She did not return.
Keith came home from work and found her gone. Her phone and earbuds were not in the house. He waited, then drove the route she typically jogged. He found her phone and earbuds at an intersection on Sunrise Drive, approximately a mile from their home. He called 911.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office responded and began an immediate investigation. The detail about the earbuds — noted by former investigators in later reporting — was that they were found coiled on top of the phone. The observation that experienced investigators made: earbuds left behind during a violent forced abduction, accompanied by the kind of struggle that would be expected from a kidnapping at gunpoint, would not typically be found arranged neatly. They would be tangled, scattered, where they fell. The arrangement at the scene was the first thing to register as odd, though it could not be acted on immediately as evidence of anything.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office launched a full missing-person investigation. The FBI joined within days, adding federal resources to what quickly became a high-profile case. The combination of Papini’s demographics — young mother, small children, no obvious reason to disappear voluntarily, no prior missing-persons history — and the nature of the scene generated the presumption of foul play that a case like this typically generates.
Search warrants were obtained. Nearly twenty warrants in total, issued over the course of the investigation, including warrants executed in Michigan. Cell phone records were reviewed. Bank accounts were examined. Email and social media accounts were searched. Community volunteers organized search parties, working through the terrain around Redding looking for physical evidence. Keith maintained public composure, gave media statements, and kept the case in front of local and regional news.