Sherri Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison for faking her own kidnapping so she could go back to an ex-boyfriend. ID In the docuseries, Bartlett told Papini that he believed her when she claimed that she was not free to leave her former boyfriend James Reyes' home and that she didn't ask him to brand her on her right shoulder. When Papini was asked if she planned to travel to Southern California with Reyes, she said no. However, Bartlett told her, 'Your body is telling me otherwise.' Advertisement 'I remember making a plan with James,' said Papini. 'Leading him on. So that we could talk. [I kept] telling him that I wanted to be with him. There was a lot of leading him on to keep him interested.' Rittenmeyer said Papini was 'very anxious' after cameras stopped rolling. 'She was very mad at herself for not being as forthcoming,' said Rittenmeyer. '… I was feeling like she was holding back, and the polygraph broke it open.' Advertisement On Nov. 2, 2016, Papini's husband, Keith Papini, reported his wife missing after he discovered she wasn't home and hadn't picked up their children from daycare. Her purse and jewelry were left behind. An extensive search for the missing mom ensued. It wouldn't be until Nov. 26 that an emaciated Papini was spotted by a driver 150 miles from her home. She was covered in bruises, burns and rashes and was still bound by restraints. The flesh on her back was still blistered with a blurred branding and her long blonde hair had been cut short. Papini told authorities two masked Hispanic women forced her into an SUV at gunpoint and held her captive. 3 Sherri Papini of Redding, leaves the federal courthouse accompanied by her attorney, William Portanova, right, after her arraignment in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, April 13, 2022. AP Investigators began to question Papini's story. They later discovered evidence that would contradict her stories. In reality, authorities said, Papini was staying with Reyes nearly 600 miles away from her home and had hurt herself to back up her false statements. Papini eventually confessed that it had all been a hoax, and she was staying at Reyes' apartment the entire time she was missing. In the docuseries, Papini said she had an emotional affair with Reyes after being unhappy with her marriage and feared losing her children. But the kidnapping wasn't consensual, she claimed. Reyes' DNA was found on the clothes she was wearing when she was recovered. Rittenmeyer said this is the first time Papini is publicly sharing this account. Advertisement 'She never shared it with anyone except for us and very close members of her family,' said Rittenmeyer. 'This is going to be the first time Shasta County sheriffs will hear this story when they watch it with the rest of the viewers.' Fox News Digital reached out to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, Keith's attorney and Reyes for comment. According to the docuseries, Reyes vehemently denies kidnapping and abusing Papini. 'He maintains that any harm he inflicted on her was done at her direction,' the docuseries shared. 'He has not been charged with any crime in connection with Sherri's disappearance.' 3 Papini is now reenacting her disappearance and taking a lie detector test in the Investigation Discovery (ID) true crime docuseries, 'Sherri Papini: Caught in a Lie.' See bottom of caption / MEGA Advertisement When questioned by FBI agents, Reyes claimed that Papini planned 'everything,' including the decision to use a wood-burning tool to brand her shoulder. He passed a polygraph test. Keith's lawyer told the docuseries that any allegations of 'severe abuse, manipulation and lying' are false and 'disproven by a mountain of documentary evidence and objective, indisputable facts.' In the docuseries, Papini claimed that the descriptions she gave of the two masked Hispanic women were supposed to represent Reyes' mother. She hoped investigators would use it to track down Reyes without her saying he abducted her. But Rittenmeyer told Papini that Reyes' mother was Irish. Advertisement 'OK. I've met her twice,' Papini responded. 'It had very little to do with his mother and her ethnicity. It was about trying to get them to alert them to his identity without saying his name out loud. Quite frankly, I don't give a f—k whether she's Hispanic or not. It was about James. It wasn't about her.' Rittenmeyer said that the docuseries will detail 'a specific personality disorder that she has.' 'I went into this understanding that the conventional wisdom about Sherri is that she's a sociopath, a narcissist who faked a hoax kidnapping to get attention,' said Rittenmeyer. '[But]… there are certain ways that Sherri's personality manifests that are very theatrical and can feel performative. And so, given what we understand about her, I think it's basic human nature to be incredibly skeptical. I did not trust anything she said to me. If she told me my mother loved me, I was going to get a second and third source because, even as her lawyer says, she's a convicted liar.' Advertisement 'What I learned… is that her particular form of personality disorder results in a lot of pleasing,' Rittenmeyer continued. 'There's an effort to please, which served us well when we did reenactments and the polygraph because she didn't want to do those things, but she did them. '… We assume people lie because they're trying to deceive because there's financial gain or something that they're trying to get over on us. And in the case of her personality disorder, she lies as a protective mechanism. It's like default. She's gotten a lot of therapy, and she's a lot better than she used to be. But… there was so much more nuance to her and why she did the things that she did, and what drove her to do them.' In 2022, Papini accepted a plea bargain with prosecutors and acknowledged she made up the story that prompted the frantic search. That same year, Keith filed for divorce. 'I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so very sorry for the pain I've caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story, and those who worked so hard to try to help me,' she said in a statement at the time. 'I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.' The plea agreement called for Papini to pay restitution topping $300,000. But today, Papini is adamant that she was a victim. 'Haven't you ever lied? And then, has the lie been blown up?' Papini said in the docuseries. Rittemeyer said that Papini, now out with her story, is 'working on being a better person.' 'I do think the person I interviewed is very different from the one… Shasta County interviewed,' said Rittenmeyer. 'She went through it. She served her time. She's done a lot of therapy… If there's a lesson to take away from this film, I think it's don't lie. You kickstart events and you're going to spiral horrifically out of control.' 'Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie' premieres May 26 and May 27 at 9 p.m. on ID. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Global News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Global News
Kidnap hoax mom Sherri Papini changes her story again, names alleged abductor
Sherri Papini, the California mom convicted of faking her own kidnapping in a bizarre hoax that invoked comparisons to the book-turned-movie Gone Girl, has changed her story once again. Papini, who disappeared in November 2016 while on a run near her Redding, Calif., home and emerged 22 days later with claims she'd been kidnapped and abused by two masked Hispanic women, admitted to concocting an elaborate lie in a plea deal in 2022. However, the 42-year-old is now claiming that she was, in fact, kidnapped, accusing her ex-boyfriend James Reyes of being her abductor and saying she was kidnapped by him while trying to end an emotional affair the two were having behind her now ex-husband's back. Papini's about-face comes in a new documentary, Sherri Papini: Caught in a Lie, which is airing on Investigation Discovery. In it, Papini gives her first on-camera interview since admitting it was a hoax three years ago and claims she's finally ready to tell the full story of what happened in 2016. Story continues below advertisement Papini's original story Papini's husband at the time, Keith Papini, reported her missing on Nov. 2, 2016, kicking off a statewide search for the stay-at-home mom. Three weeks later, on U.S. Thanksgiving, Papini was found alone on a California interstate suffering from injuries including rashes, bruises, ligature marks and a 'brand' on her right shoulder. After Papini was found by police, she told an elaborate story about how she had been kept chained in a closet by two women who wore masks, spoke in Spanish, held her at gunpoint and branded her with a heated tool. She also added that the women played mariachi music and fed her mostly tortillas and rice. View image in full screen FILE – In this Nov. 10, 2016, file photo, a 'missing' sign for Redding, Calif., resident Sherri Papini is seen near the location where the mother of two is initially believed to have gone missing while jogging. In March 2022, Papini was arrested on charges of faking her own kidnapping in 2016. She signed a plea deal on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Andrew Seng/AP Photos The story shifts Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Papini was found with male and female DNA on her body and clothing, and the male DNA led investigators to her former boyfriend, Reyes, according to prosecutors. Story continues below advertisement Reyes confirmed to authorities that Papini asked him to pick her up from her home in Redding, and stayed with him during the period she was missing. His account was verified with cellphone records obtained by investigators that showed secret communication between the two as early as December 2015. At the time, Reyes told FBI agents that he was only trying to help his ex-girlfriend and admitted to using a wood-burning tool to brand her shoulder and throwing a hockey puck at her leg, but insisted it was Papini's idea and that she had planned 'everything.' 'I didn't kidnap her. She was just a friend in need asking for help. She was trying to get away from her husband,' he told investigators. A plea bargain In 2022, it was revealed by Papini's lawyer that his client had accepted a plea deal and she admitted she had made up the hoax. 'I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so very sorry for the pain I've caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story and those who worked so hard to try to help me,' she said in a statement through her lawyer in 2022. 'I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.' Story continues below advertisement Papini pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and making false statements as part of the plea deal in exchange for her confession. She was initially charged with 35 felonies. In September of 2022, she was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, with three years of supervised release following the completion of her sentence. She served just under 11 months in prison. 0:57 Sherri Papini sentenced for faking own kidnapping, misleading police for 4 years The new story While Papini was linked to Reyes in the investigation and authorities knew she was with him when she claimed to have been abducted by the women, Papini now says it was Reyes who kidnapped her and inflicted physical and psychological torture. She says she concocted her story about the masked women to cover up the affair with Reyes because she was afraid of what her husband would do if he found out about the relationship. Story continues below advertisement 'The truth is,' she says, 'I was concealing an affair from my husband, who [was] threatening to take everything from me if he found out that I was having any involvement [with another man],' she says in the documentary, according to People. She says that shortly before she was kidnapped by Reyes, she had invited him to Redding in an attempt to end their long-distance affair. 'I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open,' she 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.' The injuries that occurred . . . the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my back, the brand, the melting of my skin — I am telling you there was no consent.' Story continues below advertisement In her interview, she says she was still afraid of Reyes and felt compelled to come up with the hoax because he was threatening her, saying he'd be watching to see if she named him as her kidnapper and abuser. 'I lied about James' identity for several reasons. First and foremost, I was in danger; I was terrified of James, and keeping his identity concealed was keeping me safe,' she claims in the interview. 'On top of that, I couldn't tell my husband I was having an affair.' 'James had let me off the chain,' she tells the camera. 'I said, my husband's going to find me. He's never going to stop looking for you . . . You need to let me go. He was like, 'Well, there's too much has happened.' So it all came down to me. It all came down to my coverup, and that's [when] I agreed to . . . make up that someone else did it.'
