Sherri Papini Is Now Blaming Somebody Else for Her Kidnapping: This is Why

Sherri Papini, the California mother who mentioned she’d been kidnapped by two Hispanic ladies whereas out jogging earlier than admitting it was a hoax, is now claiming she was certainly a sufferer of a violent kidnapping — by the hands of another person.

Within the explosive new four-part docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie — premiering on Investigation Discovery on Could 26 and streaming on Max — the divorced mom of two claims her kidnapper was her former boyfriend James Reyes. (A clip from the present is proven beneath.)

The weird case started on Nov. 2, 2016, 2016 when Papini disappeared whereas out on a jog in rural Redding, Calif.. Her disappearance was high-profile from the beginning after her then-husband — Keith Papini — reported her lacking after she didn’t return residence.

Her neighbors banded collectively on exhaustive searches for the lacking mother and shaped a tight-knit circle of help round her household. A GoFundMe account for the household raised greater than $49,000.

Then, Papini reappeared simply as all of a sudden as she’d vanished, 22 days later and 150 miles south of Redding, stumbling alongside a freeway round 4 a.m. She was emaciated, coated in bruises, burns and rashes. She had a series round her waist and hose clamps round her wrists. Her lengthy blond hair had been chopped off. Authorities mentioned Papini had been branded on her proper shoulder.

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After claiming to investigators that two masked Hispanic women had kidnapped and tortured her, Papini ultimately confessed that it had all been a hoax and she or he’d been staying at Reyes’ condominium in Costa Mesa, Calif., your complete time she was lacking.

Papini pleaded responsible to creating false statements, was sentenced to 18 months in jail, and launched early in 2023. She was additionally ordered to pay greater than $300,000 in restitution to a number of legislation enforcement associations.

Now, a 12 months and a half after her early launch from serving 10 months in jail, Papini in Caught within the Lie claims she made up the story concerning the two masked ladies to cowl up an affair she was having with Reyes as a result of she feared what Keith would do if he discovered concerning the relationship.

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“The reality is,” she mentioned, “I used to be concealing an affair from my husband, who [was] threatening to take the whole lot from me if he discovered that I used to be  having any involvement [with another man].”

Papini claimed she was in touch with Reyes for a lot of the earlier 12 months, however the relationship wasn’t sexual. “James was somebody that was really listening to me and listening to me, and that’s what I wanted.”

Papini claimed Reyes kidnapped her after she had requested him to come back to Redding as a result of — unbeknownst to Reyes — she supposed to finish their long-distance romance.

“I used to be kidnapped,” she insisted. “I bear in mind waking up briefly behind the automobile and never with the ability to even hold my eyes open. After which the subsequent time I awoke was when he was getting me out of the automobile to go inside, and it was darkish. He had one hand beneath my arm making an attempt to assist me stroll. And I simply bear in mind pondering, ‘This isn’t the place I’m purported to be. I’m purported to be selecting my youngsters up from day care. I’m not purported to be right here.’ The accidents that occurred… the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my again, the model, the melting of my pores and skin—I’m telling you there was no consent.”

Within the docuseries, Papini claimed that the very first thing she remembered after arriving at Reyes’ condominium was waking up bare in a tiny room.

“I wished to go away,” she mentioned. “So I attempted to drag one of many boards off the window and James got here in and hit me within the face. And that is the primary bruise that I obtained . . . And after being knocked out and waking up, that is when the chain was round my waist, secured with a padlock hooked up to a cable that was hooked up to a pole within the closet.”

Shortly earlier than reappearing from her 22-day ordeal, Papini claimed she spoke to Reyes over dinner.

“James had let me off the chain,” she claimed. “I mentioned, my husband’s going to seek out me. He is by no means going to cease on the lookout for you . . . You should let me go. He was like, ‘Effectively, there’s an excessive amount of has occurred.’ So all of it got here all the way down to me. All of it got here all the way down to my coverup, and that is [when] I agreed to . . . make up that another person did it.”

In August 2020, DNA discovered on the garments Papini was sporting when she was recovered was traced to Reyes, who instructed FBI brokers — and later handed a polygraph check — that Papini had deliberate “the whole lot.” Even the choice to make use of a wood-burning software to model her shoulder was Papini’s thought, Reyes mentioned, including: “I didn’t kidnap her. She was only a good friend in want asking for assist. She was making an attempt to get away from her husband.” 

Reyes declined to remark about Papini’s claims.

Sherri Papini: Caught within the Lie will premiere throughout two nights on Monday, Could 26, and Tuesday, Could 27, from 9 to 11 p.m. ET/PT on ID. Episodes shall be accessible to stream on Max.