Hulu docuseries Perfect Wife recounted the 2016 kidnapping hoax of Sherri Papini, during which she hid out with ex-boyfriend James Reyes.
Who Is Perfect Wife's James Reyes?
34-year-old Sherri Papini went missing from her home area of Redding, California on November 2, 2016. Her husband Keith Papini quickly became concerned for her wellbeing sparking a long police investigation that culminated on November 24, 2016, when she resurfaced on Thanksgiving.
Having claimed to have been kidnapped during this time and to have suffered injuries in the process, it was later uncovered she staged the event. In March 2022, Papini was arrested for making false statements to federal law enforcement, which later earned her an 18-month prison sentence and a $300,000 fine.
The truth behind her supposed time in captivity came about after testing of two DNA samples on her, one of which matched her ex-boyfriend James Reyes. Papini contacted Reyes "out of the blue" after knowing each other for many years to seek help escaping allegedly abusive husband Keith (via SFGATE).
Papini spent her three weeks missing hiding out at Reyes' Costa Mesa apartment in California. As reported by Time, Reyes admitted to helping Papini stage her injuries by holding a hockey stick for her to run into along with branding her.
[ Sherri Papini Now: Where Is The Perfect Wife Criminal Today? ]
Where Is Perfect Wife's James Reyes Today?
Despite his role in helping Sherri Papini fake her kidnapping and lying to law enforcement officials, James Reyes was never charged for his involvement.
Unlike others such as Keith Papini, Reyes was not involved in Hulu's Perfect Crime: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini.
In March 2022 after Papini was arrested, the Daily Mail reported on the first public sighting of Reyes since the incident. He declined to comment to the outlet after he was approached at his home in Nogales, Arizona.
Reyes shares the home with his grandfather Robert and their Australian heeler rescue dog, having moved at some point after the incident with Papini during which he was residing in Costa Mesa, California.
His uncle, Robert Dooty, told The New York Post after Papini was arrested and revealed his nephew had moved out of California by then (March 2022). He noted how Reyes had hired a lawyer and spoke to the FBI after Papini resurfaced.
Dooty, who was living with Reyes at the Costa Mesa apartment, called his nephew the type who "would help anybody" and had always avoided trouble. He recalled how Reyes told him he had got himself "into a real dinger helping this girl:"
"He didn’t say anything about exactly what happened but he said, ‘I got myself into a real dinger helping this girl,’ He kept that hush hush because none of us really knew… and I was living right there!”
While living in Costa Mesa, Reyes was working at a skate store, and details of his career trajectory since the movie are, unfortunately, unknown.
[ Sherri Papini: Why Did She Do It? The Perfect Wife's Crime Explained ]
All three episodes of Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini are streaming now on Hulu.
