Sherri Papini
Sherri Papini
Sherri Papini (formerly Sherri Graeff) is a mother from Redding, California. She became famous after alledgedly being kidnapped by two armed women.
Personal Life
Sherri Papini is a National Retail Account Executive at AT&T. She has two children with her husband, Keith Papini. Both
Sherri is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds and was last seen wearing pink running clothes, deputies said.
She is 34 years old.
Sherri has blonde hair and blue eyes.
Papini has two children (a four-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter) with her husband, Keith Papini. Both Sherri and Keith grew up in Redding.
Police Report
In December 2003, Sherri Papini’s mother, Loretta Graeff, alleged to authorities that Sherri “had been harming herself and blaming the injuries on her."
Furthermore, her father alleged that she burglarized his residence in 2000.
Loretta Graeff’s allegations were written in a December 2003 Shasta County Sheriff’s Office incident report The Sacramento Bee received the report after filing multiple requests under the California’s Public Records Act. The report is only two sentences long. When Asked what happened, Shasta County sheriff’s Lt. Pat Kropholler said in an email that a deputy spoke with Graeff back in 2003 and gave her advice.
Many calls were made to law enforcement by members of Papini’s family.
In 2000, her father, Richard Graeff, alleged his daughter burglarized his residence.
In 2003, he alleged Sherri stole from his checking account.
In 2000, her sister, Sheila Koester, alleged her back door had been kicked in and she believed Sherri was the suspect.
The reports provide no details about arrests.
Kropholler did not respond to questions about whether Papini had ever been charged with a crime.
Search warrants issued as part of the investigation into her alleged abduction remain sealed.
Papini’s husband told ABC News in November he was appalled by the armchair detectives who believed his wife staged a crime.
“I understand people want the story, pictures, proof that this was not some sort of hoax, plan to gain money, or some fabricated race war.
I do not see a purpose in addressing each preposterous lie,” Keith Papini wrote in the statement.
Racist Blog Post
An essay was posted on a now-defunct website, Skinheadz.com that was signed by a “Sherri Graeff” – Papini’s maiden name.
The writer said that while growing up in Shasta County, she got into two fights with Latinos who targeted her because she was “drug-free, white and proud” of her “blood and heritage.”
Bosenko has said it’s not clear if Papini wrote the post, but he said the fights the author described weren’t noted in sheriff’s records.
Papini’s friends and family have said the post was written by someone else.
Kidnapping
On November 2, 2016 Sherri Papini was kidnapped, after going for a run around 2 p.m. in the area of Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive, less than 1.5 miles east of Interstate 5 in the Mountain Gate, California area north of Redding.
Suspects' Descriptions
The captors often concealed their faces or covered her head.
But she described one of the women as being younger with long curly hair, a thick accent, pierced ears and thin eyebrows.
The older woman, Bosenko said, had straight black hair with some gray coloring and thick eyebrows.
The captors mostly spoke in Spanish in the time she was held, Bosenko said.
Rescue
On November 24, 2016 Sherri Papini was located in Sacramento's Yolo County, California at around 4:30 a.m. after being released by her captors according to Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko's Office.
The victim’s husband, Keith Papini, said in a statement to “Good Morning America” that the mother of two young children “suffered incredibly through both intense physical agony and severe mental torture.” “My first sight was my wife in a hospital bed, her face covered in bruises ranging from yellow to black because of repeated beatings, the bridge of her nose broken,” Keith Papini said. “Her now emaciated body of 87 pounds was covered in multicolored bruises, severe burns, red rashes and chain markings. Her signature long blonde hair had been chopped off. She has been branded, and I could feel the rise of her scabs under my fingers.”
After finding Sherri, emergency responders then transported Sherri to a nearby hospital where she was treated for non life-threatening injuries.
Her husband, Keith Papini, was immediately notified by the California Highway Patrol and was able to talk to Sherri over the phone.
"She was bound with restraints, but was able to summon help from a passing motorist," the sheriff said.
"We will not rest until Sherri's captor or captors are identified and brought to justice," he declared, adding that the community should remain cautious.
Based off Papini's interviews with investigators, police are searching for a dark colored SUV and two women they consider "dangerous" and armed with a hand gun, the sheriff said.
Keith rushed to the hospital where he currently remains by his wife's side, the sheriff said.
Search
Before Sherri was found, many of her family members and husband suspected that she was abducted.
Sherri's family offered reward money of $50,000 to help find Sherri.
Secret Witness of Shasta County is also offering a $10,000 reward for anyone with information about Papini that would lead to an arrest or conviction behind her disappearance.
Before her run, Sherri Papini sent a text message to her husband to ask whether he’d be home for lunch, according to her sister, Sheila Koester.
He replied later in the afternoon and said he wouldn’t.
“He returned to the home later in the evening, around 5, and no one was here,” Koester said.
“He called the authorities immediately.”
Sherri Papini typically picks up the couple's two children from day care in the afternoon, family members said.
Jogging in the neighborhood is typical for her.
“She’s here with them every day gardening and doing projects.
There’s just no way she would just take off,” said Suzanne Papini, Keith Papini’s sister.
Keith Papini used the Find My iPhone app to track his wife’s phone less than a mile from their home to the intersection of Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive, where he found the phone, according to authorities.
Her family and volunteers have searching for Sherri with Shasta County Sheriff's Office.
The family believe that Sherri may have been abducted.
They believe that it's highly unlikely that she would want to leave her two children and husband.
“I would say my personal reaction is that it’s twofold,” Suzanne Papini said.
“One, is that is it’s good to have some sort of clue.
The other portion is that it really points to she’s been taken.
I mean, she wouldn’t just drop her phone if she was running away.
So, at least it’s giving us some kind of information, but it’s pretty — we’re sick.
This is a pretty sickening situation.”