Found Alive CA - Sherri Papini, 34, Redding, 2 November 2016 - #24

[Kittybunny]

Like many of you long-time posters on this thread, I believe that there was something very fishy with this case. I can't really go into every detail that made me believe this was a hoax, a setup, or partially staged event. There were SO many oddities, discrepancies, potential mental health issues for SP, and past history that really cast doubt on the likelihood of these events occurring as SP and KP described or want us to believe. I can see how viewing a neatly packaged carefully edited for sympathy Dateline episode with a lot of details left out might make you believe her. But if you had the whole picture and followed this case from the beginning, perhaps you too would doubt.

I'll just ask: Has there been a case in which a middle-class suburban housewife was abducted from her neighborhood in the middle of the day, by a pair of never seen, never identified pair of people, who held someone for 22 days, and then released them? Without sexual assault, without killing them? I even genericized some of the elements to make it easier. On the other hand, have there been cases where "victims" staged their own kidnappings and disappearances for a multitude of reasons, some with pretty serious injuries? Why yes. Yes there have been. Many.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

There are two questions that are separate:

1. Was Papini a kidnapping victim?

2. Is Papani telling us the truth about what happened?

Even if the first answer is yes, the second answer may still be no.

 

[MimosaMornings]

JMO, asking questions about what I perceive as being very odd/strange things that have been reported in msm regarding this case does not mean I am not victim friendly. I ask about things that appear to be contradicting or off in some way.

 

[Kittybunny]

I suspect that a ransom was paid in secret

Why is this case and this case only excluded from the victim friendly rules of this site? Time and time again gangsters, drug addicts, prostitutes and other criminals get themselves into dangerous situations and websleuths fall all over themselves to defend them, pray for them. Is it because Sherri was a happy upper middle class person? Do people want so badly for bad things to happen to people like her? I honestly do not understand it and why it extends even to protecting the kind of victim attacks that would be deleted in hours in other threads.

From the pinned post by Tricia (site owner) on the first page:

First and foremost Websleuths is a true crime discussion forum. A very close second is we are a victim friendly forum. Rarely do these two descriptions collide. In the Papini case, discussion forum and victim friendly forum smash head-on into each other.

First and foremost we are a discussion forum.

Because there are many mainstream media articles about the discrepancies in Sherri's story, we must allow a discussion to contain opinions that Sherri is not truthful, and the next logical leap is we must allow the theory that Sherri is not telling the truth about her kidnapping.

This is very difficult. We have the police saying they believe Sherri is telling the truth yet there are discrepancies.

I haven't seen any vicious attacks on her. Questioning her story, doubting her account, wondering about possible motives are not victim-bashing. If you do see the kind of victim attacks you allude to in your post, you should report them.

 

[Stripehaven]

I personally think she was a victim - just not necessarily of a kidnapper.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I think she was a kidnapping victim, but the details of the story may not be accurate.

 

[evilwise]

When do victim accounts ever turn out to be completely accurate, especially in protracted ordeals? What person who has been dehumanized wants every aspect of their experience publicized?

Just for the reference of Internet Experts
https://www.aig.dk/content/dam/aig/emea/denmark/documents/k-r-trends2017-nya.pdf
Literally thousands of people are reported kidnapped in Mexico alone every year (and likely at least as many go unreported)
Kidnapping: percentage of cases for ransom, by continent 2012 | Statista
and from 25% to as many as 50% of these kidnapping are for ransom so yes, I think it's safe to say that some of those thousands of people were middle aged women kidnapped from their homes, held for exactly 22 days (a fairly limiting criteria, but one I'm statistically comfortable with), not sexually assaulted (I'm not convinced Sherri wasn't) and then released.

<modsnip: discussing moderation is not allowed>

Hopefully my hard statistics aren't so racist that if some day I am a victim of a violent crime they will be dug up and offered as proof that I probably deserved it if I were even telling the truth about it, which as a racist who says things like "tens of thousands of people have been kidnapped for ransom by Latin Americans in just the last decade or two"

 

[Lilibet]

I don’t know that we really know that. We know what KP says. And we also know the hospital released her very soon after she was admitted post-“escape.”

BBM

As someone who followed the case from the beginning, I think it’s important to emphasize the important fact that the narrative has been controlled by KP from the very beginning. “She’s been taken.” “She’ll be home by Thanksgiving.” The description of her injuries. Very scripted IMO.

SP has said nothing publicly and LE has said the bare minimum. It took almost a year to release the drawings of the suspects. What all this means, I don’t know. But the whole episode (including CG’s “reverse ransom”) has been bizarre. I think your “hypothetical” theory is as good as any and possibly as close as we’ll ever get to the truth.
JMO

 

[J. J. in Phila]

BBM

As someone who followed the case from the beginning, I think it’s important to emphasize the important fact that the narrative has been controlled by KP from the very beginning. “She’s been taken.” “She’ll be home by Thanksgiving.” The description of her injuries. Very scripted IMO.

SP has said nothing publicly and LE has said the bare minimum. It took almost a year to release the drawings of the suspects. What all this means, I don’t know. But the whole episode (including CG’s “reverse ransom”) has been bizarre. I think your “hypothetical” theory is as good as any and possibly as close as we’ll ever get to the truth.
JMO

Not all of it, i.e. the DNA for example and the video.

I think "she's been taken" is a reasonable response to the circumstances. SP didn't take her car, her phone was left behind, and the children were not picked up. On top of that, KP was polygraphed, and those are very difficult to deceive.

 

[Kittybunny]

When do victim accounts ever turn out to be completely accurate, especially in protracted ordeals? What person who has been dehumanized wants every aspect of their experience publicized?

Just for the reference of Internet Experts
https://www.aig.dk/content/dam/aig/emea/denmark/documents/k-r-trends2017-nya.pdf
Literally thousands of people are reported kidnapped in Mexico alone every year (and likely at least as many go unreported)
Kidnapping: percentage of cases for ransom, by continent 2012 | Statista
and from 25% to as many as 50% of these kidnapping are for ransom so yes, I think it's safe to say that some of those thousands of people were middle aged women kidnapped from their homes, held for exactly 22 days (a fairly limiting criteria, but one I'm statistically comfortable with), not sexually assaulted (I'm not convinced Sherri wasn't) and then released.

<modsnip: discussing moderation is not allowed>

Hopefully my hard statistics aren't so racist that if some day I am a victim of a violent crime they will be dug up and offered as proof that I probably deserved it if I were even telling the truth about it, which as a racist who says things like "tens of thousands of people have been kidnapped for ransom by Latin Americans in just the last decade or two"

I fail to see how statistics for kidnappings in Mexico are relevant here, as Sherri went missing from Redding, CA. It's not even close to the border. It's a completely different world, as I'm sure you well know. If she had been kidnapped on a trip to Mexico, totally different story.

 

[Ontario Mom]

JMO, asking questions about what I perceive as being very odd/strange things that have been reported in msm regarding this case does not mean I am not victim friendly. I ask about things that appear to be contradicting or off in some way.

To the vast majority of users here who have followed true crime for decades, this story (as told and as it was expected the general public believe) never rang quite true from the beginning. To the vast majority of users who were brand new at the time of this case, this story never rang quite true from the beginning.

It isn't the users here, it's the story. It smacks of being a lie, whether it actually is or not.

jmo

 

[rodneymullenmg]

Well, hopefully LE will announce that they've arrested the two Latina kidnappers. It's heartbreaking to see KP pleading for justice, begging for information that will help identify the people who kidnapped and assaulted our girl. The $50k reward that they raised with the GoGimmeMoney should lead to a lot of tips...

Oh, wait...

nevermind.


/s

Exactly

 

[Logansden77]

This case is done and over with. It will never be finalized. If it was a hoax, then the hoaxers should be penalized. If it is a true crime, in this day and age, there would be a conclusion by this time. IMHO.

 

[Catmommy]

I see no satisfying conclusion for sleuthers, we'll never know the "true" story. And it's my opinion we're not even close to it.

 

[SleuthyLou]

I’ve also followed This case from the beginning and none of it makes sense. Can’t imagine how law enforcement feels. Hopefully there will be a resolution announced at some point.

 

[Angleterre]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed>
If <modsnip: removed reference to removed post>a ransom was paid and ergo SP was released, then she would not have been left staggering along the highway with chains around her middle before being seen and rescued by MOP
Depending on who allegedly paid the alleged ransom, either LE if involved ( which we were led to believe was not the case until she was rescued otherwise) or member of family, then whom ever the ransom was paid by, surely they would have met SP at an RV point. Having spent 22 years as a high ranking detective police officer, I can say with confidence that SP would not have wandered aimlessly in chains and half undressed in inclement weather had a ransom been paid but there would have been a pre arranged pick up place for the ransom payer without them having to see or meet alleged kidnappers
MOO

 

[evilwise]

If as you seem to think, a ransom was paid and ergo SP was released, then she would not have been left staggering along the highway with chains around her middle before being seen and rescued by MOP
Depending on who allegedly paid the alleged ransom, either LE if involved ( which we were led to believe was not the case until she was rescued otherwise) or member of family, then whom ever the ransom was paid by, surely they would have met SP at an RV point. Having spent 22 years as a high ranking detective police officer, I can say with confidence that SP would not have wandered aimlessly in chains and half undressed in inclement weather had a ransom been paid but there would have been a pre arranged pick up place for the ransom payer without them having to see or meet alleged kidnappers
MOO

I believe this was a Latin American style kidnapping in a modus operandi we thankfully do not often see in the United States. If I recall correctly, in the very early stages of the case a "reverse reward" or some other such term for a ransom was proactively offered. I think this was all intermediated by an informed, non-governmental agent who may or may not have been shady as hell but for one reason or another had connections to that world. I also assume that sexual abuse occurred, either as a step toward human trafficking or just as a matter of course.

What still puzzles me is why with regular frequency this thread, this case is dragged back up over and over again when it's very clear the victims very very much want to leave it behind and to move on from it. It puzzles me why people want so much to believe these victims are complicit somehow, in this case, in stark diametrical opposition to not just the normal mores of the forum but its literal written rules.

A paper could be written on this phenomenon alone.

 

[Catmommy]

A sleuthing board is just that, we want to figure out the mysteries. There are a LOT that come with this case.

 

[cujenn81]

IMO... it doesn’t matter how badly the victim wishes this story would just go away because a public safety risk exists. If this abduction and assault happened the way the victim claims it did, it’s possible these assailants will kidnap and assault someone else if they aren’t apprehended. If they successfully secured a reverse ransom, like some have theorized, the likelihood the assailants will kidnap someone else is even higher. For that reason, it’s absolutely fair for the public to question the validity of these claims because they deserve to know if there’s a danger to the community.

 

[Knox]

I believe this was a Latin American style kidnapping in a modus operandi we thankfully do not often see in the United States. If I recall correctly, in the very early stages of the case a "reverse reward" or some other such term for a ransom was proactively offered. I think this was all intermediated by an informed, non-governmental agent who may or may not have been shady as hell but for one reason or another had connections to that world. I also assume that sexual abuse occurred, either as a step toward human trafficking or just as a matter of course.

What still puzzles me is why with regular frequency this thread, this case is dragged back up over and over again when it's very clear the victims very very much want to leave it behind and to move on from it. It puzzles me why people want so much to believe these victims are complicit somehow, in this case, in stark diametrical opposition to not just the normal mores of the forum but its literal written rules.

A paper could be written on this phenomenon alone.

What puzzles me.

If as you say there was a "Latin American Style Kidnapping", inter mediated by a "shady as hell non-governmental agent" with a "reverse reward".

Why aren't you more concerned this group will try it again? Further, why isn't the family more concerned with catching the kidnappers? Leaving it behind and moving on is not unreasonable, but doesn't offer safety or comfort when the perpetrators were never caught. Who's to say they wouldn't try to kidnap SP again? I darn sure wouldn't live in the same house with them still "out there" prowling the rural roads of California.