Quinn said the first question the police asked him when he answered the door was, Are you on drugs?. See Photos. His parents, Monty and Joyce, are both career educators in the Sacramento area. Muller has since been charged in Solano County with kidnapping for ransom, two counts of forcible rape, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment. What do I do next? she told ABC News Amy Robach. See Photos. Huskins and Quinn married in 2018 and had a daughter, Olivia, who was born five years to the day that Huskins was released by her kidnapper, she said. 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. Matthew Muller Maitre Chocolatier Middle East, Africa and India at Lindt & Sprungli Business Developer Middle East and Africa at Caffarel SpA United Arab Emirates In the July KPIX interview recorded by the jail and outlined in an FBI affidavit in support of a search warrant, Muller allegedly "ascribed his conduct to mental illness, a belief in some kind of conspiracy, and some kind of supposed side effect from a vaccine." Attorney Tom Johnson said Muller suffers from debilitating mental health issues that made practicing law impossible. I heard him drive off. Mattew Muller was arrested for raping the victim, according to reports. I said, Yes, the kidnappers drugged me, he said. Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Firefighter dies battling blaze in downtown Buffalo, mayor says, Prosecution wraps its case at Alex Murdaugh murder trial, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, What to know about Shigella bacteria as drug-resistant strain spreads, Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students, Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment. Quinns struggle eventually came to a head when, in February 2015, Huskins found out that Quinn had been messaging his ex-fiance about getting back together. A court in January issued a default judgment, saying Muller failed to refund $1,250 to a client and had told a client that he had filed necessary immigration papers when he had not. Mustard has denied making this statement. Woodrow said Quinn was moved downstairs, where he was placed on a couch and told that a camera on the wall would be watching him and that he couldnt leave a perimeter marked by tape on the floor. California cannabis laws to know before you travel, LeBron James, DeAaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander injury updates and NBA playoff race, Man, 43, killed in Rio Linda shooting. Matthew Muller Today: Where Is the Gone Girl Kidnapper Now in 2021? Quinn was let go and Huskins dropped off two days after she was abducted near her familys home in Huntington Beach. Matthew Muller Biography & Wikipedia: Is Denise Huskins Kidnapper Still In Jail? I knew from experience how this was going to go down, Russo said. He graduated with his law degree and then began working at the prestigious law school, the article continued. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. He was originally a suspect in the Palo Alto case, but authorities believed they had insufficient evidence to arrest him, said Palo Alto police Lt. Zach Perron. Odd behavior got him fired. At one point, the suspect placed something the victim said she thought were blacked out swim goggles over her eyes. In that moment, he said he thought to himself, Were in a lot of trouble and this is planned.. After all that theyd gone through, Marianne Quinn said she knew the couple would stay together forever. As new details of Huskins ordeal emerged this week with the unsealing of the FBI documents, Vallejo city police came under fire for their handling of the original kidnapping report in March. He, in turn, hits the husband upside the head with a Maglite-style flashlight and exits the house, said Dublin police Sgt. As a result, he was handed down 31 years in prison, with the sentence to run concurrently with the 40-year term. I tell him no. 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. Aarons car is missing, and they know that he waited a substantial period of time before dialing 911. Is California a better place to live? He described Muller as someone who loved music and studying, who didnt have a wide circle of friends. He allegedly restrained the woman's arms, tied her ankles using Velcro, used surgical tape to cover her eyes, and forced her to drink Nyquil, the document states. Once she was released, if she attempted to go to the police, she said the kidnapper told her the group would release the recording on the internet. On June 17, Alameda. The only difference was that the victims successfully managed to attack and scare their assailant into running away before any damage was done. Eventually, the intruder picked up Huskins and put her in the trunk of Quinn's car before driving away with her. Muller ended up resigning from the firm and the suit was settled. Matthew Muller, 39, a disbarred San Francisco immigration lawyer, has agreed to admit to kidnapping 30-year-old Denise Huskins from the Mare Island home of her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, in March. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Exhausted, worried about Huskins and anxious over the detectives refusal to believe him, Aaron Quinn said he began to doubt his own sanity. Her defense attorney, Doug Rappaport, said he insisted she shouldnt get on that plane and should take a commercial flight instead. Quinn said the officers entered the house and immediately unplugged the camera that the kidnapper had left. @ARobach's report shares never-before-seen interrogation video of Aaron following Denise's kidnapping Watch tonight at 9/8c on @ABC. How much rain and snow fell in Northern California storm? The FBI now links the case to a Dublin home invasion last month in which a man fought off an intruder. I brought pizza and we sat on the couch most of the night and talked, she said. I said, We have evidence thats going to dissipate And they said the most callous thing I think Ive ever heard somebody say from law enforcement, Rappaport said. Woodrow said the intruder told Quinn they were going to communicate with him via text and email, and that theyd even created an email address for the correspondences. 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. Here are the latest totals, Hiker calls for help on dark Hawaii trail. Marianna Quinn is the mother of Aaron Quinn. She said Muller was pleasant, had friends and played saxophone in the school band. 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. But during the struggle, the kidnapper left his phone at the house. Quinn had lived with his ex-fiance in that house before their breakup, and she had only recently moved out all of her belongings. And so, he said, We got the wrong intel.. 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. He was a U.S. Marine for five years and graduated summa cum laude from Pomona College in California before going to Harvard Law School. When officers from the Vallejo Police Department appeared at his home, it had been more than nine hours since Huskins had been taken. When he attended Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks near Sacramento, Muller took classes in the high achievers program. She said that she had been raped twice by her kidnapper, which he videotaped. Maybe we were into weird sex things and something went wrong.. Yet, in 2015, following filing for bankruptcy and being accused of neglecting to refund roughly $1,250 to a client when a court ordered it for failure to provide competent representation, he was disbarred for good. Facebook gives people the power to. Its been six years since the night that Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins awoke in his Vallejo, California, home to a mans voice saying, Wake up. The suspect tries to get away. Huskins and Quinn told investigators their assailant had checked their blood pressure after giving them drugs. 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. But the 38-year-old didnt always suffer from mental illness, which he told federal agents is Gulf War Illness, even though he served in the Marines years after the Gulf War. Despite these messages, the Vallejo Police Department never backed down from its assertion that the couples story was fabricated. On March 24, one day after the incident, the San Francisco Chronicle received whats known as a proof-of-life message from Huskins, Murphy said. Matthew Muller, 39, of South Lake Tahoe previously pleaded not guilty to a kidnapping charge for the March 23, 2015, incident. 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. Matthew Mueller. In video recordings of the interview, detective Mathew Mustard could be heard asking if there was tension in the relationship and if Quinn was cheating. Quinn said he realized the interview was taking a turn when, about 45 minutes into it, Mustard leaned back in the chair and told him, I dont think youre being truthful, and I dont think anybody came into your house., Mustard could be heard telling Quinn in the videotaped interrogation he the story youre telling here, I aint buying at all.. Investigators brought Aaron Quinn back to the station that same day and asked him to send a message back to the kidnapper. Detective Misty Carausu of the Dublin Police Department in California helped break the kidnapping case related to Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn. Johnson said the evidence that will be presented in court will likely show that Mullers bipolar disorder began while he was in Harvard, where he earned a law degree and was a research assistant. Misty Carausu had a nagging feeling that Muller had attempted this kind of crime before. In a statement to 20/20 on Monday, Vallejos public information officer Christina Lee admitted, It appears that the follow-up personal public apology did not take place.. There were things that happened that we saw, that we heard. Several weeks later, on Oct. 18, 2009, the FBI says a 32-year-old victim - a Harvard University student studying at Stanford - was sleeping in her Palo Alto apartment when she awoke to an unknown man wearing tight-fitting black clothing straddling her. Gov. She said that after their conversation, as they went to bed around midnight, it felt like a fresh start.. Huskins was released two days later in Huntington Beach. Soon after Huskins was abducted in March 2015, boyfriend Aaron Quinn called police saying she'd . Matthew Daniel Muller served in the Marines in Afghanistan, graduated from two of the most prestigious universities in the country and was a research assistant at Harvard Law School before. The couple was awakened at around 3 a.m. by a man whod broken into the house. The man convicted in the bizarre "Gone Girl" kidnapping and assault involving a Vallejo couple in 2015 told. He was also told he would have to withdraw money from his bank and that hed have a camera monitoring his moves. Matthew Mueller. She later explained she feared that the kidnapper had threatened her and her family if she revealed two specific details: that anyone involved in the abduction was in the military or that she had been raped. But by his third year in law school his defense attorney says Muller was so paranoid that he thought he was being tracked by the government, the Associated Press reported in 2017, following his federal kidnapping conviction. 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 attorney's office. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/nrGoAIxPHv. A component of the defense is going to be a progressive debilitating illness, Johnson said, adding that Muller did not show any signs of mental illness before graduate school. "This is perhaps the least extreme thing I can do to resolve it that does not also expose everybody to criminal liability.". In this July 13, 2015, file photo, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn stand in silence during a press conference in Vallejo, Calif. Matthew Muller was charged in federal court in Sacramento, California, with kidnapping for ransom. He is also survived by his aunts, uncles and cousins, as well. "Despite going to both Pomona and Harvard with him I didn't know him especially well," Helperen wrote in an email. Other items confiscated included a blood pressure cuff found in a stolen white Mustang discovered near the Muller family vacation home in South Lake Tahoe. They spoke to ABC 20/20 about their experiences, and say their trauma was inflicted both by Muller and the judicial system. Fearing he was putting Huskins life in grave danger, he dialed the police. I didnt realize how cold it is because were all wearing wetsuits.. He was working as an immigration lawyer for the firm of Kerosky Purves & Bogue at the time, the Sacramento Bee reported. "Certainly never observed any mental illness; just a lot of intelligence and drive.". Matthew Muller faces sentencing next week in the March 2015 kidnapping of Denise Huskins. See Photos. That didnt stop other people from weighing in. 'There was an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence that linked Muller to the crime but now there's direct evidence which is his detailed admission he was the kidnapper that was recorded during your jailhouse interview," Huskins' attorney, Doug Rappaport, told Goodrich Wednesday. Huskins said the man then told her to walk to the bedroom closet. On March 22, 2015, the couple made a plan to meet at Quinns home in Mare Island, Vallejo, to decide if they wanted to continue their relationship. The judge has not yet ruled on that, Johnson told 48 Hours' Crimesider. It just would have been impossible to have been done by one guy, Huskins said. By this point, Huskins says it was clear to her that she needed to hire a criminal defense attorney. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Instead, then-Vallejo Police Chief Andrew Bidou wrote a private letter of apology to them, saying in part that it was now clear what happened was not a hoax or orchestrated event and that [Vallejo Police Department[ conclusions were incorrect.. Later, he was disbarred after he collected a $1,250 payment for a client but failed to file a green card application, according to the AP. He woke up to new emails and texts from the intruder. With a bipolar disorder, the pendulum swing can be tremendous:from feeling grandiose to not being able to put your two feet on the floor.. He filed a lawsuit against the city and three of the cops involved in the case. Another former classmate, Noah Helpern, went to both undergraduate and graduate schools with Muller. Rappaport said this new evidence still didnt deter police from their theory that Aaron Quinn and Huskins story was too unbelievable to be true. But while he was there, the police also gathered DNA samples and his clothes, he said. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. FBI spokeswoman Gina Swankie said anyone who has undergone a similar incident should call 1-800-call-FBI. 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. or. Johnson said that Muller grew up with his parents, who divorced sometime after high school. Matthew Daniel Muller who was sentenced in 2017 in a Sacramento federal courtroom to 40 years in prison for kidnapping a couple and raping the female victim before releasing her near her. In video recordings of Aaron Quinn's interview, detective Mathew Mustard could be heard asking if there was "tension in the relationship" with Denise Huskins and if Quinn was "cheating.". Nothing made him stand out one way or the other, she said. The city managers office said the FBI asked officials not to talk about the case. The suspect attempted to rape the victim and threatened to inject her with the sedative and pain killer Ketamine, the affidavit states, but then stopped the attempt. As the new Chief of Police, I am committed to making sure survivors are given compassionate service with dignity and respect. His brother, Ethan Quinn, retained attorney Dan Russo, who brought Aaron Quinn back to his office after 18 hours of police interrogation. All rights reserved. In March 2022, Matthew appeared in court from Napa State Hospital in California via Zoom. 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. 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. When Carausu researched the kidnapping, she remembered the so-called Gone Girl case that had gotten so much media coverage. After all, the sequence of events was very similar. Dublin Police/Marine Corps Muller enlisted in the Marines after high school, and ended up in Okinawa, Japan, where he worked for a newspaper off of his base and played trumpet in the Marine Corps band. They demanded two payments of $8,500, he said. But, this time, the attempted break-in quickly went awry. In 2016, Matthew pleaded guilty to the count upon him and subsequently got sentenced to 40 years in prison. However, the physical evidence soon made it apparent that Matthew Muller was their perpetrator. Looking back at all the evidence, there was just no denying that this wasnt his first time committing a crime, she said. Muller had always been a good student, according to Johnson, who culled his information by meeting his clients family and friends. The program is designated for defendants who were deemed incompetent to stand trial, the article said. 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. He graduated summa cum laude from Pomona, and received his juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School. The FBI even offered to fly Huskins back to Vallejo on its airplane. At Bella Vista, Matthew Muller was a "high achievement student" but was largely unmemorable, said Mary Shelton, his ninth-grade English teacher. See Photos. I knew that hed be a great partner but I could see that he was struggling.. The affidavit states that the victim was sexually assaulted during the kidnapping. Palo Alto police told Crimesider Muller remains the only suspect in that case, and they'll review evidence in the Dublin and Vallejo cases to see if there's any evidence that could assist in their investigation. 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