For many months both law enforcement agencies and the media shared the narrative that the kidnapping of Denise Huskins was most likely a hoax, and that she and Aaron Quinn had collaborated in an attempt to dupe the authorities. Initially, police investigators interviewing Quinn assumed that he had murdered his partner, but once she emerged, the pair were suspected of staging the kidnapping (per ABC News). But things changed dramatically for Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn when news broke that the FBI had arrested a man named Matthew Muller (per The Guardian).
Muller was arrested in Dublin, California after his cell phone was discovered at the scene of a similar break-in (via CBS News). Authorities found a stolen computer of Quinn’s in Muller’s car, along with other evidence. Muller was determined to be the sole kidnapper — he had made it appear that multiple kidnappers had broken into the home where Huskins and Quinn were sleeping by playing secondary voices from a tape recorder. In 2017, he was sentenced to 40 years for kidnapping, and in 2022 he was sentenced to 31 years in state prison for the kidnap and sexual assault of Huskins (he is serving both concurrently). Vallejo police, who had so fervently doubted the couple’s story, have apologized, and the victims have received $2.5 million in damages.
