Gone Girl Gone Wrong
The bizarre story of Sherri Papini
When I think of my wife, I always think of the back of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain, trying to get answers… What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? — Nick Dune (Gone Girl, 2014)
Suburban mum of two kidnapped during midday run!
Family mourns disappearance of beloved wife in California neighborhood!
These were the headlines that trailed Sherri Papini’s disappearance in November 2016.
When Gillian Flynn published her hit novel, Gone Girl, she never envisaged that real-life people would attempt the same daredevil moves as her main character, Amy.
Gone Girl, the novel, was number one on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list for eight weeks. It also lasted twenty-six weeks on National Public Radio’s hardcover fiction bestseller list. According to the book's publisher, it sold over two million copies in print and digital editions in one year.
The novel was so successful that it caught the eye of 20th Century Fox Studio. In partnership with Regency Enterprises and TSG Entertainment, they made Gone Girl into a movie, with its screenplay written by Gillian Flynn.
The cast had frontrunners like Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, and Neil Patrick Harris to spearhead the story.
The plot is mainly about the revenge plot of a woman scorned. Amy found out her husband, Nick was cheating on her. So, she staged her disappearance to seem like he had harmed her. But, after she’d watched him cry on live television begging for her return, she made a grand show of coming back home battered and bruised.
We would later find out that she was with her ex-boyfriend, who she later murdered so the truth would never be known.
The Background Story of Sherri Papini
Sherri Louise Graeff was born on June 11, 1982. Not much is recorded about her childhood. But, we know she was first married to David Dreyfus in 2006. They separated in 2007 and she immediately rekindled her romance with Keith Papini who she’d known since 7th grade.
The pair had a fairytale wedding in 2009 and went on to have two kids together. Violet and Tyler. Sherri took her role as a stay-at-home-mum quite seriously and her neighbors have described her as a supermom.
Sherri was preparing for turkey trot for the 2016 Thanksgiving, so it was not unusual for her to run during the day when her husband was at work and the kids were at daycare.
The 2nd of November 2016 started as a normal day for the Papini household. Keith kissed his wife goodbye and went to work. They dropped their children off at the daycare center.
Sometime around 11 am Sherri texted her husband to ask if he will be home for lunch, to which he replied he had a busy day and could not make it.
Sherri decided it was a good time for a jog. Then, she put on her pink running jacket and headed out to her usual route. She never came back home.
The Search for Not-So-Gone-Girl
Keith came back home and could not find his wife.
His children were absent as well, so his first thought was that Sherri had taken them out on a jog. Then, he used his Find Friends app to locate her phone. It pinged somewhere at the end of their street, where their mailbox was situated.
When he got there, he found her phone with her earbuds on the ground. The major red flag was some hair tangled with the earbuds. He immediately knew that something was not right, so he called 911.
The search for Sherri Papini was massive. Volunteers turned up in droves to support Keith and their kids. Law enforcement agents were on-hand leading the search parties as they combed the area.
Keith set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to hire a private investigator because he felt the police were not doing enough. An anonymous donor also pledged a $50,000 reward for the kidnappers if they ensured Sherri’s safe return. They increased the pledge amount to $100,000 on the 23rd of November 2016.
… And She Walks Back Home In Classic Amazing Amy style
Thanksgiving morning, 2016. While people roasted their turkeys to prepare for the arrival of their loved ones, Keith had plans to release yellow balloons with the community to raise awareness about Sherri.
Somewhere else in Yolo county, Allison had called 911 when she almost hit a woman standing in the middle of the road, flagging for help.
When the police arrived, they found the woman with bruises all over her face, dried blood on her body, a chain around her waist connected to her wrist, and zip ties around her ankles. She looked emaciated, but the police confirmed it was indeed Sheeri Papini.
It would take months — because of the trauma, but Sherri finally recounted the events of her kidnapping.
A dark-colored SUV containing two Hispanic women first drove past her, then backed up when they saw her jogging up the road. One woman had on sunglasses, and said, “Can you help me?” When she walked towards the woman, she opened the door of the vehicle to show her she had a gun. The woman told her to put her phone down and said “We don’t want to kill you.”
The SUV had tinted windows and either no seats or one seat on the far side and a hump that went up. “She was bound, had a chain around my waist, and a bag over my head” — Keith told ABC News’ Matt Gutman.
And how were you released from their captivity?
They opened the door, she doesn’t know because she had a bag over her head, they cut something to free the restraint that was holding her into the vehicle and then, kind of, pushed her out of the vehicle.” — Keith Papini.
Gone Girl Gone Wrong
37-year-old James Reyes blew the case wide open in 2020 when he confessed to the police that Sherri had been hiding in his Costa Mesa apartment complex the whole time the country was looking for her.
DNA from the grey sweatpants Sherri had on when she came back home led the police to the Reyes family.
After some questioning, James told investigators the bizarre story of picking Sherri up from her neighborhood on the day she supposedly got abducted. He told them about how she chose not to eat, cut her hair, and inflicted her body with multiple injuries. Wild!
And after she had satisfied her twisted fantasy, she asked that he drive her back to Northern California where she put on the finale of her act.
Sherri has now been accused of making false statements and mail fraud. She is facing up to 20 years in jail along with a $250,000 fine. Authorities say she received more than $30,000 from California’s Victim Compensation Board.
Keith has not been named an accomplice in this plot yet.
In Conclusion
No one could rewrite a Gillian Flynn story more than Gillian Flynn.
It is unclear if Sherri had read the book or seen the movie and purported to act it out. However many the similarities are, it is the differences that make her plot so wrong.
- Sherri’s story is real life. Amazing Amy is fiction.
This case has been fascinating to investigators as it has been the world. As we watch more drama unfold, I must state all missing person reports should be given attention regardless of cases like these.
Sources
Sherri Papini accused of faking sensational Northern California kidnapping — redding.com
How Sherri Papini drew her sports store clerk ex-fiancé into her web of deceit — Dailymail
911 recording of Keith reporting his wife’s disappearance — redding.com
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