Where Are Sherri Papini's 2 Kids Now? All About Their Lives Nearly a Decade After Their Mom’s Alleged Abduction

When 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.

Who are Sherri Papini’s kids?

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.

How were Sherri Papini’s kids affected by her kidnapping hoax?

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.

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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.

What has Keith Papini said about their kids?

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.’ ”

Where are Sherri Papini’s kids now?

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.