Sherri Papini’s ever-changing story for her cell phone still doesn’t make sense

This article contains mild spoilers for Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie.

Nearly a decade after her supposed abduction shocked the nation, Sherri Papini’s story remains riddled with contradictions—none more perplexing than the inconsistencies surrounding her cell phone.

Papini, a mother of two from Redding, California, disappeared in November 2016 while reportedly out for a jog. Her sudden vanishing set off a massive search. Three weeks later, she reappeared on Thanksgiving morning, battered and branded, claiming she had been kidnapped by two Hispanic women. For years, her tale held up—until federal investigators uncovered the elaborate hoax.

The new ID docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie highlights several lingering mysteries in the case, but the confusion over her phone may be one of the most revealing, especially since Papini has now recanted her story that she plotted with her ex to stage the abduction.

Papini now says she was abducted by her ex, James Reyes, amid an emotional affair. But, she says she only agreed to say someone else was responsible so Reyes would let her go.

The mystery of Papini’s cell phone

Among the first major clues in the case was Papini’s cell phone, discovered the day she went missing. Found near the intersection of Sunrise Drive and Old Oregon Trail, the device had her earbuds wrapped loosely around it and strands of her blonde hair tangled in the cords. The scene appeared staged, but at the time, it fueled the belief that she had been abducted.

But it was the phone’s peculiar placement that raised eyebrows among law enforcement. If she had been violently kidnapped, why had the phone been found so neatly? And why, in her later statements, did her story about the phone keep changing?

“The way it was placed … you don’t just drop your phone when you’re being kidnapped and coil up your headphones and then pull your hair out and make sure it’s in there,” Denise Farmer, the Papini case’s now retired FBI lead investigator, says in the ID series, “That was very strange to us.”

Papini previously told her now ex-husband, Keith Papini, “I knew you’d find my phone and my hair … That’s why I pulled it out — I knew you’d know.” During the initial investigation, she also somehow knew about the phone’s discovery, and later said Reyes told her it was found while he kept her captive, based on a new report about the search.

Papini told detectives she couldn’t recall much about how the phone got there. Later, she claimed she may have thrown it or it may have fallen during the scuffle. In another version, she said her captors tossed it out to mislead police. Her new shifting explanation of what happened only deepens the suspicion around her account.

Papini’s hair is equally puzzling

Equally puzzling was the presence of her hair on the earbuds. The strands appeared intentionally wrapped, as if someone had taken the time to stage the scene rather than it being the result of a spontaneous attack.

The phone wasn’t the only detail to change over time. Her entire account of the 22-day ordeal shifted repeatedly. She described harrowing conditions—being starved, beaten, and branded—yet some details were medically inconsistent or implausible. It wasn’t until 2020 that DNA evidence on her clothing, which didn’t match the alleged captors’ descriptions, led agents to her ex-boyfriend.

When confronted with the DNA and inconsistencies, Papini finally confessed. A confession she now says isn’t true. In 2022, she pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal agents and mail fraud. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay over $300,000 in restitution.

While much of the case has been resolved, the docuseries brings renewed attention to lingering questions, especially about how Papini managed to deceive authorities and the public for so long. The detail about the cell phone remains a focal point.