California mom Sherri Papini who claimed she was kidnapped for 22 days by two Hispanic women in 2016, has been arrested for faking her abduction.
On Thursday, March 3, 2022, prosecutors charged ‘supermom’ Papini, 39, for lying to federal agents about being kidnapped and defrauding the state’s victim compensation board of $30,000.
The mother-of-two was found on Thanksgiving Day in 2016 after weeks of searching in California and several nearby states 22 days after she disappeared while jogging on November 2.
California mom Sherri Papini who claimed she was kidnapped for 22 days by two Hispanic women in 2016, has been arrested for faking her abduction
She was found tied up, with a broken nose, a ‘brand’ on her right shoulder, and a shaved head.
Paini told authorities at the time that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, even providing descriptions to an FBI sketch artist.
Papini claims that two Hispanic women driving an SUV abducted her but covered their faces. These sketches were released of them almost a year after she went missing
In reality, authorities said, she was staying with a former boyfriend nearly 600 miles away from her home in Orange County, in Southern California, and hurt herself to back up her false statements.
‘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 and that time and resources that could have been used to investigate actual crime, protect the community, and provide resources to victims were wasted.’
Papini and her husband Keith are pictured for Halloween with their two children
Papini does not yet have an attorney because she was just arrested, Talbert’s office said. Her first court appearance has not yet been set.
She was still lying about the kidnapping in August 2020 when she was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County sheriff´s detective, the charges allege. They showed her evidence indicating she had not been abducted and warned her that it was a crime to lie to a federal agent.
Papini and her husband Keith are pictured for Halloween with their two children
But she still made false statements, the charges allege.
She also was reimbursed more than $30,000 by the California Victim´s Compensation Board based on the false story, the charges said.
They included money for visits to her therapist and for the ambulance ride to the hospital after she surfaced near Sacramento.
She faces a mail fraud charge related to the reimbursement requests that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, while lying to a federal officer has a maximum five-year sentence.
‘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,’ said Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson.
That 22-day search and five-year investigation not only cost money and time, he said, ‘but caused the general public to be fearful of their own safety, a fear that they should not have had to endure.’
The mother-of-two, dubbed a ‘supermom’ by her sister Sheila Koester, 36, disappeared while out jogging on November 2, 2016.
On the day she went missing, her husband Keith said he had first become concerned about her whereabouts when she stopped answering her phone.
When he discovered she hadn’t picked the kids up from daycare, he flew into full blown panic.
‘I couldn’t find her, so I called the day care to see what time she picked up the kids. The kids were never picked up so I got freaked out, I hit the Find My iPhone app thing,’ he said. ‘I found her phone; it’s got like hair ripped out of it, like, in the headphones.’
Her phone was discovered a mile away at the intersection of Sunrise Drive and Old Oregon Highway – neatly placed on the ground and with the headphones tidily wrapped around it.
Keith, who said at the time that his wife would never leave him or their children voluntarily, also launched an appeal – a GoFundMe account raising cash to pay for the search which eventually raised close to $50,000.
After being found three weeks later, with her hair hacked off and branded with a threatening message, Papini claimed she had been kidnapped by two Hispanic women who could not be identified because they constantly covered their faces.
Papini said the women had been driving a dark-colored SUV with ‘a large rear side window’ at the time of the kidnapping but has so far been unable to give details of the make and model.
However, police also revealed that male DNA that did not belong to husband Keith was found on her clothing and said she had been texting another man before her disappearance.
Cops investigating the kidnapping had discovered Papini’s texts and tracked down the man in Detroit, Michigan on November 9 – a week after she disappeared.
Following her return, Papini was said to be living a quiet existence at her family home which occupies a shady plot of land on the outskirts of Shasta Lake; a small town of 10,000 people in Northern California.
Neighbors told DailyMail.com that she had been living as ‘a recluse’ but had begun to make more frequent appearances in 2017.
That year she was spotted doing the school run and relaxing in her yard with a book.
Further skepticism about why she disappeared emerged after it was revealed she had previously run away as a teenager.
And according to the Sacramento Bee, uncovered documents from 13 years ago outlined how Papini’s mother, Loretta Graeff, called police asking for help after her daughter was allegedly self-harming and trying to blame the wounds on her.
The incident report, filed in December 2003, is just two lines long and reads: ‘RP states her 21y/o daughter that was living with her was harming herself and blaming it on the RP.
‘RP states female is coming back to live with them and she wants advice.’
The newspaper also found two other incidents involving Papini, where her father and sister both claimed she damaged their property.
In 2000, Richard Graeff said his daughter ‘burglarized his residence,’ before Sheila Koester, ‘alleged her back door had been kicked in and she believed Papini was the suspect’, the Bee reported.
In retrospect, ‘we are relieved that the community is not endangered by unknown, violent kidnappers,’ said Sean Ragan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office.
Major events in Papini ‘kidnapping’ case
Nov. 2, 2016
10:37 a.m.: Sherri Papini sends a text message to her husband, Keith Papini, to ask whether he will be home for lunch. He replies later in the afternoon that he won’t.
About 5 p.m.: Keith Papini returns to the Mountain Gate home he shares with his wife, Sherri Papini, and cannot find her or their two children. He learns the children had not been picked up from daycare and uses the Find My iPhone app to track her phone less than a mile from their home to the intersection of Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive. Her earbuds are wrapped loosely around the phone, and there are strands of hair.
5:51 p.m.: Keith Papini reports to the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office his wife is missing with suspicious circumstances.
Arriving deputies canvass the area; witnesses report last seeing Sherri Papini wearing a pink running jacket and jogging on Sunrise Drive. One recalls seeing her at 11 a.m. and another at 2 p.m.
Nov. 3, 2016
Search and rescue teams with the sheriff’s office comb the area of Sunrise Drive and Old Oregon Trail. The California Highway Patrol assists with an aerial search. Patrol deputies and detectives begin to make checks on 290 registered sex offenders who live in the area. Sherri Papini’s sister, Sheila Koester, says the family thinks she has been abducted.
Nov. 4, 2016
Secret Witness of Shasta County announces a $10,000 reward for information. Volunteers with community groups show up at the Papini home to help in the search.
Nov. 5, 2016
Family members add $40,000 to the reward, bringing the total to $50,000.
Nov. 7, 2016
The family refocuses search efforts to get the attention of national news organizations and social media networks.
Nov. 9, 2016
Sheriff’s Lt. Anthony Bertain announces Keith Papini is not a person of interest in the case after he passes a lie-detector test and no physical evidence links him to the disappearance.
Nov. 13, 2016
Family hires a private investigator.
Nov. 15, 2016
Koester and Keith Papini attend the Redding City Council meeting to thank supporters and announce they will release balloons at a future date to get Sherri Papini’s face “around the world.”
Nov. 17, 2016
An anonymous person sets up the website www.sherripapini.com to offer an undisclosed ransom for Sherri Papini’s immediate release, setting a deadline of 5 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23. A letter provides instruction to “the person who has Sherri Papini” and names Cameron Gamble as the middleman. Gamble, who describes himself as a kidnap and ransom consultant and is connected to Bethel Church’s missions, says he is acting independently from law enforcement and family.
Sheriff Tom Bosenko says there still is not enough evidence to classify the disappearance as an abduction and cautions the approach could make the family a target of scam artists.
Nov. 20, 2016
The sheriff’s office confirms it has served more than 20 search warrants and received about 400 tips.
Nov. 22, 2016
Gamble says he believes the purported abductors are “still in decision-making mode,” while Rod Rodriguez, Keith Papini’s step-father, warns on Facebook that if the deadline expires without information, the money will turn into a reward after the deadline passes. Gamble declines to say how much the alleged abductor would receive, but says a tipster who helps get Sherri Papini home safely will receive a six-figure reward.
Nov. 23, 2016
Gamble posts a new video saying the ransom has been withdrawn and the money will be combined with the $50,000 reward previously posted.
Nov. 24, 2016
4:30 a.m.: Sherri Papini is spotted by a motorist on Interstate 5 near Woodland, about 150 miles south of Redding.
10:31 a.m.: The sheriff’s office makes public the big break in the investigation, stating she is safe, receiving medical clearance, and reunited with her husband.
2 p.m.: Bosenko describes her captors as two Hispanic women with a handgun driving in a dark-colored SUV. He says one of the captors left her alongside County Road 17 off the freeway, where she was bound by restraints. She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released from a hospital in Yolo County, Bosenko says. He declines to elaborate on her injuries or whether she was sexually assaulted.
Nov. 25, 2016
Koester in a press conference credits social media for bringing attention to her sister’s case. Bosenko says his office has no reason to doubt Sherri Papini’s story, and authorities are combing surveillance videos and traffic cameras to identify the perpetrators.
Nov. 26, 2016
Audio of the 911 call and response to the discovery of Sherri Papini reveals that California Highway Patrol officers found her “chained to something” and “heavily battered.”
Nov. 29, 2016
Keith Papini issues a written statement to “Good Morning America” that his wife was branded, covered in bruises from repeated beatings and starved down to 87 pounds. Her “signature long, blond hair had been chopped off” and she was thrown from a vehicle with a chain around her waist, attached to her wrists and a bag over her head.
Bosenko says after her release, Papini walked to a nearby church. But nobody was there, so she walked to Interstate 5 and County Road 17 where she flagged down a motorist. His office still does not know whether Sherri Papini was targeted or abducted at random.
Nov. 30, 2016
Bosenko holds another news conference. He elaborates on the description of the two suspects and reveals they branded a “message” into Papini’s skin.
One is younger, with long curly hair, thin eyebrows, pierced ears and a thick Spanish accent. The other woman is older with straight black and gray hair and thick eyebrows. Bosenko says he does not have specific information to know if the case was related to a cartel or human trafficking.
Bosenko also reveals to the “Today” show that Papini’s phone and earbuds appeared to be neatly placed on the ground rather than lost in a struggle, with the screen facing up and the earbuds loosely wrapped around the phone.
Cameron Gamble, in an interview with KRCR News Channel 7, says “history was made” with this case and speaks about Redding serving as a test case for a model that can be duplicated on other abduction cases. He says “no money exchanged hands at any point in time” but the community and media played their part in spreading awareness about the case.
Dec. 1, 2016
Bill Garcia, the private investigator hired by the family of Sherri Papini, on the “Today” show says he believes sex trafficking may be a motive. Hostage experts cast doubts on that theory.
Dec. 2, 2016
Keith Papini gives an interview to ABC’s “20/20” in which he describes the ordeal and reveals, among other things, the family is not staying at home but at an undisclosed location.
Dec. 3, 2016
Redding-area residents gather to take a Welcome Home Sherri Community Holiday Photo on the lawn in front of the Redding Civic Auditorium
February 2017
The mystery man who offered a reward for “supermom” Sherri Papini’s return says he thinks the Redding woman was kidnapped last year for sex trafficking.
The man, who anonymously offered a $100,000 reward for her return, made the claim on the television show “Crime Watch with Chris Hansen.”
April 2017
Call records obtained by the Sacramento Bee reveal that Sherri Papini in 2003 allegedly had been harming herself and blaming her mother for her injuries. The revelations, reported by the Bee, were the latest in the Papini saga.
Loretta Graeff, Papini’s mother, in a December 2003 Shasta County Sheriff’s Office incident report called authorities to ask for help with her daughter, who Graeff alleged had been hurting herself and blaming the injuries on Graeff, the Bee reported. The Bee received the report after filing requests under the California Public Records Act. The report doesn’t say whether investigators found evidence that Papini had harmed herself.
Papini’s family, in a statement to ABC News, ripped the Bee story, calling it “shameful.”
October 2017
Detectives still don’t know who abducted Sherri Papini or why, but they reveal that texts with a man in Detroit, male DNA that didn’t come from her husband and a brawl Papini described between her and one of her captors have all been part of the investigation.
Shasta County Sgt. Brian Jackson says one of the angles detectives pursued is Papini’s alleged relationship with a “male acquaintance from Michigan.” Jackson saysPapini planned to meet the man days before she disappeared because he was coming to California for business, but investigators later determined he wasn’t involved in her disappearance.
Jackson also says officials found DNA from two people on Papini — that of a man and a woman. Jackson says authorities collected the woman’s DNA from Papini’s body, while the man’s was found on the clothes she wore when found.
He says the male DNA was not that of her husband, Keith Papini.
November 2017
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office releases video of Sherri Papini shortly after she was released from her alleged abductors in Yolo County.
The Nov. 24, 2016, video was captured by a church near the northbound on ramp to Interstate 5.
Papini can be seen running to the church north on Highway 99W and then south on Highway 99W until she goes out of view, heading toward the I-5 northbound on ramp.
The Sheriff’s Office said the video surveillance date and time were validated by detectives as occurring at 4:15 a.m.
November 2019
Three years after the Redding-area mom vanished and re-appeared, officials say they still have no identifiable suspects except for two sketches of Hispanic women Papini says held her captive for three weeks.
“When you say something’s cold, (it means) we just don’t have an active lead to work on at the moment,” Shasta County sheriff’s Capt. Pat Kropholler said. “But it doesn’t mean the case is closed.”
Meanwhile, some experts believe the truth could be hiding in DNA samples collected from her clothes and body.
June 2021
The Record Searchlight reports that Sherri Papini’s alleged kidnapping is one of 22 cases dating to 1984 in Shasta County that remain unsolved.
Secret Witness of Shasta County was still offering up to $10,000 was still offering for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the culprits.
