text: 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. ||||| The sister of a Northern California mother who was held captive for three weeks spoke to the media Friday, but gave very little information as to what happened to her sister or how she was doing. 
   
   
   
   Sheila Koester opened the news conference by telling reporters that she was six months pregnant and asked them to be aware of her emotions. She went on to thank many organizations who helped in the search for her sister, Sherri Papini. 
   
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   "We are overwhelmed with joy over how supportive everyone has been to bring us together as a family again," Koester said. "Everyone's tireless efforts has made our family whole this Thanksgiving. We cannot thank you enough." 
   
   After Koester made her statement, she opened it up for reporter questions, which included asking about her 34-year-old sister's physical and emotional state, as well as details about the case. 
   
   Koester gave very little information about what Papini went through since she went missing on Nov. 2 or how she is doing. 
   
   
   
   "She has been through a very traumatic event and needs time with her family," Koester said. "I don't have any details into the case, I just know that getting her face out there was the best thing we could do." 
   
   When asked about the sisters' reunion, Koester only said, "It was a very joyous reunion, and we were just very, very excited to see each other." 
   
   Koester was asked how she and the family handled Papini going missing for three weeks, but gave very little insight into how the family coped with her disappearance. 
   
   "It's been a range of emotions -- sadness, anger," Koester said. "Right now, it's just joy, lots and lots of joy." 
   
   -- 
   
   WHAT HAPPENED TO SHERRI PAPINI? 
   
   Sherri Papini, who was found alive Thanksgiving morning near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, was "very emotional" after a passing driver came upon her, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Friday. 
   
   
   
   Investigators are searching for two armed Hispanic women driving a dark-colored SUV whom detectives believe abducted Papini on Nov. 2 while she was out for a jog near her home the Shasta County town of Mountain Gate, Bosenko said. 
   
   In an interview Friday on "Good Morning America," Bosenko called it very rare for her to be released. 
   
   
   
   Papini was found Thursday bound by restraints near I-5 and County Road 17 but was able to flag down a driver, who called authorities and connected the mother of two with her husband, Keith, by cellphone, Bosenko said. 
   
   "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 said. 
   
   
   
   Papini was treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries and released. Officials said they were not aware of a motive for the kidnapping. 
   
   
   
   Investigators have spoken with Papini but hoped to get more information soon in the effort to uncover what happened over the last three weeks, Bosenko said. It was not clear if she knew the women she said abducted her, police said. 
   
   "Obviously she was emotional and quite upset, but elated to be freed, and so we were able to get some information from her," Bosenko said. "Then, in the days following this, we will be following up with her." 
   
   
   
   Family members previously called her a "super mom" who would never abandon her family. Her husband reported her missing when she failed to pick up their two young children from day care. 
   
   
   
   Her cellphone and headphones were found near where she was last seen. 
   
   
   
   "She could drop her phone, but she would never in a million years not pick up our children at the time that she normally would have," Keith Papini told "Good Morning America" before his wife was found. 
   
   
   
   Her husband was cleared as a suspect after passing a polygraph test. Before she was found, he said he was "getting very angry and frustrated" and "scared for my wife." 
   
   
   
   Police had received more than 400 tips in the case, but Papini's release was not the result of a $100,000 reward that was offered, Bosenko said. 
   
   
   
   "It shows what a community can do when it works together to get the word out," he said. 
   
   
   
   Phone numbers for Papini and some of her family rang through Friday, and the Shasta County sheriff's office did not immediately respond to calls, messages and emails seeking comment. 
   
   The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
   
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target: – 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.