Sherri Papini: US woman who staged her own disappearance sentenced For 18 months

2023-07-14 19:34:34 Written by Alex

Sherri Papini, 39, went missing in November 2016 after going for a run.

Three weeks later, she was found injured and alone on a highway about 140 miles away. She told police she had been abducted and tortured by two masked, Spanish-speaking women who kept her chained in a closet, held her at gunpoint, and branded her with a heated tool.

The accusations led authorities to carry out an extensive search for the supposed Hispanic captors that came up empty for several years. She also received more than $30,000 from the state in victim compensation funds.

Yet her story fell apart when investigators in 2020 connected DNA from her clothing to an ex-boyfriend, who then admitted that the supposed kidnapping was a hoax.

How new DNA technology helped solve the case

The break in the case came in 2020, when investigators took unknown male DNA on clothing she was wearing and tested it using the technology known as genetic genealogy. The DNA was connected to a family member of Papini’s former boyfriend, and investigators then took DNA from the ex-boyfriend to confirm him as a match,

In an interview with investigators, the ex-boyfriend admitted he helped Papini “run away” from what she described as an abusive relationship and housed her at his place in Southern California, the affidavit states. He said that she had injured herself, chopped off her own hair, and asked him to brand her with a wood-burning tool as part of the ruse, the affidavit says.

Investigators corroborated the ex-boyfriend’s account in numerous ways, including from telephone records, his work schedule, rental car receipts, odometer records, toll records, and an interview with his cousin, who saw Papini in the home.

Authorities confronted Papini with the new information and warned her that lying to authorities is a crime. Still, she stuck to her original story about two Hispanic women kidnappers and denied she had seen the former boyfriend, the affidavit states.

Authorities announced charges against her in March 2022 and she pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal a month later. Her husband Keith Papini also filed for divorce and custody of their two children, saying she was “not acting in a rational manner,” court records show.

In their sentencing memo, federal prosecutors said the hoax wasted resources and caused police to investigate innocent targets.

“Papini planned and executed a sophisticated kidnapping hoax, and then continued to perpetuate her false statements for years after her return without regard for the harm she caused others,” prosecutors said in the filing. “As a result, state and federal investigators devoted limited resources to Papini’s case for nearly four years before they independently learned the truth: that she was not kidnapped and tortured.”

“Papini caused innocent individuals to become targets of a criminal investigation,” prosecutors added. “She left the public in fear of her alleged Hispanic capturers who purportedly remained at large.”

In the defense’s sentencing memo, Papini’s attorney noted that she has admitted to the hoax and said her reputation had suffered enough as is.

In a US District Court in Sacramento, Papini apologized, saying she was guilty of lying and "dishonor".

"I am so sorry to the many people who have suffered because of me - the people who sacrificed for the broken woman I was, the people who gave willingly to help me in a time that I so desperately needed help," she said, reading from a prepared statement.

"I am choosing to humbly accept all responsibility."

Under an April deal with prosecutors, Papini pleaded guilty to one count each of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud.

Papini also agreed to pay $300,000 (£231,000), part of which will cover the costs of the police investigation. She will also spend three years under supervised custody after her release from jail.

In court in April 2022, Papini said she was in treatment for anxiety, depression, and PTSD starting in 2016 and also struggled in middle school.

She told the judge, “What was done cannot be undone. It can never be erased. I am not choosing to stay frozen like I was in 2016. I am choosing to commit to healing the parts of myself that were so very broken.”