Hulu’s Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini looks into the kidnapping hoax and the years-long investigation that unraveled the case. Sherri was a married mother-of-two in 2016 when she went missing from a jogging trail in Redding, California. She reappeared weeks later and claimed that two women had kidnapped her at gunpoint. Detectives, using DNA evidence they found on her clothes, eventually cracked the case.
Sherri Papini’s now ex-husband, Keith Papini, opened up in Perfect Wife about their harrowing experience and Sherri’s life. Keith claimed Sherri lied to their family and law enforcement for years until her arrest in 2022. She faced a 35-count federal indictment and pleaded guilty to two charges. These were mail fraud and lying to a law enforcement officer, receiving an 18-month prison sentence. She served 10 months of the term before her release in August 2023.
How was Sherri Papini’s kidnapping hoax solved?
The mystery behind Sherri Papini’s kidnapping baffled authorities for years until subsequent discoveries proved it was a hoax. Sherri vanished from a Redding jogging trail on November 2, 2016, and reappeared along a highway three weeks later. She was emaciated and covered in bruises and injuries. She initially claimed armed Hispanic women took her at gunpoint. Her condition suggested the alleged kidnappers tortured and starved her during captivity.
An investigation into Sherri’s apparent kidnappers began as she detailed the ordeal to law enforcement. However, authorities only made a break in the case the following spring when they found male DNA on her clothes. They found the evidence on her sweatpants and underwear, reported People Magazine. She was wearing the same clothes on Thanksgiving Day when she was found.
The outlet stated that Shasta County Sheriff’s Office Captain Brian Jackson “knew we’d be able to find something” by using the DNA. Captain Jackson said, “I just kept telling our guys and our ladies, be patient it’s going to happen and we just kept pushing on.” Over the next two years, the Sheriff’s office, along with the FBI, examined the DNA evidence, which eventually, using a “familial DNA” search, led them to Sherri Papini’s ex-boyfriend, James Reyes.
Investigators later questioned James Reyes, who admitted to helping Sherri Papini with the kidnapping hoax. He said to have helped Sherri “run away” from her allegedly abusive husband, Keith Papini. Once the story began to unravel, authorities learned that the former lovers used to communicate over prepaid phones. The ex-boyfriend claimed he picked Sherri up from the jogging trail, and then the two drove to his apartment in Costa Mesa, California.
Reyes alleged that Sherri, during her stay in his apartment, asked him to wound her intentionally. The official complaint that authorities filed stated that Sherri “purposefully” tried “to lose weight” to appear emaciated. She also “created the injuries while staying with him,” cut off her long hair, and created burns on her body. Reyes claimed he branded Sherri’s shoulder with the word “exodus” upon her request.
According to James Reyes’ admissions, Sherri Papini made him hold a hockey stick as she ran into them. He also admitted to pelting her with hockey pucks to help “her create some of the injuries, although he never laid his hands directly on her.” However, the ex-boyfriend did not face any charges related to the case.
Sherri Papini’s arrest came in 2022 when she faced a 35-count federal indictment. In April, she pleaded guilty to two counts including mail fraud and lying to a law enforcement officer, but never directly admitted to the kidnapping hoax. She received an 18-month prison sentence but served less than a year before her release in August 2023.
Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini is Hulu’s hit documentary series and is now streaming.
