Sherri Papini first made headlines when she was allegedly kidnapped after going out for a jog not far from her home in Redding, California, on Nov. 2, 2016. The made-for-TV story went like this: the then-34-year-old was held hostage by two abusive women before she was released three weeks later on Thanksgiving.
Six years later, the mother of two was in the news again for admitting that her abduction was all a hoax, and she was sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying to a federal officer. The saga is the subject of Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, which premiered on June 20 on Hulu. (Papini will share her side of the story in a 2025 docuseries for Investigation Discovery channel.)
Hulu’s limited series spans three episodes and features interviews from Papini’s now-ex-husband, Keith; his sister, Sheila Koester; Papini’s best friend, Jennifer Harrison; Shasta County sheriff Kyle Wallace; FBI special agents Denis Farmer, Courtney Lannto and Peter Jackson; and others.
A $50,000 reward was offered for Papini’s safe return and hundreds of people volunteered to help in the massive search to find her, bringing nationwide media attention to the case.
“With his investigation, it felt like the more people you talked to, the more you found that you were back to square one,” explains Wallace. “I read Sherri’s journals. I really just tried to let the information tell me what it is, in all evidence, that’s what you’re really trying to find is the truth within it.”
Papini was found on the side of a highway nearly 150 miles away from her home.
“I just remember Kyle Wallace coming into the room where I was at [and he said], ‘She only wants to talk to you.’ She was behind a curtain, and I pull back the curtain, and I look at her, and the way she looked at me, in that moment, I felt like she was lying,” Keith says in the docuseries.
When Papini returned, she received more than $30,000 from the California Victim Compensation Board through 2021. After she was arrested on federal charges in 2022, she signed a plea deal and was ordered to pay back over $300,000, including restitution for the costs of the police investigation.
See the trailer below and learn more about how to stream Perfect Wife for free.
How to Watch Perfect Wife Docuseries Online for Free
The docuseries about Sherri Papini, Perfect Wife, is available to stream exclusively on Hulu. Eligible new subscribers can watch the documentary for free with a 30-day trial to the ad-supported plan. After that, the service auto-renews at $7.99 per month.
How to Watch Perfect Wife Docuseries On Cable
Perfect Wife is only available on Hulu and there are currently no plans to air the docuseries on TV. The only ways to watch the Sherri Papini documentary is by streaming it on Hulu.
