Perfect Wife: Sherri Papini documentary explained

The trailer for Hulu’s Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini has arrived, so here’s what you need to know about the true crime documentary, who’s in it, and what happened.

There’s plenty of new true crime to dive into this month, and while Netflix maintains its spot as the genre’s leading streaming service, Hulu has some strong entries in store. 

If you’re a fan of cult docs, the Jonestown massacre is set to be explored in Hulu’s upcoming docu-series Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown.

What’s more, the streamer is deep diving into the biggest kidnapping hoax of the past decade with its Sherri Papini documentary. 

How and when to watch Perfect Wife

Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini will be available to watch on Hulu from June 20, 2024. 

All three episodes will be available to stream at once, meaning you don’t have to wait for new installments to arrive each week. 

Is there a Sherri Papini doc on Netflix?

Despite being a leading authority in true crime, there isn’t a Sherri Papini documentary on Netflix right now.

We’ll be sure to let you know if this situation changes. For now, you can check out American Nightmare, which is almost a reverse of the Papini situation. 

What’s Perfect Wife about?

Directed by Michael Beach Nichols, Perfect Wife centers on the controversial kidnapping hoax enacted by Sherri Papini in 2016, resulting in her arrest. 

At the time, Sherri lived a seemingly idyllic life with her husband Keith Papini, with the pair having two children together. However, their lives were shattered when Sherri disappeared from their northern California home on November 2, 2016, after she went out jogging. 

What followed was a frenzied search that hit the headlines across the world, although immediately the Shasta County Sheriff had doubts about the abduction. Keith was initially thought to be a suspect but was cleared when he passed a lie detector test and provided a verified alibi. 

The case took a turn on November 24 that same year, when Sherri was found on a highway nearly 150 miles from their home. She had been starved, her hair had been cut off, and she had injuries all over her body, including a Bible verse branded on her shoulder. 

Although she was initially reluctant to speak with the police, Sherri eventually claimed she had been kidnapped and abused by two Hispanic women, with a police sketch of the women shared on the news. 

However, authorities began to notice inconsistencies in her story. DNA evidence found on her clothing did not match her descriptions of the captors but instead an unknown male. When police ran it through the system, it came up with nothing. 

Phone records also revealed that Papini had been in communication with a male acquaintance in the runup to her disappearance. What’s more, friends and family began to share details about how Sherri dealt with her problems. 

One of her friends, Asia Coleman, told the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office (via ABC), “That is how she used to deal with things as a child. When things got hard, she would just run away.”

For four years, Sherri maintained her story and police continued their investigation. But in 2020, there was a break in the case when the DNA on her clothing was matched to James Reyes, Sherri’s ex-boyfriend. 

As per the Department of Justice, “Eventually, the evidence showed that Papini’s story was a carefully planned, false story. DNA, cellphone, and car rental evidence proved she had been voluntarily staying with a former boyfriend and that she had harmed herself to support her false statements.”

Despite this evidence, Sherri maintained her story in an interview with an FBI special agent and a detective with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, who warned her numerous times that it’s a crime to lie to federal agents.

“Yet, even after this second warning and evidence, Papini continued to make false statements,” the Department of Justice added.

In March 2022, Sherri was arrested and charged with making false statements and mail fraud, the latter relating to the fact that she used her fabricated kidnapping to receive approximately $30,000 from the California Victim Compensation Board.

As for James Reyes, he explained to police that Sherri had also lied to him, falsely claiming her husband, Keith, had been abusing her. He also stated that Sherri had inflicted the injuries on herself. After passing a lie detector test, he was not charged with any crimes. 

In the interrogation room, Keith Papini was left shocked by the revelations, even walking out at one point and telling the detectives, “I’m the idiot husband who stayed around the whole time.” He filed for divorce in 2022. 

Six weeks after her arrest, Sherri admitted to the hoax and entered a plea deal. In September 2022, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. 

She was released in August 2023 and placed in a halfway house in Sacramento County. According to reports, she’s yet to pay a $300,000 fine she was charged for the hoax. 

Who’s in Perfect Wife?

Keith Papini will appear in Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini to give his side of the story, as is revealed in the trailer. 

It also looks like Sherri’s older sister, Sheila Koester, will be in the doc, having been put through the ringer when the case was unfolding. 

According to Hulu, alongside these two, the docu-series features “unprecedented access” to “Sherri’s friends, as well as the investigators who struggled for six years to solve the mystery of her disappearance.”

Why did she do it?

It’s currently unclear exactly why Sherri faked her kidnapping, but friends and family have claimed she had a history of lying to garner attention. 

According to ABC’s KRCR, her attorney, William Portanova, said he wasn’t sure if even Sherri knew herself, suggesting it was down to “a very complicated mental health situation.”

However, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Ian Lamoureux told the outlet, “It is a mistake to assume mental illness is the cause of unusual behavior,” pointing out that investigators said she had planned the hoax for many months and therefore it wasn’t impulsive. 

He went on to explain that she may have carried out the fake kidnapping to bring her “fame and fortune,” having initially benefited financially from the California Victim Compensation Board, disability benefits, and a GoFundMe campaign.

As for the “fame” factor, Lamoureux highlighted the “pathological hero” concept, a phenomenon whereby people fake being a victim in order to seek recognition, and one that’s associated with “narcissistic or histrionic personality disorder.” 

It’s important to note that this is all just speculation — only Sherri knows the real reason for her actions. 

For more true crime, read about 50 Cent’s P Diddy documentary, how to watch the Herb Baumeister documentary, and whether Ashley Madison’s Sam and Nia Rader are still together.