Sherri Papini Mystery: Disappearance, Investigation, & Media Frenzy Uncovered

Kyle Risi: 0:00

So the detectives are understanding and they reassure her that they're not trying to overwhelm her and that the reason for calling her in today was that they had found the house where she had been held and also that they'd found the person responsible for her kidnapping.DUM DUM.DUM person.One person?

Adam Cox: 0:21

So what we got,we've got a man's DNA on the clothes.Mm-hmm.So that person is a man,I'm guessing that's holding you accurate.I dunno.It seems very suss and the way that you're telling the story kind of makes me believe that Sherry's been telling a few fibs or something.Mm-hmm.And she's not being as cooperative as she probably should be.Mm-hmm.

Kyle Risi: 0:40

Well,you're intuitive,so well done.Welcome to the Compendium and Assembly of Disappearances.Reappearances Lies and Betrayal.Just like a magician,it's not going to be a show about magicians,it's not about Paul Daniels.I don't even know who

Adam Cox: 1:18

that is.Oh yeah,that's right.We've been through this,

Kyle Risi: 1:20

what do you mean?We've been through this,we,we've

Adam Cox: 1:22

talked about Paul Daniels before and you've gone,I don't know who that is,and I realize you didn't grow up in the uk so you don't remember who he is?

Kyle Risi: 1:29

No.I can't remember the conversation that you were just referring to anyway,so I think it one must be one of those situations where I've just switched off.Yeah,probably for those of you tuning in for the very first time,I'm your host,Kyle Risi,the one who's mostly good at making food disappear and the amazing ability to not make it reappear.

Adam Cox: 1:49

Me too.I can do that.Um,so I'm your co-host,Adam Cox.The one who's always wondering,how do you make that many bottles of cider disappear?Kyle,

Kyle Risi: 1:58

Hey,I don't have a problem here.

Adam Cox: 2:01

Well,um,I would say it's without a trace,but you know,I see the empty bottles at the end of the night,so I know what happens.

Kyle Risi: 2:06

When I'm falling asleep on the,uh,on the damn sofa.Yeah.welcome Adam.How's your week been?How did you find last week's episode on Forrest Fen and his worldwide treasure hunts?

Adam Cox: 2:17

I want to go on a treasure hunt myself.It's inspired me.So if anyone has,um,any hidden treasure,just let me know roughly where it is.

Kyle Risi: 2:25

What if you're a good little boy,Easter's coming around in a few months,might be able to,uh,create a little treasure hunt for you in the garden in a few months,you know,well,next year,next year,few months,next

Adam Cox: 2:36

year,you know,well,I get excited when I find five pound on the floor,so can you imagine just finding however many million,you know?

Kyle Risi: 2:43

That's kind of a thing of the past now,people don't find money on the floor anymore.That feeling that you get,people just don't carry cash.

Adam Cox: 2:50

Yeah.You look over your shoulder and you're like,did anyone see me?Pick that up?And you run away.So you,I mean with the cashless society people,I mean,if you drop your credit card,which did happen to me,someone did have the audacity to go and use that.

Kyle Risi: 3:02

Free credit card free drinks.But that's the thing though,like even a hundred pound limits on per transaction,you can do a lot of damage.

Adam Cox: 3:08

Right?Yeah.Two trips in Sainsbury's.Is that what they did?They did,yeah.Do you know what they bought?Oh,probably alcohol or their weekly shop.I have no idea.

Kyle Risi: 3:18

Did you get the money back?I did,yeah.Oh,that's good.I think Gen Z will never know that feeling of finding20bucks in your jean pockets.

Adam Cox: 3:27

Yeah.That's always good.That's always a good day.Thanks.Old me.

Kyle Risi: 3:31

Yeah.Looking out for me.Thanks.Old me.So,uh,what have you got for me this week?

Adam Cox: 3:37

Oh,so my,uh,news story for this week is,people in Japan have got used to wearing face masks since Covid.Okay.So much so.They're forgotten how to smile.

Kyle Risi: 3:53

So they're just walking around with resting bitch face.

Adam Cox: 3:55

Pretty much.So a poll by,Japan's public broadcaster,n h k last month showed that55%of people were wearing masks very often,and so therefore they forgot how to smile.And so what they've been doing is they've become,you can now get a coach to teach you how to remember how to smile.

Kyle Risi: 4:13

A smiling coach.Yeah.That's stupid.

Adam Cox: 4:16

So this one person,um,said that I hadn't used my facial muscles much during covid,20year old.And so,uh,she has hired,this SMILE instructor,so,saying it's good exercise and basically helps you prepare to get a job in the Japanese market if you learn how to smile again.And I think the cost of it,guess how much one session or one-on-one session costs?

Kyle Risi: 4:39

I don't know,two cherry blossom trees.

Adam Cox: 4:41

I dunno how much that costs,but it's7,700yen,which is the equivalent of44pounds.

Kyle Risi: 4:47

For a smiling coach.Yeah.I think,that's not unreasonable.I mean,smiling.Yep.

Adam Cox: 4:51

They learned this when they were a kid.How it's kind of sold or how it's talked about is that culturally a smile signifies that I'm not holding a gun and I'm not a threat to you.That's how it's being sold basically.Um,but yeah.So I might go on like fiverr.com mm-hmm.Or something like that.And start Yeah.Setting up smiling classes.So get in touch if you need to remember how to

Kyle Risi: 5:11

smile.You've got a great smile though.So I think that you'll be a great poster boy for your,your little side gig on the side.

Adam Cox: 5:17

Exactly.Only44pounds a session.

Kyle Risi: 5:19

You don't wanna kind of Nope.Differentiate yourself and go like35?

Adam Cox: 5:23

No,this is,um,I'm,no.

Kyle Risi: 5:26

Okay,fine.Good story this week.So,um,you

Adam Cox: 5:32

don't,don't devalue my smile.

Kyle Risi: 5:33

I'm not devaluing your smile.Your smile is amazing.Right?Okay.So you are listening to the compendium and assembly of fascinating and intriguing things.We are a weekly podcast where I,Kyle Risi unraveled tales that will leave Adam,my insatiably inquisitive co-host on the edge of his seat.

Adam Cox: 5:52

I'm ready to be gooped and gagged.What have you got today?Goop?Well,

Kyle Risi: 5:55

I won't be gooping and I won't be gagging you.It's a phrase.

Adam Cox: 5:59

Being gooped and gagged.You're shocked.You're amazed.You didn't just make that up.

Kyle Risi: 6:02

No.Gooped and gagged.

Adam Cox: 6:04

I think it's just a drag thing.Gooped.

Kyle Risi: 6:06

Oh my god.

Adam Cox: 6:07

Gooped and

Kyle Risi: 6:07

gooped and gagged.Gooped and gagged.Well,today on the compendium,I'm gonna be telling you about a story that dominated the headlines back in2016when it first broke and continues to do so right up till today in2023does the name Sherry Papini ring any bells to you?

Adam Cox: 6:27

Not a single bit.You never heard of her?Never.I like the name though.Almost a superhero name.

Kyle Risi: 6:32

I think it sounds more like a pasta.Hey,you got a Papini.

Adam Cox: 6:36

Papini.Yeah,it does.Yeah.A bit

Kyle Risi: 6:37

Italian.Yeah.Well,I just love the story and it's such an opportune time to tell it because it's only this year has the story finally come to its natural conclusion.It really does feel like a Hollywood movie.When I was researching this,I was like,someone is going to snap this up and turn this into some kind of blockbuster.

Adam Cox: 6:56

So it's not on Netflix yet?

Kyle Risi: 6:57

It should be.They should.Absolutely.They probably will.Now that it's finally come to an end,they probably will.

Adam Cox: 7:04

Maybe they can base it on the retelling of this from this podcast,do you reckon?

Kyle Risi: 7:08

Yeah.Will be one of their credible sources.Not that I even research anything.We do Anyway.So this story,it's got suspense,it's got mystery.It's got a host of twists and turns.It's a narrative that has kept millions.Speculating and sleuthing since the year2016where this tale first broke.And it is a tale that makes you question the lengths in which people will go to deceive.Okay,so should we dive into it?Let's do it.So it's November the second,2016,and Keith Papini a salesman at Best Buy.He gets home after a usual day at work,but there is something off.The house is eerily silent.Usually his homecoming is like this mini celebration.His wife Sherry,and the two kids will be at the door before he could even get out the car.But on this day,things are different.There's no one there to greet him.Now Keith steps in the house and the silence feels like it's closing in on him.He looks around,there's no sherry,there's no kids,and he is mind starts to race.For him this is weird,and he tries to call Sherry's number on her phone,but there's just no answer.This is not like Sherry at all.His brain flicks to the kids.Maybe they're out somewhere.So he calls the daycare center to see what time Sherry pick the kids up today,but when the daycare center answers,they inform him that Sherry hasn't actually picked the kids up at all and they're still at the daycare center.

Adam Cox: 8:50

Oh,your mind probably starts thinking the worst.

Kyle Risi: 8:52

Well,he just starts to panic,right?Yeah.So Keith remembers that he has this Find My iPhone app installed on his phone for like safety measures.So he logs in and he sees that Sherry's phone shows up a mile away near the letter boxes.Now you've gotta understand that they live in Reding,California,so it's not exactly a bustling city.The houses are like really spaced out,so everyone's got their own mailboxes clustered by the main road,so the postman doesn't need to kind of come into the neighborhood.Mm-hmm.It's just kind of like a wall of post boxes where they just will jam your post in.Mm-hmm.So,Keith thinks that it's weird that Sherri is down by the mailboxes considering that her car is still at home.there's no way that Sherri would've walked a mile just to pick up the mail.Mm-hmm.Right.So he decides that he's gonna drive all the way down to the mailboxes,but when he gets there,there is no sign of Sherry.So he uses the app on his phone to ping the phone,and there it is,laying there on the roadside.Attached to it are Sheri's headphones and strands of her long blonde hair that's tangled in amongst the headphones.

Adam Cox: 10:05

That doesn't feel,doesn't sound good,does it?It doesn't.

Kyle Risi: 10:08

And then it hits him.Something is terribly wrong.So he decides to do the only thing that he can think of,and that's called911.So that's our scene.Should we find out who the papini are?Papini,let's do it.Let's talk about Sherry and Keith.So they are central characters,obviously in this mystery,and they're both from this kind of like quaint little town that's tucked away in the northern part of California,known as Redding.They've known each other since they were in high school,and even had a bit of a romantic stint in the seventh grade.But that doesn't quite pan out as fate would have it though.They meet again through friends years later,and they end up rekindling their relationship,which leads them to get married in2009.By the time Sherri goes missing,they're both kind of roughly in their mid thirties.Now Keith,he's got this kind of typical American jock look to him,he's kind of got that kind of athletic

Adam Cox: 11:06

Yeah,kind of guy.Popular

Kyle Risi: 11:08

school.Exactly.Yeah.Sherry on the other hand,she's got this long blonde hair and she would easily pass for a cheerleading captain,right?It feels like prom and prom queen kind of.That's exactly it.Okay.So they could easily have won homecoming king and queen.That's,yeah,I think that's what they called it.Now,post-marriage,Sherry starts exploring the world of social media.So she sets up this blog.She's documenting her love for Keith and their idyllic life in the Northern California region.Initially,it's all about their wedding preparations and the early days of marital bliss.But soon the blog morphs into something more like a mom blog.Mm-hmm.So once the kids are born,Sherry projects herself as the super mom balancing her domestic life while Keith takes on the role of breadwinner they're the perfect American family.Do you know when you're on Instagram you see all these perfect kind of little families with their kids and they're doing arts and crafts and there's not a thing outta place.Those people.Those people.Now when Sherry vanishes,it's like a shock wave that hits this little quiet town.It's big news because it reminds people of a previous disappearance of a young woman called Tara Smith in1998in the same area.Now,Tara was16at the time that she disappeared,and she was also out on a run as well.But she was never seen again.So both Sherri and Tara share this uncanny resemblance.They both went to the same school.They live in the same area.So the similarities for those people that still remember is really chilling Now,immediately everyone in the community springs into action.They all band together pumping in resources into the search for Sherry,and they're fighting against the clock.Knowing that with every passing hour,the chances of finding Sherry alive is slowly ticking down.

Adam Cox: 12:59

It's usually like a window of,is it48hours,72hours you have in terms of that's where you have the most chance,isn't it?To find someone alive.

Kyle Risi: 13:06

Yeah.It's that kind of the statistics of it.So the police need to work really quickly if there's any chance of trying to find her alive.Yep.Now a website gets set up,search committee's form,and the whole town gathers together to pitch in.And then there's Keith.Now he's usually a super private and reserved kind of person,but he suddenly finds himself under the spotlight,he's doing all these interviews all he wants to do is just keep the story alive.Mm-hmm.Keep Sherry in the media,because if she is on your radar,the chances of them finding her is hopefully increased.Now,a GoFundMe page also pops up.And in no time they raise$49,000.And this money they hope they can use to kind of try and help assist in trying to find Sherry.Now round about this time as well.A guy called Cameron Gamble also gets involved.Now he's a self styled kidnapping and ransom consultant.Consultant,yes.Like why would you need something like that?I feel

Adam Cox: 14:13

like a private detective sounds better,but a consultant just makes me think this is how you kidnap someone.

Kyle Risi: 14:18

So after Gamble scrutinizes,Keith's interview.Gamble becomes convinced that Sherry was indeed taken.He comes forward with an offer of$50,000from a wealthy benefactor as a reward for Sherry's safe return.He posts all these videos where he announces that this reward is now on the table and he sets a deadline for the kidnappers to contact him.But the police,of course,aren't thrilled about this guy kind of meddling in their investigation.They're worried that he's just going to end up muddying up the ongoing investigation.

Adam Cox: 14:57

I was gonna say,what was that?It's called vi Vigilante?No.What's the word?When you were kind of trying to meddle in police affairs.

Kyle Risi: 15:04

Uh oh,I dunno.Medler.

Adam Cox: 15:07

Okay,fine.Let's go with that.

Kyle Risi: 15:09

So Keith,of course,he.Isn't really opposed to kind of the extra help.Mm-hmm.He'll take anything that will help bring Sherry home.When the deadline rolls around and there's no word from the kidnappers.Gamble takes a new approach.He posts a follow-up video calling off the reward,and instead offering it to anyone who can help capture the kidnappers.He's essentially placing a bounty on the kidnappers heads this time,which,It's technically the same plot from Mel Gibson's movie Ransom.Oh,right.

Adam Cox: 15:43

Do you think

Kyle Risi: 15:43

this is where he got the idea from?Uh,probably This guy is such a little showman.Like I don't think he even cares about Sherry.I think he's just trying to kind of boost his own consultancy kidnapping business.

Adam Cox: 15:58

It does seem,yeah,ulterior motive here.I get why the police would be like,no,can you just go back and,I don't know.

Kyle Risi: 16:03

So people start to accuse gamble of exploiting Sherry's case to boost his own kidnapping and ransom consultancy business.So three weeks eventually Pass.And Sherry,she's still missing there's no leads or anything.

Adam Cox: 16:17

This point must be.You know,your

Kyle Risi: 16:19

hopes are down.You're losing hope.Yeah,yeah,for sure.Now,of course,the rumor mill starts churning and fingers start pointing at Keith,because they say statistically,you're more likely to be murdered by someone that you know.That's why I'm always on guard from you,and so you should be,and,and I am.So,but eventually the police are confident that he has nothing to do with sherra's disappearance.But despite chasing down400leads,the police still are no closer to finding Sherry at all.The one lead that looks promising was a series of deleted messages on Sherry's phone initially saved under a woman's name.This number is traced back to a man named Donovan.

Adam Cox: 17:03

Oh,I was gonna say,has she got a lesbian affair gone wrong?

Kyle Risi: 17:07

They find out that she's been saving men's numbers as women under women's names.

Adam Cox: 17:12

Mm.Okay.Something's a sus here.

Kyle Risi: 17:14

It gets a bit tasty.So Sherry and Donovan had been chatting between the29th of October and the1st of November.That's the day before she physically goes missing.They were discussing,potentially meeting up when Donovan was in San Francisco for work,but the drive was over five hours.And so Donovan is just against coming down because it's too far.Police wondered whether or not Donovan had changed his mind and came to see Sherry after all.But when the police check his phone records,that confirms that Donovan went back to Michigan on the day that Sherry went missing.So again,they just clear him as well.And the police are back to square one.Where is Sherry?Adam?

Adam Cox: 18:01

I don't know.who do they suspect he is?Someone that she could be having an affair with?

Kyle Risi: 18:05

Yes.Cuz they were having quite intimate chats.They were gonna have some kind of rendezvous.Okay.In Redding.Which,um,I think that kind of gives us a bit of an indication of what kind of marriage that we're in potentially.Okay.I dunno if Keith even knew anything about it.Cuz he's totally.Totally utterly devoted to her.So this would've

Adam Cox: 18:23

come outta the woodwork and going,well,you might seen,I don't know this lady's name in her phone,and then goes,actually,that's linked to a man.Mm-hmm.Yeah.That's okay.This is

Kyle Risi: 18:33

unraveling scandalous.And then just like that,on Thanksgiving morning,22days since Sherry went missing,Sherry Papini reappears.It's4:00AM in the morning,right?150miles south of Redding on the freeway,Sherry is spotted by several drivers waving a piece of fabric,trying to flag people down to stop,okay?Apparently she'd been left on the side of the freeway with a chain around her waist and she'd been brutally beaten.Geez.So finally,a driver spots her.He pulls over a bit further down the road.He calls911,and the police and an ambulance are dispatched and Sherri is in rush to hospital.Now around7:00AM on that Thanksgiving morning,keith gets the call that he's been praying for for the last22days.The police tell him that they found Sherri as they're breaking the news to him,he can hear her in the background screaming.And Keith wastes no time and rushes to the hospital.

Adam Cox: 19:35

The relief because normally it doesn't end this positive.Mm-hmm.When someone goes missing.That's

Kyle Risi: 19:41

it.So he's,he's probably super relieved.Yeah.Especially after22days.And don't get me wrong,the police are also amazed.Mm-hmm.At this point as well.It's been22days.She just showed up on the side of the freeway.She can walk,she can talk,she can flag people down.Yes.She's been beaten,but she's alive and she's capable of moving,

Adam Cox: 20:00

she's,she's walking and moving.Yeah.Yeah.

Kyle Risi: 20:02

She's,she's,yeah.So what happened to Sherry and how did she come back in those22days?Mm-hmm.What you've been up to,what you've been doing.How are ya?So,Sherry was back and she is in an extremely bad state.Keith is broken by the condition that he finds her in at the hospital during an interview he talks about the substantial weight that she loses while she was missing,dropping from50kilos.She's tiny already.Mm-hmm.50kilos down to40.Okay.So50kilos.So she is like emaciated.her long blonde hair had been brutally hacked off and her body was covered in bruises and various rashes.Keith tells us that Sheri was kidnapped by two Hispanic women whose aim was to sell Sheri into the sex industry.And that most shockingly,he reveals that the woman had branded Sherry across her shoulder branded like a cow with the word Exodus2116.

Adam Cox: 21:07

sounds like a,a passage from the Bible.Right,

Kyle Risi: 21:09

exactly.Why would they kidnap her and then brand her with a Bible verse?

Adam Cox: 21:15

Who brands people these days?I mean,

Kyle Risi: 21:17

Sex traffickers.Okay.Yeah.So incredibly traumatized.Sherry insists on having Keith with her while speaking to the police.Mm-hmm.She explains that the woman who kidnapped her boasted about their high level connections.Mm-hmm.which includes some influential police officers.And so Sherri was skeptical about even talking to police because she believed that they were the ones that were involved in her kidnapping.police provide Keith with a tape recorder hoping they might persuade Sherry to reveal more de details about what had happened to her.And at first,Keith is like extremely protective of her,like given the trauma she's experienced.But eventually he does manage to encourage Sherra to share a bit more about what happened to her.So this is what Sherry says.Okay.So according to Sherry,she was out jogging,like Keith thought when a van with two Hispanic women stopped beside her,both women were wearing face masks,and when they stopped,one woman brandished.A small gun,an order Sherri to drop her phone and get in the van.Sherry obviously been afraid,complies,but as she's taking off her earphone,she cleverly pulls out several strands of her hair to leave as a potential clue on the side of the road.Once she's inside the van,a bag is placed over her head and one of the woman hit she with what she thinks is a taser.Sherri is out cold.When Sherri wakes up,she finds herself in a bare room with just a bed,a dresser,and a wardrobe,and she's been stripped of all of her clothing.She's wearing just a simple plain t-shirt.She recounts that she climbed onto the bed and tried to peek out through the window,but the windows were all boarded from the outside.And in that moment the woman burst in,they pull her down by the hair and they beat her until she loses consciousness.Oh my word.Horrendous.Yeah.What's,what's

Adam Cox: 23:11

going through her mind?You think?Well,yeah.Petrified.You think that's it?Mm.

Kyle Risi: 23:15

Really?You think you are gonna die,right?Right.God.So when Sherri wakes up again,the room has been rearranged.The dress has now gone and a bed has now been moved.Eight chain has now been kind of placed around her waist and it's now attached to like this metal pole inside the wardrobe.Over the next few days,the woman come and go.They give her kind of a bucket filled with kind of kitty litter so she can use that as a toilet kitty litter.I know.I dunno if that's,I wonder if she dug and then covered it.Is that better than a bucket?I would rather just have a bucket.What's the point of the kitty litter?Just,

Adam Cox: 23:49

I mean,maybe it masks the smell.I,I dunno.I've never done

Kyle Risi: 23:52

it.Gross.So they give her small portions of food like porridge,bread and meat.She says the woman constantly played what Sherry describes as a vat,loud,irritating Spanish music.

Adam Cox: 24:06

I dunno what that,what that allowed irritating.

Kyle Risi: 24:09

Yeah.It's kind of like,I don't know,it's just there's some racial like undertone to that undertone to that.The woman would frequently yell at her in Spanish if she made any noise.And they would also physically,Punish her and sometimes burn her with what she says are like heated kitchen utensils,like spatulas and spoons and things like that,which is just awful.Mm-hmm.That's what my sister used to do to me.What burn you with a spoon?She would like make some tea and then after she is finish would then touch me with the spoon.

Adam Cox: 24:40

I don't,I'm gonna be honest.Mm-hmm.I don't know if comparing what your sister did,teasing you as a sibling,what's hurting you,but still teasing you is quite the same thing as what Sheri has gone through.

Kyle Risi: 24:52

I mean,you might be right.

Adam Cox: 24:54

She might have been shouting in Scottish at you.That's not the same.My sister's not Scottish.I

Kyle Risi: 24:58

know,but she might be.Do you think my sister has a Scottish accent?No,

Adam Cox: 25:01

it's South African.Well,kind of a mixture.There's

Kyle Risi: 25:04

a blend.That's too,that's true actually.Yeah.Yeah.So I have a sister who has lived a long time in Scotland,so she has this weird hybrid Scottish,south African accent.She's just terrible,she's gonna hate me for talking about her on this

Adam Cox: 25:17

podcast.Yeah,yeah.You,you're gonna have to make up,make up to her.Oh,

Kyle Risi: 25:21

we can always cut this bit out.Right?Now,during one of her beatings,one of the women,hacks off her ponytail and around this time,the woman tells Sherry that they're planning on selling her,and they have a buyer who is waiting.They show Sherry various news reports about her disappearance,telling her that everyone thinks that she's run away and that nobody is looking for her.So Sherri tries to communicate with her captors over the coming days,offering to cook,clean in the hopes that she'll get.Any kind of hint about where she is or what their plan is for her and when things are gonna take place.That's

Adam Cox: 25:59

smart.She's thinking,how do I get

Kyle Risi: 26:01

out of here?Exactly.So she recognizes words like traffic,camera,uh,medicine and delivery.And so even though she doesn't understand what these words mean in the wider context,she knows that her only option is to just blatantly escape.Right.So Sherry mentions a time when the woman forced her to take a shower at gunpoint.As she's showering,the woman get distracted and lower their guns.Sherry takes this as an opportunity to attack the woman by slamming her head down onto the toilet,but she ends up severely hurting her foot.So the older woman drags her back into the room,who then forces what Sherry says as an unknown substance down her throat,which causes her to pass out.Soon after the woman then tie her to a table and they brand her like a farm animal.Sheri describes the pain as she hears kind of that skin just sizzle which is awful.The smell?Yeah.Burning flesh.So she's branded with the word Exodus21,16.And what,what's the passage Say,get this.Whoever steals a man and sells him and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death.Why would a kidnapper brand someone with that message or that Bible verse that's

Adam Cox: 27:24

almost,uh,like a boasting,like,you won't catch me.You won't,you won't put me to death.That's how I take that.But it seems very odd.

Kyle Risi: 27:33

It seems really odd mm-hmm.So apparently says that she spends her days mostly doing yoga to keep her spirits high and her mind strong.She also works,on a hole in the drywall at the back of the wardrobe in our hopes that she might be able to carve a hole big enough for her to escape.She has no idea what's behind that wall.I guess like the Shaws shank redemption.I think maybe she's been watching too many films.I don't know.I mean,

Adam Cox: 27:58

I like Well you can't criticize her,uh,mentality and her strength and going Yeah.Find a way outta this.Yeah,

Kyle Risi: 28:06

I'll try anything.Yeah.She says that the only thing that was keeping her alive was the thought of escaping and being reunited with her children,which I guess is understandable.Mm-hmm.So as the day pass,Sherri says that she felt like the younger woman was becoming kinder to her.One day,Sheri hears a loud gunshot she then hears someone picking up keys and preparing to leave the premises.And then everything goes quiet.The Marriott,she music all of a sudden is turned off and Sheri says that all she did was scream,and scream and pulled at her chains until she just ended up passing out.But when she wakes up,the woman is back.I don't know where the old woman is.And I wonder like what she's referring to about the gunshot?Yeah.Does she shoot the older woman?Cause we don't hear about her at all now and they would argue constantly.Apparently it does

Adam Cox: 28:56

some weird setup and it's just these two women

Kyle Risi: 28:58

that are doing this.Yeah,it's odd.It's so weird.Where's if they're like a crime ring?Where's everyone else?

Adam Cox: 29:04

Yeah.It feels like there should be a bigger,or they're like really incompetent.Well,not incompetent.They've done a good job so far in terms of kidnapping.But there's just something

Kyle Risi: 29:12

a bit.Something is off,isn't it?Yeah.So when she wakes up,like I said,the woman is back and she comes into Sherry's room,she hits her in the face,covers her head with a pillowcase and takes her out to the car.She ties Sherry at the ankles and the wrists,and then she drives off.All Sherry can hear is the radio at this point.And she tries to estimate the distance that they drive by just counting the number of songs at play.But she just keeps losing consciousness.Finally,the car stops.The younger woman tells Sheri to get out,her ties are then cut and she drives off.And in that moment she just runs eventually reaching the highway where she uses the pillowcase as a flag.And she says she screamed so hard and for so long that she could taste blood in her mouth.Oh my.Can you imagine how relieved you must feel at that moment?Like at any moment?What if the kidnappers turn around to come back?Come back,or Yeah.There's

Adam Cox: 30:09

a trap or something.

Kyle Risi: 30:10

Or it's a trap,exactly.So I can,I can really feel like how she must have

Adam Cox: 30:14

felt wanting to be rescued some quickly

Kyle Risi: 30:16

somewhere.Yeah,for sure.So at last Sherry is taking me to the hospital and that's where we're at at this moment.Okay.Scary.Yeah.What do you make of that?

Adam Cox: 30:26

I didn't expect quite dark a story as what you just

Kyle Risi: 30:30

went into.This is the compendium.When has it been a lighthearted walk through the forest?That's true.Other than last week.

Adam Cox: 30:38

That's true.We really should consider that.

Kyle Risi: 30:41

Um,nothing surprises me anymore.Yeah.

Adam Cox: 30:44

Okay.Yeah.So,alright.So she's back at,well we're up to the point she's in the hospital.Mm-hmm.Um,she's not giving away too much information at this stage,but she's giving away just enough,I guess,to explain where she's been.But for22days,three weeks,losing10kilo kilos,that's quite an ordeal she's been

Kyle Risi: 31:02

through.It is,isn't it Bit awful for her.Mm-hmm.So through Keith and eventually through the police,she gives a super detailed description of the woman and the place where she was held.Right.She has an incredible memory.Mm-hmm.So she is able to kind of.Remember really fine details about all sorts of things.Like,it's incredible.She remembers the smallest details from the unique bathroom layout and cracks she saw in the tiles inside the bathroom.Details about the house in general.Police are like really confident that this information is gonna be really useful mm-hmm.In helping them find the location where she was held.Initially,the police only share a few details about Sherri's kidnapping with the public.And the police initially think that maybe Sherri was kidnapped by mistake,thinking the woman thinking that she was maybe a young girl and not a34year old woman with two kids.Oh,okay.Right.So police think this could explain why the woman kept her for so long,maybe they didn't really know what to do with her.They were kind of a bit perplexed.Do we kill her or do we,and I guess

Adam Cox: 32:11

with the,um,arguments maybe between the two of them,and it didn't really feel like it was quite right,this whole sort of setup.Mm-hmm.Maybe a bit botched,A bit inexperienced.

Kyle Risi: 32:21

You're spot on.That's exactly what the police say.They,it could also explain why they were arguing constantly amongst themselves as well.So police also puzzled because statistically it's unusual for a white woman to be kidnapped for sex trafficking.Usually victims know who their kidnapper are.They're normally usually l.Or lured in with a promise of a better life.Right.Also,kidnappers are usually part of a larger professional kind of group.Mm-hmm.So to police,it's strange that Sherri never sees anyone else other than the woman.Also,it's strange that they would just let Sherri go and risk being caught.Yeah.Like why did they not murder her?Mm-hmm.That's the thing.She's incredibly lucky to be alive.Right.Police are also baffled as to why Sherri was branded in the first place,because essentially you're kidnapping these women to sell into the sex industry.So by branding your victim in the first place is like,Essentially damaging your product,right?So if you are going to mark your victim,you're going to be maybe put a little subtle tattoo somewhere where it's instantly recognizable,maybe on a wrist,on a neck or something like that,but not a burn.A brand of however,what eight letters.And certainly you're not going to be chopping off the thing that probably makes your victim the hair.Yeah,exactly.What makes your victim the product that it is.Right?That's part of the aesthetic,the

Adam Cox: 33:52

product as it is.That sounds very weird that you're saying that,but I know what you mean.Yeah,but they probably

Kyle Risi: 33:56

see her as just a product,you know?Yeah.And they've cut that off,so it just doesn't make any sense.It's all a bit suss.And also,why would they go around beating her and bruising her?

Adam Cox: 34:06

So the police are kind of questioning some of her story now,saying as if something doesn't

Kyle Risi: 34:10

add up.I mean,The thing is,Adam,no one wants to go around victim blaming.True.This is2016.So this is the time where you kind of would be compelled to believe the victim.

Adam Cox: 34:24

And she's obviously come back looking as sta she'd been branded.So it's,I

Kyle Risi: 34:28

she has been branded on her shoulder as well.Yeah.She didn't do that herself,did she?No.So in the police's search for clues,the police looked at places where Sherry was likely to have been held based on like her description.They checked cell phone tower records.Mm-hmm.Uh,they find a total of six phone numbers,but the only one that is plausible was linked to this21year old woman with dark hair.But it turns out that she wasn't Hispanic and also she had an alibi.Mm-hmm.So Sherry was not immune from public scrutiny.People at this time,Sensitively start doing their own investigating and speculating in various online communities and various accounts of questionable behavior on Sherry's part start to be unearthed.

Adam Cox: 35:16

Okay.So it,once again,it feels like these online detectors help sometimes solve a case.

Kyle Risi: 35:22

Yeah,I mean,how many shows have we watched where an internet sleuth was part and parcel of the investigation or the solution?

Adam Cox: 35:28

It's true,isn't it?Yeah.It's becoming more and more a thing.Reddit must have be all these,uh,um,kidnapping consultants on,on Reddit and everything.Hey,

Kyle Risi: 35:38

maybe it,maybe Cameron Gamble has got,is onto something,right?Yeah.Maybe.And he's helping.Yeah.So various sleuths dig up an old blog post from2017.It first appeared on a site that is known for supporting white supremacist ideas.And the person who wrote the comment on this particular blog was a woman called Sherry Graph.Sherry's maiden name.Okay.2017in2007.So2007.Okay.Yeah,2007.So the post was all about,um,the person's high school days.Sherry tells how she was singled out by a group of Latino girls.Unlike them,she was clean,she didn't mess with drugs.Uh,she was loud and proud about her German roots.So you can sense there's some kind of racial thing going on here against people of Hispanic kind of,and that's why she was like

Adam Cox: 36:36

that.

Kyle Risi: 36:36

Spanish music possibly.Yeah.So it all boils over at a volleyball game and apparently a massive fight breaks out and just the post goes on and it's quite derogatory towards Latinos and how they don't act very feminine and they shouldn't be fighting and things like that.So reading between the lines is all pretty much fueled by this whole kind of.White supremacists kind vibe Okay.It's not a great mark,to have against you or even to be seen to be posting on forums like that.Yeah.

Adam Cox: 37:04

I mean,I dunno.People can learn from their mistakes,stuff like that.And it's a while ago,but obviously it's out there in the public domain.Mm-hmm.For sure.She felt that at one

Kyle Risi: 37:13

point.At the same time,a Pinterest account connected to Sheri Papini is also discovered.The account contained kind of various pictures,again,that supported white supremacist ideologies,so not just a one-off then it's not just a one-off.Also,it's worth mentioning that around about2016,this is when Trump was running for president and so his supporters pedaled a lot of this anti-Hispanic sentiment at the time,and Sherry was an avid Trump supporter.Oh,no.Oh no.Because of this,people wondered whether or not Sherri might have made up the kidnapping to kind of stir up trouble between the various races.

Adam Cox: 37:56

I mean,that is quite a,in a statement to like she went through it.She did.

Kyle Risi: 38:03

I guess.I mean,this backstory stuff doesn't imply any guilt at all.Right.

Adam Cox: 38:09

Other than okay,she doesn't like Hispanic people.Mm-hmm.Basically,and maybe that was still warranted by being kidnapped by Hispanic women.

Kyle Risi: 38:17

Hey,maybe it was the two Hispanic or the Hispanic girls in her first post that read that and then decided to kidnap her.Yeah.And then which

Adam Cox: 38:24

case,maybe she deserved it.But I,I dunno,this feels very odd.

Kyle Risi: 38:28

Yeah.Nothing fall is falling its place.Right.Yeah.Nothing makes fluid sense.If you want to say the word Fluid,fluid,fluid.

Adam Cox: 38:37

Um,well,yeah.I.To say this has all come from sort of racism,but I,I dunno actually,maybe it's not as farfetched.I dunno if Sherry that well,but No,something's clearly up and regardless,you know,she sounds like she's been a bit offensive in her past.

Kyle Risi: 38:53

Mm,well,more digging reveals that Sherry actually,there's quite a long history of lying and is far removed from the sweet all-American princess persona.Okay.That she has been portraying to the rest of the world really.So people learned that Sherri's mother,Loretta once called the local sheriff office to ask for advice on what to do about Sherri,who had apparently been self-harming herself and telling people that it was her mother that was doing it.Okay.I mean,that's kind of almost classic teenage behavior,but taken one step too far.Right.Yeah.You know what I mean?Yeah.Again,it's not implying guilt in any way.Mm-hmm.Another time Sherry's father reports her for a burglary.She also steals a bunch of cash from,his account and her sister reports vandalism on her house and named Sherry as the prime suspect.Also,they discovered that Sherry married her first husband,so that she could take advantage of his medical insurance.Mm-hmm.Which I mean,that could possibly come and bite her up in the bum one day.Right?Yeah.What if something happens to her and he is like,oh,she's got a bad heart,and then they end up giving her the wrong treatment because I could go really wrong.Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: 40:07

So to recap,we've now got evidence that she's been lying mm-hmm.That she's shown some sort of,hatred to Hispanics.Mm-hmm.And she's not necessarily the model daughter.

Kyle Risi: 40:20

Nope.And also her story just seems a bit odd in places like the online sleuths.The police also had their own questions that they wanted answers to.They questioned why Sherri herself was even abducted in the first place.There was no ransom demand,no solid evidence suggesting that she was going to be sold in any way.Also,the fact that the kidnappers were both women really baffled police as well.Mm-hmm.It's not usual for women to be involved in trafficking.In this capacity,when they are involved,they usually assume a role of facilitators,luring victims in and not doing kind of the heavy lifting side of things.so the fact that no one else was ever seen by Sherry was really odd to police as well.

Adam Cox: 41:05

The only time that I know of women being involved.What's the guy that hung himself in the jail.Epstein?

Kyle Risi: 41:11

He Epstein?Yeah.What was the woman's name?Is it ghislaine Maxwell.

Adam Cox: 41:14

Oh,Maxwell,yes.Yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah.And then,um,but she was a facilitator,right?Exactly.And then there was that person who starred in Smallville,I can't remember her name.She had blonde hair in it.I'm pretty sure she was found to be in some sort weird cult trafficking thing.

Kyle Risi: 41:28

And was she facilitating as well?I think so.It

Adam Cox: 41:31

was kind of like higher up,so not in the,you know,not doing the day to day.

Kyle Risi: 41:35

Yeah.So it just seems so sus to me.Right.Yeah.Yeah.So if Sherry was kidnapped by mistake,then why did they set her free?Why not kill her rather than risk sherry blabbing?

Adam Cox: 41:46

Other than at the moment all we've got is that we think,based on what Sherry said,that the younger one sort of took a slight liking or a bit nicer to

Kyle Risi: 41:54

her towards the end.Mm-hmm.And why would you do that?Mm-hmm.And also,I mean,they let her go because maybe they kidnapped the wrong person.Why did they not strike again?Yeah,

Adam Cox: 42:05

well,if one of them was dead,maybe the other one couldn't do it by themselves.

Kyle Risi: 42:08

Sherri brought down the whole ring because she,she,she single-handedly created compassion within the villains.The two villains.The two villains,

Adam Cox: 42:17

the whole ring.

Kyle Risi: 42:18

Yeah.Also,over time,several small inconsistencies emerged.Sherry mentioned a foot injury resulting from a struggle between her and the kidnappers,but at the hospital they didn't find any related injuries whatsoever.Her accounts of when she was branded also changes.Initially,she says that she was branded soon after being kidnapped,but then later she changed that to towards the end.Okay.Sherry also talks about being made to wear an adult diaper.Um,in her first statement,but then later she never brings that up again.She had a litter trait,didn't she?She had a litter trait.Exactly.Also,according to Sherry,her hands were tied behind her back when she first woke up.But she tells police that she was able to chew herself through her restraints.How was that possible?Right?If you were tied behind your back?Now,Sherry's clothes are examined for DNA,but there's no female DNA on her at all.There is however male DNA on her all over her clothes,it's not her husband So they crosscheck this d n a with their database and there is just no matches.Overall though,even though her story has some questionable aspects,the police and people don't want to be accused of victim blaming.Mm-hmm.So many people are just really cautious not to express their opinions too loudly,even though people are like this as really suss.So they just trust that police will eventually resolve the case.Sure.Themselves.So this then takes us up to August the13th,2020,Sherry is asked to come in and speak to detectives.They have photographs they just want Sherri to kind of take a closer look at,at this time,Sherri's like,I'm too anxious to come in and also asks if Keith can come along mm-hmm.And the detectives are like,why not?So Keith and Sherry are sitting there in the interview room and they're looking through,uh photos of various suspects.And as she's looking through the photos,she says,I don't wanna get my hopes up,but there's something about this photograph.there's something about the person's features so maybe this one's a candidate,but I'm not quite sure.And then she looks at another one.She's like this one too.But if she lost maybe a little bit of weight okay.So she's pointing out all these similarities between the different suspects.Then detectives show her photos of coffee tables similar to the one that she described in the kidnapper's house that she was apparently branded on.Right.Sherri Blots out this one is pretty darn similar.I remember grabbing it,but this part,it's not the same.So she's like being very selective about what's similar,what's not.

Adam Cox: 45:04

Right.So not really giving a concrete answer,but,

Kyle Risi: 45:07

being quite vague about things.Sure,yeah.But still trying to be seen as helping the police,right?Mm-hmm.Moving the investigation along.So the police also show her images of various bathrooms trying to match her description of the kidnapper's house to some of the photographs that they show her.Mm-hmm.She recognizes the layout of some of the photographs,but she can't be sure if it's the exact same one.Remember,this is a woman who had a very good memory before.Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: 45:31

Well,it's been a few years,maybe,

Kyle Risi: 45:33

correct?It has been a few years.She was very specific about the crack that she sees in the shower,but when she's so shown a photograph of the exact same crack,she's not quite sure.Right.So it's a bit puzzling.Okay.So the detectives are understanding and they reassure her that they're not trying to overwhelm her and that the reason.For calling her in today was that they had found the house where she had been held when she was kidnapped and also that they'd found the person responsible for her kidnapping.DUM DUM DUM person.One person.One person.Okay.

Adam Cox: 46:13

so what we got,we've got a man's DNA on the clothes.Mm-hmm.So that person is a man,I'm guessing that's holding you accurate.I dunno.It seems very suss and the way that you're telling the story.Kind of makes me believe that Sherry's been telling a few fibs or something.Mm-hmm.And she's not being as cooperative as she probably should be.Mm-hmm.In the instance of act,if she had been taken.

Kyle Risi: 46:37

Well,you're intuitive,so well done.You get a little star later.Right.So as this news sinks in,Keith Papini is euphoric,right?He's fist punching the air,he's rubbing his hands together.He's just over the moon.Sherry is visibly concerned by this news.Mm.Sherry asks for a moment alone with Keith,and when the police leave,we hear her whispering to Keith that she doesn't want to get the younger woman in trouble because she's the one who let her go.And it's because of her that she's able to hold her children every day.This is all on film.Play a clip.Okay.Incredibly long road.Yeah.Um,but some stuff's come up so over,we've always had the,the DNA out there in the world.So this is her looking through some of the pictures where she's going,yeah,this one looks similar,this one doesn't,et cetera.There we go.And she's trying to kind of like,thank you.Cover up some of the other pictures so they don't distract her.

Adam Cox: 47:41

Okay.Interesting.Yeah,she's kind of like,

Kyle Risi: 47:45

she's really concentrating,isn't she?She's

Adam Cox: 47:47

like,yeah,using her hands to like hide parts of the photo by the bit of things.That's key.

Kyle Risi: 47:52

She's got that,that puffy under those eyes,but I don't know.This is really hard.Take your time.Take your time,Sherry.We've got all day,so the police have just left you need to stop telling the truth.Shit about that.I don't want her to be arrested.Why?I don't wanna press her on her.I don't wanna find her.Explain to me right now that prescribed,I don't,I dunno.I don't want them to find her.You're not listening to me,but tell me why.Because she saved my life.Tell me honey,right now fucking with you.I don't want them to find her.I don't wanna press charges and I don't want,I don't wanna go down that.That's very weird.This is a complete U-turn.Yeah.From everything that we've known up until

Adam Cox: 48:50

this point.Because even if,okay,that's basis on the fact that she was like doing all that thing with their hands to try and look at women going,oh,maybe it's her.Mm-hmm.Maybe it's her,and then she's like,I don't want'em to find her.Yeah.That's it.So she knows if this person is real,what this person looks like.Mm-hmm.Whatever.Mm-hmm.

Kyle Risi: 49:07

That's it.Scandalous.Mm.So,like I said,Sherry asked for a moment alone with Keith.That's when we hear her whispering to Keith that she doesn't want the younger woman to get in trouble because she's the one who let her go.And it's because of her that she's able to hold her children every day.And Keith's like,that doesn't make any sense.Remember,this has been four years.This guy has no idea what's happened.I feel so bad for him.Mm-hmm.So the police then come in and they tell her the DNA found on her clothes has been traced to a man called James Riot,and not the alleged Hispanic woman.Now,throughout the years,detectives kept regularly running checks on the D n A,hoping that a match would be found,but nothing has ever materialized.Then came the idea to run the DNA through one of those databases like Ancestry and2023andme.Yeah,a similar thing was done in a previous case that ended up leading to the arrest of the Golden State Killer in2018.So in March,2020,they run the d a through the ancestry,d n A database,and they find a match to a guy who has two biological sons.One of these guys is called James azz.James is in his thirties and he lives around600miles south of Redin near Los Angeles right now.James's background doesn't raise any significant red flags,aside from a drunk driving charge,which would be important in a minute.But as police dig deeper,they discover that James once shared an email account with our very own Sherry Papini.So,and like an ex or something.In fact,they also shared a bank account together.Also,his address was once listed as our house that was owned by Sherry's parents,and that the two were in a relationship.

Adam Cox: 51:03

Right?So this is the DNA they found on her clothes.Mm-hmm.So during that period,she met up with him.

Kyle Risi: 51:10

Well,when they search his social media,they find a photograph of the coffee table that Sherry claims that she was branded on.And detectives immediately start surveilling James when they manage to grab a d n a sample from him,from a iced tea bottle that he throws away,which unequivocally proves that the DNA that was on Sherry's clothes is James's d n a,right?So detectives visit James in LA when he answers the door,he says,I've been expecting this.Oh

Adam Cox: 51:42

no.Oh no.What?What have you done,James?

Kyle Risi: 51:46

So James tells police everything he says,I didn't kidnap her.I was helping out a friend who asked me for help.

Adam Cox: 51:56

What kind of friend ask you?Can you just kind of hide here while I pretend to be kidnapped,

Kyle Risi: 51:59

mate?You just wait.So here is James'version of the events.So in2015,James stumbles upon a bunch of Sherry Sherry's old things,he decides to send them onto her parents.A while later,Sherri reaches out to him unexpectedly.As they get talking,she tells him how abusive Keith is.That that lovely man who is overjoyed by the fact that his wife's kidnappers have potentially been found a poor Keith.The only thing that he's

Adam Cox: 52:29

done wrong is he's been named Keith and he's under40at this point.That's it.

Kyle Risi: 52:34

But he's a jock and he is like an American.He looks,he's really good looking.I'll show you a picture of him later.Okay.As they get talking,he tells him how abusive Keith has been towards her and how he would often rape her.Now James urges her to go to police,but she insists that this would make things worse because Keith has friends in the police ring.Any bells?Yeah,this whole thing?Mm-hmm.Okay.So Sherry tells him that she's desperate and that she just needs to escape,and that she's been stashing away money and begs James to help her.James naturally feels really sorry for her,and he agrees to help her.Right?He's like,of course,whatever you need,I just want you to be safe.Yeah.Well,she's

Adam Cox: 53:16

been lied to,but he would,I didn't wanna do that,I think in that instance,right?

Kyle Risi: 53:20

Mm-hmm.And by the way,this entire exchange of him telling us what happened,also caught on film,right?Okay.So you can go and listen to this.We'll include this in the show notes.It's just delicious to listen to.So Sherry gives James a number on a prepaid burner phone so that he,they can continue to talk undetected,of course.And in late2016,Sherry gives James specific instructions to rent a car and drive to Redding to pick her up because she's now ready to leave Keith.Right.Because James has a drunk driving charge.He can't just rent a car.So he persuades a coworker to do it for him.And so the coworker rents a Dodge Challenger sports car,which is not the S U V that Sherry had previously described her kidnappers using.Right.Okay.James drives for nine hours and when he arrives,Sherri is waiting there by the letter boxes.She then hops into the backseat and James drives all the way back to LA only stopping for gas or petrol.And Sherry spends most of the time lying down on the backseat while he just drives.

Adam Cox: 54:26

So she doesn't wanna get caught by any cameras or anything like that.Mm-hmm.Okay.That's it.She

Kyle Risi: 54:30

is sneaky.She's a sneaky bitch.Once they reach James's house near la James says that they basically live separate lives.James carries on going to work and doing his usual thing.He admits that he is disappointed because she makes him sleep on the couch,and he was kind of hoping that they might start things up again.But according to James,they never do anything sexual.Okay.Which is corroborated by the hospital and when she returns.She's very explicit.So one of the first things that she says is that I've not been sexually assaulted in any way.Okay.So it's really important for her to get that out as well.Right.Okay.Which is just weird.Sherry asked James to buy a bunch of stuff like new clothes,cleaning supplies,food,and even chains.She asks him to board up all the windows so that nobody will see her.Okay?Sherry barely leaves his room.James does tell his cousin about Sherry,explaining that he's just protecting her.Which police are able to,again,corroborate when they speak to him.This situation,however,does not account for Sheri's injuries.When James is confronted about this,James says that Sheri had inflicted them on herself.He remembers coming home one evening and Sheri had cut off a ponytail.She then proceeds to ask him to punch her in the face.That's awful.Punch her in the face.But he like completely refuses.What does he think when this happens?God knows.He does think it's a bit weird.He's the nicest man when he thinks it's a bit weird,although,

Adam Cox: 56:04

yeah,it's a bit weird.Cherry that you cut off your hair.But do you want me

Kyle Risi: 56:07

to get you some cake?But he does agree to hit hockey pucks at her cuz he's a hockey player.Right?And he also agrees to hold the hockey stick up so she can run into it.Oh my God.And she ends up breaking her nose.So one of the things that Sherry asks James to buy is the wood burning tool and says that he did brand her,but only because he didn't want her to cause harm to herself because of where she wanted to be branded.And he thought like herself,she might cause an I affection,she might do it wrong.So he brands her.Sheri was really fixated with watching news coverage of her disappearance sometimes even like being like really excited by it.So she sounds a little bit attention hungry to me.Mm-hmm.Eventually,Sheri starts saying that she wants to go home and then she really misses her kids.And James obviously completely understands,right?Yeah.A,he's a nice guy,but he also,he understands like you've been away from your kids for like14days.She tells him that she can't just go home and that she has to make it look like she was actually kidnapped.Like what the news was saying otherwise,I see.Keith would just kill her for leaving

Adam Cox: 57:16

because Right.So she needed to kind of feel like that she had a,a story or,yeah,it all happened.Yeah.

Kyle Risi: 57:21

That's it.So this is where she starts kind of doing all these things to herself,cutting her ponytail off,et cetera.Yeah.So he agrees and James arranges for another rented car.And in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning,they start driving back towards Redding and about150miles from Redding,he drops sherry off by the roadside.And James says,he then heads to his aunts to spend Thanksgiving.And he never hears from Sherry ever again.Not even to say thank you.And he's actually really gutted,which I feel really bad for him.

Adam Cox: 57:53

Yeah.He did all that stuff for her.Looked after her.Mm.Held up a hockey stick that she could run into it.He

Kyle Risi: 57:59

branded her.What a good friend would you ever brand me.Um,It's not a no.What would you brand me with my pig.My peg,my pig.so James says that he would occasionally look up the case and he was also really puzzled by the abduction story that she made up involving the two Hispanic women.However,he justifies his actions by saying that,well,he was just helping her out.Right?Right.She said that she was being abused.She had a plan she needed to get out,and he was happy to help.And like,she's an ex-girlfriend.There's a part of him like,I don't think

Adam Cox: 58:38

you'd either make up.I don't know.I guess she perhaps at this point never done anything to him.Mm.To suggest that she was being misleading or lying or anything.And he

Kyle Risi: 58:50

generally believed her.I she just a bit weird.Yeah.Yeah.So police search James'house and they find that it's almost identical to the layout that Sherry describes.I mean,come on,make something up.

Adam Cox: 59:02

I dunno.I guess you've gotta base it on some truth to kind of make it compelling and

Kyle Risi: 59:06

convincing.Exactly.The convincing side of things.Being consistent.If she knew that she was gonna be asked que be questioned over and over,I guess she just never counted on anyone finding the house.Right.Yeah.So his cousin and his wife both corroborate James's account stating that Sherry had willingly stayed with James during the supposed kidnapping and also forensic testing find a blonde hair inside James's bedroom and it's confirmed to be Sherry's.Also the rented records and cell phone data further support James's accounts as well.And also James volunteers to do a polygraph test as well,which he passes.Yeah.So armed with all this evidence,the police confront Sherry in front of Keith,who by the way has no idea that all of this was a lie up to this moment.Wow.They remind her that it is illegal to lie to federal agents.Then one by one,they start debunking all of her claims.They say they know her weight loss was self-inflicted.They know that her rashes were from cleaning products that,uh,James bought her in his house.Um,they know that the brand on her skin was done by a tool that she asked James Spy,and that they knew that Sherry broke her own nose and cut her own hair.And Sherry at this moment is visibly styled and Keith is like,wtf?Yeah,he's freaking

Adam Cox: 1:00:33

out.It's like,why are you interrogating my wife like this?

Kyle Risi: 1:00:35

No.I guess the Penny's dropping now because the first exchange just,then when the police first leave the room,I think this is where he's like starting to go up.Something's up.Something up.Yeah.Yeah.So Sherry she's visibly bewildered.She's like,I haven't seen James in over a decade.I don't believe James is behind this.It's not possible.Right.He was my friend.Oh,why would he do this to me?Sherri is literally playing every card she can still,still tries to play the victim.It's hilarious to watch.Okay.And the police are like,no,no.We know James was involved.And she's like,no.And Sherri just persists in a state of confusion,right?Eventually,Keith asks if he can talk to one of the detectives outside,and the moment that he leaves the room and shuts the door,Sherry in that moment is shocked because he's left the room,right?Yeah.Yeah.And she just sobs even louder.It's hilarious.So this whole confusion kind of act thing was all for Keith's benefits and it wasn't working.So she confesses to inappropriate interactions with other men,which there are a lot of.James is just the only one that bit basically.Right?

Adam Cox: 1:01:49

Yeah.So what about that guy that,so she had,um,ladies in her phone,which turned out to be men.You said that about that Donald Guy,right?Mm-hmm.Donovan.

Kyle Risi: 1:01:57

Yeah.So she,yeah,she was engaging with loads of other men and disguised them under females names to hide them from Right.

Adam Cox: 1:02:03

But So having an affair or trying to get them in on this,or maybe

Kyle Risi: 1:02:07

both?I think it was both.Yeah.Right.I think she's just hungry for attention.Attention.in this moment,she's like,I love my husband.I don't wanna leave him.It's already pathetic.When detectives return back into the room without Keith,she utterly breaks down.I think this is clear that Keith is like super suss at this moment.Yeah,yeah.And he's like washed his hands of her.Finally,Sherry Tli insists that she hadn't done anything wrong,and again,she couldn't believe that James was involved.Wow.The delusion is real.But the thing is,though,without a confession,detectives have no choice but to let Sherry go home.Really?Mm-hmm.Yeah.

Adam Cox: 1:02:48

So not even like wasting all the time or anything,they can't prove

Kyle Risi: 1:02:52

that it's not illegal to fake your own kidnapping.No way.Yeah.Still,still.This was only2020.I'm just making note of that.So in the video,Keith returns,Sherry has kind of gone and he asks for like an update on the ongoing investigation and they refuse to provide any information,but Keith already knows the truth.Mm-hmm.And they all know the truth in the room,but they can't tell him anything,but they all know.Right,right.Keith doesn't wanna take her home.Yeah.And he wants to now protect kind of his children from her.So it would be interesting to know like what their conversation was like after the cameras were turned off,like in the parking lot.God,you'd be fearful of that conversation,wouldn't you?God,

Adam Cox: 1:03:34

that you can't,how do you even justify?I don't know.Yeah.So

Kyle Risi: 1:03:39

what happened next?So for a year and a half after August the13th,investigators tirelessly billed their case against Sherry.Mm-hmm.They can't arrest her for faking her own kidnapping but they can catch her for other things like wasting police time.I was gonna say that one.Yeah.And for fraud as well.So it's estimated that more than150,000pounds of law enforcement resources went into investigating this supposed abduction.Right.Community members remember they raised49,000on that GoFundMe account.Mm-hmm.That money was supposed to be used to help the private investigations,but it was used to pay off credit cards and cover other personal expenses.In total,Sherry received$30,000from the California victim kind of compensation board.Normally,that was spent on like therapy,ambulances,black op lines,et cetera,as well as$127,000in like disability.Mm-hmm.Kind of benefits and things like that.So they were coming after for all of that.Right.So eventually in March,2023,so three years later,while attending a piano recital a man bursts into the hall and says that Sherry's car has been hit in the car carpark.And as she rushes out,she sees the police and she's like,no.Oh god.And I could just imagine it's just starting to leg it.But yeah,then they arrest her.And so,yeah,given some of the conversation payments that she received were sent via the US Postal Service,she is charged with essentially mail fraud in addition to obviously also making false statements and things like that.Now,if found guilty,Sheri could face25years in prison.However,in mid-April of2023,so just a couple months ago,she pleads guilty in the hope of receiving a lesser sentence.James Wright,he's never charged with any involvement whatsoever.That's good

Adam Cox: 1:05:37

for him,considering he was kind of fool just like everyone else was in this Yeah.To begin with.But he was duped.I can't believe it took three years to like convict her or find something that would stick and Wow,that's a long time.That's it.Yeah.So she,I I guess after that she lived separate from her husband or how do we know what happened in

Kyle Risi: 1:05:57

between that period?Yeah.So,um,Keith,I should say,well before we get there,Sherri's defense team tried claiming that her actions were because of her painful upbringing and her like,I dunno where the song comes from,but her chameleon-like personality,which is that a,what is that?I dunno.Some kind of weird disorder,which um,I think maybe like,you pretend something and then it becomes your reality.Right.Weird.Which they said compelled her to crave both a family security and like a youthful freedom,which whatever that means.I think it's just a load of jargon to try and kind of like plead a case for her.Right.They argue that she inflicted her injuries as a form of self punishment and that her lies just ended up spiraling outta control when she realized the consequences of her actions.So they request possibly,yeah.Yeah,possibly.And do you know,they had the audacity to then request as a result of that request,a one month prison sentence followed by,several months of home detention.So as for Keith,well,he files for divorce in April,2023.And he says that he's looking for full custody of his kids.He releases a statement expressing basically shock and devastation.He's just had enough of her.He's like,yeah,I'm not even gonna waste any emotion in this letter.

Adam Cox: 1:07:10

The poor kids though.Yeah.Like that's her mother.That's just..

Kyle Risi: 1:07:14

Well,that's exactly,that's the thing that he emphasized in his letter cuz,he says,I'm just now committed to just providing my kids with a normal and happy life.Mm-hmm.And to write.Yeah.Like they've spent what,several years now believing that their mother was kidnapped and it was all just a hoax.Yeah.I mean,I kind of lose a little bit of respect for Keith.For nothing clicking into place.

Adam Cox: 1:07:37

Well,I dunno if you would know,like she's clearly a very good storyteller and liar and man,get away with all this.Well they maybe her family were a bit suspect cuz Yeah.They'd reported,I wonder what they thought of this the whole time.

Kyle Risi: 1:07:48

Well,Sherry maintains her instance even to her family right up until the day before she decided to plead guilty.Mm-hmm.Following Sherri's sentencing her sister Sheila,expressed her disappointment,claiming that she was absolutely sickened what she had put her kids through,and that she doesn't believe that she's shown any remorse for actions whatsoever.So again,she's just washed her hands of it as well.Mm-hmm.So to this day,Sherry's motivations remain unclear.Some speculate that she was driven by narcissism and a desire for attention.And I guess also that kind of heroic status that comes with being that victim and surviving something like a kidnapping while others just say that she had mental issues,which I think is what Keith maintained in his statement.

Adam Cox: 1:08:38

Yeah.And that is sad,obviously,like the events and the co the trauma that she caused and afflicted on other people.Yeah.Emotional trauma I should say.But yeah,you're right though this,when you said at the beginning,this has definitely got a Netflix10part drama documentary.

Kyle Risi: 1:08:56

Mm.All over it.I can't wait.We might,we might have our own credits on Netflix.

Adam Cox: 1:09:01

Who,who would be a really good actress that would star as her,I'm trying to think.

Kyle Risi: 1:09:05

Do you know,I kind of almost wanna say who's the one who played Anna Delvy.Oh

Adam Cox: 1:09:08

yeah.She would be good.Although she's kind of done a kind of that kind of controversial character already.

Kyle Risi: 1:09:14

Julie Garner.Yeah,that's it.She's a brilliant actress.

Adam Cox: 1:09:17

Yeah.She would do a very good job of this.Mm-hmm.She would do if I was her agent.

Kyle Risi: 1:09:22

Just saying,just saying,get that Netflix documentary going.Um,so yeah,that is the story of Sherri Papini and her hoax kidnapping.

Adam Cox: 1:09:32

That was a really good story.I did not expect it to turn,I mean,you did say it was a story about disappearances and reappearances.Mm-hmm.And lies and Yeah.You and betrayal.And betrayal.So you nailed it.Yeah.

Kyle Risi: 1:09:43

Good job.Great.Well thanks for joining us on another episode of The Compendium,an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things.Remember,you can find us on Instagram at the Compendium podcast.You can also send us an email at the compendium pod gmail.com.We always love hearing from you guys with your comments and your suggestions for future episodes.That's another one in the bag.What is this now?This is like episode like15I think.Something like that.Yeah.We're getting there,growing that library.Do you feel any more educated as a result of these last15episodes?

Adam Cox: 1:10:17

I'm both fascinated and intrigued

Kyle Risi: 1:10:19

everywhere.Good.That's my mission.Until we meet again in the next episode,stay safe,stay curious.See ya.See ya.