Netflix will release a documentary titled American Nightmare, which will take a closer look at the infamous kidnapping of Denise Huskins. A case reminiscent of David Fincher’s thriller Gone Girl involved the police force not believing the victim’s accounts of the incident.
The couple under the spotlight are Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn. On the night of March 23, 2015, a couple of scuba suit-wearing intruders stormed into the pair’s Vallejo, California, home while they were asleep. Furthermore, they tied Denise and Aaron up and shoved them into a closet. The intruders then drugged and blindfolded them and stated that they belonged to a group that collected financial debt.
They added that they were kidnapping Denise and would only return her once Aaron paid a ransom. Denise’s abductor then took her to a remote location where she was drugged and raped twice. The kidnappers released her on March 25, 2015, two days after the incident. According to People Magazine, even though Aaron explained everything that happened to him and Denise, the police didn’t believe him. Furthermore, Vallejo police thought that Aaron was involved in the kidnapping of his girlfriend.
In the end, officials discovered that Aaron was being truthful, and justice was finally served.
The synopsis of American Nightmare on Netflix Media Center reads, “After a home invasion and abduction, a young couple’s recounting of the events is too far fetched for the police to believe. Why did the victims seem so calm? Was it all a hoax? From the filmmakers behind The Tinder Swindler, this three-part docuseries unravels the consequences of our cultural rush to judgment, and the damage done when law enforcement decides the truth can’t possibly be true.”
American Nightmare will be released worldwide on January 17, 2024.
American Nightmare: Who kidnapped Denise Huskins & what happened to her?
The individual who kidnapped Denise Huskins was a Marine as well as a disbarred Harvard-educated immigration attorney named Matthew Muller. Muller was apprehended in June 2015, and officials finally found evidence that Aaron Quinn was being truthful from the start.
According to People Magazine, in 2016, the 44-year-old Muller pleaded guilty to one count of federal kidnapping. Following this, he received a sentence of 40 years in prison. In addition, the state charged him with two counts of rape by force, robbery, and burglary. However, in November 2020, he could not stand trial due to mental incompetency.
In an interview with People Magazine, Denise stated, “I don’t know if I would’ve had the confidence to be able to return to work knowing that people would still think that I’m some con artist or hoaxer.” She further said, “A big part of our job is putting our hands on people, quite literally, to help facilitate their healing. And a big piece of that is trust and how can you trust someone who lied about something so significant as a kidnapping? I’m not sure where we’d be.”
Meanwhile, Aaron said, “Those months in between were unsustainable and we weren’t able to go back to work. Partly because of trauma and partly because they wouldn’t let us. Who wants to hire a hoaxer? So that’s a big challenge in the digital age.”
He ended his statement by saying, “You can’t move towns and get away from it. Anyone can just search you and then decide ‘I don’t want to work with this person,’ or ‘I don’t want to hire this person.”
The motive behind Matthew Muller’s actions remains a mystery. However, Denise and Aaron sued the City of Vallejo for defamation in 2018. They were rewarded a $2.5 million settlement.
