The Real-Life Gone Girl: Denise Huskins Vallejo Kidnapping Story

The Real Life Gone Girl

Adam Cox: [00:00:00] Throw in a couple, going through a bit of a rough patch. A man who's been caught messaging his ex and a woman who's unsure if she can trust him. the police, they think they've seen this one before. Except this story isn't fiction

[NEW] Kyle: this is serious shit.

Adam Cox: Aaron thinks it's a dream until lights were shining in his eyes and this red laser dots dancing across the room. then the unmistakable sound of a taser.

they say to him, if you tip anyone off, Denise dies

But the fact that these guys are in wetsuits is also really weird.

[NEW] Kyle: And that is the thing that makes me think this is fake.

Adam Cox: They say, don't call the police, don't touch the thermostat.

[NEW] Kyle: He's been kidnapped by a bunch of dads.

Adam Cox: A detective leans in and says, there's no question in my mind you strangled Denise and dumped her body

[NEW] Kyle: I've never felt so torn in a story we've ever done

it just sounds so bizarre.

Adam Cox: [00:01:00] She sells seashells on the seashore. The seashells that she sells are seashells, I'm sure.

[NEW] Kyle: No, that's so old school. What they do, the new kids, they go Spatula spa, and you're supposed to like really Wind spatula. Spatula.

Yeah. Speaking. Whale that's how whale speak. Everyone knows that's their language. It's called Spatula Spa. Right. Should we run the intro?

Adam Cox: Welcome to the Compendium, an Assembly of Fascinating Things, a weekly [00:02:00] variety podcast that gives you just enough information to stand your ground at any social gathering.

[NEW] Kyle: We explore stories from the darker corners of true crime, the nulls of your old unread, his books, and the who's who of extraordinary people.

Adam Cox: I'm your ringmaster for this episode. Adam Cox.

[NEW] Kyle: And I'm Kyle Reese, your chief hostage negotiator for the mime en closure.

Adam Cox: We, we

[NEW] Kyle: need one of them. Yeah. I mean, we haven't heard from them in days, but they are calm. They're calm, they're fine. It'll be fine.

Adam Cox: It'll be fine. We'll see. It'll be fine. Yeah.

So guys, if you're new to the show and you want to support us, then the absolute best way to support the show and enjoy exclusive Perks is to join our Patreon. You can sign up for free and get next week's episode seven days early.

[NEW] Kyle: And for as little as $3 a month, you'll become a fellow freak of the show. And that will unlock our entire backlog, including classic episodes like Amelia Earhart, and we've got the Turpen family [00:03:00] and we've got all sorts of things.

Adam Cox: And as a special thank you, our Certified Freak team members now receive an exclusive compendium key chain. Mm. Just DM us. your address, and we'll send one straight to your door so we can always be.

[NEW] Kyle: dangling near your crotch.

Absolutely.

So racked, so wrong kids. Listen to the show. A freak wrote in on Instagram saying that we should absolutely do a kid's version because, like her kids love it.

Yeah. But the thing is though, that's very pointed because she's saying you need stopped being so dirty basically. And, yeah, do a kid friendly

Adam Cox: version. I think most of the content is friendly. It's just, you know, you start effing and jing. I know,

[NEW] Kyle: I know. The thing is though, I try to edit this way words out because it really helps me get the emphasis behind it.

Mm-hmm. But then I try to edit them out and then sometimes you can't edit them out. It sounds really rubbish when you do.

Adam Cox: Yeah. And then we also do talk about some horrendous topics. So I don't know. Yeah. I don't think we can edit that, but yeah, we'd love to do a kid's version if we could do this full time.

Can [00:04:00] you imagine? So we just need a few more Patreon members.

[NEW] Kyle: Do you remember in the early days when we used to have this little segment where like we would have, I can't even remember what it was called, but basically. I would mention something, I'd be like, do you know what that is? And you'd be like, no, I have no idea.

And then I would go into this whole thing where I would try and explain it like you're a five years old. Mm-hmm. Do you remember how cringe that was?

Adam Cox: Yeah. That was a long time ago. Maybe we should bring that back. That's not

[NEW] Kyle: for the kids version.

Well, I guess we went on a tangent then.

And guys, lastly, please do follow us on your favorite podcasting app and leave us a review. Your support, really helps others find the show and keeps these amazing stories coming.

But also if you have a comment on one of the advertisers, like Wix and how like they go against your policies and it's got nothing to do with the actual showing content, please just keep that to yourself because that one star review really plummets our score and is really unfair.

Was that a bit of a rant?

Adam Cox: Wow. Someone is bitter.

[NEW] Kyle: I am so angry this morning.

Adam Cox: Like,

[NEW] Kyle: Jesus, what's wrong with some of you guys?

Adam Cox: I [00:05:00] mean, I dunno that's something we'll have to pick up with our

[NEW] Kyle: No, I will have to pick this up with that reviewer. You wanna go? You wanna go? Come on. Then. I listen guys, like I get it. Palestine and Israel, it's a big topic, but you know what? You have to really pick your battles. I'm already advocating for gay rights and trans rights. I can't fight for everything, so just calm down, right?

Adam Cox: If anyone needs to calm down. I think it's you against

[NEW] Kyle: me.

Adam Cox: Okay. Enough of the housekeeping because it's time to dive into today's story.

So, Kyle, today on the compendium, we are diving into an assembly of blindfolds, betrayal, and the long road to justice.

[NEW] Kyle: Ooh, I have no idea what that means. Betrayal, long road to justice. What could this possibly mean, Adam?

Adam Cox: Okay. So it goes without saying based on the number of cases and stories we've covered on the compendium. Mm-hmm. That relationships can be messy. You've got exes who don't let go. You've got partners who keep [00:06:00] secrets and then jealousy that just beneath the surface.

Yeah.

Now throw in a couple, going through a bit of a rough patch. A man who's been caught messaging his ex and a woman who's unsure if she can trust him.

And what do you get? Well, if you're the Vallejo Police Department, you've got a Gone Girl style disappearance that's just a little too convenient.

[NEW] Kyle: Are we doing Gong Girl? I thought that was a fictional story.

Adam Cox: Uh, we, the movie is a fictional story. But this case got compared to the Gong Girl film because of what happens.

So a girlfriend vanishes, a boyfriend fumbles his way through a strange story. And the police, they think they've seen this one before. Except this story isn't fiction.

Over the next hour-ish, we're going to untangle a story that on the surface seemed too strange to be true. A late night disappearance a boyfriend with a slightly murky past and a trail of clues that had everyone from the media to the police asking all the wrong questions.

It's a case where nothing is quite what it seems and the truth. Well, the [00:07:00] truth takes its sweet ass time in showing up, but it's worth it, I promise.

[NEW] Kyle: It feels the way you've set that up feels a bit like an an escape room. It reminds me a bit like the scavenger hunt that Brian Wells went through the pizza bomb collar guy.

Mm-hmm. So that's the vibes I'm getting right now.

Adam Cox: Yeah. We're gonna have some twists. We're gonna have some turns.

[NEW] Kyle: The thing is though, do you know what I have this vague memory of maybe starting to research this story about gun girl.

Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

[NEW] Kyle: It involves a woman called Denise Huskins, right?

Adam Cox: That's right.

Yep. Oh,

[NEW] Kyle: I've got

Adam Cox: nothing. You've got nothing.

[NEW] Kyle: I'm sure I started researching this, or I was going to do the show or the episode. I don't know.

Adam Cox: Well, hopefully you've forgotten all about that. I hope so, because Buckle up on today's compendium. We are covering the disappearance of Denise Huskins. The woman nicknamed The Real Life Gone Girl.

[NEW] Kyle: Ooh, I'm so excited, Adam.

Adam Cox: Okay, so our story starts with Aaron Quinn. He's just put down the phone, he's done the one thing he was told not to do. Oh, he's called the police. He's called the police it. He lives on May Island in Vallejo, [00:08:00] California.

So where is Vallejo? California. Oh,

[NEW] Kyle: so sorry. I

Adam Cox: am

[NEW] Kyle: listening.

Adam Cox: It's gonna be a long episode. So just moments ago he reported something terrifying, A break in. Someone had entered his home in the middle of the night while he and his girlfriend Denise Huskins were asleep.

It was around 3:00 AM and they were jolted awake by a voice saying, wake up.

This is a robbery.

[NEW] Kyle: What's her name?

Adam Cox: Denise Huskins.

[NEW] Kyle: Mm-hmm. Now you should just probably say, Denise, that's, I've mentioned it five times. Denise, Denise, Denise, Denise. Got off. Phoebe,

you don't get that many Denises anymore. No, you don't. Do you? And I was shocked that it's, it is Denis with an E. When I was typing it out, that when I was first researching it, I was like, oh, this is just Denis with an E. It is. And I was really surprised.

Adam Cox: That's how they, they get people to spell it. How do you spell that? Oh, it's Denis with an e.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. It's Dennis with a knee.

Adam Cox: Okay. Aaron and Denise had just been woken up by a guy saying this is a robbery. So at first Aaron [00:09:00] thinks it's a dream until lights were shining in his eyes and this red laser dots dancing across the room.

So someone has a weapon, then the unmistakable sound of a taser. So he tries to make sense of it all, but this feels really serious.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: He thinks that there may have been about three people in the room. He wasn't really too sure. I mean, he's still half asleep, but there's only one guy that does most of the talking, and that guy seemed to be the leader. And they're ordered to lie, face down,

[NEW] Kyle: face down, ass up.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Denise obeys immediately, but Aaron freezes until one of them says his name. Oh. And just like that, it hits him. This wasn't random. They knew who he was and it was premeditated. And so he is starting to ask himself. Why me? Why are they coming after me? What did I do?

[NEW] Kyle: Ah, my God. Okay.

Adam Cox: So then it gets even more surreal. The intruder tells, Denise to zip tie Aaron's wrists and, the plastic starts to dig into his skin 'cause it's pretty tight. And then the intruders then tie up Denise. They then place blacked out swim [00:10:00] goggles over Aaron's eyes.

Mm-hmm. And headphones. And it starts playing this bizarre recording, which starts with, the Sound of wind chimes. And then a calm, prerecorded voice tells him, that they're gonna check his vitals and give him a sedative, to keep him calm.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay. Let's hold up there. This sounds very elaborate. So this isn't just someone laser dots darting around everywhere. Mm-hmm. All right. This is no little kind of back alley gun that they've gotten. This is serious shit. Yeah. They've costs a lot of money. They have got a recording ready. They're gonna check his fucking vitals. They've got a taser.

Tell me about Aaron is he a wealthy guy? Because it feels like the stakes are high here. If you are someone who's got all these weird guns with these laser dots and you are gonna be giving someone a sedative, you prepared a recording, this isn't just random that they're broken and they're gonna rob him.

Adam Cox: Okay. So Aaron's profession. Mm-hmm. And Denise's, to be fair, I think are, they're both physiotherapists.

[NEW] Kyle: That doesn't sound like

Adam Cox: they're rich. [00:11:00]

[NEW] Kyle: It's, yeah. It's not Richy. Rich. Rich.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Okay. We can jump to that part, but Yeah. Aaron Yeah. He's not that wealthy or anything like that. And so for him, he is like, why? What is going on? Yeah. 'cause you're right, it's very elaborate. It feels very serious. This is a very targeted attack. Who are these people?

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: So they tell him they're gonna give him a sedative. They say he can take it by mouth or they can eject it. Well, they can take it. Not a suppository. No. Okay. Oh, dammit. Is,

[NEW] Kyle: that's not an option.

Adam Cox: The drug is a mix of NyQuil, which is a bit like night nurse. Yeah. Food, meds. And then diazepam. The tranquilizer.

[NEW] Kyle: Ooh. I'd love a bit of diazepam.

Adam Cox: Just like, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. Just like Victoria from, uh, white Lotus Diazepam,

[NEW] Kyle: she's such an icon. I hope we see more of her.

Adam Cox: She better be back for series four without the rest of the family. Just bring back her.

[NEW] Kyle: Just her.

Adam Cox: So Aaron, he starts to shiver, maybe from fear, maybe from the cold. And then something really odd happens. The main guy, the one in charge, he says, oh, I forgot how cold it is in here. We're in wetsuits. Let me get you a blanket.

[NEW] Kyle: [00:12:00] What?

Adam Cox: It's a really odd behavior, right? You've got the kidnapper who could be potentially trying to kill him. And then he is offering him a blanket to keep him warm,

[NEW] Kyle: but. Aaron's not in a wetsuit.

Adam Cox: Aaron's not in a wetsuit, but the fact that these guys are in wetsuits is also really weird.

Mm-hmm. Um, maybe it's to, avoid leaving any DNA, any hair fibers. No fingerprints. So again, very, planned.

[NEW] Kyle: So do they live in the war or something? Why are they in wetsuits? Have they swam out to this house and then like, they've got like a dock at the bottom of their garden?

Adam Cox: No, it's just a house in a road.

[NEW] Kyle: This is fucked up. Do you know what best disguise ever Wetsuits?

Adam Cox: Wetsuits? Well, like I said, it's, maybe it's to try and contain all the, like, you know, don't drop any hair. And leave any traces of DNA. That's the reason I, I assumed there. It's so elaborate, isn't it? And also, if you're in a wetsuit and you're not in water, it's very sweaty.

Is it?

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. I dunno. I only wear a wetsuit for when I'm going in the water. I don't really wear it for general attire.

Adam Cox: Well, no one UK clearly are, no one does.

[NEW] Kyle: Well then how do you know it's really sweat when you're

Adam Cox: walking down to the beach? Oh, I went to the sea. Then you get a little bit sweaty.

Anyway, [00:13:00] so Denise has been moved into another room away from Aaron.

So they're both kept separate . The intruder comes back into the room and he says to Aaron,

there's been a problem. This abduction was meant for Andrea.

[NEW] Kyle: What

Adam Cox: Andrea was Aaron's ex-fiance.

[NEW] Kyle: Wow. Okay. So wrong target.

Adam Cox: Yeah. So Aaron and Andrea, they had lived together once, but had broken up a few months earlier.

So it's clear that Aaron was the target and Andrea and Denise, she just got caught in the crossfire.

[NEW] Kyle: And that's really irresponsible of him because like he has clearly moved on far too quickly. Like how long should you wait before breaking up, before like bringing another woman back to your house?

Adam Cox: We'll get into what went on with him.

Oh. In just a bit.

But, whoever had planned this had clearly been watching Aaron's house for quite a while. Maybe they thought Denise was Andrea. Some say the two women looked alike. They were both blonde, similar build, but whatever the reason, the kidnappers decide that it doesn't matter. They're just gonna take Denise anyway.

Yeah.

So the motive is finally revealed over the headphones. [00:14:00] The voice says that they want $15,000.

Oh, so is money. It is money, but,

[NEW] Kyle: but it's small fry. Considering like the elaboration All this is

Adam Cox: exactly. $15,000 and all this. That doesn't seem right.

[NEW] Kyle: I'm gonna say it's sounds like a ruse. That's a cover.

Adam Cox: Yeah. And as we said, like Aaron's not rich. He's just a regular, average guy.

[NEW] Kyle: So yeah. He is physiotherapy rich.

Adam Cox: Yeah. The voice keeps talking and recites details from Aaron's life where he grew up mm-hmm. Where his parents lived. So it was a clear warning. They knew everything about him. They say, don't call the police, don't touch the thermostat.

Leave the house exactly as it is.

[NEW] Kyle: He's been kidnapped by a bunch of dads.

Adam Cox: I dunno. Why is it maybe they're concerned about his energy bill? Maybe. Uh, they tell him they have installed cameras and if he steps outside they'll know.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh, outside of the house have installed, they're lying [00:15:00] $15,000 and they've installed cameras outside. Okay. That's

probably okay, dad.

Adam Cox: That probably is the cost of the cameras.

They just want their money back.

[NEW] Kyle: This is so dumb.

Adam Cox: So they say to him, if you tip anyone off, Denise dies. They give him a to-do list for the next day. Mm-hmm. You have to call in sick for both you and Denise.

Keep your phones close. We'll be in touch. And before leaving the kidnappers lead, Aaron to the living room couch, they hand him some scissors to free himself later when it's safe to do so.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, They leave two phones on the counter and then they're gone.

So moments later,

[NEW] Kyle: Aaron hears his car starting. So he assumes they're getting away in his car.

Adam Cox: They're taking Denise

and before he can really sort of process what to do next, the sedatives kick in and he passes out.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh God, what did he remember all this. Tomorrow, especially calling in for Denise, I mean, that is one way to sound the alarm because everyone knows if you are sick, you call in yourself. Mm-hmm.

You don't get like. Adam to call in and go, uh, hi. Um, Kyle's boss, um, [00:16:00] yeah, he can't come in today.

Can we speak to Kyle, please? I'm like, no, he can't come to the phone. That sends off the alarms, right? Yeah.

Adam Cox: As an adult, that's quite strange.

[NEW] Kyle: Exactly. And what that ends up doing is your boss then ends up just checking you out on social media, checking out what you're doing, where you were last night, and they could put things two and two together and they might get when there something's up and then send the police.

So these dads with these thermostats, I dunno what they're doing. This sounds so strange to me, and I get why this is such a compelling story because it's weird, right?

Adam Cox: Yeah. I'm surprised if you started researching this and you got to this bit, you'd be like, what is going on?

[NEW] Kyle: Oh no, I do remember now. I think I read a Vanity Fair article on it, but I only remember bits of it. So it's coming back. But these details. Compelling. I clearly was skimming it.

Adam Cox: So Aaron wakes up around 5:00 AM He's still tied up, obviously.

He's in the same spot. Denise is gone. This is all real. It hasn't been a dream. There's a camera pointed straight at him. And there's a red tape that's been stuck to the floor boxing him into a [00:17:00] small space.

And I think the idea is that he's not allowed to cross that red tape line, otherwise the cameras will capture it and, the intruders are gonna be spying on him. So he's been given these strict controls to stay where he is.

[NEW] Kyle: But how's he gonna call in, into, how's he gonna on in sick?

Adam Cox: I think that it's close enough that he can, the area's enough for like him to go get the phones and stuff like that.

[NEW] Kyle: Sure. And he just has to stay in there. Until they get the money, essentially.

Adam Cox: Yeah. I think the intruders actually even say to him, you can leave to go to the toilet, that's fine, but you have to come back to this. You come straight back. Which this is the really weird thing. There's another instance of these weird rules where they're like, it's really strict.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: But then this is, okay.

[NEW] Kyle: No, it's so weird.

Adam Cox: So he drifts in and outta sleep and then buzz that he hears a text from, the phone and he, it's an email.

The kidnappers are keeping their word. They say Denise is safe and they want seven and a half thousand dollars from two different accounts. So there's no red flags to the bank.

And then they say that they want the money tonight. Or first thing in the morning. That's fine. That's just another example of them going, what? Yeah. Are you, are you [00:18:00] serious about this? Or there's a bit of leeway?

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. Why be so forceful and it doesn't work well for your credibility, right? Yeah. if you say, we want the money to tonight, bitch. But if you can't do that, tomorrow's fine.

Adam Cox: Yeah, that's fine. Don't stress about it. Don't put yourself out. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, it's just another example, which there's a few of these as we go on in the story.

So Aaron Springs into action. He calls the bank, the credit card company, anyone who might be able to get him that money. But the fastest turnaround is the next business day.

[NEW] Kyle: Ah, in the morning.

Adam Cox: Yeah, exactly. so he is got a little bit of time. Yeah. Uh, he tells the kidnappers that he can get three and a half thousand today. Mm-hmm. Uh, but there's no response. The time is ticking. He's panicking. He's not getting a response after his offer. And now he's really afraid for Denise.

He knows his phone, is being spied on, I think. Because the cameras are watching him. So he is a bit worried that his phone's been bugged, I think at this point in time. And he can't bring himself to call 9 1 1 just yet.

So his second plan is to call his brother Ethan, who is an FBI agent, and Aaron explains everything that's just [00:19:00] happened, and Ethan gives him one answer he didn't want to hear. Just call the police now.

[NEW] Kyle: Wow.

Adam Cox: Aaron, but

[NEW] Kyle: like he's an FBI agent. I'm calling the police. I'm calling you.

Adam Cox: He's like, well, I'm, I'm not at work today. No, no. But I think he just says yeah, you need to follow the processes. This is serious. You can't get around this.

[NEW] Kyle: But the thing is though, the kidnappers or the dads have said, don't call the police. So what if that ends up getting Denise killed?

Adam Cox: Well, this is what, Aaron is thinking like, his brother has suggested that, and he trusts his brother. And what else is he gonna do? I guess at this point he's panicking.

[NEW] Kyle: Who do I listen to? Do I listen to my brother, who's an FBI agent, or do I listen to these weird dads?

Adam Cox: Yeah. And so he does call, the police and he says that's one of the hardest decisions he's ever had to do in his life.

[NEW] Kyle: But you've been with Denise for three months,

Adam Cox: but I think he was like, he was concerned that phone call was gonna kill Denise

[NEW] Kyle: Fair.

Adam Cox: The police arrive at his May Island home and they look around for evidence and start asking questions, such as, why did it take you so long to report this?

Aaron [00:20:00] explains that he was drugged and that he's warned not to, of course. And of course he thought for several hours that following the instructions he was given was the only way to keep Denise alive. Still, the questions keep coming. Did he and Denise drink last night? Did they take drugs?

And maybe this is all standard protocol, but to Aaron, it felt like they didn't believe him. Yeah. Like he was already a suspect. So he is taken to the police station to give a full statement, and it's been nearly 10 hours since Denise had vanished. Then they take his phone, the very one, the kidnapper said that they'd used to contact him. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. We'll come onto that later. 'Cause that's important. They swap his mouth for DNA and they take his clothes for evidence.

They give him jail clothes, just until they've done sort of processing everything. And they say like, you are, you're still a victim technically. But the tone had shifted. Something felt off to Aaron.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. That's the thing though, like, normally in these situations, it's the boyfriend, right? Mm-hmm. Or the person involved or the girlfriend. Yeah. There's not, to generalize, women can kill two So [00:21:00] I guess they're just following protocol.

Adam Cox: So the main detective, a guy called Map Mustard, he meets, it's not a Cludo character.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay. Let's not dwell on that. Let's just, ignore it. It didn't happen.

Adam Cox: Okay. He meets with Aaron and Aaron's ready to cooperate. He wants to help. He tells them everything, how Denise was taken, the ransom, the warnings, the tapes, everything. And even that, the kidnapping was meant for his ex Andrea.

Now, Andrea had only moved out a few months earlier. She and Aaron had been engaged, but the relationship fell apart. And then Aaron met Denise at work. In fact, all three of them pretty much work in the same unit.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh, no.

Adam Cox: So they're all working together in the same hospital, and Denise and Aaron start talking. It's friendly chats. Then there's a bit of a spark and they start dating. But emotionally, Aaron was still reeling from his breakup. Like I say, it's only been a few months. And so the relationship will, at least when Aaron started to date Denise, it had its ups and downs pretty early on.

They took frequent breaks. They kept coming back together [00:22:00] and Denise had this feeling that Aaron wasn't completely over his ex. And then she finds out that Aaron had been secretly messaging Andrea and it was a huge blow, which caused a rift between Aaron and Denise.

[NEW] Kyle: Sure. I mean, I get it. They were engaged. Mm-hmm. Or I, we don't know why they broke up. I guess they haven't made that public. But they broke up. And it sounds like it wasn't on Aaron's terms.

Adam Cox: I think that's right. I think Andrea had broken up with Aaron, if I recall. Sure. Could be wrong.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. Is Denise involved?

Adam Cox: So the fact that what happened with Aaron and Andrea definitely, sparked some questions from the police side, is kind of like, well actually. This is some jealousy going on here. Yeah. But we'll come on to exactly what they think in a bit,

[NEW] Kyle: the only thing that's made me think that maybe Denise is involved is the fact that you talked about this breakup. Everything else seems so bizarre that I would, if I was police, I'd be looking at Aaron specifically. Yeah. Because, and that's what they're doing at this point. They don't suspect Denise has anything to do with this.

Adam Cox: [00:23:00] No. They just think it, I see something's gone wrong. And they think it's, it's Aaron so with Denise and Aaron, 'cause of him messaging Andrea, there were weeks had gone by and they perhaps weren't sure what to do, as a couple. But finally on March the 22nd, 2015, Denise comes over to Aaron's house. They spend the night talking, apologizing, crying, and Aaron tells her that he'd started therapy and that he wanted to make things work with Denise.

So yeah, he was still struggling and trying to get over Andrea, but wanted to have a future with Denise. He was committed to that now.

So they went to bed that night. Quite hopeful for the future. Trying to forgive. Trying to heal. But a mere few hours later, as if by some weird coincidence now that they'd started to fix things between each other, they had that break in. And Denise is kidnapped.

[NEW] Kyle: Maybe it's Andrea.

Adam Cox: So police are trying to piece it all together. How did the intruders even get in? Yeah. Because there's no signs of forced entry. No doors are kicked in, no broken windows. And one officer, even jokes, did they swim in with their wetsuits?

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. It's so [00:24:00] weird. In the middle of the street.

Adam Cox: Yeah. So it just seems like they're not taking this seriously, or at least the, the story that Aaron has given them. Andrea Aaron's ex is also brought in for questioning, and she admits that the relationship ended badly. Mm-hmm. After she had cheated.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh, okay.

Adam Cox: Aaron says, he'd still hoped to win her back. And then, that's when things got complicated. Andrea worked at the same hospital with Aaron Denise. Denise had already asked Aaron to cut off ties with Andrea. Denise felt like it was emotional cheating essentially

And Aaron's doing his best to be honest with the police, but to them, the whole story sounds too strange. Yeah. The wetsuits, the sedatives, the ransom for 15 K. And then this long delay before calling the police and then this drama with the ex, it just didn't add up.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. That's the thing though, like, this sounds bizarre and the details could sound bizarre, but until one piece makes sense, then all the other pieces fall into place. Mm-hmm. And I think that's what we're missing. And I think. I think it's sitting in there with Andrea or

Adam Cox: Denise or Aaron or the police.

[NEW] Kyle: I don't think he's [00:25:00] involved.

Adam Cox: But the police at this moment in time, they don't think they're looking for a missing woman.

In fact, they're looking for a body is what they're thinking.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh, so they think Denise is dead. Yeah. And they're,

Adam Cox: and

they're looking at Aaron. They push hard. They even get him to do a polygraph test. And afterwards a detective leans in and says, there's no question in my mind you failed this test. Oh, your family is gonna try and defend you, but you'll lose their respect. You're going to be this cold calculated monster. Who strangled Denise and dumped her body somewhere.

[NEW] Kyle: Did he fail the test or is this like a tactic from the police to say, it's very clear you failed this test to try and make him break, but actually he passed the test.

Adam Cox: I can't remember if he passed it or not, but it's a very good intuition you got there because are they just trying to force a confession out of him?

[NEW] Kyle: We see a time and time again where the police, they just get this idea that you must be guilty and then they just follow every line inquiry to try and prove that exact thing. And very often it just ends up derailing the case.

Adam Cox: Yeah. And it's I guess an [00:26:00] interrogation tactic, which is allowed, but I think the issue is when there is this bias and it's not backed up with any evidence.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: So Aaron is stunned 'cause this is just not what he's expecting. He's just had Denise kidnapped and everything else. So he asked for a lawyer because to him he realizes, okay, they're making me the full guy.

Mm-hmm.

It's now the next day, and there's been a press conference. The media reports Denise is missing, but they don't mention Aaron as a suspect, although the police have hinted that to Denise's family. Mm-hmm. And then everything changes because that afternoon, the newsroom at San Francisco Chronicle gets an email.

The subject line is Denise.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay.

Adam Cox: There's an audio clip attached and they play it. It says, my name is Denise Huskins. I'm kidnapped, otherwise I'm fine.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay.

Adam Cox: She references a plane crash, which happened in the Alps that morning as a way to prove the message is current and that she's alive, essentially.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh, interesting. Okay.

Adam Cox: The thing is though, [00:27:00] journalists, the police, they're stunned. Is it real? Is it actually Denise? She sounds very calm, maybe. Too calm. Too calm? Yeah. Is this a hoax? So no one's really sure what to believe, but one thing is certain the police were not expecting to get this tape.

Once they received that, it's verified that it is her. She must be alive or was alive at least. And so to Aaron, he's relieved 'cause he now thinks finally they're gonna actually turn their attention to finding the people that kidnapped her.

[NEW] Kyle: Interesting.

Adam Cox: Detective Matt Mustard is back on the scene. He's now searching for Denise and he's busy questioning her family, asking how many boyfriends she's had if she drinks a lot.

[NEW] Kyle: Why is that relevant? How many boyfriends have you had? How many men have you let nail you? Why is that relevant?

I dunno if he says it quite like that, that's what they're getting at. Yeah. Would they Ask him how many women he's nailed? No. No. Exactly. What does it imply that she is hysterical? Be she's had too much dick, so she is hysterical.

Is that what they're saying?

Adam Cox: They're trying to dig up dirt is what Yeah. I think you're trying to [00:28:00] say in a roundabout way.

[NEW] Kyle: I'm just, I just get so mad.

Adam Cox: Then, it's back to Aaron. There's more questions they probe into the state of his relationship with Denise and if she knew how much money he had.

But the thing is, the police aren't acting like this is a kidnapping still. They're acting like Denise might have staged the whole thing.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She staged it all.

Adam Cox: Because I guess that's why they're asking like, because of what happened with you and your ex? Has she staged this whole disappearance in order to get back at you? That is their line of thinking at this moment in time.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. I'm with them. That makes sense.

Adam Cox: Interesting.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh, that makes me question it now.

Adam Cox: Okay, let's see what happens next, because just 48 hours since Denise had vanished a home security camera, picks up a figure walking calmly up the road in a wetsuit, not in a wetsuit. No, it's Denise though.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay.

Adam Cox: She's carrying a small overnight bag. She's wearing a hoodie and she's heading straight for her parents' house, and that is [00:29:00] 400 miles from where she was taken.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh. So it's a, a Sherri papini situation

Adam Cox: maybe. But Sherri Papini hadn't actually happened at this point. This was before Sherri Papini.

Aaron is stunned and relieved of course, because yes, Denise is alive. She made it and the news spreads fast. She appears uninjured. There's no bruises, no blood, but she's clearly hiding, overwhelmed, perhaps by the attention.

Mm-hmm. Then the Phileo police hold a conference and instead of celebrating her return, they say that they can't verify any of Aaron's claims. And worse, they accuse both Denise and Aaron of wasting police resources.

[NEW] Kyle: What the fuck is happening?

Adam Cox: Well, to them they think this thing is a whole setup. The whole thing is fake.

[NEW] Kyle: Why and how? I don't get it.

Adam Cox: Well, why would a kidnapper just drop off their victim at their parents' house?

[NEW] Kyle: Exactly. But I'm confused.

Adam Cox: That's good. You're supposed to be. Okay, good. And then this audio clip of Denise, which was sent earlier, she sounded really calm, too calm.[00:30:00]

And so the police, they're just not buying it. And then the press kind of follow that kind of story as well. Mm-hmm. And they start publishing these stories. They think it's been a wild goose chase and that the whole thing stage and some even compare it to the film Gone Girl.

Which is what, a lot of the news reporters say. And based on the storyline of that film, if you remember, it's a thriller where a woman fakes her own disappearance. 'cause she catches a husband cheating, I think, and frames him for murder.

So it sounds very much potentially like that case.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay. Hot take. Revelation. Mm-hmm. I've not actually seen

Adam Cox: Gone Girl. Have you not? There's some side pain of, Ben Affleck in it. Oh, is there if you, um, side pen. Yeah. If you, uh, adjust the contract. Very exciting.

[NEW] Kyle: I remember the first time I ever saw a penis as on television and, um, and was side pain. I was very exciting.

It was Patrick Swayze in, dirty Dancing where there's a shot where he gets outta bed and the covers fling off you kind of don't really see anything. But when you're like. 11 years old [00:31:00] and you're secretly gay and desperate for pain, the most any side pain will do. It was the most thrilling moment of my life.

And I remember like freaking out and then I told my sister and she was like freaking out as well. And then she was like, why are you freaking out so much? And you are like, I don't know. Yeah, all my friends are okay, but also going back to I've not seen Go Girl. So what you've just said is just a massive spoiler to me. So she is framed Aaron for this kidnapping. She's trying to frame him.

Adam Cox: That's what the police are thinking at this moment in time.

[NEW] Kyle: But if that's what Go Girl is about, that's what's happened, right? Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: Yeah. And that's why she's called the real life Gun Girl.

[NEW] Kyle: I thought honestly, that gone girl. The film was based on this story, but it sounds like the film came first and then Yeah, Denise Huskins arrived.

Adam Cox: That's right. I think the film was released about a year before this incident happened.

[NEW] Kyle: I see.

Adam Cox: And they think she was inspired, by this story.

So the media start to shift its focus. They're suggesting Denise isn't being cooperative, that she's hiding out, that she's lawyered up all these [00:32:00] things that suggest that I guess she is guilty. Denise does get a lawyer though because she realizes shit, I'm gonna need a lawyer. When she recounts her version of events, it lines up exactly with what Aaron had said. So that means there's two possibilities at this point.

Either they're both in on it. Mm-hmm. Or the kidnapping really did happen.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. And they refuse to believe that the kidnapping really happened.

Adam Cox: Yeah. And the kidnapping could have happened, but was it staged?

So Denise agrees to speak to the police and detective Matt Mustard is back and he's polite on the surface, but clearly very skeptical of what Denise is saying.

Just like Aaron, Denise tells him everything. She explains the rocky start to her relationship with Aaron and then walks through the events of what happened that night.

She remembers the exact moment she realized someone was in the house and that feeling of being like frozen. Mm-hmm. She couldn't scream or fight. Instead she just switched into survival mode, to kind of stay quiet, observe what was going on, gather anything that might help them stay alive. And then it comes to the bit about being, [00:33:00] kidnapped.

She remembers being moved first into Aaron's car and then switched into a second vehicle.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay.

Adam Cox: She's pretty alert and switched on as she recognizes the engine and thinks it might have been a Mustang. But It's a very specific event. But like I say, she's trying to, catch onto any clues that might help.

[NEW] Kyle: Sure. And she's clearly watched or listened to a hell of a lot of true crime podcasts where they say like, if you get kidnapped a number one, do not leave location one. If you get moved to location two is bad news. But if you do, then you've gotta be just alert with everything.

You've gotta be really observant with sounds, voices, like smells, anything that will give us clues. I think I remember hearing a story about a woman who got kidnapped and when she finally managed to get to the police, she had told them I'd been kidnapped.

And she said, I remember counting like 64 street lamps on the way to where I ended up. And from that, they were able to track where she traveled that night and all the street lamps that she would've seen.

Mm-hmm. Going and go through. That's the light coming through the [00:34:00] window. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? So, so smart. Been really observant can really save your life.

Adam Cox: Yeah. And that's exactly what Denise does, although she can't see anything. She's got the blindfolds on and she's in this trunk, but she counts, every time the, car turns left or right.

Mm-hmm. She's counting those turns to give some indication if she ever gets to speak to someone about where her location might be.

[NEW] Kyle: So she's smart, but also makes me think that she's credible,

Adam Cox: credible, or thought this through.

[NEW] Kyle: Or she's watched me the true questions

Adam Cox: possibly. Yeah. So she's listening to like the, the motorway noise and things like that. But the drugs that they're now pulling her under and she drifts in and outta sleep, so she's trying her best to stay awake, but she just can't fight it anymore.

Mm-hmm. Then, she's jolted awake when the car stops, she's pulled out and laid on the ground. The kidnapper says, stay there. I need to clean up a little bit.

[NEW] Kyle: These dads are weird.

Adam Cox: Denise doesn't think that's weird. She just thinks, oh God, they're probably cleaning up after the last victim.

Again. Just a little bit weird. But you know, she has to wait outside and then she's [00:35:00] taken inside wherever this is.

Okay.

She's left in her room and she hears someone in the next room and the sound of duct tape tearing and something being scrubbed and then every horror movie just flashes, you know, through her mind.

'cause she's like, what the hell has happened in the other room? Yeah. He takes her out of one room and then leads her through a doorway. And so she can feel carpet at first, then tile. Then she's into a bedroom and onto a bed, and he sits beside her and then he speaks.

This wasn't meant for you. It was supposed to happen to Aaron's ex Andrea.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay, so that's what she's telling police?

Adam Cox: Yeah.

[NEW] Kyle: Wow. Okay.

Adam Cox: And so she's stunned and she's shit, why did you pick on me? Then? The man claims he's part of this black market group. They're trained to kidnap people for ransom, and he tells her that Aaron has instructions to bring the money and she'll be released in 48 hours.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay. And does she know at this point why Andrea has been targeted. Does she get any clues or information as to why?

Adam Cox: No. To be honest, they're targeting Aaron for money. That's kinda, and it sounds like, I guess what she can assume from this, [00:36:00] there's some kind of blackmail or ransom. And so regardless if it's Denise or Andrea. It just needed a girlfriend.

[NEW] Kyle: But it is strange that these thermostat dads have done this for 15 K. Do you know what I mean? It is so elaborate. Again, as you've already touched upon, that's the thing that I just can't get over, and that is the thing that makes me think this is fake. Mm-hmm.

And because she's clearly thought about this, she's clearly thought this very elaborate thing out, but she's like, the only way it can work is if the ransom match is what Aaron is capable of paying.

And she's gone for 15,000, right? Mm-hmm. If it was anyone else, this type of ransom would only be done, especially for your contract or ransomware for a million dollars minimum.

Adam Cox: Do you know what I mean? It's gonna be a lot. Right. And

[NEW] Kyle: yeah, not 15 K,

Adam Cox: and that's why maybe 15 K, they're like, oh, don't call the police and just to get that $15,000. Mm-hmm. But even still, is she gonna do a runner, just take some money from him and then run off? Is that a [00:37:00] possibility? I think

[NEW] Kyle: she, this is just another, just an attention thing. Okay,

Adam Cox: well, we'll find out. So the man tells her she can use the bathroom and he helps her walk to the bathroom.

She's allowed to shower alone and take off her goggles when she's in a room by herself. He goes on to tell her that the group had been watching her and Aaron for the last six months and knew where both of their families lived.

That fear made her comply because, not just to survive, but to protect Aaron. She was thinking if I did something that led to him being her or killed, could she live with that? Mm-hmm.

She's then came to her bedroom and told that this is where she would be staying. And at the end of the first day of captivity, Denise was feeling grateful for the fact that no one had hurt her.

In fact, she remembers being treated actually quite well in the grand scheme of things. Interesting.

[NEW] Kyle: Because these are contract kidnappers , right. they're not in, the business of killing people, just kidnapping. if it's true,

Adam Cox: yeah. So she remembers that, but then she's given more sedatives and she just passes out and falls asleep.

Right. Hours later she wakes up. The light has shifted, but she's still blindfolded and she can tell it was later in [00:38:00] the day by the, I guess, some of the sunlight that she could peer through. Mm-hmm. Her kidnapper is still there somewhere beyond this wall. And he's, listening to some French pop music of all things playing in the background.

And she remember thinking, oh, he just seems like a, a normal person. Just listening to music. A strange.

This man, I guess the main guy that she'd always heard, is talking to her on bathroom breaks when he takes her. She sensed he was tall, perhaps around about six feet. He tells her about his insomnia, his PTSD after the military, and he's quite gentle. He's polite, but he's measured and he wanted to get to know her, asking her questions.

He's trying to make it as if though what he's doing is not bad by building some kind of relationship with her. But make no mistake, he's in complete control. And for a moment, Denise wonders if I stay calm, if I follow every rule, maybe this will all be over soon, but then later a change in tone happens.

She hears these footsteps coming towards her and they seem heavier. He enters the room and he says, we have a problem. We don't have [00:39:00] collateral. And if we let you go, how do we know you won't talk to the police?

[NEW] Kyle: Okay. So what kind of collateral are they looking for, ideally?

Adam Cox: He tells her that the collateral will be a sex tape.

[NEW] Kyle: What? What?

Adam Cox: One of the men will have to assault her, record it. And if she talks, they'll release it online,

[NEW] Kyle: But she's literally a victim. Do you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Like, why would you be ashamed to show someone abusing you? Why would that be used as collateral? That does not make sense at all. Do you understand what I mean by that?

Like, if me and you released our sex tape, that would be super embarrassing for your family and stuff. But if you attacked me and we caught it on the Nest camera, that's not something that I would be worried about getting out there, because I'd be like. Adam attacked me.

Adam Cox: Mm. He

[NEW] Kyle: tickled me to death.

Adam Cox: Do you think if you're being kidnapped, that's the logic you think, or do you just go, I'm gonna have to go along with this in order to survive, to [00:40:00] make sure Aaron's okay?

[NEW] Kyle: No, I I, in light of the story, this does not make sense. Mm-hmm. In real life, Yeah. If that happened in real life, sure. I would go on with it.

It's just that was the reality, but this clearly didn't happen.

Adam Cox: Yeah. I think when you take a step back. That is what logic tells you. But in this moment. All Denise can think about is her body just shuts down and she just withdraws in on herself.

[NEW] Kyle: And just to be clear, we are talking about what she's telling the police at this moment in time, right? Yeah. Okay. So as a police officer, hearing that, what kind of reaction do you have when you hear what she's just said?

Adam Cox: Well, I think you wouldn't believe it. Well, I think they've already gone in with this, that they don't believe her. Sure. Okay. Of course.

[NEW] Kyle: So there's just another nail in that coffin, another nail in the coffins.

Adam Cox: They don't quite buy that yet, at least.

[NEW] Kyle: Hang on. Did this happen or did this not happen? 'cause you just keep dangling this carrot. Like it didn't happen, it happened. What's going on?

Adam Cox: Let's find out the rest of what she tells the police person. Okay? Um, so

[NEW] Kyle: she's gonna get assaulted. Poor thing.

Adam Cox: Yeah. The guy [00:41:00] says like, it's, uh, it's gonna be me, but I'll be gentle. Exactly. It's, it's kind of like, almost like, oh, don't worry, it'll be me. It's, it's fine. It's just so messed up. This weird relationship that he's tried to build with her to make her kind of feel somewhat safe. He's just now gonna do this to her. Yeah. It's just, I dunno. Now you kind of question, this guy is just not a nice guy.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: He climbs on top of her. He kisses her and Denise has to do the unthinkable, but she stays still and she doesn't fight. She just does it in order to get it over and done with. And in that moment, she leaves her body is what she says, just to, survive and cope with what's happening.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: When it's over, he takes her to the bathroom, and this time is some kind of weird reward. He says, oh, you've been good from now on. You can remove the goggles when I'm not in the room.

So just this weird conditioning that he does to reward her behavior. Denise pulls off the goggles for the first time in more than half a day, and she looks in the mirror and doesn't really recognize the person staring back .

[NEW] Kyle: It feels like a massive epic that she's been through [00:42:00] but it's been half a day.

Adam Cox: Yeah, it's, it was that evening, so I guess maybe 16, 17 hours, something like that. I dunno. But yeah, it hasn't been a full day at this point. Which is a lot to be kidnapped and raped in the same day.

[NEW] Kyle: But also going back to the collateral thing, like of all the planning and all the logistics that they put into it, you would've thought that they would've thought about the collateral before got to this point. Right. That would've been number one on their list.

Adam Cox: Could have been premeditated still. We dunno, at this stage, she's given some toiletries and a clean towel as if she was in like a hotel. Mm-hmm. Uh, and she says, remembering like the little toiletries that she's given.

So it's very weird. The next morning she hears him cleaning. Uh, she remembers how this started, that it was just a robbery, then it was just a kidnapping for ransom.

Then he dehumanizes her. And so I guess she's now thinking, well, I can't trust anything he says, what's to say that you won't kill me? Sure. She starts scanning the room for an exit, a weapon of any kind. [00:43:00] But the door is locked, the windows are barricaded.

The guy comes in, so she has to put on her blindfold again. He says that we've lost contact with Aaron. So remember the police had taken his phone?

[NEW] Kyle: Yes. That's it.

Adam Cox: And so she is oh shit, something's happened to him. He then says to her, that his associates are on their way and protocol says that I have to give you another sedative. And when they get here, don't engage. Just pretend to be asleep. They're not as nice as me.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay, ominous.

Adam Cox: Denise hears a car pull up outside. She doesn't know how many people are involved or how big this organization is.

Well, if she was smart,

[NEW] Kyle: she would've heard how many car door slams she she heard. Good point. Yeah. Good point. Oh, boom, boom, boom, boom. But mind you though, that only guarantees that there was four people, right? Yeah.

Adam Cox: Because could be like five people or someone could just be opening the door and shutting it again.

So it might four times, boom, boom, boom. Maybe it's just me. She doesn't say how many times the door shut. She does hear voices float in and out. The energy's off. There seems to be this kind of anger or weird tension. He comes [00:44:00] back and he says, it's been decided we need to record a proof of life.

You'll say your name and mention a current event. This is when she makes the tape to say that I'm Denise, I'm alive, I'm fine sort of thing. I've been kidnapped. she's also still on a bit of sedatives at the moment, so maybe that's why she comes across a bit calm when she's on this tape.

He also says to her that the footage from yesterday of the sex tape wasn't good enough.

[NEW] Kyle: You, in what way? What does that mean?

Adam Cox: He says to her, we have to record another session. This time it has to look consensual. Like we're in a relationship.

[NEW] Kyle: Why, why,

Adam Cox: Who knows At this point? Because right now it just seems like this is some sick game.

[NEW] Kyle: It, yes, this is fucked up, Adam.

Adam Cox: Her blood runs cold. And she sees that she's gotta like, go along with this, in order just to continue to survive. She sees that there's some glasses of wine, um, as props. Right. Uh, well, to make it look like a date, I think it is.

Mm-hmm. She chugs them [00:45:00] just to I dunno, make her feel numb. That's greedy. Both of them. Um, one was for him, the attacker. I do you know what, she's allowed both glasses.

She puts on the blindfold again, he walks in and even apparently makes a joke to say, whoa, you started without me. Oh gosh. And she's just like, uh, yeah.

Started without you. And she, she goes through her again.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay. I mean, I dunno, I'm so torn. This is horrific. 'cause we are recounting a story, but we also have a very strong inkling that this is just bullshit.

Adam Cox: Mm.

[NEW] Kyle: So I kind of wanna make fun of it, but then at the same time, like people do go through that. So it's so weird and it's really messy with my emotions. I want to take the piss because I know it's bullshit, but at the same time, how awful.

Adam Cox: Yeah. But everything so far has been over the top. Almost. Like, could this have happened? And I dunno, at this point, like someone recounting this story and she's breaking down in front of the police, but they're not buying it. Yeah. But if this was real mm-hmm. Then well, [00:46:00] they're. Horrible people for not even like just trying to like, look into it or believe like this is true at this point.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. I mean, if someone is selling you that they've been attacked and this has happened to them, you need to take that seriously. Mm-hmm. But it is so difficult to believe. So what do you do in these situations?

Adam Cox: Well, yeah, it's, at the moment, it's her word against Aaron's word against the police right now. Mm-hmm. So we need to get to a resolution. The kidnapper says I wanna show you something. And he lifts the goggles just a little so that she can see a tv and it's her family on the screen like saying we love you Denise. We're not giving up. We want you back and overcome. And it breaks her essentially shit. Mm-hmm.

And then the kidnapper, he gently puts his hand on her back and basically says, it must feel real now. So it's just this really creepy psychological game that he's trying to play with her. Mm-hmm. But then he says to her, it's time to go home.

[NEW] Kyle: What?

Adam Cox: Yep. He gives her another sedative, loads her into the car and he [00:47:00] says, I can't take you back to where I kidnapped you as too many police.

So I'll drop you off closer to your parents. We're gonna go to the wherever they are. So next thing you know, she's waking up. She's still groggy, she's drugged, but she's sitting in the front seat now. Her eyes are taped shut with sunglasses.

Slipped over the top as if, you know, I guess if passed on someone in traffic. It doesn't look like she's, you know, been kidnapped. And they come to a stop and he gives her his final orders. He says, because Aaron just went to the police. You'll have to talk to them too, but you cannot mention two things.

First, none of us were ever in the military. And second, do not talk about the sex tape or the rape.

He says, if you screw this up, it's just not you who pays. I'll be watching.

What the fuck, what is happening?

It's a threat basically to say if you say anything, then I know where your parents live and I'll come after you or them or whatever. So it's a real twisted character. He's not a nice person,

[NEW] Kyle: but it's also all fake. It's all fake. So I dunno why I'm acting shocks and going, well, clearly she's lying and now, yeah, [00:48:00] she's been really clever with certain details, but it's getting to the point where nothing just makes sense.

Adam Cox: Um, he then says to her, count to 10 and I'll drive off, and then you can go. So the engine fades into the distance and that's what she does. And she peels off the tape from her eyes, and for the first time in 48 hours, she can actually see properly. And she's outside.

She's free. And then she walks between these apartment buildings, there's no one really around. And she sees a street sign which says Utica, which she knows this place. It's where her family's home is. And that's when she's captured on CCTV of one of the neighbors of her walking up to her parents. Um, sure. And so that's the first time. Yeah. That's real footage.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. So what's interesting is though she's been told not to mention the rapes and not to mention, um, that they're part of the military, right? Mm-hmm. Sounds like that's the very first thing that she's told the police. Yeah. And, and the thing is though.

They've threatened her by saying, if you do, we're gonna come after your family. That's clearly not an empty threat, if it's real because they've dropped her off near her family's house, so they clearly know [00:49:00] where she lives. Mm-hmm. So, I, I don't know why would she mention that?

Adam Cox: I think initially she doesn't mention the attack, but it's her lawyers that basically convince her to say that you do need to give all this evidence and or come onto to why Fair enough.

'cause need that for her story.

So the police are asking her like, have you ever been in the trunk of that car before? As if that's something you do often. Mm-hmm. Uh, why you didn't fight back? Why didn't you scream? Did you make any noise at all? And she realized, shit, they're making me look like the victim.

Yeah.

You know, the last 48 hours she was just trying to survive. She had no anticipation that when she did get out, she would then be having to fight for her freedom.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. I mean, if, I apologize if the story's real. But if it's not, I mean, it is an extraordinary series of events and you can't deny,

Adam Cox: can't deny that.

This is absolutely bizarre. And so the police are like, tell me that story again. Mm-hmm. And so she has to do it again. But basically trying to see if she slips up.

[NEW] Kyle: Of [00:50:00] course. And how does she do?

Adam Cox: Uh, she says exactly the same thing. She's then allowed to have a sexual assault examination because of obviously the rape. And sure enough, there was evidence there were micro lesions inside her cervix, which indicated she did have, sex within the last two days.

[NEW] Kyle: Really? That happens to women's vagina every time they have sex?

Adam Cox: I guess

[NEW] Kyle: maybe it's, if it's forced, but it doesn't sound like,

Adam Cox: well, it doesn't matter whether it's forced or not, they're just. That that's what happens really. And so intrusive as this was for Denise. 'cause obviously it's horrendous to go for an examination like that. At least it was some form of physical proof that she was telling the truth. Mm. Um, so the next day the police bring her into the station. Again, another interrogation room, but something's wrong.

She can feel it. There's another FBI agent there and he says straight to her there are inconsistencies in your story. Is there anything you wanna change? Because you know, it's a crime to lie to a federal agent. Oh,

[NEW] Kyle: mind game going on this, what did she say?

Adam Cox: Well this is when her lawyer steps in and says there hasn't been one discrepancy in her story. [00:51:00] Every time she recounts it, how can you possibly believe she's lying? And this agent just looks Denise in the eye and says, haven't you seen gone girl? I.

[NEW] Kyle: Uh, okay. Interesting.

So they're saying that Denise Huskins was directly inspired by Gong Girl, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And probably several other things as well.

Adam Cox: But what this is, is it's confirmation bias when somebody already convinced that they know the truth and every, piece of evidence that they get, they twist it to fit their version of events. Yeah. And so they just think Denise is an actress, not a victim.

But what does she have to gain? Why would she go through all of this? Yeah. To put on a show for $15,000 because she must've known that. Even if this was staged, this could go wrong.

Denise is looking up to, 18 months in federal prison. Not for a crime she committed, but for supposedly lying in, wasting police t time. So her future sort of hangs in the balance.

Denise is eventually allowed to see Aaron. Obviously she tells him everything that's happened and he just wants to support her [00:52:00] look after. And they're both just really angry that they've given the police, their truth. And the kidnapper is still out there and they're not doing anything.

They're not looking for them. The media thinks it's over, and as far as the public is concerned, the case is closed. It's all them two that have made up this huge lie.

But then another twist in the story comes when people don't expect it. Something I don't think anyone could have predicted.

Another email is sent to San Francisco Chronicle and it comes with no name, no signature. Just a message. A confession.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: Details about the kidnapping photos, and a gun wrapped in duct tape. A woman blindfolded. It's the kidnapper. He's angry, he's furious that the media is calling Denise a liar and he's sending proof that it was all real. That what? That Denise isn't faking, she's not been acting this whole time. She actually was abducted and her story all real.

Every single thing.

[NEW] Kyle: Why would a kidnapper be that invested in trying to prove that his victim [00:53:00] was telling the truth? Why does he care? Surely he only cares about the money. I can understand if he hasn't got the money and he's still trying to get the money, why he would do this. It doesn't matter now because Denise has been let go.

Adam Cox: Yeah.

[NEW] Kyle: I dunno if he actually did get, the money's a very question. No, he didn't. And she let her go for no random reason. Those four guys arrived. We think four guys, because we didn't hear any door slams. But a bunch of people arrived. The plan had changed. They had to do one more sex tape and then they let her go.

What's the thinking there? They did all that, all this elaborate plan that cost a lot of money and they had like little laser beam things and thermostats and wetsuits and nothing.

Adam Cox: Yeah.

[NEW] Kyle: This is a, a write off. This is a loss. They've made a loss on this kidnapping.

Adam Cox: What is the whole deal? One of the emails that follows after the first one is he, the kidnapper mentions about a white Mustang, the same car that Denise believes that she was stuffed into.

So she is like, told you it was a Mustang. Then there are photos that match her description of the house where she was held. [00:54:00] Uh, The kidnapper for whatever reason, wanted the media backlash on Denise to go away. And it was kind of, is it a way of coming clean or was this all stage two and part of Denise's plan?

That's what the Vallejo police must have thought initially. 'cause despite all this evidence that was coming in, whether it was credible or not, they just ignored it. They didn't even look into it. They have their narrative of what happened to Denise. Then another email arrives, and this one's chilling.

It says, we are three acquaintances, two of us are college grads. And they're basically trying to prove that they're real, that they're educated. Yeah. And that this wasn't a wild story. And they say, if Denise and Aaron don't get an apology from Vallejo police, we'll do it again.

And so the police now must take this threat seriously. Surely. Is someone saying that they're gonna kidnap someone? No, no, no. It's her. So, yeah. Why does he do it? Did he do it? 'cause, he wants the credit for the kidnapping. Do they do it because they're actually feeling guilty for what happened to Denise and they feel sorry for her? Do they wanna admit that they're not a monster?

[NEW] Kyle: No. None of [00:55:00] that makes sense. What makes sense is that Denise is there, they don't believe that this happened. They're pointing the finger at us and they're blaming us for making this all up. And now this is what you do. You go, you send an email to say blah, blah, blah, this actually happened. How dare you not believe this person?

This is what Princess Diana did. She did the same thing. And I know we haven't done that episode yet, but she does something very similar where she will then try make up this other story that will prove that her lie was correct.

Adam Cox: So you are saying that they orchestrated the whole thing or Denise has?

[NEW] Kyle: Denise has, I don't think that Aaron has anything to do with this. I feel really bad for Aaron, but she has done this and they don't believe her. And now she's trying to get the kidnappers to go. She's telling the truth, guys, we really did this.

Adam Cox: Interesting. Yep. That's what the police are probably thinking. But then a crucial piece of evidence would eventually sit in motion, oh, Adam, everything that would prove that Denise and Aaron were not lying, and everything they said had happened that the [00:56:00] police can't refute it anymore.

[NEW] Kyle: Go on.

Adam Cox: It came in the form of a mobile phone, a mobile phone that was accidentally inside the home of a different victim's house.

Not Denise Huskins, but a separate home invasion and attempted kidnapping in Dublin, California. And it was just a few months after Denise's abduction. So the kidnappers, were at it again.

So the officers arrive at this quiet home and there's red tape on the floor, just like what was left with Aaron. There's duct tape, there's zip ties and everything like that.

The intruder had zip-tied the parents and attempted to kidnap their 22-year-old daughter attack had failed and the dad somehow got loose and was able to fight off the intruder, which the intruder was not prepared for, and basically fled. But he dropped his mobile phone.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay. So when did this happen specifically before we get to the mobile phone? Did this happen while Denise had been kidnapped and she was away and they tried again?

Adam Cox: This happened a couple months after Denise's kidnapping.

[NEW] Kyle: So where could Denise have been involved in that again, [00:57:00] again, as part of this, this thing to try. But you really

Adam Cox: wanna lay it on Denise?

[NEW] Kyle: It's gotta be Adam. It's just so weird. Are you telling me.

Adam Cox: I just told you that the

[NEW] Kyle: kidnappers are real.

Adam Cox: I've just told you this is all real.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah, no, but I know what you are. Like

Adam Cox: it's real. I promise you what? I don't understand. So the police have got this mobile phone?

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. Okay. So what's on this mobile phone? What evidence? They look

Adam Cox: at some of the numbers. They give them a call, someone picks up, it's a woman and the police are really cautious to let on what's actually happened. And they're just going like, oh, we're just after the owner of this phone. And the woman goes, oh, that's my son's phone. His name's Matthew Muer. And the police department finally have a name.

Matthew Muer was a former Marine, a Harvard law graduate, and a man with a record linked to pass sexual assaults and attempted rapes.

Could this be the guy that kidnapped Denise? Oh. So the police continue to play a call. They're like, oh, we just wanna get the phone back to, you know, the owner.

Can he let us know where he is? And she was like, oh, he is in a cabin in South Lake Tahoe. You can find him there. Mm-hmm. So they have to move [00:58:00] quickly. So before the mom lets on what's, what she's just revealed who he is and where he is. Yeah. As the police get ready to take, Matthew Miller down, a new detective has asked if she wants to join.

Her name is Misty Karasu. So it's her first case as a detective. And she's like, yep, I wanna be on this. And they travel down to the lake and they approach the cabin real quietly before they storm in to, find Muller there. They handcuff him, and they see quite quickly that there's nothing really remarkable about him.

He's not like wild or aggressive or anything like that. He just seems like an average white American.

Officers are looking around the cabin, and this is where Misty Carou, the new detective can sense that something feels off about this place.

It smells, it's like there's real stale sour smell to the air. The house is a mess. They then start finding zip ties, duct tape, things that were left behind at the Dublin home invasion.

They find toy guns, which have been painted black and then had little razors like added to it.

[NEW] Kyle: Oh, this is really real.

Adam Cox: Yeah. So no real [00:59:00] weapons. He had I dunno, put it all together. And what they dunno at this point is that all these obviously matched, the weapons and things that Denise and Aaron had, incurred.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. Okay. So this is making more sense. Now. This is a small time guy who's not part of a big organization. It's just him on his own. The money makes sense.

Because like to him, 15 K is a lot of money, right? Mm-hmm. He's faked all the kind of like the tech. Mm-hmm. Wow. And it makes sense about the assaults as well. Like he's, 'cause he did it twice, right? First one wasn't convincing. Now we've gotta make it look consensual.

Adam Cox: And he is, he's done this before in the past.

That's

[NEW] Kyle: exact. Yeah.

Adam Cox: Yeah.

[NEW] Kyle: See, that's what I mean. As soon as one piece of the puzzle makes sense, everything else makes sense.

Adam Cox: Exactly. As a side note, there is a documentary on Netflix about this, which covers this much great detail, which I'll talk about a little bit at the end. But what we don't learn about in the Netflix show, which I find weirdly interesting, but also very, very creepy, is they find a tub of [01:00:00] Vaseline and a penis pump at his cabin, which, um, Matt is like, oh, that's not mine.

Everything else, yeah, that's, that's mine. But that, that's not, that's a friend's, just holding him for

[NEW] Kyle: a

Adam Cox: friend. It reminds me of like Austin Powers, when I think in the first film with Liz Hurley, I think he's getting all of his stuff after being like, frozen, whatever. And they're like, no, it's yours. And he's no, that's not mine.

But I joke because actually I'd rather not know because it could be something actually more sinister.

[NEW] Kyle: Like what, with a pump?

Adam Cox: Well, he might use it to get ready for attacking women.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah.

Adam Cox: So back to this cabin, to Misty's, as I said, something didn't sit right with her.

The windows are all covered, the bedroom is filthy. This is heavy feeling, and she's something else must have happened here. In the bathroom, they find a syringe. Then outside, there's the white Mustang, which is parked, which then matches the Mustang in the email that was sent about Denise.

Yeah. There's GPS, attached to it, and inside they also find Matthew Miller's id. So they're like, it's your car then. GPS within the car. It's filled with addresses, after [01:01:00] addresses, uh, random addresses, which don't really make any sense. He was going to all, he's probably

[NEW] Kyle: stalking people.

Adam Cox: Yes. All these places over America. When they check the, boot, they see that there's this shaped like torso dressed in black. It's not a person, it's a blow up doll dressed to look like a human. So was that designed to fool someone maybe at a distance, maybe in the dark, to make it look like there's extra people with him?

[NEW] Kyle: That's so weird. I don't know.

Adam Cox: Maybe, I don't know for sure, but that's what we assume. 'cause it seemed like a puppet.

[NEW] Kyle: And when Aaron and Denise were first taken, there were three people. Mm-hmm. They came dads in wetsuits. Yeah. Do we know who they are at this point?

Adam Cox: That's gonna be an interesting point, I think, because at the moment all they have is Matthew Muer but all the statements from Denise and Aaron says that there were more people. Yeah.

So we don't know at this stage. They also discover a nylon belt, uh, in the pocket is a pair of goggles, it had duct tape covering the eyes and what was clinging to the tape Yeah. Was a single strand of blonde hair.

And everyone's [01:02:00] whose hair is this? Is she out there? Is she still alive? And Detective Misty is like, I need to find out who this person is because has he killed someone? Or whatever. Mm-hmm.

Meanwhile, back in Vallejo, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn are still trapped in this fallout of their own sort of nightmare. They're living weeks on weeks knowing that their attackers were still out there, but everyone was turning on them.

[NEW] Kyle: But also now there must be at the verge of feeling this overwhelming sense of relief while the police are like starting to prove that actually. This weird thing actually happened.

Adam Cox: Yeah. But the police in Vallejo, they're not Oh, they're not communicating.

Yeah. So meanwhile, back at the station in Dublin, Detective Misty is staring at this single strand of blonde hair and she's wondering who does it belong to? She doesn't digging. The first real lead takes her back to 2009 in Palo Alto, California. Misty places a call.

She says she's got a man in custody called Matthew Muller. But before she can even explain anything else, the detective cuts her off and says, I've heard a photo of that man on my desk since 2009. He's been a person of [01:03:00] interest in a sexual assault case, but I could never prove it.

[NEW] Kyle: Okay.

Adam Cox: Back then, a woman had woken up at 3:30 AM by a mask man. He tied her up, blindfolded her, said he was gonna rape her, she begged him not to and he just stops. He basically says, oh, I don't want to victimize you again. And he just leaves.

[NEW] Kyle: He's so weird. He's so caught between, I'm a bad guy and I'm gonna do these bad things. And then he's clearly has a conscience.

Adam Cox: Here's a strange, he's kind of torn, which if you remember, I did say, he had bipolar and so he has mental health, issues. So maybe this is his kind of, I dunno, conscience coming through at certain times, but then he can't just fight off this other urges and, voices, I guess going on.

[NEW] Kyle: That is interesting. Yeah.

Adam Cox: Similarly another attack happened where he tried to, rape another woman and then, she convinces him not to do it, thankfully. And he just says, you should get a dog. Maybe that will stop something like this happening next time.

[NEW] Kyle: What the fuck.

Adam Cox: Yeah. But it's, it's again, very, very weird.

[NEW] Kyle: But women shouldn't really [01:04:00] necessarily need to, to, they just need

Adam Cox: to not be attacked.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. Yeah.

Adam Cox: I think that's, at the end of the day, that's what needs to happen.

So whilst Misty is doing this investigation, back at the lab detectives were following one more clue. A white Mustang found at the cabin. The car had been reported stolen and seven months earlier, they found out that it had been stolen from a place in Vallejo, California where Denise was.

So Detective Misty is on the phone again and she's trying to track down the owner of the vehicle. She tells him it's linked to a violent home invasion, but the man interrupts her and says, have you heard of the Mayor Island Creeper?

And Misty's like, no, I haven't.

[NEW] Kyle: That's where Denise lives, right?

Adam Cox: Yeah. so he explains back in 2014, a man in black stalked student housing. On May Island, just across, Vallejo. He watched through Windows, took photos and disappeared into the night. And when police didn't act, students tracked the guy themselves all the way to this house on May Island, and that's where they got the name Matthew Miller.

He's ex-military studied law at Harvard. And Misty is stunned. She's like, ah, the May Island creeper is Matthew Miller, the guy that we've got detained. [01:05:00] I see. And it gets even worse. The man tells her that those peeping incidents, they stopped around March, 2015, the same time as that gone Girl Case and Misty's like Gone Girl Case whatcha talking about.

And she Googles it and then it comes up, the Vallejo kidnapping gone girl hoax. And there she comes up a picture of Denise Huskins. And she sees a picture and she's like, she's got blonde hair. Is this the blonde hair of Denise Huskins?

[NEW] Kyle: So the, the, the, the blonde hair that they found on the Goggle is Denise Huskins hair. Yeah. Great. Do you know what this is? Vin de Lou. No vindication.

Adam Cox: It's vindication. It is. She checks the GPS on Mueller's Mustang and it sees that it had a stop in Huntington Beach where Denise and Aaron were. So again, all this evidence they can now build up and connect the dots.

[NEW] Kyle: Do you know what, this is brilliant because you have taken us on a ride just like the police. Like no, the police didn't believe her. I [01:06:00] didn't believe her. Like why? Who would believe her? And then all of a sudden there's evidence. Mm.

Adam Cox: So Denise calls the Vallejo Police Department and there's no answer. So she keeps calling and finally a detective picks up, she passes it over to the FBI.

She gets a name agent David esma, who had been one of the agents that basically just didn't believe, Denise.

She calls him, she, says, I've got a suspect in custody, and he matches the profile of the man from Denise Huskins case. Mm-hmm. She gathers all this evidence, everything that had been collected in Tahoe, and basically takes it to them and basically says you are wrong.

This is everything. And finally, the tide turns the police are like, okay, we're gonna have to now look into this properly. Yeah. And not use our stupid bias that we've had all along.

[NEW] Kyle: I get it. But Adam, this is such a sensational story mm-hmm. Where things just don't add up. It's tricky. I, I agree with the police for not believing her.

Adam Cox: I think that's an avenue that they definitely should have explored [01:07:00] because it is sensational. But they make some crucial errors that they should have just done at the same time. And had they had done that, which I'll come on to this a lot of could have been avoided.

[NEW] Kyle: Interesting. I'm really keen to find out what those are because that will make me feel a little bit less guilty. About also siding with them.

Adam Cox: Yeah. It should do well

[NEW] Kyle: as if, as if, don't sit there on your little pedestal. When you were researching this, I guarantee you were like, she's behind this.

Adam Cox: I keep an open mind, Kyle. Really, really, really?

[NEW] Kyle: Do you want me to name the 29 times where you haven't kept an open mind? That one time that I wanted to introduce a chimp into the bedroom and you were like, no. Cut that.

Adam Cox: So news, changes. They're now reporting that actually this gone girl kidnapping, is actually true. There is a suspect. Mm-hmm. It was, you know, it was a, not a hoax all along for Misty Carou. It was never a question of headlines or narratives. It was about just listening and believing a woman when no one else would, and thanks to her, [01:08:00] Denise finally had someone in her corner.

Authorities once implied that Denise was lying. Then she made the whole thing up. Now admit that they're wrong and that the documents make it clear and the FBI now name, that. Matthew Muer was the one behind Denise Huskins, kidnapping.

And as we know, Muer had various run-ins with the police before his mental health after the war seemed to deteriorate. So not an excuse for his behavior, but perhaps an explanation. And over time he became increasingly reclusive, rarely sleeping, obsessively watching the Batman film series. Uh, he thought his parents were spying on him.

He created this nocturnal vigilante, identity to fight evil, which is why he wore the wetsuit and created these tools resembling weapons.

[NEW] Kyle: Well, and the frog man.

Adam Cox: Yeah. So he kind of almost became like a bit of a Batman, I guess.

Yeah,

because he was inspired by that. He said he created this Robinhood plot to kidnap evil, wealthy people for ransom to give to the poor, which he believed in his psychosis to be morally justified.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. This guy needs some [01:09:00] help.

Adam Cox: I, that's the thing, if he probably got help a lot sooner, I dunno what aftercare or anything like he received, but yeah, some of these things could have prevented because, you know, maybe with, and not that medication is always the answer, but maybe with help and some kind of medication, he wouldn't have these other sort of urges to do these things.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah, for sure.

Adam Cox: So Denise sees his face for the first time in a clip on tv, and she's never seen him before, but then he speaks and just like that, the cadence in his voice, the rhythm, it's like, yeah, that's the guy.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah, crazy. That she picked up on that straight away.

Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

The thing is, whilst this is now good news for Denise, she just can't like, get rid of the injustice towards her. She wants to see the affidavit, the sworn statement written by law enforcement usually detailing the evidence and timelines of the investigation. And it's often submitted to a judge to justify arrests of search warrants.

Uh, it's meant to tell the full story with facts, not opinions. And so when they read this, it's quite an interesting read,

really.

Instead of focusing on the [01:10:00] actual kidnapping, the planning, the abduction, the physical evidence, the trauma, what the, affidavit revealed is that the police spent an overwhelming amount of time building a case against Denise and Aaron.

They framed their behavior as suspicious rather than considering the trauma that they received. They showed no real investigative effort to follow the evidence pointing to a real perpetrator.

Mm-hmm.

They dismissed inconsistencies as lies rather than symptoms of stress or PTSD. They even noted that the polygraph test that had been given, was basically unknown.

They couldn't actually say that Aaron was lying. The affidavit said there was no physical evidence of non-consensual sex, as if to say that without any bruising. It wouldn't be rape, which is awful. Denise had spent hours recounting every detail of that assault, and she cooperated, she relived it, she did everything. She handed her trauma. So the police and they just did nothing.

And remember Aaron was given a phone by his kidnappers but the police just took it away. And, if you remember, the kidnappers said that they were [01:11:00] gonna contact him, later that day. But what the police did is they turned the phone into airplane mode and when they turned it back on the next evening, it showed two missed calls.

Both of those calls were traceable and they were traced 200 meter radius of where Denise was being held.

So had they just monitored that phone? Yes.

[NEW] Kyle: They could have traced those calls and it would've given them a thread.

Adam Cox: Exactly. And I think it's, this is the thing that's not to say that they shouldn't have been questioning perhaps them but they should have been also looking at an alternative angle. Yes. And that's what didn't happen.

Yes. And the thing is, had they just traced that phone call on that first night, they could have stopped the second rape from happening.

[NEW] Kyle: Yeah. This is a bizarre story. Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: The FBI make it official, the case is closed. They say that Matthew Muer acted alone and that no one else was pursued in this. But these were the same agents who once accused Aaron of murder and obviously that Denise made it all up.

So now that they're saying that Mueller was a lone wolf, despite evidence and logic that said otherwise, or at least the evidence from Denise [01:12:00] and Aaron, they just brush it under the rug and just say, it was just him.

So I guess it's really hard I dunno the truth, from Aaron and Denise's perspective, they're saying, there were other people involved, but the police don't follow up on that. And they just say it's Matthew. And in fairness, a lot of the things that he did, it did seem like it was just him.

[NEW] Kyle: It feels like it was just him. But it is weird how. They managed to fake the invasion where they were confident.

Adam Cox: It seemed yeah, there was other people and that's why that blow up Dole. Perhaps Lee was there to make it look like there was other people. I dunno how convincing that would've been.

[NEW] Kyle: I could understand if they were already drugged and the drugs are kicking in.

And maybe you would think that, but it doesn't sound like there were three people there before. The drugs started kicking in

Adam Cox: and I was thinking about it like if he's got two blow up dolls attached to him. It's gonna make a squeaky noise

[NEW] Kyle: tandem. Yeah.

Adam Cox: So I, I don't, yeah, I don't know. But either way, like Matthew, he's definitely the one that blamed, the journalists involved actually feel really guilty because [01:13:00] they ran with that hoax narrative that they were fed, by the police.

Muer now faced state and federal charges. At first he pled not guilty and he wanted to represent himself in court because of his background. So even a debarred, attorney can actually represent himself. Denise was worried because she was like, she's gotta sit on a witness stand and potentially get, examined.

Yeah. Or cross examined by him. Mm-hmm. That didn't happen thankfully, but this was just one of her concerns. At the time, Mueller's defense, uh, leaned towards mental illness, likely angling for an insanity plea on the state charges from a separate home invasion. He pled to no contest, and that means that he wouldn't fight the charges.

But he was saying that. He didn't wanna admit that he did it. It's called an Alfred plea, I believe.

[NEW] Kyle: Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: It's, I think it's often used to avoid harsher sentences. So it's a loophole, I guess. Then came the federal case in September, 2016, Mueller pled guilty to kidnapping Denise Huskins.

He was sentenced to 40 years and in court he claimed he acted alone. No partners, no help. But as [01:14:00] I say, that's not what Denise and Aaron believe. That's not what necessarily the police believe. So I guess we perhaps won't know the full truth about that for a while maybe.

So, whilst Matthew Miller is now behind bars, things didn't magically get better for Denise and Aaron straight away.

In March, 2016, they filed a defamation lawsuit against the Vallejo Police Department, who obviously had said that they were lying the whole time. Uh, Their lawsuit claimed the police ruined their reputation.

They forced them to leave their jobs, their home, and had to rebuild things from scratch. Wow. So that this ruined their lives. It did for a good period. And that's not to say that, they're over the case. There's still a lot of trauma that they've had to deal with, and they did eventually settle out of court for two and a half million dollars.

Wow. Um, So that money helped to, one pay for the cost to defend themselves. They spent $140,000 just to defend themselves from these lies. Wow. So it covered that and it gave them some money, obviously, to rebuild things. What they really wanted was a trial though. A chance to expose the truth, and to hold the police department accountable, and maybe help other [01:15:00] victims, to be believed that are perhaps just dismissed.

'Cause we know this isn't the first time that this has probably happened, is it?

[NEW] Kyle: I get it. And do you know what? Honestly, it's the way you've told the story.

Adam Cox: I mean, I have, yeah. I've obviously tried to replay the events as it was told in the media. Yes, absolutely.

[NEW] Kyle: And it is an unbelievable story.

So I think as a spectator, as a member of the public looking in on this, I would be like, this is crazy. Mm. But in her defense, there are some very crucial evidence that would've brought this to light. I can't let go of that. And I've never felt so torn in a story we've ever done because it just sounds so bizarre. I can't see the logic behind some of

Adam Cox: this. It seems like a bloody movie. It doesn't seem real. And that, I think that's the thing. That's why people struggled to, perhaps believe her in the first instance is only when you really dig into it and actually hear her story.

But the thing is, her story wasn't properly told initially. And that's the thing I think, and that's the unjust, that was served the police didn't have her [01:16:00] back.

And yeah, and I think this is why Denise now is committed to helping other women that aren't believed, that are attacked and stuff like that to find their voice.

Matt Mustard, the one that was leading a lot of the case wasn't disciplined. In fact, he was named Officer of the year in 2015. Having said that, he had faced multiple accusations over his time with the Vallejo Police Department about racist remarks, manipulating autopsy findings to fit his theories and pressuring for easier promotion standards so he could rise through the ranks.

[NEW] Kyle: Interesting.

Adam Cox: So one former forensic, pathologist claimed to steer her findings to charge a man with murder, asking what will it take you to, call this a homicide? So, you know, this is the kind of thing that we are talking about the police manipulation. Yeah. Bias.

[NEW] Kyle: Exactly. They settle upon one avenue and then they just don't pursue any other threads at all.

Adam Cox: After the case with Denise and Aaron must had kept his position, became a sergeant, and led the union that inside to say, held massive power over the department [01:17:00] policy.

In 2022, he earned $129,000, which was down from the previous years. But to this day, neither he nor Vallejo police Department has issued an apology for what Denise and Aaron went through, or the damage caused by dismissing a real crime as a hoax.

Mm-hmm. So for now, the less said about him, the better. The real turning point, of course, became from one person, detective Misty Karasu, a woman in law enforcement who did what no one else had done.

She listened and she believed what Denise was saying.

Yeah.

She solved the case. And Denise later said that all she ever wanted was someone in law enforcement to be her hero.

And Misty was that hero. Yeah. And because of her , Denise and Aaron could finally live their life.

They got married, they moved to the coast and they started over.

And in 2020, Denise gave birth to their first daughter, Olivia, and not long after another daughter, Naomi. So for them it was a new chapter. They had a complete family. And that is the true story of Denise [01:18:00] Huskins. She's not a gone girl, she's a survivor.

[NEW] Kyle: Wow. Do you know what? I am so disappointed. That this story didn't turn out to be like a bunny boiler fatal attraction kind of moment where Denise had pulled this off because she was jealous of Adria and their relationship, but at the same time, it turned into something even more wild.

Mm. It's what a crazy story.

And I'm so torn on whether or not I should feel ashamed of myself for not believing her, because still part of me is like, the story is so wild. Why would you think the police would believe you. Mm. Do you know what I mean?

Adam Cox: But is that not a lesson that we should learn to kind of go like, well, , let's, let's just double check ourselves. Because we can be misled easily.

[NEW] Kyle: But yes, you are 100% right. We should explore the avenues. But Wow. Really crazy episode. And when I [01:19:00] read, I think it was the Vanity Fair article on this, it's not how I remember it going. I clearly did not finish reading that story.

Adam Cox: Maybe I told it better.

[NEW] Kyle: Maybe. And maybe if I had kept reading that story, I would've been like, I need to do this episode. Mm-hmm. Wow.

Adam Cox: So if you want even more, then you can check out the Netflix documentary, called American Nightmares. It's a three part series that dives deep into the case.

You can hear more interviews from Denise and Aaron. Um, yeah, I really recommend it. Or you can grab their book. It's called Victim F From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors, detailing Their Journey and Everything that they went through. Um, don't know. I probably should know that. I don't know, but essentially it's their firsthand account of everything they endured and how they're using it to help others still waiting to be believed.

Sure. And yeah,

[NEW] Kyle: yeah, that's it.

I loved it. Well done. I was gripped the whole way through. Good. Too many avenues. My brain was going wild.

Adam Cox: I love a, I love a Yeah. Throw you one way, then I I pull you back and take you [01:20:00] another way.

Yeah. Which, okay. I've done that for creative storytelling and to relive what was happening in the media. I don't wanna downplay what happened to Denise just for entertainment. That was pretty horrendous.

[NEW] Kyle: But at the same time, yes, of course it was horrendous, but it is a truly remarkable story.

Mm-hmm. You cannot deny that, sorry, Denise is awful. What happened to you? But what happened to you was just incredible. Do you know what I mean?

So, Adam, should we run the outro for this week?

Adam Cox: Let's do it.

And that brings us to the end of another fascinating foray into the compendium, an assembly of fascinating Things. We hope you enjoyed today's episode,

[NEW] Kyle: and if today's episode sparks your curiosity, then please do us a favor and follow us on your favorite podcasting app. It really makes the world a difference when you do and helps other people find the show.

Adam Cox: And for our dedicated freaks out there, don't forget. Next week's episode is already waiting for you on our Patreon. Completely free to access.

[NEW] Kyle: And if you want even more, then you can join our certified Freaks tier to unlock our [01:21:00] entire archive and delve into exclusive content and get sneak peeks of what's coming next.

We'd love you to be part of our growing community.

Adam Cox: We drop new episodes every Tuesday, and so until then, remember, survival might only behalf the story.

[NEW] Kyle: Nah,

Adam Cox: we'll see you next time.

[NEW] Kyle: Goodbye for now.