she and james adopted three more children in 2015. it was just what annie would have wanted them to do. >> and that's our story for tonight.

across the country, denise's good friend ashley saw the news. >> there was an article post ordinary line. someone september to it me and said, oh my god, this is denise. but i started just texting everybody. >> including denise. >> i tried to text her. i figured better than not doing anything. >> there was no reply. she texted another friend, danika. >> i couldn't believe what i was reading. it didn't even seem real. >> that was pretty much the reaction of vallejo cops to the story denise's boyfriend was telling them. >> we have a lot of information still to sift through.

we don't have all of the facts in yet. >> the story aaron told the cops that night eventually spelled out in an fbi affidavit would seem frankly preposterous. something invented by someone with too much imagination and too much free time. aaron said he and denise were asleep at his house when 3:00 a.m. he was awakened by a bright light and an electrical noise that sounded like a stun gun. then a man's 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 couldn't see. >> he's been blindfolded, 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'd be out for a couple of days. and to let his work know the same. aaron also 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 web cam. then he said the intruders left with denise. his story sounded so implausible, police wondered if he'd made it up to hide something even more sinister. at first blush when a woman is missing and her husband or boyfriend says, yeah sheaves abducted. well the first thing i think, maybe because of what i do for a living, is the guy had something to do with this. >> right. in these kinds of situations, always look at the significant other. is he a suspect? is he making it up? what is going on? what's the real story? >> police treated aaron less

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 gwin, it took him hours. it wasn't until that afternoon the vallejo police were able to talk with him. >> aaron's mother later told us police polygraphed him five times. he was put in jail clothing, 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 they knew enough to be worried. >> someone being kidnapped, to be honest, a lot of those stories don't end well. when i thiktd those things, you think maybe they're not going to be alive. >> about 33 hours after denise hoskins disappeared, reporter henry lee was standing outside aaron's home when his phone buzzed. an email.

>> what was chilling was that this email came attached with an audio file. this audio file, there was a woman's voice. >> my name is denise hoskins. >> the soft-spoken woman on the recording said she was denise. this very strange tale was about to get much stranger. >> what had happened to denise? was she still alive or was this all an elaborate hoax? coming up -- >> we still don't know where denise huskins is. >> that cryptic recording. exactly what kind of message was it? >> she sounded absolutely calm. not terrified, not distressed at all. >> not as someone in fear for their life? >> right. >> then we get a tip that police are holding a news conference. that's when the bombshell came down. >> when "dateline" continues. feel the clarity of non-drowsy claritin

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denise huskins' boyfriend said she'd been kidnapped. but his story seemed hard to believe. police wondered if he'd murdered her and was now trying to cover it up. then a day and and a half after denise disappeared, reporter henry lee received a mysterious email. with an audio file attached. >> my name is biggest news, a german airliner had gone down. >> earlier today, there was a plane crash in the alps. 150 people died. >> she shared obscure biographical details.

>> trying to prove that, a, she's denise, and b, she's the kidnap victim. >> and she's aware of events that happened that day? >> to prove, in fact, she was alive. >> clearly this wasn't a murder case, but was it a kidnapping as aaron claimed? we found it odd that denise didn't sound at all frightened. >> she sounded absolutely calm. not distressed at all. >> not someone in fear for their life. >> as if she was talking with a friend over coffee. i think the subject line was, wtf. what is this? >> it was sort of reassuring she was making an audio that clearly dated that day, but also still

scary because you still have no idea if the person's safe, how they're being treated. >> and if denise isn't sound panicked, her friends say that made perfect sense. after all, the three of them had already lived through what should have been the most traumatic event of their lives. ashley, deneka, and denise went to watch the boston marathon in 2013. they say it was denise that remained calm that day. >> we were all scared and rocked by it, but of all of us, she was the best equipped to keep her cool. >> she was the one who was kind of my rock. she grabbed my hand and she was like let's go.

>> sheryl hurd covered the cover. >> we still don't know where denise huskins is. we're really not sure what her boyfriend, aaron quinn, is telling police. all we know is they can't find her. >> then the story took another whiplash turn. about 45 hours after denise was reported missing, police made a dramatic announcement. >> approximately 10:30 this morning, ms. denise huskins was located safely. >> it seemed over. denise's cousin told knbc how thrilled everyone was. >> you never know. i was just happy to hear that she was alive and safe and home. >> but to police and reporters, all professional skeptics, this story hadn't smelled right from the start and denise's sudden reappearance did nothing to change that. >> she's alive.

she's well and they found her. that was great, but there was still something funny going on because no one had all the answers. >> for one thing, denise turned up in huntington beach, which was 400 miles south of vallejo and which was also her hometown. she was dropped off by her mom's house. >> she was not released out of state. she was not released in the desert. she was not released in the middle of california. where did she show up? right near her parents' house. >> 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. >> after she was released? >> after she was released. >> suspicion was building.

near denise nor aaron made any public statement, but they did hire separate attorneys. >> everyone's thinking why are they doing that. >> lots of questions and not many answers, but then less than 12 hours after denise reappeared -- >> then we get a tip that police are holding a news conference. so i jump in the car, the photographer and i, and we haul ass back to vallejo to be a part of this news conference and that's when the bombshell came down. coming up -- >> we were not able to sub stantuate any of the things that he was saying. >> was this all some kind of prank? >> was there some chance that denise and her boyfriend were going to be prosecuted? >> it was a very strong possibility. >> e-mails, some photos. some strange new clues are about to emerge from the shadows when "dateline" continues.

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i didn't have a clue what happened. >> even denise huskins friends had to admit her sudden disappearance and reappearance seemed almost unbelievable. >> the details of the story are so crazy. i really couldn't -- i 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.

>> the statement that mr. quinn provided was such an incredible story we initially had a hard time believing it and upon further investigation, we were not able to substantiate any of the things he was saying. as of right now, we have not heard from ms. huskins. >> and then finally this. >> mr. quinn and ms. huskins has taken valuable resources from our community while instilling fear among our community members. it is mr. quinn and ms. huskins that owes this community an apology. >> after a search and about 54 hours of investigation, vallejo

police had concluded the whole kidnapping story was a phony. this was one of those made for california dramas. police seemed to think denise and aaron were for some reason only known to them seeking publicity and telling an elaborate lie. left unanswered is why anyone would want to become famous for fooling police. remember no ransom was ever paid. aaron told police the kidnappers took his bank information, but no one tried to access his accounts. someone did try to call aaron's cell phone a couple of times while denise was missing from a blocked number. according to aaron's mother, police suspected aaron had somehow programmed another phone to call his own cell while he was with investigators. >> was there some chance that denise and her boyfriend were going to be prosecuted? >> it was a very strong possibility based on those

public pronouncements. >> denise's friends didn't know aaron, but they had every confidence denise was telling the truth. >> everyone that knew or knows her personally and cares about her believed her. >> the day after police branded the kidnapping a hoax, denise finally did show up at vallejo pd to tell the cops they were wrong. she said that not only had she been kidnapped, she had also been raped. that same day reporter henry lee received another e-mail. 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. clearly written by someone who was extremely intelligent. >> ms. huskins was absolutely kidnapped. we did it. we will provide incontrovertible proof. he claimed to be part of a group.

>> he went into detail a serious of crimes they committed. >> some of us have a tech background. stealing late model cars, according to the e-mail, the group decided to try kidnapping because we wanted 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 that the reality of the kidnapping was much more upsetting than expected. we fancied ourselves a sort of ocean's 11 gentlemen criminals who only took stuff that was insured for people who could afford it. the horrifying reality of what we had become and what we were doing did not fit in until confronted directly with denise's suffering and humanity.

>> one of the abductors seemed to sympathize with denise. >> and now the e-mail said they were angry that denise was being accused of making the whole thing up. we will not stand by and see the life of a really good person ruined. attached to the e-mails were photos. one showed a water gun spray painted to look more threatening, at least in the dark, with a laser point 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 denise and aaron's story or an elaborate deception? >> you thought legit or more hoax? >> my thought was certainly part of a prank. >> in fact, the e-mails were so cleverly written henry lee wondered if they might have been sent by an attorney for denise and aaron. reporters started referring to

the case as "the gone girl" kidnapping. that reference infuriated denise's friends. >> when it is not accurate, it makes you mad. it was sort of like a fictional character created out of a good person. you start being labeled as -- >> the gone girl. >> the gone girl. >> that wasn't denise at all they said. but to the rest of the world, denise and aaron were portrayed as liars, schemers, maybe criminals themselves. that is, until the next big twist. coming up -- >> he said we have your daughter. >> another story as strange and eerie as denise and aaron's. >> terrifying? >> yes. they were terrified. >> had the mysterious kidnapper struck again?

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this began as a high-tech kidnapping that sounded like a tv movie. >> we were not able to substantiate -- >> then police announced it was really an elaborate hoax. denise huskins and aaron quinn branded as liars or attention addicts retreated from sight. >> thank you. >> and that might have been the end of it until a little over two months later this story took another unbelievable turn. june 5th, 2015, 3:34 a.m. police were called to a house in dublin, california.

>> locked herself in the bedroom. >> an intruder was inside. by the time police arrived, the man was gone, leaving behind a shaken family with a frightening story. the woman told police that she and her husband woke up in the early morning hours to find a man standing at the foot of their bed, a flashlight shining in their faces. >> he told them that face down, get face down on your bed and don't look at me. >> terrifying? >> yes, they were terrified. >> he said, we have your daughter and she's okay. >> the couple's 22-year-old daughter had been sleeping in the next room. >> she tells the parents, i'm going to tie you up. father jumps on him, says i'm not going to let you tie me up. something's going on with my daughter. a struggle ensues on the ground. >> his wife grabbed her cell phone and locked herself in the

bathroom to call 911. >> the husband yells out at her, honey, go get the gun. go get the gun. this was very smart on the father's part because they have no gun, but he said it to scare this guy away. >> in the struggle, he left some things behind. zip ties for run and what turned out to be the key to the case, a cell phone, which led the dublin detectives to a home near sacramento. they called the family there and 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. okay. where is he? he'd like to give it to him. >> he's on his way to salt lake. >> the dublin cops knew their next stop was south lake tahoe. first they put in a call to the local sheriff to ask if there'd ever been trouble at the cabin. there hadn't but, a stolen car had just been found right near

it and in the car was a driver's license for 38-year-old matthew muller. >> i said, okay. you just kind of made my day now. now we have some more information to go on. >> with a search warrant and an arrest warrant, the dublin cops went to find matthew muller. the neighbors watched it happened. >> you know, i'm just peeking out my window, trying to get an idea what's happening. more cars are coming. my whole front area is filled with dark sedans, like something out of a movie. >> the neighbors were surprised, but maybe matthew muller was not. >> when we broke down the front door, it didn't open all the way because it was barricaded with chairs and just 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. okay, he's there. >> this is muller just after he was arrested. he did not put up a fight. in the house the detectives found a room with cardboard on the windows blocking out the light. they searched that stolen car and found a few more items of interest. >> one was a bebe gun. one was a super soaker that was painted black with a flashlight taped to it. >> there were also swim goggles with tape covering the lenses. a long blonde hair stuck to the tape. when they traced the stolen car -- >> that vehicle comes back stolen out of vallejo. >> so the dublin cops called vallejo pd and started comparing notes. >> we're showing them pictures of everything covered in the search warrant and they're showing us the pictures they had.

>> shots of spray painted water pistols and a room with cardboard on the windows. >> that's kind of when the light really clicked on and we all kind of went, uh-oh. here we go. coming up -- >> ivy colleague, former marine, respected attorney. >> i would much more have expected matt to be sitting behind the desk in some elected capacity. >> who was this guy, when "dateline" continues. we have to be able to

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terminix. defenders of home. when the strange tale of denise huskins and aaron quinn first made headlines -- >> that mysterious kidnapping story out of california just >> dublin police detectives found it just as puzzing as everyone else did. >> for a lot of reasons, you think the story at first blush was a very strange story. >> it was. >> does sound like it could be fabricated. >> but now they found themselves working a home invasion that seemed to link the man they arrested, matthew muller, to the alleged kids napping of denise huskins. not just the photos of toy guns painted to look real or the photo of the suspect's home they saw during the arrest, but photos that matched henry lee.

window screens at aaron's house had been slit. the window locks drilled. and those missed calls made to aaron quinn's cell phone while he was being interrogated that night, calls that vallejo cops suspected aaron had somehow faked. they were made from this cabin right in southern lake tahoe. when law enforcement hacked into the car's navigation history, they found this address in huntington beach. the exact spot denise said she had been left by her kidnapper. as they continued to investigate, detectives learned their suspect was just as unusual as the crime he was implicated in.

>> this is the type of stuff you typically see in movies. >> he attended college. >> i would much more have suspected matt to be sitting behind the desk in some elected capacity as opposed to sitting in a jail cell right now. >> he graduated sue ma cum laude. he graduated in 2006. then stayed on as a teaching fellow. andrea was a student of muller's. >> matt as i remember him at harvard was incredibly intelligent, hard working, and someone who was really dedicated to the work we were doing. >> after harvard, muller moved back to california and practiced

immigration law in san francisco, but soon muller's life seemed to go off the rails. in 2013, he lost his privileges to practice law. he got divorced. stopped paying rent. in 2014 he filed for bankruptcy. it's not clear what went wrong. his defense lawyer says muller suffers from bipolar disorder. the crime, the thrill of the game. >> he has read those e-mails that were sent to reporter henry

lee, e-mails that lee suspected at the time were written by a lawyer, a lawyer police now believe was matthew muller. >> what emerges from the e-mails is a complex picture of someone who needs attention, who needs to be perceived a certain way. >> for example, the way the writer of the e-mails was outraged when denise was accused of a hoax. >> so when he says, how dare you not believe ms. huskins, that she was kidnapped, what he's really saying is how dare you not believe i committed this crime and pulled it off? >> you can't see my handy work because you lack talent, because the police here are failing miserably and they need to recognize how flawed they are and how wonderful i am. >> he is a master criminal. >> he is a master criminal, and he's running circles around everyone else.

>> when aaron told them he 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. and when denise wouldn't get on that 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 a criminal. now everything was about to change. three months after vallejo police accused denise and aaron of concocting a hoax, the fbi announced that matthew muller was the prime suspect in denise's very real kidnapping. >> i was glad -- i never doubted there was someone who kidnapped her.

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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 i -- there was someone laying on top of me. their hand was over my mouth. >> the woman we're calling samantha hadn't heard the names denise huskins or matthew muller until we contacted her. but as you'll see, the details

of what happened to her seem frighteningly familiar. >> my hands were handcuffed behind my back. my feet were zip tied. he put blacked out swim googles on me. >> her captor claimed he was part of a group and the point was money. >> i gave him my social security, mother's maiden name, account numbers, my bank account number, my pin. >> as with denise and aaron, the intruder made sure no help would be coming anytime soon. >> he figured out who my boss was from my e-mails and he e-mailed my boss that i was sick and i couldn't come into work that day. you're thinking, wow, this is getting more hopeless. >> she says just as denise and aaron did that she was sedated. in her case it was just nyquil. she became drowsy, but never passed out.

she was completely helpless, completely in his control when it got even worse, when he told her -- >> i have some bad news for you. now i'm going to have to rape you. >> 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 had terrorized her for hours suddenly seemed remorseful. >> he said, i'm sorry about this. you know, i've been through this too. >> he even offered some helpful home security advice. >> he recommended i get a dog so i would be protected in the future. >> so he's giving you advice from people like him? >> yes.

>> it's hard to believe. >> i agree. >> the man soon left without letting samantha see his face. when she called the police, the response she received might sound familiar to denise huskins. >> did police believe you? >> i don't think so. what they told me was they thought maybe i just had a bad dream and i called 911 after my bad dream. >> but less than a month later a similar case in palo alto. a man broke into his house and restrained the woman with zip ties and goggles. then the man raped her. lieutenant zach perron believes the same person is responsible for both crimes. >> we were able to identify one suspect in the case and he's our prime suspect, matthew muller. >> muller has never been charged in either case.

we wanted to hear from muller himself. his attorney did not want muller to do an interview. however, muller agreed to see a visitor. "dateline" associate producer kayla ward spent 30 minutes talking with muller in jail through glass on the phone. no cameras, no recordings, no note taking allowed. >> what's his answer as to whether or not he's guilty of the crimes he's accused of? >> he wouldn't deny anything, but he wouldn't say he was guilty of anything. >> she asked him about samantha. >> recently interviewed a woman and her case matches the other cases. he couldn't believe that i was bringing this up. >> but he denied knowing

anything about samantha's case or the one in palo alto. then kayla asked about denise huskins. >> he looked at me intensely and said can you imagine being woken up in the middle of the night, taken from your home, sexually assaulted and then you're brave and then it is used against you by the police. there was tears in his eyes. he was very emotional about it. >> putting on a show? >> he might have been putting on a show. he's very smart. very, very smart. >> and very eager to talk about his own troubles. >> he wanted to be very clear the last six years of his life have been spent in depression. he's had a few suicide attempts. he said he's in jail now and he's happy to be there because it's a safe place for him. a safe place for the community. >> muller did say in his professional life he'd always wanted to do good for others. >> he told me my home for my life was that my primary identifier would be helping people.

i wanted to be the guy that helped people. >> so what went wrong? >> i asked him how do you feel now sitting here because you've done the opposite, you've hurt people? he stared at me for a minute in silence and he said, i don't even know where to begin with that. he put his head down and started to cry and he said i'm so sorry. >> exactly what he was sorry for he didn't say, but muller did say he thought he was exactly where he belonged. >> he said the facts are pretty clear. i think i'll spend a few decades in jail, and i'm fine with that. >> in mid september, muller made that point clear in court when

there's plenty we still don't know. for example, denise and aaron are convinced there was more than one kidnapper. >> do you have any reason to believe there were other people out there? >> i don't, no. >> he used "we." i believe it was to instill more fear in the victims. >> denise may not have been the target of the kidnapping. the e-mail sent to henry lee claimed the kidnappers were after aaron's ex-fiancee who had previously lived with him, but then grabbed up denise instead. >> they were innocent of their alleged crimes, yet they were

claimed to the world as a hoax. >> vallejo has now clammed up. they sent denise and aaron each a letter of an apology, but has done nothing to correct the statements of denise and aaron as liars. "dateline" vallejo pd has no comment. >> he said this was going to mess you up. he was right about that, wasn't he? >> it messed me up for a while. >> why did you want to talk to us? >> if i can contribute in any way to make sure this is taken seriously, especially in

denise's cases where they're not believing her and if they continue to say this was a hoax, this is not a hoax. i lived firsthand through this and i know for a fact that it's true. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> she's on a conveyer belt. only her feet were exposed. the workers thought it was a mannequin. her last hours on earth were not pleasant. >> young women murdered or missing. families in anguish. >> i would tech her and she would text right back, but this time nothing. >> when they killed her, they killed me. >> a serial killer at work and maybe he had a friend. >> that's crazy. they don't work together, serial killers are loners. >> very rare. >> two suspected killers on the hunt.