What Actually Happened to Sherri Papini? Inside the Twists and Turns of Her 2016 Kidnapping Hoax

Sherri Papini made national headlines when she disappeared on Nov. 2, 2016.

She was allegedly on a run near her home in Redding, Calif., when she claimed to have been abducted. Her then-husband, Keith Papini, reported her missing that evening, and a subsequent three-week statewide search for her took place.

After 22 days, Sherri was found walking on the side of a highway. At the time, she claimed that she was kidnapped by two armed, masked Hispanic women and that they had branded and tortured her while she was chained in a bedroom.

Authorities investigated the case for six years and later determined that Sherri had fabricated the abduction and had been hiding out at her ex-boyfriend James Reyes’ apartment in Costa Mesa, Calif. In 2022, Sherri was arrested for making false statements to a federal agent and mail fraud. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. She was released in August 2023.

However, upon getting released from prison, Sherri changed her story again and claimed that Reyes “abducted” her without her consent.

“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,” she alleged in the four-part docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, which premiered May 26. Reyes declined to comment on her new allegations.

Here’s everything to know about Sherri Papini, her 2016 disappearance and everything she’s said since.

Who is Sherri Papini?

Sherri, born in 1982, was living in Redding, Calif., with her husband, Keith, and their two children — son Tyler and daughter Violet — when she disappeared on Nov. 2, 2016.

She was 34 years old at the time of her vanishing.

What happened on the day Sherri Papini went missing?

Sherri’s then-husband, Keith, reported her missing on Nov. 2, 2016, after he came home and found that she and their young children were not there. He later found her phone and headphones about a mile down the road and learned that Sherri never picked up their kids from daycare.

After filing a missing persons report, Keith joined their friends, family and dozens of volunteers over the next few weeks to try and find Sherri. Keith also helped raise thousands of dollars in reward money for anyone who had a substantial lead on his wife’s location.

When did Sherri Papini resurface?

Sherri’s disappearance made national headlines and caused a statewide search for her.

On Nov. 24, 2016, 22 days after she vanished, Sherri was seen walking along the side of a road in Yolo County, Calif. — around 150 miles from her home.

Her sister, Sheila Koester, previously told PEOPLE, “I feel like it was a whole world effort, just with everyone posting on Facebook and the news coverage we got. It was an amazing Thanksgiving.”

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told PEOPLE at the time, “She was able to walk to a nearby church but nobody was there at 4:30 in the morning, and then she walked back and was able to flag down a motorist near Interstate 5 and Yolo County Road 17.”

Sheriff Bosenko revealed that Sherri was immediately hospitalized for her injuries and was able to give authorities “some limited amount of information.” Keith saw his wife for the first time at the hospital later that day.

“My first sight was my wife in a hospital bed,” Keith told PEOPLE in a statement at the time. “Her face covered in bruises ranging from yellow to black because of her repeated beatings. The bridge of her nose broken. She has been branded and I could feel the rise of her scabs under my fingers.”

Keith further claimed that she weighed just 87 lbs. and that her long blond hair had been chopped off.

What did Sherri Papini claim happened to her?

Shortly after Sherri resurfaced, she told authorities that she was abducted by two Hispanic women who were armed and masked and forced her into an SUV.

“These Hispanic females are armed, considered dangerous and they have a handgun, at least a handgun with them,” Bosenko told reporters during a press conference at the time.

Sherri alleged that the women tortured and branded her while holding her hostage, chained in a bedroom for weeks. She claimed that she escaped after one woman let her leave with a chain around her waist, zip ties tying her hands and clamps around her ankles.

At the time, authorities believed her and chalked up any inaccuracies in her story to her feeling traumatized.

“We don’t have any reason not to believe her. She was abducted, held captive for three weeks and then released,” Bosenko said at the time. “Traumatized from the experience and then of course very emotional about being released and then being reunited with her husband … Sometimes people who have been in a traumatic event, their mind shields them from some of the trauma so they do have limited recollection.”

However, authorities were never able to identify the women who allegedly kidnapped Sherri, and they soon began to think that there was a different version of events than the ones Sherri concocted.

Why was Sherri Papini arrested?

Police continued investigating Sherri’s disappearance for years after her return. Shortly after she resurfaced, authorities discovered both male and female DNA on the clothing Sherri was wearing when she was found. In 2020, they matched the DNA to Sherri’s ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, per KCRA.

In August of that year, police brought in Reyes for questioning, and he claimed that Sherri was actually hiding with him in his apartment in Costa Mesa, Calif. He alleged that Sherri reached out to him to try to “run away” from Keith, whom she claimed was sexually and physically abusive (he denied the allegations).

Reyes further claimed that it was Sherri’s idea to injure and brand herself and lose weight, and that he never physically hurt her. After 22 days together, Reyes alleged that Sherri missed her kids and asked him to drop her off on the side of a road.

On March 3, 2022, Sherri was arrested for faking her own kidnapping. She was charged with one count of lying to a federal officer and one count of mail fraud. One month later, she admitted that her kidnapping was a hoax and pleaded guilty.

“[I am] so 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.”

In September 2022, Sherri was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution, which was spent trying to find her. She reported to prison in November 2022 and was released in August 2023.

Just days after Sherri’s guilty plea, Keith filed for divorce and requested custody of their two children.

“I wish to make it clear that my goal is to provide a loving, safe, stable environment for [his and Sherri’s children] and I believe the requested orders are consistent with that goal and the best interests of the children,” Keith told PEOPLE in a statement at the time. “I do not want to say anything in the pleadings connected to this matter that would inflame the situation or attract media attention.”

What did Sherri Papini change her story to after prison?

Nearly two years after she was released from prison, Sherri spoke about the abduction for the first time and changed her story.

In the May 2025 docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, she denied that she had anything to do with her disappearance and alleged that it was not consensual.

Instead, Sherri claimed that Reyes abducted her after she asked him to come to Redding, so she could end their long-distance affair (he was allegedly unaware of her intentions at the time). She claimed that Reyes somehow got her into a car and drove her to his apartment in Costa Mesa, Calif., where he held her for over three weeks.

“I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open,” she claimed in the documentary, out May 26. “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 … 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.” 

Sherri claimed that she woke up naked in a room in his apartment.

“I wanted to leave. So I tried to pull one of the boards off the window and James came in and hit me in the face. And that’s the first bruise that I got,” Sherri claimed in Caught in the Lie. “And after being knocked out and waking up, that’s when the chain was around my waist, secured with a padlock attached to a cable that was attached to a pole in the closet.”

After 22 days, Sherri claimed that Reyes “let me off the chain” and set her free.

“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,” she claimed.

Sherri further alleged that she agreed to lie about the two women abducting her because she didn’t want Keith to discover the affair.

“The truth is, 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 said. Reyes declined to comment on the allegations.

Where is Sherri Papini now?

After being released from prison in August 2023, Sherri was transferred to a halfway house in Sacramento County, Calif., for two months. She is under supervised release until late 2026.

Before appearing in the 2025 docuseries Caught in the Lie, Sherri had stayed silent about her life since the abduction.

However, Keith told PEOPLE in 2024 that they were still working on mediating their divorce, and added that he did not keep in contact with her.

“I don’t make contact with her at all. And I don’t even allow it,” he said. “She’s tried but I just can’t. That is her power, her voice, and her manipulation.”

In the midst of their proceedings, Keith was granted full custody of their children, and Sherri was allowed visitation rights. Keith also claimed to Good Morning America in June 2024 that Sherri had a new boyfriend, but he didn’t share his name.