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>> new charges for the man convicted of kidnaping and raping a vallejo woman in 2015. good evening. i'm ama daetz, and i'm dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. investigators now say matthew muller may have begun his crime spree all the way back in 1993. >> abc seven news reporter melanie woodrow has covered the case for years and has the new developments in the case. >> vallejo police, once mistakenly called a hoax, is now being called an american nightmare by seaside police. matthew muller, already serving a 40 year prison sentence for kidnaping and raping denise huskins, is facing new charges. >> this is what law enforcement and survivors working together looks like. >> in 2015, vallejo police accused huskins then boyfriend aaron quinn of murdering her. when she reappeared, police accused the couple of staging an elaborate hoax. >> you are terrorized, going through the worst experience of your life and the people you go to for help turn on you. >> it was alameda county

sheriff's office lieutenant misty caruso who linked muller to the vallejo kidnaping while investigating a dublin thwarted home invasion. the case gained further notoriety with a recent netflix documentary, sparking seaside police chief nick borges to reach out to huskins. >> he sent us a message on instagram through the police department. >> huskins and quinn, who are now married, were interested in speaking with mueller because we knew that there were things that just weren't followed up on. chief borges helped facilitate a letter writing campaign to the convicted kidnaper. >> you'll never know what's under a rock if you don't turn it. and we started flipping rocks, which ultimately gave way to a two day interview with mueller in a tucson prison. >> was he willing to talk to you without his attorney? >> he was, and i don't think he had an attorney representing him. he had already been sentenced to prison. at the time. there was no fresh charges at that time. >> in my view, there's no doubt in terms of his mental status and ability to speak with us. >> investigators say mueller's crime spree dates back to 1993, when he allegedly committed a kidnaping and sexual assault at

16 years old. investigators would not say where as the case is still under investigation. >> that's two decades of this mindset that he was living in. by the time our case came about, they found storage units full of equipment to help him facilitate terrorizing people. >> other charges recently announced include two home invasions in 2009, in santa clara county, as well as a home invasion and attempted kidnaping in contra costa county. just two weeks after mueller kidnaped and raped huskins, that that's the sum total of the crimes that mueller has committed. >> i frankly, honestly doubt it. >> huskins said she's personally been in touch with at least one of the other victims. >> she just said, i didn't know how much i needed this. >> in seaside, melanie woodrow, abc seven news. >> and we're following breaking news out of the los angeles area, where a fast moving fire is forcing evacuations and damaging and destroying homes right now. it started at about 1030 this morning and has already burned more than 1200

acres. the fire is in the pacific palisades area and is being fueled by a dangerous wind storm. that prompted warnings from the national weather service. it's moving so fast some people had to abandon their cars, if you can imagine, just in order to escape. firefighters have also performed a number of rescues as the flames closed in on people so quickly. and while there's no official number yet from cal fire, we have seen video of a number of structures likely homes, burning. >> how long have you lived in this area? >> 17 years. >> how bad has this been compared to other fires? >> this is apocalyptic. this is we've we've had small fires, but nothing like this. >> nothing like this, she says. governor newsom is on the scene. he was briefed by cal fire this afternoon. firefighters from a bay area strike team are on the front lines of the palisades fire. cal fire ccu sent them to southern california yesterday, knowing that there was this danger that has turned out to be disastrous. now, the windstorm is making things very dangerous

in southern california. so for more on the conditions near the fire, let's get the latest now from abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel. sandhya. >> yeah, dan, this is a damaging santa ana wind event. clearly. and it is particularly dangerous situation. red flag warning going there. so let's take a look at the visible satellite picture. if you look carefully you can see the smoke from the palisades fire traveling for miles out over the open ocean. and that's just tellingo currens 67 degrees, but those wind gusts out of the northeast 31 miles an hour, very gusty winds and the surrounding areas. malibu hills 6447. there nearby red flag warnings in effect as life threatening situation unfolds. isolated wind gusts 80 to 100 miles an hour. and as we look at the hourly wind gusts, notice the winds picking up later on tonight around 12:55 a.m, we are looking at 44 mile an hour winds in los angeles. they back off a

bit and then pick right back up again. this is a live view from the palisades fire, and you can see how intensely this fire is burning. meanwhile, here in the bay area from mount tam, we have our own set of gusty winds to deal with. it's a dry offshore wind, 32 on hood mountain, 43 mount umunhum. lower elevations gust to 29, in livermore. at this hour, we do have that wind advisory going until 10 a.m. tomorrow. watch out for those gusty winds, downed trees and power. tree limbs and power outages are certainly possible. our winds are going to increase heading towards midnight. i will be back with a full look at the forecast, which includes the warmth that is setting records for a few cities today. >> ama all right sandhya, we will check back with you. after seven years, the san francisco police department is no longer under state oversight. today, the california department of justice says the sfpd has successfully reduced its overuse of force. substantially decreased the number of police shootings and installed policies to prevent racial bias in policing. the city's police

chief, bill scott, was brought on eight years ago to help improve the department. >> i was brought here to help lead this reform in, and it's a major accomplishment for this department and for the city because not every department is successful. >> san francisco isn't the only police department that has faced scrutiny by the doj. the antioch police department agreed to state oversight last week, and oakland pd remains under federal oversight. >> happening tomorrow, daniel lurie will be sworn in as the new san francisco mayor. you can see crews were busy today setting up for the event at civic center in just over an hour, lurie will attend an interfaith ceremony honoring him at congregation emanu-el in san francisco. the inauguration happens tomorrow at 1130. it is open to the public, but seating is limited to ticketed guests, so you can't really just show up. >> and today, mayor elect daniel lurie announced his final top staff appointment to give us a complete look at who will oversee san francisco's 56 agencies once he takes office.

>> yeah, kunal modi will be the city's first chief of health, homelessness and family services. >> abc seven news reporter monica madden has reaction from those who know modi, and is here to explain what he will do in this role. >> monica, as we know, this is all part of lurie's attempt to shake up city hall, starting with these four different policy chiefs who will all be responsible for overseeing a portfolio of departments that all previously reported to just one policy chief. >> this is a terrific pick genius pick for daniel lurie, because nobody really knows him. but i do. and i know for a fact that he's a good guy with a lot of compassion. >> friends and colleagues of san francisco's newest health and wellbeing czar hailing the pick. >> i think it's superb. he's going to be in this role. >> kunal modi is the fourth and final policy chief. new positions mayor elect daniel lurie created to oversee the city's 56 agencies. the goal more coordination and accountability. lurie's team says modi will, quote, focus on improving behavioral health,

tackling unsheltered homelessness and improving the support and services provided to residents. >> he's one of those very special people who is both hard headed and soft hearted, by which i mean he can make the tough management decisions that are going to need to be made. and he's completely fired with empathy for the most vulnerable citizens in our city. >> keith humphreys works with modi on the board of the saint anthony's nonprofit. >> he's good at the practical planning stuff of figuring out, for example, how many people are going through what how do we pay for all this? you know what comes from philanthropy? >> bringing in someone with knowledge of how to run systems, how to run nonprofits is a good thing because we need more oversight of that. >> recovery advocate tom wolfe, who was formerly homeless, is hopeful about modi and the entire incoming administration. >> a lot of it is well-meaning policy, but it's just not being implemented well. a new approach that's going to have to be a multifaceted approach to combines accountability and public health is going to have to take hold.

>> saying there are needed reforms on the streets. >> there needs to be some type of bridge built between law enforcement and public health in tackling this crisis, because right now there is no bridge there. >> how much influence modi might have on strategy remains to be seen. as the mayor elect's new policy, chiefs will have to wrangle with department heads, and courtney responds to some of the city's biggest issues. and the mayor's inaugural events really kick off tonight. as dan mentioned, with that interfaith service starting at 6:30 p.m, he'll also be doing a range of stops before and after his inauguration tomorrow as well, which starts officially at 1130 in the morning. >> it's going to be exciting for the city. >> oh, yeah, we'll be there. lots to cover. oh, yeah. thanks, monica. >> and again, join us for complete coverage tomorrow as daniel lurie becomes san francisco's new mayor. we will stream his inauguration ceremony on abc seven news.com and our abc seven bay area app. >> after the break, finding alameda county's next district attorney. how many people applied for the job and what happens next in the selection process? >> plus, the san francisco

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call the alameda county district attorney in november. the race is on now to select a new da, and there is now a roster of 15 candidates. >> seven news reporter leslie brinkley has the details on what to expect in the selection process. >> 15 people turned in applications to become the next alameda county district attorney by the january 6th deadline. so now the board of supervisors has a roster of 15 applicants to consider after the former da, pamela price, was recalled by voters last november. >> over the coming month, we are going to see, you know, the people that have turned in application being vetted in order to see who is the best qualified for the position.

>> we interviewed many of those, probably 10 or 11 of those candidates, and there's a good, great pool of candidates for the supervisors to select. >> they include nine current and former alameda county prosecutors and attorneys from neighboring counties. things are going to move quickly, with the timeline calling for the board of supervisors to select finalists next week, and then conduct public interviews of at least three finalists the week of january 20th. by the end of the month, they'll select a new da who will be sworn into office on february 4th. >> 375,000 people voted for change, and they have to listen to the people. it's not really about what they want to see. it's about everybody. >> somebody that can come in and rebuild that office and will manage that office. and a very large big criteria as well, is they're going to have to run again in about 18, 20 months from now. in november 2026. and

somebody who's electable. >> it's a tall order. those who work to get the previous da recalled, say they're hoping for someone who's tough on crime and respects victims rights, and in doing so, improves public safety in oakland for both residents and business owners. i'm leslie brinkley, abc seven news. >> coming up after the break, replacing fact checkers with community notes, the major policy change for facebook, instagram and threa

zuckerberg fact checkers on platforms like facebook, instagram and threads will be replaced. instead, it's going to use a method called community notes. abc seven news reporter zach fuentes has more on what it means and the strong reaction coming in. >> big news from meta ceo mark zuckerberg tuesday. >> we're going to get rid of

fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to x starting in the us. >> community notes, which were started by elon musk on x, allows users to add comments to posts to provide context. >> we've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship. >> the news comes after zuckerberg met with president elect trump in november. not long after meta donated $1 million to trump's inauguration. now, meta shift is getting mixed reviews. san francisco billionaire david sacks, who was recently named trump's crypto and azar is supportive of the announcement, posting to x. thank you, zuck and meta for recognizing that the censorship had gone too far and seizing the opportunity to make a course correction. but local technology watchdog common sense media is condemning the decision, issuing a statement that said in part, meta is prioritizing greed and profit over the safety and mental health of people across the world, especially our young people. this is a transparent attempt to curry favor with incoming political power brokers. the other big component of zuckerberg's announcement is

that facebook's u.s. content review team will move from california to texas as we work to promote free expression. >> i think that it will help us build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams, menlo college political scientist doctor melissa michaelson says that move perpetuates long standing stereotypes about the state that everyone in california is a pinko, trump hating liberal, when in fact we are a very purple state. >> there are a lot of trump voters in california, and there are, in fact, a lot of democrats in texas and a lot of folks who voted for kamala harris. and so it's perpetuating the stereotype that somehow texas is better than california when it comes to being balanced or being supportive of president elect trump. >> president elect trump responded to the news saying, quote, they have come a long way in the south bay. zach fuentes, abc seven news. >> all right, back now to the dangerous wind conditions in southern california. take a look at this video. this is at a

speedway express gas station in san bernardino, where those dangerous winds are responsible for this roof coming down at the gas station. >> and those winds are also impacting that fast moving fire in los angeles. as we reported, there are evacuation orders in effect, and we have seen video of homes just going up in flames, just ferocious. >> and it's spreading so quickly. abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel is back with the very latest on this sandhya. >> yeah, it is still gusty in that area. and dan and ama, the winds are only going to increase down where the palisades fire is burning between ten tonight and tomorrow morning. so the situation is life threatening. let me show you our view from our sutro tower camera as we see a sparkling san francisco, but a shaky view of the city. take a look at the high temperatures today. record setting. santa rosa 72, today 69, in san rafael. both new records for the day. it was 68, in oakland, 70 in san jose, 66. san francisco got up to 68 degrees in napa and concord. those winds have been very gusty this morning. pine

flat road near 80 miles an hour, i should say overnight. mount saint helena 76. we had gusty winds even at the lower elevations. looking at live doppler seven a lot of high clouds passing through the bay area. the wider perspective shows us why the windy setup. so we have this area of low pressure over the desert southwest. high pressure building in right behind it. the winds coming out of the north northeast. that's the same wind storm that is fueling the palisades. fire down south. so it is going to remain gusty tonight. the winds picking up here in the bay area, 41 miles an hour at 8 p.m. notice it's close to 50 miles an hour going into the wee hours of the morning. winds will peak in the overnight hours going into tomorrow morning at 40, and then eventually start to back off as we head towards the afternoon hours. so that wind advisory is going until 10 a.m. tomorrow. beach hazards statement until 9 p.m. tonight. breakers up to 20ft. curonight. breakers up to 20ft. current wave heights are 4 to 8. watch out. there is a risk of sneaker waves and rip

currents. those temperatures right now, it's still pretty comfortable out there in the 50s and the 60s. look at this gorgeous view from our emeryville camera. headlines through tomorrow morning. windy weather continues along the coast, dangerous beach conditions and the rest of the workweek. we're looking at mild to warm weather and sunny conditions. hour by hour we go 8:00 tonight. you're still in the 50s. the winds keeping those temperatures up. but then they drop heading towards tomorrow morning, mainly 40s and 50s. and then by the afternoon it will be another mild one with plenty of sun heading into the evening hours. temperatures come down tomorrow morning. speaking of coming down, most of you will be in the 40s. there will be some locations up around lakeport and ukiah that will drop down to the 30s tomorrow afternoon. you're looking at sunshine low to upper 60s for the bay area, and certainly records are possible once again heading into the next couple of days. the accuweather seven day forecast windy tomorrow early on in the morning. and it's a mild pattern for the afternoon. mild to warm weather thursday. we even see

some more 70s on the board there and then a little cooler. friday. temperatures will drop off as we head towards early next week, but i don't see any raindrops in the accuweather seven day forecast just yet. but ama and dan you both know we get this 1 or 2 week dry spell in january. >> not uncommon, right? >> they sure do need a break from the wind down south. >> oh yeah, they definitely do. i mean, that situation is very life threatening. thanks, sandy. >> well, the san francisco giants are making some news this afternoon. espn reports the team has agreed to a one year deal with right handed starting pitcher justin verlander. the likely future hall of famer is a two time world series champion and three time american league cy young award winner. spring training is set to open in scottsdale, arizona in just about five weeks. >> well, still ahead. it's one of the most famous taco bell locations, but its doors are now abruptly closed. we'll tell you what's in store for pacifica's oceanfront taco bell. stay with us. >> i'm reggie aqui, i'm lyanne

melendez, i'm luz pena, i'm tara campbell, i'm j.r. >> stone at abc seven news. >> we deliver local stories with real answers to help make our city you can access your fico® score in a snap. (daughter) what i would give to be able to make art on this scale! (dad) you will one day. but it's equally important for you to be thinking about your future... building credit—

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news, weather and more with our abc seven bay area streaming tv app. just search abc seven bay area and download it now in the east bay. >> the hayward bart station is back open after a stabbing. bart officials tell us the two people who were detained at the scene have since been released, after it was determined they were not involved. the victim was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive. no word on other suspects. bart investigators are now working to gather evidence and surveillance footage. >> in alameda county, three people were injured and taken to the hospital after a car crashed into an ac transit bus near the coliseum bart station. that's according to the transit agency. authorities say the driver of the car was a 17 year old who was speeding down 70th avenue and ran through a stop sign. the driver stayed on the scene and was reportedly cooperating with authorities. we reached out to the oakland police department for more information.

>> the destination, known as the world's coolest taco bell, is temporarily closed. the beloved taco bell cantina in pacifica sits right on the beach. it's a popular destination for those seeking an outdoor patio with oceanfront views. the company announced it will be closed for about two weeks for remodeling. >> the restaurateurs behind san francisco's sprawling restaurant china live in chinatown are launching a new one. according to the chronicle, george chen and cindy wong chen plan to open asia live later this year at the westfield valley mall in santa clara. the restaurant will seat 350 people and offer dishes from east asia, southeast asia and other regions as well. they're also working on an opening in asia. live location in the louvre museum in paris. wow. la la. >> yes. all right. we still have much more news ahead. >> we do? let's go to abc seven news anchor karina nova for a look at what's coming up at 530. karina. all right. thanks, deanna. >> tomorrow is inauguration day for daniel lurie as he takes on

the role of san francisco mayor. reporter monica madden joins us with what we can expect during the big event and his top priorities as he starts his term in office. and if you're frustrated with egg prices and lack of supply in stores, you're not alone. we're going to talk to a petaluma egg farmer about the bird flu situation and the impact on farmers, stores and consumers. join us for those stories and more. at 5.30 on abc seven bay area streaming tv. dan. >> all right. karina. thank you. >> and you can download the abc seven app or head to abc7 news.com and join karina in two minutes. >> and if you're watching us here on tv. world news tonight with david muir is next for sandhya patel and all of us here. thank you for watching. we appreciate your time. >> i'm ama daetz we'll see you at 6:00 for dan

tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the emergency unfolding right now. racing to escape the flames. winds now gusting up to 100 mi