When 34-year-old Sherri Papini vanished during an afternoon jog in Redding, California, in November 2016, her husband found her phone on the roadside with strands of her blonde hair tangled in the earbuds. Three weeks later, she reappeared on Thanksgiving morning—emaciated, bruised, with a chain around her waist. She claimed two Hispanic women had abducted and tortured her. The nation rallied around her. But investigators began noticing troubling inconsistencies in her story. This is Part 1 of one of the most shocking hoaxes in recent true crime history.

In Part 1, Sherri Papini claimed she was abducted and tortured by two Hispanic women. The nation believed her. But in Part 2, the truth unravels. Investigators discovered male DNA on Sherri's clothing—and it matched her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes. He revealed the shocking truth: Sherri had been staying with him the entire time. She asked him to brand her, cut her hair, and help stage the abduction. Sherri faked the whole thing, wasting hundreds of thousands in resources and sparking nationwide panic. This is how the hoax was exposed and the consequences she faced.