The sister of the Redding-area woman who vanished three weeks ago only to be found early Thanksgiving morning on the side of a road in Yolo County says the family is elated and relieved that Sherri Papini has been reunited with them. 
 
 “This has been the most amazing Thanksgiving that our family could ever ask for,” Sheila Koester said Friday in a phone interview with The Sacramento Bee. “We’re all very, very, very excited, very, very relieved and just very thankful for getting our Sherri back.” 
 
 Koester declined to say whether Sherri Papini, 34, has seen her two young children or if she’s made it back the rural home she shares with her husband, Keith, in Mountain Gate, Shasta County, a mile from where she disappeared after going for a jog on Nov. 2. 
 
 “What I can say is that her and Keith have been reunited,” Koester said. “And that they are very happy to be together and they're very thankful for everyone for allowing them to have their privacy and allowing them to recover from their situation that all of us have been in.” 
 
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 Papini was found around 4:30 a.m. Thursday after she flagged down a driver on Interstate 5 in Yolo County, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Thursday in a news conference. 
 
 Investigators say Papini was bound with restraints when she was let out of a sport-utility vehicle near a freeway interchange in the town of Yolo. They say she was able to flag down a motorist on the freeway near County Road 17. 
 
 “CHP is on scene and advised that she is chained to something,” a radio dispatcher told a responding officer Thursday in an audio clip obtained by The Sacramento Bee. “CHP is advising that she is heavily battered.” 
 
 Authorities are searching for two women armed with a handgun. 
 
 SHARE COPY LINK Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko says he is "ecstatic" to report that Sherri Papini has been located and reunited with her husband and family on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24, 2016. "Sherri is now safe," he said, after being taken capti Randall BentonThe Sacramento Bee 
 
 Papini’s husband, Keith, reported Sherri Papini missing on Nov. 2 after she didn’t pick up her two young children from day care that afternoon, something her family members say was completely out of character for the devoted mom. 
 
 Bosenko said at a Thursday news conference that Papini was injured during her abduction, but did not provide details on the extent of her injuries. She was treated at a hospital in the Sacramento area and released. Koester said she’s met with her sister, but she declined to provide details about her condition. 
 
 The sheriff said police are looking for two Hispanic women driving a dark-colored SUV in connection with the abduction, based on Papini’s description. Authorities have no other information about the captors, including other details of their appearance or clothing. 
 
 On Friday, Koester expressed gratitude to investigators, search teams and media outlets for keeping Papini’s story alive. Koester said she’s hopeful her sister’s abductors will be found. 
 
 She also thanked the motorist, who hasn’t yet been identified by detectives, who stopped for Papini on the side of the road. 
 
 “We appreciate that person stopping and helping her,” she said. 
 
 One woman posted on social media after Papini was found to say she saw her on the side of the road and called 911, but didn’t stop. 
 
 “I couldn’t stop in time to help you this morning but I did pull over and report to police that I saw you by the road and was certain you needed help,” said Alison Sutton, who posted on a Facebook page dedicated to finding Papini. “I am thankful that someone else was able to pull over safely to help you and that you are safe. God bless you and your family.” 
 
 “Thank you very much for alerting the police,” replied Rod Rodriguez III, who says he’s Sherri’s father-in-law. “We greatly appreciate your assistance.” 
 
 “I don’t know that my call helped her,” she wrote in a follow-up post. “I am very thankful she is safe and back with her family. This is truly a Thanksgiving to remember.” 
 
 Rodriguez didn’t returned a phone message left Friday at his home near Redding. Sutton couldn’t be reached for comment. 
 
 The Sacramento Bee on Friday morning requested 911 tapes and dispatch logs from the California Highway Patrol and the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, but the agencies haven’t provided them. 
 
 Bosenko, meanwhile, appeared Friday on “Good Morning America,” but he didn’t offer new details about the case. Like Koester, he said Papini was overjoyed to be reunited with her family. “Of course, she was very emotional to be released and hear her husband’s voice and then a few hours later to be reunited with him,” he told the news program. 
 
 With little new information being released Friday, various online sleuths have been trying to find out what might have motivated two women to abduct Papini and then let her go. 
 
 Before Papini reappeared, investigators said they had spoken with her friends and acquaintances, as well as “people Sherri has had past relationships with” to try to find her. Investigators said they had gone out of state tracking down leads. 
 
 Detectives have authored close to 20 search warrants – some of which are sealed – and they said they’re examining cellphone records, bank accounts, email and social media profiles. Investigators have declined to discuss what prompted them to file the search warrants or why detectives have traveled out of state. Bosenko said Friday he had no new information to release. ||||| Contributed photo 
 
 Sherri Papini went missing Nov. 2 from the area of Old Oregon Trail and Sunset Drive in Mountain Gate but was located Thanksgiving Day. She is pictured with her husband, Keith. 
 
 SHARE Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko addresses the media during a press conference to announce the discovery of missing person Sherri Papini on Thursday in Yolo County. Papini was located safe around 4:30 a.m. on a rural road near Interstate 5 and County Road 17. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight People get ready to release balloons Thursday morning for Sherri Papini, who was discovered earlier that morning in northern Yolo County. The balloons were released during the Turkey Trot at the Diestelhorst Landing area before news surfaced of Papini’s return. Sherri Papini. 
 
 By Jenny Espino, Record Searchlight 
 
 Update 7:45 a.m. 
 
 Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko appeared on Good Morning America on Friday morning, where he said missing mom Sherri Papini was "very emotional" after being found. 
 
 "The California Highway Patrol was able to connect her to her husband via cell phone and he immediately started responding to the Yolo County-Sacramento area. Of course, she was very emotional to be released and hear her husband's voice and then a few hours later to be reunited with him," Bosenko told Good Morning America. 
 
 A passerby found Papini along the side of a road near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, north of Sacramento, a "short amount of time" after her alleged captors dropped her off, Bosenko said. 
 
 "Evidently, one of the captors had dropped her off on a rural road near Interstate 5 and an interchange," he said. "She was able to flag down a motorist and that motorist summoned emergency assistance from the highway patrol then medical [responders] as well." 
 
 Authorities are searching for two Hispanic women armed with a handgun and driving a dark SUV as the main suspects in Papini's alleged abduction. Papini herself provided that information, Bosenko said. 
 
 Bosenko said investigators have received "limited information" on the case from Papini, he told Good Morning America. 
 
 “Obviously she was emotional and quite upset but elated to be free and so we were able to get some information from her. In the days following this, we’ll be following up with her," Bosenko said. “We hope that we can get additional information to identify (the suspects), maybe the SUV, and then hopefully they can be found and brought to justice.” 
 
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 Original story 
 
 Sherri Papini, the Mountain Gate mom who vanished Nov. 2 during a jog around her neighborhood, is safe after being found Thanksgiving morning near Interstate 5 in Yolo County trying to flag down help while still bound with restraints. 
 
 Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said at a Thursday afternoon press conference that his office was notified of her discovery at 4:30 a.m. Thursday and that she had been released by her captor on a rural road near the freeway. 
 
 He said Papini, 34, had been taken to and released from a hospital in Yolo County for treatment of non-life threatening injuries and her husband, Keith Papini, was by her side. 
 
 A family spokesman thanked law enforcement officers for their work and residents for support and prayers that were answered. 
 
 “This is a Thanksgiving beyond belief for all of us,” Rod Rodriguez posted on the Facebook group Redding Crime 2.0. “Although I have no details yet we are joyous that Sherri is alive and Keith is reunited with her in the hospital." 
 
 That sentiment resonated across Northern California as people found out about the case and shared it on social media. Several people called the Record Searchlight to ask whether the information was indeed true. 
 
 News that Papini had been located safe was made public about two hours after family, friends and supporters gathered at Diestelhorst Landing just before the start of the Turkey Trot for a somber balloon release to bring awareness about her disappearance. 
 
 There, a family friend, Scott Bruland, was keeping hope alive that she would be returned safe. 
 
 So, too, was the thought of detectives who had been working the case tirelessly, Bosenko said. He listed their checks on registered sex offenders, searches across Shasta County and research on state and national databases. He also spoke of receiving assistance from the Redding Police Department and working with authorities in Yolo County. 
 
 Before taking questions from reporters from across Northern California and Oregon, Bosenko cautioned there is sensitive information in the case that has not been disclosed at this time. 
 
 So far, the investigation points to what happened to Papini being an isolated incident, he said. She was out for an early morning jog on Nov. 2 and was abducted from the area where Keith Papini later found her cell phone and earbuds — about a mile from their home at Old Oregon Trail and Sunrise Drive, he said. 
 
 Investigators are looking for a dark SUV with two Hispanic females who are armed with a handgun and are suspects in the abduction. 
 
 There is no other information about the suspects, and it is not known whether Papini knew them. The sheriff said deputies know if she spoke to them, but because of the nature of the investigation, he declined to comment further. 
 
 He also said he would not be disclosing how she was restrained, the type of injuries she received or whether she had been sexually assaulted. He said he did not know why the captor had released Papini and his detectives were working to find out more information about where she was kept and for how long. 
 
 Asked about her emotional state, Bosenko said Papini is “very relieved to be returned home safely and be reunited with her husband.” Papini is the mother of two young children. 
 
 The sheriff thanked the public for keeping attention on the case and noted his office had received more than 400 tips during the course of the investigation, though none pointed to the captor. He asked for the public’s help as the investigation moves into a new chapter. 
 
 “We are confident that, with the public’s help, we will make an arrest in the case,” he said, with Stephanie Bridgett of the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office standing nearby. 
 
 Bridgett said she joined the sheriff’s office in being ecstatic that Papini had been released and returned to her family. “It shows what a community can do when they work together to get the word out,” she said. “Law enforcement works around the clock and works with all of their allied agencies to make that happen.” 
 
 She said her office would file a case if all of the facts are presented to file the case. The sheriff’s office will continue to investigate and once they have wrapped up the case and have found a suspect, that would be presented to the district attorney’s office. “We would only then be able to evaluate all the facts to know exactly what to file,” Bridgett said. 
 
 Separately, a ranson-turned-website created by a mystery donor has been shut down. A check of the site shortly after the sheriff’s office announcement showed it was blank. 
 
 Asked about it, Bosenko said the website played no role in Papini’s release. 
 
 A couple rejoicing just outside the conference room as Bosenko and Bridgett spoke were Cydney and Ed Carpenter, whose daughter, Heather Carpenter, went missing August 2003. Her body was found four months later. 
 
 The Carpenters, former Redding residents now living in Paradise, came to the Turkey Trot to be part of the balloon release and to deliver a letter of hope to the Papini family. When they found out Papini had been found, they did not know where to go, so they headed for the sheriff’s office on Park Marina Drive to be close to the details of how Papini was found. 
 
 “I’m so happy, happy for them,” Cydney Carpenter said, tears streaming down her face. “It’s the best news ever.” 
 
 Read Sheriff Tom Bosenko's full statement today.
– The family of the missing California woman found alive on Thanksgiving has a lot of thanks to give. "We are overwhelmed with joy over how supportive everyone has been to bring us together as a family again," Sherri Papini's sister told reporters Friday, per KCRA. "Everyone's tireless efforts has made our family whole this Thanksgiving. We cannot thank you enough." Papini, a mother of two young children, disappeared after going for a jog Nov. 2. Police say she was kidnapped and was reunited with her family Thursday after her captors dumped her near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, where she was able to flag down a passing car. Papini had been chained and beaten by her captors, according to police audio obtained by the Sacramento Bee. The California Highway Patrol "is on scene and advised that she is chained to something," a radio dispatcher told a responding officer. "CHP is advising that she is heavily battered." Police say they are searching for two armed Hispanic woman in a dark-colored SUV. A motorist who called police after seeing Papini by the roadside tells the New York Daily News that the woman she glimpsed in the dark appeared terrified and was waving a piece of fabric up and down. "I realized if she was that close to getting hit—willing to be that close to freeway traffic—she must really need help," the driver says.