The affidavit states that the ex-boyfriend “admitted to investigators that he helped Papini ‘run away,’ and that she told him her husband was beating and raping her and she was trying to escape.” Sherri’s husband has not commented in response to the abuse allegations.
The ex-boyfriend, who was not named, said he picked Sherri up in a rental car outside of Redding, where she and her family lived, and drove to his two-bedroom apartment in Costa Mesa, the documents state.
“[He] said that he wasn’t sure of Papini’s intentions during her stay with him, but he believed they might end up in a romantic relationship again,” the documents say. ” The two did not have sex during her stay, and slept in separate rooms, the man told investigators.
DNA Evidence Led to Ex-Boyfriend:
According to the affidavit, Papini told investigators that on the day she was found, she was wearing her original underwear from the day of her disappearance. The documents state that on June 9, 2020, “FBI Special Agents collected discarded items from the trash can outside of [the] ex-boyfriend’s residence in Costa Mesa, including a discarded Honest Honey Green Tea bottle” and that lab test results “concluded that the DNA obtained from the mouth area” of the bottle matched “unknown male DNA collected from Papini’s clothing.”
“DNA evidence recovered from Papini’s clothing she was wearing when she returned matched [the] ex-boyfriend’s DNA,” the documents explained, adding that “phone records show that [the two] were talking to one another as early as December 2015. [The] ex-Boyfriend told investigators that he and Papini used prepaid phones to talk to one another.”
