California mom’s fake kidnapping still rattles ex-husband

Shelley Papini’s ex-husband still wonders why the mother of two faked her kidnapping.

“I believe the main thing is attention,” Keith Papini told Fox News Digital. “I think she likes people to sympathize with her and see her as the victim … whoever the victim is. I honestly don’t think she understands what she’s done, what lives it’s affected, the ripple effects of it, how much pain she’s caused to so many people.”

“I always think about all the people [who tried to help] Those 22 days [she was missing]”Kids who probably weren’t allowed to ride their bikes anymore, women who couldn’t go for a jog anymore … I don’t think she had any idea how damaging it was,” Keith recalled.

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After seven years of silence, Keith is now speaking out about the high-profile hoax that rocked his Redding, California, community. He appears in Hulu’s new true crime docuseries, “The Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Shelley Papini.”

An attorney for Keith, 41, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

“I’ve been approached by various media outlets over the years,” Keith said of why he decided to come forward now.

Keith Papini talks about it in the documentary series “The Perfect Wife.” (Hulu)

“I feel like I’m finally able to speak about all the pain Shelley caused our family… I wanted to come out with the truth about what really happened.”

Keith says his life was like a fairy tale before it turned into a nightmare. He said he was instantly smitten with the “sexy blonde” with blue eyes. After marrying in 2009, he and Shelley had a son and a daughter together. Their life together was picture perfect.

Shelley and Keith Papini have two children, Violet, 9, and Tyler, 11. (Hulu)

“I never felt that she didn’t love me,” Keith said. “She wrote me songs, she wrote me letters all the time, she told me how happy our marriage was, and that she would never get a divorce. She loved me very much, and I told her that over and over again.”

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Keith Papini told Fox News Digital that he never felt “unloved” by Shelley Papini during their marriage. (Hulu)

“I never would have imagined she would fake injuries and make things up to this extent,” he said. “I never expected that. But I thought we had a happy life. We have great kids.”

“It caught me off guard,” Keith added.

“It just happened out of the blue.”

Keith Papini

On November 2, 2016, their lives began to fall apart. That evening, Keith realized his wife was not at home to pick up their child from daycare, so he reported her missing. Her purse and jewelry were left behind.

A massive search for the missing mother ensued, and it wasn’t until November 26th that Shelley, emaciated and covered in bruises, was discovered by a driver, bound in a restraint device, about 150 miles from her home.

Keith Papini (right) is comforted by friends and family. (Image/Andreas Fuhrmann-USA TODAY NETWORK)

Shelley told authorities that two masked Hispanic women forced her into an SUV at gunpoint and held her captive.

An FBI poster of the suspect in the kidnapping of Shelley Papini. (FBI)

Her blonde hair had been cut to shoulder length and she had a faint “branding mark” burned into her right shoulder, authorities said at the time, and both male and female DNA was found on her body and clothing.

A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $49,000 to help the family, which the couple used to pay bills and other expenses, according to court documents.

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A party was held to welcome Shelley Papini home 22 days after she was found beaten and chained on Thanksgiving morning. (IMAGN/Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight-USA TODAY NETWORK)

During the lengthy investigation, Keith willingly took and passed a lie detector test, and he also provided “his mobile phone, his computer, and anything else the police needed.”

Keith said he was initially overjoyed to be reunited with his loved one, but then began to have doubts about Shelley’s story.

“There was a lot that didn’t make sense, but I wanted to support my wife,” Keith admitted. “If I couldn’t trust her, who could I trust? I just kept telling myself, ‘I’d do anything for her.’ I was led to believe that she was happy with us and didn’t want to live with anyone else… I just wanted to support her throughout our time together. That being said… we’ll never know the whole truth.”

“There were a lot of things I didn’t agree with, but I wanted to support my wife.”

Keith Papini

Shelley Papini was found about 150 miles from her home. (IMAGN/Andreas Fuhrmann/The Record Searchlight via USA TODAY NETWORK)

Keith wasn’t the only one with doubts.

Shelley gave FBI sketch artists a detailed description of her alleged abductor and detailed details of how she was allegedly kidnapped. However, investigators later found evidence that contradicted her story. Authorities said that, in fact, Shelley had been staying with an ex-boyfriend about 600 miles from her home and had self-harmed to support her false statements.

Shelley Papini leaves the federal courthouse accompanied by her attorney, William Portanova, after her arraignment on April 13, 2022, in Sacramento, California. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

“When a young mother went missing in broad daylight, it caused fear and anxiety in the community,” U.S. Attorney Philip Talbert said in a statement at the time. “The investigation ultimately determined that no abduction occurred, wasting time and resources that could have been spent investigating an actual crime, protecting the community and supporting the victim.”

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“When a young mother went missing in broad daylight, it left the community in fear and anxiety,” U.S. Attorney Philip Talbert said in a statement at the time. (Image/Nathan Solis-USA Today Network)

According to court documents, DNA found on Shelley was eventually linked to her ex-boyfriend, who told investigators that she had stayed over at his house while he was away, but that they had never had sex.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko speaks during a press conference about the case of Shelley Papini in Redding, California. (Andreas Fuhrmann/The Record Searchlight via The Associated Press)

According to a 55-page affidavit filed in court in support of the criminal complaint, his story was confirmed when authorities tracked the location of two prepaid cell phones the pair used to make secret calls as early as December 2015. The ex-girlfriend’s cousin also told investigators that she saw Shelley at the man’s apartment twice, both times unrestrained.

Records corroborated his story that his ex-boyfriend rented a car and drove Shelley back to Northern California.

Shelley Papini was arrested in 2022. She was charged with making false statements to federal agents and mail fraud. (image)

Shelley was arrested and charged with making false statements to federal agents and mail fraud in March 2022. A month later, she formally pleaded guilty and acknowledged that the kidnapping allegations were fabricated.

Keith said he initially tried to protect his children from the possibility that Shelley’s abductors might come to “finish the mission”, but after Shelley confessed, he tried to protect them from relentless media scrutiny.

“We lived in fear that someone was following us,” he said. “It was as if our children were being taught to run inside when they saw someone playing outside. I know in my heart that Shelley nearly stole six years of my children’s childhood.”

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Shelley Papini had previously described Keith Papini as controlling, according to the documentary series. He called the allegations “hurtful” and “unfounded.” (Hulu)

According to the docuseries, Shelley claimed Keith was a controlling spouse – a claim he called “hurtful” and “unfounded.”

“…She said I was hitting her and the cops were not doing anything,” Keith alleged. “… [When it came to] Mutual friends… that was a whole other story… right now I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, it hurts to hear all of that. I’m fighting for my wife’s life, and it hurts to know that she was going around saying these… things that aren’t true… but I see a pattern here.”

In September 2022, Shelley was sentenced to 18 months in prison for faking the kidnapping. She is set to be released in early 2023.

Shelley Papini, center, leaves a sentencing hearing at the Robert T. Matsui Federal Courthouse in downtown Sacramento on Sept. 19, 2022. Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Schaub sentenced her to 18 months in federal prison for faking a kidnapping in 2016. The judge said he gave her a long sentence to deter others from committing a similar crime. (image)

Shelley has never offered a rational explanation for her behavior, and her actions have baffled independent mental health professionals as they do not fit a typical diagnosis.

Her lawyer, William Portanova, said Shelley’s death was the result of “a tempest that had been going on in her head for a long time” but that she was now a changed woman. She had been “pursuing a meaningless fantasy,” he said in court documents before the sentencing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hot1ECXMe0A

After her initial arrest, Shelley underwent more than $30,000 in psychiatric treatment for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, which she has been ordered to pay back as part of her restitution to the state’s victims’ compensation fund.

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Keith Papini said we may never know the whole truth about what really happened. Currently, Shelley Papini still lives in California. Her ex-boyfriend has not been charged. (Image/Amber Sandhu-USA TODAY NETWORK)

Keith filed for divorce and sought custody of their children after Shelley pleaded guilty, claiming she showed “no remorse whatsoever.”

“…This wasn’t just a lie that would end once she was arrested,” Keith said, “This was a lie that she lived every minute of every day…Maybe she wasn’t happy being a stay-at-home mom…She has never apologized to me or the kids…She acts as if it never happened.”