IRL Gone Girl Sherri Papini Claims Sister & Husband Developed 'Highly Inappropriate Relationship' During Her 'Abduction'!

We didn’t think the Sherri Papini kidnapping story could get crazier, but then she dropped a new bombshell accusation!

If you kept up with the case, you know the 42-year-old vanished on November 2, 2016, after going for a jog near her home in Redding, California. She resurfaced 22 days later, claiming she was abducted at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, who allegedly beat her, branded her, and tied her up in a bedroom. But as the investigation continued, authorities realized her story didn’t add up and that she lied about the kidnapping! She was actually with an ex-boyfriend the entire time! An IRL Gone Girl!

Ultimately, Sherri was arrested in 2022. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for committing mail fraud and lying to a federal officer about being kidnapped. However, she got out early in August 2023, serving only 11 months in jail. In addition, she was ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution to the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She also got a divorce from her husband Keith Papini.

Two years after her release, Sherri opened up about the kidnapping hoax in Investigation Discovery’s documentary Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie — and claimed she never lied! According to her, she was kidnapped, and it was by her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, whom she was having an emotional affair with at the time. Whoa! He denied ever taking Sherri against her will, though.

Her allegations in the doc were jaw-dropping… and hard to believe. We mean, she owned up to lying but is changing her story again years later. Understandably, people will doubt what she says! Regardless, Sherri is sticking to her account. She is also not done spilling tea about her life! And if you thought the uno reverse she pulled on the kidnapping was wild, just wait!

Sherri appeared on The Viall Files podcast on Wednesday, where she discussed her Investigation Discovery docuseries. At one point, she was asked about where she stands with her ex-husband and sister Sheila Koester. To which the mom said:

“I don’t talk to my sister. I don’t have a very good relationship with my sister. No, Sheila and I were never close. We were close for a short period of time. When the abduction happened, and started getting on the news with Keith and started getting highly involved with everything. That’s when she suddenly became a part of my life.”

Apparently, Sheila was getting very cozy with Keith during this time! Sherri claimed her sister and Keith began a “highly inappropriate relationship” — and it is still going on today! WHAT! She continued:

“She was very involved with being on camera, just as Keith was. Then she started developing a really inappropriate relationship with Keith. Then they got really close and they still are really close. They are still close. They still have a highly inappropriate relationship. I think that there’s a lot of inappropriate things that have happened between Keith and Sheila and a lot of things that I’ve seen.”

Sherri said there was even incriminating footage of the two that was not included in Caught in the Lie:

“I had this really cool home video that I had that I was hoping would end up into the film where you see Keith and Sheila engaging physically, in a way. Then you hear my dad in the background go, ‘Oh God.’”

OMG…

Sherri does not get into any more details about what was on the tape or anything else regarding the matter. But do you buy what she claims? Again, this is a woman who lied in the past. It’s difficult to trust everything she says in the first place. That said, Keith previously opened up to TV Insider in 2024 about how Shelia was a big support for him during the controversy and continues to be:

“I think Sheila, her sister, was a huge, amazing source for me. We’re still close. She almost made it like, ‘You need to really cut her out because she’s going to continue this.’ She knows that I love her. I mean, this is my wife. Obviously, I was very dedicated. I didn’t want this. I always wanted to be her husband and have our family.”

He continued:

“I think [Sheila] saw that she would just continue to manipulate me. When I cut Sherri out in the beginning, it was like a weight off my shoulders because everything was like, what is she going to say next? It’s not true, and I always feel like I have to defend myself. It’s just tiresome to do that all the time. So actually, shutting that down has been so much better for me.”

So, did Sheila really get too close and strike up a relationship with Keith after Sherri’s supposed kidnapping? Did nothing happen between them, and his ex-wife lied? Hmm. Watch Sherri’s full interview with Nick Viall (below):