The unbelievable true story behind ‘Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini’
Netflix has been stacking up its library every week with multiple Lifetime movies from the network’s ripped-from-the-headlines catalogue. So, for those waiting on the pick of the week, it is Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini.
Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini is based on an almost decade-old real event surrounding the disappearance of a 34-year-old American woman who was allegedly kidnapped while she was jogging a mile from her home in Redding, California.
Her then-husband, Keith Papini, filed a missing persons report after coming home to find that his wife was missing and his children were never picked up from daycare, resulting in an extensive statewide three-week search. A mile down the road, he found Sherri’s headphones, and after filing the report, he arranged volunteers to search for her over the next few weeks, going as far as to organise a reward for any potential lead.
Although she thankfully reappeared 22 days later, as also seen in the Lifetime movie, the inconsistencies in her claims eventually raised eyebrows, leading to the uncovering of an unbelievable hoax. Sherri was found walking on the side of County Road 17 near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, nearly 150 miles south of the site of her disappearance on Thanksgiving Day.
After her reappearance, she claimed that she was abducted by two armed Hispanic women who not only chained and abused her, but also branded her. While the allegations were acutely alarming, authorities believed her at the time, excusing inaccuracies as a result of trauma.
The law department was never able to identify, let alone capture, the perpetrator who allegedly kidnapped Sherri. But the investigation carried on long after her return, leading to a groundbreaking discovery in 2020. Shortly after her reappearance, authorities found both male and female DNA on her clothing and four years later, the male DNA reportedly matched her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes (via KCRA).
Upon questioning, Reyes revealed that Sherri had contacted him, asking for help to reportedly “run away” from Keith and their abusive marriage. He also claimed that it was her idea to hide at his place, injure, and even brand herself, alleging that he never hurt her. It was when she said she missed her kids and asked him to drop her off on the side of a road that they went their separate ways after 22 days of staying together.
On March 3rd, 2022, Sherri was arrested for faking her own abduction and making false statements to federal law enforcement, and on charges of mail fraud. In September, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. While she was released in August 2023, the case garnered significant media attention, resulting in the Lifetime movie, Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini, Hulu’s limited series, Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, and a game-changer documentary from ID.
In the explosive 2025 docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, she refused any role in her disappearance, claiming that it was Reyes who abducted her and that none of the events was consensual. It was the first time since her release from prison that she opened up about the topic, changing her side of the story.