“American Nightmare,” the new Netflix true crime docu-series, explores the harrowing abduction of Denise Huskins in March 2015.
The series reveals how Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, were drugged and how Huskins was kidnapped by an intruder or possibly multiple intruders.
The case was initially dismissed as a hoax by the police but takes a dramatic turn as the series uncovers the unsettling details of this surreal and terrifying crime.
When Aaron Quinn reported the abduction to the police, he was wrongly suspected of being involved in the crime.
It wasn’t until later that Matthew Muller, who eventually pleaded guilty to the kidnapping of Denise Huskins, was identified as the perpetrator.
Muller is currently serving a prison sentence for the crime. Both Huskins and Quinn contributed to the Netflix documentary “American Nightmare,” which delves deeply into their traumatic experience and the wrongful accusations they faced.
The series sheds light on the case’s disturbing aspects and the broader implications for justice and victim support.
In March 2015, Aaron Quinn contacted the Vallejo Police Department to report a violent home invasion.
According to Quinn, the intruder or intruders had forcibly drugged both him and Denise Huskins, and then kidnapped Huskins.
The case took a troubling turn when the police initially dismissed the report as a hoax, leading to further complications in the investigation.
According to an FBI affidavit obtained by NBC News in 2015, during the break-in, Denise Huskins was coerced into binding Aaron Quinn with zip ties.
The affidavit detailed that the suspect, Matthew Muller, forced Aaron Quinn to wear blackened swim goggles and to provide numbers for the couple’s financial accounts and their Wi-Fi password. Muller then placed Denise Huskins in the trunk of his car and drove her to his home in South Lake Tahoe, where she was held captive for two days.
Upon waking, Quinn found a voicemail demanding ransom for Huskins’ return by noon that Wednesday. Investigators later discovered videos of Muller sexually assaulting Huskins while she was blindfolded.
Two days after the break-in, Denise Huskins was found wandering in her hometown of Huntington Beach, approximately 400 miles from Vallejo.
According to the FBI affidavit, Huskins later informed the police that Matthew Muller had dropped her off in that area.
Quinn, speaking to Netflix’s publication Tudum, reflected on the police department’s response.
“I never blamed the police for being suspicious or doubting my initial story,” Quinn tells Tudum.
“I was the last person with Denise. I could be looked at as a person of interest. I foolishly believed they would follow evidence.”
“Even after saying I killed Denise, they made up a crazy story that we did it together,” Quinn says.
“The mental gymnastics they had to go through are astounding.
Even just following the basic evidence would have led them to the right conclusion, and they could have been heroes.”
In June 2015, the FBI arrested Matthew Muller after he was linked to a similar robbery in the San Francisco Bay Area, where another couple had been bound.
Police traced a cellphone found at the scene back to Muller. Subsequent searches of his car and home uncovered further evidence, including a computer stolen from Aaron Quinn.
According to NBC Bay Area, Matthew Muller, who graduated from Harvard University in 2006 and served as a Marine from 1995 to 1999, was also a disbarred immigration attorney from San Francisco.
The FBI’s arrest warrant noted that Muller claimed to suffer from “Gulf War Illness” and bipolar disorder.
Matthew Muller pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping charges and was sentenced to 40 years in prison in March 2018.
Four years later, in 2022, Matthew Muller was sentenced to 31 years in state prison after pleading no contest to two counts of forcible rape.
He also pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, residential burglary, and false imprisonment.
Muller is serving this state sentence concurrently with his federal sentence.
