>> yes. >> was it in the cards? >> absolutely. >> did you feel i'm being punished for having this affair? >> yes. i might've said those exact words to myself. >> it started in a club with an innocent conversation. was it worth it? falling in love with sam? >> i would never change having met sam. >> was he the one? >> he was the one. without a doubt. he still is the one. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. thank you for watching. hello. i am andrea canning. this is dateline. >> the details are crazy.

i couldn't make sense of it. >> successful couple, ambush, they said in the dead of night. attacked. abducted. >> we were ligh, wow. where is she? >> the real question, was the story true? >> we were not able to substantiate the things they were saying. >> could it be a hoax? who was really behind it all? >> normal people don't do things like this. >> he said, i know any to pay for what i did. >> hello. welcome to dateline. denise huskins and her boyfriend aaron quinn went to sleep one night blissfully unaware they would wake up to a living nightmare. armed stranger in the bedroom and he didn't appear to be

alone. what happened next was so odd it would lead detectives in the public scratching their heads. was this real life for fiction? unexpected break would steer authorities toward an unlikely suspect. and the truth. here is josh mankiewicz with twisted tale. >> i was asleep in bed. it was about 5:00 in the morning. >> frightening doesn't begin to describe what she went through. >> the next thing i knew, there was someone laying on top of me. >> she was the losing player and someone else's game of power and control. >> their hand was over my mouth. >> if you're wondering, there was no way to fight back. >> i must've been screaming. >> this woman doesn't want us to use her real name. we are calling her samantha and she sharing things she has told a few people. >> this was a man.

>> a man. felt big and strong and i could not move. >> september 29, the sun was an up and in samantha my ski bedroom, masked intruder was holding her down. she had no idea who the man was or what he was planning. >> he said, this will take a couple of hours. i was i think in shock. >> the details of what happened to samantha are not only frightening but deeply strange. she has come forward because she believes her long night of terror may shed light on a different case in a different town with victims she has never met. it's a bizarre mystery that riveted california's bay area then rippled across the country and around the world. march 24, 2015, a young woman was missing. >> she stands 5'7" 150 pounds and has blonde hair and blue

eyes. >> her abductors one and money in exchange for her return. >> we are treating this as a kidnap for ransom and requesting the public's help. >> it happened 30 miles north of san francisco when vallejo. henry lee was a reporter for the san francisco chronicle. >> i was struck by the fact that you don't see these cases too often and this victim didn't strike me as someone who would be targeted. >> a kidnapped victim denise huskins had been staying with her boyfriend aaron quinn at his house. at the time, both for physical therapists at a nearby hospital. aaron was the one who reported denise missing. >> we are doing everything we can and then some. >> police dogs and dive teams are part of a huge search for denise huskins. across the country, denise's good friend ashley saw the news. >> there was an article online.

someone sent it to me and said this is denise. i started texting everybody. >> including denise. >> i tried to text her. better than not doing anything. >> there was no reply. she texted another friend. >> i couldn't believe what i was reading. it didn't seem real. >> that was pretty much the reaction the cops had in the story denise's boyfriend was telling them. >> we have a lot of information to sift through. >> the story aaron told the cops eventually spell out in an affidavit would seem preposterous. something for someone with too much imagination and too much free time. aaron said he and denise were asleep when at about 3:00 a.m., he was awakened by a bright light and an electrical noise. that sounded like a stun gun.

then a man might ski voice telling them to lie face down on the bed. aaron said the man told denise to bind aaron's hands and feet. then he said his eyes were covered with swim goggles. which had been blacked out so he could not see. >> he's blindfolded and zip tied. >> aaron said the intruder demanded his private banking and email information and then put headphones on him that played calming music. along with instructions to use denise's phone to text her work and say she would be out for a couple of days. and, to let his work no the same. aaron claimed he was given a mixture of nyquil and valium to knock him out and told to stay in one spot in his living room that was outlined in red duct tape and monitored by a webcam. then he said, the intruder left with denise.

his story sounded so implausible police wondered if he made it up to hide something more sinister. at first blush when a woman is missing and her husband or boyfriend says she was abducted, well, certainly the first thing i think maybe because of what i do for a living is he has something to do with this. >> in these situations, look at the significant other. is he making it up? what's the real story? >> police treated him most like a victim and more like a murder suspect. they confiscated his cell phone and read him his rights. they were suspicious about why he waited 11 hours before calling 911. >> aaron quinn, took him hours, it wasn't until the afternoon until police could talk to him. >> aaron's mother said police polly graphed him five times. he was put in clothing and given little food or water and held in a small interrogation

room for hours. across the country, denise's friends didn't know any of this but knew enough to be worried. >> someone being kidnapped, a lot of the stories don't end well. you don't want to think of those things but you think, they are not going to be alive. >> about 33 hours after denise huskins disappeared, reporter henry lee was outside aaron's home when his phone buzzed. an email. >> what was chilling is the email came attached with an audio file and the audio file, there was a woman's voice. >> the soft-spoken woman on the recording said she was denise. this strange tale was about to get much stranger. >> what had happened to denise? was she still alive or was it an elaborate hoax? coming up. >> we still don't know where

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denise huskins boyfriend

said she had been kidnapped. his story seemed hard to believe. police wondered if he had murdered her and was trying to cover it up. then, a day and a half after denise disappeared, reporter henry lee received a mysterious email with an audio file attached. he talked about the day's biggest news, a german airliner had gone down. she shared obscure biographical details. >> it's a proof of love audio tried to prove she is denise and she is the kidnapped victim. >> she is aware of events

happening that day. >> she is aware of things that happen to prove she is alive. >> clearly it's not a murder case but is it a kidnapping as aaron claimed? he found out that denise didn't sound frightened. >> she sounded absolutely calm. not terrified or distressed. as if she was talking to a friend over coffee. has shared it with my colleagues and i think the subject line was what is this? >> the recording hit the web where denise's friend ashley heard it. >> it was sort of reassuring she was making an audio dated that day. but also scary because you have no idea if the person is safe and how they are being treated. people are putting her through. >> if denise didn't sound panicked, her friends say that made perfect sense. after all, the three of them

had already lived through what should've been the most traumatic event of their lives. ashley, danica, and denise went to watch the boston marathon in 2013. they say it was denise who remained calm that day. >> we were scared and rocked by yet, but i think, of all of us, she was the best equipped to keep her cool. >> she was the one who was my rock. she grabbed my hand and said, let's go. >> where was denise now? >> it's a bizarre case with a lot of twists. >> cheryl covered the story for the nbc station. >> day two and we don't know where denise huskins is. we are not sure what her boyfriend, aaron, is telling police. all we know is they can't find her. >> the story took another whiplash turn. about 45 hours after denise was

reported missing, police made a dramatic announcement. >> approximately 10:30 this morning denise huskins was located safely. >> is seemed over and denise's cousin said how thrilled everyone was. >> you hear the stories and watch tv and you never know. happy to hear she was alive and safe and home. >> to police and reporters, all professional skeptics, this story and smelled right from the start. denise's sudden reappearance did nothing to change that. >> she is alive. she is well. they found her. there was still something funny going on because no one had all the answers. >> denise turned up in huntington beach which was 400 miles south of vallejo and was her hometown. she was dropped off right by her mom might ski house. >> she wasn't released out of

state are in the desert and not released in the middle of california. weirdest she show up? her parents house. that seemed too convenient. >> a ransom the kidnapper supposedly demanded had never been paid. denise told police in her hometown the same story her boyfriend had told up north about the swim goggles, the nyquil, the threat of electric shock. but then, when vallejo police wanted to question her? >> denise huskins disappeared and would not cooperate and wouldn't fly up in a plane over by the fbi to talk to the police. >> after she was released? suspicion was building. neither denise or aaron made a public statement but they did hire separate attorneys. >> everyone is thinking, why are they doing that? lots of questions and not many answers, but then, less than 12 hours after denise reappeared. >> we get a tip the police are

holding a news conference. so, i jump in the car, the photographer and i, and we hauled back to vallejo to be part of this news conference. and, that's when the bombshell came down. >> coming up. >> we are not able to substantiate the things he was saying. >> was this a praying? ♪♪ stay ahead of your child's moderate-to-severe eczema. and they can show off clearer skin and less itch with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, that helps heal your child's skin from within. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your child's eczema specialist about dupixent. to 50 years with my best friend.

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i didn't have a clue what happened. >> even denise's friends had to admit her sudden disappearance and reappearance seemed almost unbelievable. >> the details are so crazy. i really couldn't make sense of it. >> neither could the vallejo police department. a day after denise came home, spokesman kenny park held a remarkable news conference. first he spoke about training boyfriend, aaron quinn. >> the statement that he provided was such an incredible story that we had a hard time believing it, and upon further investigation, we were not able to substantiate the things he was saying. >> then about denise herself.

>> she indicated she would be happy to meet with police detectives and provide a full detailed statement on what had occurred. as of right now, we have not heard from her. >> finally, this. >> mr. quinn and miss huskins plundered valuable resources from the community while instilling fear amongst community members. if anything, it's mr. quinn and miss huskins opposed an apology. >> after a surge in about 54 hours of investigation, vallejo police concluded the whole kidnapping story was phony. that all of this was one of those major california dramas, not so much shakespearean as kardashian. police seem to think denise and aaron were, for some reason only known to them, seeking publicity and telling an

elaborate live. left unanswered was why anyone would want to become famous for fooling the police. >> the kidnapping story involving a couple. >> no ransom was ever paid. aaron said the kidnappers took his bank information but no one tried to access his accounts. someone did try to call his cell phone a couple of times while denise was missing from a blocked number. according to aaron's mother, sit police suspected aaron program to another phone to call his cell phone when he was with investigators. was there a chance that denise and her boyfriend were going to be prosecuted? >> it was a strong possibility. >> denise's friends didn't know aaron but they had every confidence denise was telling the truth. >> everyone who knows her personally and cares about her believed her. >> the day after, police branded the kidnapping a hoax, denise finally showed up at vallejo p

day to tell the cops they were wrong. she said not only had she been kidnapped, she had also been raped. the same day reporter henry lee received another email. a long message soon followed by more. supporting denise's claim that this was no hoax from a person claiming to have been one of the kidnappers. >> they were very articulate and written by someone extremely intelligent. >> ms. huskins was absolutely kidnapped. we did it and we will provide incontrovertible proof. the writer claim to be part of a group, more than two, and fewer than eight and number. >> they go into length about a series of crimes they pulled. car thefts, break-ins, home invasions. >> some of us have a tech background and are good at overcoming antitheft measures, stealing late-model cars. according to the email, the

group decided to try kidnapping because we want something with a high payout that we only had to do once or a few times. >> what is going on? why are you apparently confessing? >> the writer admitted the reality that kidnapping was more upsetting than expected. be fans say ourselves as oceans 11, gentlemen criminals,, took stop insured from people who could afford it. the horrifying reality of what we have become and what we were doing did not set in until being confronted directly with denise's suffering. >> one of the abductors seemed to sympathize with denise. >> and now the email said they were angry that denise was being accused of making it up. we will not stand by and see the life of a really good person ruined. attached to the emails with

photos. one showed a watergun spray painted to look more threatening, at least in the dark, with a laser pointer and flashlight duct taped to it. another showed a room with cardboard partially covering a window where denise was supposedly held. was this visual proof of the story? or, an elaborate deception? you thought budget or more hoax? >> i thought it was part of a prank. >> the emails were so cleverly written that henry lee wondered if they may have been sent by an attorney hired by denise or aaron. >> that so-called -- >> they started referring to the case is the gone girl kidnapping after the book and movie about a young blonde who fakes her own disappearance. that reference infuriated denise's friends. >> we know it's not accurate and it makes you mad. it was a fictional character created out of a good person.

suddenly it stopped being denise huskins and you start being -- >> labeled as gone girl. >> that wasn't denise at all they said but to the rest of the world, denise and darren were portrayed as liars and schemers and maybe criminals themselves. that is until the next big twist. >> coming up. >> he said we have your daughter. >> another story a strange and eerie as denise and terrence. had the mysterious kidnapper struck again? struck again? re? put them in check with rinvoq. rinvoq works differently and it's a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. check. when flares tried to slow me down, i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission.

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hi, i'm richard lui with a news update. the middle east remains on edge after israel's military and terrorist group hezbollah traded attacks over the weekend. israel referred to the strikes on lebanon as preemptive saying it detected plans by hezbollah to carry out a large-scale attack. check lake mary, florida, the 2024 little league world series

champs. the youngsters from the sunshine state defeated chinese taipei in the final game of the walkup owned in extra innings. congrats. welcome back to dateline. i am andrea canning. the police and the public seem to have it all figured out. they believed denise huskins and her boyfriend aaron quinn made up their traumatic home invasion and kidnapping story for publicity. the media even ducted the gone girl ministry based on the fictional story of a woman who faked her own disappearance. detectives are about to learn something that was shipped the investigation. another attack suspiciously similar to the one denise and aaron had been describing, too similar to ignore. here is josh mankiewicz with twisted tale. >> this began as a high-tech kidnapping this sounded like a tv movie. >> we were not able to

substantiate -- >> police announced it was an elaborate hoax. denise huskins and aaron quinn branded as liars or attention attics retreated from site. that might have been the end until a little over two months later, this story took another unbelievable turn. june 5, 2015, 3:34 a.m. police were called to a house in dublin, california. intruder was inside. by the time police arrived, the man was gone, leaving behind a shaken family with a frightening story. the woman aa she and her husband woke up in the early morning hours to find a man standing at the foot of their bed, flashlight shining in their faces. >> he told them, get facedown

on your bed and don't look at me. >> terrifying. >> they were terrified. >> the detectives led the investigation. >> he said, he we have your daughter and she's okay. >> there 22-year-old daughter was sleeping in the next room. >> he tells the parents, i'm going to tie you up. the father jumps on him and says i'm not going to let you tie me up and something is going on. >> his wife grabbed her cell phone and locked herself in the bathroom to call 911. >> the husband yells, go get the gun. this was martin the father's part because they didn't have a gun. he would say anything to scare the guy away. >> the father continue to fight until the intruder fled but in the struggle he left some things behind. zip ties for one and what turned out to be the key to the case.

a cell phone. it led the dublin detectives to home near sacramento. they called the family there in the woman who answered said the phone belonged to her adult son, a man named matthew muller. >> he told me he lost it this morning. where is he? he is on his way to south lake tahoe to our cabin. >> the cops knew their next stop was south lake tahoe. they put in a call to the local sheriff to ask if there'd been trouble at the cabin. there hadn't but a stolen car had just been found right near it. in the car was a driver's license for 38-year-old matthew muller. >> i said, okay. you made my day and now we have more information to go on. >> with a search warrant and arrest warrant, the dublin cops went to find matthew muller. the neighbors watched it happen . >> i'm peaking out my window

trying to get an idea of what's happening. more cars are coming. my whole front area is filled with dark sedans like something out of the movies. >> the neighbors were surprised but maybe matthew muller was not. >> when we broke down the front door didn't open all the way because it was barricaded with chairs and various household items. >> upon entry, i could hear my detectives screaming, get on the ground. get on the ground. your heart rate kind of jumps up . he is there. >> this is muller just after he arrested. he did not put up a fight. in the house they found a room with cardboard on the windows blocking the light. they searched the stolen car and found a few items of interest. >> one was a bb gun and one was a super soaker painted black with a flashlight duct taped to it with a laser pointer.

>> made to look like a real gun? >> in the dark and i saw was a shape, absolutely. >> there is swim goggles with t covering the lenses and long blonde hair stuck to the tape. when they traced the stolen car. >> it comes back stolen. >> the dublin cops called vallejo pd and started comparing notes. >> we are showing pictures of everything we recovered and there showing pictures that have been sent to them. >> those of the photos email to reporter henry lee from the anonymous address. shots of spray-painted water pistols and a room with cardboard on the windows. >> that's when the light clicked on. we all kind of went, here we go. >> coming up. ivy league, former marine, respected attorney. >> i would have suspected him to be sitting behind a desk and some elected capacity.

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when the strange tale of denise huskins and aaron quinn first made headlines. >> another bizarre twist in a kidnapping case we've been following. >> dublin police detectives found it just as puzzling as

everyone else did. for a lot of reasons, you think, the story at first blush was a strange story. >> it was. it sounds like it could be fabricated. >> now, they found themselves working a home invasion this seemed to link the man they arrested matthew muller to the alleged kidnapping of denise huskins. not just the photos of toy guns painted to look real or the room and the suspect's home they saw during the arrest that matched the photos sent to reporter henry lee. there were significant clues pointing to a real kidnapping. the vallejo cops seem to ignore from the start. window screens at the house had been slit in the window locks drilled. the missed calls made to aaron quinn cell phone while he was being interrogated the first night. calls the cops suspected aaron had somehow faked and turns out

they were placed from this intersection near the cabin in tahoe where dublin police later found the stolen car. when law enforcement hacked into the car's navigation history, they found this address in huntington beach. the exact spot where denise said she had been left by her kidnapper. as they continue to investigate, detectives learned their suspect was just as unusual as the crimes he was implicated in. maybe more so. >> haven't dealt with someone like him. this stuff you typically see in movies. >> a california native, he served in the u.s. marine corps where he was a trumpet player. he then attended pomona college. alex was a classmate. >> i would much more have suspected matt to be sitting behind the desk in on elected capacity as opposed to sitting in a jail cell. >> he married in 2002 and

graduated from pomona a year later. his next stop was another place you might've heard of, harvard law school. he graduated in 2006 and then stayed on as a teaching fellow. andrea was a student of his at the immigration and refugee clinic. >> ed as i remembered him at harvard was incredibly intelligent, hard-working, and someone who is really dedicated to the work we were doing. >> after harvard, he moved back to california and practiced immigration law in san francisco. soon, his life seemed to go off the rails. in 2013, he lost his privileges to practice law and was eventually disbarred. he got divorced. stopped paying rent. in 2014, he filed for bankruptcy . it is not clear what went wrong. his defense lawyer said muller suffers from bipolar disorder.

he is nearly forgettable. certainly not someone to fear. he doesn't fit the profile of your typical guy who's doing home invasion's. >> if you look at typical home invasions, it does not. when you look at the crimes he is committing, it does fit the profile. >> it seems to be done for the thrill of the crime. >> this is a ms. huskins psychologist. he has not met matthew muller. he has read the emails that were sent to reporter henry lee. emails that lee suspected were written by a lawyer. a lawyer police believe was matthew muller. >> what emerges from the emails is a complex picture of someone who needs attention. who needs to be perceived a certain way. >> the way the writer was outraged when denise was accused of a hoax. when he says, how dare you not

believe ms. huskins that she was kidnapped, what he is saying is how dare you not believe that i committed this crime. pulled it off. >> you can't see my handiwork because you lacked talent because the police are failing miserably and they need to recognize how flawed they are and how wonderful i am. >> he's a master criminal. >> is a master criminal and running circles around everyone else. >> maybe he was. remember, the police apparently couldn't believe the elaborate details of the kidnapping. when aaron told them it took so long to call 911 because he was drugged and confined to a square of red tape and monitored by a webcam they didn't buy it. when denise wouldn't get on the plane to talk to vallejo pd, they thought it was because she had something to hide. she says it was because she was afraid the cops would treat her

as they treated her boyfriend aaron , like the suspect. three months after vallejo police accused denise and iran of concocting a hoax, the fbi announced matthew muller was a prime suspect in denise's very real kidnapping. >> i was glad. i never doubted that there was someone who kidnapped her. >> neither did the woman we are calling samantha. to her, denise's story was very real. >> coming up. >> my hands were handcuffed behind my back and my feet were zip tied. >> could matthew muller be behind this crime too? out there exposing other companies' rates so you can compare them and save. hmm. sounds like trouble. it's great, actually! it's called autoquote explorer from progressive. here, look! see, we show you our direct rates and their rates,

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welcome back. matthew muller, the harvard educated former lawyer was the main suspect in the meticulous home invasion and kidnapping of denise huskins. there had been other similar crimes. was he behind those too? we went behind bars to speak with him, and what he told us was both surprising and disturbing. he with the conclusion of twisted tale is josh mankiewicz. >> mountain view, california, the heart of silicon valley. the headquarters of google and

in september 2009, the scene of a strange and terrifying crime. >> i was asleep in bed and the next thing i knew, there was someone laying on top of me. their hand was over my mouth. >> the woman we are calling samantha hadn't heard the name denise huskins or matthew muller until we contacted her. as you will see, the details of what happened to her seemed frighteningly familiar. >> my hands were handcuffed behind my back and my feet were zip tied. then he put swim goggles on that were blacked out and i could not see. >> zip ties. lacked out swim goggles and her captor claimed he was part of a group and the point of it all he said was money. you give the information that we are taught not to give to anyone. >> exactly. my social security number. mother's maiden name. account numbers. my bank account number and my

pin. >> is with denise and aaron the intruder made sure no help with becoming anytime soon. >> he figured out who my boss was and he emailed my boss i was sick and couldn't come into work that day. this is getting more hopeless. >> she says just as denise and aaron did that she was sedated and it was just nyquil. she became drowsy but never passed out. she was completely helpless. completely in his control when it got even worse. the intruder told her. >> i have bad news for you and now i'm going to have to rape you. >> tied up and blindfolded she pleaded with her captor not to do it. his response? >> he got very quiet and he kind of muttered, i can't do this.

>> and then, the man who terrorized her for hours suddenly seemed remorseful. >> he said, you know, i am sorry about this. i've been through this too. >> he even offered him security advice. >> he recommended i get a dog so i could have protection in the future. >> he is advising how to keep this from happening again? >> i know it's incredible. >> it isn't hard to believe. >> i agree. >> the man soon left without letting samantha see his face. when she called the police, the response she received my sound familiar to denise huskins. did police believe you? >> i don't think so. they told me maybe i had a bad dream and i called 911 after my bad dream. >> less than a month later, similar case in palo alto. a man broke into this house and restrain the woman here with

zip ties and swim goggles. then, he threatened to rape her. was that the same man? was it muller? >> what sure initial impression of him? >> extremely talkative. >> what is his answer to whether or not he's guilty of

the crimes he is accused of? >> he wouldn't say. he wouldn't deny but he wouldn't say he was guilty. >> she asked about samantha. >> is said we recently interviewed a woman and her case matches denise huskins and aaron quinn's case and he opened his eyes really wide. like in a way he couldn't believe i was bringing this up. >> he denied knowing anything about samantha's case or the one in palo alto. then, kayla asked about denise huskins. >> he looked at me and said imagine woken up in the middle of the night, taken from your home, sexually assaulted, and then you are brave and it's used against you by police. there were tears in his eyes. he was very emotional about it. >> putting on a show? >> he might have been. he's very smart. >> and eager to talk about his own troubles. >> he wanted to be clear the

last six years of his life were spent in depression. he has had a few suicide attempts. he said, safe place for the community. >> he did say in his professional life he always wanted to do good for others. >> he told me, my hope for my life was my primary identifier was the guy to help people. >> what went wrong? >> i asked, how do you feel sitting here because you have done the opposite? you have heard people. he stared at me for a minute and then he said i don't know where to begin with that. he kind of put his head down and started to cry and said i am so sorry. >> what he was sorry for he did not say. but muller said he thought he was exactly where he belonged. >> he said, the facts are pretty clear. i think i will spend a few decades in jail and i am fine with that. >> about a year after he spoke

with dateline, he pleaded guilty in federal court to kidnapping denise huskins. he was sentenced to 40 years in prison and he also pleaded no contest in the home invasion. in 2018, muller faced new state charges of kidnapping for ransom, rape, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment . he pleaded no contest. there is plenty we still do not know. for example, denise and aaron are convinced there was more than one kidnapping. to have any reason to believe there were others out there? >> i don't. use too. i believe it was to instill fear in the victims. >> another unknown? how the victims were chosen. denise may not have been the target of the kidnapping. the email sent to reporter henry lee claim the kidnappers were after aaron's ex-fiance who had previously lived with him but then grabbed up denise

instead. denise huskins and aaron quinn will live with the emotional scars of their ordeal. home invasion, kidnapping, and then public humiliation. their attorney. >> they were innocent of their alleged crimes yet they were painted to the world as having been involved in a terrible hoax. >> vallejo pd so eager to talk in the first few days clammed up. the department did send denise and aaron a letter of apology been in a public statement to correct their impression as liars. they sued the city of vallejo and in march 2018, they settled the case for $2.5 million. it took years and a new police chief for the city to publicly admit its mistake. in june 2021, the chief issued a statement, acknowledging the

case was not handled with sensitivity. he also extended his deepest apology to denise and aaron for how they were treated. he said to you at the end, i'm sorry about this. this will mess you up. he was right about that. >> yeah. it definitely messed me up for quite a while. >> sometimes the truest story is the one that sounds like a lot. why did you want to talk to us? >> if i can contribute to making sure this is taking seriously and say this is not a hoax, lived firsthand through this and i know for a fact it is true. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. rea cannin. ♪♪ ♪♪ this sunday, energized. ♪♪ this sunday, energized. >> don't just sit around and complain. do something. let's get to work.