Episode 620: The Suspicious Kidnapping of Sherri Papini | Morbid

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Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash.

And I'm Alina. And this is Morbid.

This is Morbid. It's post -talene Morbid.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Amen! Happy Hanukkah.

Happy holidays. Happy holidays.

Oh, the days that come in.

I'm a little bit my post -Halloween like man said.

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 everything gone.

Christmas decorations up.

Let's fucking go girly.

But I feel that way.

This week you said I am.

Yeah, I started my Christmas shopping.

I am going to I decided also this year I'm switching it up.

I'm going to 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.

And my mom was like, I'm not going to get a fucking face like I'm busy.

And so when me and Drew first got it or when I first moved in with mom and papa, they always got me a real tree because I was like, please.

Because we always got real trees.

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?

Like, it's a pain in the ass.

I have a real tree and I don't do anything for it.

So I was like, now I 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. 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 a real tree girly.

You're a real tree.

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 savers and get a real tree.

Yeah. I love the love.

There's a different smell.

It is just of a real tree to like a chemical smell.

Yes. Of pine. One thing that I don't love.

Well, our cats are fucking annoying.

So I don't have cats.

And also, I don't like the stickiness when you're taking out the tree when it's all done.

And then like you look and like the wall was sticky.

I don't like that. Yeah.

And the floor gets sticky.

You're like, I'm going to convince myself that.

That's kind of what I'm doing.

I'm not a real tree.

I don't know. I don't know.

It's just a feeling that I have this year.

I actually hate it.

It hit me over like a freight train.

Yeah. Which I just said, fake tree.

I mean, good for you, man.

I support that for you.

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.

Yeah. I feel like when we have kids, we'll go back to that.

Yeah. It's like the process of picking out a tree is such a.

Yeah, it's a cute family day.

Now you're making me second guess how I feel.

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.

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 and you can't do that.

And you can't. You only got like two weeks out of that bad boy.

Maybe three, you get more than that.

I don't know. I was going to say you get more than that.

How much time do you get out of your tree?

Three, four weeks. So you got a few weeks.

Yeah. And then we always keep it up until the new year.

So yeah, I don't know.

Yeah. Trees trees. You know, we also have, I mean, the holidays are coming.

So I get ready. We have ready.

If you're listening right now, I think it's November 14th.

That's what Mikey told me.

Because we never know.

We never know. Someday we'll know.

It is not. Right. Someday we'll get this right.

But yes, if you're listening right now, I'm wondering.

Plus we have some new merch that went live.

We've got like a fun fall holiday collection going on.

Whoop. We got lots of cute new shirts.

One of them says malevolent deity.

So I'm like, yeah, obsessed with that.

That one. I love that one's really cool.

There's a new hat that also says malevolent deity.

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 too. Very cozy.

We were very adamant about the feel of something.

Like we're very much trying to get our hands on those things.

So that soft shit, soft shit.

Cause I'm very, I'm a texture person.

Same. If I have a scratchy sweatshirt or T -shirt.

Nope. Scratchy t -shirt.

I like the thought of it makes me want to scream.

I'm like cringing at the moment.

I don't like it. Yeah.

And then one thing that is also really exciting is the holiday sweater.

There's a morbid holiday sweater.

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.

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. 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.

Yay. Yeah, I think that's all like the, the biz nasty that we have going on.

Yeah. You have, you have anything?

No. One thing, this is just a random thing and has nothing to do with really anything.

I love it. But it's just, Ash had brought it cause 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.

It's like eight episodes, all the different director that he has his hands in.

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 fucking delightful.

Yeah. I love it. Oh, good.

So if you haven't jumped out, like I'm telling you, it's a fun thing to jump into.

The autopsy is the, my number one so far.

It is fucking awesome.

I'm telling you, everyone go watch the autopsy cause your mind is going to be fucking blown.

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.

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.

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.

And if you're an Ash, I started rewatching Grace and Frankie.

There you go. So two polar opposite grillies 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.

Suspicious is a very kind way to say it.

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.

The absolute scam. Yes.

That Sherry Papini in, you know, terrible, terrible woman.

Yeah, truly terrible woman.

Complete asshole. Complete asshole.

Douchebag. Douchebag of the century.

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.

The teachers at school, her family, her friends, they were like, that's fucking weird.

Yeah. Because who would willingly not pick up their children from daycare?

Oh, yeah. Sherry Papini.

Because she literally chose to leave her children at daycare to perpetuate this.

Yeah, incredibly fucked.

Whoa. Alina's just throwing up her finger every time she does it.

Whoa. 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.

So you would never think she would do something like that.

Very cookie cutter white picket friends 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.

She was definitely taken against her will.

And he was not in on this.

I'll tell you from the jump.

Keith was blindsided.

And why would he have any reason to believe that somebody that is like, you would never think.

No, he thought he had like a great life.

There are several layers of this story.

Yes. 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 keep it piles on the more that adds into this, you go, no, no, no one would do that.

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.

Not nearly enough. Not really enough.

To do what you're doing.

And I don't really think that was the ultimate goal.

Yeah. Like at least in my opinion, just like knowing about the case.

I don't. I think the goal was like attention.

And a lot of mental illness.

A factor for sure. For sure.

Like it has to like this is beyond comprehension.

Yeah. Like there's a documentary about it.

Yeah. It's called I think it's the perfect life on Hulu.

Hold on. I wrote it at the end of my notes.

It's a this documentary will blow you.

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. Like the end of it.

I was like, Oh wow.

Yeah. You're just awful.

Yeah. In every way that you could be.

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 details of who she is.

Yeah. She's an asshole.

Yeah. So it's like, yeah, it's wild.

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 and writing to go for a jog, something she'd done countless times before it was her routine.

Just before leaving for her jog, she texted Keith task 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.

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.

Now, according to Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, 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. Sheriff's deputies were able to trace Sherry's phone to the intersection where she was last seen using find my iPhone with Keith's help.

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 was a boy or is a blonde.

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.

No. You wouldn't think.

The hair is like. Yeah.

Again, when you know, like what's going on, it reminds me of Scream Four.

Yes. When Jill is tearing out chunks of her hair.

So true. And people also always compare this to Gone Girl.

Yeah. Which I want to say Gone Girl came out before this.

I think it was. Because I think it was called a lot of people said it's like the Gone Girl case.

I think you're right.

Fact check me. I'll continue and you can interrupt me.

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.

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.

Bonkers. Initially, sheriff's deputies found out across the area where she was last seen looking for any evidence that might point them in the right direction.

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.

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.

It was one of those cases where you actually see the best of a community like banding together.

Yeah, everybody kind of bands together to help someone that they think needs help.

That they think needs help and they spend resources and money and time looking for this person.

Gone Girl, the book came out in 2012 and the movie came out in 2014.

Okay, so like the movie came out like right before this.

Someone took notes.

Somebody absolutely took notes, not a doubt in my mind.

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.

These poor people, they put...

That's the thing, like this community really was amazing.

Yeah, like everything you would hope...

And they deserved all the praise.

Yeah, and everything you would hope would happen when somebody actually fucking disappeared.

Yeah, they all did their job and above it.

Sherry's sister, Sheila, told a reporter, I was just overwhelmed with all of the community involvement.

Like, couldn't believe it.

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.

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.

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.

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

Unbelievable. And those who couldn't donate money seemed more than happy to donate their time.

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.

Think of how big California is.

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, an inspiring wife.

That's what's so scary.

It's like, that's the thing.

Like, people were not wrong to be taking that from her, because that's what was being portrayed.

Yeah, exactly. And it's like, damn, there's a lot of 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.

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.

Lt. Anthony Bertane told reporters on November 8th, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Yeah, and that must be the scariest thought.

Just thinking, she could be anywhere.

Yeah. Literally anywhere.

And like, how are we going to find her in this entire fucking country?

How do we narrow this down at all?

Exactly. 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.

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.

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 dangerous.

This is where it can get dangerous, exactly.

Because, sure, it happens a lot.

Of course. Because people are involved, but there are also cases where they are not involved and they are just dedicated to finding their wife.

Well, and it's when it starts happening on, like, particularly Facebook, I feel like.

Or like any kind of social media.

Where it's 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.

It's like that's when it can get bad.

Because it won't also, anybody can go on Facebook and say anything.

Later on any social media and say anything about anybody.

So it's like. That's dangerous.

Yeah. And then it can compromise the investigation, especially when it's an active investigation.

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 percent of the disappearance cases, the spouse is responsible.

But conversely, that means in 20 percent of the cases that the spouse is not involved, this case falls into the latter category.

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.

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.

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 the.

Like, it's like you've got like a fully like a three pronged way of telling that he is not involved.

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 because I can't 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.

Like that's the thing.

Like 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.

And like the 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.

Yeah. Like what I haven't.

And where do you go from here?

Right. So investigators search this is where they went from here.

They search state and local databases for cases with details that were matching cherries, but they didn't even find any connections.

In fact, they even ruled out nonhuman attackers like mountain lions.

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. 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.

It seemed like Sherry had literally jogged out into that intersection outside of town and just evaporated into the air, leaving behind only her phone.

And that like the earbuds and the hair as evidence that she was even there.

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So despite the incredible community -wide search effort and the considerable reward for information, which at that point had reached nearly $100 ,000.

Damn. Three weeks passed with no new leads, no new evidence, nothing.

Then, in the early morning hours of November 24, 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 Redding.

Wow. So the driver pulled over and was stunned to find that the woman, who was still bound at the wrists and looked like she had been severely beaten, was none other than Sherri Papini.

I remember this. It's so weird.

I don't remember this at all.

I remember this. And I was like out of high school.

I literally don't remember this in any way.

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.

And then later you're like, oh, what an asshole for thinking that.

But, yeah, it was a wild news story.

Because when she was found, it was like, whoa, and then things started happening.

And you were like, whoa, when it's going on.

Because that really never happens.

Obviously, it does, but it's you and far between.

And then when somebody does get recovered and they still can't find the people that did it.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

And please respect this until such time when we're able to make an arrest and bring these criminals to justice and 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. 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 eighty seven pounds.

Wow. And was, quote, covered in multicolored 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.

Yeah. Just like willingly.

Yeah. 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.

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.

Damn. So like she had any part of her body that was visible was injured.

Yeah. And just and also like her hair being cut off.

That's so psychologically fucked, like horrifying.

In a 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.

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

That's like I can't imagine seeing the person you love like that.

Thinking about what they've gone through for three weeks.

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 while trying to be a parent, while trying to still take care of his two little kids.

By these kids were little and then he walks into the hospital and sees her and it confirms like his worst nightmares were true.

Yeah. 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 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.

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 Papini was taken.

We do not know if she was a specific target or if this was a random abduction 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 drop her on the side of the road.

Like why? And like, not like, that's like, that's I'm not saying that like people aren't fucked and people don't just know things 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 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, OK, this is impossible when they can't like they they have to explore every avenue.

And you're right. They have there's got to be at least a slight precedent to be like, OK, this is possible.

Right. Is it a little out of the realm of of, you know, likely?

Definitely. But we got to look at it.

But we can't investigate it like it didn't happen.

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.

The police in this case absolutely did their due diligence.

Like, absolutely. But lack of motive was not the only reason people were suspicious.

There was also what many people perceive, too.

And you kind of hinted at it earlier to be an overemphasis on the kidnappers race.

Yeah. 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.

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

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.

This really irked a group of Latino girls, which would constantly rag and attack me.

That right there tells you everything.

But wait, say I was drug free, white and proud of my blood and heritage.

That screams a certain grouping of people who believe that.

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.

Yeah. If you were wondering whether she's an asshole, there you go.

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, babe, 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 of women.

Women specifically.

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?

Totally. Nobody's saying it couldn't.

But we do have to put on our logic hats here and say this doesn't happen a lot at all.

The precedent for this is tiny, tiny, tiny, 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.

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.

I just have to say it goes crazy.

I just have to say that's a fucking insane thing to say.

And I'll move on now.

It's weird. Okay. Just be proud to be a good human.

Never have I ever been proud to be a white person.

Like what? It's weird.

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.

No, that's the thing.

That's the thing. 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 like to be like, I am proud to be white.

Like no crazy. 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 like, you know, like cool legends and folklore.

To each their own. To bring...like, it's just a strange thing to like point at and be like, I am proud.

I don't understand.

I do not understand.

It's very weird. Saying that skinheads are always around in spirit.

That's the answer. What the fuck does that mean, Sherry?

I don't understand.

The fuck does that mean, Sherry?

I don't understand Sherry.

I hope not. I hope not.

I'm glad I don't understand Sherry.

I don't ever want to understand her.

Yeah. But anyway, she said, 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 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 arrest officer?

Look out for a girl with frizzy hair.

Who uses product, so it's not.

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.

Like, what are you talking about?

Okay, asshole, like cool microaggression.

She also described their clothing and racially coded and overtly classist term saying their quote, brown shoes looked like guess knockoffs.

Wow. And they wore quote, those big hoop earrings and had thin, almost drawn in eyebrows.

Wow. You're an asshole.

True, true asshole.

You know how many things we could say to describe you, Sherry?

Well, that's, I'm like bold.

Really? Really? I won't.

I won't say shit because I'm not an asshole, but I'm thinking it.

But bold of you. Super duper bold.

That's all I'm going to say.

Anyway, given the lack of evidence and the overtly racist comments that Sherry had made in the past, some people suggested, hey, maybe this entire kidnapping was a hoax deliberately planned to demonize the Latina.

No community in Northern California.

Maybe. And that's that's the thing here.

It's like 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 don't have enough coffee.

But you know where 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. This case. No.

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 and traumatizes her own young family.

Yes. For what? Her family.

Her sister. I can't find sympathy for that.

So that's why we are 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, 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. And just because they're a good type knit community, that's so fucked.

It is fucked. It's so like you're an emotional vampire.

You are. 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.

She saw what was going on.

Her family. That's why I can't.

I can't. That's how I could like even just say I could never look at Drew on television like begging me to come home and be like, no, and just be like, oh my God.

Hilarious. You want to throw another hockey puck at my face?

Yeah, like, let's wait a couple of days.

Like, no. And again, if you somehow find sympathy for this person in your heart, that's like totally your.

Yeah, you're a better person.

Your prerogative. And you're probably a better person and like, you know, that's fine.

Yeah. But everybody's allowed to have their own opinion.

Yeah, I don't. Yeah.

And I'm not going to.

And you're allowed to give you sympathy where you see fit.

Yeah, exactly. I have sympathy for the fact that, like, I'm sure she's very mentally ill.

Absolutely. Absolutely have sympathy for like whatever is going on in her mental.

That's fucked. 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.

She literally did all this like partially to demonize an entire community of people.

That's like not mental illness.

That's just evil. That's 100 percent evil.

The mental illness.

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.

Like you have to be mentally ill to do what this woman did.

Yeah, but it doesn't take away the...

But no, I completely...

...the absolute evil shit that's going on around there.

I completely agree.

I completely agree with you, too.

Completely agree with you.

I agree with you. I agree with you.

So... We're like, good point.

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.

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.

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. Because it would be disgusting if it's why she did that.

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.

Yeah, exactly. Could not be capable of something like this.

And the sheriff's office was similarly supportive of Sherry and the Papini family at that point, saying, we currently have no reason to disbelieve Sherry Papini's story.

She was assaulted and had injuries, which she's been treated for.

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.

Branded, broken -nosed, haircut off, bruised beyond.

If you see pictures of her, she beat the shit out of herself and had help beating herself.

It's crazy. It's unbelievable.

And she wasn't eating, so she lost weight.

When I say drop down to 87 pounds, you can't even picture that.

No. You think of your tiniest friend.

They are not that tiny.

Exactly. That's crazy.

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.

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

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.

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.

Luckily, they didn't technically have a case.

Yeah, luckily it really wasn't a matter in the end.

It really wasn't looking for anybody, but if they were, it could have fucked him up.

But you also understand why he wants to rush to defend him.

Of course. You can see both sides.

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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.

In certain ways, experts on the matter found this to be entirely reasonable if not expected, given the lack of details in the outright, just fucking strangeness of the things being made.

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.

A ransom of some sort or something.

Yeah, like we don't really see a case where they just let you go to let you go.

It happens, but it's like maybe once or twice.

I'd be hard pressed to find a handful of cases like that.

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.

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 caution the media to keep an open mind about the case.

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.

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. It's always precedent comes from somewhere.

Yes. 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.

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.

Yeah, not shocking.

Which was crazy. And initially the police concluded that the entire kidnapping was a hoax and they actually treated her and her man terribly.

It's rough to watch, but they then had to retract their statement once evidence conclusively proved that she had, in fact, been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Matthew Muller, a former lawyer suffering from a very serious mental illness at that point.

Holy shit. Really good docuseries on the case.

It's called American Nightmare on Netflix.

Jaring. That's horrifying.

Genuinely terrifying.

It will have you buying a security system immediately.

Do you know anything about that case?

Fuck. 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.

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. And like, then they just like beat the shit out of her and let her go.

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.

Mm hmm. In addition to the original sum offered as a reward in the early days of the investigation, an anonymous donor offered one hundred thousand dollars as a reverse ransom for Sherry's safe return.

Damn. The donor refused to identify themselves and communicated only through an intermediary who is Cameron Gamble, a local security contractor.

But like, that was that was huge.

That one anonymous donor put up that much money.

One 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.

And as he put it, quote, the hands of God had been put on my heart to find Papini.

So that's just like a good ass person.

Yeah. Cameron Gamble even went on television to announce the offer of money to the kidnappers.

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. 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 hundred thousand dollars?

Yeah. You would at least think that some kind of money drop would be set up.

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...

Any kind of communication about it?

I don't know. That just doesn't happen in my mind.

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.

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.

Bosenko 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.

Now, by the end of twenty seventeen, little had changed, but skepticism surrounding the whole ordeal had grown somewhat stronger.

We're getting more and more skeptics on this.

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.

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

Because they weren't real people.

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, which also I want to live in Yolo County and I just need to say that.

Yeah, that's hilarious.

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.

But we have no plans for anything to be released in the coming months.

So frustrating. So everybody was like, OK, like I guess we'll just never fucking know what happened here.

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.

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.

Because when you're not finding the people, there's no leads whatsoever.

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?

That you got that that racist connection.

Yeah, that's the thing.

Something's wrong. And that was sitting heavy with the investigators.

They were like, they really clung on to that.

Yeah, rightfully so.

So if you're not finding these people, yeah.

Sounds like they're made up.

And that's when you go back to the blog post and you start digging for 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.

But after repeatedly coming up empty, they actually passed the case to the FBI in early 2020.

By that time, Cherry Papini had received more than thirty thousand dollars in aid from the California victims compensation board.

Damn. The fact that this asshole collected.

And that wasn't the only amount of money that she received.

She got money from go fund me's and other like charity organizations.

But this one from the victim's compensation board, thirty thousand dollars.

And you just accept that and spend it thinking you're entitled to it.

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.

Do you have a conscience?

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 of like that you were able to perpetuate this for so long.

Yeah. So fortunately, with their superior resources and larger reach, the FBI was able to achieve what the Shasta County Sheriff's Office had.

And they managed to get to the truth.

And that's why we're sitting here today talking about the FBI motherfucking.

And 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.

I mean, already there was some pieces of evidence we've given you that that should be shown.

Yeah, exactly. But even more of an asshole somehow.

In the absence of any new evidence, the 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.

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.

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

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.

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, wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she had gone that far.

Which is unbelievable.

If people are saying they wouldn't be surprised if you would go this far, whoa, whoa.

When you think of every like how far she truly went and people she branded her.

She was branded for people to be like.

Yeah, she probably could have done it.

It's like, whoa, my God, you have a history, my friend.

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.

And she had also said that past boyfriends were violent with her when like 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 really was.

According to phone records, she had been keeping in regular contact with her ex boyfriend, Sean Ray's, as recently as 2015.

And they frequently used phone cards and burner phones to communicate.

That's not changing as fuck.

Sketchy as fuck. It was through an interview with Ray's that the real story of Sherry's quote unquote kidnapping finally came into focus.

This shows you. You don't know anybody.

You don't know anybody.

Like the whole community saw her as the super mom, happy wife, everything.

And in the age of social media, you don't know anyone.

Remember that you don't remember that you're seeing a curated version of the character.

You're seeing a character.

One hundred percent.

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 are like, oh, this person is not what I thought they were.

Yeah. And it's like, yeah, you don't know anyone.

No, if you don't know people personally and deeply, you don't.

And the sooner you realize that and like are happy with that boundary being there, the better this will all be because I think people are putting way too much into social media.

I think so. Definitely.

That's my little soapbox.

I'll get off it. 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.

Oof. In a statement to the FBI, Ray's cousin confirmed that he had seen Sherry at her at Ray's apartment on at least two occasions.

Ray's 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 horrific.

So of course, he was like, yeah, 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 while she was there.

She like stopped eating like she ate very minimally and he was like, oh, 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 she asked him to like hit a hockey puck off her face.

Bank a hockey puck off her leg.

It literally that's exactly how they said in the documentary bank a hockey puck off her leg.

And this guy's just like, OK.

And I think the way they broke her nose was I think a hockey stick was involved.

I think you're right.

Yeah. And like a closet door or something like that.

Yeah. Yeah. Wild talk about folly ado.

Oh, damn. Yeah. So after about three weeks of just staying there doing all that wild shit, Ray's 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.

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.

It's those little things.

I love when it comes down to these little things.

I'm always like, damn, yep, 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.

Wow. So she was just having a grand old time.

So she, to be clear, she bullshitted this entire thing.

The entire thing. To hang out with a boyfriend.

Yup. An ex -boyfriend.

An ex -boyfriend. Yup.

Yup. Remember, she has two young children.

Literally two little, like, young, young babes.

Like, teeny tiny babes.

Un... Unconscionable.

No. I can't imagine.

And then watched on TV as her husband cried and begged for her safe return.

Her parents, her husband, her sister.

Her parents, her sister, her friends.

Everybody that loved her.

Watch the community go to all these lengths.

Watch the cops talk about how much resources they were putting into it.

Watch that dollar amount go up and up and up of people donating out of the goodness of their hearts.

And somehow, like, fed off of that.

Like, it wasn't like, oh, fuck, what have I done?

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.

Yes. But look at the other side of it.

All of those other people.

An entire fucking community of people showed everybody what humanity is.

Yes. Like, that's the thing to take from this is...

And they all said, we do it again.

Yeah. Like, we thought someone was missing.

We thought one of our own was missing.

That's our community.

It's like that... Take that away from it.

Yes. That, like, most people in the world are gonna do that.

Are willing, yes. Like, these are the ones that you just suss out and you say, fuck off.

And you sit there and you wonder how people are even capable of existing.

Yeah. Like, Sherry Papini.

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.

No. 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. ...is a happy person.

No, not at all. They're always miserable.

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.

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.

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. 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. No way. No.

Meanwhile, she had been staying with him for weeks.

She literally sits on the...

Talking to him on burner phones.

You guys got to 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, seeing his reaction when they tell him...

When that starts coming out.

Hello. He is blindsided.

I feel so bad for that guy.

It's sad. 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 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...

Her ex -boyfriend's house, he had that exact closet.

And they were like, nobody else would have had the closet.

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?

And the fact that she described his closet, didn't even make something.

You lied about everything else.

Why are you giving the exact closet?

I'm glad that you did.

Thank goodness to hear.

And also, 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 Ray's.

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.

She thought that she could get the upper hand there and convince them otherwise on DNA.

She wanted them to rerun.

That's like saying, can you crunch those numbers again?

No. On DNA? 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.

This is DNA. Hello?

This is deoxyribonucleic acid.

You're not going to get out of here.

What the fuck? Like what?

Just the fact that she thought that she's that diabolical that she was like, let me give this a shot.

Because she's gone her whole life manipulating.

And I think she was like, well, this is my magnum opus.

Yes. 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.

No. It's just not going to happen.

No. And we got the fucking odometer telling us the exact distance.

The odometer, the closet, the...

They even found... Again, if you watch the documentary, you'll find this out.

She had saved to her Pinterest board wood, like wood burning tools.

Oh my God. Yes. You're right.

Which she then used to brand herself with the word Exodus.

She had saved those to her fucking Pinterest board.

This bitch Pinterested her own kidnapping hoax.

Literally. That's a level of diabolical and also just completely...

Completely like delulu that you can't even comprehend.

And the malice of fucking Fortnite there to plan your own branding.

The most. Hello? Yeah, hello is right.

Hello. Actually, goodbye is right.

Goodbye, Cherie. But not goodbye yet.

So unfortunately, the onset of the COVID -19 pandemic really, really hampered agents' ability to aggressively pursue this case.

Rona really fucked us.

Yeah, but don't worry.

We got there. In early March, 2022, they were able to get a warrant for Cherie's arrest based on the evidence and statements from her boyfriend, Sean Ray's there, her ex -boyfriend.

Thank goodness. In addition to being charged with lying to the FBI, Cherie 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.

And she should have got that.

Yep. On March 3rd, 2022, Sacramento FBI agents were staked outside of Cherie'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 kids.

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 Reading.

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 once they were sure that they had to redo their plan really quickly.

So once they were sure that Cherie was inside the building, they sent an agent in to tell her that somebody had hit her car outside.

Oh, yeah. 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 screamed about it.

So they her they witnessed the arrest take place, which is really sad.

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She screams no and actually tried to run away from the agents, which I was like, where did you think you were going?

One thing she has is self -confidence.

She believes in herself and audacity in abundance.

Like, where are you going?

Where are you going?

You're gonna hide in the piano?

The whole world knows who you are.

Like, where are you going?

Literally the entire world.

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 them know, let him know what was going on.

She was like, Hey, you have to come get the kids because they got Sherry.

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.

I can understand. I can too.

That's their children.

You know, I mean, that's that family's babes.

I would be really upset if any kid that I love would miss that.

Absolutely. So I can fully understand that.

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.

And I'm sure knowing that, like retroactively, they're probably thankful that at least they tried to not involve the children.

But I can totally understand why they were...

Same. Pissed. At least that's the last that's us.

Yeah, 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.

I feel like... A lot of people were shocked, but 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. 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.

And his public skepticism actually...

He got a considerable backlash from people to the extent that he received threats of violence to this person.

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.

If you were saying, this is a hoax and then it turns out it's not and they catch the people and you know she went through this whole thing.

That's fucked up. It's never okay to threaten violence against someone, though.

Well, that's the thing.

You can disagree with someone and not...

Normalize disagreements without saying, I'm gonna hurt you, physically.

It's cool. It's cool if you don't agree.

Yeah. It's fine. It's the way of the world, actually.

Everyone stop threatening everyone.

My God. Everyone's gonna chill out.

Everyone's gonna chill out.

It's just a different day and age.

Everybody's just so angry.

We gotta calm down.

Everybody is really angry.

Calm down, we need to calm down.

What does she say after that?

Yeah, it's Taylor Swift.

Oh yeah, yeah. You're being too loud.

Damn. Elena loves to say, damn.

It's 7am. It's true.

The Swifties are going crazy right now.

I love that song. It's a great song.

I think it's funny.

So other community members were outraged by the racist undertones of Sherry's story.

Araceli Gutierrez, a business consultant who works… That's a pretty name.

That's a gorgeous name.

Araceli is really pretty.

I actually, I looked it up, I think it means something.

I really liked that.

I didn't mean something, but it means something pretty, I was pretty sure.

You know that while you look it up, there was this, Ash, and I remember True Life on MTV.

It was like where it's at.

I miss True Life all the time.

I miss True Life so much.

There was that respect my sect.

Yes. Or no, it was I'm a witch.

That's what it was.

It was like I'm a witch or respect my sect, 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 things.

Yeah, I think you're right.

And, 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 a vampire as well.

Oh, you're right. I remember that episode.

It seemed like such as like...

Cooled out. It was like a sweet human.

I just like putting it up.

I remember hearing her name and I was like, oh, that's a beautiful name.

It's beautiful. It's the first thing I thought of.

It means altar of the sky or altar of heaven.

I love that. And it comes from the Latin words Ara, meaning altar and Seli, meaning sky.

Oh, that's beautiful.

It's just like, as soon as you hear it, it's just like, oh.

Feels very whimsical.

It does. It's certain names and like words, just like when they come out, you feel like they like they twinkle.

When they come out.

That's crazy! Because I can see it.

I'm like, I just feel it twinkling.

She like wiggled her fingers and then I said twinkle at the same time.

That was awesome. Your name is Araceli.

Your name Twinkle. Your name Twinkle is immediately going to share a brain cell about it.

That was wild. That was crazy.

That's been happening a lot lately.

Yeah, that goes crazy.

I'm just kidding. Don't go away.

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.

It absolutely is. I agree, Araceli.

And you think of like there is a huge Latino population in California.

You fucked up their businesses as well.

Oh my god! Because you put out this shit and now all these people are probably being victimized because of your racist lies.

They absolutely were.

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 suffering.

They're the ones suffering for your bullshit.

And that's why she wanted to do it.

Ooh, it makes me so mad.

She literally, that was part of it.

It was so far reaching, the bullshit.

It was that she committed.

It really was. And given the timeline and the tone around the country, Gutierrez told reporters, the Papini story just gave a lot of people reason to believe in Trump's rhetoric.

It really sowed division.

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.

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.

Like support small businesses, lift up communities that are like, you know, oppressed.

Yeah, come on. It's so much easier to do that.

And how much, we've seen in history what happens when you're shitty to marginalized communities and when you don't.

Yeah, and when you're so discord.

Why do we just continue to do it?

And it's also just gonna like, I know we're just, we're like, guys stop being dicks.

I feel like people that listen to this show are beautiful souls.

So they're like, I'm not being a dick.

Yeah, tell everybody that's being a dick.

Don't like, you're trashing your own soul by doing that.

You're trashing it.

It's true. The waist dump in there.

Don't trash your own soul.

You want to twinkle?

Like Araceli? Yeah, you got to bring this soul to your next lifetime.

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, I've said that to everybody needs to show.

I'm like, you know, approaching the old age of 30.

I'm just realizing time is limited.

No, it's true. And I'm not trying to do fuck shit with the time that I have here.

And you get, you know, you get more with honey.

True. Exactly. Honey is a cure all.

I love honey. It tastes good.

And she lasts like so long.

There you go. Anyways, honey.

We're really getting a little off -time.

Morbid in the morning.

And I haven't had any coffee.

According to the FBI affidavit, Sherri's emphasis on her supposed kidnappers' ethnicity led to quote, years of tips from Reading and the surrounding communities about suspicious looking Hispanic women.

And that's fucking tragic.

Yeah. Like all the people that were just stereotyped.

Yeah. And and like harassed.

And turned into a villain.

Yeah. When they're not.

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.

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.

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 or God forbid drove a similar car.

Like, people can go vigilante on people, like it's happened.

It's like obviously you don't want it to happen.

But they do. But people do it.

And especially when there's like really big uproar in something like you're being portrayed as this like blonde mom, supermom housewife that like just got snatched up by these evil Hispanic women.

And it's like some 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.

She part of her wanted that to happen.

That's why she went to me and said that two Hispanic women did this.

That's really mind boggling to me.

And it's like you said, she specifically said women, women because she had a problem with claims.

She had had a problem with girls in the past.

And it's like, all I'm thinking because she was like, because I was drug free and proud to be white.

Yeah. Like, I would probably be proud to be white.

But also like, because you were drug for I'm not like, I have never witnessed in an act of bullying where some girls are angry because some girl is drug free.

Well, you know what that was?

That was another. That was her putting another stereotype.

Absolutely. It'd be like, well, they were drug addicts.

That's what it is. Like, she's putting all the all the racist rhetoric into one little little sentence there.

It's like me. I'm drug free, but they couldn't be.

But he gets bullied for being drug free.

Fuck off. We gave a shit about you.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Oh, others in Reading echoed the sentiment.

Reading resident Erin Friedman told a reporter, I was worried about her and her kids.

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.

Boom. I think I put it perfectly.

But unfortunately, if anybody was waiting for any kind of reasonable explanation for Sherry's behavior and lies, they were sorely disappointed.

In a statement to the press, Sherry's lawyer William Port Nova 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 as far as why she did what she did.

Port Nova did not have that answer.

He said, honestly, I don't know if anybody does.

I don't know if she even she knows.

And honestly, whatever explanation she would give would not.

I don't want to hear it anyway.

No, it just none of it is is valid.

Maybe excuses for piss poor behavior.

The only excuse 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.

I'm devoid of anything good.

Sorry. Sorry for that.

Yeah. Like, that would be the only idea like, OK, that's full ownership right there.

Yeah. Well, she didn't do that.

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 now.

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.

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. 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.

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.

Yeah, I'm sorry to Hispanic women, she said, I'm 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?

How about you say sorry to the community that you completely victim for years, years, years?

Like what the fuck is wrong with you?

Yep. But her agreement with the prosecutor's office, Sherry Papini was sentenced to remember she was facing 25 years.

And 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 tragedy. It really is.

And that was to be followed by a 36 month period of supervised probation.

And in order to pay back the three hundred and nine thousand nine hundred and two dollars in restitution.

Wow. That's what she received.

Wow. In total from like go fund me's and victims compensation boards.

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.

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 either confirm or deny.

Yeah. As far as we know.

But it's interesting.

But it's what he says.

And I'm happy that he has full custody, but definitely watch the perfect wife on Hulu.

But in August of twenty twenty three, Sherry was released from prison and she transitioned to a halfway house.

As of March of twenty twenty four, she has yet to pay any of her fine, which with penalties is now nearly three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

What an asshole. I love that she's just an asshole from start to finish, still not even paying her fucking retribution.

Yeah. Yeah. Or restitution, whatever it is.

Like she says, I'm going to work the rest of my life to make amends.

And it's like I know I paid a penny.

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 doesn't look like you are.

You're immediately getting out, you know, and not not paying back the money.

It's fucked up because it's like now you look back on it and you're like, what the fuck, like what an asshole.

That's insane. What a crazy story.

And it's like, well, 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.

So real. And it's like 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.

And especially especially on your kids.

That's the thing. And it's like, lady, if you wanted to disappear, write a note, get a disappear.

Yeah. And then he can file for divorce.

In the fucking custody of the kids.

If you wanted to, you want to leave your whole life behind, go right ahead.

It's just the the delulu that she thought she was going to just to have the perfect like gong girl, it you have the perfect disappearance and never get caught.

Yeah. I just don't know how she returned and looked in her kids' eyes every day.

Well, why'd you come back?

Oh, because she had to she wanted the attention.

But it's like on and all of the above like how you didn't think that was going to 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.

Oh, yeah. Like she would literally be like, you didn't say you didn't find.

I have to live with that.

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 you're the asshole meter is it broke?

The psychological torment 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.

Yep. And say, well, I have to live with the fact that you didn't find me because you didn't want to be found like.

Holy shit, you made you went to great lengths to make sure you weren't found like.

Damn. Meanwhile, you watched him beg for your return.

Search, do all the things like still wasn't enough while taking care of your children.

It still wasn't and still you're going to make him feel like the shithead.

Yep. You are the ultimate shithead.

And I think it was also that she could come back and have him dote upon her and like like I think she thought he was going to realize what he lost.

Yeah, it didn't quite work out that way.

The case is mad 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 yes, that would be maddening.

I found another 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.

Period that somebody can go to those lengths and just have no, not a care in the world for what they're doing to everybody.

That's 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.

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.

A nice break to have.

I mean, it's horrifying.

Still horrifying, but in a completely different way.

Yeah, I think I'm probably going to take you back to a dark place.

Yeah, that's what you're here for.

Place, I should say.

Oh, what do you have cooking in the kitchen?

I guess we'll have to see.

We'll wait and find out.

That was so ominous.

I tried Alita still so thick and spooky season for life.

I love it. I'm like Merry Christmas.

Happy Hanukkah, everyone.

And I'm like still spooky, so spooky.

Well, to all our spooky listeners out there and to all our November 1st girlies and guys and theys and them.

We hope you have a wonderful day and we hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird.

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 go listen to listener tells because there's a video.

Yeah, there will be another one.

I'm going to tell you something.

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In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of beloved wife and mother, but this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker.

Her husband had tried to hire a hit man on the dark web to kill her.

And she wasn't the only target because buried in the depths of the Internet is the kill list, a cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses and specific instructions for people's murders.

This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those who lives were in danger.

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[The Elaborate Hoax of Sherri Papini: A Study in Deception]-[Episode 620: The Suspicious Kidnapping of Sherri Papini]

📋 Summary

The Deceptive Disappearance of Sherri Papini

The "Supermom" Narrative and the Search

The Bizarre Return

Unmasking the Hoax

The Aftermath and Impact

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript