By Bill Lindelof
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The husband of Sherri Papini said his wife was emaciated and covered in bruises when she was found on Thanksgiving, and he castigated those who have suggested her kidnapping was a hoax in a long statement released Tuesday morning to ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Papini was found about 4:30 a.m. Thursday after she flagged down a driver on Interstate 5 in Yolo County. The Redding-area woman disappeared after going for a jog on Nov. 2 near her home in Mountain Gate in Shasta County.
Investigators say the Shasta County woman was bound with restraints when she was let out of a sport utility vehicle near a freeway interchange in the town of Yolo. They say she was able to flag down a motorist on the freeway near County Road 17.
Authorities are searching for two women armed with a handgun. They were driving a dark-colored SUV.
In his statement, Keith Papini said he was told by authorities to brace himself before he was reunited with his wife because her condition was not good.
“My first sight was my wife in a hospital bed her face covered in bruises, ranging from yellow to black because of her repeated beatings,” read the statement. The bridge of his wife’s nose was broken, he said.
Keith Papini said when his wife was found she weighed only 87 pounds and her long blond hair was shorn, apparently by her captors. She was found with a chain around her waist that was also attached to her wrist, according to the report by “Good Morning America.”
Papini also had a bag over her head, he said. The limited description has fueled social media skepticism about her disappearance.
To that, Keith Papini reacted with dismay:
“Rumors, assumptions, lies, and hate have been both exhausting and disgusting,” his statement says. “Those people should be ashamed of their malicious, sub human behavior. We are not going to allow those people to take away our spirit, love, or rejoice in our girl found alive and home where she belongs. I understand people want the story, pictures, proof that this was not some sort of hoax, plan to gain money, or some fabricated race war. I do not see a purpose in addressing each preposterous lie.”
Papini said of his wife’s condition when she was found:
“Her now emaciated body of 87 pounds was covered in multi-colored bruises, severe burns, red rashes, and chain markings. Her signature long, blonde hair had been chopped off. She has been branded and I could feel the rise of her scabs under my fingers. She was thrown from a vehicle with a chain around her waist, attached to her wrists and a bag over her head. The same bag she used to flag someone down once she was able to free one of her hands. Sherri was taken from us for 22 days, and suffered incredibly through both intense physical agony and severe mental torture. My reaction was one of extreme happiness and overwhelming nausea as my eyes and hands scanned her body. I was filled with so much relief and revulsion at once. My Sherri suffered tremendously and all the visions swirling in your heads of her appearance, I assure you, are not as graphic and gruesome as the reality.”
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