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Episode: Episode 620: The Suspicious Kidnapping of Sherri Papini

Author: Morbid Network | Wondery
Duration: 01:25:07

Episode Shownotes

On November 2, 2016, thirty-four-year-old so-called “Supermom” Sherri Papini went out for a run near her home in Redding, California, and disappeared without a trace. Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, Sherri was discovered on the side of the road in a nearby county, where she said her captors had

released her. In the days that followed, Sherri claimed she had been kidnapped by two unknown Latin American women, who physically abused her, including branding her on the shoulder with the word “Exodus.” The case garnered considerable attention from the local and national media, but when it came to details on her abductors and their motives, Sherri was surprisingly tight-lipped, giving the police and FBI little to work with. In March 2022, more than five years after her supposed abduction, the nation was shocked to learn that federal agents had arrested Papini and charged her with faking her own kidnapping. A month later, Sherri pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to more than a year in prison. The news was stunning and left everyone wondering, why would a seemingly ordinary and ostensibly happy mother orchestrate such a bizarre hoax?Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesABC News. 2016. "Missing California mom found alive after captor abandons her in restraints, sheriff says." ABC News, November 24.Ayestas, Jonathan. 2024. "Sherri Papini has yet to pay $300,000 fine for faked 2016 California kidnapping." CNN Newswire, March 26.Bella, Timothy. 2022. "A mother said she was kidnapped. Now she admits it was all a hoax." Washington Post, April 13.Bever, Lindsey, and Kristine Guerra. 2016. "Missing California mother found alive three weeks after her apparent abduction, police say." Washington Post, November 25.Bonvillian, Crystal. 2022. "Feds detail how missing mom branded, starved self in 2016 kidnapping hoax." Cox Media Group, March 9.CBS News, Sacramento. 2016. "Full text of November 30 press conference about Sherri Papini's abduction." CBS News, Sacramento, November 30.Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2022. Sherri Papini criminal complaint and affidavit. Criminal complaint, Los Angeles, CA: Federal Bureau of Investigation.Gumbel, Andrew. 2022. "California jogger Sherri Papini staged own violent kidnapping, FBI says." The Guardian, March 4.—. 2016. "Kidnapping, reverse ransom and a bounty: the strange case of Sherri Papini." The Guardian, December 30.Hurley, Beven. 2022. "Why did it take five years to charge 'supermom' Sherri Papini with fabricating her own abduction?" The Independent, March 4.Larimer, Sarah. 2016. "California mother was 'branded' and covered in bruises after apparent abduction, husband says." Washington Post, November 29.Longoria, Sean. 2016. "Mother of 2 goes missing near Redding." Record Searchlight (Redding, CA), November 4: 1.—. 2016. "Audio tells of Papini response." Record Searchlight, November 27: 1.Sabalow, Ryan. 2016. "Familty of 'supermom' holds on to hope." Sacramento Bee, November 12: 1.—. 2016. "Keep an open mind in unusual kidnap story, experts say." Sacramento Bee, December 3: B1.—. 2016. "Relative defends husband of missing 'supermom'." Sacramento Bee, November 9: A14.—. 2017. "Sheriff's office silent on Papini details." Sacramento Bee, January 31.—. 2016. "'Supermom' hasn't been seen since taking a jog." Sacramento Bee, November 8: A4.Sandhu, Amber. 2016. "Missing mom sought." Record Searchlight (Redding, CA), November 5: 1.Serna, Joseph. 2016. "A setback in kidnapping case?" Los Angeles Times, December 1: B3.Shulman, Alayna. 2016. "Sherriff gets help in search." Record Searchlight, November 8: 1.—. 2017. "Will 2018 bring more Papini details?" Record Searchlight, December 28: 6.Solis, Nathan. 2022. "Tale of abduction by Latinas fueled racial unease." Los Angeles Times, March 6: B2.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Summary

This episode of 'Morbid' delves into the complex case of Sherri Papini, who disappeared on November 2, 2016, and later claimed she was kidnapped by two Latin American women. After extensive investigations and community search efforts, suspicions arose around her story, culminating in her arrest in March 2022 for fabricating the kidnapping. The discussion explores her motivations, the psychological dynamics at play, the impact on her family and community, and the implications this hoax has for public perception and media narratives surrounding real kidnapping cases.

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Episode 620: The Suspicious Kidnapping of Sherri Papini) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_01
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00:00:08 Speaker_00
You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.

00:00:14 Speaker_01
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00:02:19 Speaker_02
Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Alina. And this is Morbid.

00:02:36 Speaker_01
This is morbid. It's post-Halloween morbid. Merry Christmas, everyone. It is. Happy Hanukkah. Happy holidays.

00:02:43 Speaker_02
Happy holidays.

00:02:44 Speaker_01
Holidays, they're coming.

00:02:46 Speaker_02
I'm a little bit my post-Halloween, like, man, sad.

00:02:51 Speaker_01
I'm sorry. I have joy. Not that Halloween is over. I'm not joyful about that, because I fucking fuck so heavy with Halloween. But I became a November 1st girly this year. You did. I'm never a November 1st, like,

00:03:05 Speaker_01
everything gone christmas decorations up let's fucking go girly but i feel that way but this week you said i am yeah i started my christmas shopping i am gonna i decided also this year i'm switching it up i'm gonna get a fake tree this year that's that's a move it's a huge move for me it is i never got to i never got to have a real tree growing up because we always like lived in apartments and stuff so it was difficult

00:03:31 Speaker_01
And my mom was like, I'm not going to get a fucking fake tree. Like I'm busy. And so when I, me and Drew first got, or when I first moved in with mom and papa, they always got me a real tree because I was like, please.

00:03:41 Speaker_02
Because we always got real trees.

00:03:43 Speaker_01
Yeah. And then when me and Drew got together, I was like, we must have a real tree except for the one year that we were in an apartment. But this year I was like, Drew asked me, he was like, can we go back to like a, like a fake tree?

00:03:54 Speaker_01
Like it's a pain in the ass to have a real tree and I don't do anything for it. So I was like, no. We have to have a real one. And then yesterday I was thinking, I don't know, you can buy them pre-lit and shit. Yeah.

00:04:07 Speaker_01
And I'm always cleaning up the pine needles, which drives me insane. And then you can get that Febreze that smells like the Christmas tree. It's true. I'm gonna get a fake one this year. I don't know. I was just feeling it. I'm a real tree girlie.

00:04:17 Speaker_01
You're a real tree pierced. Yeah, I can't, I can't relate. I usually am. I'll see how I like this and then if I don't like it, I can always just like bring it to Saber's and get a real tree.

00:04:26 Speaker_02
Yeah, I love the, I love, there's a different smell. It is different. Of a real tree to like a chemical smell.

00:04:32 Speaker_01
Yes.

00:04:32 Speaker_02
Of pine.

00:04:33 Speaker_01
One thing that I don't love, well our cats are fucking annoying a little bit about the tree. That's right, I don't have cats though. And also I don't like the stickiness when you're taking out the tree when it's all done. Yeah.

00:04:42 Speaker_01
And then like you look and like the wall is sticky. I don't like that. Yeah.

00:04:47 Speaker_02
And the floor gets sticky. You're like, I'm going to convince myself that.

00:04:51 Speaker_01
That's kind of what I'm doing. I don't know. It's just a feeling. I feel like I actually hate it. It hit me over like a freight train. Yeah.

00:05:00 Speaker_02
I mean, good for you, man. I support that for you. Thanks. I think the girls would kill us if we didn't get a real tree. You think they love the process of picking out a tree? It's very fun. And like the whole shebang.

00:05:12 Speaker_01
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like when we have kids, we'll go back to that. Yeah.

00:05:15 Speaker_02
It's like the process of picking out a tree is such a, yeah, it's a cute family day thing. Yeah.

00:05:21 Speaker_01
Oh, now you're making me second guess how I feel.

00:05:24 Speaker_02
That's the thing I just couldn't give up is the process of picking it out. I know, going to pick it out is fun.

00:05:29 Speaker_01
But also I was thinking too, I'm just in the mood to put my tree up now. Like I want to put up a tree. Yeah, and you can't do that. And you can't. You only get like two weeks out of that bad boy. Maybe three. You get more than that. I don't know.

00:05:40 Speaker_02
I was going to say you get more.

00:05:41 Speaker_01
I have no idea. You definitely get more than that. How much time do you get out of your tree? Three, four weeks? So you get a few weeks.

00:05:45 Speaker_02
Yeah. And then we always keep it up until the new year.

00:05:49 Speaker_01
Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Trees. Trees, you know. We also have, I mean the holidays are coming, so like get ready. We have... Get ready. If you're listening right now, I think it's November 14th. That's what Mikey told me. Because we never know.

00:06:02 Speaker_01
We never know. Someday we'll know. Right. It is not November 14th right now. It is... Someday we'll get this right. But yes, if you're listening right now on Wondery Plus, we have some new merch that went live.

00:06:12 Speaker_01
We got like a fun fall holiday collection going on. We got lots of cute new shirts. One of them says malevolent deity, so I'm like obsessed with that. That one I love. That one's really cool. There's a new hat that also says malevolent deity.

00:06:27 Speaker_01
I like the stay weird with like the moth. Oh, yes That's a new one that we've got going we got it in cropped and regular very cozy.

00:06:34 Speaker_02
Yes, very cozy We were very adamant about the feel of sound like worse We're very much trying to get our hands on those things. So that's soft. It's soft shit because I'm very I I'm a texture person. Same.

00:06:49 Speaker_01
Scratchy sweatshirt or t-shirt? Scratchy t-shirt. The thought of it makes me want to scream. I'm like cringing at the moment. I don't like it. And then one thing that is also really exciting is the holiday sweater. There's a morbid holiday sweater.

00:07:04 Speaker_01
It's like our take on a holiday sweater. It's like an ugly sweater. Yeah. But it's like so ugly it's cute.

00:07:10 Speaker_01
Yeah exactly and there's like lots of cute little details and then one thing I am so fucking excited about I was like like I needed this is the charm bracelet. Oh I love the charm bracelet. The charm bracelet is very cute. Very fun.

00:07:24 Speaker_01
If you are listening right now on Wondery Plus head your booty over to our shop and go grab that stuff and if you're listening wide do it retroactively. Go back. Go back. Go back in time. Do it. Go do it. See ya.

00:07:37 Speaker_01
Yay Um, yeah, I think that's all like the the biz nasty that we have going on. Yeah, you have you have anything?

00:07:44 Speaker_02
No, one thing. This is just a random thing. It has nothing to do with really anything. I love but it's just

00:07:51 Speaker_02
Ash had brought up, because we covered Pan's Labyrinth on Scream recently, and I love Guillermo del Toro, and Ash had mentioned, and I remember seeing this a long time ago, I just never watched it, and Ash brought it back to my attention, that Guillermo del Toro had done this Netflix anthology series called Cabinet of Curiosities,

00:08:10 Speaker_02
It's like eight episodes, all a different director that he has his hands in. Oh, that's cool. That he like curated. And it's all a different, like a less than an hour long like mini movie. Yeah. Each one. And so far, delightful. I love it.

00:08:29 Speaker_02
So if you haven't jumped on it, I'm telling you it's a fun thing to jump into. The autopsy is my number one so far. It is fucking awesome. I'm telling you everyone go watch the autopsy because your mind is gonna be fucking blown.

00:08:44 Speaker_01
Yeah, I haven't seen, I like didn't watch any of the episodes, but I was scrolling for something to watch on Netflix and I saw Guillermo del Toro. And I was like, oh, I was willing to see this shit.

00:08:52 Speaker_01
And then I looked at like what the, like what it was and I saw like the witch, the autopsy, and I was like, oh, this bitch has got to see this.

00:08:59 Speaker_02
It's real good. So if you guys are looking for something to keep the spooky season alive forever, it's definitely a good one to do.

00:09:06 Speaker_01
And if you're an Ash, I started re-watching Grace and Frankie. There you go. So two polar opposite girlies up in this room. Very different. I am obsessed. So we're going to talk today about the suspicious, super suspicious kidnapping of Sherry Papini.

00:09:22 Speaker_02
Suspicious is a very kind way to say it.

00:09:24 Speaker_01
So suspicious. So she jogged out of town like, don't be suspicious. Kidnapping is also a kind way of saying it. Yeah. I don't really know what else you'd call it. The hoax, the great hoax of Sherry Papini.

00:09:36 Speaker_02
The absolute scam hoax that Sherry Papini, you know.

00:09:41 Speaker_01
Terrible, terrible woman.

00:09:42 Speaker_02
Yeah, truly. Terrible woman. Complete asshole.

00:09:46 Speaker_01
Douchebag.

00:09:47 Speaker_02
Douchebag of the century. Truly.

00:09:50 Speaker_01
So let's get into it. If you don't know this story, you're about to. When 34-year-old Sherry Papini did not show up to pick up her kids from daycare on the afternoon of November 2nd, 2016, everyone was immediately alarmed.

00:10:05 Speaker_01
The teachers at school, her family, her friends, they were like, that's fucking weird.

00:10:09 Speaker_02
Yeah, because who would willingly not pick up their children from daycare? Oh yeah, Sherry Papini. Yeah. Because she literally chose to leave her children at daycare to perpetuate this. Yeah, incredibly fucked.

00:10:20 Speaker_01
Whoa. Alaina's just throwing up on her finger every time she does it. Whoa. But up until that point, Everyone just knew her as like this lovely, doting, stay-at-home mom. That's what's so scary. All her energy went to her children.

00:10:34 Speaker_01
So you would never think she would do something like this. Very cookie cutter, white picket fence vibes. Yeah. So her husband Keith told anchors on Good Morning America Everybody who knows my wife knows there's no reason for her to leave.

00:10:45 Speaker_01
She was definitely taken against her will and he was not in on this. I'll tell you from the jump. Keith was blindsided.

00:10:52 Speaker_02
And why would he have any reason to believe that somebody that is like you would never think?

00:10:58 Speaker_01
No, he thought he had like a great life.

00:11:00 Speaker_02
There's several layers of this story that you go, in no world would I ever believe that someone would go this far or do this kind of absolute nonsense. and it just keeps, it piles on.

00:11:15 Speaker_02
The more that adds into this, you go, no, no, no one would do that.

00:11:19 Speaker_01
It's also just like, for what? Like Sherry, what did you, I mean, she got money out of it. Like that's for sure. But it's like, but I don't even think that was nearly enough to do what you're doing. And I don't really think that was the ultimate goal.

00:11:31 Speaker_01
Like at least in my opinion, just like knowing about the case, I don't, I think the goal was like attention. There's a lot of... Mental illness was a factor, for sure.

00:11:42 Speaker_02
For sure. Like, it has to, like, this is beyond comprehension.

00:11:48 Speaker_01
Yeah.

00:11:48 Speaker_02
Like, there's a documentary about it.

00:11:50 Speaker_01
Yeah, it's called, uh, I think it's The Perfect Life on Hulu. Hold on, I wrote it at the end of my notes.

00:11:55 Speaker_02
It's a, this documentary will blow your mind.

00:11:57 Speaker_01
It's so good. I think it's three episodes. It's Perfect Wife, The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherry Papini. and there was things in the documentary that I hadn't even heard about just like watching the case fold out. Oh yeah.

00:12:08 Speaker_01
Like the end of it I was like oh wow. Yeah. You're just awful.

00:12:13 Speaker_02
Yeah. In every way that you could be. To the core. That's the other thing. This isn't just like you know some mental health issues going on. She's just a shit person to the core. Like when you find out like the the details of who she is. Yeah.

00:12:26 Speaker_02
She's an asshole.

00:12:27 Speaker_01
Yeah.

00:12:27 Speaker_02
So it's like, yeah. It's wild.

00:12:30 Speaker_01
I feel so bad for her family. I do too. I really do. So let's go back to the start. So earlier that day, Sherry left her home in Reading to go for a jog, something she'd done countless times before. It was her routine.

00:12:40 Speaker_01
Just before leaving for her jog, she texted Keith to ask if he was going to be home for lunch, and he said no. So she went out. When Keith got home from work that night a little after five he was surprised to find the house completely empty.

00:12:53 Speaker_01
Sherry at that point was a stay-at-home mom and with the exception of a few days a week that the kids were in daycare she was always home with them in the afternoons and she always went and got them from daycare so by the time Keith got home everyone was home.

00:13:06 Speaker_01
Now according to Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bozenko. Sherry was last seen by a neighbor, quote, in the area of the Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive, about a mile and a half from their home. So not far at all.

00:13:20 Speaker_01
Sheriff's deputies were able to trace Sherry's phone to the intersection where she was last seen using a Find My iPhone with Keith's help.

00:13:27 Speaker_01
And it was there they went out to that intersection and they found her phone, her earbuds, and several strands of blonde hair, which Sherry is a blonde.

00:13:37 Speaker_01
Her mother-in-law Suzanne said of the discovery I would say my personal reaction is that it's twofold One is that it's good to have some sort of clue But the other portion is that it really points to she's been taken I mean, she wouldn't just drop her phone if she was running away.

00:13:51 Speaker_02
No, you wouldn't think no the hair is like

00:13:55 Speaker_02
yeah again when you know like what's going on you're it reminds me of um scream four yes when jill is tearing out chunks of her hair so true and people also always compare this to gone girl yeah yep which i i want to say gone girl came out before this

00:14:13 Speaker_02
I think it was, yeah, because I think it was called, a lot of people said it's like the Gone Girl case.

00:14:17 Speaker_01
Yeah, I think you're right. Fact check me, I'll continue and you can interrupt me.

00:14:21 Speaker_02
Yeah.

00:14:22 Speaker_01
So Sherry had, she'd always been a dedicated wife and mother up to that point. She rarely deviated from a routine. She didn't have any physical or mental health conditions that anybody knew about at that point.

00:14:32 Speaker_01
and she had never had any interaction with law enforcement. So simply put, she was the last person that anybody would have ever expected to just disappear without a trace. Bunkers.

00:14:43 Speaker_01
Initially, sheriff's deputies fanned out across the area where she was last seen looking for any evidence that might point them in the right direction.

00:14:50 Speaker_01
But with the exception of the phone, the earbuds, and the hair evidence, the search really didn't turn up anything else as far as clues.

00:14:57 Speaker_01
So a few days later, nearly 150 friends, family, and neighbors spread out across Reading to help search for Sherry. And many others handed out flyers or posted on social media, like the community was very active in this case.

00:15:12 Speaker_01
It was one of those cases where you actually see the best of a community like banding together.

00:15:15 Speaker_02
Yeah, everybody kind of bands together to help someone. Yeah.

00:15:18 Speaker_01
That they think needs help. That they think needs help and they spend resources and money and time looking for this person.

00:15:26 Speaker_02
Gone Girl the book came out in 2012 and the movie came out in 2014.

00:15:31 Speaker_01
Oh, okay, so like the movie came out like right before this.

00:15:33 Speaker_02
Someone took notes.

00:15:35 Speaker_01
Somebody absolutely took notes, not a doubt in my mind.

00:15:38 Speaker_01
So there were local businesses even offering their services or aiding in the search themselves, and local organizations like Shasta Support Service or Shasta County Guardian Angels were helping to coordinate different searches.

00:15:50 Speaker_02
These poor people, they put, that's the thing, like this community really was amazing. And they deserve all the praise.

00:15:57 Speaker_01
Yeah, and everything you would hope would happen when somebody actually fucking disappeared. Yeah, they all did their job and above it.

00:16:02 Speaker_01
Sherry's sister, Sheila, told a reporter, I was just overwhelmed with all of the community involvement, like couldn't believe it.

00:16:09 Speaker_01
Within a few days of Sherry's disappearance, a massive Facebook group was generating a large number of tips, but at that point none were particularly useful.

00:16:17 Speaker_01
And meanwhile in Reading, investigators started questioning the known sex offenders living in the area, but all had alibis that quickly checked out, so they were ruled out as suspects.

00:16:27 Speaker_01
And in an effort to encourage more tips from the public, Secret Witness, a community-based organization to help with missing persons cases, offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to Sherry's safe return.

00:16:40 Speaker_01
A day later, that reward was raised to $50,000 thanks to a huge number of private donations.

00:16:47 Speaker_02
Unbelievable.

00:16:48 Speaker_01
And those who couldn't donate money seemed more than happy to donate their time.

00:16:52 Speaker_01
People were literally driving to Reading from other parts of California having been just absolutely moved by the growing number of articles about this woman that everyone at that point was referring to as Supermom. Wow. Think of how big California is.

00:17:07 Speaker_01
Yeah. And people were driving from all over just to go participate in the search because this woman was so like such an inspiring mother to them and inspiring wife.

00:17:18 Speaker_02
That's what's so scary is it's like

00:17:20 Speaker_02
this that's the thing like people were not wrong to to be taking that from her that's what was being portrayed yeah exactly and it's like damn there's a lot of a lot of um compartmentalization of personalities here yeah definitely so despite the truly remarkable community effort and countless man hours from local law enforcement a week passed and there was still no sign of sherry or even the slightest hint of where she could have possibly gone

00:17:48 Speaker_01
By that point, the sheriff's office had to consider the possibility of foul play, obviously, but they still weren't willing to confirm anything just yet.

00:17:55 Speaker_01
Lieutenant Anthony Bertain told reporters on November 8, just based on the way this investigation kicked off, we're still handling this as a missing person at risk. We're investigating all avenues right now. We're not set on one particular direction.

00:18:08 Speaker_01
Now, the lack of news from local law enforcement was obviously frustrating for the family. and for the community, who were starting to feel like all their efforts weren't getting them any closer to finding Sherry. I can't imagine that.

00:18:19 Speaker_01
Her sister, Sheila, said at the time, the frustrating part is we feel like we're going on nothing. I think we exhausted the resources that we have out here to search for her.

00:18:28 Speaker_01
We feel that it's moved to where she's been taken from this area, and everyone in the nation needs to be looking. So they were thinking she was beyond California at that point.

00:18:36 Speaker_02
Yeah, and that must be the scariest thought, just thinking she could be anywhere. Literally anywhere.

00:18:42 Speaker_01
And like how are we going to find her in this like entire fucking country?

00:18:45 Speaker_02
How do we narrow this down at all?

00:18:47 Speaker_01
Exactly.

00:18:48 Speaker_01
Now while the family's concerns of a kidnapping were understandable, they also were entirely plausible because less than a month earlier on October 12th, 51-year-old Stacy Smart disappeared from her home in Lewiston, which is only about an hour from Reading.

00:19:02 Speaker_01
And with Sherry's disappearance happening so soon and with the two women sharing pretty similar features, many in the community started to worry that maybe there was some kind of serial offender operating. Which was probably the aim. Probably.

00:19:16 Speaker_01
So with no new evidence and a growing fear that something truly, truly nefarious had happened to Sherry, suspicion of course fell on Keith Papini, particularly among the Facebook group that was dedicated to finding Sherry. And this is where it can get

00:19:30 Speaker_01
dangerous. This is where it can get dangerous, exactly, because sure, it happens a lot. Of course. But there are also cases where they are not involved and they are just dedicated to finding their wife.

00:19:41 Speaker_02
Well, and it's when it starts happening on, like, particularly Facebook, I feel like any kind of social media where it's like people are just getting kind of roasted at the, you know, like at the stake for just like theories.

00:19:56 Speaker_02
It's like that's when it can get bad.

00:19:58 Speaker_01
Well, and also anybody can go on Facebook and say anything.

00:20:02 Speaker_02
On any social media and say anything about anybody.

00:20:04 Speaker_01
Exactly. That's dangerous.

00:20:06 Speaker_02
Yeah, and then it can compromise the investigation, especially when it's an active investigation.

00:20:10 Speaker_01
Yes, exactly. So on November 9th, Sherry's father, actually, Rod Rodriguez, took to Facebook to defend his son-in-law, saying, we recognize that in 80% of the disappearance cases, the spouse is responsible.

00:20:21 Speaker_01
But conversely, that means in 20% of the cases that the spouse is not involved. this case falls into the latter category.

00:20:28 Speaker_02
That's a big thing right there. Yeah. For her father to be like, I'm not even going to entertain that idea. He knows the guy. That's huge.

00:20:35 Speaker_01
Like he knows the guy more than anybody on social media knows the guy. Yeah, exactly. And as evidence of Keith's innocence, Rodriguez pointed to the fact that Keith had fully cooperated with law enforcement and noted that his alibi checked out.

00:20:48 Speaker_01
He was at work at the time, his boss confirmed that he had been at work at the time, and the police even checked the cell and GPS data recovered from his phone on the day of the disappearance, and that also checked out with his alibi.

00:21:02 Speaker_02
You've got like a three-pronged way of telling that he is not involved.

00:21:06 Speaker_01
Exactly. But if he wasn't responsible, who the fuck was? this was obviously the question that the sheriff's office was grappling with once they cleared all of the more likely suspects on their list.

00:21:17 Speaker_01
Because I feel like obviously clearing suspects is a good thing, but the more and more you cross people off that list and their alibis are checking out, you're losing steam.

00:21:27 Speaker_02
That's the thing. Once you cross people off, it's great because you're saying, cool, that husband didn't do it. That's great. That's reaffirming.

00:21:35 Speaker_02
Other people, it's like, yeah, you're narrowing it down, but sometimes it gets too narrow and then it's like you got nothing left.

00:21:40 Speaker_01
Yeah, like what avenue do you search? And where do we go from here? Right.

00:21:43 Speaker_01
So investigators searched, this is where they went from here, they searched state and local databases for cases with details that were matching Sherry's, but they didn't even find any connections. Damn.

00:21:53 Speaker_01
In fact, they even ruled out non-human attackers like mountain lions, because sometimes in that area mountain lions wander down into town and they can pose a threat to the public. I get the fact that they even went that far. Yeah.

00:22:05 Speaker_01
To narrow that like that's pretty big. They were doing their due diligence for sure. The sheriff said there were no signs of blood or struggle and tracking dogs also never picked up the scent of a body.

00:22:15 Speaker_01
It seemed like Sherry had literally jogged out into that intersection outside of town and just evaporated into the air. Yeah. Leaving behind only her phone and that like the earbuds and the hair as evidence that she was even there.

00:22:36 Speaker_01
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00:25:13 Speaker_01
Damn. Three weeks passed with no new leads, no new evidence, nothing.

00:25:20 Speaker_01
Then, in the early morning hours of November 24th, 2016, a driver on Interstate 5 in Yolo County spotted what appeared to be a young woman standing on the side of a rural road trying to flag him down. And this was about 150 miles from Reading. Wow.

00:25:37 Speaker_01
So the driver pulled over and was stunned to find that the woman who was still bound at the wrists and it looked like she had been severely beaten was none other than Sherry Papini. I remember this. It's so weird. I don't remember this at all.

00:25:52 Speaker_01
And I was like out of high school. I literally don't remember this in any way.

00:25:56 Speaker_02
I remember it and I remember everyone, probably including myself at the time, thinking when I was watching it like the husband did it. Yeah. I mean immediately you thought it. You do automatically think that.

00:26:06 Speaker_02
And then later you're like, oh, what an asshole for thinking that. But yeah, it was a wild news story. Yeah. Because when she was found it was like, whoa, and then things started happening and you were like, whoa, what is going on?

00:26:22 Speaker_01
Because that really never happens. Like, obviously, like, it does. Very rarely does it happen. But it's few and far between. And then when somebody does get recovered and like, they still can't find the people that did it.

00:26:34 Speaker_02
And it was her immediate, and we'll obviously get to it, but her description of her attackers immediately, I think, went, huh.

00:26:43 Speaker_01
huh that's weird her immediate description of her attackers and then they dig into her past and her opinion exactly and that's why it went huh yeah we'll get there huh yeah trigger warning right up here for racism yeah so the driver immediately obviously called the california highway patrol to report the discovery and officers were at the scene within minutes they quickly requested backup for what they described as a woman who was quote-unquote heavily battered

00:27:07 Speaker_01
And she was. Yeah. In his statement to the press, the sheriff said, we are very ecstatic to report that Sherry Papini has been located and has been reunited with her husband and family on this day of Thanksgiving.

00:27:19 Speaker_01
I'm happy to say that Sherry is now safe and that she has been treated at an area hospital outside of Shasta County for non-life threatening injuries.

00:27:28 Speaker_01
So at the time, the sheriff's office had little to say in the way of details, telling reporters just that Sherry's injuries were non-life-threatening.

00:27:35 Speaker_01
Authorities were now on the lookout for a, quote, dark-colored SUV with two Hispanic females armed with a handgun. In the days that followed, Small details about the case started to emerge via the sheriff's office.

00:27:48 Speaker_01
Sherry had been discovered a quote short amount of time after being dropped off by her captors, according to the sheriff. But he added, there is sensitive information that is being withheld at this time that I'm not able to put out.

00:27:59 Speaker_01
And please respect this until such time when we're able to make an arrest and bring these criminals to justice in Sherry's abduction. So there was a lot that they were working on at this point that they were keeping close to the chest. Yeah.

00:28:11 Speaker_01
But by the end of the month, the family had put out a press release detailing some of the information yet to be released to the media. In the three weeks since her abduction, Sherry had dropped to 87 pounds. Wow.

00:28:23 Speaker_01
and was quote covered in multi-colored bruises, severe burns, red rashes, and chain markings. Which sounds fucking horrific. Absolutely, and you would never in your mind think that somebody would be able to create those injuries on their own.

00:28:37 Speaker_02
Yeah.

00:28:38 Speaker_01
Just like willingly.

00:28:39 Speaker_02
Yeah.

00:28:40 Speaker_01
But according to her husband Keith, Sherry had quote suffered incredibly through intense physical agony and severe mental torture. Among other things, her hair had been cut off.

00:28:50 Speaker_01
She had been branded with the word Exodus, like genuinely, literally branded. And she told police that she believed it was a reference to the Bible. And in addition to her other injuries, the bridge of her nose had been broken.

00:29:03 Speaker_02
Damn.

00:29:04 Speaker_01
So like she had any part of her body that was visible was injured. And also like her hair being cut off, like that's so psychologically fucked, like horrifying.

00:29:17 Speaker_01
In his statement, Keith said, nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see upon my arrival at the hospital, nor the details of the true hell I was about to hear.

00:29:25 Speaker_01
The mental prison I was in over the past three weeks was shattered when my questions of my wife's reality became known.

00:29:31 Speaker_02
That's like, I can't imagine seeing the person you love like that and thinking about what they've gone through.

00:29:39 Speaker_01
And think about in the three weeks that Sherry's been gone, I'm sure all Keith is doing is imagining what's happening to her and where she is and who has her. And his mind is probably coming up with all these fucked up scenarios.

00:29:51 Speaker_01
While trying to be a parent. While trying to still take care of his two little kids, by the way. These kids were little. And then he walks into the hospital and sees her and it confirms like probably his worst nightmares were true. Yeah.

00:30:03 Speaker_01
So I can't imagine. Horrific. So while most people were happy to learn that Sherry had returned home safely, some found her safe return to be a bit suspicious. For one thing, there appeared to be no motive for the abduction.

00:30:18 Speaker_01
To hear the story as Sherry told it, and as it would be repeated by the sheriff and family members, she was abducted by, quote, two Hispanic female adults who, quote, spoke Spanish the majority of the time of her captivity and concealed their faces in an attempt to hide their identities from her.

00:30:34 Speaker_01
So according to the sheriff's office, these were the only known abductors. But when it came to a motive, the sheriff said, we still do not have a motive as to the reason why Miss Pepini was taken.

00:30:45 Speaker_01
We do not know if she was a specific target or if this was a random abduction.

00:30:49 Speaker_02
Because it's like they weren't asking for ransom. They weren't asking for ransom. So they just abducted her to hold her and beat the shit out of her for a few weeks and then drop her on the side of the road. Like why? And like.

00:31:01 Speaker_02
not like that's like that's I'm not saying that like people aren't fucked and people don't just know what it has to do them we cover cases all the time where people do things just to do horrible things there's a case that I'm going to reference uh in a minute here where like that very thing did happen yeah so I think that's also why the police weren't really saying like okay this is impossible when they can't like they they have to explore every avenue and you're right they have

00:31:28 Speaker_02
there's got to be at least a slight precedent to be like, okay, this is possible. Is it a little out of the realm of, you know, likely? Yeah. Definitely. But we got to look at it. But we can't investigate it like it didn't happen.

00:31:41 Speaker_02
Because again, what if that is what happened? You don't want to be sitting there being like, hmm, you're lying. Like, you know what I mean? And find out that this is really what happened. This person is traumatized from it.

00:31:51 Speaker_01
The police in this case absolutely did their due diligence. Like, absolutely. But lack of motive was not the only reason people were suspicious.

00:31:59 Speaker_01
There was also what many people perceived to, and you kind of hinted at it earlier, to be an overemphasis on the kidnappers' race.

00:32:06 Speaker_01
In a case surprisingly light on details and evidence, and one where the kidnappers wore masks or obscured their identities otherwise, there was an unusual focus on their racial characteristics.

00:32:18 Speaker_01
Through the course of their investigation, reporters discovered multiple blog posts, apparently written by Sherry in 2007, where she, quote, made racist comments about Latinos, among other things.

00:32:30 Speaker_02
Ding ding.

00:32:31 Speaker_01
In one post, she wrote, I used to come home in tears because I was getting suspended from school all the time for defending myself against the Latinos. The chief problem was that I was drug free, white, and proud of my blood and heritage.

00:32:44 Speaker_01
This really irked a group of Latino girls, which would constantly rag and attack me.

00:32:49 Speaker_02
That right there tells you everything. But wait, there's more. Saying I was drug-free, white, and proud of my blood and heritage, that screams a certain grouping of people who believe that.

00:33:06 Speaker_01
Well, and she's about to call them out. Yeah. Post went on to say, being white is more than just being aware of my skin, but standing behind skinheads who are always around in spirit as well and having pride for my country.

00:33:20 Speaker_02
yeah if you were wondering whether she's an asshole uh ding ding ding there you go asshole yeah who the fuck takes to a blog post to write that well and what's very interesting to me is like you were you were so open about how racist you are and then you went and did this and decided to take it a step further and it's like

00:33:46 Speaker_02
Babe, their job is to investigate your past. They're going to find out that you're racist against this group of people. You don't think they're going to question why you might be emphasizing the race and women. Women specifically.

00:34:02 Speaker_02
Because she specifically says this group of girls. But it's definitely girls, and then it happens to be two women of that particular group of people. Which is not likely that two women abduct another woman. Exactly. It's like, could it happen again?

00:34:20 Speaker_02
Happens, totally. Nobody's saying it couldn't. But we do have to put on our logic hats here and say,

00:34:27 Speaker_02
this doesn't happen a lot at all like the the precedent for this is tiny tiny tiny minimal of course if it ended up being true then you go wow stick that in that precedent bucket and holy shit we'll reference that later but it's like they are looking at this and going hmm

00:34:42 Speaker_02
the fact that it's two women and she's already talked about girls like a group of girls that were like being mean to her and that she didn't like and she's so proud of being white and shit like come on come on saying you're proud to be white is crazy it goes crazy i just have to say that's a fucking insane thing to say and i'll move on now okay weird

00:35:08 Speaker_01
okay like just be proud to be a good human yeah i've never have i ever been proud to be a white person like what it's it's it's weird i'm proud of my irish heritage i'm proud of my scottish heritage I'm not proud to be a white person.

00:35:26 Speaker_01
That's the thing.

00:35:27 Speaker_02
That's exactly how I feel. I am super proud of having Scottish heritage and Irish heritage. I'm proud of my 1.4% Italian heritage. I'm jealous of your Italian heritage. But to be like, I am proud to be white. It's fucking crazy.

00:35:42 Speaker_02
I'm just proud that I have this very interesting heritage that I can look back on and discover and research and take, you know, recipes from and like, you know, like cool legends and folklore. To each their own.

00:35:56 Speaker_02
To bring, like, it's just a strange, it's a strange thing to like point at and be like, I am proud. I don't understand. I do not understand.

00:36:05 Speaker_01
It's very weird. Also. Very weird. Saying that skinheads are always around in spirits.

00:36:11 Speaker_01
does that mean sherry i don't understand what the fuck does that mean i don't understand sherry i hope not i'm glad i don't understand sherry i don't ever want to understand her yeah but anyway she said so she said all that and then in her post-recovery interview with the fbi she's continued to seem very focused on the ethnic aspects of her abductor's appearance she told one agent the smaller one had dark curly hair

00:36:37 Speaker_01
that's kind of short and so curly that if she didn't put product in there it would probably be really frizzy. Wow. Wow, Sherry. What the fuck is that going to mean to that arresting officer? Look out for a girl with frizzy hair.

00:36:50 Speaker_01
Who uses product, so it's not.

00:36:52 Speaker_02
I love that she's literally like, it wasn't frizzy, but I bet if she didn't put product in it it would be a fucking mess, so look out for that girl.

00:36:59 Speaker_01
Like, what are you talking about? Okay, asshole. Like, cool microaggression. Yeah. She also described their clothing in racially coded and overtly classist terms saying their quote brown shoes looked like guest knockoffs. Wow.

00:37:11 Speaker_01
And they wore quote those big hoop earrings and had thin almost drawn-in eyebrows. Wow. Like you're an asshole. A true. You know how many things we could say to describe you Sherry?

00:37:22 Speaker_02
Well that's I'm like bold. Really? Bold of you. I won't. I won't say shit because I'm not an asshole but I'm thinking it. But bold of you.

00:37:33 Speaker_01
Super duper bold. That's all I'm going to say.

00:37:35 Speaker_01
Anyway, given the lack of evidence and the overtly racist comments that Cherry had made in the past, some people suggested, hey, maybe this entire kidnapping was a hoax deliberately planned to demonize the Latino community in Northern California.

00:37:50 Speaker_01
Maybe.

00:37:51 Speaker_02
And that's the thing here. It's like,

00:37:54 Speaker_02
In situations where it's like somebody has had like you know a mental health break and there's been like some thing that you're like okay they perpetuated this idea or something like this and and they went too far like we've had cases like that of course I can't point to one right now because I haven't had enough coffee.

00:38:10 Speaker_01
Brain has jumbled.

00:38:10 Speaker_02
But you know where, like, you can sit there and you can look at it and go, okay, like, I can at least have some sympathy for what this person was going through at some point. Yeah.

00:38:19 Speaker_02
This case, you just, I can't find sympathy in my heart, one, for a racist, and two, I can't find sympathy in my heart for someone who wastes the resources of an entire community. Yes. And traumatizes her own young family. Yes. For what?

00:38:38 Speaker_01
Her family, her sister, her children. Like, I can't find sympathy for that. I can't. Her husband. I could never do this.

00:38:43 Speaker_02
So that's why we were like, she's such an, like, she is, in my opinion. I think she's an asshole. I think this entire thing to traumatize your family and loved ones like this, and again, to suck on the resources of a community... That needs them.

00:38:57 Speaker_02
That needs these resources. And has bigger fish to fry. And to, like, to take money from people and time from people and emotional, like, allowances from people who are, like, putting them into this whole thing because they care. Right.

00:39:11 Speaker_02
And just because they're a good tight-knit community, that's so fucked. It is fucked.

00:39:15 Speaker_01
That's so, like, you're an emotional vampire. You are. And it's, like, that's shitty. And like we'll get there, but spoiler alert if you somehow don't know this case, she was like watching the news coverage. Oh yeah, she saw what was going on.

00:39:25 Speaker_01
She was watching her family on television. That's why I can't. I can't. Like that's how I couldn't like even just think I could never look at Drew on television like begging me to come home and be like, And just be like, oh my God.

00:39:38 Speaker_02
Hilarious. You want to throw another hockey puck at my face? Let's wait a couple of days. And again, if you somehow find sympathy for this person in your heart, that's totally your prerogative and you're probably a better person and that's fine.

00:39:53 Speaker_02
But I don't. Everybody's allowed to have their own opinion. I don't and I'm not going to.

00:39:57 Speaker_01
And you're allowed to give your sympathy where you see fit. Yeah, exactly. I have sympathy for the fact that, like, I'm sure she's very mentally ill. Like, I absolutely have sympathy for, like, whatever is going on in her mental. That's fucked.

00:40:09 Speaker_01
Yeah, for sure. But it's, like, when you talk about insanity versus mental illness, I don't think she's insane. I think she's mentally ill. I still think she knew what she was doing was wrong and she's racist.

00:40:20 Speaker_02
She literally did all this, like, partially to demonize an entire community of people. Exactly. That's like not mental illness, that's just evil.

00:40:27 Speaker_01
That's 100% evil. And it's like, that's why I can't find the, I got nothing. I don't blame you. I feel like the mental illness comes into play with like the injuries.

00:40:36 Speaker_02
Like you have to be mentally ill to do what this woman did. Yeah, but it doesn't take away the absolute evil shit that's going on around there. I completely agree with you too.

00:40:47 Speaker_01
Completely agree with you.

00:40:48 Speaker_02
I agree with you. I agree with you.

00:40:52 Speaker_01
We're like, good point. Support. So in response to everybody saying this was a great hoax, Keith Papini told a reporter, those people should be ashamed of their malicious subhuman behavior.

00:41:05 Speaker_01
We are not going to allow those people to take away our spirit, love, or rejoice in our girl found alive and home where she belongs.

00:41:12 Speaker_01
I understand why people want the story, pictures, proof that this was not some sort of hoax, plan to gain money, or some fabricated race war." And it's like, you understand why he's saying that's disgusting. Of course.

00:41:23 Speaker_01
Because it would be disgusting if his wife did that. He can't fathom it. And he can't fathom that she did that, exactly. And of course, why would you? You would hope and pray that the woman that you married and procreated with could not be that evil.

00:41:36 Speaker_01
Yeah, exactly. Could not be capable of something like this. And the sheriff's office was similarly supportive of Sherry and the Pepini family at that point, saying, we currently have no reason to disbelieve Sherry Pepini's story.

00:41:46 Speaker_01
She was assaulted and had injuries, which she's been treated for.

00:41:49 Speaker_02
I think that was the main thing that everybody held on to, that you couldn't fathom somebody allowing themselves to be hurt that way or hurting themselves that way. You're like, there's no way.

00:41:59 Speaker_01
Branded, broken nose, hair cut off,

00:42:03 Speaker_01
bruised beyond like if you see pictures of her yeah she like she beat the shit out of herself and had help beating yeah herself it's crazy it's unbelievable and and like she wasn't eating so she lost weight like when i say drop down to 87 pounds that you can't even picture that no you think of like your tiniest friend they are not that tiny exactly that's crazy yeah

00:42:30 Speaker_01
So while those who questioned the legitimacy of Sherry's claims were far outnumbered by her supporters, skepticism did continue to grow in the days that followed, particularly as information remained vague and everyone involved was very tight-lipped.

00:42:42 Speaker_01
The investigation then was further hampered by Keith Papini, who, in an effort to disprove the skeptics, released details to the media.

00:42:51 Speaker_01
Sheriff Posenko said, I did not know he was going to release this until a short time before I did a media interview. I think with some of the details he has provided, it could affect the integrity of the investigation. Oops. Which is not great. Yeah.

00:43:04 Speaker_01
Because the sheriff had hoped to keep the few details that they did know about the abductors quiet until they narrowed in on a suspect, and they felt that Keith's rush to defend his wife pretty much compromised their case.

00:43:17 Speaker_01
Luckily, they didn't technically have a case. Yeah, luckily it really wasn't going to matter in the end. They really weren't looking for anybody, but if they were, it could have fucked it up. Yeah.

00:43:25 Speaker_01
But you also understand why he wants to rush to defend his wife. Of course. You can see both sides. Let's face it, after a night with drinks, you just don't bounce back the next day like you used to.

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00:46:16 Speaker_01
But despite the sheriff's attempts to quell the growing interest and debate over the legitimacy of the claims, skepticism about Sherry's kidnapping just kept on growing.

00:46:26 Speaker_01
In certain ways, experts on the matter found this to be entirely reasonable, if not expected, given the lack of details and the outright just fucking strangeness of the claims being made.

00:46:35 Speaker_01
For instance, there aren't that many reasons why an adult would be kidnapped. And if any of them result in the abductor just letting the person go without having achieved some kind of objective,

00:46:46 Speaker_02
A ransom of some sort or something.

00:46:48 Speaker_01
Yeah, like we don't really see a case where they just let you go to let you go. It happens, but it's maybe once or twice that I've heard of.

00:46:57 Speaker_02
I'd be hard pressed to find a handful of cases like that.

00:46:59 Speaker_01
I don't even think there is a handful that I know about at least. But also, Sherry had said that she was abducted by two women, which is an extremely, like I said, rare occurrence.

00:47:10 Speaker_01
Former FBI agent Mary Ellen O'Toole said, women don't commit these kinds of crimes because it involves an element of predatory behavior. But those same experts also cautioned the media to keep an open mind about the case.

00:47:22 Speaker_01
O'Toole also told a reporter, I've had some pretty bizarre but righteous cases where people look at it and say, that didn't happen, even when it did. And yeah, absolutely. Happens all the time.

00:47:32 Speaker_01
And Kenneth Ryan, a professor of criminology at Fresno State, echoed O'Toole's sentiment saying, I know of no other cases like this, but that does not mean it's not legitimate. Exactly. There's always precedent comes from somewhere. Yes.

00:47:44 Speaker_01
And speaking of precedent, in addition to the handful of experts who also cautioned people to remain open-minded, Several members of the press were quick to point to the 2015 kidnapping of Denise Huskins in Vallejo, California.

00:47:57 Speaker_01
There weren't many similarities in the details of the cases, but in the Huskins case, her kidnapper abducted her from a home she shared with her boyfriend, held her captive for several days and then just released her.

00:48:10 Speaker_02
Yeah, and that's shocking.

00:48:11 Speaker_01
Which was crazy. And initially the police concluded that the entire kidnapping was a hoax and they actually treated her and her man terribly. Like it's rough to watch.

00:48:21 Speaker_01
But they then had to retract their statement once evidence conclusively proved that she had in fact been kidnapped. and sexually assaulted by Matthew Moeller, a former lawyer suffering from a very serious mental illness at that point. Holy shit.

00:48:35 Speaker_01
Really good docuseries on the case. It's called American Nightmare. It's on Netflix. Jarring. That's horrifying. Genuinely terrifying. It will have you buying a security system immediately. Do you know anything about that case? Yeah. Fucked.

00:48:51 Speaker_01
So to point that that can happen, you know, where there's details that vary with Sherry having been abducted by two women versus like a man who could overpower her.

00:49:01 Speaker_02
Well, that's the other, there's like differences here, where it's like a man abducted a woman, sexually assaulted her and let her go. It was also the middle of the night. Yeah, and it's like, but this is two women? Yeah.

00:49:13 Speaker_02
And like, then they just like beat the shit out of her and let her go?

00:49:17 Speaker_01
Right. Like, I don't know. Exactly. You know. Now, the other bizarre part of Sherry's story was the surprising sum of money that had actually been offered up in exchange for her safe return, even though the kidnappers never asked for money.

00:49:29 Speaker_01
In addition to the original sum offered as a reward in the early days of the investigation, An anonymous donor offered $100,000 as a reverse ransom for Sherry's safe return.

00:49:41 Speaker_01
The donor refused to identify themselves and communicated only through an intermediary, Cameron Gamble, a local security contractor.

00:49:49 Speaker_01
like that was that was huge huge that a one anonymous donor put up that much money a hundred thousand dollars like that's a lot of money family friend lisa jeter said i mean who offers five or six figures to find someone they've never met yeah yet she and others were still convinced of the donors intentions being good

00:50:10 Speaker_01
And as he put it, quote, the hands of God had been put on my heart to find Pepini. So that's just like a good ass person.

00:50:16 Speaker_02
Yeah.

00:50:17 Speaker_01
Cameron Gamble even went on television to announce the offer of money to the kidnappers.

00:50:22 Speaker_01
But as it turned out, the offer was unnecessary because Sherry soon showed up in Yolo County and no kidnappers ever contacted anyone to set up any kind of money drop or anything like that. Yeah.

00:50:33 Speaker_01
Who in their right mind abducts a woman, period, but then abducts a woman, tortures her for a few days, and then doesn't collect a reverse ransom of $100,000? You would at least think that some kind of money drop would be set up.

00:50:50 Speaker_02
or at least attempted, you know what I mean? Like I can understand if they were like freaked out because they were like this could clearly be a sting to get us. But to not even try to see? Not even have any kind of communication about it? I don't know.

00:51:02 Speaker_02
That just doesn't happen in my mind.

00:51:05 Speaker_01
I don't know. So by the end of the year, the public was eager for any details on the case. But both the family and law enforcement officials had nothing more to give.

00:51:15 Speaker_01
In January 2017, Sherry's sister told a reporter, we would just appreciate our time to heal and privacy. And the sheriff's office also had little to say to the press in the months that followed, other than the standard response.

00:51:27 Speaker_01
Bosanko insisted to the public that, quote, the investigation is still ongoing. It's a priority case. We're still being assisted by the FBI in the case. We're waiting for some evidence to be processed by the California Department of Justice.

00:51:41 Speaker_01
Now by the end of 2017, little had changed, but skepticism surrounding the whole ordeal had grown somewhat stronger. We're getting more and more skeptics on this.

00:51:50 Speaker_01
In October 2017, the Sheriff's Department released a sketch of the suspects based on Sherry's descriptions, as well as a recording of Keith's call to 911 to report Sherry missing.

00:52:00 Speaker_01
And they hoped that these would generate some kind of new lead or evidence, but literally nothing came from them.

00:52:06 Speaker_03
Because they weren't real people.

00:52:07 Speaker_01
Because they were not real people. And the same was true of the surveillance video released a month later showing Sherry emerge from the woods along the side of I-5 in Yolo County.

00:52:16 Speaker_01
Which also, I want to live in Yolo County, and I just need to say that. Yolo County, yeah. That's hilarious.

00:52:21 Speaker_01
In late December, law enforcement officials released a statement to the press saying, we're still reviewing stuff with the case, and then obviously, if appropriate, and if it's going to help identify the suspects, then we'll release more information.

00:52:32 Speaker_01
But we have no plans for anything to be released in the coming months. So frustrating. So everybody was like, okay, like, I guess we'll just never fucking know what happened here.

00:52:42 Speaker_01
Because eventually one year passed to the next and there was never any additional information, never additional details released about the case. And then the family just receded from the public spotlight. Which would make sense.

00:52:54 Speaker_01
Which, yeah, you would expect that to happen. They would want their privacy. But that didn't stop the speculation and of course the online arguments about the case with many people now more convinced than ever that the kidnapping had been a hoax.

00:53:07 Speaker_01
Because when you're not finding the people and there's no leads whatsoever. None. No motive. Obviously cases go cold. Of course. That kind of thing. But there's no motive. You can't find any suspects. Where's the evidence? You got that racist connection.

00:53:26 Speaker_01
That's the thing. Something's wrong here. And that was sitting heavy with investigators. They really clung on to that rightfully so.

00:53:32 Speaker_02
Because if you're not finding these people, sounds like they're made up.

00:53:36 Speaker_01
And that's when you go back to that blog post and you start digging for some more shit. So while supporters and skeptics sparred with one another on social media, because that is the way of life, the sheriff's office continued investigating the case.

00:53:48 Speaker_01
But after repeatedly coming up empty, they actually passed the case to the FBI in early 2020. By that time, Sherry Papini had received more than $30,000 in aid from the California Victims Compensation Board. Damn.

00:54:03 Speaker_01
The fact that this asshole collected, and that wasn't the only amount of money that she received.

00:54:09 Speaker_01
She got money from GoFundMes and other charity organizations, but this one from the Victim's Compensation Board, $30,000, and you just accept that and spend it thinking you're entitled to it?

00:54:23 Speaker_02
This is the same person that sat and watched her family beg for her safe return and still sat there and let it all go.

00:54:29 Speaker_01
Do you have a conscience?

00:54:31 Speaker_02
I think some people just don't. That's the thing. I'm like there's something wrong there that you don't have any kind like that you were able to perpetuate this for so long.

00:54:40 Speaker_01
Yeah. So fortunately, with their superior resources and larger reach, the FBI was able to achieve what the Shasta County Sheriff's Office hadn't. They managed to get to the truth. And that's why we're sitting here today talking about this.

00:54:52 Speaker_01
The FB motherfucking I. That's why we're calling Sherry an asshole. Don't worry. If you don't know the case, you will soon find out what an asshole she is. Yeah.

00:55:00 Speaker_02
I mean, already there was some pieces of evidence we've given you that should be showing you that. Yeah, exactly. But even more of an asshole.

00:55:07 Speaker_01
We're about to go crazy now. In the absence of any new evidence, FBI agents turned to Sherry's past and they discovered that she wasn't always the super mom she was described as in the wake of her disappearance.

00:55:18 Speaker_01
In an interview with her first husband, she'd been married before, she married him in 2006 so she could, quote, qualify for health insurance, they learned that Sherry had a long history of lying and fabricating stories and many referred to her as being, quote unquote, attention hungry.

00:55:37 Speaker_01
Ah, there it is. The ex-husband also told investigators that Sherry had, quote, fabricated stories about being the victim of abuse.

00:55:44 Speaker_01
According to another friend from her past, Sherry was, quote, good at creating different realities for people so that they would see what she wanted them to see, which got her really good attention.

00:55:55 Speaker_01
And while the kidnapping case might have seemed like a pretty extreme length to go to in order to get some kind of attention, many people who knew Sherry and knew her, especially when she was younger,

00:56:05 Speaker_01
wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she had gone that far.

00:56:07 Speaker_02
Which is unbelievable. If people are saying they wouldn't be surprised if you would go this far, whoa.

00:56:15 Speaker_01
That, like, whoa. When you think of every, like, how far she truly went and people, she branded herself, she was branded. For people to be like, yeah, she probably could have done it herself. It's like, whoa. My God. You have a history, my friend.

00:56:29 Speaker_01
She sure does. In 2003, she ran away from home and filed a police report falsely accusing her own parents of physical abuse. Yeah, so this is, it was determined this is a pathology here.

00:56:40 Speaker_01
And she had also said that past boyfriends were violent with her when like

00:56:44 Speaker_01
they were not there was evidence to prove that they were not she she lied about being a victim of abuse many many times yeah which is fucked up which is fucked up so the deeper agents dug into sherry's history the more they started to question just how happy this supposed super mama who really was

00:57:02 Speaker_01
According to phone records, she had been keeping in regular contact with her ex-boyfriend, Sean Reyes, as recently as 2015, and they frequently used phone cards and burner phones to communicate. That's not shady as fuck. Sketchy as fuck.

00:57:17 Speaker_01
It was through an interview with Reyes that the real story of Cherry's quote-unquote kidnapping finally came into focus.

00:57:23 Speaker_02
This shows you, you don't know anybody. Like, damn. You don't know anybody. Like, the whole community saw her as this super mom, happy wife, everything. Yeah. And in the age of social media, you don't know anyone.

00:57:40 Speaker_01
Remember that. You don't.

00:57:45 Speaker_02
Remember that.

00:57:46 Speaker_01
You are seeing a curated version of everyone's life. Character. You're seeing a character.

00:57:51 Speaker_02
And that's, I've seen so many instances of that recently on social media where like things are happening and like people find these, like, oh this person is not what I thought they were. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, you don't know anyone.

00:58:02 Speaker_01
No, if you don't know people personally and deeply, you don't know them.

00:58:05 Speaker_02
And the sooner you realize that and are happy with that boundary being there, the better this will all be. Because I think people are putting way too much in the social media. I think so, definitely. That's my little soapbox.

00:58:19 Speaker_01
But according to Ray, Sherry called him on November 2nd, 2016 and asked him if he could come pick her up and if she could stay with him for a while.

00:58:27 Speaker_01
In a statement to the FBI, Ray's cousin confirmed that he had seen Sherry at Ray's apartment on at least two occasions.

00:58:34 Speaker_01
Ray told agents Sherry said that quote her husband was beating and raping her and she was trying to escape and that she had filed police reports but the police were not doing anything to stop her husband's abuse. Which sounds

00:58:45 Speaker_01
a horrific so of course he was like yeah you can come stay with me now while she was there staying with him she concocted that fake kidnapping hoax in order to avoid having to explain where she had been and the entire time she was there she quote harmed herself to support her false claims wow

00:59:03 Speaker_01
while she was there she like stopped eating like she ate very minimally and he was like oh like can I make you can I make you anything didn't she have like a banana she would yeah she would literally just have like a banana she he uh she asked him to like hit a hockey puck off her face at one point like bank a hockey puck off her leg

00:59:20 Speaker_01
It literally, that's exactly how they said it in the documentary, bank a hockey puck off her leg. And this guy's just like, okay. And I think the way they broke her nose was, I think a hockey stick was involved.

00:59:31 Speaker_02
I think you're right, yeah.

00:59:32 Speaker_01
And like a closet door or something like that. Yeah. Wild shit. Talk about folly ado.

00:59:38 Speaker_02
Wild shit.

00:59:39 Speaker_01
Like damn. Yeah. So after about three weeks of just staying there doing all that wild shit, Reyes had a friend rent a car for him and he drove Sherry out to that rural spot on I-5 where she was found on the morning of November 24th, 2016.

00:59:55 Speaker_01
A check of the rental car's odometer log confirmed that the vehicle had traveled the distance between Ray's apartment and the drop-off spot in Yolo County.

01:00:04 Speaker_02
It's those little things.

01:00:05 Speaker_01
I love that shit. When it comes down to these little things, I'm always like, damn. Yup. Damn forensics. And his story also explained the unidentified DNA on Sherry's clothes when she reappeared, which was tested and later confirmed to belong to Sean.

01:00:21 Speaker_01
Wow. So she was just... Having a grand old time.

01:00:25 Speaker_02
So she, to be clear, she bullshitted this entire thing. The entire thing. To hang out with a boyfriend. Yep, an ex-boyfriend. An ex-boyfriend. Yep. Remember, she has two young children.

01:00:41 Speaker_01
Literally, two little, like, young, young babes. Remember that. Like, teeny tiny babes. Left them at daycare, unplanned. Unconscionable. I can't imagine.

01:00:51 Speaker_02
And then watched on TV as her husband cried and begged for her safe return. Her parents, her husband, her sister, her friends. Everybody that loved her. Watched the community go to all these lengths.

01:01:02 Speaker_02
Watched the cops talk about how much resources they were putting into it. Watched that dollar amount go up and up and up of people donating out of the goodness of their hearts.

01:01:10 Speaker_01
And somehow like fed off of that. Like it wasn't like, oh fuck, what have I done?

01:01:15 Speaker_02
But what you should take from this is not, wow, people are the biggest shitheads in the entire world. No. One person is the biggest shithead in the entire world. But look at the other side of it.

01:01:26 Speaker_02
An entire fucking community of people showed everybody what humanity is. Like that's the thing to take from this is, and they all said, we'd do it again. Like we thought someone was missing.

01:01:38 Speaker_00
We thought one of our own was missing.

01:01:39 Speaker_02
That's our community. That's our community. It's like that take that away from it that like most people in the world are gonna do that. Yes. Like these are the ones that you just suss out and you say fuck off.

01:01:51 Speaker_01
And you and you sit there and you wonder how people are even capable of existing. Yeah. Like Sherry Papini.

01:01:56 Speaker_02
Like the toxic waste dump that must be her soul. Yeah. Like talk about a trashed soul. Like it's she is a trashed soul. She scares me. Yeah. What scares me is I also feel like I like know people like her. Yeah. And she's not happy.

01:02:11 Speaker_02
Nobody who does this kind of shit is a happy person. No. Not at all. Like nobody who's an asshole being a dick to other people and like taking up other people's time, like ruining people's days, doing whatever. Being a racist.

01:02:22 Speaker_01
Is a happy person. No.

01:02:23 Speaker_02
Not at all. They're always miserable.

01:02:25 Speaker_01
So in August 2020, agents interviewed Sherry again and laid out the evidence that they discovered and warned her at the top of the interview that it was a crime to lie to the FBI. So they're like, here's your time.

01:02:37 Speaker_01
However, Sherry quote, did not retract her kidnapping story and instead continued to make false statements about her purported abductors and denied her ex-boyfriend's involvement.

01:02:47 Speaker_01
They sat there and they said, we tested the male DNA that they found on you. It's Sean's. And she sat there and acted shocked and said, Sean would never do that to me. It can't be him.

01:02:57 Speaker_02
And like literally started to cry like she was just having a revelation about like, oh my God. It couldn't have been him. No, no way, no. Meanwhile, she had been staying with him for weeks. She literally sits on the- Talking to him on burner phones.

01:03:08 Speaker_01
You guys gotta go watch the interviews because they're so deeply disturbing. And I feel so bad because her husband is with her when they confront her. And if anybody ever thought that he was involved in it,

01:03:19 Speaker_01
seeing his reaction when they tell him when they tell sherry like coming out hello yeah he is blindsided yeah i feel sad for that yeah it really is sad but unfortunate oh and then another thing and if you watch the documentary on hulu you'll see it she had uh perfectly described where she was being contained and it was this very specific closet that she kept talking about and when they went to her boyfriend's at her ex-boyfriend's house

01:03:46 Speaker_01
he had that exact closet and they were like nobody else would have had the closet but no it was like a very specifically made like there were certain like pipes and wires and stuff that went to certain places and they were like what are the fucking odds that that's the exact closet system

01:04:01 Speaker_02
And the fact that she described his closet didn't even make sense.

01:04:04 Speaker_01
Why would you do that?

01:04:05 Speaker_02
You lied about everything else. Why are you giving the exact closet? Like, I'm glad that you did.

01:04:09 Speaker_01
Yeah, thank goodness. Because it got us to here. And also, she, and this is the scary thing about Sherry Papini, she sat there in that interview room when they said, we ran the DNA testing and it matches your ex-boyfriend Sean Reyes.

01:04:22 Speaker_01
And she said, no, no, no, it can't be him. You have to check it again. There's no way it could be him. Yep. She thought that she could get the upper hand there and convince them otherwise on DNA.

01:04:33 Speaker_02
She wanted them to rerun, that's like saying, can you crunch those numbers again? No, it's DNA. If it's hitting on a person that's involved. It's the person. We didn't crunch the numbers wrong. It's a fucking, like what? This is forensics, bitch.

01:04:48 Speaker_02
This is DNA. Hello? This is deoxyribonucleic acid. You're not going to get out of here.

01:04:53 Speaker_01
This is going to hurt. What the fuck? What? Just the fact that she thought that she's that diabolical that she was like, let me give this a shot.

01:05:01 Speaker_02
Because she's gone her whole life manipulating and I think she was like, well, this is my magnum opus and I can definitely keep this going. I just have to try harder. And it's like, no, babe. No, babe. DNA does not lie. You cannot manipulate DNA.

01:05:15 Speaker_02
It's just not gonna happen. And we got the fucking odometer telling us the exact distance.

01:05:21 Speaker_01
The odometer, the closet, the... They even found, and again, if you watch the documentary, you'll find this out, she had saved to her Pinterest board like wood burning tools.

01:05:32 Speaker_02
Oh my God, yes, you're right.

01:05:34 Speaker_01
Which she then used to brand herself with the word Exodus. She had saved those to her fucking Pinterest board.

01:05:41 Speaker_02
This bitch Pinterested her own kidnapping hoax. Literally. That's a level of diabolical and also... just completely, like, de lulu that you can't even comprehend.

01:05:55 Speaker_01
And the malice of fucking fourth up there to plan your own branding? The most. Hello? Yeah, hello is right. Hello? Actually, goodbye is right. Goodbye, Sherry. Goodbye. But not goodbye yet.

01:06:07 Speaker_01
So unfortunately, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic really, really hampered Agent's ability to aggressively pursue this case. Rona really fucked us. Yeah. But don't worry, we got there.

01:06:19 Speaker_01
In early March 2022, they were able to get a warrant for Sherry's arrest based on the evidence and statements from her boyfriend, Sean Ray's there, her ex-boyfriend. Thank goodness.

01:06:28 Speaker_01
In addition to being charged with lying to the FBI, Sherry was also charged with mail fraud stemming from her receipt of more than $30,000 in victim assistance money from state agencies, which carried a combined sentence of up to 25 years in prison if she were to be convicted.

01:06:46 Speaker_01
Damn. She should have got that. Yep. On March 3rd, 2022, Sacramento FBI agents

01:06:52 Speaker_01
were staked outside of sherry's neighborhood hoping that they'd be able to stop her when she drove like maybe going on some kind of errand without the kids they were really hoping to not get her in front of the yeah they really were trying to avoid that and they thought that they had her when she peeled out of a neighborhood and she started toward downtown redding but then they realized that the kids were with her and they were headed to some kind of music class like she was dropping them off so

01:07:17 Speaker_01
Once they were sure that, they like had to redo their plan really quickly. So once they were sure that Sherry was inside the building, they sent an agent in to tell her that somebody had hit her car outside.

01:07:28 Speaker_01
Hoping they could get her outside without alerting the kids. So she like lost her shit and ran out. And unfortunately when she ran out, her kids followed her because she had made such a scene. She like screamed about it.

01:07:41 Speaker_01
So they witnessed the arrest take place, which is really sad. What's it like to get the new iPhone 16 Pro with AT&T NextUp Anytime? It's like when you first light up the grill and think of all the mouth-watering possibilities.

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01:08:21 Speaker_01
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01:08:34 Speaker_01
See at&t.com slash iPhone for details. She screamed no and actually tried to run away from the agents, which I was like, where did you think you were going? One thing Sherry has, it's self-confidence. She believes in herself and audacity, in abundance.

01:08:56 Speaker_01
Like, where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going, Sherry? You gonna hide in the piano? The whole world knows who you, like where are you going? Literally the entire world.

01:09:04 Speaker_01
Luckily she was quickly subdued and handcuffed before being put in the back of the agent's car. And luckily, also, the kids' piano teacher stayed with them and called Keith to let him know what was going on.

01:09:15 Speaker_01
She was like, hey, you have to come get the kids because they got Sherry.

01:09:19 Speaker_01
A few days later, the family released a statement expressing outrage over the way in which the arrest was handled, saying, we love Sherry and are appalled by the way in which law enforcement ambushed her on Thursday afternoon in a dramatic, unnecessary manner in front of her children.

01:09:33 Speaker_02
I can understand. I can, too. That's their children. You know what I mean? That's that family's babes.

01:09:39 Speaker_01
Yeah.

01:09:39 Speaker_02
I would be really upset if any kid that I love witnessed that.

01:09:42 Speaker_01
Absolutely.

01:09:43 Speaker_02
So I can fully understand that.

01:09:45 Speaker_01
And they also didn't know that there was a completely different plan and that it just didn't work out. Yeah. So they were thinking they just did this to do it. Yeah.

01:09:52 Speaker_01
And I'm sure knowing that retroactively, they're probably thankful that at least they tried to not involve the children. But I can totally understand why they were pissed. Same. Yeah. Outside of the kids' music class, that sucks. Yeah.

01:10:04 Speaker_01
That really does suck. But the news of Sherry's arrest shocked friends and family and those around the country who were following the story. But not everyone was surprised by the arrest.

01:10:14 Speaker_01
A lot of people were shocked, but most... there was a large group of people who were like, meh. Reading local Tim Scarborough said, there was so much that questioned the validity of her story. I didn't believe it for a moment. Good for you, Tim.

01:10:27 Speaker_01
He had actually covered Sherry's story on his blog, but in the wake of her mysterious return, he started to get suspicious of the inconsistencies and the various aspects that didn't make sense.

01:10:37 Speaker_01
And his public skepticism, actually, he got a considerable backlash from people. I'm sure. To the extent that he received threats of violence to his person.

01:10:47 Speaker_02
Because it's hard. It's like you're publicly being suspicious of something that could go the other way. And it's like, that can be, obviously that would be awful.

01:10:57 Speaker_02
If you were saying like, this is a hoax and then it turns out it's not and they catch the people and they know she went through this whole thing. That's fucked up. It's never okay to threaten violence against someone though.

01:11:08 Speaker_01
Get it together, people who do that. Normalize disagreements without saying I'm gonna hurt you physically. It's cool. It's cool if you don't agree. It's fine.

01:11:19 Speaker_02
It's the way of the world, actually. Everyone, stop threatening everyone. My God. People are just, we're in a really different day and age. Everybody's just so angry. We gotta calm down.

01:11:29 Speaker_01
Everybody is really angry. Calm down. You need to calm down. What does she say after that? Yeah, it's Taylor Swift. Oh, yeah, yeah. You're being too loud. Damn, it's 7 a.m. Elena loves to say, damn, it's 7 a.m. It's true.

01:11:47 Speaker_01
The Swifties are going crazy right now. I love that song. It's a great song.

01:11:51 Speaker_02
I think it's funny.

01:11:52 Speaker_01
So other community members were outraged by the racist undertones of Sherri's story. Araceli Gutierrez, a business consultant who works. That's a pretty name. Araceli. Araceli is really pretty. Actually, I looked it up. I think it means something.

01:12:07 Speaker_01
I really like that. It means something, but it means something pretty, I was pretty sure.

01:12:10 Speaker_02
You know, while you look it up, there was this, Ash, and I remember True Life on MTV. It was like where it's at.

01:12:17 Speaker_01
I miss True Life all the time.

01:12:19 Speaker_02
There was that Respect My Sect thing. Yes. Or no, it was I'm a Witch. That's what it was. It was like, I'm a witch or respect my sec one of those. And it had that vampire cult that was in the other one in it again. I think they were in at least two.

01:12:32 Speaker_02
Yeah, I think you're right. Because I think it was like, I'm a vampire or something, true life, I'm a vampire or something. And there was a girl named Araceli, I think it was, who was a witch, but also was like a vampire as well.

01:12:46 Speaker_02
Oh, you're right, I remember that episode. And she seemed like such a sweet human. I just like putting it out. I remember hearing her name and I was like, oh, that's a beautiful name.

01:12:56 Speaker_01
It's beautiful and it has a beautiful meaning. It means altar of the sky or altar of heaven.

01:13:01 Speaker_02
I love that.

01:13:02 Speaker_01
And it comes from the Latin words, Ara, meaning altar and Sele, meaning sky.

01:13:07 Speaker_02
Oh, that's beautiful. As soon as you hear it, it's just like, ooh. It feels very whimsical.

01:13:12 Speaker_01
It does.

01:13:14 Speaker_02
Certain names and words, just like when they come out, you feel like they twinkle. Twinkle.

01:13:19 Speaker_01
Yes, that's crazy.

01:13:22 Speaker_02
Because I can see it. I'm like, I just feel it twinkling.

01:13:24 Speaker_01
She like wiggled her fingers and then I said twinkle at the same time. That was awesome.

01:13:28 Speaker_02
So if your name is Araceli, your name twinkles.

01:13:31 Speaker_01
Your name twinkles and me and Alina share a brain cell about it. That was wild. That was crazy. That's been happening a lot lately. Yeah, that goes crazy. No, I'm just kidding. Don't go away.

01:13:41 Speaker_01
But Araceli Gutierrez, she was a business consultant and she works with the Latino community in Northern California and she said, saying these two Hispanic women kidnapped her and all the lies that came out of the story, it's just too much.

01:13:52 Speaker_01
It absolutely is. I agree, Araceli. And you think of like, there is a huge Latino population in California.

01:13:57 Speaker_02
And you probably, you fucked up their businesses as well. Oh my God, yeah. Because you put out this shit. And now all these people are probably being victimized because of your racist lies. They absolutely were.

01:14:06 Speaker_02
There was like an uptick in threats and violence against the Latino community. And these Latino-run businesses, these women Latino-run businesses, they're the ones suffering for your bullshit. And that's why she wanted to do it. Ooh, it makes me so mad.

01:14:22 Speaker_02
She literally,

01:14:23 Speaker_01
like, that was part of it. It was so far-reaching, the bullshit that she committed. It really was.

01:14:28 Speaker_01
And given the timeline and the tone around the country, Gutierrez told reporters that Papini's story just gave a lot of people reason to believe in Trump's rhetoric. It really sowed division.

01:14:36 Speaker_02
And it's like, nobody should be sowing division. No. Especially at that time. Like, come on. Like, It's just unity, my friends. Unity, exactly. We're all people. Let's just try to get it together.

01:14:48 Speaker_01
Let's just try to do the best we can. And don't fuck up other people's businesses. Don't fuck up other people's businesses. Don't be a racist asshole. Support small businesses. Lift up communities that are oppressed. Come on.

01:15:01 Speaker_01
Come on, it's so much easier to do that. We've seen in history what happens when you're shitty to marginalized communities.

01:15:09 Speaker_02
Yeah, and when you sow discord.

01:15:12 Speaker_01
Why do we just continue to do it?

01:15:13 Speaker_02
And it's also just gonna, like, I know we're just, we're like, guys, stop being dicks. I feel like people who listen to this show are beautiful souls. They're like, I'm not being a dick.

01:15:22 Speaker_02
Yeah, tell everybody that's being a dick, you're trashing your own soul by doing that. You're trashing it. It's true. It's a waste dump in there. Don't trash your own soul.

01:15:31 Speaker_01
You want to twinkle like Araceli? Yeah, you got to bring this soul to your next lifetime.

01:15:35 Speaker_02
It's got to be like clean and shit. It's like the older you get, the more you realize that it's just like, damn.

01:15:40 Speaker_01
I've said that to everybody needs to show. I'm like, you know, approaching the old age of 30. And I'm just, I'm realizing time is limited. No, it's true. And I'm not trying to do fuck shit with the time that I have here.

01:15:52 Speaker_01
And you get, you know, you get more with honey. Yes, it's true. Exactly. Honey is a cure-all. I love honey. And it tastes good. And she lasts, like, so long. There you go. Anyways. Honey. We're really getting a little off topic here. Morbid in the morning.

01:16:06 Speaker_01
Morbid in the morning. And I haven't had any coffee. According to the FBI affidavit, Sherry's emphasis on her supposed kidnapper's ethnicity led to, quote, years of tips from Redding.

01:16:17 Speaker_01
and the surrounding communities about suspicious looking Hispanic women.

01:16:21 Speaker_02
And that's fucking tragic.

01:16:22 Speaker_01
Yeah.

01:16:23 Speaker_02
Like all the people that were just stereotyped.

01:16:27 Speaker_01
Yeah. And. And like harassed. Yeah. And turned into a villain. Yeah. When they're not.

01:16:33 Speaker_01
Other members of the community were simply just fucking angry that they'd been duped into expanding an enormous number of resources on a woman who had never been in any real danger.

01:16:44 Speaker_01
Family friend Jane Atkins said she had us essentially on a witch hunt. There were numerous posts on local social media group pages of sightings of women who looked like the suspects or similar vehicle descriptions had a lot of women on edge.

01:16:56 Speaker_02
And that's the thing, it's like, so she really didn't care. Because people get wily in these situations. And it's like, she didn't give a shit if these, if innocent women that happened to match that description got hurt.

01:17:09 Speaker_01
Or God forbid drove a similar car, yeah.

01:17:12 Speaker_02
Like, people can go vigilante on people. Like, it's happened. It's like, obviously, you don't want it to happen.

01:17:17 Speaker_01
No, but they do. But people do it.

01:17:19 Speaker_02
And especially when there's, like, really big uproar and something. Like, you're being portrayed as this, like, blonde supermom housewife that, like, just got snatched up by these evil Hispanic women.

01:17:30 Speaker_00
Just going on a jog.

01:17:31 Speaker_02
And it's like, so people are going to go crazy. And it's like, and you just didn't care if innocent women were attacked on your behalf. Because she's a racist. She just doesn't care.

01:17:43 Speaker_01
Part of her wanted that to happen. That's boggling to me. That's why she went out there and said that two Hispanic women did this to her.

01:17:50 Speaker_02
That's really mind-boggling to me.

01:17:51 Speaker_01
That's fucked.

01:17:52 Speaker_02
And it's like you said, she specifically said women. Women. Because she had a problem with that. She had claimed she had had a problem with girls in the past.

01:18:00 Speaker_01
All I'm thinking, because she was like, because I was drug-free and proud to be white, like I would believe her being proud to be white. but also, like, because you were drug free.

01:18:09 Speaker_01
I'm not, like, I have never witnessed an act of bullying where some girls are angry because some girl is drug free and white.

01:18:18 Speaker_02
Well, you know what that was? That was another, that was her putting another stereotype of being like, well, they were drug addicts. That's what it is. Like, she's putting all the All the racist rhetoric into one little sentence there.

01:18:30 Speaker_02
It's like, me, I'm drug-free, but they couldn't be.

01:18:33 Speaker_01
Nobody gets bullied for being drug-free. Fuck off. We gave a shit about you, Jerry. Are you fucking kidding me? Others in Reading echoed the sentiment. Reading resident Erin Friedman told a reporter, I was worried about her and her kids.

01:18:46 Speaker_01
It seemed like such a kick in the teeth of a community that didn't deserve to be treated like that. she stabbed our community in the back with every step she took. Yes. Boom. I think I would put it perfectly. Yeah.

01:18:55 Speaker_01
But unfortunately, if anybody was waiting for any kind of reasonable explanation for Sherry's behavior and lies, they were sorely disappointed. So frustrating.

01:19:05 Speaker_01
In a statement to the press, Sherry's lawyer, William Portanova, said his client had a, quote, complicated mental health situation, I'll say, but one that has to be confronted and dealt with. And that includes admission and acceptance and punishment.

01:19:18 Speaker_01
As far as why she did what she did, Portnova did not have that answer. He said, honestly, I don't know if anybody does. I don't know if even she knows.

01:19:26 Speaker_02
And honestly, whatever explanation she would give, I don't want to hear it anyway. No, it'd just be excuses. None of it is valid.

01:19:32 Speaker_01
It'd be excuses for... Yeah.

01:19:35 Speaker_02
piss poor behavior. The only excuse you you would have is I am devoid of humanity. Literally. That would literally be the only explanation that I'd be like thank you. I'd rather hear that. Thank you for telling me that because like that's really it.

01:19:47 Speaker_02
I'm devoid of anything good. Sorry. Sorry for that.

01:19:50 Speaker_01
Yeah. Like that would be the only I'd be like okay. That's full ownership right there. Yeah. Well she didn't do that.

01:19:55 Speaker_01
Whether she could explain herself or not, Sherry knew that there was no point in carrying on her protest because still she was like, no, this really happened. No.

01:20:02 Speaker_01
But in early April 2022, she did agree to plead guilty and she provided a documented confession in exchange for a reduced sentence, which I wish was never on the table.

01:20:12 Speaker_02
The fact that she wouldn't with confronted with all that evidence. She still still wouldn't admit it until she got something out of it. Still. Wow. Yeah.

01:20:22 Speaker_01
In a statement released through her attorney, she said, I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so sorry for the pain I've caused my family, friends and all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story and those who worked so hard to try to help me.

01:20:34 Speaker_01
I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done. Good, I hope you do. You know what I didn't hear in there? A direct apology to the Latino community. You literally victimized them.

01:20:45 Speaker_01
Yeah, I'm sorry to Hispanic women for completely demonizing you. She said, I'm sorry to my family, my friends, and good people. Yeah. Who the fuck are you to determine who's a good person?

01:20:56 Speaker_01
How about you say sorry to the community that you completely victimized for years? Years. Years. Like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Yep. But per her agreement with the prosecutor's office, Sherry Papini was sentenced to

01:21:08 Speaker_01
Remember, she was facing 25 years. I remember watching this and being like, are you fucking kidding me? She was sentenced to 18 months in prison. To me, that is a travesty. It is a travesty. It really is.

01:21:20 Speaker_01
And that was to be followed by a 36-month period of supervised probation and an order to pay back the $309,902 in restitution. Wow. That's what she received in total from like GoFundMes and victims compensation boards.

01:21:39 Speaker_01
While she was incarcerated, Keith Papini filed for a divorce and the court granted him full custody of their children. There is a very interesting admission that Keith makes about what Sherry may have, may or may not have done with their children.

01:21:53 Speaker_01
Yeah. Watch the documentary. I don't want to get too much into it in here because it's just a, it's a detail that I can neither confirm or deny. Yeah. As far as we know. But it's interesting. But it's what he says.

01:22:04 Speaker_01
And I'm happy that he has full custody, but definitely watch The Perfect Wife. on Hulu. But in August of 2023, Sherry was released from prison and she transitioned to a halfway house.

01:22:15 Speaker_01
As of March of 2024, she has yet to pay any of her fine, which with penalties is now nearly $350,000. What an asshole. I love that she's just an asshole from start to finish. Still not even paying her fucking retribution. Yeah. Yeah.

01:22:32 Speaker_01
Or restitution, whatever it is.

01:22:34 Speaker_02
Like she says, I'm going to work the rest of my life to make amends. And it's like, and all you think is like, yeah, I hope you do. Yeah. I do hope you do. I hope you work until your last breath to make amends. I hope that.

01:22:44 Speaker_02
But it doesn't look like you are though. You're immediately getting out and not paying back any of the money.

01:22:50 Speaker_02
It's fucked up because like now you look back on and you're like what the fuck like what an asshole that's insane what a crazy story and it's like while this was all going on the pain and suffering and grief and stress that she caused for several parts of her life and trauma and communities like trauma for her family was so real and it's like

01:23:10 Speaker_02
you look back on it now and can at least and can be like wow that was fucked up but during it it's like damn like the trauma you inflicted it's fucked in about 40 different directions is and especially especially on your kids that's the thing and it's like lady if you wanted to disappear write a note and disappear yeah

01:23:32 Speaker_02
And then he can file for divorce, he can gain custody of the kids. If you wanted to, you want to leave your whole life behind, go right ahead.

01:23:40 Speaker_01
It's just the, the Delulu that she thought she was going to just have the perfect, like Gone Girl, have the perfect disappearance and never get caught. And I just don't know how she returned and looked in her kids' eyes every day.

01:23:52 Speaker_02
Well, and why'd you come back?

01:23:54 Speaker_01
Oh, because she had to come back. She wanted the attention. She had to get doted on and all of the above.

01:24:00 Speaker_02
Like how you didn't think,

01:24:02 Speaker_01
that was gonna come out like it's just well and they they were having trouble in their marriage definitely like obviously she was still talking to her ex-boyfriend they weren't happy and I think she saw this as her because Keith even says it in the documentary she would bring it up daily like everything her ordeal that she had gone through and she would make him feel bad that he didn't save her

01:24:23 Speaker_02
Oh yeah, like she would literally be like, you didn't save me.

01:24:25 Speaker_01
You didn't find me. And I have to live with that.

01:24:28 Speaker_02
I have to live with the fact that you didn't find me. So it made it so that she had the upper hand in the marriage. Whoa, like the asshole meter, it broke. The psychological torment.

01:24:40 Speaker_02
Because she did all the things that we just talked about and then had the fucking audacity to look at her husband who she tortured psychologically for weeks and say, well, I have to live with the fact that you didn't find me because you didn't want to be found.

01:24:56 Speaker_02
Like, holy shit, you went to great lengths to not be found. To make sure you weren't found. Damn! Meanwhile you watched him beg for your return, search, do all the things. It still wasn't enough. While taking care of your children.

01:25:10 Speaker_02
And it still wasn't enough. And still you're gonna make him feel like the shithead?

01:25:14 Speaker_01
Yep. You are the ultimate shithead. And I think it was all so that she could come back and have him dote upon her and like, like I think she thought he was gonna realize what he lost.

01:25:24 Speaker_02
Yeah.

01:25:25 Speaker_01
it didn't quite work out that way.

01:25:27 Speaker_02
It is just the case is maddening. Bonkers. Maddening. I'm glad they caught her. Yeah. Because if it was still hanging out in the air like is it a hoax is it not a hoax that would be maddening.

01:25:38 Speaker_01
I found another um I can't think of the name of the case right now but I found another hoax that I want to cover. Yeah. I find them fascinating. They are fascinating. I find them disgusting and horrific but I find them fascinating. So infuriating.

01:25:50 Speaker_01
That somebody can go to those lengths and just have No, not a care in the world for what they're doing to everybody.

01:25:56 Speaker_02
That's the real thing that gets you is they don't care how it's affecting everyone that they supposedly claim to care about.

01:26:04 Speaker_01
Like that is void of all empathy. Yeah. Of all empathy. To take it so far. It's crazy. But yeah, crazy case. I definitely want to cover some more like these. I do like cases where people don't die. Like, you know? Yeah. That's nice. That's pretty nice.

01:26:18 Speaker_01
It's a nice break to have. I mean, it's horrifying. Still horrifying, but in a completely different way.

01:26:24 Speaker_02
Yeah. I think I'm probably going to take you back to a dark place.

01:26:29 Speaker_01
Yeah. That's what we're here for. A darker place, I should say. Oh, what do you have cooking in the kitchen?

01:26:34 Speaker_02
I guess we'll have to see.

01:26:35 Speaker_01
We'll wait and find out. That was so ominous. I tried. Alita's still so thick and spooky season.

01:26:40 Speaker_02
I am. Spooky season for life. I love it.

01:26:42 Speaker_01
I'm like Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah everyone! And I'm like still spooky. So spooky.

01:26:47 Speaker_01
Well to all our spooky listeners out there and to all our November 1st girlies and guys and theys and thems, we hope you have a wonderful day and we hope you keep listening. And we hope you.

01:27:03 Speaker_01
but not so weird that you go and you develop an entire hoax kidnapping story of just be an asshole. Don't do that. I talked so much. I don't know the words.

01:27:10 Speaker_02
Go listen to Listener Tales because there's a video.

01:27:13 Speaker_01
Yeah. Maybe there will be another one. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

01:28:20 Speaker_01
Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

01:28:27 Speaker_00
Hello, ladies and gerbs, boys and girls. The Grinch is back again to ruin your Christmas season with Tiz the Grinch Holiday Podcast.

01:28:34 Speaker_00
After last year, he's learned a thing or two about hosting, and he's ready to rant against Christmas cheer and roast his celebrity guests like chestnuts on an open fire.

01:28:44 Speaker_00
You can listen with the whole family as guest stars like Jon Hamm, Brittany Broski, and Danny DeVito try to persuade the mean old Grinch that there's a lot to love about the insufferable holiday season. But that's not all.

01:28:56 Speaker_00
Somebody stole all the children of Whoville's letters to Santa and everybody thinks the Grinch is responsible. It's a real Whoville whodunit. Can Cindy Lou and Max help clear the Grinch's name? Grab your hot cocoa and cozy slippers to find out.

01:29:10 Speaker_00
Follow Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Unlock weekly Christmas mystery bonus content and listen to every episode ad free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.