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Police share even more disturbing facts about Sherri Papini after her husband "blindsided" them.

 

The husband of jogger Sherri Papini said nothing could have prepared him for the condition she was found in after her mysterious 22-day long disappearance.

In a graphic statement released two days ago, Keith Papini shared publicly his “horror” at seeing his 34-year-old wife’s diminished frame, covered in cuts and bruises, confined to a hospital bed, but police have now warned he gave away too much and may have partially compromised their investigations.

Missed it? Read Keith’s full statement here.

One of the most shocking revelations from the statement, which was given to Good Morning America, was that the Californian mother-of-two had been “branded” and her partner “could feel the rise of her scabs” under his fingers.

The Papini family. Image via Facebook.

"There’s some unique information in there that was in his press release today that we were hoping to keep a tight rein on as far as what we were going to release to the public,” Head of Investigations at the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, Lieutenant Anthony Bertain, told America's ABC News, while his colleague claimed they had been "blindsided".

"It’s not the first hurdle in this investigation that we’ve had, we’ve overcome many of them, not just in this case, but there’s surprises in all investigations, so this just wasn’t good timing."

Bertain said police understood Keith's desire defend his wife against the "rumours, assumptions, lies and hate" he described, but were disappointing he exposed such crucial details about her condition.

Missing jogger Sherri Papini with her husband Keith. Image via Facebook.

Sheri was reported missing after failing to return from a run on November 2 bound on the side of a rural road in the middle of the night.

It's unclear what happened to the so-called "super mom" during her absence but speculation has been rife and her husband revealed she was "covered in multicoloured bruises, severe burns, red rashes and chain markings."

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She'd also dropped to below 40kg, had a broken nose and "her signature long blond hair had been chopped off".

Want more on this story? This is everything we know about the Sherri Papini jogger mystery.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko has now revealed the branding was in fact "a message" from a “a very sick person”.

“I would think that was some sort of either an exertion of power and control and/or maybe some type of message that the brand contained,” Mr Bosenko he told ABC News.

"It is not a symbol, but it was a message."

"Obviously, [her captor was a] very sick person who may have wanted to not only to cut it off to change her physical appearance, but also as to humiliate them, wear her down".

One of the most startling theories behind the alleged kidnapping is that the whole thing was orchestrated by the Papinis themselves to incite a 'race war', especially after Sherri's claim that two armed Hispanic women were behind the attack.

It also comes after a racially-charged blog post published under her maiden name "Sherri Graeff" in 2003 began circulating on social media in which the author bragged about breaking the nose of a young Latino girl after her father was accused of being a racist and a "Nazi".

Investigators say they are aware of the post but can't authenticate it, while ex-husband, David Dreyfus, claimed it was a malicious "high school prank".

Regardless the case is now being compared to that of Susan Smith who told Police in 1994 that her two young children had been kidnapped by a “black man” during a carjacking when she had murdered them herself.