Starved for Attention: The Tale of Sherri Papini

I actually remembered when this story broke: November 2, 2016. On that day, Sherri Papini, 34 at the time, disappeared while jogging. She was found on Thanksgiving Day, and had maintained her story that she had been abducted and held hostage by a pair of Hispanic women, even doing so in August 2020, when investigators became suspicious regarding her story. Then, on March 3, 2022, another story broke: Sherri Papini had been arrested--charged with staging her abduction. Oh man. This was a bit of a local story in my case; it came from Northern California, but local news here in Southern California was all over it. In the time that has passed since the arrest, so many details have come out.

Sherri Papini was born Sherri Louise Graeff on June 11, 1982, and she married her husband, Keith Papini in 2009. The marriage resulted in two children; but as we know now, Sherri decided to stage her abduction seven years into her marriage. During the time that Sherri was "abducted," she was actually hiding out with an ex-boyfriend of hers, and shortly after the arrest, so much stuff was revealed about Sherri. First off, Sherri's own mother, Loretta Graeff, revealed an incident in 2003 where Sherri (21 at the time) intentionally harmed herself and blamed it on her mother. During that same year, Sherri was also accused of stealing money from her father to start her own credit card account, and in addition, another ex-boyfriend of Sherri's revealed that Sherri was a compulsive liar.

I have to mention this, as soon as I heard the part (during the arrest story) about Sherri claiming that a pair of Hispanic women took her, I rolled my eyes. These hoaxers always do this: attempt to scapegoat minorities. Susan Smith, the crazed woman who drowned her children? In her lie to cover up her actions, she claimed that Black men abducted her kids. And remember Jennifer Wilbanks, the infamous "Runaway Bride"? She also scapegoated Hispanics in her false tale. Get this: this isn't Sherri's first bit of racism, either. Back in 2007, Sherri (under her maiden name) actually posted a blog where she talked about getting in fights with Latinx girls and claiming that she was "drug-free, White, and proud of her heritage." Sherri denied writing that years ago, yet she falsely claimed that Hispanic women abducted her. So...yeah.

The biggest revelation was the ex-boyfriend involved in this hoax. He was revealed as James Reyes, who had known Sherri since they were teenagers. According to Reyes himself, Sherri went to him claiming that she had to get away from her husband, Keith, who (according to Sherri) was abusing her. He also revealed that the injuries on Sherri (at the time she was discovered) were self-inflicted; including bruising herself and burning herself on her arms, and he admitted to helping Sherri with her self-inflicted injuries. Reyes actually drove Sherri to her home on Thanksgiving Day, and it was there that her false tale escalated. However, after Reyes' testimony, Sherri eventually confessed to staging everything, and admitted that she was having several affairs during her marriage.

Sherri Papini was charged with lying to federal agents and for defrauding California's Victim Compensation board; she had received over $30,000 from the board since her return. Overall, she faces up to 25 years in prison; five for the deception and 20 for the mail fraud connected to the compensation. The motive hasn't been officially revealed, but it has to be attention. From what I and others have learned about this (and I'm certain there's more), Sherri's history of compulsive lying has to come from a need for attention, while it's also clear that there are much deeper issues elsewhere. I honestly expect a Lifetime movie about this down the line, and I'm surprised we don't get villainesses like this in their fictional thrillers. Overall, this whole case (so far) has been immensely captivating, and it is far from over.

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