Maybe we were experimenting with drugs. Matthew Muller, who was already serving a 40-year sentence for federal offences, was sentenced to Solano county superior court, according to the county district attorneys office. According to his lawsuit, Whitney claims that former Vallejo Police Department Chief Bidou directed Whitney to delete text messages on his cell phone so that they could not be downloaded during the litigation related to the investigation into Huskins' kidnapping filed by Huskins and Aaron Quinn. Muller also served in the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in El Toro through his stint that lasted from Oct. 2, 1995, to Aug. 8, 1999. The additional related criminal offenses of sexual assault and the robbery against Aaron were not placed on him as the federal court has no jurisdiction over them. He wasnt in combat. He described Muller as someone who loved music and. He will enter a not guilty plea when he arrives in about two to three weeks, Johnson said. Denise Huskins survived 48 hours with her captor before she was released. At some point, they are going to have to say it if they screwed up, he said. Muller was charged in federal court in Sacramento, California, with kidnapping for ransom. The FBI now links the case to a Dublin home invasion last month in which a man fought off an intruder. The emails sent to the newspaper described the ring as "a sort of Ocean's Eleven, gentlemen criminals who only took stuff that was insured from people who could afford it.". Vallejo police at the time publicly labeled the case a hoax, but FBI documents released this week make clear that the agency is taking it seriously. Mattew Muller was arrested for raping the victim, according to reports. On June 17, Alameda. Matthew Muller was a Marine and Harvard-educated lawyer who was convicted in federal court for carrying out a kidnapping so bizarre Vallejo Police believed the victims were lying as part of an elaborate hoax. The couple was awakened at around 3 a.m. by a man whod broken into the house. He filed a lawsuit against the city and three of the cops involved in the case. Johnson said that Muller grew up with his parents, who divorced sometime after high school. Search warrants unsealed Monday show the FBI seized five drones, remote controls, video cameras and other items linked to Muller from a self-storage unit he rented in Vallejo. Surveillance video even showed Muller late at night walking into a room [at the firm] with a couch carrying a sleeping bag, the suit claims, and then later, allegedly stealing software, passwords, training guides and the bosss archived emails. Quinn told police he heard a noise similar to a stun gun, and then a man, who authorities allege was Matthew Muller, told Huskins and Quinn to lie face down on the bed. Muller ended up resigning from the firm and the suit was settled. The message received on March 26, 2015, contained explicit details about the kidnapping as well as photos of evidence, even showing the room where Huskins had been held. He did very well at Harvard, too, Johnson said, adding that he couldnt detail exactly when his clients mental state began to deteriorate, or how it played out. The FBI, which also got involved in the case, gave Aaron Quinn a polygraph exam -- something he was eager to take to prove his innocence -- which they say he failed. Im telling [Mustard] everything because I have nothing to hide, Quinn said. They were going to give us a sedative and if we didnt take it, they would inject it intravenously., Quinn said his pre-recorded message referred to him by name. I told him, Look, this is going to be a nightmare and theres no way youre going to be able to pinch yourself and wake up.. @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/xdjIu33wsH, Volberding said he saw no signs of criminality during his years at Pomona College. Aaron Quinn said he feared he was close to losing his job. "Certainly never observed any mental illness; just a lot of intelligence and drive.". https://t.co/ZGewRPfd2o pic.twitter.com/Uu1yMOkisG. "However it turns out 'off the record' does not pertain to the feds.". See Photos. Federal prosecutors charged Matthew Muller - a disbarred Harvard University-trained attorney - with the March kidnapping of Denise Huskins from her Vallejo, California, home. She said it was devastating. The suspect at the center of akidnap case out of Vallejo, California, is a smart, determined trumpet player who graduated from Harvard law school the place where he likely began suffering from bipolar disorder, according to documents, friends, family and his lawyer. Muller was later interviewed in the case by a detective, the affidavit states. According to FBI documents, Quinn said the man told Huskins to bind Quinn's hands and feet with zip ties and forced them both into a closet before Huskins was taken to the next bedroom. While she waited, her father said he heard the voicemail and got word to the Huntington Beach Police Department. See Photos. "These recurring crimes involving nighttime home intrusions in which passwords are demanded indicates some plan for further use of computers and/or the Internet for crime.". Is California a better place to live? At others, depression made it hard for him to get out of bed, Johnson said. I just wanted to hold her. I knew there was an old stain on my sheet, Quinn said. I was really afraid that she wouldnt want to see me that she would just want to wipe her hands clean.. The Huskins Quinn case was not publicly handled with the type of sensitivity a case of this nature should have been handled with, and for that, the City extends an apology to Ms. Huskins and Mr. Quinn, the statement read. They spoke to ABC 20/20 about their experiences, and say their trauma was inflicted both by Muller and the judicial system. RELATED: Attorney: Kidnapping victims' family outraged over Vallejo officer's award Matthew Muller is facing federal charges as he is accused of kidnapping Denise Huskins from her boyfriend Aaron . Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 12 of 27 Steve Reed, a spokesperson for the Muller family spoke to reporters after Matthew Muller plead guilty to the kidnapping of Aaron's . ABCs 20/20: Gone Girl examines the 2015 home invasion and kidnapping case involving Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins, who went from victims to suspects within mere days. Matthew Muller was sentenced to prison after abducting a woman from her family's home in the Southern California desert and rapping her before releasing her. In April 2014 an order was filed in federal court in San Francisco, changing his status as a lawyer to inactive. The order was mailed to Muller twice, and both times was returned as undeliverable, according to court records. Misty Carausu was a day away from officially being made a detective when she agreed to take part in the arrest of Muller and search of the South Lake Tahoe home. In particularly bizarre cases, cops can find themselves jumping to the conclusion that crimes dont occur this way, said Vizzard, who emphasized he has not studied the Muller case. They said, Well, just have her sleep in her clothes and dont take a shower and well talk in the morning., Marianna Quinn said she was shocked when the police, too, started calling Huskins Gone Girl., You go through something like that, and every moment, every ounce of energy is about How do I live to see another second? That is all you can think about, said Huskins. Watch The outbreak of hepatitis in children is unusual and concerning Latest News, Mwai Kibaki Illness & Death Cause: The Former Kenyan President Passed Away. Matthew Muller, 39, of South Lake Tahoe previously pleaded not guilty to a kidnapping charge for the March 23, 2015, incident. Faith & Family Producer of new film on 1970s Jesus movement hopes to spark repeat spiritual . Nothing made him stand out one way or the other, she said. Detectives in Palo Alto and Mountain View say theyre also looking into Mullers possible involvement in home invasions in 2009 that had similarities to the Vallejo and Dublin cases. She told them about Muller, and two FBI agents and a representative from Vallejo police came pretty quickly after that.. Matthew Muller was arrested in South Lake Tahoe on June 8, 2015, and charged with kidnapping for ransom in federal court. Detective Misty Carausu of the Dublin Police Department in California helped break the kidnapping case related to Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn. In addition, Matthew pled guilty to robbery of an inhabited dwelling, residential burglary, and false imprisonment. According to the District Attorneys office, Muller also admitted to robbery of an occupied house, domestic burglary, and false detention. Thats something that weve had to live with and somehow make peace with., Huskins said the Vallejo Police Department never came out and publicly apologized for saying what happened to them was a hoax. The intruder covered their eyes with swimming goggles that had been covered in duct tape to block their sight and put headphones on them. When Huskins arrived in San Francisco to meet with her new attorney she finally felt safe enough to reveal all of the details of her harrowing captivity that she had been afraid to tell the police. She attempted to reach the Vallejo police but says she initially did not get a call back. Some of these went as far back as 2009 and involved the exact details. As authorities try to sort out the puzzle of Mullers life, his lawyer seems to be preparing a defense that will center on his clients mental state. Up until this point, neither Huskins nor Aaron Quinn had seen each other since the incident. What he wasnt charged with were the sexual assaults, the robbery, the burglary against Aaron, Rappaport said. Today, Muller is in the custody of a California jail and in court-ordered mental health treatment, according to his jail records. Dublin police were able to trace the phone to a woman who told them that it belonged to her son, a man named Matthew Muller, whod lost his phone a day earlier. Huskins said that despite all the therapy they went through to rebuild their lives, she still felt like something was missing. After returning to California, he enrolled at Pomona College in Claremont, where he majored in science and technology. The FBI said in a July statement that in the early morning on March 23 in Vallejo, Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, were awakened by a bright light. In 2016, Matthew pleaded guilty to the count upon him and subsequently got sentenced to 40 years in prison. He graduated summa cum laude from Pomona, and received his juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School. Any abnormality he might have shown in college was his drive.. When he woke up he said he was able to free himself. Matthew V. Muller. Apr. Huntington Beach police officers arrived at the neighbors apartment where Huskins was waiting and began questioning her, who recounted everything that had happened two nights earlier, including the events that unfolded after she was taken from Aaron Quinns home. Quinn said he was told to call out sick at his job and to text Huskins boss that she had a family emergency and would be out for a week. His adult life has been marked with mental health issues, including diagnoses of bipolar disorder and psychosis, Johnson said. Huskins borrowed a cellphone from a stranger and called her father, who did not answer. She and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, told authorities they were bound with zip ties and forced to consume drugs that put them to sleep. William Vizzard, professor emeritus of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento, said law enforcement sometimes ends up with egg on your face when calling out hoaxes. Eventually, Muller disappeared into the house. When he attended Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks near Sacramento, Muller took classes in the high achievers program. According to court . Then they continued to question Quinn about what hed been doing before calling for help. I just wanted to tell her I was sorry, said Aaron Quinn. At Bella Vista, Matthew Muller was a "high achievement student" but was largely unmemorable, said Mary Shelton, his ninth-grade English teacher. He is survived by his sister Karlie Powers, (Michael), and his nephew Hayden. He was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, plus a $2,500 fine and restitution of $1,250. Johnson said that Muller grew up with his parents, who divorced sometime after high school. Furthermore, a search of his family home yielded not only several squirt guns with laser pointers taped to them and blacked-out swimming goggles but also video evidence that confirmed he was Denise and Aarons offender. Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn had a daughter, Olivia, who was born five years to the day that Huskins was released by her kidnapper, she said. Police arrested Muller on June 8 at what was apparently his parents' South Lake Tahoe vacation home for an alleged attack at a couple's Dublin home three days earlier. Goodrich did report that Muller said he felt bad for the kidnapping victim and thought the victim deserved an apology. Muller also worked for a year as an associate in the San Francisco office of immigration attorney firm Kerosky, Purves & Bogue. Attorney Douglas Rappaport, who is representing Huskins, said the departments public accusations in the aftermath of the couples kidnapping ordeal compromised their jobs as physical therapists, their integrity and their friendships. Not only was Muller a good student, he was in top physical condition, running five miles a day before class started. Matthew Muller was a Marine and Harvard-educated lawyer who was convicted in federal court for carrying out a kidnapping so bizarre Vallejo Police believed the victims were lying as part of an. "The fact that Muller knew facts about his victims indicates that he probably conducted online research of his targets," the FBI affidavit states. On Dec. 4 last year, Healy ordered Muller committed to one of five California state hospitals for a maximum term of two years. One, in particular, had a blonde hair strand attached to the duct tape. Matthew Mueller. Muller's attorney, Thomas Johnson, is asking a judge to throw out much of the evidence in the case, saying it was obtained through an illegal search of the cellphone. The case has remained open. He has pleaded not guilty. When they searched the cabin, the Dublin officers found several laptops, cellphones, a few stun guns, a lot of ski masks and an empty bed with no blankets but a sheet that appeared to have been slept on, Carausu and Campos said. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. In interviews with NBC Bay Area, Johnson and his former college roommate,Alex Volberding,who is working at a law firm in San Francisco this summer, described Muller, of Orangeville, California, as someone who stood out in college because of his drive and wit. FBI spokeswoman Gina Swankie said anyone who has undergone a similar incident should call 1-800-call-FBI. Attorneys for the woman and her boyfriend have demanded police issue an apology, calling Huskins "100 percent, positively a victim.". View the profiles of people named Mathew Muller. Huskins and Quinn met in 2014 in Vallejo, California, located in the Bay Area, where they were both physical therapists. In March 2022, Matthew appeared in court from Napa State Hospital in California via Zoom. A home invasion in Dublin in June led police, and then the FBI, to Muller, through evidence in his car, including goggles with a long blond hair attached. She said that he looked unremarkable when he was escorted out. VINELinkMatthew Mullers California jail records. The FBI has said that evidence includes a water pistol with a flashlight and laser pointer on it, a laptop that resembled one Aaron Quinn had, a pair of goggles with hair on it the same color as the victim's, and a vehicle navigation system that turned up the same address of the home where Huskins resurfaced. Back in California, he attended college and graduated summa cum laude, then entered law school at Harvard, the AP reported. Alleged kidnap of Vallejo woman now treated as hoax, Police search for apparent kidnap victim from Vallejo, Trump supporter in plot to firebomb Sacramento Democratic HQ sentenced to prison. As a former decorated officer with qualifications that proved his intelligence, Matthew was able to get a stable job as an immigration attorney at a San Francisco law firm. I thought maybe I did have a schizophrenic breakdown, he said. or. But it was on June 5, three months after the fact, when Matthew attempted to break into another home in California, that he was identified as a suspect. I also didnt trust myself anymore., I could see who Aaron was and the man he was and the good in him, Huskins said. Concerned that the camera the intruders installed was still monitoring him, he believed he could not call 911. I grabbed my bags and started walking down that alley and I looked at the corner street name and I saw Utica, which is the street that I grew up on.. Muller, who is in Santa Rita Jail facing the Dublin charges, has not yet been moved to federal court in Sacramento to face his kidnap case. He woke up to new emails and texts from the intruder. Muller pleaded guilty to the federal kidnapping charge and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. We talked about how it would be difficult; we had to rebuild trust. Years later, when he was interviewed for a Pomona College publication, he described himself as a classic smart but lazy high school student who lacked discipline and maturity. Im just going to stay calm and be grateful for the life I had," Huskins said. Several days before the Mountain View incident, Muller was interviewed by police after he was seen walking in the area in Palo Alto where a resident said he saw a suspicious person coming out of the back of an apartment building and entering the back of another apartment building. Her daughter, she says, filled that hole. Find your friends on Facebook. ", His family later received an automated email in which Muller allegedly stated he had "problems beyond his mental health. The suspect asked the victim questions including her date of birth, mother's maiden name and social security number, according to the FBI. His articles were published in academic publications and law journals, according to a glowing biography posted in 2011 on the website of Reeves & Associates, a San Francisco law firm that had just hired him. Student dead, another injured following stabbing at a Santa Rosa high school, police say. It just would have been impossible to have been done by one guy, Huskins said. San Francisco judge sentenced the first of two men connected with a plot to bomb the state Democratic Party HQ. Sacramento sheriffs detectives investigating, Man arrested after striking officer with their own Taser holster, Galt police say, Latest car sideshow in Sacramentos Meadowview area ends in arrest, others cited, Half of Sacramentos violent crime is centered in 3 areas. Police in Vallejo initially said they had no evidence to indicate the case was an abduction and dubbed it the "Gone Girl" case - referring to a book and movie about a mysterious disappearance - but after Muller was charged by federal prosecutors, they've declined to comment. People named Matthew Muller. His family later received . Mr. All rights reserved. Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins were married in 2018. But he was stationed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, at Camp Pendleton, at the Naval School of Music in Little Creek, Virginia, and at the III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan. Matthew Muller. Family members of Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, urge the judge to consider the pain caused by . Quinn said the officers eventually seemed to soften a little bit and told him they were taking him to the police station to give a statement. Muller is charged with kidnapping Denise Huskins and boyfriend Aaron Quinn from Vallejo in March. Each individual was in charge of a different part of the operation. The kidnapper, who had taken Huskins bags when he abducted her, had removed them from the car and placed them on the ground. The man convicted in the bizarre "Gone Girl" kidnapping and assault involving a Vallejo couple in 2015 told. In return, he says they gave him prison clothes to wear. I finally just put my foot down and said, Look, I dont deserve this. And it was a couple of weeks of kind of going back and forth, she said. The suspect asked the victim for information including PIN numbers, email addresses and passwords, and her family members' addresses and social security numbers, according to the affidavit. Nicole Egan, co-author of "Victim F: From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors," discusses the 2015 home invasion and kidnapping of Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins. The recording said that a camera would be placed in the home to monitor him, and responding officers found a small surveillance camera in the home. In 2011, an immigration law firm he was working for, Reeves & Associates, sued Muller for allegedly sleeping in their offices and stealing client information and passwords, with the hunch that he wanted to start his own firm. The episode airs at 9 p.m. Eastern time June 4, 2021. She said a neighbor allowed her into the house. I asked for a blanket, and he goes, Oh, Im sorry. But Quinn says the detectives began to ask about his relationship with Huskins. The city of Vallejo now has a new lawsuit to contend with. He described Muller as someone who loved music and studying, who didnt have a wide circle of friends. The intruder says, We have a problem and he says to Aaron, Do Denise and your ex-fiance look-alike?, At that moment, Quinn said he released a guttural sigh., I was like, Yes, they both have long, blonde hair, Quinn said. Log In. When they turned airplane mode off, the phone flooded with messages. ET on ABC. Two incidents from 2009 took place in Palo Alto and Mountain View, and involved an unknown man breaking into the homes of the female victims and threatening to rape them. And in that moment, I just thought, Oh my God. @ARobach's report shares never-before-seen interrogation video of Aaron following Denise's kidnapping Watch tonight at 9/8c on @ABC. Today, with their assailant Matthew Muller in prison, theyve chronicled their story in a new book called Victim F: From Crime Victims, To Suspects, To Survivors.. Huskins said the man then told her to walk to the bedroom closet. Here are five things to know about the case. Whitney further alleges in the lawsuit that he was in the room and that he heard Bidou instruct Parks to "burn that bitch" prior to Parks' March 25, 2015, press conference where Parks suggested that Huskins and Aaron Quinn had lied about their home invasion and abduction. Meanwhile, Huskins reappearance had set off a media firestorm fueled by suggestions that her case bore striking resemblance to the book and film Gone Girl. The fictional story is about a woman who fakes her own disappearance as revenge against her cheating husband. "He was a very, very hard worker," said Volberding, a UCLA law student who also attended Pomona College with Muller from 1999 to 2003.
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