Tom Fenton
Sherri Papini's husband has filed for divorce, six years after she falsely claimed she'd been kidnapped while out jogging.
The California mother made international headlines after her extraordinary claims of torture and branding at the hands of her captors were swiftly debunked.
Now, it has emerged that her husband, Keith Papini, requested a divorce earlier this week (Wednesday 20 April).
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It's been brutal week for Sherri, with the filing coming just two days after she had entered guilty pleas for counts of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud, according to The Sacramento Bee.
This all relates back to her falsified account of a kidnapping that never happened back in 2016.
The 39-year-old claimed to have been abducted by two armed and masked Hispanic women in November of that year, after going out for an evening jog in her neighbourhood.
She subsequently alleged that the women tortured her, keeping her captive using chains.
After being discovered 22 days later, her story soon began to unravel. Investigators found that she had fabricated the kidnapping, and had instead been camping out with an ex-boyfriend in Southern California.
Fast-forward to the present day, and husband Keith appears to be moving on despite initially supporting his wife.
Six years ago, describing her false account of escaping from captivity, Keith told ABC's 20/20 show: "She screamed so much, she said she was coughing up blood from the screaming, trying to get someone to stop.
"Again, just another sign of how my wife is, she's so wonderful. She says maybe people aren't stopping because I have a chain, it looks like I broke out of prison, so she tried to tuck in her chain under the clothes," he added.
The key driving force behind Keith's decision to file for divorce appears to be his desire to retain custody of the couple's two children – and thus provide safe sanctuary for them.
In a statement first obtained by PEOPLE, he stated: "I wish to make it clear that my goal is to provide a loving, safe, stable environment for [the couple's children] and I believe the requested orders are consistent with that goal and the best interests of the children.
"I do not want to say anything in the pleadings connected to this matter that would inflame the situation or attract media attention."
Meanwhile, Sherri has also released a statement of her own, expressing regret over the pain she has caused her loved ones.
"I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behaviour 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," she declared last week.
"I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done."
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