Sherri Papini ///Part 1/// 335 | Forensic Files

when it comes to Quality sleep Ashley has you covered with top mattress brands at winning prices and with special
financing options available you can snooze now and pay later plus your mattress purchase helps give the gift of
better sleep to children in need and US Special Operations forces visit your local Ashley store or shop online today
and make every snooze count financing is subject to credit approval C store or ashley.com for d details Rosetta Stone
is the language learning program with a lasting impact I've been using the rap to learn French and it's not just about
memorizing words but actually having real conversations and it's not just French they offer 25 languages right now
Rosetta Stone has an awesome holiday deal 50% off their lifetime membership every language unlimited access forever
for anyone keen on diving deep into a new language check out rosettastone.com it's a
GameChanger [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always as a man who always wanted to be the hay King but the world
Shines on Moe he is the captain I don't know about the hay King but I got a little bit of hay fever it's good to be
seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for t a friend this week we are very proud to be
featuring Inda IPA by the brilliant folks way out at Los Coast Brewery in California Los Coast was founded by
Wendy pound and Barbara groom back in 1989 and it is one of only a few female-owned breweries Indica has a
higher than average alcohol content at 6.5% garage grade three and 1/2 bottle caps out of five and this week's beer
demand was supplied by the garage Army and here's a few cheers to get us underway first up cheers to Catherine in
waterl Ontario and a big shout out to DD and Starkville Mississippi next up we have a cheers to deia in Columbus Ohio
and a big shout out to Kelsey and Cheyenne Wyoming and in that state up north bastard we have Brad and Garden
City and last but not least over the pond we have Vicky and Coventry UK thank you to everyone for going to True Crim
garage.com and clicking on the Donate button and helping us out with this week's show while you're at the website
sign up on the mailing list and check out our store Page we got new merchandise and also we got tons of
t-shirts so you you get to give a little love to the garage and get something in
return and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's
talk some true [Music] [Music] cry hello can I help you yeah um so uh I just got home from
work and uh my wife wasn't there which is unusual and my kids should have been there by now from like daycare so I was
like oh maybe she went on a walk um I couldn't find her so I called the daycare to see what time she picked up
the kids the kids were never picked up so I got freaked out so I hit like the find my iPhone app thing and it said
that her it showed her phone like at our end of our driveway we don't have really
good service okay not the end of our driveway but the end of our street I just drove down there and I saw her
phone with her headphones cuz she started running and it's I found her phone and it's got
like hair ripped out of it like in the headphones so I'm like totally freaking out thinking like somebody like what's
your grabbed her okay what's your address okay what's your last name yes Pini p a p i n i and your first
name uh Keith ke i t h uh yes okay did you go pick up your children no I'm going to call my mom and
have her do it okay what's your wife's name I'm going to like knock on every door uh Sherry s h e r r i and same last
name yes she white female yes what's her date of birth uh it is a June 11th 1982 is her vehicle there or does she
not have a vehicle she has a vehicle is at the house okay the vehicle is at the house she's running okay yes I'm in it
right now driving and I took a picture of her phone on the ground before I picked it up okay how tall is
she 53 5'4 how much does she weigh 100 lb eye color uh like a bluish blue okay hair
color blonde do you know what she was wearing is there something always I'm assuming
she went running so athletic typ okay there's not an outfit she always wears or anything like that she run with a dog
or by yourself by herself okay what time were the kids we started running again and we
live in a when's the last Super M when's the last time you heard from her uh she sent me a text asking me if I
was coming home for lunch what time was [Applause] umh give me one second she sent me at 10:47 asking me if I was
coming home from lunch from work and I said sorry long day and that was the last never spoke to on the phone any
other cont okay what time are the kids supposed to be picked up way before 5:30 she usually goes to
like 445 4:30 [Applause] 4:45 okay are you headed back to the house or where you at right
now I'm at the end of the driveway where uh I'm at the old Oregon Trail and sunrise where they meet cuz that's right
where I found her phone on the ground telling me that something happened to her is way I'm looking at it
there's like then there was hair like in the headphones like it got ripped off like the gra yeah no I I understand I
understand okay I'm sorry I know you're trying to keep me calling but obviously what kind of vehicle are you in
I'm in a black seia Optima oh my God okay and I live I mean we live down kind of a skety street so definitely I don't
know if I'm allowed to knock on everybody's door but I will if I'm allowed to do that well let's just have
the officers contact you so they can start you know processing everything figure out what's
going on okay and I understand you're freaking out a little bit we want to we want to
make sure we get your kids make sure they're okay yeah I'm gonna call my mom and have yeah they your phone yes do you
want me to wait right here for somebody or if you want to head back to your residence so they can contact you there
and in case she does return okay okay we'll have him contact you at your residence call us back if
anything changes right all right so they're going to call in the number you just take down the 35 they'll probably
call you when they're on their way and they're going to come out in person okay okay thank you you're
welcome okay bye [Music] byebye that call came into Shasta County California Sheriff's Office office on
Wednesday November 2nd 2016 at 5:41 p.m. now the caller identified himself as Keith Pini he comes home from work to an
empty house his wife and kids should have been there what he does not say on the 911 call but what was later reported
is he did try to call and text Sherry but received no answer later he finds his wife's phone and head phones he
finds this about a mile away from their house at the intersection of Sunrise Drive in Old Oregon Trail there is hair
to which he says appears to have been ripped off of her head he reports her missing obviously his wife is Sherry
Pini date of birth June 11th 1982 she's 5 foot 3 in tall 100 lb she has blonde hair and blue eyes Keith went on to tell
911 that he found sher's car at the house and that he drove her car down the road to search for her and the phone
while the 911 operator was asking questions about Sherry Keith interjected that he took a picture of the phone as
he had found it he said he had no idea what Sherry was wearing but assumed running clothes he reiterated that she
had just started running again Keith told the operator that he last heard from Sherry when she sent him a text
asking if he was coming home for lunch this text received by Keith at 10:47 a.m. now the kids were supposed to be
picked up between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. he says so sometime between 10:47 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. something happened to Sherry
where was 34-year-old Sher Pini she was was nowhere to be found and her iPhone was disturbingly left on the side of the
road near their home yeah not only did Keith call his wife and text his wife to say hey where are you I can't find you
he also called the kids school and said hey what time did my wife pick up the kids and then they replied she hasn't
been here to pick up the kids so this is super weird everything as he describes it very unusual he's expecting to see
his wife he's actually fearing that she's been grabbed as he says it now the call came in just shortly before 6:00
p.m. and the police were at the pini's mountain gate home at 6:30 p.m. an official search got underway a
helicopter searched the area using a night Spotlight patrol cars drove around the area the Shasta County Sheriff's
Office investigators they blocked off this area where the phone was found and they're looking for any clues that they
could find as to what could have happened to this woman now there is a photo available online of something
found in that area that police labeled with a number three evidence marker it's not clear what it is but it looks like a
black and pink belt or fanny pack of some sort fancy police have never addressed this item publicly Keith and
Sherry's sister Sheila both made very public tier filled pleas for the safe return of their wife and sister
Billboards went up with Sherry's image the community came together attending prayer vigils and balloon releases a
$50,000 reward was offered for information leading to Sherry's whereabouts $10,000 of this which came
from the secret witness organization and the rest of which was raised by supporters of the family yeah and this
is a pretty large sum come from this organization this secret organization but they said that when they saw the
pleads on TV that they said we have to help we have to do something yeah it it's not a secret organization it's just
in the title secret witness organization so the search captain really turns up nothing all they really come up with
here is the phone the headphones that are attached to the phone and as the husband says hair that is attached to
the hair the headph it appears to have been ripped off of her head yeah he also makes the claim that he took the picture
of the phone before he touched it I don't know if it matters if I believe him or not but I actually don't believe
that statement I know that he showed a photo to the Sheriff's Department of the phone
itself but again it see it seems like a weird thing to do just off of just general Instinct I think I would
naturally just grab the phone and pick up up the phone before thinking to take a photograph of it yeah I'd almost
assume that somebody would have to pick up a phone first to figure out if it's their wife's phone you know what I mean
like you couldn't just tell from right at a shock you're like oh you would grab it to verify that it it is in fact her
phone right like and then you're like oh my god do should we address the 911 call
first before we get too far into the search for Sherry yeah because I mean we just play so it's on everybody's Minds
the first thing I want to point out here is for people not familiar with this Cas
I have seen Keith and other interviews and so where you hear him on the the 911 call a couple times you hear
him kind of laugh I think that's more of like or like a giggle I think it's more
of a uh like nervous tick yeah that he has it's it's not you know he's not being light of the situation in fact
he's the one pushing the issue that he believes that she was grabbed so ignore the the giggles because he kind of just
does that and then you'll also hear the the the heavy breathing or the exhaling that's another thing that I've seen him
do in several interviews as well it's you know he's he's stressed out also upset about the situation yeah but he
was in a panic to try to find her he drives down to their where they get their mail and then he's running around
outside the car trying to look for any clue of his wife I don't find it odd a lot of
people find a lot of things odd about the 911 call I actually find very few things strange in the 911 well if you
don't understand his natural demeanor I think you would but like you said watch a couple more interviews get to know the
person and then I think the 911 call makes a lot more sense yeah yeah and I mean I don't find it strange that he
assumes she's been abducted or grabbed as he says it I don't find that strange in the least
bit uh some people point to that that you know he kind of jumped to that conclusion rather quickly phone is on
the ground right right the the only thing I find strange about the call is where he says several times that that
she started running again it's almost like it's almost like too much information and rep repeated again and
again as if you're really trying to sell that idea but she did though because her
family was going to run in some local charity run and uh and so she started running again and some people point to
his statement or his question rather 2911 where he ask if he's allowed to knock on the doors of of people in the
neighborhood again I don't find that to be strange because what I what I get the
general sense I get from Keith and his communication with 911 is he's trying to tell them that he
needs help that his wife is missing but he's also trying to be very upfront and very Cooperative almost like you know
911 is the expert right here I don't want to do anything that's out of turn I don't want to step on anyone's toes I
don't want to knock on doors and then the police show up and go well why the hell did you knock on doors the reason
why I think people find that odd is he brains it up and he gets cut off by the dispatcher MH and then he brings it up
again almost as if it was like rehearsed you know or he had some script and you cut me off from my script so now I got
to go back to my script or she just didn't answer his question right and he brings it up again so what we know here
is that the the call comes in and really they truly find nothing when they go looking for Sherry now the day after she
went missing on November 3rd the Shasta County Sheriff's Department gave a press
conference this would be one of the very few times that the sheriff's office would make public statements regarding
this case Sheriff Tom basenko pledged that he would not generally release new information while the case was being
investigated now he confirmed finding Sherry's earbuds and phone near her home he said that the Sheriff's Office was
was checking with local registered sex offenders there were four men living within a mile of the Pini home that were
registered sex offenders and hundreds more in the surrounding areas yeah basenko also said that about two dozen
search and rescue Personnel were combing the area around the home and the search
would be expanded as needed he emphasized that Sher Pini did not have any physical or mental health conditions
that would explain her disappearance and that there were no history of calls for
major incidents at the Pini home news articles from the early days of the search simply state that Sherry's family
believed that she was abducted While She Was Out jogging now one thing that makes
this case frustrating and difficult to cover is the lack of reliable information available really the
information that we have the only information that we have other than the tiny bit
addressed by basenko at the press conference comes from two people Sheila coaster who is sher's sister and Keith
Pini now Sheila and Keith both gave numerous interviews to Major media sources like People magazine in 20120
right Keith in particular is very very publicly visible bringing awareness to his missing wife's Case by making the
rounds of the various news shows right but we've seen that before with uh Christopher Watts yeah so let's take a
quick look at who the penis are okay Captain what do we know about Keith and Sher yeah well they both grew up in
Reading California this is an overwhelmingly white conservative religious community party Keith and
Sherry were childhood sweethearts they met in grade according to Keith and then later reconnected as adults yeah I
believe the big thing that you see uh reported over and over and over is they they kissed one time in seventh grade
apparently Keith kept all of the notes that they passed between the two of them when they were in middle school yeah he
seems to be very enamored with his wife he talks constantly about how beautiful and perfect she is and says that he is
head over heels for for her Sherry had been married once before and there is some question as to whether she was
married when she took up with Keith yeah there's some weirdness there now regardless the couple the couple had a
fairy tale wedding in 2009 and the couple has two children Violet and Tyler ages 2 and four now there are lots of
photos and family photos online of both the couple and the family now Sherry is quite striking
with very long Almost White looking blonde hair big blue eyes and a big smile kind of like the boltergeist girl
all grown up she was this is one thing that's kind of confusing here captain and it's very unclear she was either
working part-time for AT&T and or staying at home with the kids yeah or she had recently quit
working at AT&T it's it's it's a little tricky yeah it seems like most reports state that she was a stay at home home
mother the two kids they were enrolled in daycare this is a couple days a week that they would attend this daycare yeah
now Sherry liked to dabble in arts and crafts and she was active on her Etsy and Pinterest accounts Keith was an
audio video specialist in The Geek Squad at the reading Best Buy from what it looked like online he's probably making
about $50 to $60,000 a year now the two owned a two-story home this is the home that they lived in in the community of
mountain gate it was actually Keith's childhood home it is not believ that that they owed any money on this home
apparently they purchased it for $128,000 from Keith's parents now they also had two cars Sherry's friends and
family all describe Sherry as a super mom who always liked things to be perfect whose kids were angels and who
could make a mean pie crust from scratch Keith's mom and stepdad lived nearby and
were very very involved in their daily lives Sherry's parents lived in Arizona well how about you take us through the
day she went missing well as as we said most of what we know about the day that she went missing November 2nd 2016 this
comes directly from Keith right he says he left for work around 6:50 a.m. and Sherry was there at the house to see him
off Sherry dropped the kids off at daycare as usual sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. he told the 911 operator
that Sherry text him at 10:47 a.m. to see if he was coming home for lunch he says he didn't have his
personal phone on him while he was doing an installation so he didn't respond to her
until 1:39 p.m. we don't know if this was a regular thing meaning for Keith to go home for lunch right but I do want to
point out that the Best Buy where he worked was a 20-minute drive from his house so it seems like this was very
likely a not not a regular thing a little strange right well yeah I mean if you consider that if you if you get an
hour for lunch let's say you're going to spend 40 minutes that driving you know to and from my guess here is because he
does do installations that he may come home if he happens to be doing an install
somewhere closer to his home yeah that makes a lot of sense yeah that that's kind of what I'm guessing and so I'm
guessing that's probably not a regular thing for her to text him either are you coming home for lunch this might just be
a oneoff or something that happens once in a while or it's one of those things that if he's out don't come home right
don't come home yeah I got a boyfriend over uh no but it could be one of those things where he's out on service calls a
lot oh and so it doesn't matter where he's at he just goes home for lunch because it's hard for them to track his
whereabouts there are reports that Sherry was seen at an eyebrow salon at the Mount Shasta Mall that morning and
at a Michael's craft store uhuh and that some of the items she purchased at Michaels were found at their house but
this is kind of a weird statement that I found amongst these things not all of the items were found
there is what one report States okay I don't know what that means they don't go in into any detail there yeah well I'd
like to see a detailed list of what was bought Keith also said that it appeared that that Sherry was in the midst of
wrapping a Christmas present for him this was a homemade US flag pillow which was found partially wrapped again here
here's the thing we don't know if any of this is actually correct as none of it has been verified publicly by law
enforcement we also know that there are are several neighbor Witnesses who believe that they saw Sher heading out
on a run that day the problem is that none of them agree as to what time they saw her so neighbor John Bishop
says he saw her around 9:00 a.m. that she was out near the mailboxes another neighbor says it was
closer to 11:00 a.m. and then some tree technicians working in the area supposedly saw her around 2:00 p.m. this
was the time that sheriff basenko said he believed she was last [Music] seen this show is sponsored by better
help do you look forward to the holidays maybe you struggle with seasonal Blues this time of year can be a lot and it's
natural to feel some sadness or even anxiety about it but adding something new and positive to your life can
counteract some of those feelings therapy can be a bright spot something to look forward to to make you feel
grounded and to give you the tools to manage everything going on if you're thinking of starting therapy give better
help a try it's entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to
your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists
at any time for no additional charge find your bright spot this season with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com garage
today to get 10% off your first month that's better help hp.com garage dreaming of overseas Adventures
or connecting more deeply with family from afar Rosetta Stone Bridges the language Gap I've tried others but
Rosetta Stone's immersive lessons and voice feedback technology are game changers dive into 25 Languages by
learning intuitively just like when you were a kid and here's the holiday Sparkle grab a lifetime membership now
and save 50% gift yourself the world head to rosettastone.com now and save 50% at Consumer Cellular you get the
same exact coverage as the largest carriers but for up to half the cost same thing up to half the cost up to
half the cost for the same thing 50% the money for 100% the same thing I hope I'm
making myself clear Consumer Cellular when Freedom calls we're here to answer call us at 1888 Freedom half the cost
savings based on cost of consumer cellular single line 5 GB data plan with unlimited talk and text compared to
lowest cost single line postpaid unlimited talk text and data plan offered by T-Mobile and Verizon May
2023 all right we're back cheers mates cheers to you captain and just a quick reminder
all of our old episodes are available on the very free very awesome Stitcher app
and our other show off the Record is on Stitcher premium and I have another uh quick reminder it is Nick's birthday
this week so happy birthday all hail the king hell the king Colonel yeah bud Platinum Knight Bud Knight platinum or
whatever okay back to our missing person case Captain there was a GoFundMe page that was set up this was immediately it
and it was started by Sherry's family yeah now we find a little more information there it says that they
believe that Sherry was last seen on Sunrise Drive at approximately 2 p.m. and she was either jogging or walking
alone they also point out that jogging or walking alone is normal for her again I find it odd that the family
keeps talking about how normal it is for her to be running just seems again it just seems a big bit above and beyond
but I think it goes back to the fact that her family a bunch of members were going to run into in this race and they
were going to wear costumes or something and was going to raise money for something so I think it's I think it was
something that was on their mind all of their minds and they're all training for
this event mhm I I just find it weird that they keep pointing out how normal it is to be yeah and I kind of find it a
little weird and I think a lot of people find it a little weird that you start a
GoFundMe page right away yeah I don't know about that for me it's just weird the way that they they phrase
that kind of kind of stuff it's like like if I Disappeared like he was last seen driving which was normal for him he
was very it was very normal for him to drive places it's it's not like he was last seen walking he normally walks with
his legs right we're not talking about some abnormal behavior we're talking about jogging or running you know it's
uh mine would be like they found him with a beer can in his hand and his pants down but that was normal for him
see that's abnormal behavior you would need to point out that it's normal for a person or for that person to be doing
that that's just where I'm I'm going with that now she was last seen wearing a running top now one of the family
members did post a picture of this top online it was a black and pink running jacket remember uh Keith wasn't able to
give a description of what she was last wearing because he wasn't home at the time that she stepped out to go jogging
yeah and just like you pointed out a little more clarification here Keith told police that Sherry was in the
process of training For an upcoming Thanksgiving Day Road Race and that he believed she was heading out for a run
that day and then abducted by someone while she was out there now much of what happened when Keith got home we heard
from him on the 911 call he says he pulled into the driveway expecting to see his son come running out
uh found no one in the house and he tracked Sherry's iPhone to near the mailboxes where he then drove after
jumping into Sherry's car well this how he did it was uh the track my phone app correct yeah so some people point out
here if it's weird that he switched cars you know no one's really sure why he got
into her car after just arriving home in his car yeah um I want to point out a couple things here
it sounds to me in the 911 call that he is saying that he's expecting to find his wife and kids when he goes looking
for her phone using the Find My Phone app uh I'm just wondering if they only had car seats maybe in her car and so he
he you know very mindful of this he jumps in her car to go retrieve them that's one thought I have the other
thought I have I think by this point he's probably already called the daycare and and and ask has my wife picked up
the kids yet could be we don't know that to be to be the case I'm just wondering
why why anybody would do this uh why somebody would switch the cars there seems to to me there there's either a
reason for it or it's just just a complete weird thing here yeah so my my other thought would be is
if if it was just as simple as those were the first keys that he saw and I'm only kind of of circling around this
Captain because I've seen several people point out that they think this is extremely strange and bizarre that he
chose to take her car regarding the official search for Sherry Sheriff PCO acknowledged early on that the
circumstances of her disappearance seem to be suspicious but he said that Sherry's disappearance could be
voluntary but it also could be involuntary yeah he said law enforcement was proceeding with an open mind and
continued to investigate all angles including the following checking with family friends and Associates of sher's
looking at surveillance video from local homes and businesses they did this they
found nothing they were checking local motels and hotels they were looking into the
family's finances sher's bank cards and her license were found in their home they were pouring over cell tower data
and phone records and social media accounts they were also canvasing the neighbors and speaking with people in
the area as we stated they were checking on registered sex offenders in the area
apparently there are about 900 in that county flicky flicky they were following up on more than 400 tips and supposed
sightings including one highly publicized sighting of Sherry at a truck stop that turned out to be a case of
mistaken identity yeah well hold on cuz I love the report that some lady thinks it's her so she goes up and says hey
Sherry is this you and the lady seems absolutely confused so they reported that she went up to Sherry and Sherry
was completely confused right it's just like well yeah she was really confused cuz she's not
Sherry there you go there you go they were also reviewing missing persons cases from around the nation to
determine if any of them were possibly related to sher's case now investigators filed 20 search warrants although it's
not disclosed exactly what they were looking for with these warrants but the Shasta County Sheriff's Office officials
discovered that Sherry had been married before and they checked in with her ex-husband his name is David dfus age 32
at the time he was living out of the state of California yeah so he didn't live anywhere close to her and in fact
he had not had any contact with her as far as police could find and about six years or more yeah the two filed for
divorce papers in September of 2008 this was uh less than a year after they were
married by the time the divorce was finalized in January of 2009 Sherry was living with Keith Now searches for
Sherry continued with the search parties combing the wood woods and police following up on tips but one strange
thing LED people to scratch their heads in this case very early on this is Sheriff basenko brought in search dogs
to track sher's scent but they didn't hit on anything as he told CNN quote the dogs didn't hit on anything which makes
it a little bit abnormal he goes on to say and now it's almost ideal weather conditions we've had its in the fall
here on the west coast in this area so it's a little bit cooler and we've had some
rain and that helps too for the scent conditions and the dogs didn't hit on any scent if Sherry had run or walked
from the house to the mailbox area her scent should be it should have been detected by these trained
canines okay now a family friend wait let's let's Ponder this for a second so what you're saying is that she gets
dressed puts her running shoes on she takes off running that the dog the dog should have followed the scent down the
driveway out to the road mhm and they don't hit on anything nothing do they I mean I'm guessing that they hit onor
scent in the house yeah so here here's where this becomes a big problem and that's why I
was very quick to point out in this case we're trying to present all the facts however the the facts quote unquote
facts that we have come from sher's husband and from her sister regarding law enforcement they
spent a lot of time investigating this disappearance however they not saying anything they've not said much publicly
uh and what they have released it's like they choose to release some things and then other things are not commenting on
again with with the dogs not finding a scent we know that that happened because that's what the sheriff said publicly
what I'm wondering remember we have her husband who says it appeared like she was wrapping gifts at the house right
and I found a gift that was partially wrapped and it's the family it's her family that are saying she was out
jogging and she was abducted well we we have possibly an eyewitness well we have three people
that say that they saw her out side that day nobody saying that she was abducted
when they saw her I also think if she was training if it was so normal for her to be out running by herself that some
of the people that could have saw her it could have just been mistaken on which day they saw
her yeah we we'll get into the Neighbors in a little bit but one thing I want to
throw out there is a a possible Theory again the only people that we have saying that she was out jogging and she
was abducted While She Was Out jogging is her family what if what if they're just wrong what if she was actually you
know the dogs aren't going to lie to you um people lie these dogs aren't going to
tell a lie so unless there's just some weird reason that the dogs aren't effective I I get that I do get that but
what I'm questioning is is there a chance that she was actually abducted from the home yes and that the phone was
just later tossed out the the a vehicle window by her abductor right or by by you know her for whatever reason at all
it I think what they're doing is finding the phone is leading them to believe oh
she was spotted outside a couple times we found her phone it was normal for her to run she was abducted while she was
jogging which just might be wrong we have a family friend and this is Mike Mangus uh he was a local reading news
anchor at the time he was the one that managed to get the story covered on Good Morning America remember we said the
family was really trying to get this story out there and their family friend Mike helped this get on a national level
yeah well it never hurts cases to become popular when there's a a pretty girl going missing right so we have a whole
bunch of stuff going on and in the wake of all of this we have Sheriff basenko who admitted to People magazine
that quote there were no real viable leads end quote in this case and then he tells KRCR
TV they reported basically the same thing this report came out on November 17th that no credible information has
been learned relating to Sherry's disappearance he goes on to say I know the family believes that she was
abducted we don't have anything to lead us that way nor to dissuade us that she wasn't a abducted in any way in other
words it sounds like law enforcement was kind of clueless as to what was going on
and they were a little bit upfront in public about that now for people that are not familiar with this
case the weird thing that we're trying to point out here is law enforcement seems to have some question about this
disappearance about this woman going missing whether it was voluntary or involuntary yeah and if it was
voluntary is somebody else is anybody else in on this whole hoax if it was involuntary who else is involved in this
real kidnapping yeah on November 15th 2016 TV KO bi5 reported that the FBI had become
involved in the effort to find Sherry which by now had consumed hundreds of manh hours despite this reporting
Sheriff basenko felt the need to address the the FBI's involvement he did this on
Tuesday November 21st saying that people were asking him why the FBI was not more
involved and he said quote we have bulletins out Statewide Nationwide and Mrs Pini has been entered into
Nationwide computer system for missing persons other agencies are assisting the Shasta County Sheriff's Office such as
the Reading Police Department as well as the FBI it became clear that the FBI's role was simply one of assisting with an
investigator or two and providing the resources of its cellular analysis survey team but the Shasta County
Sheriff's Office their Major Crimes unit they were in charge of this investigation just to be clear so more
than two weeks after Sherry vanished the SC s o stated that Sherry was considered
a missing person at risk with suspicious circumstances in another confusing angle
the California Department of Justice initially categorized Sherry's disappearance as voluntary missing adult
rather than missing at risk labeled by the sheriff's department according to local media uh there's a local media
Outlet reading.com missing at risk essentially means there's no evidence of a crime yet but
there's also no history of leaving the home or anything else to indicate a person's disappearance was willful
Sherry's family said that Sherry would never ever leave her children voluntarily in their minds and an
abduction was certain now regardless of theories Sherry was gone there was no doubt about that but there was no Ransom
demand and neither the pinis nor their extended families none of them were wealthy and this was this was released
by the sheriff now the only evidence of an abduction was the phone being found by the side of the road by Keith himself
and Sheriff basenko told 2020 quote it looked like it could have been placed there along with the earbuds
being placed on top of the phone screen the phone is seems didn't look as though it had been roughly pulled out of
sher's hands her headphones jerked out of her ears and dumped there instead according to the sheriff the the
headphones were neatly positioned on top of the phone as it lie on the ground now basenko said on the Today
Show the phone had been set in some grass with the screen facing up and then the earbuds to the phone were loosely
coiled and appeared to have been placed on the screen it did somewhat appear to be that it was placed their
purposely he goes on to say quote we believe it was a few pieces of her hair that was there with the earbuds and the
phone I have nothing really to add to this Captain it's these are statements by the sheriff if he thinks that it
looks like somebody could have neatly placed it there I'm going to have to go with that statement I didn't find the
phone the the phone is is weird in itself because that's the indicator that she was taken outside of the home and
what we know about the phone again like everything else goes back to Keith and what Keith is telling us about what
happened that day but again we have the dog sent evidence that possibly she did not run out of the house
mhm naturally like with any investigation the police took a hard look at Keith now whether he was considered a
prime suspect at the time they always do really would depend on whom you would ask basenko stated that Keith had been
100% Cooperative he handed over his computer the family's computer phones and records with no hesitation he had an
alibi we know he was at work that day Keith's stepfather Rodriguez who had a very active social
media presence in this case posted online defending Keith he said Keith had been interrogated numerous times and had
an alibi verified by the GPS on his work vehicle he also never lawyered up had his whereabouts confirmed by cell phone
tracking as well and provided the police Total Access to the home and cars without a warrant on the night Sherry
vanished look all that seems good but remember what his job is he is an expert at
technology he's a geek he's a geek he's on the Geek Squad y so if you take offense at that he shouldn't have signed
up for the Geek Squad now uh he also handed over all of his electronic devices this is where I find something
of of very strong importance I believe to this case and it's something that we typically don't like Captain but we have
a statement and this comes from the sheriff himself says Keith took a polygraph on November 7th that lasted
according to 2020 4 hours oh that's that's a long test God that sucks uh so he took a polygraph test on on
November 7th and Sheriff basenko told 2020 that Keith passed this lie detector test and that Keith was not a suspect in
The Disappearance of his wife yeah now we know that Keith what don't we like about that though cuz I like that no I
four hours I like that whole thing but but we often say that we don't like polygraph test I don't like him coming
out saying that he's not a suspect I mean I'm I'm glad you took a polygraph test you're doing everything you can hey
we got the husband let's try to rule him out it's normally the husband so get him to take this long and depth
polygraph test he passed I'm not making statements to maybe the cops are making statements
that he's not a suspect anymore because they don't want the heat on him through social media and through the media MH
maybe that's the case because there's a lot of times that the wife goes missing and the heat on the on the husband gets
pretty bad yeah and I'm guessing that not just the lie detector test but all things
encompassed in their investigation I'm guessing that what the story he's telling them they have no reason to
believe that he's being dishonest they have no evidence to suggest that what he is saying or what he believes to be true
is not the truth and I think that's where you get the he's not a suspect type thing okay now Keith gave an
interview to People Magazine on November 10th so this stuff is all happening very
quickly as it should in this case but what we're seeing that we don't always see in in these types of cases are very
public on a national level moves to interviews and things like that this is on the 10th Keith says that there was no
way that Sher left on her own accord he said she is my wife I know everything about her I know that my wife would
never leave me and never in a million years leave our kids after almost 2 weeks official searches
for Sherry ended and the family felt that they needed to take the situation under their control Sherry's friend Lisa
Jeter contacted a man whom she had seen speak out about human trafficking in the
area this man was reading native Cameron gamble gamble called himself an international kidnap and Ransom
consultant he was a former Air Force senior Airman and now trained military law enforcement and private citizens on
how to evade and Escape capture gamble believed that Sherry had been abducted and asked Keith for
permission to try an aggressive approach to getting Sherry back it's not really clear how this all came about gamble
says someone put him in touch with an unnamed man who offered to donate money to act as a reward payment to whomever
returned Sherry safely a sort of reverse Ransom if you will the anonymous donor offered to put
up $50,000 to pay off the captors if they released Sherry 12 Days After Sherry vanished gamble posted a video of
himself making the offer and speaking directly to the captors saying quote I've been retained by an individual who
wishes to remain anonymous an individual who has come forward to offer a cash reward for a ransom for Sher pini's safe
return to her family I don't know your motive I don't know who you are I don't care I simply care about getting Sherry
back gamble said the money would be paid upon Sherry's release without law enforcement presence and with no
questions asked as for the Anonymous donor he initiated the website Sherry pen.com and posted a note to the reading
police in Shasta County Sheriff's Department that said please don't threaten me I have received legal
counsel and what I am doing is within my rights according to Cameron gamble the video went viral now when that failed to
flush out the perpetrators gamble posted a second video on the day before Thanksgiving November 23rd
2016 saying that the reward was now off the table instead if they didn't let Sherry go the donated funds would be
added to the reward fund already established to pay anyone who came forward with information leading to
sher's abductors essentially putting an approximately $100,000 bounty on the abductor heads as
gamble called it in this video he says quote the world has been looking for Sher Pini and now the world is going to
be looking for [Music] you oh so many twists and turns and speculations to get to in part two and
we know that you could be anywhere but you're joining us here in the garage and we thank you and we love you and we'll
be back with part two tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't [Music] litter
you can live out your Master Chef dreams when you find a professional on Angie to tackle your dream kitchen
remodel connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well inside to outside
repairs to Renovations get started on the Angie app or visit angie.com today you can do this when you Angie
that

Sherri Papini ///Part 1/// 335

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

November 2, 2016 - Keith Papini called 911 and reported his wife missing. He told law enforcement that she went for a run and did not return. Her phone and earbuds were found on the side of the road 1 mile from her home. This week we look at all angles of this very interesting case. Beer of the Week - Indica IPA by Lost Coast Brewery Garage Grade - 3 and a half bottle caps out of 5

The full archive of True Crime Garage is available on the Stitcher listening app - for FREE. Our show “Off the Record” is only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

Beer Fund: https://truecrimegarage.com/home

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Summary

Sherry Pini disappears after going for a run, prompting a frantic search and investigation with no leads found.

Key points

Missing Woman's Disturbing Discovery. Keith Pini finds his wife's phone and headphones with hair attached, raising alarms.
The 911 Call That Shocked Everyone. Keith Pini's frantic call to 911 reveals his wife's mysterious disappearance.
Community Rallies for Sherry Pini. Billboards and vigils emerge as the community supports the search for Sherry.
Search Dogs Fail to Find Scent. Sheriff Basenko reveals that search dogs did not detect Sherry's scent, raising questions.
Confusion Over Sherry's Disappearance. Law enforcement debates whether Sherry's disappearance was voluntary or involuntary, leaving many questions.
Family's Belief in Abduction. Sherry's family insists she would never leave her children voluntarily, believing she was abducted.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I found her phone with hair ripped out of it!

Caller describes finding his wife's phone in a distressing situation.

4:32WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.