But on June 5, 2015, there was a major break in the case when police in Dublin, California, a city about an hour south of Vallejo, responded to a report of a home robbery. Matthew Muller, who sexually assaulted a Vallejo woman who was kidnapped from her home in what police initially thought was a hoax, was sentenced Friday to 31 years in state prison. They also found the address where Huskins had been dropped off in the stolen vehicles GPS, Campos said. Attorney Tom Johnson said Muller suffers from debilitating mental health issues that made practicing law impossible. KPIX reporter Juliette Goodrich didn't include portions of the conversation Muller said were off the record in her television report, according to the station. Matthew had dropped his phone in the process, which directed the officials right back to him, earning a massive breakthrough. He said, This is what were going to do. Matthew Muller Today: Where Is the Gone Girl Kidnapper Now in 2021? Matthew Muller served as a Marine from 1995 to 1999. 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.. Unlike typical criminals, Matthew Daniel Muller served in the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999 and graduated summa cum laude from Pomona College in California before eventually attending Harvard Law School. Johnson said his client's statement to KPIX didn't amount to a confession, though he said he hadn't heard it and couldn't comment beyond that. Others called him friendly and funny. Eventually, Muller disappeared into the house. 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. VALLEJO, Calif. --The man charged in a bizarre California kidnapping that police initially dismissed as a hoax allegedly said he acted alone in the plot in an "off the record" jailhouse interview with a local CBS station that has since been obtained by the FBI. Heres how to help police stop it, Tesla crashes into Girl Scout table at a Northern California Walmart; 3 people are hurt, Video shows carjacking arrest turn violent, with police firing shots in North Sacramento. 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. Muller was convicted in federal court in Sacramento in 2017 and sentenced to 40 years in prison, according to The Mercury News. SACRAMENTO, Calif. Matthew Muller, 39, of South Lake Tahoe, pleaded guilty today to one count of kidnapping, Acting United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. This is a robbery.. The FBI even offered to fly Huskins back to Vallejo on its airplane. Then, in 2013, while working as an immigration lawyer for the firm of Kerosky Purves & Bogue, Muller got into trouble with the State Bar for failing to show up for cases, among other things. After being found mentally unfit to stand trial, Matthew was ordered to take antipsychotic medication until he was deemed mentally competent. The man was masked and wearing tight-fitting black clothing, the FBI stated, and he handcuffed the victim's hands and used Velcro to bind her feet. He pleaded not guilty to his charges in Solano County, the article said. 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. Mattew Muller was arrested for raping the victim, according to reports. September 3, 2015 / 6:08 PM or. She said that he looked unremarkable when he was escorted out. No ones going to understand what they went through except each other., The two married near the water in Monterey, California. Concerned that the camera the intruders installed was still monitoring him, he believed he could not call 911. 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. We were telling [the detective] what a good kid he was, said Marianne Quinn, his mother. 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.. Im just going to stay calm and be grateful for the life I had," Huskins said. Muller was scheduled to appear in court on March 24, 2021, for a mental health placement review in Vallejo, The Mercury News reported. Mullers stepfather declined to speak with NBC Bay Area, deferring all calls to his lawyer. The victim later told police she believed he was asking the questions to make some kind of overseas transaction. Eventually, the intruder picked up Huskins and put her in the trunk of Quinn's car before driving away with her. In December 2020 former Vallejo Police Captain John Whitney filed suit against the city and the police department alleging he was wrongfully terminated for speaking out on a variety of issues that he characterized as misconduct, including ones related to Huskin and Aaron Quinn's case. On Dec. 21, the judge received an update regarding placement alternatives and care from MHM Services and earlier this month learned the defendant had been placed in the treatment program, the article said. Federal prosecutors charged Matthew Muller - a disbarred Harvard University-trained attorney - with the March kidnapping of Denise Huskins from her Vallejo, California, home. Find your friends on Facebook. In a conversation with KPIX that Muller said was "off the record and on the background," Muller said that he acted alone as he discussed the kidnapping. Huskins was held captive for just over 48 hours before being released, but the couple continued to fear for their lives with a kidnapper on the loose and the police dismissing their account of the incident as too incredible to be believed. Matthew Muller. Johnson said he graduated summa cum laude with degrees in economics and public policy analysis. On June 17, Alameda. Quinn said the moment was so shocking that it froze him in his place. Furthermore, in 2016, Matthew pleaded guilty to the accusation levelled against him and was sentenced to 40 years in jail. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Has he done drugs?, They said maybe we were in a fight and I pushed her down the stairs, Aaron Quinn said. San Francisco judge sentenced the first of two men connected with a plot to bomb the state Democratic Party HQ. 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. I brought pizza and we sat on the couch most of the night and talked, she said. 1. At Bella Vista, Matthew Muller was a "high achievement student" but was largely unmemorable, said Mary Shelton, his ninth-grade English teacher. When he woke up he said he was able to free himself. Both victims were women, and both crimes occurred in the early morning hours. Johnson said that Muller grew up with his parents, who divorced sometime after high school. The FBI said the suspect then allegedly retrieved Quinn's bank account information from his laptop. And in emails to the San Francisco Chronicle during the kidnap saga, someone who purported to be behind the abduction of the Vallejo couple also boldly stated he or she was part of a wide car thief ring in the Bay Area, stealing cars to make some quick money. But some of Mullers problems are documented in legal filings in federal and state court. She told them about Muller, and two FBI agents and a representative from Vallejo police came pretty quickly after that.. After the Marines, Muller enrolled at Pomona College. Her daughter, she says, filled that hole. Quinns older brother is an FBI agent, so he decided he would call him instead, but his brother instructed him to immediately call 911. He traveled to Australia and the United Arab Emirates, among other places. Latest news and commentary on Matthew Muller including photos, videos, quotations, and a biography. She said her captor told her he was being instructed to make the recording as a form of collateral over Huskins. Would love your thoughts, please comment. 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. Matthew Muller. 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. During the time Huskins was missing, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter received an anonymous email with a link to an audio file "stripped of identifying data" that depicts a female voice identifying herself as the kidnapping victim, according to the FBI. 15 2022, Published 4:24 p.m. Family members of Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, urge the judge to consider the pain caused by . Sign Up. Quinn was let go and Huskins dropped off two days after she was abducted near her familys home in Huntington Beach. In that moment, he said he thought to himself, Were in a lot of trouble and this is planned.. 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. accused kidnapper since his arrest was announced by the FBI on Monday. Muller has since been charged in Solano County with kidnapping for ransom, two counts of forcible rape, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment. He has had only one interaction with him, he said, but it was memorable. Muller is in the custody of the Solano County Stanton Correctional Facility, which has held him since September 15, 2018, his jail record shows, which was around the time of his federal conviction. When Carausu researched the kidnapping, she remembered the so-called Gone Girl case that had gotten so much media coverage. And so, he said, We got the wrong intel.. After the man left, Quinn said he was able to push the goggles off his eyes, but the drugs were starting to take effect, and at around 5 a.m., he passed out. The suspect made the victim drink a small amount of what she thought was Nyquil, the affidavit states. Matthew Muller. Huskins, 29, turned up safe two days later in her hometown of Huntington Beach, where she says she was dropped off, hours before a ransom demand was due. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, worked for a newspaper off base and played trumpet in the Marine Corps band, according to the Sacramento Bee. 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. Matthew Muller, who was formerly serving a 40- time judgment for civil offences, was doomed to Solano county superior court, according to the county quarter attorney's office. Their case became of national public interest when police didnt believe their story, calling it a hoax. 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.. His adult life has been marked with mental health issues, Johnson told the Sacramento Bee, saying his client suffered from bipolar disorder and psychosis. [In] the Dublin home invasion, none of them had blonde hair.. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. In a 2011 complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the law firm accused him of stealing its records, spending the night in its office with a sleeping bag to accomplish the task. In March 2022, Matthew appeared in court from Napa State Hospital in California via Zoom. Muller was later interviewed in the case by a detective, the affidavit states. I was really afraid that she wouldnt want to see me that she would just want to wipe her hands clean.. 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. The city of Vallejo now has a new lawsuit to contend with. 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. I just wanted to hold her. Is California a better place to live? In the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2009, a 27-year-old victim was sleeping in her Mountain View, Calif. apartment when she awoke to an unknown man on her back, according to the FBI. Upon looking deeper into him, it came to light that even though hed never been charged or arrested, he was named a suspect in various other home invasion and burglary cases in the cities of California. Matt's parents Robert and Noelle preceded him in death. But during the struggle, the kidnapper left his phone at the house. 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. In 2016, Matthew pleaded guilty to the count upon him and subsequently got sentenced to 40 years in prison. People named Matthew Muller. Quinn and Huskins continue to believe that there were others involved in the home invasion and kidnapping, but Muller is the only person who has ever been charged. Huskins said she hoped that the confusion would result in the intruder deciding just to leave them, but that is not what happened. "Despite going to both Pomona and Harvard with him I didn't know him especially well," Helperen wrote in an email. People named Matthew Mueller. Her defense attorney, Doug Rappaport, said he insisted she shouldnt get on that plane and should take a commercial flight instead. He will enter a not guilty plea when he arrives in about two to three weeks, Johnson said. Denise Huskins, left, and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn listen as their attorneys speak at a news conference Monday, July 13, 2015 in Vallejo, Calif. Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport, feds say, Closing arguments begin in double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, Where things stand in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial, Dramatic police chase airs live during sheriff's radio interview in Florida, bizarre California kidnapping that police initially dismissed as a hoax. At some point, they are going to have to say it if they screwed up, he said. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 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