UNITED STATES—The mother of two that disappeared and was reunited with her family on Thanksgiving Day has reportedly fled town leaving her dogs behind. According to reports, a childhood friend of Sherri Papini’s husband, Keith believes that the family may never return.
On November 2, Papini went missing while on an afternoon jog on Sunset Drive in Mountain Gate, CA. She was found on the side of a highway by a passing motorcyclist in Yolo County—about 150 miles from her home in Redding on November 24. Papini, who was reportedly emaciated with chopped off hair, suffered serious burns and bruises aside from her emotional distress. She described her suspects as two Hispanic women yet police have not made any arrests or released additional details about the suspects.
According to the Shasta County Sherrif’s Department on Wednesday, December 14, the Papini case is still a “high priority.” Shasta County’s Sherriff Tom Bosenko revealed that the department is continuing to process evidence through the Department of Justice before progressing with the case.
Since the reunion with her family, questions of why sketches have not been revealed of the abductors have surfaced. Bosenko responded by stating that sketches required strenuous detail. While being held captive, Papini had her head covered or the kidnapper’s covered their heads, authorities noted. Bosenko also explained that it is common for victims to have a difficult time remembering distinct details in response to major trauma.
The disappearance and reunion of Papini has sparked mysterious controversies. One in particular is the fact that no ransom was demanded after the kidnapping of Papini. Shasta police are also stumped with the motive behind targeting a stay-at-home-mom and a Best Buy employee (Papini’s husband, Keith). Secondly, the message that was “branded” into Papini’s skin has not been released by the authorities. Thirdly, a 13-year-old blog post was discovered with allegations towards the Papini family as being “white supremacists that hated Latinos” according to The Mercury News. The blog post targeted Sherri Papini while using her maiden name. The Sun also noted allegations that Papini had staged her abduction in 2006 once before alluding to the same “stunt” being pulled this past November. While police have followed hundreds of leads, they are still left without answers or explanations to these recent case discoveries.
A friend of Keith Papini visited their family home on December 3 around noon. He was there to walk one of the family’s smaller dogs according to an interview with the Huffington Post. In response to other questions from the Post reporter, the “buddy of Keith’s” said he could not answer any more questions and that he was there to walk the dog. The Papini family allegedly left their dogs and home in Redding on December 5.