It was a story that captured international attention. In November 2016, Sherri Papini mysteriously vanished while jogging in Redding, California. Then 22 days later, the mother of two was discovered shackled and partially clothed on the side of a road 150 miles from her home. Her long blonde had had been chopped off and she was branded with a message on her right shoulder.
Now, nearly a year later, police have released surveillance from Thanksgiving morning when she was released from captivity. In the black and white footage recorded at 4:15 a.m. on November 24, Papini can be seen running toward a Jehovah’s Witness Church on Highway 99W in Woodland, California. She then begins walking back toward the interstate. Minutes later, Papini was found by a passing motorist who notified authorities.
Police have not commented on the video’s significance or why it was publicly released on Tuesday, November 7, local news outlet NBC 52 reported.
Meanwhile, investigators continue to poke holes in Papini’s account of what happened during the three weeks she was missing. Last month, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office released sketches of her suspected abductors as well as new details on her disappearance.
Sgt. Brian Jackson told The Sacramento Bee that detectives found a woman’s DNA on Papini’s body but a man’s DNA on her clothing, despite her claims that she was kidnapped by two hispanic females. The DNA samples submitted to the criminal database do not belong to Sherri or her husband, Keith Papini.
Detectives also released information about a fight Sherri allegedly got into with one of the suspects in which she claimed to have cut her foot, even though investigators have no evidence of a cut, local newspaper The Record Searchlight reported.
In a statement released to the Record Searchlight in October, Keith thanked all the people who have supported the Papini family over the last year. “Your well wishes have helped beyond measure,” he wrote. “We are hopeful that the release of information by law enforcement will expedite the capture of Sherri’s abductors. this has been an extraordinarily difficult time for our entire family. We ask that the media please respect our need for privacy as Sherri continues to heal and we work towards putting our lives back together.”
