I agreed ‘to make up that someone else did it’: Even Sherri Papini’s mom doesn’t believe Papini’s new kidnapping story

The infamous Sherri Papini kidnapping hoax is back in the spotlight thanks to Investigation Discovery’s new docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. In it, Papini offers a new explanation for her 2016 disappearance—but even her mother isn’t buying it.

For the first time on camera, Papini, now 42, gives her side of the story—claiming her ex did abduct her, and she agreed to lie about who did it so he’d let her go. She does say she got involved with her ex in a desperate, misguided attempt to seek attention and escape what she perceived as an unsupportive relationship.

In a stunning moment from the film, Papini confesses: “I agreed to make up that someone else did it.”

Papini added, “It wasn’t the right choice and I know that… I wish I would’ve told the truth from the day I was in the hospital — that it was James,” her ex-boyfriend who she says was responsible, suggesting she was kidnapped after all.

Papini goes on to say it all started with an “emotional affair with her ex” and that she felt guilty for “leading him on.” Papini explains, “I wasn’t thinking about my neighbor that was searching for me. I wasn’t thinking about the churches that were lighting candlelit vigils. I was thinking about myself.”

“No, it wasn’t a kidnapping”

But Papini’s mother, Loretta Graeff, is also in the show. Graeff says, “No, it wasn’t a kidnapping,” contradicting Papini’s new story about what happened. But, Graeff adds, “My daughter was very, very unhappy in her marriage. She wanted some kind of happiness.”

Graeff continues, when Papini’s ex James showed up, “and Sherri went with him, it wasn’t a kidnapping.” Instead, Grff says Papini felt, “I want to have a little bit of happiness in my life because it’s been very, very hard. She needed to get away from him,” Graeff added, referring to Papini’s ex-husband, Keith Papini. “She didn’t abandon her children,” Graeff said.

The Sherri Papini kidnapping hoax: a national sensation

In November 2016, Sherri Papini, a young mother of two from Redding, California, vanished during a routine jog. She returned three weeks later, injured, and claiming two Hispanic women had kidnapped her. The saga ignited national sympathy and widespread media coverage.

But Papini’s story was a lie. After years of investigation, authorities discovered she had orchestrated her disappearance. As police learned, she had been staying with an ex-boyfriend hundreds of miles away. In 2022, she pleaded guilty to mail fraud and lying to federal agents. She served 18 months in prison and was ordered to repay over $300,000 in restitution.

The new ID documentary series Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie offers an in-depth look at one of the most shocking kidnapping hoaxes in recent American history. With exclusive interviews, intimate footage, and commentary from family members, investigators, and legal experts, the film offers a comprehensive breakdown of how the story unraveled.