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In 2016, California mother Sherri Papini disappeared from her neighborhood in Redding, only to return 22 days later with visible injuries and a shocking story. She told police she had been kidnapped and tortured by two masked Hispanic women. The story gained national media attention. However, years later, in 2022, Papini was sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying to federal investigators.
Her kidnapping was declared a hoax after DNA linked her to her ex-boyfriend James Reyes, who admitted to helping her disappear. Now, in a new docuseries, Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, which premiered May 26 on Investigation Discovery and is streaming on HBO Max, Papini claims her original story was not fully made up.
She says she was kidnapped, but not by strangers, but by Reyes, the same man authorities accused of helping her stage the hoax. Her longtime therapist, Dr. Stephen Diggs, appeared in the series and said he "absolutely" believes her. This new version of events revived questions about what really happened.
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Sherri Papini now claims her ex-boyfriend kidnapped her
Sherri Papini’s revised account is at the center of the four-part docuseries Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie. She claimed that her disappearance started as an emotional affair with James Reyes, but later turned into a situation she could not escape.
According to Papini, Reyes picked her up during a low point in her marriage.
“Yes, I lied about my ex-boyfriend’s identity. No, I did not lie about a fake kidnapping,” she claimed.
She continued on to say how she lied to protect her secret, but not about the whole thing.
“I lied about the man who abducted me to keep him a secret. Everything else I said was true,” Papini said.
Papini said she hid Reyes' identity out of fear. She had previously signed a post-nuptial agreement that would give her husband full custody of their two children and deny her access to shared assets if she was found to be cheating. This agreement was made after a past emotional affair, according to the documentary.
Despite being convicted of making false statements to federal agents, Papini insisted that the physical and emotional suffering she claimed to have endured, including being branded and starved, was real. In the documentary, she also passed a polygraph test when asked whether she was free to leave Reyes' home and whether she had asked him to brand her.
Therapist, Dr. Stephen Diggs, believes Papini’s new story
Dr. Stephen Diggs, a licensed psychologist and Papini’s longtime therapist, was one of the few people who publicly supported her new version of events. He said that he "absolutely" believed that Papini was abducted.
He also added that believing the kidnapping to be a hoax didn't reconcile with the facts.
“To think of this as a conscious hoax concocted by Sherri just doesn’t fit the facts we have here,” he added.
Dr. Diggs believed Papini has a condition called Self-Defeating Personality Disorder.
According to Dr. Diggs, people who have this disorder create another life to meet their needs.
“They get into relationships in which they’re not fulfilled and then they create a second secret life to get their needs met,” he said.
He believed this also explained why Sherri Papini contacted Reyes.
“She wanted something short and that’s not how it turned out.”
He also described signs of lasting trauma.
“I believe that he abducted her and there were details of her torture that she was humiliated and embarrassed to talk about,” Dr. Diggs said.
He continued on to say how he believed that she had not asked for any of it.
“I absolutely believe that Sherri did not ask for this. She did not want this to happen,” he added.
Contradictory accounts between Papini and Reyes remain
James Reyes, Papini’s ex-boyfriend, did not comment publicly on the new claims. In past interviews with police, he said Papini had asked him to help her disappear and that he administered injuries to her body at her request. According to investigators, he passed a polygraph test in 2020. Papini, however, also passed a polygraph in the docuseries when asked if she had willingly stayed with Reyes. These conflicting polygraphs left the truth unclear.
Reyes told police that Sherri Papini had starved herself and orchestrated the entire event. He did not appear in the docuseries and declined media requests.
Despite the confusion, Dr. Diggs maintained confidence in his patient.
“I believe what Sherri is telling us now is the truth. I believe that she has broken through a very difficult defense mechanism of lying, and she is now, most of the time, quite honest,” he said.
He then added how Papini had worked on herself.
“Between our therapy — which she has worked very hard at, and the prison — she has stopped telling the big lies.”
Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie is now streaming on Max.
