Sherri Papini Insists She Was ‘Abducted’ & ‘Tortured’ 3 Years After Admitting to Kidnapping Hoax

More than three years after Sherri Papini admitted to orchestrating her own kidnapping, she’s speaking out for the first time about what she claims really happened. Papini appears in Investigation Discovery’s upcoming docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, and the first trailer, released on Thursday (May 1), gives a sneak peek at what she’ll share while breaking her silence.

“Haven’t you ever lied?” Papini asks. “And then has that lie been blown up?” She goes on to stand by her original version of events, adding, “I went missing in 2016, was gone for 22 days. I was tortured. I was branded. I was chained to a wall. All of that is true.” However, she then says, “I did keep some secrets from you, though.” What those secrets are will remain to be seen when the four-part docuseries premieres.

Papini was reported missing by her then-husband (now ex) Keith Papini, in 2016. She was found 22 days later with physical injuries and the word EXODUS branded on her shoulder. It wasn’t until six years later that Papini was arrested for allegedly lying to federal agents and faking the kidnapping. Her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, confirmed that she had been with him at the time she was claiming to have been abducted. Papini agreed to a deal where she pled guilty to one count of making false statements and one count of mail fraud, and she admitted to orchestrating the kidnapping hoax. She was released from prison in August 2023.

Investigation Discovery

In the docuseries trailer, Papini is asked why the public should believe what she’s saying now. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” she promises. She also gets hooked up to a lie detector test and is asked, “Were you free to leave at any time without fear of violence?”

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Papini also addresses her relationship with Keith, with whom she shares two children, in the trailer. “In pictures, it looks perfect, like we were an amazing couple,” she says. “We both participated in some pretty toxic behaviors.”

Keith shared his side of the story in the 2024 Hulu documentary Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini. He also confirmed to TV Insider that Sherri now speaks to her children every week and sees them in “professionally supervised visitation once a month.”

The chilling trailer ends with Papini seemingly addressing the fact that she told some lies as she asks, “I really challenge anybody watching this film: How truthful are you?”

Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, Monday, May 26, and Tuesday, May 27, 9/8c, Investigation Discovery and Streaming on Max