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Sherri Papini, a 34-year-old mother of two, disappeared after going for a run near her home outside Redding, California, on Nov. 2, 2016, prompting a multistate search before she reappeared 22 days later, injured and wearing restraints. Her account of being abducted by two women unraveled after DNA evidence led investigators to a former boyfriend. In 2022, she pleaded guilty to mail fraud and making false statements.

Papini lived with her husband, Keith, and their two children in the Mountain Gate area of Shasta County. She and her former boyfriend, James Reyes, had been communicating through prepaid phones since at least December 2015.

On the day she disappeared, Papini failed to pick up her children at day care. Keith Papini returned from work, found her gone and used a phone-tracking app to locate her phone and earbuds beside a road about a mile from their home. He reported her missing that evening.

The Shasta County Sheriff's Office sought help from the FBI. Searches extended across the county and into several states. Hundreds of tips came in without leading investigators to her.

On Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, a California Highway Patrol officer found Papini with a truck driver near Interstate 5 outside Woodland, roughly 150 miles south of Redding. A chain encircled her waist, with one arm bound to it, and she had bindings on her other wrist and both ankles. Her injuries included a swollen nose and a brand on her right shoulder.

Papini told investigators that two Hispanic women had kidnapped her at gunpoint. She described them to an FBI sketch artist and gave investigators details about how she said they had injured her.

DNA recovered from her clothing provided a different lead. In 2020, a familial DNA search linked a male sample to a relative of Reyes. FBI agents collected DNA from Reyes's trash and confirmed a match.

Reyes told investigators that Papini had asked him to pick her up in Redding and had stayed at his Southern California home during the disappearance. His cousin saw her there twice, unrestrained. Prepaid-phone and cell-site records supported his account of meeting her near where she was last seen and traveling south with her. Rental-car records supported his account of driving her back to Northern California about three weeks later.

When federal investigators confronted Papini with the DNA and phone evidence in August 2020, she maintained her kidnapping account and denied seeing Reyes.

The FBI arrested her on March 3, 2022. She was charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements. The California Victim Compensation Board had paid more than $30,000 in assistance based on her account, including reimbursements for therapy and ambulance services.

Papini pleaded guilty in April 2022 to one count each of mail fraud and making false statements. On Sept. 19, 2022, she was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution.

Keith Papini filed for divorce in April 2022. She entered community confinement in August 2023 after serving about nine months in prison. In a later book and interviews, she claimed Reyes had abducted her. Reyes denied the allegation and was never charged.

[chris]

Criminal complaint, affidavit and plea agreement

The 55-page federal criminal complaint and FBI affidavit filed March 3, 2022, detail the DNA evidence and phone and rental car records supporting the charges against Sherri Papini. A second 55-page copy of the same complaint and affidavit, filed March 3, 2022, contains the same allegations and supporting evidence. The 14-page plea agreement filed April 12, 2022, sets out Papini's agreement to plead guilty to mail fraud and making false statements.

Sherri Papini's police interrogation can be seen here:

https://www.documentingreality.com/f...rchard-275803/