Four years ago, Sherri Papini—who has been described as a super mom by those who know her best—went missing. Minutes turned into days, days turned into weeks, but just before those weeks turned into months, Papini was found.
After going for a jog on November 2, 2016, Sherri Papini disappeared. Her kids weren’t picked up from school and her husband, Keith, came home to an empty house. No one had any idea where the wife and mother could have gone until she was found badly beaten on the side of the road.
Twenty-two days after disappearing, a weak and battered Papini flagged down an unsuspecting driver driving down Interstate 5 on November 24, 2016, Thanksgiving Day, 150 miles from her home. When asked by the police what had happened to her, Papini said she was abducted by her captures.
While being held hostage, she said they beat her, branded her shoulder, and cut her hair. And while the question remains, “Did she know her captures?” Papini said she never got a good look at them, telling investigators that they always had a bag over her head or had their faces covered.
However, based off of the voices of her captures, she believed that they were Hispanic women. Still, for years, there would be no suspects and no break in the case. Instead, Papini, her husband, and her children attempted to go back to living a normal and private life like they did before.
Nonetheless, given how high profile and controversial her case had turned out to be, that wasn’t as easy as they had hoped. And now, Papini is back in the headlines once again.
According to the Daily Mail, when people first started learning about Papini’s abduction story, rumors began to swirl that in the days before her disappearance she was in contact with a man who wasn’t Keith. And now an anonymous tipster is feeding into that narrative once again.
New Tipster Claims Sherri Papini Was Him the Entire 22 Days She Was Missing
As the New York Post reports, a “man called the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office a few months ago claiming that Papini was with him” the whole time she was missing.” As a result of the tip, Papini is speaking out for herself for the first time.
A law enforcement source told the New York Post that the man had called them to say that during the 22 days Papini was missing she was with him. “He said, basically, that it was a hoax.”
However, as the source continued, investigators still don’t know what to think. The source told the New York Post that investigators are “too afraid to commit one way or another,” in part out of fear of “getting egg on their face. They could be putting it on the back burner because they don’t have the pressure to solve it.”
In her teen and young adult years, Papini has had a few run-ins with the police. It’s because of her past that the case had turned controversial when it comes to public perception.
As for whether or not they believe the anonymous tip has any legitimacy behind it, that is unclear. “The case is pretty unique, so it calls for unique handling of it,” said Sargeant Kyle Wallace.
And while the Papinis have also remained tightlipped over the last four years, this latest installment has forced them to make a statement. “Sherri and Keith continue to follow the investigation while they focus on their family,” the family’s publicist, Chris Thomas, told The Post. “They remain hopeful there will be a break in the case at some point and those responsible will be brought to justice.”
According to her family members, Sherri Papini and the rest of her family are doing fine, adding that Sherri prefers to stay home when she can.
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