Aaron and Denise are a couple who are still recovering from their experience as victims of a house-invasion and abduction. (Freepik)
A Netflix show Labeled “American Nightmare” showcases the story of a couple, Denise Huskins, and Aaron Quinn, who were wrongly accused of staging a “kidnapping hoax”.
On March 3rd, 2015, Aaron and Denise were awakened during the night to someone invading their home. The trespasser had drugged them and tied them up, then had taken Denise and demanded ransom.
When Aaron had called the authorities and reported the incident, they had accused him of lying and killing his own girlfriend.
Aaron stated, “I never blamed the police for being suspicious or doubting my initial story. I was the last person with Denise. I could be looked at as a person of interest. I foolishly believed they would follow evidence.”
The FBI agents, although off the mark, did have some meager evidence to support their allegation. They had found out that the day right before Denise Huskin’s kidnapping, Denise had discovered that Aaron had been in contact with his ex. She had found some text messages between them, and was upset.
Two days after her kidnapping, when Denise appeared around 400 miles away near Huntington beach, The police realized that they could not charge Aaron for murder. Instead they inculpated the two of planning the whole incident and faking it together.
They continued to torment Aaron and Denise with scrutiny, even after Denise informed them that she had been raped twice, and repeatedly drugged and blinded.
Because of this, they both proceeded to obtain attorneys to fight back against law enforcement and protect themselves as victims. Some time passed before a former marine named Mathew Muller was arrested, following his attempt of a similar home invasion and abduction of another household.
A sergeant named Misty Carausu found evidence in Muller’s case that connected him to Denise and Aaron’s case. The couple were angry at the incompetence of law enforcement, and expressed this throughout many interviews.
Aaron goes on to say, “Seeing the great work of Misty, it’s so frustrating, [Vallejo police] have the ability to do better. It’s almost like a blatant refusal to. [My story] fits a bigger theme of the confirmation bias, the tunnel vision, the lack of accountability [of law enforcement]. I think it’s a cultural thing that they are sadly getting in their own way, and at the expense of innocent victims.”
He also proceeds to answer the question of why the police could not take all the evidence into account and just remained focused on a single lone narrative. “Because they can,” he says, “They can do this, and they have done this.”
After the whole ordeal, nine years later, Aaron and Denise are now happily married and have 2 daughters. Recently, they also received an award for witnesses of the year, although this did not do much to
encourage the authorities to follow many other leads, even when Denise insisted that Muller did not act out alone.
To this day it is not known who Muller was conspiring with, and no effort is being made to find out.