>> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." details are so korea. i couldn't make sense of it. >> a successful young couple, ambushed, they had, in the dead of night and attacked, abducted. >> we are like, wow! where is she? >> i didn't have a clue what happened. >> but the real question? was their story even true? >> we were not abe to substantiate any of the things he had to stay. >> they branded the liars. >> would this be a hoax that was behind it all. >> this whole story could take another crazy turn. >> he said i know i need to pay for what i did.

hello. welcome to "dateline." denise huskins and her boifed went to sleep one nied blissfully unwaaware they would wake up to stranger. he didn't appear to be alone. what happened next was so odd, it would lead detectives and the public scratching their head. was this real life or fiction? an unexpected break in the case would steer authorities tworowa an unlikely suspect with the truth. here is josh mankowi tenchtsz with "twisted tale."

>> their hand was over my mouth. >> reporter: if you're wondering, there was no way to fight back. >> i must have been screaming. >> reporter: this woman doesn't want us to use her real name. we are calling her samantha and she is sharing with us things she has told very few people. this is a man? >> a man. felt very big and strong. i couldn't move. >> september 29th, 2009, the sun wasn't up yet and in samantha's bedroom, a masked intruder was holding her down. she had no idea who the man was or what he was planning. >> he said this is going to take a couple of hours. you know, i think just in shock. >> reporter: the details of what happened to samantha are not only frightening, but also 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's never met. it's a bizarre mystery that riveted california's bay area. then rippled across the country and around the world. march 24th, 2015, a young woman was missing. >> she is 5'7" and 150 pounds and blond hair, blue eyes. >> her abductors wanted money in exchange for her return. >> we requesting the public's help in locating her. >> it happened in the city of vallejo. henry valee was a reporter for t"the san francisco chronicle." >> this crime victim did not strike me as someone who usually would be targeted. >> reporter: the kidnapped person denise huskin had been

staying with her boyfriend. aaron was the one who reported denise missing. >> we are doing everything that we did and then some to ensure her safe return. >> police dogs and dive teams were soon part of a huge search for denise huskins. across the country, denise's good friend ashley saw the news. >> there want article posted online and someone sent it to me. i said this is denise. i started texting everybody. >> joo including denise. >> i tried to text her. >> i figured better than not do anything. >> reporter: there was no reply. she texted another friend. >> i couldn't believe what i was reading. it didn't even seem real. >> reporter: that was pretty much the reaction vallejo cops had 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. >> reporter: the store aaron told the cops that night eventually smelled out in an fbi

affidavit would seem, frankly, preposterous and something prevented by someone with too much imagination and too much free time. aaron said he and denise were asleep in their house when at 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 hand and feet. then he said his eyes were covered with swim goggles which had been blacked out so he couldn't see. >> he has been blindfolded and zip-tied. >> reporter: aaron said the intruder demand that his banking private and email and played calming music along with instructions to use denise's work and text her work and said she would be gone a coupled and

let his work know the claim. aaron claimed he was given a mixture of nyquil and valium to knock him out and told him to stay in one spot in his living room that was outlined in red duct tape and monitored by a web cam. then ed intruders left with denise. his story sounded so implausible, people wondered if he made it up to hide something more sinister. at first blush, when a woman is missing and her husband or boyfriend said, oh, yeah, she was abducted, well, certainly the first thing i think, maybe because of what i do for a living is, the guy -- >> in these kind of situation, you always look at the signature other. is he a suspect? he is making it up? what is going on here? what is the real story? >> reporter: police treated aaron less like a victim and more like a murder suspect and confiscated his cell phone and read him his rights. they were suspicious about why

he waited 11 hours before calling 911. >> aaron quinn, it took himself hours. it wasn't until that afternoon the vallejo police were able to talk to him after he came forward. >> reporter: aaron's mother later told us police polygraphed him five times and he was put in jail 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 they knew enough to be worried. >> i mean, someone being kidnapped, to be honest a lot of those stories don't end well and you don't want to think about those things, but you think maybe they are not going to alive. >> reporter: then about 33 hours after denise huskins disappeared, reporter henry lee was standing outside of aaron's home when his phone buzzed an an email. >> what is chilling than email became attached with an audio file and this audio file, a

woman's voice. >> i'm denise huskins. >> 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 encrypted recording, exactly what kind of message was it? >> she sounded absolutely calm, not terrified and not distressed at all. >> reporter: not like someone feared for their live? >> right. like she was talking with a friend over coffee. >> then we get a tip that police are holding a news conference. that is when the bombshell came down. >> when with "dateline" continues. "dateline" continues. o-severe eczema, o-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. and you never know how your skin will look. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent.

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i got your flag, man! i got your flag! it's geico easy. with licensed agents available 24/7. 49 - nothing! woo! >> reporter: denise huskin's 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 a half after denise disappeared, reporter henry lee received a mysterious e-mail with an audio file attached. she talked about the day's 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. >> it's a proof of life audio, trying to prove, a, she is denise and, b, syes, she is the kidnapped victim. >> reporter: and she's aware of events that happened that day? >> to prove, in fact, she was alive. >> reporter: 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 terrifieterrified. not distressed at all. >> not someone in fear for their life? >> right. as if she was talking with a friend over coffee. i think the subject line was, wtf. what is this? >> her friend ashley had heard it. >> 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. you know? people are putting her through. >> reporter: and if denise doesn't sound paniciced, 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 who remained calm that day. >> we were all scared and rocked by it, but i think of all of us, she was probably 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. >> reporter: but where was denise now? >> this is a bizarre case with a lot of twists.

>> very ba vizarbizarre, rod. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: it seemed over. denise's cousin told knbc how thrilled everyone was. >> you hear these stories all the time and you watch tv about them. you never know. i was just happy to hear that she was alive and safe and home. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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 right 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. that seemed too convenient. >> reporter: any thing. the ran com the kidnapper 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 won't cooperate. would not fly up in a plane offered by the fbi to talk to the police. >> reporter: after she was released? >> after she was released. >> reporter: 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? >> reporter: 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. >> let me know when you guys are ready. coming up -- >> we were not able to substantiate all 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. >> emails, photos. some strange new clues are about to emerge from the shadows when "dateline" continues. let's be honest, insurance can feel a little

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i didn't have a clue what happened. >> reporter: 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.

first he spoke about denise's boyfriend aaron quinn. >> 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. >> reporter: then about denise, herself. >> mr. quinn and ms. huskins has as of right now we have not heard from miss huskins. >> and then finally this. >> mr. quinn and ms. huskins has taken valuable resources from our community while instilling fear amongst 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 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.

>> reporter: denise's friends didn't know aaron, but they had every confidence denise was telling the truth. >> everyone that knew or that knows her personally and cares about her believed her. >> reporter: 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. the writer claimed to be part of

a group. more than two and fewer than eight in number. >> they good into extreme length with a series of crimes they committed. break-ins and you name it. >> reporter: 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? >> reporter: 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 from people who could afford it. the horrifying reality of what we had become and what we were doing did not sit in until confronted directly with denise's suffering and humanity.

>> at least one of the abductors seemed to sympathize with denise. >> reporter: 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 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 denise and aaron's story or an elaborate deception? you thought legit or more hoax? >> my thought was it 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 or ironship aaron. >> the so-called gone girl

mystery. >> reporter: reporters started referring to the case as "the gone girl" kidnapping. after a blond fakes her disappearance. that reference infuriated denise's friends. but when, you know, it's not accurate, it makes you mad. it was sort of like a fictional character created out of a good person. so then, suddenly, you stop being denise huskins and you start being -- >> labeled as the gone girl. >> the gone girl. >> reporter: 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? when "dateline" continues.

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former national security adviser john bolton's departure came after president trump suggested raising sanctions on iran. trump indicated on wednesday he would still be open to lifting sanctions. rebels in yemen claimed responsibility for drone strikes on key oil facility in saudi arabia. the attackers sparked a massive fire and could impact global oil supplies. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." the police and the public seemed to have it all figured out. they believed denise huskins and her boyfriend aaron quinn had made up their dramatic home invasion and kidnapping story for publicity. the media even dubbed it o"the

gone girl" mystery based on a story of a woman who faked her own disappearance. the detective were about to learn something that would shift the investigation. another attack suspiciously similar to the one denise and aaron had been describing. too similar to ignore. here is josh with "twisted tale." 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. >> reporter: 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.

>> he thinks they possibly have their daughter. >> reporter: police were called to a house in dublin, california. >> locked herself in the bedroom. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: dublin police detectives here led the investigation. >> he said, we have your daughter and she's okay. >> reporter: the couple's 22-year-old daughter had been sleeping in the next room. >> he 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. >> reporter: 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 had he to say anything to try to square this guy away. >> reporter: the father continued to fight until the intruder fled. but in the struggle he left some things behind. zip ties for onen 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? we would like to give it to him. >> he's on his way to salt lake. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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! >> reporter: 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.

>> reporter: 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 bb gun. one was a super soaker that was painted black with a flashlight duct taped to it with a laser pointer. >> reporter: these were made like real guns? >> if you were in the dark and just the shape, absolutely. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: so the dublin cops called vallejo p.d. and started comparing notes. >> we're showing them pictures of everything covered in the search warrant and they're showing us the pictures they -- that had been sent to them.

>> reporter: those were the photographs from henry lee from that anonymous address. 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 league, former marine, respected attorney. >> i would much more have suspected matt to be sitting behind the desk in some elected capacity. >> who was this guy? when "dateline" continues. inues. help prevent this! talk to your doctor or pharmacist today about getting vaccinated against whooping cough. with the world's first invisible trailer. invisible trailer? and it's not the trailer right next to us? this guy? you don't believe me? hop in. good lookin' pickup, i will say that. oh wow. silverado offers an optional technology package with up to 15 different views -

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>> reporter: when the strange tale of denise huskins and aaron quinn first made headlines -- >> another bizarre twist in a kidnapping case we have been following out of california. >> reporter: dublin police detectives found it just as puzzling as everyone else did. 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. >> reporter: but now they found themselves working a home invasion that seemed to link the man they had arrested, matthew muller, to the alleged kidnapping of denise huskins. not just the photos of toy guns painted to look real or the ram room in the suspect's home

they saw during the arrest, but photos that matched henry lee. there were things that were overlooked from the start. window screens at aaron's house had been slit. the window locks drilled. and the 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. it turns out they were placed from this intersection right near muller's cabin in southern lake tahoe. 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 continued to investigate, detectives learned their suspect was just as unusual as the crimes he was implicated in. maybe more so.

>> having dealt with somebody like him, this is typically stuff you see in movies. >> muller was in the marines. he then attended college. here is a former classmate. >> 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. >> reporter: muller married in 2002 and graduate from pomona s suma cumlaude. 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. >> reporter: 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 was eventually disbarred. he got divorced. stopped paying rent. in 2004, he filed for bankruptcy. it's not clear what went wrong. his defense lawyer says muller suffers from bipolar disorder. he is self-forgetting and certainly not somebody to fear. >> doesn't fit the profile of your typical guy that's doing home invasions. >> when you look at home invasions, it doesn't. but when you look at the crimes he's committing, it does fit more for the profile. >> it was done for the thrill of the crime, the thrill of the game. >> reporter: glenn lipman 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. >> reporter: 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 that i committed this crime and pulled it off? >> you can't see my handiwork 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. >> reporter: he is a master criminal? >> he is a master criminal, and he's running circles around everyone else. >> reporter: maybe he was. remember, from the beginning,

vallejo police couldn't believe the elaborate detail of the kidn kidnapping. 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 p.d., 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 suspect. 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, you know? i never doubted there was someone who kidnapped her. >> reporter: neither did the woman we are calling samantha. to her, denise's story was very

real. coming up. >> my hand were handcuffed behind my back. my feet were zip tied. >> reporter:. >> could matthew muller be behind this crime too? we are about to ask him. >> he opened his eyes really wide and he couldn't believe i was bringing this up. >> when "dateline" continues. ws they get relief very fast. ...work in harmony.ody... like you, they get hungry. feed them... ...with new centrum® multigummies® specially crafted for men and women 50 and over. so you're ready for anything. centrum®. feed your cells today. who got an awful skin condition. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time.

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welcome back. matthew muller, the harvard educated former lawyer was now the main suspect in the meticulous home invasion and kidnapping of denise hoskins. we went behind bars to speak with him. what he told us was surprising and disturbing. i was afraid. the next thing i knew somebody was on top of me. their hand was over my mouth. >> the woman we're calling samantha hadn't heard the name denise huskins or matthew muller

until we contacted her. the details seem frighteningly familiar. >> my hands were handcuffed behind my back. my feet were zip tied. he put swim goggles on that were blacked out. i couldn't see. >> zip ties, blacked out swim goggles. he claimed he was part of a group and the point of it all he said was money. >> you're given the information we're all taught not to to give to anyone. >> exactly. social security number, mother's maiden name. account numbers. bank account number, my pin. he figured outside who my boss was and e-mailed my boss that i was sick and couldn't come to work that day. you're thinking wow, this is getting more hopeless. >> she says as denise and erin did, she was sedated. in her case, 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. 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 how to keep it from happening again. >> 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 this house and restrained the woman with zip ties and goggles. then the man raped her. was it the same man? was it muller. police investigating samantha's assault aren't sure. 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 your initial impression of him. >> extremely talkative. he was laughing and joking. talking about the book he was reading. >> 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. >> i said we recently interviewed a woman and her case matches the other cases. he opened his eyes really wide. 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. >> about a year after he spoke with "dateline." muller pleaded guilty in federal court to kidnapping denise huskins. he was sentence today 40 years in prison and pleaded no contest to the home invasion. he faced other charges of kidnapping for rape, robbery,

burglary and false i mprisonmei. he now climbs he's not guilty. 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 are other people out there? >> 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. denise and aaron will live forever with the emotional scars of their ordeal. home invasion, kidnapping and then public humiliation. their lawyer is jim wag staff. >> they were innocent of their alleged crimes, yet they were claimed to the world as a hoax.

>> vallejo pd eager to talk in the first few days has since clamped up. the department did send denise and aaron each a letter of apology but so far made no public statement to correct the impression of these two as liars and publicity hounds. denise and aaron sued the city of vallejo and they settled the case for $2.5 million. still, no one from vallejo pd has explained why the case went so wrong. the official department answer is simply, no comment. he said to you at the end, i'm really sorry about this. this is going to mess you up. he was right about that one, wasn't he? >> yeah. definitely messed me up for quite a while. sometimes the truest story sounds like a lie. >> why did you want to talk to me? >> if i can contribute to having

this taken seriously and this is not a hoax, i lived through this and i know for a fact that it's true. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. good morning. i'm philip mena in new york. it's 6:00 in the east, 3:00 out west. here's what's happening. ripple effect. the drone strike of a saudi oil facility will have broad impact around the world and in the u.s. plus, could it spark military conflict? 2020 contenders, a big day on the campaign trail for a number of candidates, but especially front-runner, joe biden. we'll tell you why. after the white house, new comments from eric holder on whether donald trump should face charges when he leaves office. we start with new reaction today to that fiery attack in saudi arabia. the world's