The investigation eventually showed Sherri Papini’s account was fabricated and that she had voluntarily stayed with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa, where she systematically had harmed herself to make her story convincing, authorities said. They said she enlisted his help inflicting some of the injuries — including branding her shoulder — but that much of the physical evidence of her ordeal was the direct result of Papini roughly cutting her own hair, slamming her head on the bathtub and bathroom floor, and refusing to eat enough food.
In the criminal complaint, Redding-based FBI agent Courtney Lantto said Sherri Papini had been in contact with her ex-boyfriend as early as December 2015 – nearly a year before her disappearance. They used pre-paid phones to communicate, according to the complaint, which says she eventually asked the ex-boyfriend, whose name is not given, to drive to Redding from Southern California and pick her up.
On the day the community believed she had disappeared in a terrifying abduction while out on a run, Sherri Papini actually met her ex-boyfriend exactly as she had arranged via text messages, Lantto said in the criminal complaint.
U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan and Shasta County Sheriff Michael L. Johnson announced Papini’s arrest.
Investigators for several years followed Sherri Papini’s account of the events down what they now say were dead ends. They concentrated their search for her abduction site in mountainous areas because, the complaint says, she told them it was always cold and rained nearly every night. They brought her photos of women who might match the racial, height and hair characteristics she alleged. They disseminated “wanted” posters worldwide with an FBI sketch artist’s attempt to capture her description — including both women wearing bandanas.
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