Sherri Papini’s ex-husband reveals he was fooled by kidnapping hoax

The ex-husband of fake kidnapper Sherri Papini has broken his silence to reveal how he was also duped by his wife’s elaborate hoax.

Sherri, 41, was jailed in 2022 for a Gone Girl-style plot in which she faked her own kidnapping and disappeared for three weeks in 2016, lying to police and injuring herself to fit her story.

The project captivated the nation and was the center of true crime documentaries and podcasts.

Now, seven years later, her ex-husband Keith has broken his silence, telling Good Morning America, “I think she wanted me to be her knight in shining armor and run to her.”

The couple are now engaged in a long-running custody battle over their two children Tyler, 14, and Violet, 12.

Sherri was reported missing in November 2016 when she suddenly disappeared after going out for a jog.

She reappeared “dazed, battered and bruised” three weeks later, on Thanksgiving, about 140 miles from where she was last seen.

Officers found the “missing” woman with a chain around her waist, multiple injuries and a mark on her shoulder.

Over the next few weeks, she hatched an elaborate ruse, telling police that she had been kidnapped by two Hispanic women who had beaten and branded her.

But her story came to light when police discovered her ex-boyfriend’s DNA on her clothes in 2020 and discovered she had been holed up with him the whole time she pretended to be missing .

It appeared that his injuries were all self-inflicted to support the kidnapping story.

Keith spent the time she was missing desperately searching for her while also being treated as a suspect in her disappearance. After his trial and imprisonment, he was granted full custody of the children.

Breaking his silence seven years later, he told Good Morning America that she never apologized to her children for what she put their family through: “She has no remorse that I have never seen or seen.”

Even when police accused her of lying, Sherri insisted she was telling the truth, Keith said, “She made us believe her story was true.” Every day she engaged in lying.

Speaking, he said he wanted everyone to know “how convincing Sherri was” all those years “and how he believed everything she said.

He said: “I think she wanted to plan a fake kidnapping, but in her version I was supposed to find her.”

He said all he wants now is to be able to “move past it”, although the events “will always be there”.

He said: “I want to give my children an extraordinary childhood, but I think it will always be there.”

Sherri is currently fighting to have more access to Tyler and Violet while Keith wants her to undertake a psychological evaluation and be banned from seeing them unsupervised.

She also demands that he hand over a series of items from Redding’s marital home, including “grandpa’s truck, an inflatable slide, a leaf blower and a smart television.”

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An expense report obtained by DailyMail.com shows the petite blonde claims to have an income of just $1,000 a month, of which she says she pays half in rent.

She previously received just $10,000 in her divorce and was ordered to pay half of a $3,000 debt she accrued on a BestBuy credit card after her April 2022 arrest.

Last week, exclusive DailyMail.com photos showed Sherri Papini, 41, embracing her car dealer boyfriend Shawn Hibdon, 49, following a romantic encounter in the backseat of his white Jeep SUV in a Starbucks parking lot in Orland, California, on Monday.

After an hour in the car with Hibdon, who arrived separately in a gray Hyundai with distinctive dealer plates, she emerged laughing and dressed in a pink tank top and flashy tie-dye leggings.

The two then kissed – after first checking the parking lot to make sure no one was watching – before leaving in separate cars.

Hibdon has been single since unexpectedly losing his wife Brittany at the age of 36 in September 2021 and is a single father to their two sons Houston, 16, and Westley, 14.

A source told DailyMail.com that the relationship began before her 10 months at FCI Victorville, with the couple meeting in Chico – a town an hour south of Papini’s former home in Redding.

Papini briefly lived in the area after being kicked out by her ex following his arrest. His sister Sheila also resides in the city.

Last September, an overjoyed Hibdon was seen driving the white van with a distinctive Hibdon Auto Center dealership plate that picked her up from an Oakland halfway house and bought the little blonde her own spacious house in January.

Documents viewed by DailyMail.com show the four-bedroom property in Shingletown, California, was purchased by the Orland-based businessman through a limited liability company named 33 TEN Properties LLC, incorporated in September 2023.

Despite Hibdon’s lavish spending on the mother-of-two, the relationship was conducted under a shroud of secrecy, with Papini making no mention of who paid for her new home in family court documents and instead claiming that she rents the property for $500 per unit. month.

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According to Zillow, the market rent for the custom-finished property, located on a three-acre private lot, would be more than six times what Papini claims to pay, which is $3,294 per month.

Before the tryst, Papini appeared in court where she exchanged icy glances with her ex-husband Keith, who opposes her request for increased access to their children.

But the cloak-and-dagger shenanigans didn’t stop at Starbucks: Intending to hide her brand new Jeep from Keith, the mother of two left it in the parking lot owned by her lawyer Chase Kinney before making hitchhiking with her for the short while. from office to court.

Although the Jeep could not be seen outside the palatial Shingletown home Papini lives in when DailyMail.com visited last week, the gray Hyundai driven by Hibdon on the romantic date was briefly seen parked in the driveway.

Hibdon is a prominent man in the town of Orland, Northern California, where he owns a successful automobile dealership that he previously operated with his wife.

According to an obituary from Hibdon’s deeply religious wife, Brittany, the mother of two died “unexpectedly” in September 2021, leaving behind sons Houston and Westley.

It goes on to describe how she was known for her “encouraging and uplifting” social media posts and for her healthy lifestyle, while noting that she was heavily involved in the local community and charitable projects.

The pretty blonde’s obituary concludes: “The hashtags on her Facebook profile sum it up well – #BrittanyForThePeople and #BoyMom.

“Her impact on this world cannot be underestimated, nor can our love for her.”

The new twist in the long-running saga comes ahead of a new Hulu documentary on the case and features a lengthy interview with Papini’s ex-husband, Keith.

Titled “Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini,” the three-part series releases June 20 and details Keith’s battle to uncover the truth about Papini’s disappearance act.