Sherri Papini imitated the premise of “Gone Girl” by trying to carry out her own abduction, and new video from a 2016 interview with police shows the mother-of-two speaking to police with a swollen and bandaged nose in the immediate aftermath of the event.
Papini, 39, is shown in footage that aired on Good Morning America on Friday morning with a bandage covering her nose’s bridge as she tells law enforcement authorities that she is afraid to talk about the abduction with them because she isn’t sure whether they are “in my corner.”
“I’ve never met you people,” she said, “I’m not sure whether you’re in my corner.”
I am aware of my hubby. There were a lot of other things, and although I am aware that my spouse is on my side, you know, you guys are experts in all things. It’s disgusting and humiliating, and that’s strange for me.
The Vanishing Act, a brand-new 20/20 program that focuses on Papini’s long-running farce, will premiere on ABC on Friday night.
The episode will include recently made public investigative data and interviews with former Redding, California, mayor Missy McArthur, former Shasta County sheriff Tom Bosenko, and co-founder of the Northern Hispanic Latino Coalition Alan Ernesto Phillips.
Papini vanished while out on a jog in her Redding neighborhood in November 2016. The married mother of two said she was kept prisoner for 22 days by two Latina women before returning weeks later, almost hundreds of miles away, “dazed, tortured and injured.”
Papini had ties around her body and self-inflicted wounds, such as a swollen nose and a blurred “brand” on her right shoulder, when she was discovered. She suffered burns on her left forearm, ligature scars on her wrists and ankles, and several additional bruises and rashes all over her body.
Papini’s abduction scheme fell apart almost six years later, and she was prosecuted in March for carrying out the fake.
In the end, she entered a guilty plea to one count of fraud and one count of misleading a federal official.
She admitted as much in court, saying, “I am profoundly embarrassed of my actions and sincerely sorry for the suffering I have caused my family, my friends, all the wonderful people who have unnecessarily suffered because of my narrative, and those who worked so hard to try to assist me.”
Papini said, “I will labor for the rest of my life to atone for what I have done.”
She was given an earlier this month sentence of 18 months in jail, which is more than twice what the prosecution had asked for. She was also ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution for the money the state used to support her research.
By November 8, the mother of two must turn herself in. Papini will serve a jail term as well as a 36-month probationary period.
After being faithful to her for the previous six years after the claimed abduction, Papini’s husband, Keith Papini, filed for divorce from his wife of more than ten years in April.
Tyler, 9, and Violet, 7, are their two children, and he has applied for exclusive custody of them.
He has also asked for the right to exclusive possession of the couple’s three automobiles, a Ford Majestic RV, and a Correct Craft wakeboard boat, as well as their rental property in Redding, California.
Papini was practically attacked by law officials during her arrest outside her children’s school, according to the divorce documents, which also state that she and Keith broke up on the same day she was detained this year.