Sherri Papini Speaks Out For First Time Since Kidnapping Hoax in New Documentary

Sherri Papini
Speaks Out For First Time …
After Prison Sentence For Kidnapping Hoax

Published May 1, 2025 8:24 AM PDT

Investigation Discovery

Sherri Papini‘s sharing her side of the alleged kidnapping that became national news and ultimately led to her sentencing on federal charges … claiming it really did happen, in a trailer for a new documentary.

Papini is speaking out for the first time in the upcoming documentary “Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie” … shedding more light on her shocking 2016 disappearance and the subsequent aftermath.

In the trailer, released Thursday, Papini admits she kept secrets from the public … but, insists she really was kidnapped and tortured — despite the federal government claiming otherwise.

The trailer features testimonials from a series of people who know Sherri … with some backing her wholeheartedly, while others are casting more doubt on her claims. It appears Sherri takes a lie-detector test in the doc.

11/24/16

ABC 7

Papini leaves the audience with a question — Have they ever lied … and has that lie blown up on them?

Sherri went missing for three weeks in 2016 … resurfacing on the side of a road after she says her captors let her go.

Papini claimed two Hispanic women kept her captive for weeks … hiding their faces from her via masks, chaining her to a wall and even branding her with the word “Exodus.”

DNA was found on Papini — both male and female — but, investigators initially found no matches. However, in 2022, James Reyes, one of her ex-boyfriends, claimed Papini stayed with him during her alleged abduction … and, DNA from Reyes was found on her clothes.

Papini was arrested in March 2022 … and, about six weeks later, she pled guilty to one count of making false statements and one count of mail fraud. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but served less than a year.

Sherri publicly admitted the whole kidnapping was a hoax at her sentencing hearing … but, it looks like she’s walking that completely back now — and, we’re sure there will be a whole lot more bombshells when the doc drops later this month.