Image copyright Facebook 
 
 A missing California jogger found on Thanksgiving day last week after a three-week abduction had been branded with a "message" by her captors. 
 
 "It is not a symbol, but it was a message," Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said of 34-year-old mother-of-two Sherri Papini's injuries. 
 
 On Wednesday, her husband Keith said she had suffered "repeated beatings". 
 
 Investigators are searching for two Hispanic adult women, last seen driving a dark-coloured SUV. 
 
 Image copyright Shasta County Sheriff Image caption Ms Papini was described as a "super mom" by her neighbours 
 
 Mrs Papini was discovered with a bag over her head and chained at the waist and wrists on the side of a highway, about 140 miles (225km) from her home in northern California before dawn last Thursday. 
 
 She was abducted while jogging near her home in Redding, California, on 2 November. 
 
 Image copyright Facebook Image caption Sherri Papini and her husband, Keith 
 
 Sheriff Bosenko said of the unspecified message branded on her skin: "I would think that that was some sort of either an exertion of power and control and/or maybe some type of message that the brand contained." 
 
 He also said her blonde hair had been cut off, speculating the attacker was "a very sick person who may have wanted not only to cut it off to change her physical appearance, but also as to humiliate them, wear her down". 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Sheriff Bosenko said that Mrs Papini suffered memory loss due to the "traumatic event" 
 
 Mr Papini told ABC News his wife was "was covered in bruises ranging from yellow to black". 
 
 "My Sherri suffered tremendously and all the visions swirling in your heads of her appearance, I assure you, are not as graphic and gruesome as the reality." 
 
 Image copyright Facebook Image caption Sherri Papini and her husband, Keith, and their children 
 
 Her nose had been broken and "her now emaciated body of 87lb (39kg) was covered in multicolored bruises, severe burns, red rashes and chain markings," he added. 
 
 Police have cleared Mr Papini of suspicion after he submitted to a polygraph test. 
 
 Image copyright Facebook 
 
 In his written statement, Mrs Papini's husband added: "Rumors, assumptions, lies, and hate have been both exhausting and disgusting. 
 
 "I understand people want the story, pictures, proof that this was not some sort of hoax, plan to gain money, or some fabricated race war. I do not see a purpose in addressing each preposterous lie." 
 
 Mrs Papini has spoken to investigators at least three times since her release on 24 November. 
 
 Police hope to soon release a sketch of the suspects, who are believed to be armed with a handgun. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Latest on a California woman who authorities say was abducted and held for three weeks (all times local): 
 
 2:30 p.m. 
 
 A California sheriff says a woman who was held captive for three weeks is unable to fully describe her two female abductors because their faces were covered. 
 
 Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Wednesday that the Spanish-speaking suspects also kept the head of 34-year-old victim Sherri Papini covered at times. 
 
 Papini went missing Nov. 2 while jogging near her home in Redding. She was dropped near Interstate 5 near Sacramento on Thanksgiving. 
 
 Bosenko said authorities are trying to do a sketch of the suspects based on Papini's limited recollections. 
 
 Papini told investigators one of the women had long curly hair, thin eyebrows and a thick accent. The older suspect had straight black hair and thick eyebrows. 
 
 Bosenko urged anyone with information on the case to come forward and told residents to stay cautious until the suspects are identified. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11 a.m. 
 
 A California sheriff says the abductors of a woman who was held captive for three weeks branded her with a message before she was released. 
 
 Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told "Good Morning America" on Wednesday (http://abcn.ws/2gx7urR) that the suspects may have been trying to humiliate Sherri Papini by cutting off her long blonde hair and branding her. 
 
 Bosenko declined to elaborate on the branding, saying only that it was a message, not a symbol. 
 
 Papini's husband has said his 34-year-old wife was covered with bruises and burns and was chained at the waist and wrists when she was found along Interstate 5 near Sacramento on Thanksgiving. 
 
 The mother of two small children disappeared while jogging Nov. 2 near her home in Redding.
– Keith Papini says his wife suffered "both intense physical agony and severe mental torture" while held captive for 22 days, and anyone spreading "disgusting" rumors "should be ashamed of their malicious, subhuman behavior." In a statement to ABC News, the husband of Sherri Papini—who flagged down a motorist in Yolo County, Calif., on Thanksgiving after disappearing Nov. 2—says he felt "horror and elation" when he first saw his wife at a hospital. "Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see … nor the details of the true hell I was about to hear," he says. Sherri—weighing just 87 pounds—had been branded; was covered in bruises, burns, and rashes; her nose was broken; and her hair was chopped off, he says. Hours earlier, Papini had been "thrown from a vehicle with a chain around her waist, attached to her wrists and a bag over her head," Keith Papini says. She used the bag to flag down a motorist after freeing one of her hands, he adds. Some will believe the abduction was "some sort of hoax, plan to gain money, or some fabricated race war," but "I do not see a purpose in addressing each preposterous lie," he says. Sheriff Tom Bosenko—who has confirmed that disparaging comments about Hispanics were posted online under Papini's maiden name—also confirmed details of Papini's condition to ABC News. He adds interviews with Papini are continuing to gain more information about her captors, described as two Hispanic women in a dark SUV. (Police earlier said Papini's story holds up.)