'Stunned and Disgusted': Keith Papini Reveals Ex-Wife Sherri Claimed FBI Thought He Was Involved Before Her Kidnapping Scheme Was Exposed
"Sherri is just calm, cool, and collected," he recalled, revealing her undisturbed reaction perplexed him.
June 25 2024, Published 8:00 p.m. ET
Keith Papini, the husband of California mom Sherri Papini who faked her own kidnapping, admitted he was completely blindsided when authorities told him what really happened only for his then-wife to claim the FBI had formerly suspected him to be involved.
"I'm just stunned and disgusted," Keith admitted in a new interview published after part one of the new Hulu docuseries, Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, aired. "I realized that she lied to everyone, or at least I thought in that moment."
Sherri made headlines in Nov. 2016 when she disappeared in Redding, California, before reemerging 22 days later on a highway in Yolo on Thanksgiving Day with a chain around her waist and restraints on her body.
She also had visible injuries including a brand on her shoulder, bruises on her face, a swollen nose and rashes, RadarOnline.com reported.
Sherri claimed to have been abducted at gunpoint and tortured by two Hispanic women.
Keith claimed his ex-wife used rubbing alcohol to make their children sick in Hulu's new docuseries.
Keith was eager to crack the case and bring the people who he believed captured his wife to justice after her sensational tale of despair. He was the one to report his wife missing after discovering she had not picked up their children from daycare.
Keith told PEOPLE he was waiting on pins and needles to hear developments in the case when the Papinis received the call to come into the FBI office in 2020.
Authorities first showed him and Sherri multiple photos of a room that matched the description of the room she claimed to be held captive in.
"Sherri is just calm, cool, and collected," he recalled, revealing her undisturbed reaction perplexed him. "She doesn't get excited."
Keith was the one to report his wife missing after discovering she had not picked up their children from daycare.
Keith remembered feeling gobsmacked when detectives said DNA found on Sherri's clothing had been linked back to her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes.
"She says she didn't do it, she swears," Keith said. "Then she proceeded to tell me that when she was in the room with the FBI when I wasn't, they were telling her that I never passed the lie detector test and that I might have something to do with her kidnapping — which I started laughing."
Sherri was later arrested in 2022.
Keith remembered feeling gobsmacked when detectives said DNA found on Sherri's clothing had been linked back to her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes.
The CA mom told Reyes she needed to escape her husband so he drove hundreds of miles to pick her up. He also arranged a room for her to stay in and even branded her with the phrase she wanted.
Reyes was not charged with a crime, as we previously reported.
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Sherri, however, ultimately signed a plea deal for a single count of mail fraud and one count of making false statements and Keith filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences" after their 12-year marriage.
She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and released in 2023.
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