Sherri Papini Latest Update: Did California Mother Lie About Abductors? Expert Believes Serial Rapist, Serial Killer Involvement

Just days after Sherri Papini told police that two Hispanic women abducted her and held her captive, an expert has pointed at the involvement of "serial rapist, serial killer" in the case. Serial killer profiler John Kelly told People magazine Friday that he isn’t convinced that two armed women kidnapped the 34-year-old woman.

The expert said that he is convinced the case “has serial rapist, serial killer all over it,” adding that whoever abducted Papini left her “scared to death of these people.” Kelly said that the people involved in the kidnapping have terrified Papini into lying about her abductor’s identity.

“This is a sadistic situation, and she somehow was able to convince them to let her go,” Kelly told People in this week’s issue.

“She somehow got them to believe she would not squeal on them,” he said reportedly. “It’s only by an act of God that they let her go. I have a hard time understanding that as sadistic as these [people] are — and I’ve hunted many of them — would let someone live.”

Papini disappeared on Nov. 2 while out jogging near her home in Redding, California. Her husband Keith filed a missing complaint after she failed to pick up her children from daycare. She was found heavily battered on Thanksgiving morning after being spotted by a motorist on Interstate 5 in Woodland, more than 150 miles from her home.

Police are still searching for the suspects in the case, believed to be two Hispanic women — one with curly hair, and the other with straight hair — who had covered their faces and spoke mostly Spanish.

Since the time of her release, Keith has revealed his wife's ordeal in captivity. He said that she was repeatedly beaten and starved. She also showed some signs of psychological trauma after her release. The California mother was underweight — and a message had also been burned directly onto her skin.

According to the expert Kelly, the branding could be a sign that Papini’s abductors wanted her for sex-trafficking, but he said he wouldn’t be surprised if the branding was done to “throw the case off.”

“It’s called staging,” he told People. “They’ve set up that it was two women, that they picked on you because you are this all-American girl, that they are Hispanic and upset with the political climate, and we will tattoo a message on you that corresponds.”