Sherri Papini’s husband has revealed her horrific condition following her rescue more than three weeks after she went missing earlier this month.
“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. The bridge of her nose broken,” Keith Papini told Good Morning America in a statement. “She has been branded and I could feel the rise of her scabs under my fingers.”
The 34-year-old California woman was found on Thanksgving morning in Yolo County, about 225kms from where she went missing, police said.
Her husband Keith said that the mother of his two children, who went missing on November 2, was found with her head shaved and starved to a shocking 39 kilos.
“Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see upon my arrival at the hospital, nor the details of the true hell I was about to hear,” Keith continued. “The mental prison I was in over the past three weeks was shattered when my questions of my wife’s reality became known.”
Sherri was abducted after leaving her home in Redding, California for a late morning jog, CNN reports.
Hopes began to fade when during the initial search police and volunteers combed the area Papini had last been seen, but all that was recovered was an iPhone, earbuds headphones and strands of what was believed to be Papini’s hair along a route she frequented, authorities said.
Following his wife’s return Mr Papini also slammed some of the speculation surrounding her disappearance.
“Rumors, assumptions, lies and hate have both been both exhausting and disgusting,” he told GMA in the statement. “I understand people want the story, pictures, proof that this was not some sort of hoax, plan to get money or fabricated race war. I do not see a purpose in addressing each preposterous lie.”
Sherri has told police she was held captive by two Hispanic women and Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told media that authorities has no reason to suspect Papini is misleading police.
“So far we are still investigating this as a kidnapping abduction. And everything that she is providing us thus far is indicating that,” he said. “We currently don’t have a known motive or reason for this abduction. We don’t know if it was targeted to her specifically or a random abduction.”