Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko confirmed Keith Papini‘s chilling details about his wife Sherri Papini‘s condition after she was allegedly abducted earlier this month. Watch what he said in the video above.
As was previously reported, Keith released a statement to Good Morning America on Tuesday, November 29, about his wife’s 22-day disappearance and safe return. After Sherri was found beaten and chained on the side of a road in Yolo County, California, on Thanksgiving morning, Keith says he visited her at the hospital, where “her face [was] covered in bruises ranging from yellow to black because of repeated beatings, [and] the bridge of her nose [was] broken.”
Keith also said in his statement that Sherri currently weighs 87 pounds and her hair has been chopped off. He also described severe burns, red rashes, chain markings and branding on her body.
Sheriff Bosenko confirmed the gruesome details shortly after they emerged in an interview on GMA on Tuesday morning. “I was familiar with those details. We had not released them yet to the public,” he said.
According to Bosenko, authorities spoke with Sherri about her ordeal on Monday, her first interview with investigators since she was located on Thanksgiving Day, more than three weeks after her November 2 disappearance. “They spoke to her for several hours and then late afternoon, early evening, they were going over her interview and planned to interview her again today,” he explained.
The sheriff then repeated his previous statement that police have no reason to disbelieve Sherri’s story amid hoax rumors. “So far we are investigating this as a kidnapping-abduction and everything that she is providing us thus far is indicating that,” Bosenko said. “This is definitely a unique occurrence. Our investigators are still actively working the case as they have been since November 2.”
Bosenko also confirmed reports that negative comments about Hispanics were posted online under Sherri’s maiden name, but did not elaborate further.
Authorities are searching for two Hispanic women believed to be involved in the alleged kidnapping. Sherri previously told investigators that the women drive a dark-colored SUV and are armed.
