Sherri Papini Admitted to Faking Her Own Kidnapping. Now She Says the Truth Is Different.

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Here’s what you may study while you learn this text:

• Sherri Papini served 11 months in jail after pleading responsible to fabricating her 2016 kidnapping.

• The California girl has been rebuilding her life and her relationships together with her kids.

• In a 2025 docuseries, she walked again statements of guilt and mentioned her abduction actually did occur.

Sherri Papini admitted her alleged kidnapping was a hoax in 2022. But after serving time in jail, she claimed the actual story is way more advanced.

The 2023 film Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini stream on Netflix beginning Friday, May 15, and offers a fictionalized account of the case with Jaime King portraying the Redding, California, mom. Papini went lacking in 2016 and reappeared three weeks later, falsely telling authorities she had been kidnapped and tortured.

The disappearance of Papini, now 43, made nationwide headlines and set off an FBI-assisted seek for her alleged kidnappers. However, investigators ultimately caught on to inconsistencies in her testimony and arrested her in 2022.

As a part of an settlement with prosecutors, Papini pleaded guilty to one rely of mail fraud and one rely of creating false statements. According to authorities, she lied about her abduction and was really staying with an ex-boyfriend at the time. In September 2022, Papini was sentenced to 18 months in jail, adopted by 36 months of supervised launch, and ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution.

Since regaining her freedom, nevertheless, Papini you have alleged she was, in truth, kidnapped. She spoke publicly about her saga for the first time for Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, a four-part Investigation Discovery docuseries that debuted in 2025 and is now streaming on HBO Max.

Now free, Papini alleges in the new documentary challenge she really was kidnapped. Here’s what to find out about her life after jail and what led her to this new declare.

Papini lived in a midway home after his launch

In August 2023, Papini was released early from a satellite tv for pc camp of the Federal Correctional Institution Victorville Medium I in Victorville, California. She served solely 11 months of her sentence.

According to courtroom information, she was positioned in neighborhood confinement and released from a halfway house in Sacramento County on September 29, 2023. She is on supervised launch till an undisclosed date in 2026.

As of June 2025, a big portion of Papini’s restitution continues to be excellent. Of the $148,866 she owes to the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, Papini has solely returned $9,119.70 according to records obtained by KRCR. It’s unclear how a lot of her different funds owed—to the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, and the FBI—have been returned.

She is divorced and infrequently sees her kids

On April 20, 2022, simply days after Papini submitted her plea settlement, her husband filed for divorce. Sherri and Keith Papini had been married since 2009 and had a son and a daughter. Keith additionally requested emergency custody of the children: Tyler, then 9, and Violet, 7.

“I am asking that the court help me protect my children from the negative impact of their mother’s notoriety,” Keith mentioned at the time.

Their marriage was dissolved in May 2023, and Keith was granted full custody of their kids. Sherri is allowed month-to-month one-hour visits together with her children, that are supervised by a judge-appointed company.

It was reported in August 2025 that Sherri is involved in a child custody trial with Keith, wherein she is searching for reunification with one among her kids and elevated visitation with the different. The case is ongoing as of January 2026.

Keith instructed People he would not converse to Sherri outdoors of courtroom or mediation. He has opened up to the public about his ex-wife in the 2024 Hulu documentary Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini,

Papini has been writing books

According to the Record Searchlightcourtroom notes from knowledgeable monitor confirmed that Sherri plans to write two books. During a supervised go to in January 2024, Sherri instructed her daughter she’s “making a business that will be a foundation to help people.”

“Mommy is an author now. She’s writing two books. I work lots of hours to write chapter books. So, when I tell you I’m working remotely, that means I’m at home writing chapters on my laptop,” Sherri added.

Today, she says her ex-boyfriend kidnapped her

The 2025 ID docuseries contains interviews with Sherri and her dad and mom, Richard and Loretta Graeff. in Caught in the LieSherri accuses her ex-boyfriend James Reyes, who beforehand denied any wrongdoing in the case, of abducting her after she supposed to finish their long-distance affair, which she hid from her then-husband Keith. “The injuries that occurred… the bites on my thigh, the footprint on my back, the brand, the melting of my skin—I am telling you there was no consent,” she mentioned, according to People.

Another piece of data Sherri revealed is that she was sexually abused “really early on in childhood” by somebody aside from her dad and mom. She mentioned the expertise helped mildew her character. “It really led to this shaping of, OK, if I can just please this person and if I can plate or make them calm down or make them be OK, I’ll get hurt less,” she mentioned, according to U.S. Weekly.

Her mom, Loretta, apparently corroborates this story, acknowledging there was “inappropriate sexual behavior that I really don’t want to get into.”

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