The ex-husband of kidnapping faker Sherri Papini has revealed further details about their relationship and how he thought her lie made no sense.
Sherri Papini disappeared on November 2, 2016 while jogging a mile from her home before resurfacing three weeks later on Thanksgiving.
But the 41-year-old mother was jailed in 2022 over the Gone Girl-esque plot after it emerged she had lied to police and self-harmed in an elaborate ruse that matched the fake kidnapping.
Now, Keith Papini has opened up about his marriage to Sherri and the moment he questioned his wife’s claims when she returned after her disappearance.
“There were a lot of things that just weren’t right, but I wanted to support my wife,” Keith said Fox News digital.
The ex-husband of kidnapping faker Sherri Papini has revealed further details about their relationship and how he thought her lie made no sense
‘If you can’t trust your wife, who can you trust? I kept telling myself, “I’m going to do anything for my wife.”
‘I got the impression that she was happy with us and that she didn’t want another life with anyone else.
“I just wanted to support her while we were together. That said… I will never know the whole truth.”
“I never felt unloved by her,” he admitted of their time together before the hoax. “She told me how happy she was in our marriage and that we would never divorce.”
Keith insisted that he and Sherri were in love and had had a happy marriage until her disappearance.
Sherri Papini disappeared on November 2, 2016 while jogging a mile from her home before resurfacing three weeks later on Thanksgiving.
But the 41-year-old mother was jailed in 2022 over the Gone Girl-esque plot after it emerged she had lied to police and self-harmed in an elaborate ruse that matched the fake kidnapping.
“She wrote songs, she wrote me notes all the time,” he said. ‘She told me how happy she was in our marriage and that we would never divorce.
“She was just so in love with me, and I would repeat those things to her.”
He added: “There was no part of me that ever thought she would fake injuries and get into this whole hoax to the extent that she did.
‘I couldn’t have foreseen that. But I thought we had a happy life. We have great children. I was blinded.’
Sherri’s plan captivated the nation and was the focus of true crime documentaries and podcasts.
She was reported missing in November 2016 when she suddenly disappeared after going for a jog.
Sherri, who was 34 at the time, showed up three weeks later on Thanksgiving “dazed, battered and bruised,” about 140 miles from where he was last seen.
Now, Keith Papini has opened up about his marriage to Sherri, claiming he never saw her commit this elaborate hoax
Sherri’s story unraveled when officers found her ex-boyfriend’s DNA on her clothing in 2020 and discovered she had been hiding with him the entire time while pretending to be missing.
Keith is left looking back and wondering why his ex-wife faked her own kidnapping.
“I really believe that attention would be the key,” he said. ‘I think she likes it when people sympathize with her and see her as a victim… at anyone’s expense.
‘Honestly, I don’t think she is capable of seeing what she has done and the lives it has affected, the effect she has had and the pain she has caused so many people.
‘I always think about all the people [who tried to help] during those 22 days [she was missing].
“All the kids who probably weren’t allowed to cycle anymore, all the women who probably weren’t allowed to jog anymore… I don’t think she has any idea how harmful it was.”
He tried to protect his children from the possibility that Sherri’s kidnappers would come for them.
“We lived in fear that someone was after us,” Keith added.
“When the kids were playing outside and they saw someone, it was almost as if they had learned to run inside.
“There’s a part of me that knows those six years of their youth were almost stolen by Sherri.”
He filed for divorce from her in April 2022 and attempted to retain custody of their two children following her release from prison.
“This wasn’t just a lie she told that ended with her being arrested,” Keith said.
Sherri’s ex-husband Keith, with whom she shares children Tyler, 11, and Violet, 9, filed for divorce in April 2022 and attempted to retain sole custody following her release in August 2023
“This was a lie she told every day, every minute… Maybe being a stay-at-home mom didn’t satisfy her… She never apologized to me or the kids… She’s acting like it never happened. ‘
There were claims made by Sherri in a new Hulu docuseries titled Perfect Wife that Keith had been an abusive and controlling husband, which he strongly denies.
He said: ‘She said I hit her and the police wouldn’t do anything.
‘[When it came to] our mutual friends… it was a completely different story… It was painful to hear those things at this moment because I don’t sleep and I don’t eat.
‘I’m fighting for my wife’s life. And to know that she went around saying these… untrue things, it’s hurtful… But you can see a pattern here.”
Officers discovered Sherri with a chain around her waist, multiple wounds and a mark on her shoulder.
Over the next few weeks, she devised an elaborate ruse, telling officers she had been kidnapped by two Spanish women who beat and branded her.
But her story unraveled when officers found her ex-boyfriend’s DNA on her clothes in 2020 and discovered she had been hiding with him the entire time pretending to be missing.
Supporting the kidnapping story, it turned out that her injuries were all self-inflicted.
Keith spent the time she was missing desperately searching for her, while also being treated as a suspect in her disappearance.
After her trial and imprisonment, he was given full custody of the children.
Sherri is currently fighting for more access to their children Tyler and Violet, while Keith wants her to undergo a psychological evaluation and not be allowed to see them unsupervised.
She also demands that he hand over an array of items from the marital home in Redding, including “Grandpa’s truck, an inflatable water slide, a leaf blower and a smart TV.”
An expense report obtained by DailyMail.com shows that the petite blonde claims to have an income of just $1,000 a month, of which she says she pays half in rent.
A smitten Sherri Papini was spotted sharing a passionate smooch with her new boyfriend Shawn Hibdon outside a local Starbucks in Orland, California on Monday
Sherri reportedly started dating the recently widowed businessman before her 10 months in prison in Victorville, California, which ended last August.
She was previously awarded just $10,000 during her divorce and was ordered to pay half of a $3,000 debt she accrued on a BestBuy credit card after being arrested in April 2022.
Last week, exclusive photos from DailyMail.com showed Sherri in an embrace with her car dealer boyfriend Shawn Hibdon, 49, after an amorous encounter in the backseat of her white Jeep SUV in a Starbucks parking lot in Orland, California, on Monday .
After spending an hour in the car with Hibdon, who arrived separately in a gray Hyundai with distinctive dealer plates, she emerged giggling and dressed in a pink tank top and striking tie-dye leggings.
The pair then enjoyed a cuddle – after first checking the car park to make sure no one was looking – before leaving in different cars.
Hibdon has been single since unexpectedly losing his wife Brittany in September 2021 at the age of 36 and is a single father to their two sons Houston, 16, and Westley, 14.
A source told DailyMail.com that the relationship began prior to her 10-month stint at FCI Victorville, with the pair meeting in Chico – a town an hour south of Sherri’s former home in Redding.
She lived in the area briefly after being thrown out by her ex following her arrest. Her sister Sheila also lives in town.