Sherri Papini will enjoy lifelong television treatment of the kidnapping scam and only regrets she got caught, hometown mayor blows up

THE life and crimes of “Gone Girl Faker” Sherri Papini will be is getting treatment for life this weekend – and the city’s ex-mayor, who has been terrorizing her with her lies, says she’s enjoying every moment of it.

Papini, 40, was sentenced to 18 months in prison back in September after pleading guilty to orchestrating an elaborate kidnapping scam in 2016.

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Papini, who was dubbed “super mom” in the press at the time, disappeared while jogging in Redding, Northern California on November 2, 2016.

Then, 22 days later, on Thanksgiving Day, she mysteriously reappeared, claiming to have been kidnapped and held captive by two Hispanic women with guns.

To sell the lie, Papini branded himself, shaved his hair and broke his nose.

Arrests were never made in the case as police struggled to find a motive for the seemingly random crime.

After a six-year investigation, Papini was taken into custody in March 2022 after it was revealed she was actually staying with an ex-boyfriend during the time she was missing.

The bizarre case rocked the small town of Redding, leaving residents horrified that a “boogeyman was on the loose,” according to then-Mayor Missy McArthur.

Papini’s crimes are set to be addressed in a new Lifetime film, Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini, which debuts on the network Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. ET.

McArthur told The US Sun that she suspects Papini will enjoy the attention and shame the show could bring her.

“I can’t get inside her head because I don’t think like her — obviously — but by all the indicators, you can see she’s someone who definitely likes attention,” McArthur said.

“There were a lot of things that came up during the investigation … even going back to high school … showing that she was someone who always wanted the focus to be on her.

“And that’s another way for them to get that.”

“OSCAR-WORTHY” DRAMATIC

McArthur previously told The US Sun how she met up with Papini in the days after she returned home, where the mother-of-two put on an “Oscar-worthy performance” and pretended to be traumatized by the fake ordeal.

After Sherri was finally sentenced in September, McArthur said she was relieved to see she was finally being held accountable for her lies.

“I think it was a reasonable result,” she said. “I feel bad mainly about the damage she would have done to her children because I can imagine that it hurt them.

“Especially as they get older and realize the full extent of what happened.”

Regarding Papini, McArthur says she has no sympathy for her at all and doesn’t buy the apology she wrote for her actions after her arrest.

Papini said in a statement released by her attorney that she is “so sorry for the pain I have caused my family, my friends, all the good people who have suffered needlessly because of my story, and those who have been hard.” worked to try and help me.”

“I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I did,” she said.

But McArthur thinks Papini is just sorry she got caught.

She also doubts that the community will welcome her back with open arms once she is eventually released from prison.

“[Sherri’s] she was only caught out of remorse,” said the former mayor.

“The fact that she kept fooling the police into doing this, even when it became clear that they knew the truth, has continued to spread their untruths.

“I mean, that doesn’t sound like a remorseful person to me.”

THE GONE GIRL FAKER

The twisted saga began on November 2, 2016 when Sherri disappeared without a trace after leaving her home in Redding to go running.

She was unable to pick up her children from a daycare later that afternoon and was reported missing by her husband Keith the same day.

Keith told Good Morning America at the time, “Anyone who knows my wife knows there’s no reason for her to go … She was definitely taken against her will.”

A motorist then found Papini on November 24 in rural Yolo County, about 150 miles from her home in Redding.

She was emaciated and bound at the waist with a chain that was attached to her left wrist with a cable tie.

Hose clamps were attached to her ankles in what the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office later described as “pain restraint restraints.”

Papini was also covered in bruises, her long blond hair was shaved off, she had a “burn” on her right shoulder and a broken nose.

She has since admitted inflicting those wounds on herself to back up her false claims.

After a six-year investigation, authorities discovered that Papini was staying with her ex-boyfriend James Reyes at the time she was reported missing.

The couple meticulously planned the trick on burner phones weeks before Sherri disappeared, court records say.

The bizarre case has previously been compared to the plot of the 2014 film Gone Girl, an adaptation of a Gillian Flynn novel of the same name, in which the main character stages her own kidnapping to defy her husband.

The comparison has earned Papini the unfavorable nickname “Gone Girl Faker”.

‘Troubled Woman’

After her arrest last spring, Papini struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to two counts of mail fraud and lying to a law enforcement officer, in addition to paying a $300,000 fine.

She was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but the judge hearing the case expressed doubts that she would ever be able to pay back the above fine.

“I would ask rhetorically who will hire you in the future?” said US District Court Judge William Shubb.

Before Papini found out about her fate, she issued a public apology in court, saying, “I choose to humbly accept responsibility.”

“I am guilty of lying. I am guilty of dishonour. I stand before you ready to accept, regret and admit,” Papini said.

“What has been done cannot be undone. It can never be deleted. I’m not choosing to stay frozen like 2016. I choose to heal the parts of myself that were so broken.”

Sherri’s family stood by her testimony until her arrest.

In a lengthy statement posted to Facebook, Papini’s sister, Shelia Koester, apologized to the Redding community for cheating on her “distraught” sibling.

Koester said Papini only admitted the whole thing was a ruse the day before she pleaded guilty.

“That Sherri was able to intentionally mislead her own beautiful children, her devoted husband Keith, our families, the authorities and all of you for so long is incomprehensible and was done for reasons only known to her,” Koester wrote.

“Despite her statements to the media, she unfortunately feels no remorse or guilt for the immeasurable damage she has caused, or for mobilizing critical criminal, financial and psychological resources that should have helped genuine victims in need.”

“It pains me to say this but my sister is very concerned and I hope for her children that when she is released she finally gets the treatment that she clearly needs so badly.”

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