Deborah Roberts talks with 20/20 Senior Producer Sean Dooley about the latest developments in the story of a California mother who once falsely claimed she was abducted, held hostage for 22 days and branded against her will. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened to Sherri Papini?
Sherry Pippini arrested on charges that she allegedly lied to federal agents about being kidnapped. News breaks that the mother of two has been arrested.
Now being accused of making the whole thing up. A stunning admission. Sherry Pippini has now admitted it was all a hoax. Will plead guilty to lying to federal agents about the case.
Chapter 2: What was Sherri Papini's initial story?
There's a plea deal. She's avoiding trial entirely. As part of this agreement, she has to admit, which she did in writing and through her attorney, that she made the whole thing up.
Sherry was sentenced to 18 months and was ordered to pay restitution. She served just under a year in federal prison and is now free.
Now, nearly a decade later, Sherry Papini is the subject of a new documentary where she gives her account of what she says happened. So, joining me now to dig into this story and 2020's long reporting on it is senior producer Sean Dooley. Hello, Sean. Hi, Deb. Good to be here. Good to be with you. You've been with us, obviously, here at 2020 for so long.
You and I are always catching up in the hallway on all these different stories. But now we get a chance to talk face-to-face about this story that you senior produced along with Matt Gutman. Correct. Who reported on it. Correct, yeah. Sean, people, I just remember when this story happened. And I think I remember, of course, my jaw dropping at the whole prospect of it. But
You know, when you think about, you know, a story like that, right, that a mom has been abducted. And although we've seen a lot of stories where things have gone sideways, so I sort of wondered about it, but we were following it from the very beginning. And I don't know, I mean, were there doubts in the beginning?
I think there were, Debra. I mean, one of the things I think that's great about a show like 2020 is that we've been on for so long, we have such an incredible archive, and we get to follow stories for a long time. So as you said, this one's been going on for almost a decade. And we were there at the very beginning. And so when it first happened, as you say, it was a shocking story.
I mean, a mother seemingly snatched off the street as she's out for a jog in the middle of the day.
She's got young children at home.
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Chapter 3: How did the investigation into Sherri Papini's case unfold?
Yeah, it was certainly a story that caught everyone's attention. And so, of course, we were following it as well. She ends up showing back up in sort of a seeming miracle on Thanksgiving morning. Weeks and weeks later. Weeks later, yeah. And we did our first show on this in 2016, just days after she had gotten back. Matt Gutman sat down with her husband, Keith Papini.
She, we had been told at the time, obviously was not in any condition to do an interview herself. But her husband came out and spoke to us and told us, you know, how he was so, I remember at the time he was so emotional and talked about, you know, having her back, that this was a, you know, a miracle.
He was so thankful to all the people who, I mean, because her community had really come out and searched for her, raised money for her. I mean, everybody was concerned about this mom.
And what did people say about this mom? I mean, she was, I guess, known to be a doting mother, right? They seem to have a solid marriage from what friends told us.
Yeah. At the time, it was this it was almost, you know, everybody referred to her as sort of a picture perfect mom. I mean, there were these gorgeous photos of her and her family and her two young children. And, you know, clearly they'd had some really nice photos, professional photos taken of their family that were out at the time.
And so, yeah, everybody just thought she was this perfect mom who had this horrible thing happen to her.
And her husband actually told us that, too. Well, let's play a clip from that 2016 show when Keith, her husband, describes reuniting with his wife Sherry at the hospital.
I just ran past everybody and I, you know, throw open the curtain and she was there in a bed in her poor face. And I just hugged her. I just held her. I felt like I hugged her for like 20 minutes. I was so happy that she was there. And I was just kissing her all over. And then I got like nauseated just looking at her. It was so hard for me to see her like that.
Keith, a couple of times you said her face, her poor face.
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Chapter 4: What evidence contradicted Sherri Papini's claims?
Oh, the plot thickens.
And over the next six years, investigators would piece together how Papini had lied about everything, from her fictional abduction to injuries which were largely self-inflicted. DNA from her clothing eventually leading them to her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes.
I didn't kidnap her, you know, I just, friend in need asked me for help, and that was that. What did she say? She was trying to get away from her husband. Like, your husband beat you, your husband raped you. I don't know what her deal was.
Is it okay if I go look in that room, the closet? I'm curious if it's the same as she described it.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. This apartment, this closet, and this bathroom... looked just like the place that Sherry says she was held captive.
Authorities say Papini's allegations of abuse against her husband were unfounded and that James Reyes had no knowledge of her plan. And with Reyes's cooperation, investigators now believed they had solid proof Sheriff Papini's kidnapping was a hoax.
The DNA that was on you belongs to James Reyes. We talked to him personally. We have the rental agreements, phone rental, car rental agreements. The reason why you lost so much weight is because you stopped eating. The reason why the brand is because he went to the store, bought the branding tools and branded you. The reason why your nose was broke is because of a hockey stick.
It's not an abduction. She asked me to come get her.
No.
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Chapter 5: How did Keith Papini react to his wife's situation?
Chapter 6: What were the final outcomes of Sherri Papini's case?
And also they just wanted a bulletproof case so that when they took it to her and confronted her, they were able to say, we know this happened. We know this happened.
And poor Keith, he really was standing by her. Well, we've got a clip from the 2020 that aired in 2024 where Keith talks with Matt Gutman about feeling that something wasn't quite right about his wife's story.
I sat down with Keith Papini nearly eight years after I first met him to hear how he says he was fooled by Sherry's lies for so long. So many people watching this would wonder, was his spidey sense going off? Didn't he notice that something was off?
Of course I felt that way. There was always something that wasn't right. When you first encountered her in the hospital, What was your first instinct? When I pulled back the curtain and I saw her and I saw the look in her eyes, I felt in that moment that she was lying. And it wasn't until I went to her to embrace her and I could just see the amount of injuries, bruises, burns to her body.
And it was a shock to me. And I remember thinking how horrible of me to even think that she could have done this to herself.
Such a confusing mix of emotions for this guy and the mom of his children. She presents as somebody who had been abused. Clearly now police are starting to think she did this to herself. That had to be really difficult for him.
Yeah, and I think you can understand where he was coming from, right? Something in his intuition told him in that moment that this didn't seem right. But as you say, this was his wife, the mother of his children. And we did get to see these images of Sherry Papini, what she looked like when she came back. And the investigators say the same thing.
The extent of her injuries were so extreme that any doubt that I think popped up in his head, he just immediately said, How could I even think that? How could she possibly do that? How could she do this to herself? And I think he felt a sense of guilt at the time even for having that thought. So, you know, and again, it took years for him to understand what really happened to his wife.
And I think that it was a very, very difficult process for him to accept.
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