What is Sherri Papini doing now? She faked her own kidnapping years ago, which Hulu just covered in docuseries The Perfect Wife – but how does the ‘supermum’ plan to tell her side of the story?
- In 2016, Sherri Papini had a seemingly perfect life in California with her husband and 2 children – then she was ‘kidnapped’ for 3 weeks, sparking an investigation that lasted 6 years
- Now, Sherri’s dealing with the pricey legal fallout of her fake kidnapping; she and her ex-husband Keith Papini also got divorced, while Sherri’s current boyfriend has bought her a luxury home to live in
Seven years after her infamous kidnapping hoax, Sherri Papini is back in the spotlight as her story is given the Hollywood treatment with a new three-part Hulu docuseries that dropped in June. Titled Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, the series tells the story of Sherri’s case from the point of her now ex-husband, Keith Papini.
Per People, the then-34-year-old Californian mother of two was supposedly out for a jog around her neighbourhood when she was abducted at gunpoint by two “Hispanic women” on November 2, 2016. According to NBC, Papini turned up three weeks later on Thanksgiving, nearly 240km away from home. She was reportedly thrown from a car with a chain around her waist and wrists, and a bag over her head, and told police officers that her captors had abused and even branded her. Her dramatic disappearance led to a six-year, multi-state search – and drew the attention of media across the world.
However, per various media reports, Papini’s “Gone Girl inspired” story – as Time called it – had inconsistencies, prompting investigators to dig deeper. They didn’t catch a break in the case for several years, and eventually found that Sherri was directly involved in her own “kidnapping.” Now, Papini is still dealing with the legal fallout of her actions, rarely sees her kids, and spends time in a luxury home her new boyfriend bought for her.
Here’s everything we know about ex-con Sherri Papini – including new details revealed in Perfect Wife.
Did Sherri Papini really fake her own kidnapping?
Per Today, almost six years after her disappearance, detectives responsible for Papini’s case eventually found a man’s DNA on her clothing. That DNA led investigators to Sherri’s ex-boyfriend, James Reyes. According to Time, Sherri and Reyes dated in the early to mid 2000s and, years later, the two reconnected and began communicating with burner phones. Sherri led Reyes to believe that Keith was an “abusive husband” and, eventually, Reyes agreed to pick her up from Redding, California where she lived.
Various media outlets reported that during the three weeks that she was missing, Papini was in fact staying with Reyes in Costa Mesa, California, during which time she asked him to physically hit her to give the impression of being abused when she returned. Screenrant reports that she also asked him to brand her with the word “Exodus” and a Bible verse which mentions kidnapping – a request Reyes agreed to. Some three weeks after she initially disappeared, Papini asked Reyes to drop her off where she was eventually found.
She’s still dealing with the legal fallout of her actions
