Sherri Papini walks back kidnapping hoax claim, says she was abducted by ex-boyfriend

Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News on May 22, 2025

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Sherri Papini is walking back claims her kidnapping was a hoax in a new documentary series, saying instead that she was abducted by her ex-boyfriend and that she later lied about it out of fear.

“Haven’t you ever lied?” she asks. “Have you ever lied in your history of existence? And then has that lie been blown up and broadcast around the world?”

Papini posits the thought in a new four-part docuseries “Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie,” set to premiere on Investigation Discovery on May 26 and streaming on Max.

The mother of two, now 42 years old and divorced, seemingly vanished on Nov. 2, 2016 while jogging along the Oregon Trail near her home in Redding, Calif. Her disappearance sparked a weeks-long search that concluded on Thanksgiving Day that year, when a passing motorist spotted Papini alongside the highway — partially bound, injured and with a brand on her shoulder.

Papini later told investigators she was captured by two Hispanic women at gunpoint and tortured during her weeks away. In reality, police said Papini was actually staying with her ex, James Reyes, nearly 600 miles away in Southern California’s Orange County.

In a clip of the upcoming series obtained by People, Papini said she concocted her story in an effort to cover up the affair she’d been having with Reyes, out of concern for what her then-husband would do if he found out. She added that she was abducted by Reyes when he learned she intended to end their tryst.

“I don’t remember if I got into the car,” she said. “I remember waking up briefly in the back of the vehicle and not being able to even keep my eyes open. And then the next time I woke up was when he was getting me out of the vehicle to go inside, and it was dark. He had one hand underneath my arm trying to help me walk.”

Papini was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after admitting that she lied to investigators and that her kidnapping was a hoax. She was also ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution for losses incurred by the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.

After serving 11 months, Papini was released from prison in August 2023.