Desperate search for missing mother in California
Raw video: Authorities, volunteers search for missing mother of two who was last seen jogging
The family of a missing California woman believes she had been abducted while she was out jogging.
Family and friends told the Ventura County Star on Thursday that Sherri Papini, 34, of Redding, was a devoted mother of two who wouldn’t think about leaving her children.
“She was out for a run. She wouldn’t leave her babies,” Sheila Koester, Papini’s sister, told the paper.
Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Papini was last seen around 2 p.m. in her neighborhood running about 1 1/2 miles away from Interstate 5. Papini had sent a text message to her husband Keith asking him whether he’d be home for lunch, Koester said. He said he wouldn’t.
“He returned to the home later in the evening, around 5, and no one was here,” Koester said. “He called the authorities immediately.”
Her family said that jogging in the area is routine for Papini. She then picks up her two children from daycare in the afternoon and then spends the rest of the day gardening with them or doing other projects.
Keith Papini used the Find My iPhone app to track his wife’s phone to see whether it would lead him to her or a possible body. Papini found the phone at an intersection where she had been seen last, but no sign of his wife.
“I would say my personal reaction is that it’s twofold,” Suzanne Papini told the paper. “One, is that is it’s good to have some sort of clue. The other portion is that it really points to she’s been taken. I mean, she wouldn’t just drop her phone if she was running away. So, at least it’s giving us some kind of information, but it’s pretty — we’re sick. This is a pretty sickening situation.”
Authorities have said that there were no reports of any major incidents at the Papini household nor have any suspects been identified. Police said there were four registered sex offenders in the area, but didn’t say whether those men had been cleared.
Papini is described as being 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. She was last seen wearing pink running clothes, deputies said.
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