True Crime with Kendall Rae - The Truth Comes Out: Sherri Papini Faked Her Own Kidnapping?

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

This episode is sponsored by: Cerebral Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Ugh, another pointless video call where nothing gets done. I think you're on mute, David. Uh, uh, sorry. What did I miss? IT just approved Miro for the whole company. Miro? That's the... Online whiteboard. For team collaboration, we can make these long video meetings so much shorter with Miro boards. We can share ideas, feedback, and updates on them whenever.

Actually see what we're talking about. It's all online. Miro will make her flexible work set up so much easier, with one virtual space for our brainstorms, projects, presentations. Oh, that sounds kind of amazing. So I don't need to wake up for 6am calls with the London Office anymore. Now you're getting it. Don't let time zones get in the way of your team working well together.

See why 99% of the Fortune 100 trust Mirro to get good work done from anywhere. Get your first three boards free at mirror.com. That's m-i-r-o-dot-com. Why Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel. Today we are looking at a case that I covered in 2020 I believe. And there has been a shocking new update. And I am totally blown away by everything that has gone on in this case and everything that is going on right now.

Today we are going to be talking about Sherry Papini. And I'm sure a lot of you have heard that name. Some of you may not have. And we're going to go over the whole case from the beginning today so that everyone is on the same page here. But some new information has come out and things are slowly playing out in court and things will continue to update over the next year, maybe longer, but I'm gonna tell you everything we know as of today, and tell you all my thoughts. But just a warning, this case is pretty mind-blowing, it's very frustrating, and it's a bit confusing as well.

So let's try to make sense of it as much as we can together today. So who's try to make sense of it as much as we can together today. So who is Sherry Papini? Sherry was born June 11, 1982 in Shasta County, California, where she has been her entire life. She was raised by her parents, Richard, and LaRetta Grayf, and she is one sister named Sheila. The other person we will be talking about quite a bit today is Keith Papini, who Sherry met back in seventh grade. Keith was actually Sherry's first kiss, and the two of them got married in 2009, and it felt like they were destined to be together. But Keith was actually not Sherry's first

husband. She actually married a man named David back in 2006, but their relationship was pretty short-lived, and then she and Keith reconnected. By the end of 2006, she had completely separated from her first husband, and almost immediately moved in with Keith in the house that he grew up in, which was located in Mountain Gate, California. A few years into their marriage, they had their first child, whose name is Tyler, and then two years later they had their daughter, whose name is Violet. And since the birth of her children, Chery was a full-time mom. Her sister Sheila said that Chery was a fantastic mother to her children. She was very involved. And they gave her the nickname Supermom.

We call her Supermom. She's an amazing, beautiful light of a person. Keith Papini worked at a Best Buy full-time. And for the most part, their lives seemed normal and happy, and their relationships seemed solid. So, in 2016, they were living their lives seemed normal and happy and their relationship seemed solid. So in 2016, they were living their lives as normal in California. They were doing a lot as a family, going to the beach and stuff. Obviously, they lived in California.

It's beautiful. Everything seemed kind of picture perfect. Until November 2nd, 2016, that is the day that everything changed for this family. That day, Keith came home from work and discovered that Sherry and his kids were not home. Both of their kids were in daycare at the time and Keith said that it was Standard for Sherry to pick up the kids from daycare between like 4.34.45 So when he arrived at home at 5.00 that day, he expected Sherry to be home with the kids. And normally when he got home, he was greeted by the kids with a big hug

and they had their family snuggle cuddle time. But that day, he came home and no one was there. And his last communication with Sherry was earlier that day and she didn't say anything about going anywhere that evening or not picking up the kids. Her last text to him was at 10.37 a.m. that day. And she asked him if he would be coming home for lunch. And he didn't reply because he didn't like to have his personal phone out while he was at work. So he didn't respond until 1.30.

And he said, sorry, long day. So when he gets home and he sees that they're not home, he doesn't initially panic. He figures maybe they stop somewhere, they ran in errand. He figures though that she probably did pick up the kids at some point and that she has them and they're just not home. So he calls up the daycare and he asks them what time she came and picked them up that day. And they tell him that she'd never came to pick them up

and that is kind of when the panic started sitting in for Keith. So immediately he decides that he needs to go and look for Sherry. He calls his mom so that she can go pick up the kids from daycare and take care of them. And he can focus on locating her. And Sherry had recently picked up jogging.

She was training for a Thanksgiving race that was coming up later that month. So he thought maybe she was out for a jog. She typically would go out in these wooded trails around their home. And so Keith went to look around that area. But Keith was really worried at this point. He's thinking there's no way that she's just not

gonna pick up the kids even if she's out running or maybe she lost track of time. That is just unlike her. So he feels a sense of fear and urgency. So he decides to use the Find My iPhone app to track her location, like many of us do, when we don't know where our loved ones are. And her phone panged at the intersection of Sunset Drive and Old Oregon Trail, which was along the path that she typically would run on. But when he got there, the only thing that he found was her phone and several

strands of her hair that were kind of wrapped up in her headphones. Now the placement of the phone has always been a point of contention in this case. It didn't look like someone had dropped it. It looked like it was purposely placed where it was. But at this point, Keith becomes very concerned that something bad has happened to Sherry. So he calls 911 at about 5.50. So I just got home from work and my wife was in there, which is unusual and my kids should have been there by now for my daycare. So I was like, oh, maybe she went on a walk. I couldn't find her. So I called the daycare to see what time she picked up the kids. The kids were never picked up so I got freaked out so I hit like a fine microphone

app thing and it said that her it showed her phone like at our end of our driveway when I'm really good service. Okay. Not the end of our driveway but the end of our street. Just drove down there and I saw her phone with her headphones because she started running again and it's like found her phone and it's got like hair ripped out of it like in the headphones so I'm like totally freaking out thinking like somebody like what's your scrafter telling me that something happened to her is the way I'm looking at it.

There's like then the repair like in the headphones like they got ripped off and like the crap. Yeah, no I understand. I understand. Okay, I'm sorry. I know you're going to keep me calm about. Obviously. So as you can hear Keith is pretty concerned on the phone call and he makes it clear that he's worried something has happened to Sherry.

And we later find out that no one had witnessed this happening. They did live in a quiet neighborhood so it wasn't really shocking that no one had seen anything. But reports do note that she was seen by someone at 2 p.m. running in a pink jacket on Sunset Drive. They didn't actually see anything happened to her or anyone, abduct her or anything like that. They just saw her running as normal. So people were very interested in Sharia's disappearance from the beginning. First, there was local news coverage, the national news coverage, then international coverage, which is something that families of the missing would really like to all experience.

But sadly, that is not how it works. Oftentimes, local news, national news, doesn't even cover missing people. But there was a lot of intrigue and concern around Sherry's case from the beginning. Also, there was a huge amount of urgency from different departments to find Sherry immediately. Federal, state, and local authorities collaborated on the investigation and volunteers also helped organize searches and tons of people would come out for these search and rescue teams with canines also searched the area from where she went missing but nothing was found. And according to the official press release from Shostah County, more than 20 search warrants were executed in an attempt to find Sherry.

They also conducted interviews with friends, family, and past acquaintances, and of course, potential witnesses as well. And one discovery that they made was that Sherry had been texting with a male acquaintance from Michigan, just days before her disappearance. And the two of them texted about attempting to meet up while he was in California. But this man was

interviewed and assessed and they determined that he was not involved in her disappearance. Do you consider at risk due to the suspicious circumstances? We're just using a map and or getting some grid searches. The longer that someone's

missing, that's very critical time within the first, you know, 24 hours. And while police are searching for Sherry, Keith starts doing media appearances right away. I'm coming, honey. I'm trying. I'm doing everything I can. And I love you. Bring her home. Bring her home. Just bring her home. Okay, here's how Miro works.

See, it's amazing! What's everyone doing at David's desk? Ever since marketing started using Miro's collaborative online whiteboard, he thinks all our other teams should sign up. Why? He says Miro's making his meetings disappear. And if every team gets on it, that means even less meetings! They're using Miro for brainstorms,

mind maps, customer research. So could we use Miro instead of having another 100 meetings for every round of feedback? Yep, you can comment, react to ideas, even leave a recording on the board. And what about presentations? There are Miro templates for that. How do you know so much about Miro? I've actually been using it all along.

I just used a Miro board to plan the best vacation. Okay, I'm on board. See how Miro users save up to 80 hours every year by meeting less and doing more. Get on board at Miro.com with three boards free forever. That's M-I-R-O dot com. And now for my next trick. I will combine the strength of hefty ultra strong trash bags

with the joyfully clean scent of fabulous salt! Wow, smells like raindrops and unicorns! Well, that turned out better than when I tried to split my assistant in half. New hefty ultra-strong trash bags with fabulous, so scent, so strong, so joyful, it must be magic. And in the first two weeks of the investigation, Keith immediately felt like the police weren't doing enough, and he felt frustrated by the lack of developments that they were coming up with.

Meanwhile, the police were also upset with Keith, because they felt like him doing so many appearances and being so outspoken in the media was possibly compromising their investigation. And of course, police did look at Keith as a suspect, as often times when someone goes missing, their spouse is involved. It's just statistically how it is. But it was quickly determined that he had no connection to her disappearance, and he had a rock solid alibi. It go fund me account was set up at that point,

and it almost raised $50,000. And that money was going to be used to hire outside investigators and, you know, provide them with any other resources they needed in the search for Sherry. And although the police were not happy with Keith doing so many interviews, it ended up being helpful because it attracted an anonymous person to the case. This anonymous person was touched by Keith's story. He wanted to help. And he was a very wealthy entrepreneur who offered up $50,000 that could

be used as a reverse ransom. And again, this person is a complete stranger. They have no connection to Sherry and Keith. They just want to help. And to this day, this person is anonymous. Bring her home safe. There's a $50,000 reward. Bring her home.

So a reverse ransom is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of the perpetrator or the abductor asking for money and exchange for the person that they are holding, it is offered to them in exchange for the person that they are holding captive. So this anonymous donor wanted to offer $50,000 to whoever kidnap Sherry in exchange for her safe return.

No questions asked. But the police were very against this idea, and they told this anonymous donor that they did not want him to get involved. But this man was insistent that he wanted to help. The only problem was he wanted to remain anonymous, and they felt like they needed a face for this reverse ransom. They needed a public face for this person that is offering this reward money. So he gets in touch with one of his friends that lives in Shasta County and she connects him with another friend who is named Lisa Jeter. Lisa is actually a friend of sharing Keiths and as soon as she heard about Sherry's disappearance, she felt in her gut that she had been kidnapped. And she

had a connection to a man that she felt would be the perfect fit to be the face of the reverse ransom. His name is Cameron Gamble, and he's a man that she met once at a local rotary club. Cameron is a former pilot in the Air Force and he worked as a captivity survival expert. His job was setting up large shipping containers in undisclosed places that mimicked real-life scenarios of kidnappings that someone may face behind enemy lines. And among the many things that he did, he also spent time traveling the world to aid in negotiation efforts to release hostages and victims of kidnapping. So Cameron agrees to be part of this and he gets together with Keith

and this anonymous donor to go over details of the reverse ransom. And Cameron was actually very cautious and skeptical about getting involved and it was actually his wife that convinced him to go ahead with it because she told him that, you know, if I was in this position, if I was kidnapped, wouldn't you want someone like yourself to step in and try to help? She commences him that it's the right thing to do, and he steps in to be the face of the reverse ransom. And there was a lot of pushback from the public, people thinking that he was only getting involved to promote his business.

But he has denied this and any claims that he acted as an opportunist. I don't do this for the critics. I do this for the small number that actually matter. And that being Keith and Sherry. And some people actually accused Cameron of being involved in Sherry's disappearance, which was strange. I guess at some point he had created a reenactment video of a kidnapping for his job. And the woman who was in it looked a lot like

Sherry, blonde hair, blue eyes. So that was kind of weird that he was getting accused of that, but he decides to move forward with this and try to help them out. So the plan was for Cameron to appear in a video where he would speak directly to the abductors. He would explain that all they wanted was for Sherry to be returned safely, and they would get the 50 grand no questions asked. And they also said there was a 100 hour deadline for the ransom money, and they were hoping that this would make the abductors act quickly. So they released the video, and then the hours go by, and soon it had been 100 hours, and

there was no word for anyone. Sherry was still missing and Keith was still heartbroken. So Cameron, Keith, and the anonymous donor come up with another plan. They decided to double the money to $100,000 and this time it's going to be a bounty and they are offering it to anyone who's able to capture the abductors. So they create a second video, and then they put that out on November 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, Keith is obviously very heartbroken to not have his wife there on a holiday especially.

You know, that just hits extra hard. So he decides to do a balloon release that day. But surprisingly, Sherry ends up being found. Sherry was missing a total of 22 days and discovered 150 miles away from home. It was just after 4am when a woman named Allison Sutton was driving her 14-year-old daughter through Yolo County, California. And while she's driving, she spots a blonde woman wearing a brown flannel shirt who's desperately trying to flag someone down. This woman looked dirty, she looked scared, and Allison knew that something was really

wrong here. For her own safety, she decides to travel a little further down the road until she reaches a sign to pull over and call the police. She had like a wide eye panicked kind of look. I was startled to see her, I was dark, and she pretty much just came out of look. I was startled to see her. I was dark and she pretty much just came out of nowhere. If I had swerved to the right at least a little bit, I would have hit her with my car. I figured if she was willing to risk being hit by a car trying to get somebody's attention that she must really need some help. She calls 911 and reports seeing this woman on the northbound on ramp to interstate five.

The officers tell Allison that they're on their way and so she and her daughter continue their drive. So then Yolo County law enforcement arrives at the scene and they identify this woman as Sherry Papini. Sherry was covered in blood bruises and she was still in chains. It was also very, very cold that day and Sherry was wearing very minimal clothing and she was still in chains. It was also very, very cold that day and Sherry was wearing very minimal clothing and she also appeared to be quite emaciated.

Video surveillance from a local church actually caught a glimpse of Sherry and she appears to just be running back and forth through the parking lot, most likely looking for someone to help her. So of course, they take Sherry right to the hospital so that they can check her over and treat any possible injuries. Police said that she cooperated with them fully, although she wasn't able to give them much information about what happened. And this is pretty common for people who have experienced trauma to not be able to recall what they have been through immediately.

Short-term memory loss is something that a lot of victims of trauma go through. It's often the body's defense mechanism to protect you from additional trauma by having to recall what you have been through. As for injuries, Sherry tells the doctors that she hurt her foot while trying to escape from her captors. However, they looked at her foot and did X-rays and they could not find anything wrong. And right away, they noticed that she was quite amaciated. She had actually lost 15% of her body fat

and she only weighed 87 pounds. Also, the bridge of her nose was broken and she had several bruises on her face and her body. And the bruises were different colors, meaning she got them at different times, though they were in various stages of healing. And she also had deep wounds and rashes around where she was chained, which was her wrists, her ankles, and her waist.

Also, her previously very long blonde hair was chopped off. And lastly, they also found a branding on her right shoulder that had been scabbed over. So they believed that it had happened early on in her abduction. Just rampast their way and I throw up in the curtain and she was there in a bed, in her poor face. Can I just hug her, I just held her. I felt like I hugged her for like 20 minutes.

I was so happy that she was there and I was just kissing her all over and then I got like nauseated just looking at her. It was so hard for me to see her like that. They also found two DNA samples on Sherry, one male and one female. And when Sherry first arrived at Woodland Hospital, she refused to answer any questions from law enforcement. And I've actually never heard of this.

I thought this was quite interesting, but they ended up giving a recorder to Keith so that he could kind of interview her and find out what happened and give that recording to law enforcement. And the reason that Sherry didn't want to talk to law enforcement is because she said she was scared. She had heard from her kidnappers that law enforcement was actually involved in her abduction, so she did not trust them. Specifically, she was told that a cop was going to buy her trust them. Specifically, she was told that a cop was going to buy her and that she would never be found. And according to Sherry, her kidnappers were two Hispanic women. She said she was running in that wooded area by her home, and these two women drove past her, then backed up and asked her if she could help them. She said she walked towards them and then their SUV door opened and a woman

inside was pointing a gun at her. She says they told her that they didn't want to kill her, but she had to come with them. She says she doesn't remember where they took her or it doesn't know where they took her because there was something over her head and she also said that she believes she had been taste and Sherry also said that while she was captive, she had been tortured every day. She was beaten, she was starved, and she was branded, which was incredibly painful. She said she was held in some sort of cell

that was very dark, cold, and dirty, and that they were playing some, quote, really annoying Mexican music. She also said they would play the TV very loudly, and that she believes there was a fireplace because she could smell smoke, but she wasn't sure. She said, as for food, all they would give her was maybe some rice, a tortilla,

and occasionally an apple. And while she was captured, she said that she missed her children so much that she would roll up some cloth and rock it as if she were rocking her kids to sleep. She told me on time she took some piece of cloth and rolled it up like it was violet. She would rock it. She so strong. Obviously, they needed to know how she was able to escape. And she said that the day that she escaped, her captors were fighting.

She said that during the argument, she eventually hears a gunshot. And then later, a couple hours later, the younger abductor takes her and puts her back in the SUV. They start driving and she says that she can't remember how long they drove for because she kept falling asleep. She just couldn't stay awake. She was absolutely exhausted and very weak at this point, but eventually they stopped. When they stopped, this woman tells her to get out of the car. So she gets out and she has a bag over her head. Eventually she's able to get the bag off

and she just starts running. This is when she is seen by Alice and Sutton running down the road. So Sherry has never spoken publicly about what happened to her. She never did any interviews. So this is what we know based on what law enforcement has released. And it wasn't until a year after she was abducted that she gave a forensic sketch artist a description of her abductors and they were able to put together this sketch. One of the women she believes was between 20 and 30 years old with thin eyebrows

and dark curly hair and was about 5'5 with a medium build. The other was between 40 and 50 years old with thick eyebrows and long straight hair. And she believes that this woman was about 5'7". She said that they both wore masks constantly to conceal their identity and they put a bag over her head a majority of the time that she was held captive. And Sherry said that any time she even made a noise or attempted to escape, they would abuse her. And she said throughout the days that she was kidnapped, she slept a lot and it was kind of a blur when everything happened, when she got what injury and what happened day by day. So the FBI said a $10,000 reward for any information that would lead them to the abductors.

But despite hundreds of tips, nobody was found. Now going back to the two DNA samples that were found on Sherry, like I said, one was male DNA and the other was female. The FBI ran both samples through Kodis, but no matches were found. And just to note, these samples were also not a match for Sherry or her husband. And since her disappearance in 2016, this DNA has been run through police databases many times,

looking for a match. And it wasn't until a year after her abduction that police released evidence found from the search warrants and DNA collection. And pretty much from the day that Sherry disappeared, there were people that were skeptical. And once people became aware of some of the other details, like the fact that she was talking to another man before she disappeared and that there was male DNA found on her, people were even more

skeptical. People have been incredibly split on this case from the beginning. I remember when I covered it, I even felt so, so torn because you always want to believe a victim, even if something feels off. And from the beginning, something felt off. I mean, watching coverage on this case, for me, researching it the first time around, something felt incredibly odd. But of course, you never want to think that something like this could be staged. I was just looking at comments on my last video and it was very split even back then. There were a lot of people saying, you know, how could someone fake this? I can't believe people are accusing her of faking this or accusing Keith of somehow faking this, especially with the fact that she had

physical injuries and she was amatiated, all her hair was chopped off, she had been branded, so many people were like, how could someone do that to themselves? I mean, that just is hard to wrap your mind around. But of course, something felt off to many of you and many people in law enforcement and many people just in the public who have been following this case since day one. And even though this man who she had been talking to was cleared of any involvement, people were very sus. And then an article was published that really made people sus.

Because it exposed a part of Sherry's past, that was less than ideal. This story was posted by the Sacramento Bee in 2017, and it included details of a time in 2000 when Sherry's sister believed that Sherry had broken into her house through her back door. It also stated that the day that Sherry was thought to have broken into her sister's home, she vandalized her own home where she lived with her parents. In 2003, her father also reported an unauthorized bank withdrawal, and suspected that Sherry, who was 21 at the time, was responsible. And lastly, Sherry's mother had to call the police to report that Sherry had been

hurting herself, and threatened to blame her mom for her self-inflicted wounds. And then a law enforcement expert and criminology professor named Ken Ryan, who has 25 years of experience, publicly expressed that he had doubts about her story. He stated that he found it highly unlikely that the perpetrators would be two women in a kidnapping and torture case. Considering that more often than not, these types of crimes are committed by men. Obviously, it's possible for women to commit such a crime, but he just felt like it was

pretty unlikely. He also said that in his 25 years, he had never seen a case where someone was kidnapped, tortured for 20 plus days, and then just released for no reason. And he felt like none of it made sense. And that was the feeling that a lot of you had in the comments last time that why? What is the point of this? Why would they just release her? Allison Sutton, the woman who first spotted Sherry, said that she has no doubts that Sherry really went through this horrific abduction and was held in captivity.

Was there any question in your mind that this woman was in need of help? None, whatsoever. With so many people questioning whether this is a hoax or she was actually kidnapped, what do you believe? I believe that it was real. I believe that she was kidnapped. So since she was found, people have just been super torn on this one. Feeling like something's off, feeling like the details aren't adding up, that none of it

makes sense, but also wanting to believe this victim, wanting to believe that no one would do this to themselves, or stage something like this. Then users on Reddit and a few other sites exposed a post on a white supremacist page written by someone who many people believe is Sherry. The post was written by someone living in Shasta County named Sherry Grafe, which, as I said earlier, is Sherry's made a name, and it was talking about violent fights that she got into with Latino people in high school. And this post, which is not available anymore, apparently contained a lot of racist

remarks. Of course, it has not been confirmed that Sherry actually made this post, but it was made by Sherry Graif, and her family has denied that it was her posting it, of course. But people have been speculating about it ever since it started circling. And in the weeks following her reappearance, police did not put out any statement as far as what they believed the motive could be. However, many people assumed that this was some type

of sex trafficking attempt. Although sex trafficking, most of the time, targets younger women. However, Sherry was fairly young looking. So many people have assumed that she was thought to be much younger than she was. But since she was found, there has been much speculation and not a lot of answers about what actually happened in Sherry's case.

But all of the guesses about what happened to Sherry were put to rest very recently, March 3, 2022. That day, FBI arrested Sherry Papini outside of the building where her kids play piano. Officers actually followed Sherry from her home to the building where they play piano, and then actually followed Sherry from her home to the building where they play piano and then they followed her into the building and told her that her car had been

involved in an accident and they did this to get her outside safely and away from her children so that they wouldn't have to see her arrested. So they take her outside and attempt to arrest her and prosecutors say that Sherry tried to run. It's been reported that she tried to resist arrest, that she was screaming no, and that she threw her phone 20 feet. And at this point, Sherry is being accused of staging her abduction, lying to federal agents, and committing mail fraud for an amount surpassing $30,000. And sadly, even though agents tried to shield her children

from seeing their mother get arrested, she put up such a fight and the arrest took so long that her kids actually did come outside and they witnessed her arrest. And a Papini family spokesperson has come out and said that they are very upset about the way that she was arrested. They say that Sherry would have just gone into the police station if they had asked and

they wouldn't have had to do all of this. So pretty shocking. I could not believe this when I got the alert on my phone and so many of you started tweeting me, can you believe this, can you do an update? And I waited a little while to actually do this update. I mean, this video is going out now almost a month after she was arrested. And I wanted to give more time for more information, more details to come out, which some has. She was supposed to have a court date in March, and that was pushed out. So that's coming up soon but wow holy shit she

faked this whole thing or so it seems and there's a lot of evidence to back that up let's go over what we know so far first of all that male DNA that was found on Sherry when she reappeared turns out it belongs to Sherry's ex-boyfriend James Reyes. James, who is not the man previously mentioned in Michigan that she was speaking to, was brought in for questioning. They were able to match James to the DNA found on Sherry because a family member of his had previously made a submission to a commercial DNA testing site, such as Ancestry or 23andMe, something like that.

And this family member's DNA was a familial match to the DNA found on Sherry. An investigators discovered that James was both related to this person and had previously dated Sherry. Imagine that. And to get James's DNA, they did exactly what they did in the Golden State Killer case. They went and dug through his trash. They actually pulled out an honest honey green tea bottle, which is one of my favorite drinks, actually.

And they matched the DNA on it to the DNA found on Sherry. He was brought in for questioning on August 10th, 2020, and told investigators everything. So investigators have had a lot of information that they have been working on for a while now. He was actually brought in for questioning

a week before my video went up on Sherry, which is pretty interesting. I normally film about a week in advance, so I was probably filming around the time that they brought him in, which kind of blew me away. James said that he was the one who picked up Sherry. That day in November, he harbored her in his home in Costa Mesa for the three weeks that she was missing. And James also told them that he helped

her harm herself. Sherry wanted to make her story believable. So according to him, she asked him to harm her. And he claims that he was convinced to help her because she had told him that Keith had been abusing her. He claims that she not only said that he was abusing her, he was beating her and raping her. He did know that most of her injuries were self-inflicted, but he did help her create some of them, which is just wild to think about. And this is so wild, this is incredibly hard to wrap your mind around that someone would actually do this, but James claims that Sherry made him

board up all the windows in his place. So she would receive no sunlight during that three weeks. And then during that time, she decided to starve herself and beat herself daily. So she fully committed to this. James explained that the two of them met some time around 2001 at a Friday Night Live youth program and that they dated in 2006. And he described Sherry as being an attention-hungry person who would constantly make up stories. And isn't that wild that they met at a youth group? And investigators actually contacted the program leader for the youth group and they confirmed that Sherry was incredibly

problematic that she often lied and exaggerated stories for attention. And in addition to all of this, this man told investigators that the two communicated solely via prepaid cell phones. The phones were corroborated by investigators after they discovered two prepaid phones that communicated with one another, one at her approximate location and one at his. They also performed cell site analysis and dug through toll records to show that James traveled to Reading, California

on the day of Sherry's disappearance, just like he said he had. And cell phone records also prove that they were texting each other the morning that she went missing. And cell phone records also prove that they were texting each other the morning that she went missing. And James' cousin also came forward and said that during the dates of her disappearance, he had actually seen her at James' place twice.

When it came to all of Sherry's wounds, like I said, some were self-inflicted, and some James helped her out with. That sounds really weird to say, but he was the one who branded her. And it turns out that this was a nice little DIY craft. He actually went to hobby lobby and purchased a wood burning tool

and she instructed him where to burn her. So eventually, right before Thanksgiving, Sherry decides it's time to go home and stage her reappearance. So James has a friend of his rent a car, and he used that to drive Sherry back up to Northern California. And car rental records confirm this, as well as the odometer reading on the car.

And when they asked James why he didn't go to the police after he released Sherry, he simply said that if the truth ever came out, the police would find him and he would not hesitate to tell the truth then. And investigators have found even more evidence that backs up James's story. First of all, James's work schedule shows that he took the first and second of November off, which were not normally days he had off. And the room in his place that Sherry had been held captive in matched the description of what she said she was held Captain Ben. So she really put herself through the experience.

This room had a closet in it that was exactly as she described and many parts of his place actually matched what Sherry was saying. And Sherry also had a secret Pinterest board. If you're not familiar with Pinterest, you can make some of your boards secret, which means they don't display publicly unless you're logged in. and this board was called gift ideas, but all it had in it was wood burning tools Like the one that she used to brand her own shoulder. So in August of 2020 back when I recorded and released the last video on this case

FBI agents and Shostah County detective sat down with Sherry and Keith for a second formal interview, and this time they were equipped with the information provided by James. And they started out this interview by reminding Sherry that it is illegal to lie to federal agents, and she nodded as if she understood this. The investigators first asked her about her abductors, and she referred back to her original description of the Hispanic women. Then they showed her pictures of her ex-boyfriend's apartment. The pictures were parts of his house that matched her description of where she was being held captive. And Sherry said,

you know, these look very similar, but it's not an exact match. And she even tells interviewers at this point that she doesn't want the abductor who released her to be found because it was because of them that she made it home safe. And that's when investigators told Sherry that they wouldn't find this woman because she doesn't exist.

And that's when boom, they present her with all the evidence that they had found. They tell her that the DNA that they found on her Madge Trex boyfriend and her response to this was simply, no, she denied everything that they were bringing forward, which is solid. And keep in mind Keith is in the room during all of this. Eventually they ask Keith to leave the room so that they can talk to Sherry privately. And once he leaves, Sherry starts emitting to more and more of what they are telling her.

She starts saying that she had talked to James and other men. Specifically, she said that she would talk to these other men when she went out of town, but that it was a horrible mistake. And in the end of the interview, they had enough from Sherry to determine that she had violated the law by making false statements to a federal agent. But obviously this was not her only charge. You may remember that a GoFundMe page was started for Sherry, with the intention that the funds would be used directly by the family for hiring people to look into her disappearance. And the page raised a total of $49,070.

And two weeks after Sherry returned, Keith wrote a check for $31,808 from the GoFundMe's bank account to himself and deposited it right into his account. He also wrote a second check for $1,160 from the GoFundMe's account to Sherry, and it was deposited into her account. And then a week later, on December 13, 2016, Keith used $8,202 of the GoFundMe's money to pay off some of his personal credit cards and shared the same thing, but she used $3,053. The remaining money was discovered to have been used on personal expenses for the Papini family. And obviously this is incredibly disappointing. This is horrible behavior.

And this is what gets me about GoFundMe's and why I'm always so careful with them. It's really hard to know whether a GoFundMe is legitimate, whether it's gonna be actually used for what the person is saying it's gonna be used for. So you always have to be somewhat careful, but at the same time, they can be so, so helpful for so many people in various situations and sometimes with crime. Sometimes people really

need that money in order to hire a private investigator or to help them aid in the search for someone or to help them get justice for a loved one. There are so many ways that go fun. These can be very helpful. but when you hear things like this, it's just really hard to wrap your mind around. That someone would actually use money that has been donated by people who are concerned about this person for their own personal expenses. That is just very disappointing to hear. But the real fraud comes in when Sherry applied for the California Victims Compensation Board for financial assistance. This organization gives financial help to victims of violent crime.

So she used her fake abduction story to make money, to profit. Between 2017 and 2021, Sherry received approximately 35 payments totaling over $30,000, which brings her total of stolen money from the public and this department up to $230,000. So she was charged in court and despite this, a judge did grant her bail. Her bond was set at $120,000 and she also had a variety of conditions that she had to agree to in order to be released. These conditions included surrendering her passport, agreeing to remain in one part of the state, giving up any firearms or weapons, not consuming drugs and alcohol, as well as undergoing a psychiatric evaluation program. And she managed to post bail with the help of her husband and parents, and Sherry being released from jail has obviously been incredibly controversial. Many including the prosecuting attorneys believe that she's a flight risk. Now if Sherry is convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison.

She also faces fines up to $500,000 both for mail fraud and for lying to federal agents. And right now there is a lot that is unclear. It's unclear what Keith knew if he could have had any involvement that is all totally up in the air at this point. I'm not aware of any evidence that he had any involvement, but people were very suspicious of him from the beginning. So we'll have to see. I mean, it's possible he had absolutely no involvement in this and is totally shocked. Her friends and family have really stuck by her side since her arrest.

Like I said, her court date was originally set for March 25, but it was pushed back to a later date sometime in April to give her attorneys more time to prepare. So seeing how all of this plays out is going to be incredibly interesting. And I know you guys have so many thoughts and I really want to hear what you guys think. This has been infuriating to see play out. When you think about the amount of resources, time, money, concern that was wasted on Sherry, it makes your blood boil, especially when you think of how many people out there go missing every day and could really use that financial assistance, that concern, that

urgency from law enforcement, and they just don't get it. And it is such a slap in the face to people who have actually gone missing, to their families who have spent time and have experienced heartbreak while searching for them. And like I've said, this whole video, it's just so hard to wrap your mind around the fact that anyone could do this, that anyone would even think to do something like this. It's disgusting. And it makes me angry that I even had, you know, some faith that maybe she didn't make this all up, even though it seemed sketchy, something felt off in my gut. And for so many of you as well,

for so many people out there have been following this case from the beginning. This has felt weird. But you want to believe victims. You want to believe that someone wouldn't hurt themselves, fake their own abduction, put their family through pain. But some people will do things like this, and it's shocking, it's incredibly upsetting, honestly.

And to find out that Sherry is not only a liar, a scammer, a manipulator, but also possibly racist. It really seems that way. Obviously, at this point, these are all allegations, but it does not look good. I just feel sick to my stomach, thinking of everyone who was concerned for her, everyone who donated to their family that went out physically trying to search for her,

put up flyers. It is, oh, it really does make you feel sick. Even for so many of you, I was just reading the comments. People who left comments in the last video being so concerned about Sherry defending her, thinking that there's no way someone would do this. There was no way that someone would fake their own abduction and put themselves through that type of hell. But she did, or it appears she did, allegedly. But it's looking bad. I don't know, I'm totally shocked by how this has all ended up. I definitely want to know your thoughts on all of this.

That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendal Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.

It's cheap 4x4 season. Make your next adventure epic with Jeep Wrangler 4xE. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xE and the 3-row Grand Cherokee L. Hurrie and now for great deals. Now get 3,500 combined bonus cash and Texas residents get 2,000 bonus cash plus owners were less seized if competitive vehicles get 500 bonus cash in the 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited and Grand Cherokee L Limited. Competitive vehicles exclude all other FCA vehicles, contact dealer for details, take retail delivery by 531-23. Jeep is a registered trademark.

We did it. I still can't believe we got this project done so fast and so well. When I'm in New York, I'm in Chicago, and I'm in LA. But... We're making it happen in Miro. Together, our best work just happens faster

on Miro's collaborative online whiteboard. No more scheduling meeting after meeting for work that could happen from anywhere. Whether it's getting design feedback here, mapping timelines here. Or brainstorming next steps here. It all just happens on the Miro board. Exactly, and it's nice not having to wait an entire day to get sign off from this guy. Hey!

Well, it is true. See how Miro users save up to 80 hours every year by meeting less and doing more. Get on board at Miro.com. The first three boards are free. Forever. That's M-I-R-O.com.