Sherri Papini went missing while out on a jog, and was found three-week's later 200km from where she was last seen. Photo / Supplied
Sherri Papini went missing while out on a jog, and was found three-week's later 200km from where she was last seen. Photo / Supplied
Keith Papini has spoken in graphic detail about his wife, Sherri Papini's account of what she went through during her alleged abduction.
In his first televised interview since his wife was discovered on the side of a highway, three weeks after disappearing on November 2, Mr Papini broke down while recounting what the mother of two endured.
"It was my wife screaming in the background, yelling my name," he told America's ABC 20/20 programme, describing the first time he heard Mrs Papini's voice over the phone after she was found almost 220km away from home in Yolo County on Interstate 5 freeway.
"I'm panicked but I'm happy because at this point, this is the first time I've heard her, I know she's alive," he added.
"I ran past everybody [at the hospital] and I throw open the curtain and she was there in her bed, and her poor face," he said, through tears.
"I just hugged her, I just held her, I felt like I held her for 20 minutes. I was so happy that she was there, just kissing her all over. I got nauseated just looking at her. It's so hard for me to see her like that."
Mr Papini said that his wife was constantly chained to objects so that she could not escape and tried desperately to stop passing vehicles once she was free.
"She literally lived through hell. The things she told me that she did ... she told me one time that she took some piece of cloth, and rolled it up like it was Violet (the couple's two-year-old daughter) and she would rock it. She's so strong," he told reporter Matt Gutman.
On his wife's attempts to flag down a motorist after being "thrown" out of the vehicle by her two female captors, Mr Papini said: "She screamed so much, she's coughing up blood from the screaming trying to get somebody to stop.
"And again just another sign of how my wife is, she's so wonderful. She's saying, 'Well maybe people aren't stopping because I have a chain that looks like I broke out of prison,' so she tried to tuck the chain under her clothes.
Describing his wife's physical appearance after her alleged kidnapping, he said: "The bruises were just intense, the bumps from being hit and kicked and whatever else ... these were hard to look at. Her hair, they chopped it off."
Mr Papini confirmed that the "branding" on his wife's body was not on her face, but declined to give more detail. Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko confirmed her skin was burned multiple times, and said the "vicious branding was a message".
Mrs Papini lost almost 15 per cent of her body weight in 22 days, and weighed just 39kg by the time she was found.
ABC News, television anchor Matt Gutman, left, interviews Keith Papini, the husband of Sherri Papini. Photo / AP
Sign for the missing Sherri Papini. Photo / AP
Reporter Matt Gutman, who has been following the investigation closely for the past month, said "she is doing better now ... but we've seen pictures of her face, it was almost unrecognisable." He said a friend who hugged her after the ordeal said that he could basically wrap his arms around her twice, she was so thin. "It seems cruel, almost beyond comprehension," he added.
"It made me sick that there is people out there that could do something like this," Mr Papini said.
"I just wanted to hold her and we just embraced each other and cried together and, I mean I was so happy. How do you explain that you're so upset with what happened but you're happy?"
He added: "It's terrifying but you know what, my family is with me now. Clearly I want justice but I'm just happy that my wife is back. I don't have to raise my kids without her now. This is something that we're never going to forget."
Mr Papini also spoke about the moment he told his two children individually that he had found their mother. "That makes me smile, we're back, we're whole," he said.
"I said, 'you know what buddy, we've found mum', and he just got the biggest grin!" "We all went to the ground for s big family hug, big family snuggles."
After two days of intense interviews, Mrs Papini was able to reveal more detail about her alleged kidnappers. But so many questions about the case remain unanswered.
Authorities are now working feverishly to piece together the clues of what happened to the 34-year-old mother.
"She was held against her will and was isolated, Sherri's head was covered. I will confirm that the suspects did brand her," Sheriff Bosenko said during a press conference.
"We don't know if this was a random abduction or a targeted abduction."
The family is currently staying away from home, to give Mrs Papini the time she needs to heal in private.
Mr Papini has been eliminated as a suspect following standard police procedure. Matt Gutman weighed in on the constant speculation regarding Mr Papini's involvement in his wife's disappearance and torture, saying: "I think they needed to clear their name.
There were so many conspiracies out there about Keith being involved, about Sherri somehow disappearing herself, about all of this being a hoax. They wanted to come to us, tell their story and for it to be out there and public."
The hoax theory began after police said they feared one of the few clues in her disappearance may have been planted as a red herring.
Ms Papini's iPhone and earbuds were found on the Mountain Gate trail about 1.5km from the Papini residence in the days after she vanished.
They were located by Mr Papini using the "Find my iPhone" app and detectives later confirmed several strands of Ms Papini's long blonde hair were tangled up in the earbud cords.
Shasta County Police Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Ms Papini's phone and earbuds had been "neatly placed" rather than dropped or thrown in a struggle.
"It appeared they had been set in some grass with the screen facing up, and then the earbuds to the phone were loosely coiled and appeared to be placed on the screen," he told Today.
"It did somewhat appear to be that it was placed there purposely."
