she and james have since adopted five more children. it is just what annie would have wanted them to do. >> that's all for this edition of this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. this is "dateline." the details are so crazy, i couldn't make sense of it. >> a successful young couple ambushed in the dead of night. attacked. abducted. >> wow. where is she? >> i didn't have a clue what happened. >> the real question, was their story even true? >> we were not able to substantiate any of the things he was saying. >> could this be some kind of hoax? who was really behind it all? >> normal people don't do things

like this. >> this story could take another tournament. >> he said i know i need to pay for what i did. ♪ >> hello. welcome to "dateline." da ness hu ssdenise huskins and boyfriend went to bed one night, and what happened next was so odd it would leave detectives and the public scratching their heads, was this real life or fiction? an unexpected break in the case would lead authorities to suspects and the truth. >> i was asleep in bed and the next thing i knew i -- there was

someone laying on top of me. >> she was instantly the losing player in someone else's game of power and control. >> their hand was over my mouth. >> if you're wondering, there was no way to fight back. >> i must have been screaming. >> this woman doesn't want us to use her real name, we're calling her samantha, and she's sharing with us few things she told people. this was a man? >> man. >> bigger than you? >> felt big and strong. i couldn't move. >> september 29, 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 was going to take a couple hours. >> the details are not only

frigh frightenning but also strange. she has come forward because she thinks her night of terror may shed light on another case, in another town, with victims she never met. it's a bizarre mystery that riveted california and then around the world. march 24, 2015. a young woman was missing. >> miss huskins stands 5'7", 150 pounds, she has blond hair and blue eyes. >> her abductors wanted money in exchange for her return. it happened 30 miles north of san francisco in vallejo. >> i was struck with the fact you don't see these cases too often. this victim didn't strike me as someone who would be targeted.

>> denise huskins had been staying had been staying with her boyfriend. aaron was the one who reported denise missing. >> we're doing everything we can 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, her good friend, ashley, saw the news. >> there was an article posted online. someone sent it to me and said oh, my god, this is denise. i started texting everybody. >> incloouding denise. >> i tried to text her. >> there was no reply. she texted another friend. >> i couldn't believe what i was reading. it didn't seem real. >> that was pretty much the reaction the 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. >> 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 information and too much free time. aaron said he and denise were asleep at his house when 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 his hands and feet and then his eyes were covered with swim goggles which had been blacked out. >> he's been blindfolded, zip tied. aaron said the intruder demand his private banking and information and then put headphones on him that played

calming music along with instructions to use denise's phone to text work and let them know she would be out for a couple of days, and to let his work know he would do the same. he was told to stay in one spot in his living room that was outlined in red duct tape and monitored by a web cam. then, he said, the intruders left with denise. his story sounded so implausible. police wondered if he made it up to hide something even more sinister. at first blush, when a woman is missing and her husband and boyfriend says she is abducted, certainly the first thing i think is the guy had something do with this. >> right. these kinds of situations, always look at the significant other. is he a suspect? did he make it up? what is going on here.

>> 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 on why he waited 11 hours before calling 911. >> it wasn't until that afternoon that the vallejo police were able to talk to him. >> aaron's mother said he was polygraphed 5 fives, 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. >> a lot of those stories don't end well. you think pain they're not going to be alive. >> reporter: then about 33 hours after denise huskins was

reported missing, the reporter's phone was ringing. >> my name is 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 don't know where denise huskins is. >> what cryptic recording. what kind of message was it? >> she sounded calm. knot terrified. >> not like she was in fear for her life. >> right. >> then we get a tip that police are holding a news conference. that's when the bombshell came down. >> when "dateline" continues. n s confidence, reassurance you're doing what's right, to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month.

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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, a 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'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? lee found it odd that denise didn't sound at all frightened. >> she sounded absolutely calm. not distressed at all. >> not like 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? >> the recording soon hit the

web, where denise's friend ashley 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. what people are putting her through. >> 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.

>> but where was denise now? >> this is a bizarre case with a lot of twists. >> very bizarre. >> sheryl hurd covered the story. >> day two, 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.

she would not cooperate. she would not fly up in a plane offered by the fbi to talk to police. >> after she was released? >> after she was released. >> suspicion was building. neither 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 substantiate 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. >> emails, photos.

some strange new clues are about to emerge from the shadows when "dateline" continues. nowadays you do more from home than ever before.

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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, you know, i really couldn't make sense of it.

>> reporter: 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. >> we all know that 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. >> miss huskins indicated she would be happy to meet with our police detectives and provide a full statement on what occurred. as of right now, we have not heard from miss huskins. >> reporter: and finally this. >> mr. quinn and 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 was 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. the writer claimed to be part of a group, more than two, fewer than eight in number. >> they go into extreme length about a series 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 set 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. after the book and movie about a young blond who fakes her own disappearance. 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 stop being denise huskins, and you are 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? find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best, with emergen-c. protect your pet with the #1 name in

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hello. there's more than 100,000 cases of covid-19 in the u.s. with the death toll rising to more than 2,000. the cdc is urging residents of new york, new jersey and connecticut to refrain from nonessential travel for 14 days after president trump floated the idea of a multi state quarantine. 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 traumatic home invasion and kidnapping story for punt. the media even dubbed it "the gone girl" mystery based on a

story of a woman who faked her own disappearance. but detectives 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 mankiewicz with "twisted tale." >> this sounded like a kidnapping that was from a tv movie. police announced it was really an elaborate hoax. denise huskins and aaron quinn branded as liars or retention addicts retreated from sight 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. >> she thinks they possibly have

her daughter. >> reporter: police were called to a house in dublin, california. >> locked herself in a bedroom. >> reporter: an intruder was inside. >> possibly has a head injury. >> 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. >> the dublin police detectives led the investigation. >> he said, we have your daughter and she's okay. >> 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. >> 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 had to say anything to try to scare this guy away. >> the father continued to fight until finally the intruder fled. but in the struggle, he left some things behind. zip ties for one, and what turned out to be the key to the case, a cell phone, 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'd like to give it to him. >> he's on his way to salt lake to a cab bin. >> 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 happen. >> 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. >> upon entry, i could hear my detectives screaming get on the ground, get on the ground, and

your heart rate kind of jumps up, okay, he's there. >> this is mueller, just after he was arrested. he did not put up a fight. in the house, 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 super soaker painted black with a flashlight duct taped to it. >> if you were in the dark and all you saw was the shape and bulkness of it, absolutely. >> there was also swim goggles with tape covering the lenses. a long blonde hair stuck to the tape and 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. >> they're showing us pictures sent to him. >> those would be the photos

e-mailed to reporter henry lee from that anonymous address. shots of spray painted water pistols and a room with cardboard on the windows. >> that's when the light clicked on and we were all went oh, here we go. >> coming up, ivy league, former marine, respected attorney -- >> i would much more have suspected matt to be sitting behind a desk in some elected capacity. >> who was this guy? when dateline continues. no wonder you rub your eyes hundreds of times a day. but now, relief is just one drop away. introducing pataday® full prescription strength pataday works right in your eyes. right on the cells that make them itch. fast. just one drop, once a day means relief that lasts all day. so turn your day, into a pataday. now get pataday without a prescription. everywhere.

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when the strange tale of denise huskins and aaron quinn first made headlines -- >> another bizarre twist in a kidnapping case we have been following out of california. >> for a lot of reasons, you think the story at first blush was a very strange story. >> it was. >> it 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 kidnapping of denise huskins. not just the photos of toy guns painted to look real or the room in the suspect's home they

saw during the arrest, but photos that matched henry lee. there was more, significant clues pointing to a real kidnapping that vallejo cops seemed to have ignored from the start. 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 first night, calls that vallejo cops suspected aaron had somehow faked. they were made from this cabin right near muller's cabin in 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.

maybe more so. >> i haven't dealt with somebody like him, you know. it's the kind of stuff you see in movies. >> reporter: a california native, muller served in the u.s. marine corps where he was a trumpet player. he then attended pomona 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. >> muller married in 2004 and graduated from pomona summa cum laude a year later. the next stop was harvard law school. he graduated in 2006, and stayed on as a teaching fellow. andrea was a student of muller's at harvard's immigration and refugee clinic. >> matt at harvard, was incredibly intelligent, hard-working and someone who was 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 and was eventually disbarred. 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. he is unimposing, nearly forgettable, certainly not someone to fear. >> it doesn't really fit the profile of your typical guy who is doing home invasions. >> if you're looking at typical home invasions, it doesn't. but when you're looking at the type of crimes that he's committing, it does more fit the profile. >> it seems to be done for the thrill of the crime.

>> glen is a forensic psychology. he has not met matthew muller. but he has read the 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. when he says, how dare you not believe ms. huskins that she was kidnapped, he is saying, how dare you not believe i pulled this crime off. >> you can't see my handiwork because the police are failing miserably. and they need to recognize how flawed they are. >> he's a master criminal. >> he's a master criminal. and he is running circles around everyone else.

>> maybe he was. remember, from the beginning, vallejo police apparently just couldn't believe the elaborate tales of the 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 web cam, 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 said she was afraid the cops would treat her like 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, matthew muller was the prime minister suspect in denise's very real kidnapping. >> i was glad, you know. i never doubted there was someone who kidnapped her. >> neither did the woman we're calling samantha. to her, denise's story was very real.

coming up -- >> my hands were handcuffed behind my back. my feet were zip tied. >> could matthew muller be behind this crime, too? we're about to ask him. >> he kind of opened his eyes really wide. he couldn't believe i was bringing this up. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. frontline plus. at walgreens, we understand the speed of life never slows down. that's why we're helping you get the care and attention you deserve even faster. that's our promise. now, you can skip the line with walgreens express, get in and out quickly with 24-hour locations, or have your prescriptions delivered whenever you need us, we're always just minutes away.

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matthew muller, the harvard educated former lawyer was now the main suspect in the meticulous home invasion and kidnapping of denise huskins. there had been similar crimes, was mueller behind those, too? we went behind bars and asked him and what he told us was surprising and disturbing. here is the conclusion of "twisted tale" with josh mankiewicz. mountain view, california, someone laying on top of me. 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. then he put swim goggles on that were blacked out. i couldn't see. >> zip ties, blacked out swim goggles, her captor claimed he was part of a group and the point was money. >> you gave him information we're all taught never to give out. >> 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. the intruder told her -- >> i have some bad news for you. now i'm going to have to rape you. >> tied up, blindfolded, she pleaded with her captor not to do it. >> his response? >> he got very quiet and he kind of muttered, i can't do this. >> and then the man who 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'sed advising you on

keeping people from doing this in the future? >> yeah. i know, it seems hard to believe. >> yeah. >> 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 nearby palo alto. a man broke into his 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 are not 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. it was like he's in his element. he was laughing. he was joking about the books. >> 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, well, we recently interviewed a woman, and her case matches denise huskins and aaron quinn's cases. his eyes got wide, like

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 that 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 hope 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 pled guilty in federal court to kidnapping denise huskins. he was sentenced to 40 years in prison and also pleaded no contest in the home invasion. in 2018, muller faced new state

charges, kidnapping for ransom, rape, burglary. he now claims he's not guilty. 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. >> another unknown, how the victims were chosen. 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 huskins and aaron quinn will live forever with the emotional scars of their ordeal, home invasion, kidnapping, and then public humiliation. >> they were innocent of their alleged crimes, yet they were be painted to the world of being

involved in a terrible hoax. >> vallejo pd, so eager to talk in the first few days, you what no clammed up. they sent denise and aaron each a letter of an apology, but has so far done nothing to correct these two as liarers and publicity hounds. denise and aaron sued the city of vallejo, and in 2018 they settled that case for $2 million. still no one from vallejo pd has said why the case went so wrong. the only answer was no comment. >> he said this was going to mess you up. he was right about that, wasn't he? >> yeah, yeah. it definitely messed me up for quite awhile. >> sometimes the truest story is the one that sounds like a lie. why did you want to talk to us? >> if i can contribute in any way to make sure this is taken

seriously and basically say this is not a hoax. i lived firsthand through this. and i know for a fact that it's true. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." thanks for watching. thanks for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is ""dateline."" she can lie to you, make love to you, kill you, all in the same week. and not even cry at the funeral. >> she was living that dream california lifestyle. you talk about "housewives of orange county." she could have been on the show. she wrapped him around her finger. >> reporter: she had it all, waterfront home, fancy cars, millionaire boyfriend. quite the life until -- >> the shots were in sets of two. he saw his attacker. >> reporter: her lover gunned down. who wanted him dead? >> she wouldn't have done it