Real-Life 'Gone Girl' Sherri Papini Released To The Public

Sherri Papini is home after becoming a household name when she was dubbed the real “Gone Girl”. She was later arrested for her own kidnapping.

The disgraced mom of two will be staying in a halfway house at one of the Residential-Re-entry Management Field Offices. Papini reportedly went missing in November 2016. Her husband was on alert almost immediately and soon her friends got on board as well.

A huge search was launched and soon after just like that three weeks later, she appeared back in the area of her home in Woodland, California wearing a chain around her wrist and arms. It wasn’t a good look, in fact, it was likely frightening for the truck driver seeing this woman in chains in the middle of the street.

Papini told the police that two Hispanic women kidnapped her at gunpoint. But when police found DNA on a piece of her clothing worn during the kidnapping and alleged hostage situation that led back to an ex-boyfriend of Papini.

The California native was later dubbed “Supermom” for her heroic escape and her ex-boyfriend apparently planned the kidnapping themselves. Text messages were found that implicated Papini.

She was instructing her ex-boyfriend to buy a burner phone and sent a message to him telling him to pick her up. In the end, Papini was gone for about 2 weeks and a report filed said, Sherri “appeared to have lost a considerable amount of weight.”

One of the most shocking things to come from the report was that Papini had been branded on her right shoulder. She also had a swollen nose, bruises on her face, rashes on her body, ligature marks, burns, and bruising.

In the interview with the local police, Papini’s story came off as confusing and all over the place. At first, Papini refused to be interviewed by police, so her husband was allowed to record her, she claimed damning things like “law enforcement was involved.”

She claimed to have been stored in a closet with a bucket filled with kitty litter “for her to use as a toilet.” Papini doubled down on the sympathy card and applied to the California Victim Compensation Board for assistance.

Papini received a total of $30,694.15 from the board. She used the money to pay her ambulance bill, therapy sessions, and home improvements. By 2020, the FBI was involved and ended up digging up some evidence from the trash can outside of an ex-boyfriend's residence in Costa Mesa.

Papini is now a free woman, kind of after serving time for her charges of making false statements and mail fraud. Her husband, Keith Papini filed for divorce two days after she pleaded guilty.

Defense attorney William Portanova said,

“Ms. Papini maintained the lie for years thereafter, terrified that she had actually destroyed the one thing in her life that brought her true love and happiness, her family, desperately praying that the day of discovery would never come.”

The five-year ordeal is finally closed.