Where Is James Reyes, The Ex-Boyfriend In The Sherri Papini Case, Today?

Sherri Papini’s husband and kids were terrified when she disappeared while on a jog near their Redding, California home in November 2016.

But one person actually knew, where she was: James Reyes, an ex-boyfriend who helped her run away and let her hide out with him in his Costa Mesa house.

After vanishing for three weeks, Sherri turned up on Thanksgiving Day 2016, claiming she’d been abducted by two Hispanic women. She was still bound in a chain and had injuries on her body (which ended up being self-inflicted).

But it was all a lie.

Sherri Papini began serving her 18-month sentence this month, msn.com reported, after she was convicted on charges related to faking her own kidnapping.

Now, “Sherri Papini: Lies, Lies and More Lies,” a two-part special airing on Oxygen, takes a deep dive into the high-profile case and its key players. So, what happened to the man who helped shelter her?

Reyes’ connection to the phony abduction began to reveal itself in October 2017. Months after Sherri returned home to her husband, Keith, and two kids, Shasta County Sheriff's detectives made a bombshell discovery. Male DNA discovered on Sherri’s clothes when she was found did not belong to her husband.

In June 2020, FBI special agents collected items from Reyes’ trash outside his home in Costa Mesa. A month later, DNA from a bottle in Reyes’ garbage led to the match with the DNA on Sherri’s clothes, according to court documents.

When FBI special agents interviewed Reyes in August 2020, he said he helped Sherri because she told him her husband was abusing her. He said she was with him until she was discovered on Thanksgiving Day. She had never been kidnapped at all.

He explained that he and Sherri used prepaid phones to talk and that he picked her up on November 2, 2016 in a rental car a friend leased for him.

A key statement he made was that he knew nothing about Hispanic women abducting her. Reyes passed a polygraph test when he told officials his story, according to the New York Post.

RELATED: After Sherri Papini Admitted To Her Kidnapping Hoax, What Happened To Her Husband?

In a recorded interview with police, Sherri Papini expressed disbelief when they informed her Reyes had told them what really happened, which included “details nobody else would know.”

Reyes was not charged with any crime, according to Inside Edition.

As of April 2022, he was living in Arizona, the Daily Mail reported.

To learn more about this case, watch “Sherri Papini: Lies, Lies and More Lies,” streaming now on Oxygen.com.