Morbid - Episode 620: The Suspicious Kidnapping of Sherri Papini

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

On November 2, 2016, thirty-four-year-old so-called “Supermom” Sherri Papini went out for a run near her home in Redding, California, and disappeared without a trace. Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, Sherri was discovered on the side of the road in a nearby county, where she said her captors had released her. In the days that followed, Sherri claimed she had been kidnapped by two unknown Latin American women, who physically abused her, including branding her on the shoulder with the word “Exodus.” The case garnered considerable attention from the local and national media, but when it came to details on her abductors and their motives, Sherri was surprisingly tight-lipped, giving the police and FBI little to work with. In March 2022, more than five years after her supposed abduction, the nation was shocked to learn that federal agents had arrested Papini and charged her with faking her own kidnapping. A month later, Sherri pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to more than a year in prison. The news was stunning and left everyone wondering, why would a seemingly ordinary and ostensibly happy mother orchestrate such a bizarre hoax?Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesABC News. 2016. "Missing California mom found alive after captor abandons her in restraints, sheriff says." ABC News, November 24.Ayestas, Jonathan. 2024. "Sherri Papini has yet to pay $300,000 fine for faked 2016 California kidnapping." CNN Newswire, March 26.Bella, Timothy. 2022. "A mother said she was kidnapped. Now she admits it was all a hoax." Washington Post, April 13.Bever, Lindsey, and Kristine Guerra. 2016. "Missing California mother found alive three weeks after her apparent abduction, police say." Washington Post, November 25.Bonvillian, Crystal. 2022. "Feds detail how missing mom branded, starved self in 2016 kidnapping hoax." Cox Media Group, March 9.CBS News, Sacramento. 2016. "Full text of November 30 press conference about Sherri Papini's abduction." CBS News, Sacramento, November 30.Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2022. Sherri Papini criminal complaint and affidavit. Criminal complaint, Los Angeles, CA: Federal Bureau of Investigation.Gumbel, Andrew. 2022. "California jogger Sherri Papini staged own violent kidnapping, FBI says." The Guardian, March 4.—. 2016. "Kidnapping, reverse ransom and a bounty: the strange case of Sherri Papini." The Guardian, December 30.Hurley, Beven. 2022. "Why did it take five years to charge 'supermom' Sherri Papini with fabricating her own abduction?" The Independent, March 4.Larimer, Sarah. 2016. "California mother was 'branded' and covered in bruises after apparent abduction, husband says." Washington Post, November 29.Longoria, Sean. 2016. "Mother of 2 goes missing near Redding." Record Searchlight (Redding, CA), November 4: 1.—. 2016. "Audio tells of Papini response." Record Searchlight, November 27: 1.Sabalow, Ryan. 2016. "Familty of 'supermom' holds on to hope." Sacramento Bee, November 12: 1.—. 2016. "Keep an open mind in unusual kidnap story, experts say." Sacramento Bee, December 3: B1.—. 2016. "Relative defends husband of missing 'supermom'." Sacramento Bee, November 9: A14.—. 2017. "Sheriff's office silent on Papini details." Sacramento Bee, January 31.—. 2016. "'Supermom' hasn't been seen since taking a jog." Sacramento Bee, November 8: A4.Sandhu, Amber. 2016. "Missing mom sought." Record Searchlight (Redding, CA), November 5: 1.Serna, Joseph. 2016. "A setback in kidnapping case?" Los Angeles Times, December 1: B3.Shulman, Alayna. 2016. "Sherriff gets help in search." Record Searchlight, November 8: 1.—. 2017. "Will 2018 bring more Papini details?" Record Searchlight, December 28: 6.Solis, Nathan. 2022. "Tale of abduction by Latinas fueled racial unease." Los Angeles Times, March 6: B2.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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hosted by me, Luke Lamanna. Each week, I dive into the hidden truths behind the world's most powerful institutions. From covert government experiments to bizarre assassination attempts, follow Redacted on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Alina.

And this is Morbid. This is my bed. Post Halloween morbid Merry Christmas everyone. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Holidays that coming. I'm a little bit in my post Halloween like man, sad. I'm sorry. I have joy. Not that Halloween is over. I'm not little bit in my post Halloween like man Said I'm sorry. I have joy

Not that Halloween is over. I'm not joyful about that because I fucking fuck so heavy with Halloween But I became in November 1st girly this year you did I'm never in November 1st like Everything gone Christmas decorations up. Let's fucking go girly But I feel that way. But this week you said, I am. Yeah, I started my Christmas shopping. I decided also this year, I'm switching it up. I'm gonna get a fake tree this year.

That's a move. It's a huge move for me. It is. I never got to have a real tree growing up because we always lived in apartments and stuff. So it was difficult. And my mom was like, I'm not going to get a fucking tree growing up because we always lived in apartments and stuff. So it was difficult. And my mom was like, I'm not going to get a fucking fake tree.

Like I'm busy. So when me and Drew first got, or when I first moved in with mom and papa, they always got me a real tree because I was like, please. Because we always got real trees. Yeah. And then when me and Drew got together, I was like, we must have a real tree

except for the one year that we were in an apartment. But this year I was like, Drew asked me, he was like, can we go back to like a fake tree? Like it that we were in an apartment. But this year I was like, Drew asked me, he was like, can we go back to like a, like a fake tree? Like it's a pain in the ass to have a real tree and I don't do anything for it. So I was like, no, we have to have a real one. And then yesterday I was thinking, I don't know, you can buy them pre-lit and shit. And I'm always cleaning up the pine needles, which drives me insane. And then you can get that Febreze that smells like the Christmas tree. I'm going to get a fake one this year. I don't know. I was just feeling it.

Nicole Sarris I'm a real tree girly. Nicole Sarris You're a real tree. Nicole Sarris Yeah, I can't relate. Nicole Sarris I usually am. I'll see how I like this. And then if I don't like it, I can always just like bring it to Sabres and get a real tree. Nicole Sarris Yeah, I love the, I love there's a different smell of a real tree to like a chemical smell of pine.

One thing that I don't love, our cats are fucking annoying a little bit about the tree. That's why I don't have cats though. And also I don't like the stickiness when you're taking out the tree when it's all done. And then like you look and like the wall was sticky. I don't like that. And the floor gets sticky.

You're like, I'm gonna convince myself that. That's kind of what I'm doing. like that. Yeah. The floor gets sticky. You're like, I'm going to convince myself that. I don't know. I don't. It's just, it's just a feeling. I actually hate it. It hit me over like a freight train. Yeah. Just said, I mean, good for you, man.

I support that for you. Thanks. I think the girls would kill us if we didn't get a real tree. You think they love the process of picking out a tree. It's very fun. And like the whole shebang. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like when we have kids, we'll go back to that. Yeah. It's like the process of picking out a tree is such a, yeah, it's a cute family

day thing. Yeah. Oh, if you're now you're making me second guess how I feel. That's the thing. I just couldn't give up is the process of picking it out. I know going to pick it out is fun. But also I was thinking too, I'm just in the mood to put my tree up now. Like I want to put up a tree. You can't do that. And you can't, you only got like two weeks out of that bad boy. Maybe three.

You get more than that. I don't know. I was going to say you get more. I have no idea. You definitely get more than that. How much time do you get out of your tree? Three, four weeks? You get a few weeks.

Yeah. And then we always keep it up until the new year. So. Yeah. I don't know. Trees. Trees, you know. We also have, I mean, the holidays are coming. So like, get ready. We have get ready.

If you're listening right now, I think it's November 14th. That's what Mikey told me. And we never know. We never know. Someday we'll know. Right. It is not right now. It is someday.

We'll get this right. But yes, if you're listening right now, Iondery+, we have some new merch that went live. We got like a fun fall holiday collection going on. We got lots of cute new shirts. One of them says malevolent deities. So I'm like, pretty obsessed with that. That one I love. That one's really cool.

There's a new hat that also says malevolent deity. I like the stay weird with like the moth on it. That's a new one that we've got going. We got it in cropped and regular. I like the stay weird with like the moth. Oh, yes. That's a new one that we've got going. We got it in cropped and regular. Very cozy. Very cozy. We're very adamant about the feel of something like worse. We're very much trying to get our hands on those things. So that soft soft shit because I'm very, I'm a texture person. Same. If I have a scratchy sweatshirt or t-shirt. Nope.

Scratchy t-shirt. I like the thought of it makes me want to scream. I'm like cringing at the moment. I don't like it. Yeah. And then one thing that is also really exciting is the holiday sweater. There's a morbid holiday sweater. It's like our take on a holiday sweater.

It's like an ugly sweater. Yeah. But it's like so ugly. It's cute. Yeah, exactly. And there's like lots of cute little details. And then one thing I am so fucking excited about, I was like, like I needed this is the charm bracelet. Oh, I love the charm bracelet. The charm bracelet is very cute. Very fun. If you are listening right now on Wondery Plus, head your booty over to our shop and go grab that stuff.

And if you're listening wide, do it retroactively. Go back. Go back. Go back in time. Do it. Go do it. See ya. Yay.

Yeah. I think that's all like the biz nasty that we have going on. Yeah. You have anything? No. One thing, this is just a random thing. It has nothing to do with really anything. I love random.

But it's just, Ash had brought it because we covered Pan's Labyrinth on Scream recently. And I love Guillermo del Toro. And Ash had mentioned, and I remember seeing this a long time ago. I just never watched it. And Ash brought it back to my attention that Guillermo del Toro had done this Netflix anthology series called Cabinet of Curiosities. It's like eight episodes, all a different director that he has his hands in and that he like curated.

And it's all a different, like less than an hour long, like mini movie, each one. And so far, fucking delightful. I love it. Oh, good. So if you haven't jumped on it, like I'm telling you, it's a fun thing to jump into. The autopsy is my number one so far. It is.

That's what I figured. Fucking awesome. I'm telling you, everyone go watch the autopsy because your mind is going to be fucking blown. Yeah. I haven't seen, I didn't watch any of the episodes, but I was scrolling for something to watch on Netflix and I saw Gamera Duttoro and I was like, oh, I was willing to see this shit. And then I looked at like what it was. And I saw like the witch, the autopsy.

And I was like, oh, this bitch has got to see this. It's real good. So if you guys are looking for something to keep the spooky season alive forever, it's definitely a good one to do. And if you're in Ash, I started rewatching Grace and Frankie. There you go. So two polar opposite girlies up in thising Grace and Frankie. There you go. So two polar

opposite girlies up in this room. Very different. I am obsessed. So we're going to talk today about the suspicious, super suspicious kidnapping of Sherry Papini. Suspicious is a very kind way to say it. So suspicious. So she jogged out of town like, don't be suspicious. And kidnapping is also a kind way of saying it. Yeah. I don't really know what else you'd call it. The hoax. The great hoax of Sherry Papini.

The absolute scam hoax that Sherry Papini caused. Terrible woman. Yeah, truly. Terrible woman. Complete asshole. Complete asshole. Douchebag. Douchebag of the century.

Truly. So let's get into it. If you don't know this story, you're about to. When 34-year-old Sherry Papini did not show up to pick up her kids from daycare on the afternoon of November 2, 2016, everyone was immediately alarmed. The teachers at school, her family, her friends, they were like, that's fucking weird. Yeah, because who would willingly not pick up their children from daycare? Oh, yeah, Sherry Papini. Yeah, because she literally chose to leave her children at daycare to perpetuate this.

Yeah, incredibly fucked. Whoa. Alina's just throwing up her finger every time she does that. Whoa. But up until that point, everyone just knew her as like this lovely, doting, stay at home mom. That's what's so scary. All her energy went to her children. So you would never think she would do something. Everyone just knew her as like this lovely, doting, stay at home mom. All her energy went to her children. So you would never think she would do something like this.

Very cookie cutter, white picket fence vibes. So her husband Keith told anchors on Good Morning America, everybody who knows my wife knows there's no reason for her to leave. She was definitely taken against her will. And he was not in on this, I'll tell you from the jump. Keith was blindsided. And why would he have any reason to believe that somebody that is, like you would never think.

No, he thought he had like a great life. There are several layers of this story. Yes. That you go, in no world would I ever believe that someone would go this far or do this kind of absolute nonsense? And it just keeps, it piles on. The more that adds into this, you go, no, no, no one would do that.

For what? Like, Sheri, what did you, I mean, she got money out of it. Like, that's for sure. But it's like, but I don't even think that was nearly enough to do what you're doing. And I don't really think that was the ultimate goal. At least in my opinion, just knowing about the case. I think the goal was attention. There's a lot of mental illness was a factor for sure. For sure. It has to.

This is beyond comprehension. There's a documentary about it. Yeah. I think it's The Perfect Life on Hulu. Hold on, I wrote it at the end of my notes. It's a, this documentary will blow your mind. It's so good. I think it's three episodes. It's Perfect Wife, The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherry Papini. And there was things in the documentary that I hadn't even heard about.

Just like watching the case fold out. Oh, yeah. Like the end of it, I was like, oh, wow. Yeah. You're just awful. Yeah. In every way that you could be. To the core. That's the other thing. This isn't just like, you know, some mental health issues going on. She's just a shit person to the core. Oh, 100%. Like when you find out like the details of who she is.

Yeah. She's an asshole. So it's like, yeah. It's wild. I feel so bad for her family. I do too. I really do. So let's go back to the start. So earlier that day, Sherry left her home in Reading to go for a jog, something she'd done countless times before. It was her routine. Just before leaving for her jog, she texted Keith to ask if he was going to be home for lunch. And he said, no. So she went out. When Keith got home from work that night, a little after five, he was surprised to find the house completely empty. Sherry at that point

was a stay-at-home mom and with the exception of a few days a week that the kids were in daycare, she was always home with them in the afternoons and she always went and got them from daycare. So by the time Keith got home, everyone was home. Now according to Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosanko, Sherry was last seen by a neighbor quote in the area of the old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive about a mile and a half from their home. So not far at all. Sheriff's deputies were able to trace Sherry's phone to the intersection where she was last

seen using a find my iPhone with Keith's help. And it was there they went out to that intersection and they found her phone, her earbuds and several strands of blonde hair, which Sheri was a blonde or is a blonde. Her mother-in-law Suzanne said of the discovery, I would say my personal reaction is that it's twofold. One is that it's good to have some sort of clue. But the other portion is that it really points to she's been taken. I mean, she wouldn't just drop her phone if she was running away. No, you wouldn't just drop her phone if she was running away. No. You wouldn't think.

No, the hair is like, again, when you know like, what's going on, it reminds me of Scream 4. Yes. When Jill is tearing out chunks of her hair. So true. And people also always compare this to Gone Girl. Yeah, yep. Which I wanna say Gone Girl came out before this. I Girl. Yeah, yeah. Which I want to say Gone Girl came out before this.

I think it was, yeah, because I think it was called, a lot of people said it's like the Gone Girl case. Yeah, I think you're right. Fact check me, I'll continue and you can interrupt me. Yeah. So Sheri had, she'd always been a dedicated wife and mother up to that point. She rarely deviated from a routine.

She didn't have any physical or mental health conditions that anybody knew about at that point, and she had never had any interaction with law enforcement. So simply put, she was the last person that anybody would have ever expected to just disappear without a trace. SONIA BARAINI Bonkers. STACEY Initially, sheriff's deputies fanned out across the area where she was last seen looking for any evidence that might point them in the right direction. But with the exception of the phone, the earbuds, and the hair evidence, the search really didn't

turn up anything else as far as clues. So a few days later, nearly 150 friends, family, and neighbors spread out across Reading to help search for Sherry. And many others handed out flyers or posted on social media. Like the community was very active in this case. It was one of those cases where you actually see the best of a community like banding together. Yeah, everybody kind of bands together to help someone that they think needs help. That they think needs help and they spend resources and money and time looking for this

person. Also Gone Girl, the book came out in 2012 and the movie came out in 2014. Oh, so like the movie came out like right before someone took notes. Somebody absolutely took notes. Not a doubt in my mind. So there were local businesses even offering their services or aiding in the search themselves. And local organizations like Shasta Support Service or Shasta County

Guardian Angels were helping to coordinate different searches. These poor people, they put that's the thing, like this community really was amazing. Yeah, like everything you would hope would happen when somebody actually fucking disappeared. Yeah, they all did their job above it. Sherry's sister Sheila told a reporter, I was just overwhelmed with all of the community involvement. Like, couldn't believe it. Within a few days of Sherry's disappearance, a massive

Facebook group was generating a large number of tips, but at that point none were particularly useful. And meanwhile, in Reading, investigators started questioning the known sex offenders living in the area, but all had alibis that quickly checked out, so they were ruled out as suspects. And in an effort to encourage more tips from the public, Secret Witness, a community-based organization to help with missing persons cases, offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to Sheri's safe return. A day later, that reward was raised to $50,000 thanks to a huge number of private donations. And those who couldn't donate money seemed more than happy to donate their time.

People were literally driving to Reading from other parts of California, having been just absolutely moved by the growing number of articles about this woman that everyone at that point was referring to as Supermom. Think of how big California is. And people were driving from all over just to go participate in the search because this woman was such an inspiring mother to them, an inspiring wife. That's what's so scary is it's like, that's the thing. People were not wrong to be taking that from her because that's what was being portrayed. Yeah, exactly.

And it's like, damn, there's a lot of compartmentalization of personalities here. Yeah, definitely. So despite the truly remarkable community effort and countless man hours from local law enforcement, a week passed and there was still no sign of Sherry or even the slightest hint of where she could have possibly gone. By that point, the Sheriff's Office had to consider the possibility of foul play, obviously, but they still weren't willing to confirm anything just yet. Lieutenant Anthony Bertain told reporters on November 8th, Now, the lack of news from local law enforcement was obviously frustrating

for the family and for the community who were starting to feel like all their efforts weren't getting them any closer to finding Sherry. I can't imagine that. Her sister Sheila said at the time, the frustrating part is we feel like we're going on nothing. I think we exhausted the resources that we have out here to search for her. We feel that it's moved to where she's been taken from this area and everyone in the nation needs to be looking. So they were thinking she was beyond California at that point. Yeah. And that must be the scariest thought. Just thinking she could be anywhere. Yeah. Literally anywhere.

And like, how are we going to find her in this like entire fucking country? How do we narrow this down at all? Exactly. Now, while the family's concerns of a kidnapping were understandable, they also were entirely plausible. Because less than a month earlier, on October 12th, 51-year-old Stacey Smart disappeared from her home in Lewiston, which is only about an hour from Reading. And with Sheri's disappearance happening so soon, and with the two women sharing pretty similar features, many in the community started to worry that maybe there was some kind of serial offender operating. Which was probably the aim. Probably. So with no new evidence and a growing fear that something truly, truly nefarious

had happened to Sheri, suspicion of course fell on Keith Papini, particularly among the Facebook group that was dedicated to finding Sheri. And this is where it can get dangerous. This is where it can get dangerous. Exactly. Because sure, it happens a lot. Of course are involved, but there are also cases where they are not involved and they are just dedicated to finding their wife. Well, and it's when it starts happening on like a particularly Facebook, I feel like

any kind of social media where it's like people are just getting kind of roasted at the, you know, like at the stake for, for just like theories. It's like, that's when it can get bad. Because it won't also anybody can go on Facebook and say anything later on any social media and say anything about anybody. So it's like, that's dangerous. Yeah. And then it can compromise the investigation, especially when it's an active investigation. Yes, exactly. So on November 9th, Sherry's father actually, Rod Rodriguez, took to Facebook to defend his son-in-law saying, we recognize that in 80% of the disappearance cases, the spouse is responsible.

But conversely, that means in 20% of the cases that the spouse is not involved, this case falls into the latter category. That's a big thing right there. Yeah. Her father to be like, I'm not even going to entertain that idea. He knows the guy. That's huge. Like he knows the guy more than anybody on social media knows the guy.

Yeah, exactly. And as evidence of Keith's innocence, Rodriguez pointed to the fact that Keith had fully cooperated with law enforcement and noted that his alibi checked out. He was at work at the time. His boss confirmed that he had been at work at the time. And the police even checked the cell and GPS data recovered from his phone on the day of the disappearance. And that also checked out with his alibi.

So it's like, you've got like a fully, like a three pronged way of telling that he is not involved. Exactly. But if he wasn't responsible, who the fuck was? This was obviously the question that the Sheriff's Office was grappling with once they cleared all of the more likely suspects on their list. Because I feel like obviously clearing suspects is a good thing. But the more and more you cross people off that list and their alibis are checking out, you're losing steam. Like, that's the thing. Like once you cross people off, it's great because

you're saying cool that the husband didn't do it. That's a cross. That's great. Like, that's the thing. Like, once you cross people off, it's great because you're saying, cool, that husband didn't do it. That's A+. That's great. That's reaffirming. And like, you know, other people, it's like, yeah, you're narrowing it down, but sometimes it gets too narrow. And then it's like, you got nothing left.

Yeah, like what avenue do you search? And where do we go from here? Right. So investigators search, this is where they went from here. They searched state and local databases for cases with details that were matching Sherry's, but they didn't even find any connections. In fact, they even ruled out non-human attackers like mountain lions. Sometimes in that area, mountain lions wander down into town and they can pose a threat

to the public. I get that. The fact that they even went that far to narrow that, like that's pretty big. They were doing their due diligence for sure. The sheriff said there were no signs of blood or struggle and tracking dogs also never picked up the scent of a potty. It seemed like Sherry had literally jogged out into that intersection outside of town and just evaporated into the air, leaving behind only her phone and the ear buds and

the hair as evidence that she was even there. Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and even new ways of thinking. Find genres you love and discover new ones along the way. Explore bestsellers, new releases, and thousands of included audiobooks and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your daily routine

without needing to set aside extra time. There's more to imagine when you listen. If you know anything about Morbid, you know that we have the Weirdos Audiobook Club and we convene every couple months. And this month we'll be convening on December 13th to talk about this wonderful title, Bluebeard. Really really good. It's kind of like a radio drama, which is very interesting.

Really having a great time listening. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new releases. New members can try Audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500 500. That's audible.com slash morbid or text morbid to 500 500 to try audible free for 30 days audible.com slash morbid. Listen, I don't know about you guys, but obviously I have some bad habits that I want to shrug off. You know, we've all some bad habits that I want to shrug off. You know, we've all got bad habits that we try to shake off.

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or combustion. There's no nicotine. It's not addictive. It's non-toxic flavors. It is a guilt-free alternative. Plus, no batteries, so you never need to even charge it. Fume has served over 300,000 customers and you can be the next success story. For a limited time, use MyCodeMorbid to get a free gift with your journey pack. Head to tryfume.com, that's tryfum.com, and use CodeMorbid to get a free gift with your order today. So despite the incredible community-wide search effort and the considerable reward for information, which at that point had reached nearly a hundred thousand dollars. Damn. Three weeks passed with no new leads, no new evidence, nothing.

Then in the early morning hours of November 24th, 2016, a driver on Interstate 5 in Yolo County spotted what appeared to be a young woman standing on the side of a rural road trying to flag him down. And this was about 150 miles from Reading. Wow. So the driver pulled over and was stunned to find that the woman who was still bound at the wrists and looked like she had been severely beaten was none other than Sheri Papini. I remember this. It's so weird. I don't remember this at all. I remember this. It's so weird.

I don't remember this at all. And I was like out of high school. I literally don't remember this in any way. I remember it and I remember everyone, probably including myself at the time thinking when I was watching it, like the husband did it. Yeah. I mean, immediately you thought it. You do automatically think that.

And it's like, yeah, you just start taking to Facebook to talk about it. And then later you're like, oh, what an asshole for thinking that. Damn. But yeah, it was, it was a wild news story. Yeah. And then later you're like, what an asshole for thinking that. Damn. But yeah, it was, it was a wild news story. I, yeah. Cause when she was found, it was like, whoa, and then things started happening and you were like, whoa, what is going on? Cause that really never happens. Like obviously like it does, but it's few and far between. And then when somebody does get recovered and like they still can't find the people that did it. And it was how it was her immediate and we'll obviously get to it. But her description of

her attackers immediately I think went, huh. Huh, that's weird. Her immediate description of her attackers and then they dig into her past and her opinion. Exactly. And that's why it went, huh. Yeah, we'll get there. Huh? Yeah. Trigger warning right up here for racism. Yeah. So the driver immediately obviously called the California Highway Patrol to report the discovery

and officers were at the scene within minutes. They quickly requested backup for what they described as a woman who was, quote unquote, heavily battered. And she was. Yeah. In his statement to the press, the sheriff said, We are very ecstatic to report that Sherry Papini has been located and has been reunited with her husband and family

on this day of Thanksgiving. I am happy to say that Sherry is now safe and that she has been treated at an area hospital outside of Shasta County for non-life threatening injuries. So at the time, the sheriff's office had little to say in the way of details, telling reporters just that Sherry's injuries were non-life-threatening. Authorities were now on the lookout for a, quote, dark-colored SUV with two Hispanic

females armed with a handgun. In the days that followed, small details about the case started to emerge via the Sheriff's Office. Sherry had been discovered a, quote, short amount of time after being dropped off by her captors, according to the sheriff. But he added there is sensitive information that is being withheld at this time that I'm not able to put out. And please respect this until such time when we're able to make an arrest and bring these criminals to justice and Sherry's abduction. So there was a lot that they were working on at this point that they were keeping close to the chest. Yeah.

But by the end of the month, the family had put out a press release detailing some of the information yet to be released to the media. In the three weeks since her abduction, Sherry had dropped to 87 pounds. Wow. And was, quote, covered in multicolored bruises, severe burns, red rashes, and chain markings. Which sounds fucking horrific. Absolutely, and you would never in your mind think that somebody would be able to create those injuries on their own.

Just like willingly. Yeah. But according to her husband Keith, Sheri had quote, suffered incredibly through intense physical agony and severe mental torture. Among other things, her hair had been cut off. She had been branded with the word Exodus, like genuinely, literally branded. And she told police that she believed that it was a reference to the Bible. And in addition to her other injuries, the bridge of her nose had been broken. So she, like she had any part of her body that was visible was injured. And also like her hair being cut off, like that's so

psychologically fucked, like horrifying. In his statement, Keith said, nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see upon my arrival at the hospital, nor the details of the true hell I was about to hear. The mental prison I was in over the past three weeks was shattered when my questions of my wife's reality became known. That's like, I can't imagine seeing the person you love like that. No. Thinking about what they've gone through for three weeks. Think about in the three weeks that Sheri's been gone, I'm sure all Keith is doing is

imagining what's happening to her and where she is and who has her and his mind is probably coming up with all these fucked up scenarios. While trying to be a parent. While trying to still take care of his two little kids by the way. These kids were little. And then he walks into the hospital and sees her, and it confirms like probably his worst nightmares were true. Yeah. So, I can't imagine.

Horrific. So while most people were happy to learn that Sherry had returned home safely, some found her safe return to be a bit suspicious. For one thing, there appeared to be no motive for the abduction. To hear the story as Sherry told it, and as it would be repeated by the sheriff and family members, she was abducted by quote, two Hispanic female adults who quote, spoke Spanish the majority of the time of her captivity and concealed their faces in an attempt to hide their identities from her.

So according to the sheriff's office, these were the only known abductors. But when it came to a motive, the sheriff said, we still do not have a motive as to the reason why Miss Papini was taken. We do not know if she was a specific target or if this was a random abduction. Because it's like they weren't asking for ransom. They weren't asking for ransom. So they just abducted her to hold her and beat the shit out of her for a few weeks and then drop her on the side of the road.

Like why? And like not like that's like that's I'm not saying that like people aren't fucked and people don't just do things to do them. We cover cases all the time where people do things just to do horrible things. There's a case that I'm going to reference in a minute here where like that very thing did happen. So I think that's also why the police weren't really saying like, okay, this is impossible. Well, and they can't like they have to explore every avenue. And you're right. They have, there's got to be at least a slight precedent to be like, okay, this is possible.

Right. Is it a little out of the realm of, you know, likely? Yeah. Definitely. But we got to look at it. We can't investigate it like it didn't happen. Because again, what if that is what happened? You don't want to be sitting there being like, hmm, you're lying.

Right. Like, you know what I mean? And find out that this is really what happened. This person is traumatized from it. The police in this case absolutely did their due diligence. Like, you know what I mean? And find out that this is really what happened. This person is traumatized from it. The police in this case absolutely did their due diligence. Like, absolutely. But lack of motive was not the only reason people were suspicious. There was also what many people perceived to, and you kind of hinted at it earlier,

to be an overemphasis on the kidnapper's race. In a case surprisingly light on details and evidence, and one where the kidnappers wore masks or obscured their identities otherwise, there was an unusual focus on their racial characteristics. Through the course of their investigation, reporters discovered multiple blog posts apparently written by Sheri in 2007, where she quote, made racist comments about Latinos, among other things. In one post post she wrote, I used to come home in tears because I was getting suspended from school all the time for defending myself against the Latinos. The chief problem was that I was drug-free, white, and proud of my blood and heritage.

This really irked a group of Latino girls, which would constantly rag and attack me. That right there tells you everything. But wait, there's more. Saying I was drug-free, white, and proud of my blood and heritage, that screams a certain grouping of people who believe that. Well, and she's about to call them out. Yeah.

Post went on to say, being white is more than just being aware of my skin, but standing behind skinheads who are always around in spirit as well and having pride for my country. Yeah. If you were wondering whether she's an asshole, ding, ding, ding. There you go. Asshole. Yeah.

Who the fuck takes to a blog post to write that? Well, and what's very interesting to me is like you were, you were so open about how racist you are. And then you went and did this and decided to take it a step further. And it's like, babe, their job is to investigate your past. They're going to find out that you're racist against this group of people. You don't think they're going to question why you might be emphasizing the race of the and women.

Women specifically. Because she specifically says this group of girls. Yup. But it's definitely girls. And then it happens to be two women of that particular group of people that- Which is not likely that two women abduct another woman. Exactly.

It's like, could it happen? Happens totally. Again, nobody's saying it couldn't. But we do have to put on our logic hats here and say, this doesn't happen a lot at all. The precedent for this is tiny, tiny, tiny. Of course, if it ended up being true, then you go, wow, stick that in that precedent bucket and holy shit. We'll reference that later.

But it's like, they are looking at this and going, hmm. The fact that it's two women and she's already talked about girls, like a group of girls that were like being mean to her and that she didn't like and she's so proud of being white and shit. Like, come on. Come on. Saying you're proud to be white is crazy. I just have to say that. It goes crazy.

I just have to say that's a fucking insane thing to say. It's weird. And I'll move on now, okay? It's weird. Okay. Like, just be proud to be a good human. Yeah, I'm proud to be a good human. Yeah. I'm proud to be a good person. Damn. Never have I ever been proud to be a white person.

Like what? It's weird. I'm proud of my Irish heritage. I'm proud of my Scottish heritage. I'm not proud to be a white person. No, that's the thing. What? That's insane. That's the thing. That's exactly how I feel. I am super proud of having Scottish heritage. Yes. And Irish heritage. That's the thing. That's exactly how I feel. I am super proud of having Scottish heritage and Irish heritage. I'm proud of my 1.4% Italian heritage. I'm jealous of your Italian heritage.

But to be like, I am proud to be white. It's fucking crazy. I'm just proud that I have this very interesting heritage that I can look back on and discover and research and take recipes from, and cool legends and folklore. To each their own. To bring... It's just a strange thing to point at and be like, I am proud.

I don't understand. I do not understand. Also... Very weird. Saying that skinheads are always around in spirit. Like, the fuck does that mean, Sherry? I don't understand. in spirit. Does that mean Sherry? I hope not. I'm glad I don't understand Sherry. I don't ever want to understand her. But anyway, she said all that. And then in her post-recovery interview with the FBI,

she's continued to seem very focused on the ethnic aspects of her abductor's appearance. She told one agent, the smaller one had dark curly hair that's kind of short and so curly that if she didn't put product in there, it would probably be really frizzy. Wow. Wow. What the fuck is that going to mean to that arrest officer? Look out for a girl with frizzy hair. Who uses products, so it's not. I love that she's literally like, it wasn't frizzy, but I bet if she didn't put product in it, it would be a fucking mess. So look out for that girl.

Like, what are you talking about? Okay, asshole, like cool microaggression. She also described their clothing and racially coded and overtly classist terms saying their quote brown shoes looked like guest knockoffs. And they wore quote those big hoop earrings and had thin almost drawn in eyebrows. overtly classist term saying their quote brown shoes looked like guest knockoffs. Wow. And they wore quote those big hoop earrings and had thin almost drawn in eyebrows. Wow. Like you're an asshole.

A true, true asshole. You know how many things we could say to describe you, Sheri? Well that's I'm like bold. Really? Really? Bold of you. I won't. I won't say shit because I'm not an asshole.

But I'm thinking it. But bold of you. Super duper bold. That's all I'm't say shit because I'm not an asshole, but I'm thinking it. But bold of you. Super duper bold. That's all I'm going to say. Anyway, given the lack of evidence and the overtly racist comments that Cherry had made in the past, some people suggested, hey, maybe this entire kidnapping was a hoax deliberately planned to demonize the Latino community in Northern California. Maybe.

And that's the thing here. It's like in situations where it's like somebody has had like, you know, a mental health break and there's been like some thing that you're like, okay, they perpetuated this idea or something like this and they went too far. Like we've had cases like that. Of course, I can't point to one right now because I don't have enough coffee. But you know where like you can sit there and you can look at it and go, okay, like I can at least have some sympathy for what this person was going through at some point.

Yeah. This case, you just... Zero. I can't find sympathy in my heart, one, for a racist, and two, I can't find sympathy in my heart for someone who wastes the resources of an entire community and traumatizes her own young family. For what? Her family, her sister, her children, her husband.

So that's why we are like, she's such an, like, she is in my opinion. I think she's an asshole. I think this entire thing to traumatize your family and loved ones like this and again To suck on the resources of a community that needs that needs these resources bigger fish to fry and to like to take money from people and time from people and emotional Like allowances from people who are like putting them into this whole thing Because they care right and just because they're trying they're a good tight-knit community, that's so fucked.

It is fucked. Like you're an emotional vampire. And it's like, that's shitty. And like we'll get there, but spoiler alert, if you somehow don't know this case, she was like watching the news coverage. Oh yeah, she saw what was going on. She was watching her family on television.

I can't. Like that's how I could, like even just think, I could never look at Drew on television, like begging me to come home and be like, no, and just be like, Oh my God, hilarious. You want to throw another hockey puck at my face? Let's wait a couple of days. Like no. And again, if you somehow find sympathy for this person in your heart, that's like totally your, you're a better person than your prerogative and you're probably a better person

and like, you know, that's fine. Yeah. But I don't. Everybody's allowed to have their own opinion. Yeah, I don't. And I'm not going to. And you're allowed to give your sympathy where you see fit.

Yeah, exactly. I have sympathy for the fact that like, I'm sure she's very mentally ill. Absolutely. Like, I absolutely have sympathy for like, whatever is going on in her mental. That's fucked. Yeah, for sure.

But it's like when you talk about insanity versus mental illness, I don't think she's insane. I think she's mentally ill. I still think she knew what she was doing was wrong, and she's racist. She literally did all this like partially to demonize an entire community of people. Exactly. That's like not mental illness. That's just evil.

That's 100% evil. That's why I can't find the... I got nothing. I don't blame you. I feel like the mental illness comes into play with the injuries. You have to be mentally ill to do what this woman did. Yeah, but it doesn't take away the absolute evil shit that's going on around there. I completely agree with you too.

Completely agree with you. I agree with you. I agree with you. We're like, good point. Good point. Yeah. Support. So in response to everybody saying this was a great hoax, Keith Papini told a reporter,

those people should be ashamed of their malicious subhuman behavior. We are not going to allow those people to take away our spirit, love, or rejoice in our girl found alive and home where she belongs. I understand why people want the story, pictures, proof that this was not some sort of hoax, plan to gain money or some fabricated race war." And it's like, you understand why he's saying that's disgusting. Of course. Because it would be disgusting if his wife did that. He can't fathom it.

And he can't fathom that she did that exactly. And of course, why would you? You would hope and pray that the woman that you married and procreated with could not be... That evil. Yeah, exactly. Could not be capable of something like this. And the sheriff's office was similarly supportive of Sherry and the Papini family at that point saying, we currently have no reason to disbelieve Sherry Papini's story. She was assaulted and had injuries which she's been treated for. I think that was the main thing that everybody held onto that you couldn't fathom somebody

allowing themselves to be hurt that way or hurting themselves that way. You're like, there's no way. Branded, broken nose, hair cut off, bruised beyond. If you see pictures of her, she beat the shit out of herself and had help beating herself. It's crazy. It's unbelievable. And she wasn't eating, so she lost weight. When I say dropped down to 87 pounds, you can't even picture that. No. You think of your tiniest friend, they are not that tiny.

Exactly. That's crazy. So while those who questioned the legitimacy of Sherry's claims were far outnumbered by her supporters, skepticism did continue to grow in the days that followed, particularly as information remained vague and everyone involved was very tight-lipped. The investigation then was further hampered by Keith Papini, who, in an effort to disprove the skeptics, released details to the media. Sheriff Posenko said, I did not know he was going to release this until a short time before I did a media interview.

I think with some of the details he has provided, it could affect the integrity of the investigation. Oops. Which is not great. Because the sheriff had hoped to keep the few details that they did know about the abductors quiet until they narrowed in on a suspect and they felt that Keith's rush to defend his wife pretty much compromised their case. Luckily, they didn't technically have a case. Yeah, luckily, it really wasn't a matter in the end. They weren't looking for anybody, but if they were, it could have fucked it up.

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first order. Go to littlespoon.com slash morbid30 and enter our code morbid30 at checkout to get 30% off your first little spoon order. But despite the sheriff's attempts to quell the growing interest and debate over the legitimate legitimacy of the claims, skepticism about Sherry's kidnapping just kept on growing. In certain ways, experts on the matter found this to be entirely reasonable if not expected, given the lack of details and the outright just fucking strangeness of the claims being made. For instance, there aren't that many reasons why an adult would be kidnapped. And if any of them result in the abductor just letting the person go without having

achieved some kind of objective, a ransom of some sort or something. Yeah, like, you don't really see a case where they just let you go to let you go. It happens, but it's... But like, I'd be hard pressed to find a handful of cases like that. I don't even think there is a handful that I know about at least. But also, Sherry had said that she was abducted by two women, which is an extremely, like I said, rare occurrence. Former FBI agent Mary Ellen O'Too I said, rare occurrence. Former FBI agent

Mary Ellen O'Toole said, women don't commit these kinds of crimes because it involves an element of predatory behavior. But those same experts also caution the media to keep an open mind about the case. O'Toole also told a reporter, I've had some pretty bizarre but righteous cases where people look at it and say that didn't happen, even when it did. And yeah, absolutely. Happens all the time. And Kenneth Ryan, a professor of criminology at Fresno State, echoed O'Toole's sentiment saying, I know of no other cases like this, but that does not mean it's not legitimate. Exactly. There's always precedent comes from somewhere.

Yes. And speaking of precedent, in addition to the handful of experts who also cautioned people to remain open-minded, several members of the press were quick to point to the 2015 kidnapping of Denise Huskins in Vallejo, California. There weren't many similarities in the details of the cases, but in the Huskins case, her kidnapper abducted her from a home she shared with her boyfriend, held her captive for several days and then just released her. Yeah, not shocking. Which was crazy.

And initially, the police concluded that the entire kidnapping was a hoax, and they actually treated her and her man terribly. Like, it's rough to watch. But they then had to retract their statement once evidence conclusively proved that she had, in fact, been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Matthew Muller, a former lawyer suffering from a very serious mental illness at that point.

Holy shit. Really good docu-series on the case. It's called American Nightmare. It's on Netflix. Jarring. That's horrifying. Genuinely terrifying. It will have you buying a security system immediately.

Do you know anything about that case? Yeah. Fucked. But so to point that that can happen, you know, where the there's details that vary with Sherry having been abducted by two women versus like a man who could overpower her. Well, that's, that's the other there's like differences here where it's like a man abducted a woman sexually assaulted her and was also the middle of the night. Yeah.

And it's like, but this is two women? Yeah. And like, then they just like beat the shit out of her and let her go? Right. Like, I don't know. Exactly. You know? Now the other bizarre part of Sheri's story was the surprising sum of money that had actually

been offered up in exchange for her safe return, even though the kidnappers never asked for money. In addition to the original sum offered as a reward in the early days of the investigation, an anonymous donor offered $100,000 as a reverse ransom for Sheri's safe return. The donor refused to identify themselves and communicated only through an intermediary,

who was Cameron Gamble, a local security contractor. But like, that was crazy. That was huge. That one anonymous donor put up that much money. $100,000, like that's a lot of money. Family friend Lisa Jeter said, I mean, who offers five or six figures to find someone they've never met?

Yeah. Yet she and others were still convinced of the donor's intentions being good. And as he put it, quote, the hands of God had been put on my heart to find Papini. So that's just like a good ass person. Cameron Gamble even went on television to announce the offer of money to the kidnappers, but as it turned out, the offer was unnecessary because Sherry soon showed up in Yolo County

and no kidnappers ever contacted anyone to set up any kind of money drop or anything like that. Yeah. Who in their right mind abducts a woman period, but then abducts a woman tortures her for a few days and then doesn't collect a reverse ransom of a hundred thousand dollars. You would at least think that some kind of money drop would be set up. Or at least attempted. You know, like I can understand if they were like freaked out because they were like, this could

clearly be a sting to get us but to not even try to have any any kind of communication about it. I don't know. That just happened in my mind. I don't know. So by the end of the year, the public was eager for any details on the case. But both the family and law enforcement officials had nothing more to give. In January 2017, Sherry's sister told a reporter, we would just appreciate our time to heal and privacy. And the Sheriff's Office also had little to say to the press in the months that followed, other than the standard response.

Bosenko insisted to the public that, quote, the investigation is still ongoing, it's a priority case, we're still being assisted by the FBI in the case, we're waiting for some evidence to be processed by the California Department of Justice. Now by the end of 2017, little had changed. But skepticism surrounding the whole ordeal had grown somewhat stronger. We're getting more and more skeptics on this. In October 2017, the Sheriff's Department released a sketch of the suspects based on Sherry's descriptions, as well as a recording of Keith's call to 911 to report Sherry missing. And they hoped that these would generate some kind of new lead or evidence, but literally

nothing came from them. Because they weren't real people. Because they were not real people. And the same was true of the surveillance video released a month later showing Sherry emerge from the woods along the side of I-5 in Yolo County, which also I want to live in Yolo County and I just need to say that. Yolo County, yeah. That's hilarious. In late December, law enforcement officials released a statement to the press saying, we're still reviewing stuff with the case and then obviously if appropriate and if it's

going to help identify the suspects, then we'll release more information. But we have no plans for anything to be released in the coming months. So frustrating. So everybody was like, okay. Like, I guess we'll just never fucking know what happened here. Because eventually, one year passed to the next and there was never any additional information,

never additional details released about the case. And then the family just receded from the public spotlight. But that didn't- Which would make sense. Which yeah, you would expect that to happen. They would want their privacy. But that didn't stop the speculation. And of course the online arguments about the case

with many people now more convinced than ever that the kidnapping had been a hoax. Because when you're not finding the people and there's no leads whatsoever. None. Like obviously, cases go cold. Of course. That kind of thing, but there's no motive.

You can't find any suspects. Where's the evidence? You got that racist connection. Yeah, that's the thing. Something's wrong here. And that was sitting heavy with investigators. They really clung onto that rightfully so. So if you're not finding these people, sounds like they're made up. And that's when you go back to that blog post and you start digging for some more shit.

So while supporters and skeptics sparred with one another on social media, because that is the way of life, the sheriff's office continued investigating the case, but after repeatedly coming up empty, they actually passed the case to the FBI in early 2020. By that time, Sherry Papini had received more than $30,000 in aid from the California Victims Compensation Board. The fact that this asshole collected, and that wasn't the only amount of money that she received. She got money from GoFundMe's and other charity organizations. But this one from the victim's compensation board, $30,000.

And you just accept that and spend it thinking you're entitled to it? This is the same person that sat and watched her family beg for her safe return and still sat there and let it all go. Do you have a conscience? I think some people just don't. That's the thing. I'm like, there's something wrong there that you don't have any kind, that you were able to perpetuate this for so long. Yeah. So fortunately, with their superior resources and larger reach, the FBI was able

to achieve what the Shasta County Sheriff's Office had and they managed to get to the truth. And that's why we're sitting here today talking about this. The FB motherfucking I. That's why we're calling Sherry an asshole. Don't worry. If you don't know the case, you will soon find out what an asshole she is. I mean, already there was some pieces of evidence we've given you that should be shown you that. Yeah, exactly. But even more of an asshole. We're about to go crazy. In the absence of any new evidence, FBI agents turned to Sherry's past and they discovered

that she wasn't always the super mom she was described as in the wake of her disappearance. In an interview with her first husband, she'd been married before. She married him in 2006 so she could, quote, qualify for health insurance. They learned that Sherry had a long history of lying and fabricating stories, and many referred to her as being quote-unquote attention-hungry. The ex-husband also told investigators that Sherry had quote, fabricated stories about being the victim of abuse. According to another friend from her past, Sherry was quote, good at creating different

realities for people so that they would see what she wanted them to see, which got her really good attention." Ooh. And while the kidnapping case might have seemed like a pretty extreme length to go to in order to get some kind of attention, many people who knew Sheri and knew her, especially when she was younger,

wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she had gone that far. Which is un— If people are saying they wouldn't be surprised if you would go this far, whoa. When you think of how far she truly went and people, she branded her, she was branded. For people to be like, yeah, she probably could have done that herself. It's like, whoa. My God.

You have a history, my friend. She sure does. In 2003, she ran away from home and filed a police report falsely accusing her own parents of physical abuse. Yeah. So this is a pathology here. And she had also said that past boyfriends were violent with her when like they were not.

There was evidence to prove that they were not. She lied about being a victim of abuse many, many times. Yeah. Which is fucked up. Which is fucked up. So the deeper agents dug into Sheri's history, the more they started to question just how happy this supposed super mama really was. According to phone records, she had been keeping in regular contact with her ex-boyfriend Sean Reyes as recently as 2015, and they frequently used phone cards and burner phones to communicate. That's not shady as fuck.

It's sketchy as fuck. It was through an interview with Reyes that the real story of Cheri's quote unquote kidnapping finally came into focus. This shows you, you don't know anybody. Like, damn. You don't know anybody. You don't know anybody. The whole community saw her as the super mom, happy wife, everything. In the age of social media, you don't know anyone. Remember that.

You don't. Remember that. You are seeing a curated version of everyone's life. You're seeing a curated version of everyone's life. You're seeing a character. 100%. And I've seen so many instances of that recently on social media where things are happening and people find these, like, are like, oh, this person is not what I thought they were.

And it's like, yeah, you don't know anyone. No, if you don't know people personally and deeply, you don't know them. And the sooner you realize that and are happy with that boundary being there, the better this will all be because I think people are putting way too much into social media. I think so. Definitely. That's my little soapbox. I'll get off it. But according to Ray, Sherry called him on November 2nd, 2016 and asked him if he could

come pick her up and if she could stay with him for a while. In a statement to the FBI, Ray's cousin confirmed that he had seen Sherry at Ray's apartment on at least two occasions. Ray told agents that Sherry said that quote, her husband was beating and raping her and she was trying to escape and that she had filed police reports, but the police were not doing anything to stop her husband's abuse. Which sounds horrific. So of course he was like, yeah, you can come stay with me. Now, while she was there staying with him She concocted that fake kidnapping hoax in order to avoid having to explain where she had been and the entire time she was there

She quote harmed herself to support her false claims While she was there she like stopped eating like she ate very minimally and he was like, oh, like can I make you? Can I make you anything? Didn't she have like a banana? Yeah, she would literally just have like a banana. She asked him to like hit a hockey puck off her face at one point. Yeah, like bang a hockey puck off her leg. Literally, that's exactly how they said

in the documentary, bank a hockey puck off her leg. And this guy's just like, okay. And I think the way they broke her nose was, I think a hockey stick was involved somehow. I think you're right, yeah. And I think the way they broke her nose was, I think a hockey stick was involved. I think you're right. Yeah. And like a closet door or something like that. There was, yeah.

I mean, wild shit. Talk about folly adieu. Wild shit. Like damn. Yeah. So after about three weeks of just staying there doing all that wild shit, Reyes had a friend rent a car for him and he drove Sherry out to that rural spot on I-5 where she was found on the morning of November 24th, 2016. A check of the rental car's odometer

log confirmed that the vehicle had traveled the distance between Reyes' apartment and the drop-off spot in Yolo County. It's those little things. I love that shit. When it comes down to these little things, I'm always like, damn, damn forensics. And his story also explained the unidentified DNA on Sheri's clothes when she reappeared, which was tested and later confirmed to belong to Sean. Wow. So she was just having a grand old time. So she, to be clear, she bullshitted this entire thing.

The entire thing. To hang out with a boyfriend. Yep, an ex-boyfriend. An ex-boyfriend. Oh, yep. Remember, she has two young children. Literally, two little young, young babes. Like teeny tiny babes.

Left them at daycare, unplanned. Unconscionable. No, I can't imagine. And then watched on TV as her husband cried and begged for her safe return. Her parents, her husband, her sister, her friends. Everybody that loved her. Watched the community, go to all these lengths, watched the cops talk about how much resources they were putting into it.

Watch that dollar amount go up and up and up of people donating out of the goodness of their hearts. And somehow like fed off of that. Yeah. Like it wasn't like, oh, fuck, what have I done? But what you should take from this is not, wow, people are the biggest shit heads in the entire world. No, one person is the biggest shit head in the entire world. But look at the other side of it. An entire fucking community of people showed everybody what humanity is. Like that's the thing to take from this is, and they all said, we do it again.

Yeah. Like we thought someone was missing. We thought one of our own was missing. That's our community. That's our community. It's like that, take that away from it. That like most people in the world are going to do that. Yes.

Like these are the ones that you just suss out and you say, fuck off. And you, and you sit there and you wonder how people are even capable of existing. Yeah. Like Sherry Papini. Like the toxic waste dump that must be her soul. Yeah. Like talk about a trashed soul. Like it's she is a trashed soul.

She scares me. Yeah. What scares me is I also feel like I like know people like her. Yeah. And she's not happy. Nobody who does this kind of shit is a happy person. No, not at all. Like nobody who's an asshole being a dick to other people and like taking up other people's time,

like ruining people's days doing whatever, is a happy person. No, not at all. They're always miserable. So in August 2020, agents interviewed Cheri again and laid out the evidence that they discovered and warned her at the top of the interview that it was a crime to lie to the FBI.

So they're like, here's your time. However, Sherry, quote, did not retract her kidnapping story and instead continued to make false statements about her purported abductors and denied her ex-boyfriend's involvement. They sat there and they said, we tested the male DNA that they found on you. It's Sean's. And she sat there and acted shocked and said, Sean would never do that to me. It can't be him. And like literally started to cry like she was just having a revelation about like, oh my God. It couldn't have been him. No, no way. No.

Meanwhile, she had been staying with him for weeks. She literally sat talking to him on burner phones. You can watch you guys got to go watch the interviews because they're so deeply disturbing. And I feel so bad because her husband is with her when they can front her. And if anybody ever thought that he was involved in it, seeing his reaction when they tell him when they tell Sherry, like, coming out. Hello. Yeah, he is blind sighted.

I feel sad for that guy. Yeah, it really is sad. But unfortunate. Oh, and then another thing, and if you watch the documentary on Hulu, you'll see it. She had perfectly described where she was being contained. And it was this very specific closet that she kept talking about. And when they went to her boyfriend's, her ex-boyfriend's house, he had that exact closet.

And they were like, nobody else would have had the closet. But she, it was like a very specifically made, like there were certain like pipes and wires and stuff that she described places. And they were like, what are the fucking odds that that's the exact closet system? In the fact that she described his closet, didn't even make something you lied about everything else. Why are you giving the exact closet? Like I'm glad that you did it because it got us to hear. Yeah. And also, she, and this is the scary thing about Sherry Papini. She sat there in that interview room when they said,

we ran the DNA testing and it matches your ex-boyfriend, Sean Reyes, and she said, no, no, no, it can't be him. You have to check it again. There's no way it could be him. Yeah. She thought that she could get the upper hand there and convince them otherwise on DNA. She wanted them to rerun. That's like saying, can you crunch those numbers again?

No, it's DNA. If it's hitting on a person that's involved, it's the person. We didn't crunch the numbers wrong. It's a fucking, like what? This is forensics, bitch. This is DNA. Hello? This is deoxyribonucleic acid. You're not gonna get out of here. You're like, what the fuck? Like what? Like just the fact that she thought, that she's that diabolical that she was like,

let me give this a shot. Cause she's gone her whole life manipulating. And I think she was like, well, this is my magnum opus. And I can definitely keep this going. I just have to try harder. And it's like, no, babe, no, babe. DNA does not lie. You cannot manipulate DNA. No, not going to happen. No. And we got the fucking odometer telling us the exact distance. The odometer, the closet, the they

even found if again, if you watch the documentary, you'll find this out. She had saved to her Pinterest board, wood like like wood burning tools. Oh my God. Yes, you're right. Which she then used to brand herself with the word Exodus. She had saved those to her fucking Pinterest board. This bitch Pinterest-ed her own kidnapping hoax. Literally. That's a level of diabolical and also just completely like delulu that you can't even

comprehend. And the malice of fucking forth out there to plan your own branding. The most. Hello. Yeah. Hello is right. Hello, actually goodbye is right. Goodbye, Sheri.

Goodbye. But not goodbye yet. So unfortunately, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic really, really hampered agents' ability to aggressively pursue this case. Rona really fucked us. Yeah, but don't worry, we got there. In early March 2022, they were able to get a warrant for Sherry's arrest based on the evidence and statements from her boyfriend, Sean Reyes, there, her ex-boyfriend.

Thank goodness. In addition to being charged with lying to the FBI, Sherry was also charged with mail fraud, stemming from her receipt of more than $30,000 in victim assistance money from state agencies, which carried a combined sentence of up to 25 years in prison if she were to be convicted. Damn.

And she should have got that. Yep. On March 3, 2022, Sacramento FBI agents were staked outside of Sherry's neighborhood, hoping that they'd be able to stop her when she drove, like maybe going on some kind of errand without the kids. They were really hoping to not get her in front of the kids. Yeah, they really were trying to avoid that. And they thought that they had her when she peeled out of a neighborhood and she started

toward downtown Reading. But then they realized that the kids were with her and they were headed to some kind of music class, like she was dropping them off. So once they were sure that they had to redo their plan really quickly. So once they were sure that Sherry was inside the building, they sent an agent in to tell her that somebody had hit her car outside, hoping they could get her outside without alerting the kids. So she lost her shit and ran out and unfortunately when she ran out her kids followed her because she had made

such a scene. She screamed about it. So they witnessed the arrest take place which is really sad. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is The Kill List, a cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses and specific instructions for people's murders. This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those who lives were in danger. And it turns out convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy.

Follow Kill List on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C Truecrime shows like Morbid early and ad free right now by joining Wondry+. Check out Exhib exhibit C in the Wondry app for all your true chrome listening. ["Wondry"] She screamed no and actually tried to run away from the agents, which I was like, where did you think you were going? Sherry...

One thing Sherry has is self-confidence. In audacity. She believes in herself, in audacity. In abundance. Like, where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going, Sherry has, it's self-confidence. In audacity. She believes in herself, in audacity. Yeah. In abundance. Like, where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going, Sherry?

You're hiding the piano? The whole world knows who you are. Like, where are you going? Literally the entire world. Luckily, she was quickly subdued and handcuffed before being put in the back of the agent's car. And luckily, also, the kids' piano teacher stayed with them and called Keith

to let him know what was going on. She was like, hey, you have to come get the kids because they got Sherry. A few days later, the family released a statement expressing outrage over the way in which the arrest was handled saying we love Sherry and are appalled by the way in which law enforcement ambushed her on Thursday afternoon in a dramatic unnecessary manner in front of her children. I can understand. I can too. That's their children.

Yeah. You know, I mean, that's that family's babes. I would be really upset if any kid that I love would. Absolutely. Like I can fully understand that. And they also didn't know that there was a completely different plan and that it just didn't work out. Yeah.

So I'm sure they were thinking they just did this. Yeah. And I'm sure knowing that like retroactively, they're probably thankful that at least they tried to not involve the children. But I can totally understand why they were pissed. 100%. Like outside of the kids' music class, that sucks. That really does suck.

But the news of Sheri's arrest shocked friends and family and those around the country who were following the story. But not everyone was surprised by the arrest. A lot of people were shocked, but most there was a large group of people that were like, yeah. Reading local Tim Scarborough said, there was so much that questioned the validity of her story. I didn't believe it for a moment. Good for you, Tim. He had actually covered Sherry's story on his blog, but in the week, in the wake of her mysterious return, he started to get suspicious of the inconsistencies

and the various aspects that didn't make sense. And his public skepticism actually, he got a considerable backlash from people to the extent that he received like threats of violence to this person. I mean, because it's hard. It's like you're publicly being suspicious of something that could go the other way. And it's like that can be, obviously that would be awful. If you were saying like, this is a hoax and then it turns out it's not and they catch the people and they know she went through this whole thing. That's fucked up.

It's never okay to threaten violence against someone though. You can disagree with someone and not... Get it together, people who do that. Normalize disagreements without saying I'm gonna hurt you physically it's cool it's cool if you don't agree yeah it's fine it's the way of the world actually stop threatening everyone my god people are just everyone's gonna chill out different day and age everybody's just so angry we gotta calm down everybody is really angry calm down you need to calm down what does she say after that yeah it, it's Taylor Swift. Oh, yeah.

You're being too loud. Damn. 7am. Alina loves to say, damn, it's 7am. It's true. The Swifties are going crazy right now. I love that song. It's a great song. I think it's funny. So other community members were outraged by the racist undertones of Sheri's story. Araceli Gutierrez, a business consultant who works- That's a pretty name. The gorgeous name. Araceli? Araceli is really pretty.

I actually, I looked it up. I think it means something. I really like that. I think it means something, but it means something pretty, I was pretty sure. You know, while you look it up, there was this Ash and I remember True Life on MTV. It was like where it's at. I miss True Life so much. There was that respect my sect thing.

Or no, it was I'm a witch. That's what it was. It was like I'm a witch or respect my sec one of those. And it had that vampire cult that was in the other one. And it again, I think they were in at least two. Yeah, I think you're right. And because I think it was like I'm a vampire or something, true life. I'm a vampire or something. And there was a girl named Araceli, I think it was, who was a witch, but also was like a vampire

as well. Oh, you're right. I remember that episode. And she seemed like such as like, cool down. Such a sweet human. I just like putting it up. I remember hearing her name and I was like, oh, that's a beautiful name. It's beautiful. It has a beautiful meaning. It means altar of the sky or altar of heaven. I love that. And it comes from the Latin Latin words, ara, meaning altar and selle meaning sky. Oh, that's beautiful. It just like, as soon as you hear it, it's just like, oh, it feels

very like whimsical. It does. Yeah. It's certain names and like words, just like when they come out, you feel like they like, they twinkle. Because I can see it. I'm like, I just feel it twinkling. She like wiggled her fingers and then I said twinkle at the same time. That was awesome. That's your name is Araceli. Your name twinkle. Your name twinkles. And me and Alina share a brain cell about it. That was crazy. That's been happening a lot lately. Yeah, that goes crazy. I'm just kidding. Don't go away.

But Araceli Gutierrez, she was a business consultant and she works with the Latino community in Northern California. And she said, saying these two Hispanic women kidnapped her and all the lies that came out of the story, it's just too much. It absolutely is. I agree, Araceli. And you think of like, there is a huge Latino population in California. And you probably, you fucked up their businesses as well. Oh my God. Because you put out this shit and now all these people are probably

being victimized because of your racist lies. They absolutely were. There was like an uptick in threats and violence against the Latino community. And these like Latino run businesses, these women's Latino run businesses, they're the ones suffering from for your bullshit. That's why she wanted to do it. Oh, it makes me so mad. She literally like that was part of it. It was so far reaching the bullshit that she committed.

It really was. And given the timeline and the tone around the country Gutierrez told reporters the Papini story just gave a lot of people reason to believe in Trump's rhetoric. It really sowed division. And it's like, nobody should be sowing division. No, especially at that time. Like, come on. Like, it's just unity, my friends. Unity. We're all people. Let's just try to get it together. Let's just try to do the best we can. And don't fuck up other people's businesses. Don't fuck up other people's businesses. Don't be a racist asshole. Support small businesses. Lift up communities that are like, you know, oppressed. Like, come on, come on. It's so

much easier to do that. And how much we've seen in history what happens when you're shitty to marginalized communities and you don't discord. Like, why do we just continue to do it? And it's also just kind of like, I know we're just, we're like, guys, stop being dicks. I feel like people listen to this show are beautiful souls. So they're like, I'm not being a dick. Yeah. Tell everybody that's ever that's being a dick. Don't like you're trashing your own soul. Yeah. By doing that. You're trashing it. It's true. It's a waste dump in there. Don't trash your own soul. You want to twinkle like Aricelli? Yeah. You got to bring this soul to your next lifetime. It's got to be like clean and shit.

It's like the older you get, the more you realize that it's just like, damn. I've said that to everybody needs to show. I'm like, you know, approaching the old age of 30. I'm realizing time is limited. No, it's true. And I'm not trying to do fuck shit with the time that I have here. And you get, you know, you get more with honey. Yes, it's true. Exactly. Honey is a cure all that I have here. And you get, you know, you get more with honey. Yes, it's true.

Exactly. Honey is a cure-all. I love honey. And it tastes good. And she lasts like so long. There you go. Anyways, honey, we're really getting a little off topic here. Morbid in the morning.

Morbid in the morning and I haven't had any coffee. According to the FBI affidavit, Sherry's emphasis on her supposed kidnappers ethnicity led to, quote, years of tips from Reading and the surrounding communities about suspicious looking Hispanic women. And that's fucking tragic. Yeah. Like all the people that were just stereotyped. Yeah. And like harassed. Yeah. And turned into a villain.

Yeah. When they're not. Other members of the community were simply just fucking angry that they'd been duped into expanding an enormous number of resources on a woman who had never been in any real danger. Family friend Jane Atkin said, she had us essentially on a witch hunt. There were numerous posts on local social media group pages of sightings of women who looked like the suspects or similar vehicle descriptions had a lot of women on edge.

And that's the thing. It's like, so she really didn't care because people get wily in these situations. And it's like, she didn't give a shit if these innocent women that happened to match that description or God forbid drove a similar car. Yeah. Like people can go vigilante on people.

Like it's happened. It's like, obviously you don't want it to happen, but it's like, but car. Yeah. Like people can go vigilante on people. Like it's happened. It's like, obviously you don't want it to happen, but it's like, but they do. People do it. And especially when there's like really big uproar and something like you're being portrayed as this like blonde super mom housewife that like just got snatched up by these evil Hispanic women. And it's like, so people are going to go crazy. And it's like, and you just didn't care if innocent women were attacked on your behalf.

Because she's a racist. She just doesn't care. Part of her wanted that to happen. That's why she went out to me and said that two Hispanic women did this to her. That's really mind boggling to me. That's fucked. And it's like you said, she specifically said women. Women because she had a problem with that.

She had claimed she had had a problem with girls in the past. All I'm thinking, because she was like, because I was drug free and proud to be white. I would blame you for being proud to be white. But also because you were drug free. I have never witnessed an act of bullying where some girls are angry because some girl is drug-free and white. Well, you know what that was. That was another, that was her putting another stereotype.

Absolutely it was. They were drug addicts, that's what it is. Like, she's putting all the racist rhetoric into one little sentence there. Little tiny blog post. She's like, me, I'm drug-free, but they couldn't be. Nobody gets bullied for being drug-free. Nobody gets a shit.

Fuck off. Nobody gives a shit about you, Jerry. Are you fucking kidding me? Others in Reading echoed the sentiment. Reading resident Erin Friedman told a reporter, I was worried about her and her kids. It seemed like such a kick in the teeth of a community that didn't deserve to be treated like that.

She stabbed our community in the back with every step she took. Yes. Boom. I think Erin put it perfectly. Yeah. But unfortunately, if anybody was waiting for any kind of reasonable explanation for Sherry's behavior and lies, they were sorely disappointed. In a statement to the press, Sherry's lawyer, William

Portnove said his client had a, quote, complicated mental health situation, I'll say, but one that has to be confronted and dealt with, and that includes admission and acceptance and punishment. As far as why she did what she did, Portnova did not have that answer. He said, honestly, I don't know if anybody does. I don't know if she even she knows. And honestly, whatever explanation she would give, I don't want to hear it anyway. None

of it is valid. It would be excuses for piss poor behavior. The only excuse you would have is, I am devoid of humanity. Literally. That would literally be the only explanation that I'd be like, thank you. I'd rather hear that.

Thank you for telling me that. Cause like, that's really it. I'm devoid of anything good. Sorry. Sorry for that. Yeah. Like that would be the only, I'd be like, okay. That's full ownership right there.

Yeah. Well, she didn't do that. Whether she could explain herself or not Sherry knew that there was no point in carrying on her protests because still she was like no this really happened No, but in early April 2022 She did agree to plead guilty and she provided a documented confession in exchange for a reduced sentence Which I wish was never on the table the fact that she wouldn't with confronted with all that evidence. She still still wouldn't admit it until she got something out of it.

Still. Wow. Yeah. Oh, and a statement released through her attorney. She said, I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so sorry for the pain I've caused my family, friends and all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story and those who worked so hard to try to help me. I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done. Good, I hope you do.

You know what I didn't hear in there? A direct apology to the Latino community. You literally victimized them. Yeah, I'm sorry to Hispanic women for completely demonizing you. She said, I'm sorry to my family, my friends, and good people. Who the fuck are you to determine who's a good person?

How about you say sorry to the community that you completely victimized for years? Years! Like what the fuck is wrong with you? But per her agreement with the prosecutor's office, Sherry Papini was sentenced to, remember she was facing 25 years, and I remember watching this and being like,

are you fucking kidding me? She was sentenced to 18 months in prison. To me, that is a travesty. It is a tragedy. And that was to be followed by a 36 month period of supervised probation and in order to pay back the $309,902 in restitution. That's what she received in total from like go fundme's and victims' compensation boards. While she was incarcerated, Keith Papini filed for a divorce and the court granted him full custody of their children. There is a very interesting admission that Keith makes about what Sherry may have, may

or may not have done with their children. Yeah, watch the documentary. I don't want to get too much into it in here because it's just a, it's a detail that I can neither confirm or deny. As far as we know. But it's interesting. But it's what he says. And I'm happy that he is full custody, but definitely watch The Perfect Wife on Hulu.

But in August of 2023, Sherry was released from prison and she transitioned to a halfway house. As of March of 2024, she has yet to pay any of her fine, which with penalties is now nearly $350,000. What an asshole. I love that she's just an asshole from start to finish. Still not even paying her fucking retribution. Yeah. Or restitution, whatever it is.

Like she says, I'm going to work the rest of my life to make amends. And it's like, and all you think is like, yeah, I hope you do. Yeah. I do hope you do. I hope you work until your last breath to make amends. I hope that doesn't look like you are. You're immediately getting out and not paying back the money. It's fucked up because it's like now you look back on it and you're like, what the fuck? Like, what an asshole. That's insane. What a crazy story

and it's like while this was all going on the pain and suffering and grief and stress that she caused for several parts of her life and trauma and community like trauma for her family so real and it's like You look back on it now and can at least you can be like, wow that was fucked up But during and it's like, wow, that was fucked up. But during it, it's like, damn. Like the trauma you inflicted. It's fucked. In about 40 different directions is- And especially-

Filed. Especially on your kids. That's the thing, and it's like, lady, if you wanted to disappear, write a note and disappear. Yeah. And then he can file for divorce. Get a fucking divorce. He can gain custody of the kids.

If you wanted to, you want to leave your whole life behind, go right ahead. It's just the, the Dululu that she thought she was going to just to have the perfect like gongerlet, have the perfect disappearance and never get caught. And I just don't know how she returned and looked in her kid's eyes every day. Well, why'd you come back? Oh, because she had to come back. She wanted the attention. She had to get doted on and all of the above.

How you didn't think that was going to come out. Like it's just. Well, and they were having trouble in their marriage, definitely. Like obviously she was still talking to her ex-boyfriend. And it's like, girl. They weren't happy. And I think she saw this as her her because Keith even says it in the documentary She would bring it up daily like everything her ordeal that she had gone through and she would make him feel bad that he didn't

Save her. Oh, yeah, like she would literally be like you didn't say you didn't find I have to live with that I have to live with the fact that you didn't find me. So it made it so that she had the upper hand in the marriage Whoa, like you're the asshole meter, it broke. The psychological torment. Because she did all the things that we just talked about and then had the fucking audacity to look at her husband who she tortured psychologically for weeks and say, well, I have to live with the fact that you didn't find me

because you didn't want to be found. Like, holy shit, you went to great lengths to not be found. Like, damn. Meanwhile, you watched him beg for your return, search, do all the things. And it still wasn't enough. While taking care of your children. And it still wasn't enough. And still you're gonna make him feel like the shithead?

Yep. You are the ultimate shithead. And I think it was all so that she could come back and have him dode upon her. And like, like I think she thought he was going to realize what he lost. Yeah. It didn't quite work out that way. It is just the case is maddening. Bunkers. Maddening. I'm glad they caught her. Yeah. Because if it was still hanging out in the air, like, is it a hoax? Is it not a hoax? That would be maddening. I found another, I can't think of the name of the case right now, but I found another hoax that I want to cover. Yeah. I find them fascinating. They are fascinating.

I find them disgusting and horrific, but I find them fascinating. So infuriating. That somebody can go to those lengths and just have no, not a care in the world for what they're doing to everybody. That's not the real thing that gets you is they don't care how it's affecting everyone that they supposedly claim to care about. That is void of all empathy. Of all empathy. To take it so far. It's crazy. But yeah, crazy case. I definitely want to cover some more like these. I do like cases where people don't die. Like, you know, yeah, that's nice. That's pretty nice. Nice break to have.

I mean, it's horrifying. Still horrifying, but in a completely different way. Yeah. I think I'm probably gonna take you back to a dark place. Yeah, that's what you're here for. Place I should say. Oh, what do you have cooking in the kitchen? I guess we'll have to see. We'll wait and find out. That was so ominous. I tried. Alita is still so thick and spooky. I am. I love it. I'm like, Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, everyone. And I'm like still spooky. So spooky. Well, to all our spooky listeners out there and to all our November 1st girlies and guys and theys and thems, we hope you have a wonderful day and we hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you go and you develop an entire hoax kidnapping story of just being an asshole. Don't do that. I talked so much I don't know how to words. Go listen to Listener Tales because there's a video. Maybe there will be another one. Bye. Go listen to listener tales because there's a video. Yeah I'm going to go to bed. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts.

Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gabba was born into legal royalty, her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney,

I've seen some crazy cases. And this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informance Lawyer X exclusively on Wondry+. of the world's most shocking legal scandals.