The trailer for Hulu’s Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini has dropped. We’ve marked the date the true crime documentary is set to premiere, June 20, on our calendars, and you’ll want to listen up if you’re still missing American Nightmare, Netflix’s Denise Huskins’ story.
In 2016, Sherri Papini, a married mother of two from Redding, California who seemed to be living the perfect life, disappeared while jogging, only about a mile from her home. About three weeks later, on Thanksgiving day, she reappeared about 150 miles from where she vanished, injured, emaciated, and still wearing restraints. Papini’s head was shaved and a Bible verse was branded on her shoulder.
Papini said two Hispanic women kidnapped her at gunpoint but then let her go. But before long, Papini’s version of the story fell apart, and it was revealed that Papini’s supposed abduction was a hoax.
Why did Sherri Papini fake her kidnapping?
Sherri Papini never said why she did it, according to California news outlet KRCR. But the investigators began to suspect that Papini, who was 34 at the time, was lying when male DNA was discovered on her clothing, among other inconsistencies in her story. That DNA matched her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes. Phone records also revealed Papini and Reyes were in contact before the fake abduction happened.
“That is how she used to deal with things as a child. When things got hard, she would just run away,” Asia Coleman, Papini’s friend, told the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department, about Papini’s potential motive. Meanwhile, her attorney, William Portanov, called it a ” … very complicated mental health situation.”
For years, Papini insisted she was kidnapped, lying to federal investigators, and all the while, fraudulently collecting tens of thousands of dollars from the California Victim Compensation Board. In 2022, Papini was finally arrested and charged with making false statements to federal officers, and mail fraud. The prosecution said Papini planned the hoax in great detail, and was with her ex-boyfriend in Southern California until she told him she wanted to go home.
Papini’s ex-boyfriend said she encouraged him to injure her, but most of her injuries were self-inflicted, and that he branded her shoulder at her request. Papini eventually pleaded guilty, signed a plea deal, and spent 18 months in prison. She also paid a $300,000 fine.
What happened to Sherri Papini’s husband?
Sherri Papini’s husband Keith Papini, who will appear in the new Hulu documentary, divorced Sherri in 2022, when she admitted what she’d done, and sought full custody of their two children. “[D]o you think I want her anywhere around my kids or around me at all at this point?” Keith reportedly told the police when the truth came out. “My current focus is on moving on and doing everything I can to provide my two children with as normal, healthy, and happy of a life as possible,” Keith later added.
Papini’s ex, James Reyes, meanwhile, was never charged with any crime and later told the police he helped Sherri with her plan because she said Keith was abusing her.