What Happened After Hulu’s ‘Perfect Wife’?

The big picture

• Sherri Papini's disappearance captivated the media and viewers, but she faked her kidnapping.
• Sherri was found to have orchestrated her own disappearance, leading to her arrest and guilty plea.
• Sherri's actions shocked her loved ones, who are still reeling from the deception.

The entire true crime genre has been obsessed with missing women for quite some time. Nothing captivates audiences more than the strange disappearance of a perfect victim. Cases like Natalie Holloway, Elizabeth Smarti Gabby Petito all have inspired a surprising variety of media coverage over the years. So when Sherri Papini disappeared after going for an afternoon jog in her neighborhood in Shasta County, California in 2016, it was no surprise that the media picked up on the whole case. The 34-year-old's face appeared on flyers across the state, and news stations constantly blasted her image to motivate people to come forward and report anything they might know about her disappearance. Sherri's family members, especially her husband, Keith, appeared in interviews desperately pleading for the safe return of the missing young mother. She seemed to be the ideal victim: beautiful, white and photogenic.

But Sherri's story, which is explored in the new Hulu docuseries, Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, only became more fascinating when it resurfaced 22 days after its disappearance. Sherri claimed to have been kidnapped by two Hispanic women who held her captive until one woman left her on the side of the road. Sherri had obvious injuries, including numerous bruises, burns and a mark on her back, and was reluctant to talk to police about her ordeal. Sherri and Keith eventually tried to overcome the trauma, but the intriguing nature of their case was just beginning. perfect wife follows the events of what happened once Sherri returned home. Featuring interviews from Keith and the couple's friends and family, the series offers an honest and unflinching look at Sherri's fate.

“The Perfect Wife” details what really happened to Sherri Papini

As Keith and the investigators tried to piece together what happened during the 22 days of Sherri's abduction, some inconsistencies began to emerge. Investigators weren't sure why the two women would have taken Sherri or where they might have held her. Sherri was showing signs of trauma (such as nightmares and intense fears of everything from mariachi music to women with long, curly hair), but many people began to question the veracity of her claims. Keith devoted all his energy to helping Sherri's recovery, including helping her recall memories of her abduction, attending therapy sessions with her, and working with her young children to help them feel safe again. The family was also dodging the relentless media who all wanted to know more about Sherri's experiences.

Four years after Sherri returned, investigators had a break in the case; but the road they were on now was unexpected. They were able to match a DNA sample found on Sherri, which happened to belong to an ex-boyfriend of Sherri's named James Reyes. The story quickly unraveled after that; when the police visited James (who lived in Costa Mesa, California), they discovered that his bedroom was an exact match to what Sherri described as his captor's holding cell. But James informed investigators that he was not a kidnapper. Sherri had contacted him on a fire phone and asked him to pick her up. She stayed at his house willingly, and even convinced him to inflict injuries on her body so that she would end up looking like a victim of abuse. In a sickening twist, Sherri even calmly watched news footage of her friends and family begging her to come back from the safety of James' home. For 22 days, he allowed his loved ones to agonize over his disappearanceall while she continued to hide.

Where is Sherri Papini from 'Perfect Wife' now?

After gathering enough evidence against her, Sherri was arrested on March 3, 2022 (more than five years after her alleged kidnapping). She was charged with making false statements to police and engaging in mail fraud; the last charge was because he had received more than $30,000 from the California Victim Compensation Board. Several weeks after her arrest, Sherri pleaded guilty, saying she was “deeply ashamed” of what she had done.. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution from government funds that were spent to find her and her fake kidnappers. Sherri was released eight months early from prison in August 2023, but will remain on supervised release until 2026. As of the release of the docuseries, Sherri has yet to pay back the money she owes.

Several days after her plea, Keith, shocked and hurt, filed for divorce from Sherri. She has supervised visitation with her children, but Keith has retained sole custody. She has made it her mission to focus on her children's well-being and help them fully heal from the whole debacle. Keith told Good Morning America that Sherri has a new boyfriend and is apparently working on writing a book. But the harm Sherri caused to those around her continues. Her loved ones are still shocked by the reality that Sherri was never an innocent victim and that all physical harm done to him was self-inflicted. The hundreds of people who formed search parties to look for her, and the entire population of Shasta County, are left with the hard, dismayed truth that her kind intentions were not in vain. There is also the added element of racial prejudice that Sherri caused by claiming that her kidnappers were Hispanic. The weight this accusation had on the Hispanic community also continues to weigh heavily on people's minds.

perfect wife is another solid entry in the true crime documentary genre; even for viewers who were already familiar with Sherri's case, the show offers plenty of story twists and turns that will keep people enthralled. The series features some creative storytelling, including using dolls to act out Sherri's version of events, and tries to delve into some possible motivations Sherri might have had for faking her own kidnapping. Although her family suspects that her intense need for love and attention may have driven her to take these drastic measures, unless Sherri publishes a book in the future, no one may ever know what was really going through her mind when he decided to pretend. her kidnapping, abandoning her children and running away. As twisted as his actions were, they did lead to a fascinating and exciting examination of his case.

Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini now streaming on Hulu in the US

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