A Northern California woman whose disappearance in 2016 sparked a multi-state search before she reappeared three weeks later with a story about being held captive, has been arrested and accused of faking the entire thing.
Sherri Papini was taken into custody Thursday on charges of lying to federal agents about being kidnapped and engaging in mail fraud for taking more than $30,000 in victim compensation, according to the Department of Justice.
Papini, then a 34-year-old stay-at-home mom with two young children, was reported missing on Nov. 2, 2016 after she seemingly vanished while jogging near her home in Shasta County, near Redding. When she appeared three weeks later, she claimed she was kidnapped and held captive by two Hispanic women. In reality, investigators say Papini was actually staying with a former boyfriend nearly 600 miles away in Southern California, and had allegedly harmed herself to support her claims.
"When a young mother went missing in broad daylight, a community was filled with fear and concern," U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said in a statement. "Ultimately, the investigation revealed that there was no kidnapping."
Papini's husband reported her missing after returning from work to an empty house. The kids had not been picked up from daycare and Papini was nowhere to be found. Using the "find my iPhone app," he located her phone and earbuds tangled with blond hair about two feet off the road -- though he noted to police at the time he thought the phone "had been placed," according to a criminal complaint.
Law enforcement conducted extensive searches in California and several other states. Papini's disappearance gained worldwide attention and hundreds of tips were submitted to police.
Three weeks after she vanished, on Thanksgiving Day, an injured Papini was found nearly 150 miles away walking along an interstate. Her hair had been cut short and she was bruised all over. She had several bindings on her body and had been branded on her shoulder.
The criminal complaint notes that while a physical exam did not show evidence of sexual assault, male DNA that did not belong to Papini's husband was recovered from her clothing. The DNA was uploaded to a national database, but at the time returned no results.
During her initial interviews, Papini told investigators she had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women and held against her will. She also provided details of the alleged abductors to an FBI sketch artist. She stuck to her story in every follow-up interview, according to court documents.
Four days after Papini returned from her alleged abduction, she applied for victim assistance money. The California Victim's Compensation Board ultimately granted her request based on her kidnapping story. From 2017 to 2021, Papini collected 35 payments totaling more than $30,000, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement spent several years trying to find the suspects. In March 2020, investigators took another look at the DNA recovered from Papini's clothing. A familial match was identified in the national database, which eventually led to Papini's former boyfriend.
The criminal complaint shows the unidentified ex-boyfriend admitted to federal investigators that he picked her up in Redding at her request. He said Papini claimed that she was being abused by her husband and he thought he was helping a friend, adding that "it was not a sexual thing," according to the complaint. Papini stayed with him at his apartment in Orange County until she asked him to take her back home. Investigators say his account was corroborated by car rental records and historical cell site analysis.
When law enforcement confronted Papini in August 2020, she was presented with their evidence and warned that it was a crime to lie to federal agents. Instead of retracting her kidnapping story, investigators say Papini continued to make false statements about her purported abductors and denied her ex-boyfriend's involvement.
"Everyone involved in this investigation had one common goal; to find the truth about what happened on Nov. 2, 2016 with Sherri Papini and who was responsible," Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson said in a statement. "The 22-day search for Sherri Papini and subsequent five-year search into who reportedly abducted her was not only taxing on public resources but caused the general public to be fearful of their own safety, a fear that they should not have had to endure."
If convicted of making false statements to a federal law enforcement officer, Papini faces a maximum of five years in prison. If convicted of mail fraud, she faces up to 20 years in prison.
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