Law enforcement officials said that Matthew Muller — the man at the center of the Vallejo kidnapping case that was outlined in the Netflix documentary “American Nightmare” — may have committed sexual assault and kidnapping as early as 1993 when he was 16 years old.
Multiple investigators spoke in the Monterey County city of Seaside on Tuesday regarding Muller and recent revelations about his criminality, including new charges out of Contra Costa County and on the Peninsula.
Muller, 47, is in prison after being convicted for the 2015 Vallejo kidnapping of Denise Huskins-Quinn, a case that gained notoriety when Vallejo police called her story a hoax and compared it to the film “Gone Girl.”
Authorities now disavow the “Gone Girl” designation, saying naming the case after the movie is disrespectful.
“That is a derogatory term that never should have been given to this case,” said El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson at Tuesday’s press conference. “It’s premised on people lying about a crime. That never happened in this case.”
The “Gone Girl” designation became more of a condemnation of Vallejo Police, not the actual case, after it came to light that the department wasted valuable time chasing an idea that Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskin-Quinn had invented their stories.
Huskins-Quinn lived on Mare Island and, along with her then-boyfriend Aaron Quinn, was drugged and tied up by Muller during a home invasion.
On Tuesday, Huskins-Quinn, who often spoke through tears, pointed out that Muller is now accused of carrying out a very similar crime in an unincorporated area of San Ramon just weeks after their ordeal.
“Now to find out, two weeks after our kidnapping, he attacked again, and that was two days (of me being) in captivity of him telling me he was remorseful, that I didn’t deserve this … He said, ‘seeing what this did to you has changed me. I’m done. I’m never doing this again.’”
Exposing Muller’s past
Muller, a Harvard University-trained lawyer and former U.S. Marine, held Huskins-Quinn for ransom and sexually assaulted her in South Lake Tahoe before dropping her off at her family’s home in Huntington Beach.
Contra Costa County prosecutors announced Monday that Muller has been charged with three felonies related to an alleged kidnapping involving three victims in unincorporated San Ramon in 2015. In that case, he is accused of invading a home and holding three people hostage until they withdrew money. None of the victims ever reported the alleged kidnapping.
Muller was also charged in December with another sexual assault and two more home invasions in Mountain View and Palo Alto in 2009 that allegedly involved tying up the victims, drugging them and assaulted them.
Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges also appeared at Tuesday’s press conference and said that in March 2024, he began communicating with Muller at the federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, where he’s serving a 40-year prison term.
Muller allegedly admitted to other crimes in those discussions and in discussions with Pierson, the El Dorado County district attorney who said he carried out a 10-month investigation.
The details of any new allegations or crimes were not specified, other than saying at least one could involve kidnapping and assault.
The former Dublin detective who solved the bungled Vallejo case by catching Muller, Misty Carausu, is now a lieutenant with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. On Tuesday, she said she hopes policing will continue to improve in the wake of the “American Nightmare” case.
“I was trying not to get emotional today,” Carausu said. “Victim awareness is real, I implore everybody to be kinder, to make sure that the information that we are putting out there is correct, that mistakes don’t get made again like this.”
A call for accountability
The press conference was an opportunity to discuss updates in the Muller case but also to make a plea for better investigations.
Pierson said that the “American Nightmare” case has actually had an impact on how law enforcement handles cases now.
“All too often when something like this happens … what are so obviously mistakes that took place in the initial days of the investigation after the home invasion and the abduction, is to focus on the negative,” he said. “But the truth is, this is much more about positive changes in the way law enforcement training is now done here in the state of California.”
Pierson added that how detectives conduct interviews and collaborate with other agencies has been improved as a result of the Vallejo case.
Aaron Quinn expressed confidence in Pierson’s approach.
“If investigators had used the interviewing techniques that D.A. Pierson is advocating for, then I think our case would have been solved,” he said. “Don’t forget that the kidnappers were emailing me, calling my phone, while the police were telling me I murdered Denise. And instead of tracking those phone calls, instead of following where the evidence led, they decide to turn my phone on airplane mode.”
Quinn also said he was “confident” that any other cases after theirs could have been prevented if they had used Pierson’s approach.
Huskins-Quinn said that Vallejo police have still not personally apologized to them.
Vallejo police no longer comment on the Muller case.
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