The ex-husband of kidnapping hoaxer Sherri Papini has broken his silence to reveal how he, too, was duped by his wife’s elaborate hoax.
Sherri, 41, was jailed in 2022 for a Gone Girl-style plot in which she faked her own kidnapping and disappeared for three weeks in 2016, lying to police and causing injuries that matched her story.
The scheme captivated the nation and has been the focus of true crime podcasts and documentaries.
Now, seven years later, her ex-husband Keith has broken his silence. saying good morning america: “I think she wanted me to be her knight in shining armor and run to her.”
The couple is now embroiled in a protracted custody battle over their two children, Tyler, 14, and Violet, 12.
Sherri Papini’s ex-husband Keith Papini broke his silence to reveal how he was tricked by her fake kidnapping plot.
Sherri was reported missing in November 2016 when she suddenly disappeared after going for a run.
She reappeared “dazed, battered and bruised” three weeks later on Thanksgiving Day, about 145 miles from where she had last been seen.
Officers discovered the “missing” woman with a chain around her waist, multiple wounds and a mark on her shoulder.
Over the next few weeks, she devised an elaborate ruse: She told agents that she had been kidnapped by two Hispanic women who had beaten and marked her.
But her story fell apart when agents found her ex-boyfriend’s DNA on her clothes in 2020 and discovered that she had been hiding with him the entire time she had pretended to be missing.
Sherri Papini has been involved in a brutal custody battle with her ex-husband.
It turned out that all of his wounds were self-inflicted to support the kidnapping story.
Keith spent the time she was missing desperately searching for her and at the same time was treated as a suspect in her disappearance. After his trial and imprisonment, he was given full custody of the children.
Breaking her silence seven years later, she told Good Morning America that she never apologized to him for what she put her family through: “She has no remorse that I have ever witnessed or seen.”
Even when police accused her of lying, Sherri insisted she was telling the truth, Keith said, “She made us believe her story was true.” Every day she committed herself to lies.
When speaking, he said he wants everyone to know “how convincing” Sherri was “all those years” and how he believed everything she said.
He said: “I think she wanted to plan a fake kidnapping, but in her version I was supposed to find her.”
He said all he wants now is to be able to “get over it” even though the events will “always be there.”
Sherri was reported missing in November 2016 and reappeared three weeks later on Thanksgiving Day, 145 miles from where she was last seen.
Keith spent the time she was missing desperately searching for her. After her trial and imprisonment, she was awarded full custody of the children.
He said: “I want to give my children an amazing childhood, but I think it will always be there.”
Currently, Sherri is fighting for more access to Tyler and Violet, while Keith wants her to undergo a psychological evaluation and be banned from seeing them unsupervised.
He also demands that he hand over a number 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 statement obtained by DailyMail.com shows the petite blonde claims an income of just $1,000 a month, half of which she says she pays in rent.
She previously received just $10,000 in her divorce and was ordered to pay half of a $3,000 debt she racked up on a BestBuy credit card after being arrested in April 2022.
Last week, exclusive photographs from DailyMail.com showed Sherri Papini, 41, cuddling with her boyfriend, car dealer Shawn Hibdon, 49, after a love affair in the backseat of their white Jeep SUV in a Starbucks parking lot in Orland, California. on Monday.
After an hour in the car with Hibdon, who arrived separately in a gray Hyundai with distinctive dealer plates, she emerged laughing and dressed in a pink tank top and bright tie-dyed leggings.
The pair then enjoyed a kiss, having first checked the car park to make sure no one was watching, before heading off in separate cars.
A loved-up Sherri Papini was seen sharing a passionate kiss with her new boyfriend Shawn Hibdon outside a local Starbucks in Orland, California, on Monday.
Papini is said to have started dating the recently widowed businessman before his 10-month prison stint in Victorville, California, which ended last August.
Hibdon has been single since unexpectedly losing his wife Brittany at the age of 36 in September 2021 and is a single father to his two children Houston, 16, and Westley, 14.
A source told DailyMail.com that the relationship began before his 10-month stint at FCI Victorville, when the couple met in Chico, a town located an hour south of Papini’s former home in Redding.
Papini briefly lived in the area after being kicked out by her ex following his arrest. Her sister Sheila also resides in the town.
Last September, the lovestruck Hibdon was seen driving the white van with a distinctive Hibdon Auto Center dealer license plate that picked her up at an Oakland rehab center and bought the petite blonde a spacious home of her own in January.
Records seen by DailyMail.com show that the four-bedroom property in Shingletown, California, was purchased by the Orland-based businessman through a limited liability company called 33 TEN Properties LLC, which was incorporated in September 2023.
Despite Hibdon’s generous outlay on the mother of two, the relationship has been conducted under a veil of secrecy and Papini does not mention who paid for her new home in family court documents, instead saying she rents the house. property for $500 a year. month.
According to Zillow, the market rent for the custom-finished property, which sits on a private three-acre lot, would be more than six times what Papini claims to pay: $3,294 a month.
Before the appointment, Papini had appeared in court, where she exchanged icy glances with her ex-husband Keith, who opposes her demand that she be granted more access to their children.
But the swashbuckling antics didn’t stop at Starbucks: Intending to hide her new Jeep from Keith, the mother of two dropped it off at her attorney Chase Kinney’s lot before traveling with her for a short time. travel from office to court.
Although the Jeep could not be seen outside Papini’s luxurious Shingletown home when DailyMail.com visited last week, the gray Hyundai driven by Hibdon to the romantic date was briefly seen parked in the driveway.
Hibdon has been single since unexpectedly losing his wife Brittany at the age of 36 in September 2021 and is a single father to his two teenage children.
Papini’s ex-husband Keith, with whom she shares children Tyler, 11, and Violet, 9, filed for divorce in April 2022 and sought to maintain sole custody after his release in August 2023.
Hibdon is a prominent man in the Northern California city of Orland, where he owns a successful automobile dealership that he previously ran with his wife.
According to an obituary for Hibdon’s deeply religious wife Brittany, the mother of two died “unexpectedly” in September 2021, leaving behind her children Houston and Westley.
It goes on to describe how she was known for her “encouraging and uplifting” posts on social media and for her healthy lifestyle, while noting that she was very involved in the local community and charity projects.
The blonde beauty’s obituary concludes: ‘The hashtags on her Facebook profile sum it up well: #BrittanyForThePeople and #BoyMom.
“Her impact on this world cannot be underestimated, nor can our love for her.”
The new twist in the long-running saga comes ahead of a new Hulu documentary about the case and features a lengthy interview with Papini’s ex-husband, Keith.
Called ‘The Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini’The three-part series launches June 20 and details Keith’s battle to uncover the truth about Papini’s disappearance.