Sherri Papini, the California woman who made headlines for faking her own kidnapping in 2016, has been released from her halfway house.
Papini, 41, was released on Friday, eight months early from an 18-month prison sentence, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
She was confined to a halfway house after being transferred in August from the Victorville Medium I Federal Penitentiary in Victorville, California, according to CBS News. The Daily Mail obtained photos that allegedly show Papini leaving the house halfway. He will now remain free under supervision for three years.
Sherri Papini released from prison after conviction for faking kidnapping
In 2016, the then 34-year-old wife and mother of two claimed she was the victim of a violent abduction while out for a morning run in her Redding, California neighborhood on November 2. After her husband, Keith Papini, reported her missing that evening, an extensive search was launched.
Twenty-two days later, on November 24, Papini was spotted by a passing motorist walking on a country road near Sacramento, more than 150 miles from the site of her alleged abduction. At that time, she was tied to travelers.
Papini told authorities she was able to escape her captors, who she described as two Spanish women. She said the women kidnapped her at gunpoint and forced her into an SUV.
“These Hispanic women are armed, they’re considered dangerous and they have a gun, at least a gun with them,” Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told reporters at a news conference at the time.
However, the following year, Papina’s story quickly began to unravel as investigators uncovered key evidence that contradicted her abduction claim.
The evidence that broke Sherri Papini’s case
Accusing documents released later in the investigation revealed that DNA evidence taken from the clothes Papini was wearing when she was found did not belong to her alleged captors. Instead, the DNA was matched to a perpetrator related to Papini’s ex-boyfriend.
Investigators later extracted DNA from a bottle of iced tea recovered from the ex-boyfriend’s trash. The ex-boyfriend admitted after the conversation that he helped Papina “escape” because she claimed that her husband abused her.
Sherri and Keith Papini. Courtesy of Keith Papini
While her family believed her to be missing, Papini was actually hiding in her ex-boyfriend’s apartment in Costa Mesa. After 22 days off the radar, Papini told her ex-boyfriend that she missed her children and wanted to go home.
The ex-boyfriend told investigators that Papini hit and burned herself to cause the injuries and asked him to drop her off on the side of the road where she was later discovered.
Want to keep up with the latest crime reports? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for the latest crime news, coverage of ongoing trials and details on intriguing unsolved cases.
On April 12, 2022, Papini was indicted on one count of making false statements to a federal agent and 34 counts of mail fraud. She pleaded guilty on April 18, 2022, admitting that her kidnapping claim was a complete fabrication.
Two days later, her husband filed for divorce, claiming in a court filing obtained by PEOPLE that the family is traumatized by his wife’s disappearance and the kidnapping hoax.
On September 19, 2022, Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution for losses incurred during the search for her. On November 8, 2022, Papini surrendered to the authorities to begin serving her sentence.
During the trial, Papini told the courtroom that she was “deeply ashamed” of her behavior and “I am sorry for the pain I caused my family, my friends, all the good people who suffered needlessly… I will work for the rest of my life to make amends for that what I did.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education