Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Terrifying dead of night kidnapping or elaborate 'Gone Girl' hoax?

Episode Date: July 29, 2021

In the early hours of the morning, Denise Huskins and her boyfriend are sleeping. They are surprised by a man dressed in a scuba suit. The couple is tied up, then forced to drink a sleep-inducing drug. They are blindfolded and headphones are placed on their ears. Recorded instructions are played. Huskins is kidnapped, but who did it? The police say the story isn't credible.Joining Nancy Grace today: Wendy Patrick - California prosecutor, Author: “Red Flags” www.wendypatrickphd.com 'Today with Dr. Wendy' on KCBQ in San Diego Dr. Jorey Krawczyn [KRAW-ZIN] - Police Psychologist, Adjunct Faculty with Saint Leo University; Research Consultant with Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. - Practical Recommendations to Help “Stop Officer Suicide” (July 2021) bw-institute.com Karen L. Smith - Forensic Expert, Lecturer at the University of Florida, Host of Shattered Souls Podcast, @KarensForensic, barebonesforensic.com Levi Page - Crime Online Investigative Reporter, Host, "Crime and Scandal" True Crime Podcast, YouTube.com/LeviPageTV  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We all saw or at least heard of the hit movie Gone Girl. But what about a real-life so-called Gone Girl? The premise of the movie Gone Girl is a woman fakes her disappearance for death in an attempt to frame her husband. That's what it's all about. But in real life? Take a listen to this.

Did this 29-year-old woman fake her own disappearance just like the ice princess in Gone Girl? If anyone out there has any information. Police are outraged. I can tell you that our investigation has concluded that none of the claims has been substantiated. It started Monday when Denise Huskins' live-in boyfriend told cops an intruder had broken into their home in Vallejo, California during the night and kidnapped his girlfriend. He said the kidnapper demanded $8,500 in ransom. The woman's father appealed for her safe return.

I want her to know that the family is there. We love her. The woman at the heart of what you were just hearing from our friends at Inside Edition is a gorgeous young woman, Denise Huskins, who seemingly vanishes from her own place. This is how

it all starts. Take a listen to our friends at CBS San Francisco. A woman in Vallejo is missing this morning. Police believe she may have been kidnapped and her kidnapper may be holding her for ransom. Her name is Denise Huskins. She's 30 years old and a witness told police he saw her being taken against her will on Kirkland Avenue on Mare Island. That sounds pretty believable to me. Police immediately go full throttle.

Take a listen again. Here's Ryan Takeo, CBS San Francisco. OES is here. Also, the county has some other crews here. The sheriff's department is here at this staging area. There's some search and rescue trucks at the ready. And we've noticed in the last 15 minutes, there has been some more movement here. We know Vallejo PD also asked the FBI to help. Yesterday afternoon, a 30-year-old man reported Huskins missing, saying there was a kidnapping on the 500 block of Kirkland Avenue early yesterday morning. We don't know why it took a couple of hours at least for that report to be made, but police say they found Huskins' car yesterday. They won't say where. Overnight, I did talk on the phone with one of Denise's cousins who works for a sister station in L.A.

She says Denise's boyfriend lives on Kirkland Avenue. The family figures he's the one who called police. She told me they work together at Kaiser in Vallejo, where Denise is part of a specialized physical therapy program. Most of the family is down in L.A, over in Huntington Beach, down in the Southern California area. Her father, Denise's father, is coming up here this morning. We plan to track him down and continue to follow this here from this staging command center, just right down the block from the house where Denise Huskins was reported missing. So it sounds like it's the boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, that reports her kidnapped.

With me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags, host of Today with Dr. Wendy KCBQ San Diego, Wendy Patrick. You can find her at wendypatrickphd.com. Dr. Jory Croson, psychologist, faculty, St. Leo University, research consultant with the Blue Wall Institute, and author, Dr. Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist, former medical examiner, and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, Karen Smith, forensic expert, host and founder of Shattered Souls podcast, and lecturer at University of Florida. But first, Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, host of Crime and Scandal, Shattered Souls podcast and lecturer at University of Florida.

But first, Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, host of Crime and Scandal, True Crime podcast. Levi, let's start at the beginning. Who, what, where, when, why? How did she go missing? And I'm talking about, of course, Denise Huskins. It's 3 a.m. in the morning, and Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn are asleep. They're 29 years old. They're physical therapists. They're asleep in their bed at Aaron Quinn's house in Vallejo, California.

That's a waterfront community in the San Francisco Bay Area, about an hour from San Francisco. And this is in the early morning hours. The couple is asleep, and they suddenly hear an armed intruder yelling at them, wake up. This is a robbery. And when they woke up, they discovered an armed man in the bedroom wearing a scuba suit. Wearing a scuba suit. That's really unusual right there, Karen Smith, because a scuba suit is not that easy in which to move around. No.

I mean, this whole story is just bizarre, Nancy. But, yeah, I mean, the scuba suit, you know, they're hard to get on. They're hard to pull off. Was it a full body suit? Did it have a hood? I mean, all of these questions are flooding my mind. I'm not sure what to make of this. So, Levi Page, you said, I believe it's 2.30 a.m.

They wake up to this is a robbery. Somebody's already standing over them in their bedroom, got into the home without making any kind of ruckus at all, and is wearing a scuba suit, correct? Yes, it's this masked man wearing a scuba suit, put headphones over her and Erin Quinn's ears, and the headphones had a pre-recorded message and that message played and it informed them you're going to be sedated and we need you to cooperate. The recording said that Denise Huskins was going to be kidnapped and she will be returned in 48 hours if all directions are followed. And this prerecorded message also told Aaron Quinn not to call police and said, you're being watched. We have recording devices around your house. You're not to leave your home. And this couple was bound with zip ties, they were forced to wear goggles over their eyes that had blackout take on them,

and they had to drink sedatives, which knocked them out. So Levi Page, from what the fiancé, the boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, says, was the perp armed? Yes, he saw and heard a gun. What? Yes, he saw a gun and heard a noise like a gun clicking, like it was about ready to be shot. Okay, and so

the two of them sat compliant while they drank sedative? Yes, they were bound with zip ties. Okay. Then the story gets even more complex. Take a listen to our friend Ann Makovic at CBS San Francisco. Now, in another strange twist, someone claiming to be a kidnapper sent an email to the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday. Reporters there say the email said

Denise will be returned safely on Wednesday. Quote, any advance on us or our associates will create a dangerous situation for Denise. Wait until she is recovered and then proceed how you will. We will be ready, end quote. That email also included an audio file with what sounded like Denise's voice referencing that plane crash that happened in France, so everybody would know that it's current, and personal information so people could verify that it was her.

Wow. So the plot thickens with an odd, a bizarre email sent to the San Francisco Chronicle. Let's go straight out to Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags. It's very rare that you have a kidnapper or a perp of any type contact police or the newspaper or a website giving information that's usually in books and movies. Although, I mean, we did see it with BTK buying Torture Kill Dennis Rader, but very rare. Wouldn't you agree? I would. And that's exactly where I was going to go first, is Hollywood-inspired allegations and assumptions and causing people to jump to conclusions. So this is one of those cases where just because it sounds unusual or unbelievable doesn't mean it isn't true.

So the fact that you do have things unfolding in a very, let's say, unorthodox fashion, simply means that's leads for the law enforcement agencies to follow up on, not necessarily that any of this is false just because it might remind them of a favorite film or Netflix series or something like this. But you're right, that is one of the things that complicates a plot like this. Very, very bizarre. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about the disappearance of Denise Huskins, a beautiful young woman asleep in her own bed with her boyfriend,

both of them physical therapists. They say they wake, well, he says they wake up at 2.30 a.m. to a guy wearing a scuba suit standing over them that gives them a prerecorded message on headsets and forces them to drink sedative. That's the story. To Dr. Jory Cross, and I want to follow up with the theory about how unusual it is for a kidnapper or a violent offender to actually make contact with police or a news outlet, because that leads to their discovery.

Yes, and you think about the details that he put in there to kind of verify everything. It follows right along with the details of the actual crime itself, like wearing that wetsuit, the free recorder. Look at all the evidence that he's leaving behind. The two taken from their bed with the boyfriend being tied up, we understand that there's seemingly a light at the end of the tunnel because that prerecorded message says she will be returned in 48 hours if all the instructions are followed. So Levi Page, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter,

what were the alleged instructions the perp gave them? So the perp told Aaron Quinn not to contact police and that he would be given not to leave the house, that there were recording devices that were watching him, and they would know if he left the house. And he also got an email that morning, and it said, we are demanding $17,000 in ransom. If we receive this, your wife, your girlfriend will be released. All of this over $17,000? Really? Okay, that in itself doesn't seem right

to me. Now, isn't it true that the perp tells the victims, I've been watching you via drone? That is true. Okay, that is a pretty twisted and fantastical plot. Would everybody

agree with me on that? Yes. I mean, this is rare as far as MO, modus operandi, method of operation. Dr. Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, you've investigated a lot of cases, and this really throws a wrench in the works, does it not? Because it doesn't really seem to fit any of our statistical analyses. It does, Nancy. And the other thing is to use a drone, that's interesting technology. And $17,000, what an odd amount. This raises all kinds of questions about this person knowing a lot about these people. Knowing a lot about them, an intimate knowledge of their movements, of who they are.

What about it to you, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor and author? It indicates someone extremely familiar with these two victims. That's right. So when we have something like this that's alleged, obviously you start closest to the victim. And obviously that often means the spouse, the partner is looked at first. But then as you begin to move outwards, who would have known when they would be asleep, when the alarm would be off, if they even had an alarm, whether they had dogs that would bark. Those are the old school alarms I grew up with. But somebody would have to be familiar enough with their comings and goings and habits to know that this would be the time of night they could get away with this. Let me go back to you, Levi, page up. Tell me about the location. Was it urban? Was it suburban? Was it rural? Did they live in an apartment or a home? Was there it urban? Was it suburban? Was it rural?

Did they live in an apartment or a home? Was there a gate? Was there an alarm? What can you tell me? So Vallejo, California is a high crime area, as is most of the San Francisco area, very large city. It's a suburban kind of a bedroom community to San Francisco. It's about an hour north. It takes about an hour to drive community to San Francisco. It's about an hour north. It takes about an hour to drive there from San Francisco.

It's about 32 miles north of San Francisco, and they lived in a home. They lived in a home. It looked to me like a single-floor home, modest but very good for people in their 20s that they were. Palm trees everywhere looked like a very nice neighborhood. So we don't know if there was a burglar alarm or a dog in the home? We don't know that. You know, Karen Smith, do you remember the Goldman State killer? Oh, yeah.

That would stake out a home for who knows how many days or weeks before he would go in and either rape or rape and kill the victim. He would have staked out the home for a long time to figure out who lives there, are there children, is there a husband or a live-in, do they have an alarm system, is there a dog. He knew the ways in, the ways out of the home, the backyards. Are there fences? Everything. And if these allegations are true, then that's the same thing that happened here.

This guy, the perp in the scuba suit, knows so much more. This is not just a casual break-in. It's highly planned, very intricate. Absolutely. Highly planned planned, knew their names, and brought all of these tools, the goggles with black tape on them, the recorder with headphones. I mean, this was a serious,

I would call it a murder kit or a rape kit, but this guy was very, very sophisticated, not only staking out their home, but knowing their name, knowing their habits, when they went to bed, watching the lights go out, likely, and when they went to bed, so that he could make this furtive entry with all of these things, these tools in his kit. It's mind-boggling, Nancy. Well, according to Aaron Quinn, the boyfriend who was also woken up that night, what about this part, Karen Smith? It's very, as I like to say, mission impossible. Have you ever seen those or read them where you

start off with a tape recording telling you your mission? Right. Yeah. In this scenario, the alleged perp actually has recorded instructions and makes these to put on headsets to hear what they're supposed to do, that indicates a lot of planning, an inordinate amount of planning. Weeks, months. This is not something that was overnight. This has been planned for a very, very long time, targeted. And it really, the story in itself is hard to digest. And, you know, when you think about a pre-planned recording with names, who is this person and what did they have? And the money amount is just so bizarre. Everything about this is absolutely bizarre. Why do you say it's hard to hold on?

I think I'm your Dr. Joy Croson jumping in. Why do you, if you do agree that this scenario painted by the boyfriend, Aaron Quinn is hard to digest? Down to the detail. That's what's really getting me psychologically. When I start to look at the perpetrator, how he is really fine-tuned and planned is down to these very specific details. And that goes not only with the actual pulling it off, but the planning of it, and then the message that goes out to the media. Everything is just specifically detailed. It sounds like a spy novel. Emphasis on novel. Dr. Michelle Dupree, in all your years, have you seen a case like this? The only case that I have seen, well, not the only, but one of the only, where the perp actually taunts police or local news outlets was BTK, Bind, Torture,, kill Dennis Rader, the dog catcher? Nancy, I have seen one similar to this. And again, it was sort of a fatal attraction type situation where the person was stalked,

which is why we have a lot of stalking laws nowadays. One. So you've seen one. I've seen one. In all your years. Yeah. One case, one authentic real case, not a spy novel, not a movie script, but one real case in all your years working in crime. Exactly.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Guys, this young woman goes missing from her own bed and according to her boyfriend, the perp comes in in the middle of the night, forces them to drink sedatives with pre-recorded messages on headsets, wearing a scuba outfit, and takes the girl. Well, lo and behold, there's a twist in the case. Take a listen to our friends at CBS San Francisco. A woman reported to have been kidnapped in Vallejo and held for ransom is safe.

And police just confirmed what the woman's family has been saying all morning long, that she is alive and well down in Huntington Beach, where her parents lived. 29-year-old Denise Hudskins, she is a physical therapist at Kaiser Permanente in Vallejo, and she moved here from Southern California last summer. She's been missing since Monday when her live-in boyfriend called police reporting that she had been abducted from their home some 11 hours earlier and that somebody was demanding ransom. Police searched that home on Mare Island, but they maintained that the boyfriend was not a suspect or person of interest in her disappearance. Well, immediately the police suspect a hoax. Take a listen to our friends at KCRA3 News, our cut seven.

It's just the latest twist in this case. It started out as a kidnapping for ransom in Vallejo, then the discovery that Huskins was alive and well in Southern California. Here's the first video we saw of Huskins today in the hoodie, alive and well, being escorted by police. Her relatives visibly relieved that she was okay today. first video we saw of Huskins today in the hoodie, alive and well, being escorted by police. Her relatives visibly relieved that she was okay today. And then earlier tonight, the Vallejo Police Department released a statement saying Huskins' disappearance was an orchestrated event

and not a kidnapping. The police also revealed that FBI agents were preparing to fly Huskins back to Northern California where they could interview her about her ordeal. Only problem, now they cannot locate Huskins. They say it was an orchestrated event. What does that mean, Wendy Patrick? An orchestrated event, not a kidnapping. When we talk about an orchestrated event, normally it's signaling that this is not something that genuinely happened. Rather, it's something that was staged.

Orchestrated events are things that are made up by somebody to get attention. They're mischaracterized. They're misrepresented. But that's what that choice of words would seem to insinuate. And to you, Dr. Jory Crawson, psychologist, faculty, St. Leo University, and author, what does it mean to you when cops come out and say this is an orchestrated event? This is not a kidnap. You've got Denise Huskins saying she was not only kidnapped but raped repeatedly. Yes, I agree with it.

That's exactly what it is. And, you know, I would buy that same story. I mean, I just go, this was set up. This just, everything doesn't fall into place. I mean, I just go, this was set up. This just, everything doesn't fall into place. I mean, there was too much detail to it. And so I would go with that, that it was an orchestrated event. They would definitely sell me off. Because, you know, Karen Smith, we deal constantly with statistics in the back of our minds. You don't expect a perp to call the news

or send an email giving the details of their crime. You don't expect this type of detail. Kidnaps are very often a grab-and-go. You don't expect people to be left behind to tell the tale or make an eyewitness identification. It violates every known preset of criminal law and kidnap. Absolutely. It's textbook. It's textbook to look first at the husband or the boyfriend. That's textbook in homicide. But when you have this much detail, and that's kind of what set me off. And I agree with Dr. Jory Cross. And at first it would seem that way. But when you have this much detail, and that's kind of what set me off. And I agree with Dr. Jory Cross. And at first it would seem that way. But when you look at the details and when

you look at her story and all of the details involved in that, you have to start taking that bias, that learned behavior that we all have as investigators, sort it out of the picture just for a moment and go, wait a minute, could this really possibly have happened? And maybe expand that, widen that net just a little bit, just a little bit. Take a listen to our friends at KCAR3 News. Police also say that Huskins and Quinn owe the community an apology. Now, police said when Quinn initially contacted them, he said that the kidnappers demanded $8,500 in ransom. They also say his story just didn't add up from the get-go. And while they cannot locate Denise Huskins tonight, they also say they have not taken Quinn into custody as of now.

And this has taken so many twists and turns. Here's a look at the timeline of events. This investigation started on Monday afternoon when Huskins' boyfriend told police she had been kidnapped for ransom eight hours earlier. Dozens of officers from multiple agencies, including the FBI, searched the Vallejo area. Yesterday, dive teams searched the water off of Mare Island after police dogs hit on a scent. Then this morning, Huskins' father says his daughter called him to say she'd been dropped off at her mother's house in Huntington Beach. And tonight again, Vallejo police say they have not been able to contact Huskins or her family to ask more

questions and she's apparently hired an attorney Wow okay and there's more take a listen to the actual Vallejo police speaking the Vallejo Police Department and the FBI made arrangements to have miss Huskins flown up to Northern California in a jet as of right now we have not heard from Miss Huskins and we are no longer in contact with any of the family members. If you can imagine devoting all of our resources, 24 hours a day, on what I will classify as a wild goose chase, it's a tremendous loss. It's disappointing. It's disheartening. And the fact that we've essentially wasted all of these resources for really nothing is upsetting. But who, who would pull off a hoax like this? Dr. Jory Croson,

this is not a movie. This is not a movie script like Gone Girl or a book. What kind of mentality would go to this length to pull off a fake kidnapping? Now, we've gotten reports of $8,500 ransom, $17,000 ransom. Both of them seem insignificant amounts in exchange for a violent kidnap and rape. So who would dream this up and pull off a hoax? There's various personality disorders that would support this kind of behavior, histrionic, narcissistic, all of these. But I go back with Karen.

Once you start really looking at it, you've got to step out of our bias and say, hold it, let's kind of consider it. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. I don't think making, extrapolating, based on hundreds of years of crime statistics is bias. I disagree with you on that. I think it's an assumption the police went to, but you know what?

The claims that this is a wild goose chase and claims that Huskins is part of a hoax, then she disappears when the FBI and other law enforcement want to speak to her. They can't find her. Take a listen to our friends at Inside Edition Cut 12. The 29-year-old woman who's been called the real-life gone girl is fighting back after police called her kidnapping a hoax. She is absolutely unequivocally 100% positively a victim and this is no hoax. Denise Huskin's lawyer insists she is fully cooperating with cops even though they've denounced her kidnapping claims. Of course she's distraught. She's emotionally and physically broken.

Huskins says she was abducted Monday night from her live-in boyfriend's home in Vallejo, California. She turned up two days later, 400 miles away in Huntington Beach at her father's apartment building. Her boyfriend Aaron Quinn also insists the kidnapping is no hoax. His lawyer says he was tied up and drugged by the kidnappers. He has basically died and gone to hell. He is in terrible shape. According to police, it's all an act. crime stories with nancy grace as the investigation goes on we learn about a second email sent take a listen our friends at inside edition and just when you thought this story couldn't get any more bizarre, the newspaper now says it has received a second email from a person claiming to be one of Denise's

kidnappers. The email actually goes after the cops for suggesting it was all a hoax, saying it was all very real. The supposed kidnappers demanded an $8,500 ransom, an amount veteran investigators find pretty strange. $8,500 split between two kidnappers, that's a little over $4,000 apiece. Most of us could get an advance on our MasterCard without the chance of going to prison for 30 years. The story is being compared to the movie Gone Girl, where a beautiful woman fakes her own kidnapping. Denise's aunt is coming to her defense. We love our niece and we're happy that she's safe and we believe in her and it's a

true story will come out. The true story. Well, okay. The true story. What is the true story? So now I've got the kidnapper slash rapist writing back saying, oh no, it's no hopes. This is all real. Okay. That in itself is bizarre. It's all over. She's been recovered and he's still writing. Okay. Let's take a listen to our friends at ABC. Lawyers for Huskin's boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, also speaking out. He reported Huskin's abduction to police. He has basically died and gone to hell. They say Quinn waited 10 hours to report the alleged abduction because he was bound and drugged by at least two assailants, who later demanded an $8,500 ransom. One of the things that he did voluntarily was give a blood test. The San

Francisco Chronicle also reporting Thursday that it received a second email from a person claiming to be one of the kidnappers saying the abduction was real. More questions as investigators try to determine whether this gone girl will soon be finding herself in trouble with the law. I'm assuming that any police officer and or any district attorney will see that there is no basis whatsoever to file charges. The attorney insisting his client is not a liar, that this all really happened. So are you going to believe the cops or the alleged rapist kidnapper who then sends another email saying, hey, it's not a hoax. I really did this. All right.

Take a listen to our cut 15. Denise Huskins' attorney says he has proof his client isn't a liar, but a victim. I have come to receive a 15-page single-spaced email from the kidnappers. The San Francisco Chronicle receiving four emails from the purported kidnappers, who describe themselves as a sort of Ocean's Eleven gentleman criminals. I've been the recipient of all the emails. They're saying that, you know, don't underestimate us. We are the ones who are responsible. Vallejo police better apologize. And it's unbelievable what this is happening. Do you think we'll ever know if it was a hoax or not?

It's possible. Only time will tell. This case changes by the hour. Investigators, including the FBI now searching for the answer tonight. And according to this single space, 14 page email touted by the attorney for the alleged victim, the perp said he, quote, felt so bad about what had happened, he just dropped her off in her hometown where they thought she would be safe, but now feels that the real per, must defend Denise and her boyfriend. That's not the end of the story. Take a listen to Action News 8.

We have vindication for a Vallejo woman who said she was kidnapped last March. Police, even the FBI, did not buy her story. And now the FBI agents say that Denise Huskins was telling the truth and a suspect from the Sacramento area has been arrested. That's right. All along, Huskins and her boyfriend are telling the truth. But who is this guy? Who is the guy that takes her out of her bed in the middle of the night,

sedates her and her boyfriend, is dressed in a scuba outfit. And what about police calling this a wild goose chase and demanding that she, the rape victim, apologize? Take a listen to Dan Green, Action News 8, Cut 19. His name is Matthew Muller. He is from Orangevale, a Harvard Law School grad and former Marine. He told detectives he suffers from Gulf War illness and psychosis. The FBI says they tracked him down following the kidnapping in Vallejo March 23rd. There was a home invasion in Dublin June 5th with similar circumstances and in that case the robber

left behind a cell phone. Investigators traced to a place in South Lake Tahoe. That's where he was arrested. Mueller is being held in the Alameda County Jail right now on the Dublin home invasion charge. Next step of the case will be for federal prosecutors to seek an indictment. A Harvard law grad behind this violent kidnap and rape. Harvard law grad. I bet they're proud.

Take a listen now to our cut 20. This is Cecilia Vega, ABC. This morning, vindication. Today is a fabulous day for Denise Huskins, for Aaron Quinn. They are absolutely 100% not just not guilty, but innocent. It was a real life gone girl. The Northern California couple accused of staging a kidnapping just like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster. Meticulously stage your crime scene. Police accusing them of making up an elaborate story of being tied up, drugged and held for ransom. Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins has plundered valuable resources away from our

community. But now four months after the mystery began, the FBI announcing an arrest in the case. 38-year-old Matthew Muller, a former Marine, a Harvard law grad, a disbarred immigration lawyer. A criminal complaint has been lodged against him charging kidnapping. We'll be pleading not guilty. The couple holding hands and holding back tears. This changes nothing about the humiliation, the violence that was perpetrated on them nearly four months ago by a psychopath. And he is hiding behind a syndrome typically associated with people that have served in our military. He's using that as an excuse for days and days of drugging and raping Denise Huskins, taking her to a remote house hours away. For days on end, he drugs and rapes her.

She lives and then is subjected to humiliation, shame. How could she go back to her job? Her friends, the community, everybody thinks she lied along with her boyfriend and staged this whole thing. A self-stage, kidnap, and rape. So tell me, Levi Page, how do they catch Matthew Mueller? Explain me how that happened. So Nancy, he was attempting to kidnap someone else left behind a cell phone and they used the cell phone to trace where he had been and arrested him, Matthew Mueller. And when they arrested him in the place where he was staying, they found a pair of goggles, the goggles that were used to put over Denise Huskins,

and it had a strand of her hair still on it. They also found the laptop of Aaron Quinn as well. So they find her hair and a pair of goggles in his possession and there was more evidence take a listen to our friends kpx5 among the items the fbi collected after arresting 38 year old matthew muller for the crime were three drones from this vallejo storage facility in the criminal complaint the feds quoted a rambling email they say muller sent to the san francisco chronicle muller allegedly said he and his co-conspirators used them to surveil the Feds quoted a rambling email they say Mueller sent to the San Francisco Chronicle. Mueller allegedly said he and his co-conspirators used them to surveil the Mare Island neighborhood prior to abducting Denise. The Feds also found video cameras wirelessly set up allegedly to let

the suspects monitor Aaron inside his home to be sure he was following their instructions after Denise was thrown in a trunk. While most in Vallejo City ranks weren't breaking the thin blue line, Councilmember Bob Sampian, a 30-year vet of police work, offered up this to Denise and Aaron. Of course I would want to say I'm sorry that they've had to go through this. I know both the attorneys involved in this case, and it's difficult for their clients, as it would be for anybody that would be involved in this kind of an incident. And as victims, I think that our city should have been a bit more sensitive in the way we dealt with them.

Well, you know what? With the rapist kidnapper, Harvard grad Matthew Muller now locked away, the key thrown away as well. Sometimes a simple verbal apology doesn't do the trick the way a lawsuit can. Tell me about the lawsuit, Levi Page. They filed a lawsuit, Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins, and it was for emotional and physical distress. And the city of Vallejo, California, settled, and they got a $2.5 million payout. Not only that, they are now appearing in a TV special and promoting their new book. What is the name of the book, Levi?

It is Victim F. I can't wait to read it. God bless both of them, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn. And it shows just how much you can be tricked by statistics, by everything you think you know, and how important it is to listen to a crime victim. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.