Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of kidnapping and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
American Nightmare, Netflix’s latest three-part docuseries, looks into Denise Huskins’ story and the case against her kidnapper Matthew Muller. According to The Guardian, Muller is a Harvard-trained disbarred attorney and ex-marine. He is now a convict of multiple federal crimes as well as Huskins’ rape and false imprisonment, among other charges. The documentary series premiered on the streaming service on Wednesday, January 17, 2024.
The outlet reported that Denise Huskins’ kidnapper, Matthew Muller, broke into her boyfriend’s Vallejo, California, home in March 2015. The couple were asleep at the time. He then tied up the duo and terrorized them before taking Huskins captive. The kidnapper then took her to a remote location where he drugged and raped her.
Investigators were able to link Muller to Huskins’ case, which police initially believed was a Gone Girl hoax after arresting him for a separate crime in June 2015. Years later, in 2022, Muller pleaded no contest to forcible rape and pleaded guilty to robbery, burglary, and false imprisonment. At the time, he was already serving a 40-year sentence for federal crimes. The kidnapper received 31 years in prison for the charges stemming from Huskins’ case.
How was Denise Huskins’ kidnapper, Matthew Muller, caught?
The incident occurred on March 23, 2015, while Denise Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, were asleep at the latter home. Matthew Muller reportedly broke into the house, wearing a scuba suit with a fake gun. The Guardian stated that he had been spying on the couple using a drone before that.
Muller then bound the couple using zip ties, made them drink a sleep-inducing liquid, and blindfolded them. He then played a pre-recorded message, making it seem like there was more than one kidnapper before abducting Huskins and taking her to a remote location. There, the abductor raped her and held her captive for two days. Two days later, on March 25, he released the victim in her mother’s Huntington Beach home.
In the meantime, Huskins’ boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, reported the kidnapping to the police, as per the New York Post. Quinn told them about an e-mail he received from the kidnappers demanding a ransom of $17,000. However, detectives cast doubt on his version of the events and even suspected his involvement in what they thought was Huskins’ murder.
Additionally, once the kidnapper released Denise Huskins, the press and police dubbed the case the “Gone Girl” kidnapping, after Gillian Flynn’s popular book. However, in June of that same year, police arrested Matthew Muller in Dublin, California, for an unrelated but similar home invasion.
Radio Times reported that during the incident, the homeowner managed to scare off Muller, and he fled the scene, leaving his phone behind. Detectives then used the phone and tracked it to Muller’s mother. She told them that the phone belonged to her son, who was staying at her South Lake Tahoe cabin.
Police arrested Muller at the lake house and also found other evidence that linked him to Denise Huskins’ kidnapping. These included a pair of blacked-out swim goggles with a single strand of blonde hair. According to the aforementioned The Guardian report, the search also turned up a computer he had stolen from Aaron Quinn. Moreover, investigators found videos of Muller arranging cameras in a bedroom. They also found evidence of him recording himself as he sexually assaulted his blindfolded victim twice.
Where is Matthew Muller now?
According to Business Insider, Denise Huskins’ kidnapper, Matthew Muller, faced indictment in a Sacramento federal court on kidnapping charges in October 2015. The following year, he pleaded guilty to kidnapping for ransom, and on March 16, 2017, he received a 40-year prison term. Later, in 2018, the state filed charges against the kidnapper, to which he pleaded not guilty.
However, Muller’s trial came to a pause in 2020 after he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial. He eventually pleaded no contest to two counts of forcible rape in 2022. Muller also pleaded guilty to robbery of a residential dwelling, burglary, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. He received 31 years in prison.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons database, Muller is currently serving his sentence in FCI Tucson in Arizona.
