'Sherri Papini: I Kidnapped Myself': Is Sherri Papini still married to Keith? How sham led to divorce
REDDING, CALIFORNIA: Lifetime returns in 2023 with an all-new slate of "ripped from the headlines" original films. 'Sherri Papini: I Kidnapped Myself,' is one of them. Sherri Papini is the inspiration for the film. She had a picture-perfect life with her husband and two small children in a lovely home - until she was abducted.
The film tells the story of Papini, a California woman who claimed she was kidnapped in 2016 and was eventually exposed and convicted. Jaime King stars in the film based on the shocking incident of a young mother-of-two called Sherri Papini, who goes missing while running near her house, grabbing national headlines as concerned locals sought her whereabouts.
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Is Sherri Papini still married to Keith Papini?
Sherri Papini's 13-year marriage ended in divorce after it was revealed that she staged her kidnapping in order to hide out with an ex-boyfriend. Papini pleaded guilty in April 2022 to numerous charges of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud, and was sentenced in July of the same year.
Keith, her husband, filed for divorce seeking custody of the couple's children two days following her guilty plea, after 13 years of marriage alleging that Papini had "significant mental health issues" and was "not in a position to provide good parenting" to their two children. He requested that all of their possessions be handed to him, including exclusive use of their rental house in Redding, three automobiles, a Ford Majestic RV and a Correct Craft Wakeboard boat, according to divorce filings. Keith also requested that he be released from liability for her debts, which included two unsecured loans from her mother-in-law Kathleen, as well as "any obligations arising from her criminal behavior." Papini and Keith split up the same day she was detained, according to the divorce papers, and the filings explain how she was "literally tackled" by law enforcement agents during the arrest outside her children's school.
Her husband openly supported her allegations when she initially emerged following her bogus claim of being kidnapped while running in 2016. The lady from California was apprehended in March 2022, about six years after she was reported missing. She was discovered with a chain around her waist on November 24, 2016, three weeks after she went missing.
Her outlandish conduct, according to investigators, helped them doscover her falsehoods. Following her abduction, Shasta County Sheriff Sergeant Kyle Wallace and Captain Brian Jackson worked on the investigation. According to MSN, they said that something was wrong with the case from the outset. A tuft of Papini's hair was discovered alongside her phone at the location of her alleged abduction. She told officers she plucked her own hair out when she was kidnapped at gunpoint so her husband would know where she was going. Wallace stated in retrospect, "I think, ultimately, being able to look at each piece of evidence now with the clarity of what was going on. Not just in the moments, but the drama or the theatrics that Sherri brought with every step of this investigation was really part of the undoing."
"I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so sorry for the pain I’ve caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story, and those who worked so hard to try to help me," Papini said after pleading guilty, adding that she would "work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done."
Papini stated that two Hispanic ladies took her DNA from her clothing, which led authorities to her ex-boyfriend, with whom she had been hiding the entire time. When questioned, the ex-boyfriend stated that Papini had urged him to strike her. He claimed he declined, but agreed to hold a hockey stick up for her to run into. He also reportedly branded her when she requested him to. According to detectives, what made her account more perplexing was the fact that her lies had some factual parts. She could, for example, explain the agony of being branded because it had happened to her. Sherri was sentenced to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay almost $300,000 in compensation to federal, state, and local authorities in her case.
'Sherri Papini: I Kidnapped Myself' premieres on Lifetime on January 28.
