i thought, this is it. either i'm going to hear a gunshot or i'm going to get pushed off a cliff. >> tonight on "20/20", right back in the news, the bizarre crime that captivated the country, that california country woken in the night tied up and drugged. >> oh, my god. what is this? >> she was kidnapped, tossed into a trunk. >> the only thing that i was thinking of was i want to see my mom and dad. >> he was left behind, tortured by mind games. >> aaron was worried if he didn't stay within the confines of this red tape that denese would be killed. >> but almost worse, the police say they made it all up. police say the kidnapping was a hoax. >> an orchestrated hoax. >> there was a certain feeding frenzy on the hoax thing. >> partners in crime.

>> they went from i killed to denise to we did a hoax. >> they treated you like a criminal. >> to realize your life is completely worthless to the people sworn to protect it. >> they waited all of this time to tell their truth, and tonight right here they do. >> he said, you know, i wish we would have met under different circumstances. >> now the shock of who the kidnaper was, and tonight a question and a warning. was he working alone? >> the public is in danger and we know that they're still out there. >> stranger than fiction. i'm elizabeth vargas. >> and i'm david muir and this is "20/20." here is andy robuck. >> the voice kept saying over and over again, "wake up, this is a robbery, we're not here to harm you." >> there were red laser beam pointing at them and there were flashes, bright lights. they were told to turn over and they were bound. >> this is wild. it reads like a movie script.

details are insane. >> i could see red dots scanning the wall and i thought, i hope this is real. >> aaron quinn and denise huksins are sound asleep in their bed. it is 3:00 in the morning when intruders break into their dreams. >> and i remember thinking like this is really bad nightmare. >> they had face masks, guns. >> they say they hear men swarming their home. one comes in their bedroom dressed in a black wetsuit, barking orders. >> said i'm going to leave some ties at the edge of the bed and aaron is going to put his hands behind his back. you're going to tie his hands behind his back and his feet together. >> it gets creepy. the men in black called aaron by his name. >> and he said to aaron, turn over. >> he knew his name? >> yeah, and that was another -- oh, my god, what is this? >> he is weirdly courteous and compliment wraer. >> and he was encouraging me

saying, "you're doing a good job, continue." >> saying you were being good victims? >> yes, he asked if i was comfortable. just like what the hell do you care? >> aaron and denise are stuffed into a closet, trussed up with zip ties and blindfolded with blacked-out swim goggles, headphones playing soothing music are placed over their ears. they are forced to chug a cocktail of cough syrup laced with a powerful sedative. >> total sensory deprivation. i don't know a better word than terrifying because it was more than a robly. >> you thought the end might be death? >> i was convinced of it. >> we were helpless at that point. >> aaron hears a prerecorded voice in his headphones threatening if he resists they'll shock denise with a stun gun or cut her face, coldly informing him this is a kidnapping. they're going to take denise. they leave aaron behind to raise the ransom, two $8,500 payments.

they knew exactly what he could afford. >> they asked for a certain amount of money that i could pay. they asked for a million dollars, i immediately would have to go to the police. >> one shadowy abductor tosses denise, still bound hand and foot, wearing those goggles and headphones, in the trunk of a car and drives off into the dark of night. before the violent invasion of their cozy life, aaron and denise might have considered themselves the luckiest couple in vallejo, california. aaron's house is on mare island, a northern suburb of san francisco. >> very safe neighborhood. new nice homes, white-picket-fence type neighborhood. >> aaron and denise had it all, good looks, great careers in physical therapy and the thrill of a new romance. they had just met seven months earlier. >> we joked that our first date wasn't really intended to be a first date. we were out with other therapists that we work with,

and it was like there was no one else there. >> it just came natural, our relationship. >> yeah. >> it was -- >> easy. >> and then the catastrophe. when aaron comes to denise is gone but he's not alone. >> there's a camera there and tape marks on the ground. >> to imprison him. >> aaron wakes up from the sedative groggy and terrified. he says the kidnapper had knocked off a section of the first-floor living area with red tape and warned him, stay within the lines or else. >> you go outside that confinement and we will hurt denise. kidnapper are telling me they're going to kill denise. if i go to the police they're going to kill my family. >> reporter: it is an agonizing decision, but finally ten hours after his home was invaded and girlfriend abducted, aaron makes what he says is the toughest call of his life. he dials 911 knowing he is

gambling with denise's life. >> when i was dialing 911 i was thinking i might be killing her. >> as of this moment, ms. huskins whereabouts are unknown and we're treating this matter as a kidnap/ransom. anyone who has any information about her whereabouts are eastbound courag encouraged contact the police department. >> is kidnapped and possibly held for ransom. >> reporter: vallejo police launch a search for her. >> lots of resources looking for this beautiful young woman who is missing and supposedly kidnapped. >> tonight denise huskins is missing and police have no suspects. >> reporter: what no one know is that denise, blindfolded in the trunk, she has been driven to south lake tahoe. like the rest of the world, kidnapper are watching the show. they show denise the story about

her anguished dad. >> my dad said something like, she's a strong person, stay strong. >> be strong like you always are because you got -- >> to have my family and my friends worried and not know what was going to happen, it just -- i can't imagine what it was like for them. >> reporter: denise says one of the abductors moved her to a blacked-out bedroom, keeping her heavily sedated much of the time, but this much she knows. she is fighting for her life. >> and i told myself, it doesn't matter what they do, i'm not going to spend the last moment of my life screaming in terror. >> tell me how you got through mentally those hours with him. >> i tried to play out every possible scenario and what was most likely to happen if i did a, b or c, and everything i

determined would get me killed or more traumatized, more hurt. there was no winning for me to try to fight, and so my only hope was to maybe connect with him and show him the human that is in front of him. >> reporter: it seems to be working at first. she got sympathy and praise from her captor. >> he would basically say he admired me and my strength, and he acknowledged that aaron and i were good people. he said, you guys don't deserve this, this shouldn't be happening to you. >> reporter: but she says any kindness was outweighed by the cruelty to come. courageously, denise has decided to speak openly about it for the first time. >> he raped you? >> yeah. >> reporter: she says he recorded the rape on camera but didn't like the way it looked, so he did it again. >> and he decided to tape my eyes shut, saying that the

recording it will look like your eyes are shut and this time we have to kiss. >> reporter: he said he told her his gang was making him do all of this, planning to use the video against her if she ever went to the police. >> if they ever thought i was going to authorities, they would release it on the internet, and that it was supposed to look like it was consensual, like we were in a relationship. >> reporter: but that's not the last time denise or aaron say they would be victimized. still ahead, with denise's life hanging in the balance, the cops zero in on a suspect. >> and interrogated me for 18 hours, telling me, "if you continue telling us this crazy story we're going to paint you as a cold, calculated monster." >> reporter: the clock is ticking and the cops' next move could be costly for everyone. stay with us. depression is a tangle of multiple symptoms that can make you sad, feel tired, and have difficulty concentrating. trintellix is a prescription medication for depression.

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tonight the search for a woman who may have been kidnapped. >> denise huskins is still missing. >> the news of a middle of the night abduction has the community in an up roar. >> who takes people for ransom these days? gives me the chills thinking about it. >> we are turning to the desperate search for a california woman who police say was kidnapped from her bay area home. >> reporter: while denise huskins is tied up in a bedroom in south lake tahoe, her parents who live in huntington beach. >> why would a guy sneak in and take her? i just don't understand that. >> reporter: police are saying the same thing. denise's boyfriend, aaron quinn, is spending a lot of time down at police headquarters. >> they've questioned her boyfriend. they're continuing to question her boyfriend. >> we don't have all of the facts in yet, and that's what he is helping us do, to piece the

puzzle together. >> reporter: that's what they're saying in public. in private though, denise's father says vallejo detectives are beginning to spin ominous theories about what really happened. >> something is wrong. we think that she's kidnapped, but maybe -- maybe not. >> reporter: instead of chasing denise's kidnapper, the police seem to be focusing on a suspect closer to home, aaron. >> and he said, we have her boyfriend and he's given us a story that doesn't make sense to us. so we think there's something else going on here. >> i understood it was a fairly theatrical event, so i figured there would be some disbelief. >> reporter: he figured right. skeptical detectives have a hard time believing aaron's account. former fbi profiler and abc news consultant brad garrett says kidnappings don't usually look like this because of the bizarre

details. >> the tape over the goggles, i mean it almost sounds like somebody had a movie script and they were reading it. >> reporter: wetsuited intruders, swim goggles, sleeping potions, red tape and motion detector cameras. who heard of such a thing? an easier explanation comes to mind for police. >> they weren't investigating a kidnapping. they were investigating a murder. >> reporter: police believe aaron killed denise and made up the kidnapping story to cover it up. >> they took my clothes. they put me in prison clothes. >> they treated you like a criminal? >> yeah, they kept me in an interrogation room with no windows or clocks. wouldn't let me see my family. interrogated me for 18 hours, calling me a murderer. they said if you continue telling us this story we're going to paint you as a cold, calculated monster. >> reporter: mysterious

popping up at the ""san francisco chronicle"" sent with attachments and a familiar voice that sounds like denise. >> my name is denise kusk instance and i'm kidnapped. otherwise i'm fine. >> reporter: then two nights after she was taken, something unexpected, drugging her again. denise's captor puts her in a car. he starts driving. he announces he's going to set her free. >> did you believe he was letting you go? >> the whole time i was like, you're going to kill me, i know you are. he's like, no, that's not the plan. at the same time, the same person who said this is a robbery and it was a kidnapping and i'm not going to dehuman annize you but then he rapes me twice while recording it. >> reporter: they drive all night. later that morning the captor keeps his word, releasing denise 48 hours after she had been taken. >> before he helped me out of the car, he said, you know, i wish we would have met under different circumstances and i'm

not going to do this anymore. this isn't what i got in this for, i'm done. >> reporter: she finds herself standing in the last place any one would expect to find her, 400 miles away in huntington beach, california, her hometown. >> and it was part of the story people found hard to believe. >> right. >> she sees a gardner and she asks to borrow a cellphone. she seemed calm, not freaking out, i've been kidnapped, i'm denise huskins. she's not saying any of this. she just wants to borrow a cellphone. >> for one thing i was still heavily sedated and in shock. i really couldn't believe that he was gone, and the only thing that i was thinking of was i want to see my mom and dad. >> it was unbelievable. unbelievable. i had her back. >> the new twist in what some

call the real-life gone girl. >> reporter: when the supposed victim turns up very much alive, police jump to a new conclusion. >> my wife, amy elliott dunn, disappeared three days ago. >> reporter: keep in mind, the ben affleck psychological thriller "gone girl" had come out the year before, and now people were seeing parallels with the movie about a woman who fakes her own abduction and lets her husband take the fall. >> everything you've heard about my wife is a lie. she's a calculating, murderous psycho path. >> reporter: it doesn't help that denise resembles the actress who played the "gone girl" rosamund pike. >> his job is to collect evidence. it is not their job to interpret fiction. >> reporter: the vallejo police question things like the paltry ransom which was never paid and denise's calm demeanor, and who

heard of a kidnaper driving 400 miles, as obliging as an uber driver to drop her off down the street from her mom's house. >> we're confident we will have a better picture of how and why it occurred once we speak with ms. huskins. >> after talking to vallejo police on the phone -- >> they were asking questions you don't ask a victim, you ask the criminal. >> the questions started becoming accusatory, and to her credit she had a family member who had just passed the bar and he advised her, as he was taught in law school, if you are a suspect you ask for a lawyer. >> reporter: so denise decides to cut off communications until she can talk to one. >> as of right now we have not heard from ms. huskins and we are no longer in contact with any of the family members. >> reporter: vallejo police have had it. >> it is disappointing. it is disheartening. >> my mouth was open. i just said, what? i was dumbstruck. >> reporter: someone else is dumbstruck, too.

coming up, the actual kidnaper and his angry e-mails demanding credit for his own crime. >> most crimes don't have their suspect writing to the media. >> reporter: watch what happens next. . ♪ new innovations... ...and a tradition of excellence. luxury... ...and performance, engineered to take the crown. presenting the all-new lexus ls 500 and ls 500h. experience amazing, at your lexus dealer. with advil liqui-gels, what bad shoulder? what headache? advil is relief that's fast strength that lasts you'll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels it's kinda like paying more for...gourmet chicken nuggets.

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( ♪ ) begin with breaking news. a woman who was reportedly kidnapped has now apantly turned up. >> she is indeed here in huntington beach. >> found safe in huntington beach. >> reporter: when denise huskins turns up alive her family rejoices.

you would hink tthink the valle police would too, but -- >> mr. quinn and ms. huskins has plundered resources away from our community. >> reporter: he publicly denounced the victims. >> we had over 40 police detectives from the local, state and federal levels working around the clock. that is a tremendous amount of resources that in my opinion was wasted. so if anything, it is mr. quinn and ms. huskins that owes this community an apology. >> that was pretty amazing in a bad way. i was so shocked. >> if you feel that there is sufficient evidence to move forward, we will be requesting criminal charges. >> can you imagine being rescued from a kidnapping and then people are on you for committing a crime? >> police say the kidnapping was a hoax. >> in an orchestrated hoax according to officials.

>> denise huskins, purported orchestrator of the kidnapping hoax. >> they had successful lives. they are helping, health professionals. they had no motive. >> the vallejo police told aaron during the whole time they thought it was a hoax so he could be on reality tv. that was their contention. >> why would we ruin our lives to do something so absurd? we would never do that to our family and friends. >> there's truth, there's lies and there's nonsense, and what the police did falls in the category of nonsense. >> reporter: defense attorneys douglas rapport and daniel rousseau are determined to vindicate their clients. >> i was not going to stop, dan nor i were going to stop until her name was cleared. >> reporter: and then from the shadows of the internet, an unlikely supporter comes to denise and aaron's defense, blowing up the inboxes at the san francisco chronicle. >> i read these e-mails like a

page-turning novel. >> reporter: the author of the anonymous e-mails claims to be none other than one of the kidnapper, and in a dumfounding double-axle display of unmitigated gall sympathizing with the very people he victimized. >> ms. huskins was absolutely kidnapped. we did it. we will probably incontrovertible prove of that. >> really started to question police's account of what happened. >> reporter: the author turns remorseful and boastful, describes a gang of professional thieves. >> young adults, fairly recent college graduates. we fancied ourselves as "ocean's eleven." >> reporter: they specifically mentioned this white mustang, saying they graduated to kidnapping, but the kidnapper unexpectedly developed a soft spot for their victim saying -- >> we were very impressed with

the strength she showed and who she was as we passed time talking to her. >> most crimes don't have their suspect writing to the media. >> reporter: he also provided two photos. they show the room where he says denise was held and the pistol he says was used in the home invasion. it turns out to be a squirt gun painted black with a flashlight and laser attached. but the cops are still not convinced. >> they accused you all of actually -- >> yes. >> -- manufacturing the e-mails. >> reporter: then the mystery e-mailer goes suddenly silent and for all intents and purposes the case is stalled. >> to realize that your life is completely worthless to the people who are sworn to protect it, i think that was more devastating than anything that i experienced in that 48 hours with people who were plotting and planning to torture me.

>> for four months they weren't believed. imagine being doubted in the media for four months. >> what was that like? i mean could you leave your house? could you have a normal life? could you go to work? >> oh, no. >> no. >> our work wouldn't talk to us because of what the police told them. >> reporter: they say the police poisoned the public against them. >> i don't know how to describe what it is like. >> police called her kidnapping a hoax. >> to sit back silently and watch the world have a conversation and an opinion and judgment on the most horrific thing that you've lived through. >> reporter: for nearly a year, they say, the police piled on, refusing to return their cars or even their driver's licenses. >> wouldn't return my id. >> right. they treated us like >> reporter: it appeared the >> reporter: it appeared the story would end there, the young

couple stuck in the purge torrey public humiliation. >> he is in terrible shape, exhausted mentally and physically. >> reporter: that is until the kidnaper allegedly strikes again. just 40 miles south of vallejo in the town of dublin, another awful home invasion with an mo that's awfully familiar. >> we get a call of a 911 female caller. the victim states that somebody came into their residence. >> wearing all black clothing, unknown weapon. >> reporter: see if these details ring a bell. a couple confronted by an intruder shining a bright light in their faces and attempting to restrain them with zip ties. >> stand by. is that subject that's still in the house? >> reporter: but this time the family fights back, the father suffering this nasty head injury. the intruder runs off empty handed. >> he went out the residence, found the stairs out of the residence. >> reporter: he gets away, but the self-proclaimed criminal

mastermind has made a fatal mistake. still ahead, the clue he left behind and how it will unmask him. >> without that piece of evidence, right now i think we would still be investigating. >> reporter: the surprising true identity of the kidnaper next. but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell you doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb,

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"20/20" continues. >> reporter: denise huskins and aaron quinn may be alive and back in each other's arms, but they feel anything but safe and secure. their urgent warning of a

violent offender still at large have gone unheeded. >> we know that the public is in danger and we're trying to do everything to convince the police they're trained, professional criminals. we knew it was going to happen again. >> reporter: and sure enough, that botched home invasion in dublin, california is eerily similar to denise's, zip ties, duct tape. but this time when the sleeping couple fights back, the would-be kidnaper makes a mistake. in his haste to flee he leaves behind a crucial piece of evidence, a cellphone. >> suspect left his cellphone upstairs. we have his cellphone. >> you might as well have a business card and put it in the mailbox and say, "okay, here is your clue, police." >> reporter: the small-town police department in dublin is about to do what the vallejo police department could not, crack both cases. that cellphone, for gotten at the dublin crime seen, leads

police 100 miles north to an address in orangevale. >> our lead detective started doing more research on it, running the different names associated with the orangevale address. >> reporter: the homeowner tells police the phone belongs to her adult son. he misplaced it the day before. police get his name. >> our detectives had a name, and that name was matt muller. >> reporter: matthew muller. on the surface he is an unlikely suspect. >> mr. muller had some great success in life. >> reporter: he attended this sacramento-area high school, played trumpet in jazz band and joined the computer club. a teacher says a high achiever. >> he came from a good home. he had two parents that were educators. they're good people. >> reporter: muller joined the marines, stationed in okinawa, japan, eventually returning to california, enrolling at pomona college. muller gets married, goes to harvard law, then joins this san

francisco firm practicing immigration law, fighting for clients in court and on tv. >> no, we will not even let you have your day in court. >> this is a guy by all accounts that should have been doing really well in life. a well-educated individual, but he had troubles. >> reporter: the shooting star was about to flame out. his lawyer says inside that handsome head a time bomb was ticking. muller was getting disbarred. his marriage of about ten years ending in divorce. >> he says he was diagnosed with bipolar. we know that involves extreme highs and lows. >> bipolar people can swing like a pendulum from severe depression and inability to function to severe manic behavior, sometimes psychosis. >> reporter: muller's mother tells detectives her son is now living 85 miles away in south lake tahoe in this house in the woods. then right nearby, jackpot, a stolen car. >> they found a ford mustang that had been mentioned in the

e-mails previously sent. so they thought, wow, we've actually found a car that the bad guy mentions in a previous communication. >> we go up to the residence, and once the detectives made entry they found matt muller coming out of the bathroom. >> reporter: muller is quickly arrested. >> he was calm. he didn't give up any resistance. i believe that mull erectil er n something eventually to catch up with him. >> reporter: investigators say the house and car yield a treasure trove of evidence. swim goggles just as aaron and denise described, a telltale strand of blonde hair snared in the duct tape, and the toy gun, the one the kidnaper was so proud of he sent a picture to the newspaper. >> this is really a big find. it showed a direct link back to the abduction of this couple, and so this entire thing ties the case together.

this is absolutely not a hoax. >> new developments the night in a bizarre kidnapping story. >> reality, stranger than fiction. >> reporter: this is what an acquittal in the court of public opinion looks like. >> they're absolutely 100% positively unequivocally, not just not guilty, but innocent. >> reporter: denise, still shaken, stands in the background. the lawyers do the talking. in the blink of an eye, everything has changed. denise and aaron go from crack pot to credible, hoaxers to heroes. >> was there a moment of vindication when he was arrested and they realized, wait a minute, maybe these two were telling the truth all along? >> there's a lot more hurt and pain because another family got traumatized. how can you feel, like, good and relieved about that? like, of course it happened. we -- you know, we knew the truth. >> reporter: authorities charged

muller with denise's kidnapping, but she and aaron believe it is not just muller who must be held accountable but the vallejo police as well. >> if it wasn't for denise, if she didn't get the kidnapper to let her go, i would be behind bars. >> both of our lives would have been over, mine physically but -- >> and all we did was go to bed. >> reporter: next, yet one more shocking decision police made that denise and aaron say could have changed everything. >> they had the opportunity to save me and they didn't do it. wt an incomplete job from any one else. so why accept it from your allergy pills? most pills don't finish the job because they don't relieve nasal congestion. flonase allergy relief is different. flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. and 6 is greater than 1. start your day with flonase for more complete allergy relief. flonase. this changes everything.

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plus, get 3x the speed of at&t and directv. click, call or visit a store today. . >> the vallejo police department

owes an apology to ms. huskins and mr. quinn. >> when we were doing the press conference i was furious. >> they had the opportunity to save me and they didn't do it. they had the opportunity to clear our names and they didn't do it. they had the opportunity to protect the public. they didn't do it. i was sad, angry, hurt. >> reporter: but if denise huskins and her boyfriend aaron quinn were hoping for a public apology from the vallejo police, that was a pipe dream. police remained defiant, clinging to their original theory of a hoax. >> so does the department still stand by the statement that it made so publicly four months ago that this was a hoax that wasted valuable city resources? >> yes, but we're also continuing to investigate it. >> did you trop the ball? >> i don't believe so, no. >> reporter: but wait until you hear this. aaron told us in those early hours when denise was first abducted, the kidnaper told him

he would call and e-mail him with instructions about the ransom. >> he said i would have to go to the bank to get the money. i would have to keep my cellphone on the entire time. >> reporter: but what did the police do? >> they took away aaron's phone and inexplicably he said put it in airplane mode. >> there's no officer in this country if if you asked him it is a kidnapping would turn off forms of communication. >> i think a five-year-old would no better than that. >> no one would do that. >> reporter: in fact muller called him twice, calls that could have been traced back to south lake tahoe where denise was held captainive. >> those tracks were not tracked until hours later. it would have saved denise from being raped the second time. >> it was as simple as reaching out to other police agencies and just seeing, like, has something weird like this happened in your town. >> reporter: huskins says if

vallejo police had done their due diligence like reaching out to other police like dublin police did they would have learned about two eerily similar cases both in 2009 in palo alto and nearby mountain view. in each a man wearing all black breaks into the home and forces the female victim to put on squim goggles and drink a nyquil-like sedative. >> both were restrained and blindfolded, threatened with robbery and sexual assault. >> reporter: muller himself, although never charged, was even questioned in 2009 about one of the home invasions. >> i know people called your story stranger than fiction, but isn't it true that truth is often stranger than fiction? >> it was only strange because law enforcement made it strange. if they came out and said it is a kidnapping, followed the evidence and got denise back, nobody would have been talking about "gone girl" or anything like that. >> meticulously stage your crime

scene. >> the "gone girl" kidnapping hoax. had you seen that movie? >> i watched it maybe nine months after. >> it could not have been easy to watch. >> no. the police didn't believe me because i wasn't bruised and beat up. >> you didn't fight back to stay alive? >> right. whereas you see that movie and she hits herself in the face with a hammer. if i was beaten or violently raped, they would have seen that movie and go, "okay, she just did this to herself, she hit herself in the face like the movie." they never let up on i didn't act like a good enough victim. >> and the vallejo police department did eventually apologize. >> they wrote a letter of apology. >> reporter: that letter was sent privately to denise and aaron after their press conference, stating in part, "we apologize for and regret comments made by representatives of the vallejo police department. while these comments were based on our findings at the time, they proved to be unnecessarily harsh and offensive."

>> they acknowledged that they were wrong, but they wouldn't have done anything different. it is kind of like, sorry i'm not sorry. >> they gave it to us and said they were going to keep it private until the investigation was complete it. they haven't made a public apology. >> and there's no accountability. the primary investigator got awarded officer of the year the same year that he falsely accused us. >> reporter: that officer of the year, detective matthew mustard along with the public face of the investigation, lieutenant kenny park, would soon have another distinction, both along with the city of vallejo were named in a civil lawsuit filed by denise and aaron alleging defamation and emotional distress. >> they had every opportunity to go, you know what, we made a mistake. >> reporter: last week the city of vallejo reached a tentative settlement with denise and aaron for $2.5 million. a payday, but the city still steadfastly refuses to publicly admit they were wrong. yelled we tried to speak to

lieutenant park, who held all of those press conferences. >> lieutenant park, can we speak to you for a moment? >> reporter: but he seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. we tried to get any comment from the vallejo police. >> you won't answer why the department has yet to make a public apology to denise huskins and aaron quinn. >> i am not authorized to speak about that. >> and who is authorized to speak about that? >> joanna altman down at vallejo city hall. >> so we tried her, too. >> hi, joanna. this is amy rowbock with abc news. what we want to know is why the city of vallejo has not publicly apologized to denise huskins and aaron quinn. >> let me see if i can get someone to call you back. >> reporter: she called back, but guess what we got. no comment at this time. meanwhile, denise and aaron say they will continue to fight for change in the hope that future crime victims will never face the kind of trauma they did. >> we're not against law enforcement. we want to be part of the solution. we're speaking because this

shouldn't happen and we hope people learn. >> reporter: next -- >> aaron, you keep saying they. police say it was one man, not more. >> well, the police said a lot. >> so you believe that matthew muller did not do this alone and that his co-conspirators may still be out there? >> yeah. >> yes. >> you just have to

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it's okay. dad took care of us. . >> reporter: denise huskins and aaron quinn had a long-awaited chance to condemn their captor in court last year when matthew muller, the harvard lawyer turned tormentor, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to her kidnapping. in her victim impact statement denise said, i still have nightmares every night, sleep is not rest for me, it is a trigger. the depth of the terror is so deep i have had to learn to live side by side with it. >> denise, a year ago you stood up in court and you faced matthew muller and you said, "i am the woman behind the blindfold." you got your voice back that day. >> yeah, and i looked him in the eyes. you know, he saw me, every part

of me, but he never looked into my eyes. so i wanted to make sure that he saw me, and he did. >> reporter: muller is now facing additional charges, including for denise's rape, but denise and aaron fear justice is still not done. despite the authorities' assertion that muller simply pretended to have accomplices, still denise and aaron are convinced he did not act alone. >> why do you think it was more than just matthews muller? >> because we know. when he was still present above us, next to us, we could hear stuff going on downstairs. so cabinets opening or stuff being moved around. >> camera being installed. >> yeah, you could hear people walk away. you know when there's vibrations of movement. >> it is convenient for him to say he did it by himself or for police to say that he did it by himself. >> because the investigation is over? >> right.

>> reporter: those 48 hours of terror have transform the once-carefree couple. they say their careers derailed, their reputations ruined. they were forced to leave vallejo and rebuild their lives. >> the challenges. we have moments of joy, but there's always that trauma that lingers, and sometimes you feel guilty for almost feeling happy. so there's not a moment that we don't experience what happened. >> it is with you? >> yeah. >> every moment. >> i mean at every moment. >> what have you learned about yourself, denise? >> well, that i have a have a ha strength. you go through something like this and you're like, we can do anything, you know. >> reporter: and participate of what they want to do is help other victims of sexual violence find their own voice. >> those two words of me me me m

so powerful. it is the biggest reason we want to speak up. it is terrifying. we want to let those people know we understand and they're not alone and to help give them the support that they deserve. >> reporter: and finally in their own story, there is a happy milestone. >> i want to say congratulations. >> thank you. >> yeah, thank you. >> you're engaged? >> yeah. >> yes, we're excited to put thought into something that's going to be a good day. >> yeah. >> reporter: the wedding isn't exactly what they would have once envisioned. denise's criminal attorney will officiate and there will be some special guests. >> we're inviting all of our attorneys, which will be like 20 people with their significant others. >> probably have a team of lawyers at our wedding. >> right. >> yeah. >> that never crossed my mind. >> but they've done so much for us in our lives. we would be so lost without them and so really grateful for them.

>> to know that i get to spend the rest of my life with her. many people marry their best friend but they don't get to marry their hero. >> a heroine deed. amazingly, after all of this, the couple told us that some people still think that they were part of a hoax. >> but perhaps right here tonight after you have learned news of the settlement from the city and that written apology from the police sent to the couple, it might change some minds. that is our program for tonight. i'm david muir. >> i'm elizabeth vargas. for all of us here at abc news and "20/20", have a good night and a great weekend. syria is under attack tonight. tonight. next the my name is cynthia haynes

tonight. next the and i am a senior public safety specialist for pg&e. my job is to help educate our first responders on how to deal with natural gas and electric emergencies. everyday when we go to work we want everyone to work safely and come home safely. i live right here in auburn, i absolutely love this community. once i moved here i didn't want to live anywhere else. i love that people in this community are willing to come together to make a difference for other people's lives. together, we're building a better california.