The infamous kidnapper whose 2015 crime spree — and subsequent flawed police investigation — was turned into a Netflix documentary has been charged with two new crimes committed years ago in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Matthew Muller, 47, appeared in Santa Clara County court on Monday to face charges of home invasion and attempted rape that allegedly occurred in 2009. Supreme Court Justice Hector Ramon ordered Muller to return to court on January 17 to enter his plea.
The first incident is said to have occurred on September 29, 2009, when a 30-year-old Mountain View woman told police that she woke up to find a man on top of her. According to the description of the case from the Santa Clara County district attorney's office, the man, who authorities say is Muller, demanded that he drink a drug-laced drink, then tied him up and said he was going to rape him.
The woman was able to persuade him to stop assaulting her, according to the district attorney's office. Before he left, Muller allegedly told him that he should get a dog to protect him.
About three weeks later, on Oct. 18, 2009, a woman in nearby Palo Alto woke up to find a man on top of her, according to the district attorney's office. A woman was arrested and forced to drink Nyquil by her attacker, authorities say is Mueller.
Again, the woman was able to persuade him to stop, according to prosecutors. And, before leaving, he gave the woman “crime prevention advice,” according to the district attorney's office.
“The details of this man's violent crimes seem scripted out of Hollywood, but they are tragically real,” Santa Clara County Dist. He said. Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Our goal is to make sure that the defendant is responsible and will not harm or threaten anyone again.”
Muller was previously charged and convicted in the heinous crime that is the subject of a new Netflix documentary, “American Nightmare.”
In that, Muller broke into a Vallejo home in March 2015 and drugged and arrested a couple, Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins. Muller covered their eyes with swimming goggles and gave them a drug to make them sleep. He put headphones on Quinn and played records designed to make Quinn think he was dealing with more than one kidnapper.
Muller then put Huskins in Quinn's car and drove off with her, eventually driving her to his home in South Lake Tahoe. He held her there for two days and sexually abused her, before driving her to California and releasing her in Huntington Beach.
At first, Vallejo police dismissed Quinn's story that his girlfriend had been upset by the kidnapper – or kidnappers – who put headphones on her and gave her a sedative. The police interrogated Quinn for hours, dismissing his story and revealing that he was responsible for her disappearance.
When Huskins showed up, the police became suspicious, asking how it was possible for a kidnapped victim to reappear hundreds of kilometers away wearing sunglasses and carrying a sleeping bag.
Huskins “didn't act like a kidnapping victim,” retired Vallejo Police Capt. James O'Connell later said. he said in an affidavit.
Police tried to get Huskins and Quinn to turn themselves in and admit that there had never been a crime, offering a defense to whoever turned up first, according to statements from their family members.
Then, the police came out with that feeling. “There is no evidence to support the allegations that this was an abduction by a stranger or a kidnapping,” said Lt. Kenny Park of the police in a statement at the time. “Given the facts that have been presented so far, this event appears to be a planned event and not a crime.”
However, less than three months later, evidence gathered from a June 5, 2015, home burglary in a Bay Area community in Dublin helped authorities link Muller to the kidnapping. That case led authorities, including Alameda County Det. Misty Caruso, returns to the Muller family home in South Lake Tahoe, where he foundamong other things, Quinn's computer, glasses and tape with a strand of long blond hair.
Huskins and Quinn, who later married, sued the Vallejo Police Department for defamation and settled for $2.5 million in 2018.
Muller, a Harvard-educated lawyer and former Marine, pleaded guilty in 2016 to kidnapping Huskins. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to other charges of sexual assault. Until he was transferred to Santa Clara County to face the new charges, he was serving his 40-year sentence in a state prison in Tucson.
Many involved in the Vallejo case have long feared that there are more victims.
Among them was El Dorado County Dist. He said. Vern Pierson, who had followed the case because Huskins was originally held in South Lake Tahoe. Pierson has become a vocal critic of police investigation methods in which detectives construct a theory of the case and seek a confession from their prime suspect. He said he was upset that Quinn said he was treated as a suspect instead of a victim when Huskins was kidnapped.
Pierson invited Quinn and Huskins to speak at a conference he held this year to teach a science-based interviewing method that focuses on gathering information rather than breaking suspects. He said he was contacted by a friend of the couple urging him to look into other crimes Muller may have committed.
Pierson admitted to being involved and said he worked with a number of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. He added that the investigation is “still ongoing” and that he expects more revelations in the next few weeks.
Santa Clara County prosecutors said they began investigating the 2009 cold cases after “following a new lead,” and are working with the Palo Alto and Mountain View police departments to have all evidence from the two cases sent to the county crime lab for further testing. Muller's DNA was found on the belts used to tie up one of the victims, according to county authorities.
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