Sherri Papini (Photo: Courtesy photo) 
 
 REDDING - The so-far unexplained disappearance of a 34-year-old Redding-area woman shocked her family and friends, who said she’s a devoted mother of two who’d never leave her children. 
 
 And it’s that same devotion that leads family members to believe Sherri Papini was abducted. 
 
 “She was out for a run. She wouldn’t leave her babies,” Sheila Koester, 36, said of her sister, who disappeared Wednesday afternoon while on a run in the neighborhood surrounding her home. 
 
 Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Papini was last seen at about 2 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive, less than 1.5 miles east of Interstate 5 in the Mountain Gate area north of Redding. 
 
 She was jogging in the rural neighborhood, where residents live on large properties and the streets are sometimes paved and sometimes just gravel. 
 
 Sherri Papini sent a text message to her husband, Keith Papini, earlier in the day to ask whether he’d be home for lunch, Koester said. He replied later in the afternoon and 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.” 
 
 Sherri Papini typically picks up the couple's two children from day care in the afternoon, family members said. Jogging in the neighborhood is typical for her. 
 
 “She’s here with them every day gardening and doing projects. There’s just no way she would just take off,” said Suzanne Papini, Keith Papini’s sister. 
 
 Keith Papini used the Find My iPhone app to track his wife’s phone less than a mile from their home to the intersection of Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive, where he found the phone, according to authorities. 
 
 But there was no other sign of his wife. 
 
 “I would say my personal reaction is that it’s twofold,” Suzanne Papini said. “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.” 
 
 About two-dozen searchers spent the night and day combing the area where the phone was found, although the search radius of about a half-mile could be expanded. 
 
 “It depends on the search today and what we find and the evidence and we’ll have to expand it out potentially if something else has not developed,” sheriff’s Lt. Anthony Bertain said Thursday. 
 
 Sherri Papini doesn’t have any known physical or mental health conditions that could explain why she disappeared, Bosenko said. 
 
 Deputies also have no history of calls for major incidents to the Papini home, Bosenko said. 
 
 Deputies haven’t identified anyone suspected of involvement in the disappearance, although they are checking with registered sex offenders who live in the area. Bosenko said. A search of the state’s sex offender registry reveals four men reported living within about a mile of where the phone was found. 
 
 Bosenko wouldn’t say whether deputies had cleared any of those four men of their involvement, citing the ongoing investigation. 
 
 Family members so far have let deputies handle the search effort. The wait for information is taking a toll, they said. 
 
 “It’s terrible. I’m just in a state of being emotionless so that I can do what needs to be done and take care of my brother,” Suzanne Papini said. 
 
 The family is looking into a possible reward for information that leads to finding the woman they described as “very bubbly, friendly," adding that she "has a great smile, absolutely loves her children and would do anything for them.” 
 
 Sherri and Keith Papini grew up in Redding, friends and family members said. 
 
 Sherri Papini is 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds and was last seen wearing pink running clothes, deputies said. 
 
 Anyone with information relevant to the case is asked to call 245-6540. Tips also can be submitted via email to mcu@co.shasta.ca.us. 
 
 Family members and friends wishing to help in the search efforts can contact Koester via Facebook messenger, she said. 
 
 “It’s hard for me to filter through all the posts right now,” Koester said. 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2016/11/03/california-woman-missing-possibly-abducted/93261962/ ||||| As the search intensifies for Sherri Papini, a California mother of two who was reported missing after failing to return from an afternoon jog, her husband tells ABC News that he believes she was abducted. 
 
 Interested in Sherri Papini? Add Sherri Papini as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Sherri Papini news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest 
 
 “Everybody who knows my wife knows that there’s no reason for her to leave ... She was definitely taken against her will,” Keith Papini told ABC News in a Sunday interview. 
 
 Sherri Papini, 34, of Shasta County was reported missing on Wednesday at about 6 p.m. after having gone jogging at approximately 2 p.m. According to a poster that was distributed in the search effort, Papini was last seen jogging alone on Sunrise Drive in Redding. 
 
 Described by her family as being a “super mom,” she failed to pick up her two young children from child care on Wednesday, sparking concern. 
 
 “I received a text message from her at 10:37 a.m. that day asking me if I was coming home for lunch,” Keith Papini said. “I usually don’t bring my personal phone in on my job. So I didn’t respond to that message until 1:39 p.m. that day.” 
 
 Papini added that he traced his wife’s cellphone using an app that tracks lost phones and found the device on the side of a road. 
 
 “Knowing that she didn’t pick up our kids — there is no way that ever happens,” Papini said. “She could drop her phone, but she would never in a million years not pick up our children on a time that she normally would have.” 
 
 Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said on Saturday that the missing woman was “considered at risk due to the suspicious circumstances.” 
 
 She was last seen wearing a pink jogging top. Search teams have been scouring the area, and Papini’s family has offered a $50,000 reward to anyone who can provide information leading to her whereabouts. 
 
 “She has a family that loves her. Please just bring her home,” said her sister, Sheila Koester. ||||| Husband talks about missing wife,... 
 
 MOUNTAIN GATE, Calif. - Sherri Papini went missing last Wednesday and no one as seen or heard from her since. 
 
 Keith Papini, Sherri's husband, believes she was abducted and is asking for her safe return. 
 
 "Bring her home, bring her home, just bring her home,” Keith said as tears filled his eyes. “Bring her home safe there is a $50,000 reward just bring her home." 
 
 It's been five days since Sherri was last seen wearing a pink jogging jacket off Old Oregon Trail in Mountain Gate, north of Redding. 
 
 "It's hard waiting you know, you are waiting for a phone call, you're waiting for something to tell us this is the directions, or this is the house, or this is the car and that is very difficult right now." 
 
 On November 2, Keith came home and noticed Sherri's car was there, which is normal, but when he went inside their house it was abnormally quiet. 
 
 "And on normal days I would open the door and my family comes, runs and give me a hug," Keith said with a small smile on his face. 
 
 This time he was not welcomed with hugs from Sherri and his two children ages two and four. 
 
 So he searched their house and their property, but could not find his family. 
 
 Keith called their daycare and the children still had not been picked up. 
 
 He used the Find my iPhone app to locate Sherri's phone, which was down the street, off Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise. 
 
 "That's when I knew she had been taken or abducted, in my opinion," Keith noted. 
 
 He called 911 and a search for his wife started. 
 
 The sheriff's office does not have enough evidence or information at this time to point to an abduction. 
 
 Anthony Bertain, a lieutenant with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, noted they have received well over 100 tips since last Thursday. 
 
 Keith is determined to find his wife. 
 
 "If she is listening I want to say, 'We are trying, we are trying the best we can and I am sorry I'm not there',." Keith said while crying. "I'm coming honey. I am trying, I'm doing everything I can and I love you." 
 
 The Papini children do not know their mother is missing and not having his wife by his side is difficult. 
 
 "It's the worst thing in the world," Keith paused and continued to say,"I never, it's never, it's the worst thing ever," 
 
 Keith noted he just wants his wife back. 
 
 He is also extremely grateful for the support the community is offering to help him find his wife. 
 
 Anthony Bertain, a lieutenant with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, noted Keith is cooperating with them. 
 
 Today the sheriff’s office was vetting through possible leads. 
 
 Bertain noted they along with officers from the Redding Police Department were making contact with known sex offenders, parolees and people on probation. 
 
 "So far no leads have come from those particular individuals," Bertain noted. 
 
 He added they temporarily suspended the ground search in the area where the phone was found. 
 
 "We have not ruled out going back out there, but right now it's temporarily suspended until we get a better direction on which way we are going to go on this investigation," Bertain explained. 
 
 If anyone has information on Sherri Papini’s whereabouts or tips, they can call dispatch 24 hours a day at 530-245-6540, or the Major Crimes Unit at 530-245-6135. Tips can also be submitted to mcu@co.shasta.ca.us. ||||| Friends, family and neighbors united over the weekend in a desperate effort to find a missing California woman. 
 
 Sherri Papini 
 
 Sherri Papini, 34, of Redding, CA was last seen jogging in her neighborhood on the morning of Wednesday, November 2. 
 
 Family members sounded the alarm later that day, when they learned that Sherri hadn't picked her two children up at daycare, which was completely out of character. 
 
 "She absolutely loved and adored her children and did anything for them," Sheila Koester, Sherri's sister, told Dateline NBC. 
 
 Keith Papini, Sherri's husband, tracked her cell phone to less than 1.5 miles east of Interstate 5 in the Mountain Gate area north of Redding using the Find My iPhone application. Sherri's ear buds were still in the phone, with strands of her hair attached. No other items were recovered at the scene. 
 
 A coordinated search effort began on Thursday. Members of the Shasta County Sheriff's Office and Rescue team deployed all over the area in search of Sherri, with helicopters from the California Highway patrol providing air support. 
 
 Sherri's family and friends, as well as residents of the community, pounded the pavement in a steadfast effort to get the word out about Sherri's disappearance, putting up fliers all over town. 
 
 Over the weekend, an impassioned army of community members was dispersed to air the search. 
 
 "It's an amazingly close-knit community," Sheila Koester told Dateline. "We had an outpouring of community that wanted to help with the search. We had, I believe, close to 1,000 people who came out within those days periodically to help us." 
 
 The pink top Sherri was reportedly last seen wearing. 
 
 Sheila said the search spanned a 5-6 mile radius from the Papini home and described the search area as "rural and forested." 
 
 The family has also received support from the nonprofit organization Secret Witness, which has offered a $50,000 reward for Sherri's safe return. 
 
 A family friend set up a GoFundMe account to provide additional funds for the reward. As of Monday evening, the account had raised over $26,000. 
 
 The Nor-Cal Alliance for the Missing assisted Sherri's family in coordinating the search effort and the Facebook page "Help Find Sherri Papini" which now has more than 8,000 likes. 
 
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 Sheila said Sherri was training for an upcoming race where participants dress in superhero clothes and run to raise money for disadvantaged children. 
 
 "She is a bright, bubbly, intelligent, beautiful and loving mother," Sheila told Dateline. 
 
 Authorities continue to follow up on leads and, in a Shasta County News Release, labeled Sherri's disappearance as "suspicious circumstances/at risk." 
 
 "She's a beloved mother, she would never leave her children," Sheila told Dateline. "We miss her. And if I was speaking to Sherri, I would want her to know that we are looking for her and we are not giving up." 
 
 Anyone with information on Sherri Papini is asked to call the Shasta County Sheriff's office at 530-245-6540 or the Sheriff's Major Crimes Unit at 530-245-6135. Tips can also be submitted via email to mcu@co.shasta.ca.us or call 530-243-2319. 
 
 For further information or to request posters to help and post in your area please visit https://www.facebook.com/Help-Find-Sherri-Papini-1869941749906203/ ||||| Nathan Solis/ Record Searchlight 
 
 Mark Cox directs volunteers on Sunday morning in a neighborhood north of Redding in the search for Sherri Papini, who was reported missing Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 SHARE Sherri Papini Sherri Papini 
 
 By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight 
 
 Four days after the disappearance of a Redding woman last seen jogging in her Mountain Gate neighborhood, organizers met Sunday morning in hats and jackets to continue the search in the rain. 
 
 Sherri Papini, 34, was last seen Wednesday wearing a pink jogging top near Sunrise Drive and Old Oregon Trail, according to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, who called her disappearance suspicious and said the mother of two is at risk. 
 
 On Sunday morning volunteers fanned out into the neighborhood near Sundust Road northeast of Redding to ask residents if they had seen or heard anything suspicious in the area. 
 
 Volunteers noted homes with surveillance cameras pointing out to the street. They will pass along that information to the Sheriff's Office. 
 
 Over the three days of searching the surrounding neighborhood volunteers have found only a few bits of items that would be worth mentioning, said Trudy Nickens, organizer with Nor-Cal Alliance for the Missing. They will pass along any information to the Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit. 
 
 "The public did a great job," Nickens said. "They really tried hard to get out there and look. It is so nice to see the community come in and take this seriously." 
 
 Members of the Shasta Support Services were also part of the search group on Sunday. 
 
 Mark Cox, a friend of Papini's family, led a group of 13 along Portero Drive, east of Old Oregon Trail. Volunteers walked in the rain and a neighbor pointed the group to a nearby pond. The group walked a dirt trail and saw that the area was undisturbed. 
 
 Maria Schwartz and her husband, Lee, met Papini's parents at a social event and kept in touch through social media. They walked the neighborhood with the rest of the group. 
 
 "As a mother I can't even imagine what they are going through," said Maria Schwartz. 
 
 The volunteer group knocked on doors along the street and called out Papini's name in the open fields. They ducked their heads into storm drains and yelled to the homes behind locked gates. 
 
 Earlene Solly and her husband, Mike, did not know Papini or anyone in her family, but felt the need to join the search efforts. 
 
 "It's the least we can do," Earlene Solly said. "Having more people asking questions will be better for everyone." 
 
 Art Apple of Redding, and Jeff Taylor of Paradise walked the neighborhood with the group. Taylor's known Papini's family for several years and felt compelled to be part of the search. 
 
 Along the way the group stopped at Martin Schuler's house. Schuler went to high school with Papini and learned of the news from a friend. 
 
 "It's just so sad," Schuler said. "She was a few years younger than me, but we knew the same friends growing up." 
 
 Search organizers plan to meet again later in the week. 
 
 Papini's sister, Sheila Koester, said Saturday that $40,000 has been added to a previous reward of $10,000 offered through Secret Witness of Shasta County. Money for the added reward was pledged through private donations. 
 
 Anyone with information on Sherri Papini is asked to call the sheriff's office at 245-6540 or the Sheriff's Major Crimes Unit at 245-6135. Tips can also be submitted via email to mcu@co.shasta.ca.us.
– Family members fear a California woman has been abducted after she went for a jog on Wednesday and never returned. Sherri Papini, a 34-year-old mother of two, seemingly vanished while jogging around 2pm Wednesday near her home in a rural neighborhood of Redding, reports Redding's Record Searchlight. Relatives say her husband arrived home from work around 5pm and immediately realized his wife was missing as she hadn't picked up their children, aged 2 and 4, from daycare, reports KRCR. Using the Find My iPhone app, Keith Papini discovered his wife's phone on the side of a road at an intersection less than a mile from their home, but she was nowhere to be found, reports ABC News. NBC News notes that the headphones were still plugged in, and strands of her hair were present. "She was definitely taken against her will," her husband says. "She could drop her phone but she would never in a million years not pick up our children." The Shasta County Sheriff's Office says it's investigating registered sex offenders in the area—there are reportedly four living within a mile radius of the phone's location—but "so far no leads have come from those particular individuals," an officer says. Members of the public who've been searching the area have discovered only a few items that could be linked to the case, a rep for Nor-Cal Alliance for the Missing tells the Record Searchlight, without elaborating. A $50,000 reward is offered for information leading to Papini's whereabouts. (Two joggers were brutally killed in August.)