A new documentary has been released on Hulu that details the 2016 hoax in which a California woman faked a kidnapping and then disappeared. Keith Papini endured 22 agonizing days in the fall of 2016 as he waited to hear news of his wife and held on to hope.
Sherry Papini disappeared from her home in Redding, California, in 2016. She was found severely injured near an expressway nearly three weeks later, claiming she had been kidnapped and tortured.
Keith Papini has finally spoken out about his ex-wife Sherry Papini’s kidnapping rumors.
Keith Papini revealed in a recent interview how his ex-wife had been lying to him for a long time. “She led us all to believe that her story was true. Every single day, she was committed to lying,” Papini told Today.
Furthermore, he revealed that at first he questioned whether his ex-wife was telling the truth about the kidnapping, but he soon felt guilty for questioning her story.
Sherry Papini admits to faking her own kidnapping
Six years later, Papini confessed to having staged her own kidnapping, following years of intense investigation by authorities that cost a fortune. It was discovered she had been living with her ex-boyfriend during the weeks leading up to her disappearance in November.
She also lied to her husband and their young son and daughter were among her closest family members. Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2022 after pleading guilty to one count of making false statements and mail fraud.
Keith called Sherry a cunning manipulator who often exaggerates and lies, using her difficult upbringing as justification. “She told me she hadn’t done anything, and I believed her. In the end, you believe your life partner is the person you can trust the most. However, I was wrong.”
Keith opens up about raising his kids as a single parent
Since the divorce, Keith has been raising their two children, Tyler, 11, and Violet, 9, on his own. He is sharing his story in Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherrie Papini. “I wanted to get the truth out and really let everybody know how convincing Sherrie was all those years ago and how much I believed everything she said,” Papini said.
Talking about moving forward in life, Keith said, “I try to stay very positive. I want to move forward. I want to give my kids the best childhood possible and raise them around loving people and that’s my biggest goal right now.”
Keith and Sherry’s relationship
Keith Papini and Sherry Graff shared their first kiss at a middle school in Redding when she was in the eighth grade and he was in the seventh. They lost touch with each other when Sherry’s family moved out of town in 2006. Three years later, when she returned, they got back in touch. Keith, who married Sherry in 2009, filed for divorce on April 20, 2022, citing irreconcilable differences.
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