Woman's Kidnapping, Release Mystifies Investigators

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SACRAMENTO (CBSMiami) - Nearly a year after a California woman was kidnapped in broad daylight and then tortured before being released, investigators still have little to go on.

Last November, Sherri Papini vanished while jogging. Three weeks later she was found shackled on the side of a California freeway, bruised and beaten but alive.

Police in Shasta, where Papini and her husband live recently released two sketches of the women who she said abducted her.

Keith Papini said he will never forget the day his wife was taken, he said he found her phone about a mile from their home and called police in a panic.

"I found her phone it's got, like hair ripped out of it, like in the headphones, so I'm like totally freaking out thinking like somebody grabbed her," he said in a 911 call to the the Shasta County Sheriff's Office on November 2nd.

Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, she was found tied up with a chain along I-5. Papini was emaciated, weighing just 78 pounds. She also had a brand in one of her shoulders.

"She was bound with restraints, but was able to summon help of a passing motorist who then notified law enforcement," said Shasta Co. Sheriff Tom Bosenko.

Papani told investigators that the two women who forced her into their vehicle at gunpoint kept their faces covered.

"Sherri did her best that she could in providing the descriptions, but was not able to provide a detailed description due to the suspects covering their faces," said Bosenko.

Tests found both female and male DNA on Papini's body and clothes, neither belonging to her or her husband. Papini said her abductors spoke Spanish most of the time she was in their custody.

What mystifies investigators is that there is no clear motive. Police say Papini had been texting a male acquaintance from Michigan who she had planned to meet up with. He was interviewed by investigators and cleared of any involvement.