Vallejo 'Gone Girl' case: Denise Huskins, Aaron Quinn respond to police Her daughter, she says, filled that hole. Matthew Muller was arrested in South Lake Tahoe on June 8, 2015, and charged with kidnapping for ransom in a federal court. California woman says she unwittingly was drawn into plot to kidnap Iranian opposition activist People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Each individual was in charge of a different part of the operation. $2.5 million settlement for couple in bizarre kidnapping police called Dublin police were able to trace the phone to a woman who told them that it belonged to her son, a man named Matthew Muller, whod lost his phone a day earlier. Nicole Egan, co-author of "Victim F: From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors," discusses the 2015 home invasion and kidnapping of Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins. Matthew Muller abducted Denise Huskins from her boyfriend's Vallejo home, holding her captive and sexually assaulting her over a two-day ordeal. Unfortunately, it was all too real and was orchestrated by a man named Matthew Muller. Huskins said that while walking to the closet she noticed two sets of legs from what she believed to be two different people in the bedroom. Matthew Muller. Huskins and Quinn met in 2014 in Vallejo, California, located in the Bay Area, where they were both physical therapists. Hes being asked questions and at some point, the intruder realizes theyve got the wrong person, said Melanie Woodrow, an investigative reporter with San Francisco ABC station KGO, who covered the story. I also didnt trust myself anymore., I could see who Aaron was and the man he was and the good in him, Huskins said. Matthew Muller, Man Charged In Bizarre 2015 'Gone Girl - SFist The suspect, Matthew Muller, was a Harvard-educated lawyer who was out on Mare Island, near Vallejo, performing "practice" operations for bigger crimes, was actually the culprit of the crime. California: kidnapper sentenced in case police first said was Gone Girl Suspect in bizarre 2015 kidnapping of Bay Area, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), First Republic Bank seized, sold to JPMorgan Chase, Suspect in bizarre 2015 kidnapping of Bay Area couple admitted to jail-based competency treatment, Man wore armor in Northern California hostage killing, report says, Americans who survived kidnapping in Mexico share details of their captivity, California woman says she unwittingly was drawn into plot to kidnap Iranian opposition activist, California woman gets 4 years in prison for unwitting role in plot against Iranian opposition activist. Thats something that weve had to live with and somehow make peace with., Huskins said the Vallejo Police Department never came out and publicly apologized for saying what happened to them was a hoax. It only took a day from her reappearance for the San Francisco Chronicle to receive a new message from the kidnapper, whod become irritated after seeing news reports that police were portraying Huskins kidnapping as a hoax. Once in custody, Muller told detectives he served as a Marine from 1995 to 1999, attended Harvard from 2003 to 2006 and taught there from 2006 to 2009. Quinn and Ms. Huskins have plundered valuable resources away from our community and taken the focus away from the true victims of our community while instilling fear among our community members. But after Huskins reappeared seemingly unharmed an hour before the ransom was due, two days later, police called a news conference and declared the whole thing a hoax perpetrated by the couple themselves. But Huskins wasnt lying. Muller pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping charges and was sentenced in 2017 to 40 years in prison. Huskins and Quinn eventually won a $2.5 million settlement from Vallejo Police. After all, the sequence of events was very similar. While searching his South Lake Tahoe home, investigators discovered evidence connected to Huskins abduction. I grabbed my bags and started walking down that alley and I looked at the corner street name and I saw Utica, which is the street that I grew up on.. On Dec. 21, the judge received an update regarding placement alternatives and care from MHM Services and earlier this month learned the defendant had been placed in the treatment program. I dont want anyone to fear someone who has depression or mental illness. As the new Chief of Police, I am committed to making sure survivors are given compassionate service with dignity and respect. Then they continued to question Quinn about what hed been doing before calling for help. When Denise got kidnapped and Quinn sought assistance from . We do not know anything about Muller's childhood, but we do know he was a former marine. ABCs 20/20: Gone Girl examines the 2015 home invasion and kidnapping case involving Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins, who went from victims to suspects within mere days. In that recorded message sent by the kidnappers, Huskins spoke about a recent plane crash, to prove the message wasnt old. Matthew Muller Sentenced To 31 Years In Vallejo 'Gone Girl' Kidnapping In this March 25, 2015, file photo, Lt. Kenny Parks speaks at a press conference in Vallejo, Calif., confirming reports that Denise Huskins has been found safe in Huntington Beach, Calif. Vallejo Times Herald/MediaNews Group via Getty Images, FILE. Meanwhile, Huskins reappearance had set off a media firestorm fueled by suggestions that her case bore striking resemblance to the book and film Gone Girl. The fictional story is about a woman who fakes her own disappearance as revenge against her cheating husband. I heard him drive off. Elisa McNabney Had 38 Aliases Identity Theft Was Just the Tip of the Crime Iceberg, Actress Alice Barrett Mitchell's Role in NBC Miniseries 'The Thing About Pam' Is Strangely Meta, Abby Hernandez Executive-Produced a Lifetime Movie About Her Own Kidnapping. The letter also said the comments from Lt. Kenny Parks were unnecessarily harsh and offensive. Bidou promised the department would apologize in public when Muller was indicted. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. I peeled the tape off my eyes and I was by myself in this alleyway, she said. Matthew Muller, a Harvard-educated lawyer, also is accused of raping Denise Huskins and assaulting her boyfriend Aaron Quinn. My family will not ever be the same.. Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Soon after Huskins was abducted in March 2015, boyfriend Aaron Quinn called police saying shed been kidnapped from his home on Mare Island in Vallejo, California, according to court documents. My jaw and back are sore from the deep powerful shaking and reflexive tension that my whole body goes into. He points to some beer bottles that were neatly placed in the box next to the garbage, and I said, I put them there to take them out for recycling all at once., They clearly didnt believe him, said Nicole Weisensee Egan, the co-author of Victim F. It is soul-crushing for Aaron because hes out of his mind worried about Denise.. Matthew Muller receives federal kidnapping charge in Denise Huskins case: Part 10 After Muller was charged, Huskins and Aaron Quinn settled a civil suit out of court with the city of Vallejo, its . TIMELINE: Denise Huskins, Matthew Muller Vallejo kidnapping case Upon looking deeper into him, it came to light that even though hed never been charged or arrested, he was named a suspect in various other home invasion and burglary cases in the cities of California. Copyright 2023 Distractify. I told him, Look, this is going to be a nightmare and theres no way youre going to be able to pinch yourself and wake up.. To make matters worse, the detectives had also found a small bloodstain on Quinns sheets. Of course, when she reached out to Vallejo police, Misty didn't immediately get a response. But according to court records, Superior Court Judge Daniel Healy received a notice that Muller had been admitted to the program. That terrifying night, both of them were bound and Huskins was kidnapped. Police soon called a news conference and declared the couples report of an abduction a hoax, saying there was no evidence to support that anything had happened. Mr. Muller pleaded not guilty to the charges. Authorities have said that it was Muller who penned the rambling letters. While Matthews last known location remains the Napa State Hospital, it seems that he will be serving his sentence at a federal prison. Id washed those sheets multiple times. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Instead, then-Vallejo Police Chief Andrew Bidou wrote a private letter of apology to them, saying in part that it was now clear what happened was not a hoax or orchestrated event and that [Vallejo Police Department[ conclusions were incorrect.. Quinns struggle eventually came to a head when, in February 2015, Huskins found out that Quinn had been messaging his ex-fiance about getting back together. If I went to the police, they would kill her, he said. He pleaded not guilty to his charges in Solano County, the article said. Police later apologized to the couple who, in 2018, reached a $2.5 million settlement with the City of Vallejo and its police department. Muller, a Harvard-trained attorney and ex-Marine, concocted a plan so elaborate and bizarre that at first police accused the couple of lying, drawing national headlines. Detective Misty Carausu, of the Dublin Police Department, found evidence to suggest Muller was in Vallejo when . Denise Huskins' high-profile abduction in California, in 2015, made national headlines and her kidnapper eventually pleaded guilty. The City of Vallejo. According to the Associated Press, in March 2022, Muller was sentenced to 31 years in a state prison. Matthew Muller pleaded no contest to two counts of forcible rape, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment in connection with the Vallejo kidnapping of Denise Huskins, according to Law & Crime. After leaving a voicemail with him, she began walking to her fathers home. Huskins said the man then told her to walk to the bedroom closet. They could not function.. He used a remote-controlled drone to spy on Huskins and Aaron Quinn before he broke into their home with a fake gun on March 23, 2015, tied up the couple and made them drink a sleep-inducing liquid. "I still have. MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany (Berlin, Local), South Africa, the Middle East and Canada. Whitney further alleges in the lawsuit that he was in the room and that he heard Bidou instruct Parks to "burn that bitch" prior to Parks' March 25, 2015, press conference where Parks suggested that Huskins and Aaron Quinn had lied about their home invasion and abduction. In addition, Matthew pled guilty to robbery of an inhabited dwelling, residential burglary, and false imprisonment. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! According to court filings, when Rappaport pushed for Vallejo police to conduct a rape exam, they delayed. Woodrow said Quinn was moved downstairs, where he was placed on a couch and told that a camera on the wall would be watching him and that he couldnt leave a perimeter marked by tape on the floor. Aarons car is missing, and they know that he waited a substantial period of time before dialing 911. You can watch Denise and Aaron's story on 20/20, airing on Friday, April 15 at 9 p.m. EST on ABC. Huskins had been sleeping in her boyfriend Aaron Quinns bedroom when an armed man, wearing a scuba suit burst into the bedroom around 3 a.m. on March 23, 2015 and demanded the couple get into a closet, where he zip-tied their hands and feet, ABC News reported last year. Laying zip ties on the bed, the intruder told Huskins to tie Quinns feet together and his hands behind his back, Quinn said. Matthew Muller Sentenced For Rape, Kidnap Of Denise Huskins | Crime News Vallejo police who apologized to Huskins in the summer of 2015 said they were initially skeptical of Huskins abduction because they didnt believe Quinns version of events, including that he had been drugged by intruders, according to an earlier court filing. Detective Misty Carausu of the Dublin Police Department in California helped break the kidnapping case related to Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn. Matthew Muller, 38, is accused of kidnapping Denise Huskins and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn in the Bay Area city of Vallejo in March a case police initially dismissed as a hoax and subsequently . When they searched the cabin, the Dublin officers found several laptops, cellphones, a few stun guns, a lot of ski masks and an empty bed with no blankets but a sheet that appeared to have been slept on, Carausu and Campos said. Im telling [Mustard] everything because I have nothing to hide, Quinn said. How Vallejo police mistook kidnap victim Denise Huskins for a 'Gone Girl' After all that theyd gone through, Marianne Quinn said she knew the couple would stay together forever. Rappaport and Russo both went to bat for their clients, even as they endured repeated questioning by the Vallejo police and the FBI. No ones going to understand what they went through except each other., The two married near the water in Monterey, California. We did it. But during the struggle, the kidnapper left his phone at the house. He abducted Denise Huskins for two days and demanded a $15,000. Eventually he would be caught but it was certainly not because of the diligent detective work of the Vallejo, Calif. police. The only difference was that the victims successfully managed to attack and scare their assailant into running away before any damage was done. Muller was charged in federal court in Sacramento, California, with kidnapping for ransom. She said that she had been raped twice by her kidnapper, which he videotaped. TIMELINE: Denise Huskins, Matthew Muller Vallejo kidnapping case An unexpected beginning to their love story Huskins and Quinn met in 2014 in Vallejo, California, located in the Bay Area, where. This is a robbery.. She had to hastily write down what was said after they were done. I shared with him about being molested as a child and thinking, too, maybe if he found out and heard how I already had been violated, and how it impacted me in my life, that perhaps some bit of him will just go, OK, I wont do this to her again. 'Gone Girl' Kidnapper Matthew Muller Sentenced 40 Years - People Two incidents from 2009 took place in Palo Alto and Mountain View, and involved an unknown man breaking into the homes of the female victims and threatening to rape them. He, in turn, hits the husband upside the head with a Maglite-style flashlight and exits the house, said Dublin police Sgt. It's entirely possible that he suffered from PTSD with the combination of bipolar disorder, which could lead to violent tendencies. Among the evidence that Dublin, California, police found in Matthew Muller's Lake Tahoe cabin was this toy gun with a laser pointer taped on. Muller previously pleaded guilty in federal court to kidnapping Huskins and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. She said it was devastating. Kidnapping survivor details moments she thought were her last. Aaron Quinn said their first song together as husband and wife was Dierks Bentleys Riser. It is, he said, very much about overcoming a tragedy and rising like a phoenix from the ashes., 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Were going to take you for 48 hours Aarons going to have to complete some tasks, Huskins said. Has he done drugs?, They said maybe we were in a fight and I pushed her down the stairs, Aaron Quinn said. He also plead guilty to "robbery of an inhabited dwelling, residential burglary, and false imprisonment.". Detective Miguel Campos, of the Dublin Police Department in California, discusses finding the suspect in the so-called "Gone Girl" kidnapping case. Here is a timeline of events in the Vallejo kidnapping case involving Muller and Denise Huskins: March 23, 2015 - Muller breaks into Aaron Quinn's Vallejo home at approximately 3am (Denise Huskins . Denise and Aaron filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Vallejo and its police department, rightfully winning $2.5 million. When officers from the Vallejo Police Department appeared at his home, it had been more than nine hours since Huskins had been taken. Vallejo police called the reported abduction a complete fabrication for which the couple should apologize. Denise Huskins, from left, defendant Matthew Muller, Amy Morton, and Aaron Quinn are pictured in the sketch. There were a number of replica squirt guns, Campos said of the evidence theyd found. Carausu did a search of Mullers name and found that although he had never been charged, he had been a person of interest in several other incidents in nearby cities. Dublin Police . They cried and held each other when they finally reunited nearly a week after that terrifying night, Huskins said. In 2015, Matthew Muller Kidnapped Denise Huskins. Where Is He Now? On the recording, the kidnappers described themselves as a professional group there to collect financial debts, according to the court documents. Again, we do not know. Sherri Papini sentenced to 18 months in prison in hoax kidnapping case - ABC . Muller wasn't caught until police in Dublin, Calif. had a similar case. All Rights Reserved. Case 245: Sherri Papini - Casefile: True Crime Podcast Based on my conversation with them, they are trying their best to move on.. matthew muller parents The man then used duct tape to tie Quinns ankles and asked him if he was comfortable, Quinn said. Matthew Muller, already serving a 40-year sentence for federal crimes, was sentenced in Solano county superior court after pleading no contest to two counts of forcible rape of Denise. The intruder placed blacked out goggles over their eyes and forced them to drink a sleep-inducing liquid, federal authorities said in 2016. She told them about Muller, and two FBI agents and a representative from Vallejo police came pretty quickly after that.. He pleaded guilty in September and on Thursday was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison. I had no reason to believe, at that time, that they doubted me, she said. The case took another turn in June 2015, three months after Quinns abduction, when the FBI arrested Muller a 38-year-old Harvard-educated former attorney who worked at Harvards immigration clinic and later became an immigration lawyer in San Francisco. Fearing he was putting Huskins life in grave danger, he dialed the police. A Harvard-educated former Marine was sentenced Friday for raping a California woman in a kidnapping plot so bizarre police once suspected it was a hoax. During the preliminary hearing, Muller a former Marine, Gulf War veteran and Harvard-trained lawyer listened to the female victim in the case, Denise Huskins. Quinn said he was shoved into a closet, drugged with a mixture of NyQuil and Valium and made to listen to a prerecorded message instructing him about how to handle the kidnapping demands. They also discovered goggles with duct tape on them, similar to what was used on Denise and Aaron, as well as a strand of blonde hair attached to one pair of goggles. Huskins was held captive for just over 48 hours before being released, but the couple continued to fear for their lives with a kidnapper on the loose and the police dismissing their account of the incident as too incredible to be believed. They were going to give us a sedative and if we didnt take it, they would inject it intravenously., Quinn said his pre-recorded message referred to him by name. Its name is derived from the most common abbreviations for Microsoft and the National Broadcasting Company. The comparisons began after Vallejo Police announced that Huskins abduction appeared to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping.. When police asked if shed been sexually assaulted, she told them she hadnt. Still sedated, Huskins realized that shed been dropped off near her . Terror & Betrayal: They Were Attacked, She Was Abducted and Police Said It Was All Lies, Fla.