Sherri Papini, a California mother and wife whose disappearance more than five years ago prompted a massive search, was arrested Thursday for allegedly lying to the feds about her disappearance.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Sherri Papini disappeared on November 2, 2016, while jogging in her Shasta Lake neighborhood. Authorities later found her on Thanksgiving Day 2016, on the side of a rural road off of the I-5 freeway in Yolo, with her hands and feet shackled.
The emaciated Papini was “branded,” with her hair chopped shorter, and cuts and bruises all over her body.
Papini said one older woman and one younger woman, both Hispanic, took her while she was out jogging. She added that the abductors wore bandanas over their mouths and covered her head with a bag for most of the time.
Papini claimed that the alleged suspects physically abused her before pushing her out of their car and leaving her along Interstate 5 in Yolo County, with a hose tied around her hands and ankles and a metal chain tied around her waist.
Police, however, allege that Papini was at a former boyfriend’s house the entire time of the fake kidnapping.
In 2020, investigators were told there was a potential DNA match in the case after a family member of Papini’s former boyfriend took a home DNA test. The match led investigators to Papini’s ex, who reportedly admitted that Papini was with him and wasn’t kidnapped. He also admitted that they used prepaid phones to communicate with each other.
Read the full arrest affidavit below.
Papini faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted on mail fraud charges and up to five years if convicted for lying to the FBI.
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[Feature Photo: Facebook/Sherri Papini and husband Keith Papini]
