Sherri Papini Lied About Being Kidnapped and Tortured, but She Really Did Brand Herself

In November 2016, a California mother went for a jog not far from her home in Redding. Sherri Papini left the house she shared with her husband, Keith Papini, and two kids, taking only her keys, cell phone, and earbuds. She wasn't expected to be gone for too long because Papini had to pick up her children from daycare later that day. When she never showed up, Keith grew worried, so he used "Find My iPhone" to locate her.

Papini's phone and earbuds were found near their house, with strands of her long blond hair still stuck to an earbud. The weeks that followed were painful, but could not compare to the lies Keith and the world were about to uncover. His wife reappeared a few weeks later, with a wild story that included being branded by her captors. Eventually, authorities would learn none of this was true, and Papini did this to herself. Still, a photo of the brand burned into her body is harrowing.

It's hard to understand how Papini could do this to herself, the people who loved her, and strangers all over the world who grew emotionally invested in her story. Almost nine years after she was allegedly abducted, Papini chose to tell her own story in an Investigation Discovery docuseries titled Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie.

This is the first time many people were visually able to see the self-inflicted injuries Papini had when she suddenly came home roughly three weeks after she disappeared. "My first sight was my wife in a hospital bed," Keith said in a statement obtained by People, days after Papini was found, "her face covered in bruises ranging from yellow to black because of her repeated beatings." He also said she had been branded so badly he could feel the "rise of her scabs" under his fingers.

Authorities initially chose not to share images of the brand, but we now know the word "EXODUS" was burned into Papini's back. Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told Good Morning America (via ABC 7 Chicago) he believed the brand, as well as cutting off her hair, might have been a way to humiliate Papini. "I would think that that was some sort of either an exertion of power and control and/or maybe some type of message," he said.

In March 2022, Papini was arrested and charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements. She was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison and was released in August 2023. While she was incarcerated, video of Papini being interrogated in August 2020 was released by Action News Now. By that time, Papini had spent four years telling people she was kidnapped by two Hispanic women, which was a lie.

Authorities had used DNA from Papini's clothing to connect her to an ex-boyfriend named James Reyes, who lived in Orange County. He told them everything, including the fact that Papini lost weight because she stopped eating. A rash Papini had on her arm appeared after she cleaned Reyes's house. "The reason for the brand is he went to the store and bought the tools and branded you," said the detectives. Reyes was never charged for his involvement.