>> for a soldier. >> i'll always have these. these will stay with me forever. . the details are so crazy. >> other successful young couple ambushed in the dead of night. abduct. >> i didn't have a clue happened. was their story even true? >> we were be able to substantiate the things that they were saying. >> could this be some kind of hoax in who was really behind it all. >> this whole story could take

another crazy turn. >> he said i know that i need to pay for what i did. they were blissfully unaware they would make would you please a living nightmare. an armed stranger in the bedroom and he didn't appear to be alone. 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 steer authorities toward an unlikely suspect and the truth. here's josh with twisted tale. >> i was asleep in bed. it was about 5:00 in the morning. >> frightening doesn't begin to describe what she went through.

>> the next thing i knew there was someone laying on top of me. >> she was the losing player in someone else's game of power and control. >> their hand was in my mouth. >> if you're wondering, there was no way to fight back. >> i must have been screaming. >> she doesn't want us to use her real name. we're calling her samantha. she's telling us things she told very few people. >> this was a man. bigger than you? >> he felt bigger, and strong. i couldn't move. >> september 29th, 2009. the sun was not up yet. in her bedroom, a masked man was holding her down. she had no idea who he was or what he was planning. >> he said this will take a couple hours. you know, i think i was in shock. >> the details of what happened to samantha are not only frightening but also deeply

strange. she's 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. >> miss huskins stands at 5'7", 150 pounds. >> her abductors wanted money in exchange for her return. >> we are treating this as a kidnap for ransom and we are requesting the public's health. >> it happened 30 miles north of san francisco in the city of vallejo. henry lee was then a report he for the "san francisco chronicle." >> i was immediately struck that you don't see these cases too often. and this crime victim did not strike me as someone who would usually be targeted. >> the kidnapped victim, denise

huskins had been staying with her boyfriend in vallejo. at the time both were physical therapyists at a nearby hospital. 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 deb east huskins. across the country, her good friend ashley saw the news. >> there was an article posted online. someone sent it to me and said, this is denise. i started texting everybody. >> including denise. >> i tried to text her. i figured better than not doing anything. >> there was no reply. she texted another friend. >> i couldn't even believe what i was reading. it didn't even seem real. >> that was pretty much the reaction the vallejo cops had to the story her boyfriend was telling them. >> we have a lot of information to sift through.

we don't have all 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 about 3:00 a.m., he was awakened by a bright light and an electrical noise. that sounded like stun gun. then a man's voice telling them to lie face down on the bed. aaron told 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 blind folded, zip tied. he said that they demanded his private email information and then put head phones on him to play calming music along with instructions to use denise'

phone to text her work and say she would be out for a couple days and to let his work know the same. aaron also claimed she 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 a webcam. then he said the intruders left with police. his story sounded so implausible, police wondered if he's made it up to hide something even more single sister. >> at first blush, when a woman is missing and her husband or boyfriend says, oh, yeah, she was abducted, well, certainly the first thing i think, maybe because of what i do for a living, the guy had something to do with this. >> in these situations, always look at the significant other. is he a suspect? making it up? what's going on here? >> police said he treated him

more like a murder suspect. they couldn't fist indicated his cell phone and read him his rights. they were suspicious about why he waited 11 hours before calling 911. >> aaron quinn, it took him hours. wasn't until that afternoon that the police were able to talk to him. >> aaron's mother said 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' 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 think about those things, you think maybe they won't be alive. >> then about 33 hours after denise huskins disappeared, the reporter henry lee was standing outside aaron's home when his phone buzzed. an email. >> what was chilling is that

this email came attached with an audio file and this audio file. there was a woman's voice. the soft-spoken woman on the recording said she was denise. this very strange tale was about to get much stranger. >> what had happen to denise? was she still alive? or was this all an elaborate hoax? >> coming up -- >> we still don't know where denial east is. >> that cryptic recording. exactly what kind of message was it? >> she sounded absolutely calm. not terrified, not distressed. as if she was talking to a friend over coffee. >> then we get a tip that police were holding a news conference. that's when the bombshell came down. >> when "dateline" continues. ws ♪

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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 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. >> 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 story. >> 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 hear the stories all the time and 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. that seemed too convenient. >> another thing, the ransomers the kid animalers supposedly 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 wouldn't cooperate.

would not fly up in a plane offered by the fbi to talk to the 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 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 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. 23w4r5ir7s he spoke about denise' 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. >> then about denise herself. she said she would be happy to provide us a full detailed statement of what occurred. as of right now, we have that heard from miss 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. not so much shakespearean as kardashian. 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. >> the stranger than kidnapping story -- >> 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. more than two and fewer than eight in number. >> they went into extreme length about break-ins, home invasions, you name it. >> 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 from 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. 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 start being labeled 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.

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hello. here's what's happening. there are over 4.2 million cases of covid-19 in the u.s. and over 147,000 deaths. florida has surpassed new york in becoming the state with the second highest number of cases in the country. the civil rights icon john lewis was reynold at events across alabama on sunday. he made his last journaly across the bridge in selma and is set to lie in state at the u.s. capitol later today. now back to "dateline." welcome back. the police and the public seem to have it all figured out. they believed denise huskins and her boyfriend aaron quinn had made up their story for public.

the media even doubled it the gone girl mystery based on the fictional 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. here's 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. >> 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. >> 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 said it to scare this guy away. >> the father continued to flight. 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? he'd like to give it to him. he's on his way to south lake tahoe. >> 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. >> 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. >> if you were in the dark and all you saw was the shape, absolutely. >> 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 we recovered 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 league, former marine, respected attorney -- >> i would have expected matt to be sitting behind the desk in an elected xas. >> who was this guy, when "dateline" continues. available over-the-counter. new voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement. new voltaren is powerful arudy got older and suddenlyel. stopped eating...t, then we found freshpet. now rudy's 13, and going on 3.

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when the strange tale of denise huskins and aaron quinn first made headlines -- >> that mysterious kidnapping story out of california. >> they found it just as puzzling 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 kidnapping 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. 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 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 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. >> having dealt with somebody like him, this is the type of stuff you typically see in the movies. >> he was a trumpet player. he then attended pomona college. alex was a 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. >> muller married in 2002 and graduated from pomona sum cum laude. he graduated in 2006. then stayed on as a teaching fellow. andrea was a student of muller's. at harvard's immigration and refugee clinic. >> 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 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's unimposing. nearly forgettable. certainly not someone to fear. >> he doesn't really fit the profile of the typical guy 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. >> he has not met matthew muller but he has read those emails 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 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 -- i never doubted there was someone who kidnapped her. >> deeth did the woman we're

calling samantha. to her, denise' story was very real. >> coming up -- >> my hands are hands cuffed behind my back. my feet were zip tied. >> could matthew muller be behind this crime, too? we're about to ask him. >> opened his eyes really wide. he couldn't believe i was bringing this up. n't believe i bringing this up and they're able to recommend new sensodyne sensitivity & gum. it's really good dentistry to be able to recommend one product that can address two conditions.

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welcome back. matthew muller, the harvard educated lawyer, was now the main suspect in a particular home invasion and kidnapping of denise huskins. there had been other similar crimes. was mullin behind those two? we went behind bars to speak with him. what he told us was both surprising and disturbing. >> mountain view, california. the heart of sill everyone cal. 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. >> zip ties. blacked out goggles. 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. >> 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'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. sexually assaulted and then you're brave and it's used against you by the police? 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. 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, you know, 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 that 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, you know, how do you feel now sitting here because you've now done the opposite, you've hurt people? and he kind of just stared at me for a minute and was silent. and then he said, "i don't even know where to begin with that." and then he kind of like put his head down and he 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 had said the facts are pretty clear, you know, 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 sentenced to 40 years in prison and he also pleaded no contest in the home invasion. in 2018 muller faced new state

charges of kidnapping for ransom, rape, robbery, burglary, and false imprisonment. he now claims he's not guilty. there's xwlint we sti 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? >> 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-fiance, 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. their lawyer is jim wagstaff. >> they were innocent of their alleged crimes, yet they were

painted to the world as if having been involved in a terrible hoax. >> vallejo pd, so eager to talk in those first few days, has since clammed up. the department did send denise and aaron each a letter of apology. but so far has 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 in march of 2018 they settled that case for $2.5 million. still, no one from vallejo pd has ever explained why the case went so wrong. the official department answer is only "no comment." he said to you right at the end, he goes "i'm really sorry about this. this is going to mess you up." >> yeah. >> he was right about that, wasn't he? >> yeah. it definitely messed me up for quite a while. >> 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 making sure that this is taken seriously and just 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." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. here's this woman smiling, about to take a hike for her anniversary. there's nothing you can see from those photos that they took that would even begin to suggest how it would all end. it's chilling. >> she was a beloved doctor, amazing mom, sunday school teacher. >> she'd given so much love to others. finally, she'd found it for herself. a handsome widower touched by tragedy. >> his first wife died in a car accident. >> my heart went out for him. >> now he and the doctor were bound for adventure. a surpri