Sherri Papini update – Married mom arrested for ‘making up 2016 kidnapping & faking injuries to spend time with ex’

A MARRIED mom has been arrested after police said she made up her alleged kidnapping as she spent time with her ex-partner.

Sherri Papini, of California, disappeared on November 2 2016, sparking a widespread search involving cops and FBI agents.

While cops searched, the now 39-year-old was staying with an ex-partner – 600 miles from her home in Orange County.

Papini was found on Thanksgiving Day – 22 days after she vanished.

A driver spotted her on the side of an interstate – 150 miles from her home.

The mom-of-two told cops that she was abducted and alleged that she was held at gunpoint.

She claimed she was kidnapped by two women and provided sketches of the alleged kidnappers.

She was found tied up, had a broken nose, and had a “brand” on her right shoulder.

Cops revealed that the injuries were “self-inflicted”, according to .

Papini was charged with making false statements and engaging in mail fraud, according to magazine.

Phillip A. Talbert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, said: “Ultimately, the investigation revealed that there was no kidnapping and that time and resources that could have been used to investigate actual crime, protect the community, and provide resources to victims were wasted.”

Shasta County sheriff Michael Johnson added: “Everyone involved in this investigation had one common goal: to find the truth about what happened on Nov. 2, 2016, with Sherri Papini and who was responsible.”

Papini disappeared and family members feared at the time that she was abducted after going for a jog.

‘MISSING’ MOM

Hours before she vanished, Papini sent a message to her husband Keith asking if he would be home for lunch. He said that he wouldn’t be.

She failed to pick up her kids from a daycare center and was reported missing on November 2.

Keith told Good Morning America at the time: “Everybody who knows my wife knows that there’s no reason for her to leave.

“She was definitely taken against her will.”

Keith found her cell and earphones as he searched for his missing wife.

FBI investigators didn’t identify him as a person of interest after he successfully passed a lie detector test.

Family members put money toward a reward as they intensified the search.

‘COLD CASE’

A motorist found Papini on November 24 near Woodland – around 150 miles from her Redding home.

She was reunited with her husband but investigations behind her disappearance continued even though the case went cold.

Shasta County sheriff’s captain Pat Kropholler said in November 2019: “When you say something’s cold, (it means) we just don’t have an active lead to work on at the moment.”

Her texts were linked to a man in Detroit and were dated November 9 2016 – a week after she went disappeared.

Cops found that Papini had both male and female DNA on her clothing that was traced back to an ex-boyfriend in 2020, court papers revealed.

The ex-partner told police that she stayed with him while she was “missing”.

Papini’s ex revealed he drove her back to Northern California around three weeks later.

The mom faces a mail fraud charge and could get up to 20 years in jail.

She faces up to five years in prison after being accused of lying to officers.