Sherri Papini's shameless bid for vindication in a new documentary is disturbing proof of her insatiable hunger for attention and loose grasp on reality, says the ex-mayor of the town she terrorized with her abduction hoax.

Victoria ‘Missy’ McArthur was mayor of Redding, California, when Gone Girl faker Papini – a 34-year-old married mom-of-two – vanished after going out for a run in November 2016.

For three weeks, McArthur organized neighborhood searches, calmed fearful residents and comforted Papini’s devastated husband, Keith, as he made tearful pleas for her safe return on local news.

Keith’s wish was miraculously granted on Thanksgiving, when Papini was found wandering along a roadside 150 miles away. She was emaciated, with a broken nose, her blonde hair crudely hacked off, and a branding mark seared into her shoulder.

Papini shared with investigators an incredible tale of survival. She'd been kidnapped by two Hispanic women, held captive, chained in a closet for 22 days and subjected to horrific acts of abuse and torture... but she'd managed to cling to life.

The dramatic and horrifying story sounded like something lifted from a Hollywood script – and when holes began appearing in Papini’s plot, suspicions grew that it had been.

Six years later, she was arrested by the FBI after it was discovered she’d staged the entire ordeal to conceal an affair she was having with her ex-boyfriend. Papini reached a plea deal with investigators, admitting to the farce, and spent 18 months behind bars.

But now, she has walked back her confession. In the new documentary Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, she claims she didn’t fabricate her abduction, only the identity of her captor.

Sherri Papini has recanted her confession for staging an elaborate abduction hoax in 2016 and now claims she was kidnapped but she lied about who the culprit was 

In the documentary, Papini accuses Keith of being emotionally abusive, controlling and neglectful. He denied all of her claims

Former mayor McArthur warns anyone who watches the show to proceed with caution, telling the Daily Mail: ‘If she’s lying, it’s because her mouth is moving.’ 

McArthur recounted being completely duped by Papini with an ‘Oscar-worthy performance’ during a meeting with her and Keith after her remarkable return.

She met with the couple at their home two weeks later and was convinced Papini had been traumatized and appeared to be exhibiting all the signs of someone suffering PTSD.

‘Sherri exhibited psychological paranoia and was just literally clinging to her husband, and made me think she truly had been abused,’ said McArthur.

‘That’s what was so hard when it was all revealed to be a con. So many of us were left feeling disappointed and upset because we’d been tricked into believing her story.'

In Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie, experts and family members weigh in on what Sherri’s motive for staging her kidnapping would be, aside from just concealing an affair.

Her therapist, Steve Diggs, who believes she was abducted, said that, typically, the culprits behind elaborate schemes of deception have a concrete motive of gain – whether it be financial or something else – that compels them to act the way they do.

But McArthur believes Papini’s motive for staging the hoax, and appearing in a documentary attempting to clear her name nine years later despite confessing to lying, is one of the same.

‘I think [in 2016] she was bored with her life, with her marriage, and she wanted attention. Maybe she wanted attention from her husband, maybe she didn’t realize how big it would get, but it did,’ said McArthur.

‘‘But now, clearly that wasn’t enough for her, and she’s out trying to get notoriety once again… she’s just a serial attention seeker. She craves it.'

Victoria ‘Missy’ McArthur was the mayor of Redding, California, when Papini vanished. She told the Daily Mail Papini's latest claims should not be believed

McArthur added: ‘She’s just trying to come up with a better story for herself.

‘I don’t know if she’s delusional or just doesn’t know reality… but she’s proven she’s a pathological liar, and you can’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth.’

The new Papini-led documentary is due to air on ID and HBO Max on May 26.

In the series, Papini stunningly accuses her ex-boyfriend James Reyes of kidnapping and sexually abusing her over three weeks inside his home in Costa Mesa, California.

She confesses that she and Reyes had been embroiled in a months-long digital affair, but alleges he abducted her after she tried to call their texting tryst off.

During the 22 days she was missing, Papini claims she was beaten, assaulted, drugged, and sexually abused by Reyes, often with masochistic acts.

‘My pain got him off,’ alleges Papini in the documentary. ‘The more pain he could inflict, the easier it was for him.

‘How can you consent to that when you’re being chained to a wall and starved?’

Papini claims she was previously too afraid to identify Reyes as the culprit, fearful he'd come after her and her family and enact violent vengeance.

Papini also said she couldn’t tell the truth to her husband, Keith Papini, because she was worried she’d never see her children again if he learned of the affair.

Papini showcases the branding scar she claims to have suffered at the hands of Reyes. The assortment of letters was believed to relate to a bible verse

The fake abductors: Sketches composed by investigators from Papini's sham recollections are seen above. She claims made the image of one the captors (right) to resemble Reyes' mom - who is later revealed to be Irish, not Hispanic as Papini claims

Reyes has denied all of Papini’s claims through his attorney and has never been charged with any crimes relating to her disappearance.

He told the FBI that Papini contacted him out of the blue in 2015 and told him she wanted to run away with him. The pair had previously dated in the early 2000s, but he hadn’t heard from her in years.

He said she claimed Keith was being physically and emotionally abusive, and she needed to run away or she wouldn’t escape her marriage alive.

On the day Papini disappeared, Reyes hired a rental car and drove 10 hours from his home in Costa Mesa to Redding to pick her up.

‘I didn’t kidnap her,’ he told FBI investigators in a recorded interview.

‘She was just a friend in need asking for help. She was trying to get away from her husband.’

When they arrived back in Costa Mesa, Reyes told investigators Papini asked him to place boards over the window of the room she was staying in to keep it dark.

He also said she’d lock herself in for hours at a time, never leave the home once, and also appeared to be intentionally starving herself, often declining to eat more than half a banana.

It was when Papini decided she wanted to return home that things took a turn, Reyes said.

Papini claims Reyes abducted her while she was out running after she tried to put a stop to their digital affair

Keith Papini made several tearful appeals for his wife's safe return during the 22 days she was supposedly missing 

He claimed Papini began inflicting injuries on herself, burning her arms, striking herself in the face, and even instructed him to brand her with a biblical passage on her right shoulder using a wood-burning tool from Hobby Lobby.

Reyes said he returned home from work one day to find Papini had cut off her hair.

Reyes underwent a polygraph test in 2020 and passed on every question he was asked.

He has never been accused or charged with any crimes relating to Papini’s disappearance.

When asked in the documentary how he was able to pass his lie detector, if what she’s saying is true, Papini responds: ‘Oh, he’s a sociopath.’

Papini claims she eventually persuaded Reyes to let her go on the basis that she’d never name him to the police.

She was arrested in April 2022 and eventually pleaded guilty to lying to a federal agent, receiving a sentence of 18 months in prison.

When asked by the judge if she was kidnapped, Papini replied: ‘No, your honor.’

Keith Papini, who had publicly stood by Sherri for years, divorced her within two days of her plea, and the couple has been locked in a custody dispute over their two children ever since.

Papini signed a plea deal in 2022 for lying to investigators. She was released from prison in August 2023, having served 18 months

Sherri and Keith are currently locked in a custody battle over their two children, who are now in their early teens

In a statement issued through her attorney at the time, Papini apologized to the public and pledged to make amends for her lies.

‘I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so sorry for the pain I’ve caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story, and those who worked so hard to try to help me,’ read the statement.

‘[I will] work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.’

McArthur laughed that perhaps Papini was suffering from short-term memory loss.

‘I really hope she gets help because her children need to grow up and have a mother they can rely on, to know she’s there, and to know she’s sane,’ said McArthur, striking a more serious tone.

‘She needs serious psychological help, but not everyone is capable of change.

‘I don’t know her well enough to say either way… but if she really wants to make amends, she should start giving back to the community she betrayed.’

Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie will premiere across two nights on May 26 and May 27 from 9-11PM ET/PT on ID and HBO Max.