Inside the Shocking Aftermath of Sherri Papini’s Kidnapping Hoax

Reviewing phone records, authorities found that she had been in contact with the ex since as early as December 2015, both of them using prepaid cell phones.

Sherri stayed at his apartment and never left for the entirety of the three weeks she was gone, Ex-Boyfriend told investigators. She didn’t eat much and at one point she had him brand her shoulder with a wood-burning tool that she had instructed him to go out and buy from Hobby Lobby. And, he added, though he didn’t have a TV, she kept up with the news on her phone and, knowing that people were looking for her, didn’t want to be seen.

She cut her own hair, the ex continued, and self-inflicted most of her own bruises and burns. He never laid hands on her, he added, but when asked for help, such as to “‘bank a puck'” off her leg as she requested, he complied.

The ex said he drove Sherri back up to Northern California after she told him she missed her kids, and on the way back she tossed her prepaid phone out the car window. He also told investigators that he didn’t call authorities himself once he saw the news of the alleged kidnapping, considering that akin to turning himself in “for nothing,” but he told himself that he “would not fight it” if they eventually got in touch.