1
00:00:16,266 --> 00:00:17,934
[operator on phone] County emergency.

2
00:00:18,018 --> 00:00:22,605
[woman] We have a break-in
at North Terracina Drive in Dublin.

3
00:00:22,689 --> 00:00:24,524
They are out there right now.

4
00:00:24,607 --> 00:00:25,608
-[clicks]
-[siren chirps]

5
00:00:25,692 --> 00:00:27,694
[unsettling music playing]

6
00:00:29,279 --> 00:00:32,198
[police siren wailing]

7
00:00:32,282 --> 00:00:34,492
[woman] I'm hiding
in the bathroom right now.

8
00:00:35,035 --> 00:00:37,120
My husband is fighting with them.

9
00:00:37,203 --> 00:00:38,580
They have our daughter.

10
00:00:39,205 --> 00:00:41,332
-[dramatic music playing]
-[siren wailing]

11
00:00:48,548 --> 00:00:52,302
[operator] Listen. Talk to me, okay?
How many people?

12
00:00:52,385 --> 00:00:54,262
[woman] In the dark, we can't really see.

13
00:00:54,345 --> 00:00:56,973
There was a laser light
that was pointing at us.

14
00:00:57,057 --> 00:00:59,476
Wanting us to turn around. We were in bed.

15
00:00:59,559 --> 00:01:00,393
[operator] Okay.

16
00:01:00,935 --> 00:01:02,562
[woman] My husband's calling me.

17
00:01:02,645 --> 00:01:04,272
[man] He… He ran away already!

18
00:01:04,355 --> 00:01:05,815
[woman] He ran away.

19
00:01:05,899 --> 00:01:08,026
-[dog barking]
-[indistinct radio chatter]

20
00:01:08,109 --> 00:01:11,029
[Chris] I arrive on scene,
and I know from the 911 call

21
00:01:11,112 --> 00:01:13,740
that there's a family
that lives here inside.

22
00:01:13,823 --> 00:01:15,533
There's been a home invasion robbery.

23
00:01:15,617 --> 00:01:17,911
-[tense music plays]
-[camera clicking]

24
00:01:17,994 --> 00:01:22,040
The husband is covered in blood,
and he's holding a rag to his face.

25
00:01:22,123 --> 00:01:23,124
[camera clicking]

26
00:01:23,208 --> 00:01:25,335
He told me that the daughter is safe,

27
00:01:25,919 --> 00:01:28,421
and the suspect has run out the back door.

28
00:01:29,172 --> 00:01:30,965
[woman speaking indistinctly on radio]

29
00:01:31,049 --> 00:01:35,845
[Chris] As we searched the back,
we come across zip ties and duct tape.

30
00:01:35,929 --> 00:01:38,223
And we make sure to bag that evidence.

31
00:01:38,306 --> 00:01:39,682
[helicopter hovering]

32
00:01:39,766 --> 00:01:41,810
We know that the suspect
is wearing all black,

33
00:01:41,893 --> 00:01:44,938
and he's possibly hopped over this fence.

34
00:01:45,605 --> 00:01:48,399
The dog starts tracking back
here on this trail,

35
00:01:48,483 --> 00:01:50,735
but there's miles and miles
of fields up here,

36
00:01:50,819 --> 00:01:53,571
so it's gonna make him hard to detect.

37
00:01:55,115 --> 00:01:59,577
Who is this suspect? Why is he here?
Why did he choose this house?

38
00:02:01,412 --> 00:02:03,456
What did he want inside this home?

39
00:02:03,957 --> 00:02:05,959
[thrilling music playing]

40
00:02:07,293 --> 00:02:08,837
And then the daughter comes up to me.

41
00:02:10,296 --> 00:02:13,049
She says,
"On the counter, there's a phone."

42
00:02:14,509 --> 00:02:16,302
"I think he left it behind."

43
00:02:19,180 --> 00:02:21,182
[music slows down]

44
00:02:28,356 --> 00:02:30,024
[music fades]

45
00:02:30,900 --> 00:02:32,902
[wind whooshing]

46
00:02:35,363 --> 00:02:36,406
[elevator dings]

47
00:02:36,489 --> 00:02:38,366
[dramatic music plays]

48
00:02:38,449 --> 00:02:39,909
[phone ringing]

49
00:02:41,286 --> 00:02:44,789
[man] When we locate the subscriber
for the cell phone number…

50
00:02:44,873 --> 00:02:46,291
[pensive music playing]

51
00:02:46,374 --> 00:02:47,292
[speaking indistinctly]

52
00:02:47,375 --> 00:02:49,502
…a female answers the phone.

53
00:02:49,586 --> 00:02:53,464
And I ask her if she knows
whose phone number this is,

54
00:02:53,548 --> 00:02:56,217
and… and she says, "Oh yeah, I know.
That's my son's phone number."

55
00:02:56,968 --> 00:02:58,845
And she provided his name…

56
00:02:58,928 --> 00:03:01,055
[dramatic sting]

57
00:03:01,139 --> 00:03:02,682
Matthew Muller.

58
00:03:02,765 --> 00:03:03,850
[mouse clicks]

59
00:03:03,933 --> 00:03:05,768
[tense music playing]

60
00:03:06,519 --> 00:03:07,770
He's a former Marine.

61
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:11,399
A Harvard Law graduate.

62
00:03:12,859 --> 00:03:15,695
We did locate some previous reports

63
00:03:15,778 --> 00:03:21,201
in which he was a suspect in some, uh,
sexual batteries and attempted rapes.

64
00:03:21,284 --> 00:03:22,744
[tense music continues]

65
00:03:24,704 --> 00:03:27,624
So this leads me to suspect
that in our Dublin incident,

66
00:03:28,791 --> 00:03:33,171
his intentions were
to tie up the parents in the house,

67
00:03:33,254 --> 00:03:36,466
um, and to rape
their 22-year-old daughter.

68
00:03:39,177 --> 00:03:41,596
We tell his mom something very innocent.

69
00:03:42,472 --> 00:03:45,225
"We just want to get the phone
back to him. Do you know where he is?"

70
00:03:45,308 --> 00:03:48,061
And she says, "He's… He's staying
at my cabin in South Lake Tahoe."

71
00:03:48,144 --> 00:03:50,146
[pensive music playing]

72
00:03:51,689 --> 00:03:54,776
South Lake Tahoe is a vacation spot

73
00:03:55,610 --> 00:03:58,488
which is about 140 miles north
of our location.

74
00:04:00,114 --> 00:04:01,199
[receiver clatters]

75
00:04:01,282 --> 00:04:03,159
We can't be sure he's still there.

76
00:04:03,243 --> 00:04:05,745
So we need to get to that cabin
before he finds out we're coming

77
00:04:05,828 --> 00:04:07,330
and has a chance to flee.

78
00:04:07,413 --> 00:04:09,540
[dramatic music playing]

79
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:12,710
[indistinct radio chatter]

80
00:04:12,794 --> 00:04:15,672
[woman] I get a call from my sergeant,
and he says

81
00:04:15,755 --> 00:04:19,092
we're going to go
to South Lake Tahoe to make an arrest

82
00:04:19,175 --> 00:04:21,386
on a home invasion
that occurred in Dublin.

83
00:04:21,469 --> 00:04:22,929
Do you want to join us?

84
00:04:24,931 --> 00:04:28,893
It was going to be
my first case as a detective.

85
00:04:30,979 --> 00:04:33,481
And I said, "Hell yeah, I do. Sign me up."

86
00:04:34,399 --> 00:04:35,942
[music fades]

87
00:04:36,025 --> 00:04:38,027
[birds chirping]

88
00:04:42,365 --> 00:04:43,783
[Miguel] It's gotta be the next one.

89
00:04:47,078 --> 00:04:48,913
[Misty] I'm thinking to myself,

90
00:04:49,706 --> 00:04:51,249
"What's gonna happen?"

91
00:04:52,250 --> 00:04:55,336
Ambushes, barricades.
Does he have, you know, guns?

92
00:05:00,008 --> 00:05:03,011
[Miguel] We don't wanna make any noise.
We wanna be sure we're silent.

93
00:05:03,094 --> 00:05:05,221
We want to be sure
we take him by surprise.

94
00:05:10,018 --> 00:05:13,229
-[officer] Search warrant! Search warrant!
-[Miguel] We got a search warrant!

95
00:05:14,105 --> 00:05:15,398
[officers clamoring]

96
00:05:15,481 --> 00:05:18,401
[Miguel] I got an open door on the left.
I got an open door on the left.

97
00:05:18,484 --> 00:05:19,944
Search warrant! Search warrant!

98
00:05:20,028 --> 00:05:21,404
[Misty] Holding! Holding!

99
00:05:22,196 --> 00:05:23,906
-[Miguel] Clear.
-[Misty] Clear. Clear.

100
00:05:23,990 --> 00:05:25,491
[suspenseful music playing]

101
00:05:25,575 --> 00:05:27,785
[Miguel] Coming out the back.
Look around the back.

102
00:05:27,869 --> 00:05:30,204
-[officers clamoring]
-They're in the back.

103
00:05:30,288 --> 00:05:31,164
[Misty] And then…

104
00:05:31,247 --> 00:05:32,582
[officer] Turn the fuck around!

105
00:05:32,665 --> 00:05:33,791
[intriguing music playing]

106
00:05:33,875 --> 00:05:35,126
[Miguel] We'll come back inside!

107
00:05:35,209 --> 00:05:37,128
I see Muller being handcuffed.

108
00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:39,088
[music ends]

109
00:05:39,172 --> 00:05:41,299
[indistinct chatter]

110
00:05:41,382 --> 00:05:47,096
He was very quiet, composed. No emotions.

111
00:05:47,180 --> 00:05:49,182
[pensive music playing]

112
00:05:49,974 --> 00:05:53,811
I tell him,
"I'm going to take a photo of you."

113
00:05:53,895 --> 00:05:55,104
[camera clicking]

114
00:05:55,813 --> 00:05:57,940
[pensive music continues]

115
00:06:01,402 --> 00:06:03,488
He looks relatively normal.

116
00:06:05,865 --> 00:06:10,078
Like your average
all-American white male adult.

117
00:06:13,081 --> 00:06:15,625
[music fades]

118
00:06:15,708 --> 00:06:17,168
[brooding music playing]

119
00:06:17,251 --> 00:06:18,836
I go back in the house.

120
00:06:22,382 --> 00:06:23,800
It was just a mess.

121
00:06:26,302 --> 00:06:27,929
It smells kind of…

122
00:06:28,513 --> 00:06:31,057
what would be a good word? Stale.

123
00:06:32,725 --> 00:06:34,811
[Miguel] When we're searching everything,

124
00:06:34,894 --> 00:06:38,147
we're finding things
that tie him to our crime.

125
00:06:38,231 --> 00:06:39,690
[suspenseful music playing]

126
00:06:39,774 --> 00:06:43,277
We find zip ties and duct tape.

127
00:06:43,361 --> 00:06:46,030
Just like he left at the Dublin house.

128
00:06:47,156 --> 00:06:50,993
Toy guns that are painted.

129
00:06:52,495 --> 00:06:54,872
One of them has a laser attached to it.

130
00:06:56,290 --> 00:07:01,295
In Dublin, he awoke the victims
with a laser shining on their face.

131
00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:05,383
So this is all starting to fall together.

132
00:07:06,926 --> 00:07:08,678
[pensive music playing]

133
00:07:08,761 --> 00:07:11,472
[Misty] But as I'm standing in this house,

134
00:07:12,807 --> 00:07:15,017
I noticed that the windows were covered.

135
00:07:18,396 --> 00:07:21,649
I could feel
that there was much more to it.

136
00:07:24,068 --> 00:07:26,195
The bedroom was just very dirty.

137
00:07:27,905 --> 00:07:31,367
And I get this sense
that something else has happened here.

138
00:07:33,494 --> 00:07:38,332
In the bathroom,
we find a NyQuil bottle, a syringe.

139
00:07:39,125 --> 00:07:40,751
Something inside you says,

140
00:07:40,835 --> 00:07:43,671
"Oh, this is… this is weird,
and this isn't right."

141
00:07:43,754 --> 00:07:45,089
[foreboding music playing]

142
00:07:45,173 --> 00:07:47,758
And then we find a stolen vehicle.

143
00:07:49,719 --> 00:07:51,053
It's a white Mustang.

144
00:07:52,388 --> 00:07:54,849
With Matthew Muller's ID inside of it.

145
00:07:55,683 --> 00:07:59,270
The GPS is up and it has
all of these different addresses.

146
00:08:03,774 --> 00:08:06,027
Why was he driving
to these different places?

147
00:08:06,110 --> 00:08:07,361
And who was he with?

148
00:08:08,779 --> 00:08:09,864
In the trunk,

149
00:08:10,907 --> 00:08:13,451
I see what looks like a torso,

150
00:08:14,702 --> 00:08:15,828
dressed in black.

151
00:08:15,912 --> 00:08:17,914
[music continues]

152
00:08:18,956 --> 00:08:20,291
It's a blow-up doll.

153
00:08:24,003 --> 00:08:25,338
Made to look like…

154
00:08:27,340 --> 00:08:29,634
he wants someone
to mistake it for a human being.

155
00:08:31,928 --> 00:08:33,971
I have no idea what he's using this for,

156
00:08:34,972 --> 00:08:36,307
but it's… it's creepy.

157
00:08:38,643 --> 00:08:43,523
[Misty] And then we find the nylon belt.

158
00:08:44,732 --> 00:08:49,570
And in the pocket is a pair of goggles,

159
00:08:49,654 --> 00:08:52,198
and the eyes are duct-taped.

160
00:08:53,950 --> 00:08:59,622
As I'm pulling them out,
I see a single strand of blond hair.

161
00:09:02,208 --> 00:09:03,209
Oh my God.

162
00:09:03,292 --> 00:09:05,711
[pensive music intensifies]

163
00:09:06,712 --> 00:09:08,464
[Miguel] Who does this hair belong to?

164
00:09:08,965 --> 00:09:12,760
I don't think it was someone
who gave it up willingly.

165
00:09:15,805 --> 00:09:17,723
[Misty] Are they alive? Are they dead?

166
00:09:19,225 --> 00:09:21,602
We have to find out
who this hair belonged to.

167
00:09:24,021 --> 00:09:26,023
[music fades]

168
00:09:32,989 --> 00:09:34,657
[Denise] By June 2015…

169
00:09:37,493 --> 00:09:39,120
I just feel lost.

170
00:09:41,622 --> 00:09:44,083
Afraid because the kidnappers
are still out there.

171
00:09:45,126 --> 00:09:48,004
We're still worried about whether or not

172
00:09:48,087 --> 00:09:52,633
we're gonna be prosecuted and charged
with committing a hoax.

173
00:09:52,717 --> 00:09:54,427
[tense music playing]

174
00:09:54,510 --> 00:09:57,847
Denise and I stay at our parents' house,
or with friends…

175
00:09:58,556 --> 00:10:01,684
We feel like fugitives,
uh, like we're on the run.

176
00:10:01,767 --> 00:10:03,185
[messages dinging]

177
00:10:04,020 --> 00:10:07,982
[Denise] I open up my Facebook,
and I'm just inundated with abuse.

178
00:10:10,443 --> 00:10:12,320
And reading through it…

179
00:10:12,403 --> 00:10:13,362
[keyboard clacking]

180
00:10:14,947 --> 00:10:16,699
…is so frustrating.

181
00:10:17,742 --> 00:10:18,701
I mean…

182
00:10:20,411 --> 00:10:21,787
it was so insulting.

183
00:10:24,123 --> 00:10:27,418
Having people believe
that I'm this type of person

184
00:10:27,501 --> 00:10:30,338
who would put my family through this.

185
00:10:30,963 --> 00:10:34,967
That I would make
this huge, elaborate lie for…

186
00:10:35,593 --> 00:10:37,511
for what I don't… I don't know.

187
00:10:40,306 --> 00:10:42,600
It was crushing.

188
00:10:45,478 --> 00:10:47,480
[dramatic music plays]

189
00:10:49,607 --> 00:10:50,608
[Aaron] Can't work.

190
00:10:51,609 --> 00:10:54,737
Too traumatized to work.
I don't know if they'll let us go back

191
00:10:54,820 --> 00:10:57,448
if we wanted to,
because we're the hoaxsters.

192
00:10:57,531 --> 00:10:58,658
[pensive music playing]

193
00:10:58,741 --> 00:11:00,743
[mouse clicking]

194
00:11:05,206 --> 00:11:08,292
[Denise] Our attorneys
are both working, like, tirelessly

195
00:11:08,376 --> 00:11:13,714
to try to get the police and the FBI
to actually look for the kidnappers.

196
00:11:13,798 --> 00:11:15,299
But months have gone by,

197
00:11:16,592 --> 00:11:20,429
and the only thing that they're doing
is continuing to look at us.

198
00:11:22,723 --> 00:11:29,105
And then, almost by accident, we find out
that the lead case agent, David Sesma…

199
00:11:29,188 --> 00:11:31,982
-This is David Sesma.
-[David] Hi. I'm with the FBI.

200
00:11:33,818 --> 00:11:35,903
…used to date my ex, Andrea,

201
00:11:35,986 --> 00:11:38,906
who was the intended target
of this whole thing.

202
00:11:38,989 --> 00:11:40,991
[thrilling music playing]

203
00:11:45,454 --> 00:11:49,959
[Doug] There's absolutely no way
Sesma should be on this case.

204
00:11:50,042 --> 00:11:53,754
It's a clear, unequivocal,
black-and-white conflict of interest.

205
00:11:55,005 --> 00:11:58,259
So I write to the office
of Inspector General,

206
00:11:58,342 --> 00:12:00,136
explain the situation.

207
00:12:00,219 --> 00:12:01,429
Their response,

208
00:12:01,512 --> 00:12:05,433
"The appropriate authorities
found his conduct 'unproblematic.'"

209
00:12:06,684 --> 00:12:09,353
Is this why the investigation's
not being followed through?

210
00:12:09,437 --> 00:12:11,856
Is this why evidence is being ignored?

211
00:12:11,939 --> 00:12:15,735
Like, it's not paranoia anymore.
It just… Now it feels personal.

212
00:12:16,277 --> 00:12:19,155
We're just two people
going against the FBI.

213
00:12:19,238 --> 00:12:20,948
[pensive music playing]

214
00:12:21,699 --> 00:12:23,951
[Denise] In the meantime,
like, what do we do?

215
00:12:24,785 --> 00:12:27,997
Do we just kind of live
behind closed doors

216
00:12:28,622 --> 00:12:30,166
for the rest of our lives?

217
00:12:31,667 --> 00:12:33,127
We're not safe anywhere.

218
00:12:33,210 --> 00:12:35,254
[music intensifies, ends]

219
00:12:37,506 --> 00:12:40,009
[suspenseful music playing]

220
00:12:44,263 --> 00:12:45,473
[phone ringing]

221
00:12:46,807 --> 00:12:50,811
[Misty] When we get back to the station,
I'm thinking,

222
00:12:50,895 --> 00:12:54,982
"How and where do I begin searching
for a victim with blond hair?"

223
00:12:57,193 --> 00:13:00,571
Matthew Muller came up
in several different incidents

224
00:13:00,654 --> 00:13:02,448
that occurred in Northern California.

225
00:13:02,531 --> 00:13:04,533
[suspenseful music playing]

226
00:13:05,534 --> 00:13:08,788
The first one I look at was in 2009.

227
00:13:09,497 --> 00:13:14,043
It happened 40 miles
from the city of Dublin, in Palo Alto.

228
00:13:14,126 --> 00:13:16,128
[music continues]

229
00:13:16,212 --> 00:13:18,088
So I call Palo Alto PD,

230
00:13:18,172 --> 00:13:21,675
explain to the detective
we have Matthew Muller in custody.

231
00:13:21,759 --> 00:13:23,093
He cuts me off and says,

232
00:13:23,177 --> 00:13:26,597
"I have a photo on my desk,
and I've been staring at him since 2009."

233
00:13:27,223 --> 00:13:30,100
"He was a person of interest
in our sexual assault case,

234
00:13:30,184 --> 00:13:32,311
but I could never prove that it was him."

235
00:13:32,394 --> 00:13:36,524
[reporter] Palo Alto PD have
a home invasion case so terrifying,

236
00:13:36,607 --> 00:13:38,818
locals are afraid to go to bed at night.

237
00:13:38,901 --> 00:13:43,155
He actually physically restrained her,
uh, blindfolded her.

238
00:13:43,739 --> 00:13:45,574
[Misty] At approximately 3:30
in the morning,

239
00:13:45,658 --> 00:13:51,247
a 32-year-old woman was woken up by a man
who was dressed in all-black clothing.

240
00:13:52,206 --> 00:13:56,126
He ties her up,
forces her to drink NyQuil,

241
00:13:56,752 --> 00:14:01,006
puts surgical tape over her eyes,
and tells her that he's going to rape her.

242
00:14:02,925 --> 00:14:06,887
She's pleading with the suspect
telling him she'd been raped before.

243
00:14:07,805 --> 00:14:10,307
He tells her that he doesn't want
to victimize her again

244
00:14:10,391 --> 00:14:11,767
and decides to leave her alone.

245
00:14:15,354 --> 00:14:21,527
Three weeks prior, Matthew Muller was
stopped by a Palo Alto police officer

246
00:14:21,610 --> 00:14:24,196
because he had seen him
jumping out of the bushes

247
00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,615
nearby an apartment complex.

248
00:14:28,993 --> 00:14:31,996
And so, Matthew Muller
became a person of interest.

249
00:14:33,497 --> 00:14:38,711
But there was no DNA or evidence
tying Matthew Muller to this case,

250
00:14:38,794 --> 00:14:40,963
and the case is still open now.

251
00:14:42,715 --> 00:14:45,968
There's a lot of similarities
between this case

252
00:14:46,051 --> 00:14:48,554
and the items I found in South Lake Tahoe.

253
00:14:50,180 --> 00:14:53,934
But there's no mention of goggles
in the report.

254
00:14:55,352 --> 00:14:58,355
So I know
that there's another victim out there,

255
00:14:58,439 --> 00:15:00,524
and I had to find out who she was.

256
00:15:05,321 --> 00:15:07,323
[gentle music playing]

257
00:15:09,783 --> 00:15:12,703
Prior to becoming
a law enforcement officer,

258
00:15:12,786 --> 00:15:15,998
one of my girlfriends was
a victim of sexual assault.

259
00:15:19,543 --> 00:15:23,213
She is the reason why I became a cop.

260
00:15:24,965 --> 00:15:28,427
I wanted to be the one
that was the voice for these victims

261
00:15:28,510 --> 00:15:30,304
and prosecute the suspects

262
00:15:30,387 --> 00:15:33,015
and send them to prison
for a very long time.

263
00:15:39,521 --> 00:15:41,815
I am working after hours,

264
00:15:42,566 --> 00:15:46,779
and I'm getting more and more
emotionally drawn to this case.

265
00:15:48,489 --> 00:15:52,493
And then I read
about another case in 2009.

266
00:15:53,911 --> 00:15:55,829
Just eight miles from Palo Alto.

267
00:15:57,414 --> 00:15:58,958
In a town called Mountain View.

268
00:15:59,041 --> 00:16:00,960
[pensive music playing]

269
00:16:08,884 --> 00:16:13,514
In 2009, I was in my thirties.

270
00:16:15,975 --> 00:16:20,062
I was in a relationship,
but, uh, living alone.

271
00:16:21,105 --> 00:16:23,107
[crickets chirping]

272
00:16:24,024 --> 00:16:28,570
That night, I woke up
around 4:30 or five o'clock thinking,

273
00:16:28,654 --> 00:16:31,323
"Oh good. I have
a little bit extra time to sleep in."

274
00:16:31,407 --> 00:16:33,701
Um, and then…

275
00:16:33,784 --> 00:16:34,785
[dramatic music playing]

276
00:16:34,868 --> 00:16:37,913
I felt this very heavy pressure
on… on top of me.

277
00:16:37,997 --> 00:16:39,498
[Tracey screaming]

278
00:16:39,581 --> 00:16:41,959
I was screaming, and I just keep hearing,

279
00:16:42,042 --> 00:16:44,336
"Tracey, Tracey, Tracey!
It's okay, Tracey. Tracey!"

280
00:16:44,420 --> 00:16:49,591
And he told me if I didn't stop screaming,
he was going to gag me.

281
00:16:49,675 --> 00:16:51,093
[tense music playing]

282
00:16:51,176 --> 00:16:53,554
He restrained me with zip ties,

283
00:16:54,346 --> 00:16:57,933
made me drink something
that would make me sleepy.

284
00:16:59,393 --> 00:17:04,023
And blindfolded me with a pair
of swim goggles that had been blacked out.

285
00:17:06,608 --> 00:17:07,609
He tells me,

286
00:17:08,569 --> 00:17:10,446
"Well, now I have some bad news."

287
00:17:11,155 --> 00:17:12,239
"Um…" [clicks tongue]

288
00:17:12,322 --> 00:17:14,867
"Unfortunately, now
I'm gonna have to rape you."

289
00:17:17,036 --> 00:17:18,245
And…

290
00:17:21,582 --> 00:17:24,752
And then the…
then just the panic took over,

291
00:17:24,835 --> 00:17:29,006
and I started just begging,

292
00:17:29,089 --> 00:17:30,340
"You don't need to do this."

293
00:17:30,424 --> 00:17:32,217
"Please don't do this.
Please don't do this."

294
00:17:32,301 --> 00:17:35,637
You know, "I gave you… I gave you
everything you wanted. You did--"

295
00:17:35,721 --> 00:17:38,640
You just start bargaining, right?
You just start saying,

296
00:17:39,308 --> 00:17:42,061
"Please, please, please, please,
please don't do this." [inhales deeply]

297
00:17:42,144 --> 00:17:43,020
And…

298
00:17:44,521 --> 00:17:49,276
I remember him
being very silent for a while.

299
00:17:51,070 --> 00:17:53,489
And then I hear him sigh and he says,

300
00:17:54,323 --> 00:17:56,283
[sighs] "I can't do this."

301
00:17:56,992 --> 00:17:58,577
[suspenseful music playing]

302
00:17:59,578 --> 00:18:03,916
"I'm sorry. I know this is
really gonna mess you up for a long time."

303
00:18:05,959 --> 00:18:08,045
"You might want
to think about getting a dog."

304
00:18:08,128 --> 00:18:10,214
"A dog would be good protection for you."

305
00:18:10,297 --> 00:18:14,009
"Um, it might prevent something like this
from happening again."

306
00:18:16,095 --> 00:18:18,180
[Misty] He, all of a sudden,
has this change of heart,

307
00:18:18,263 --> 00:18:20,265
to try to look like the good guy.

308
00:18:20,349 --> 00:18:23,352
He actually gives her,
like, crime prevention advice

309
00:18:23,435 --> 00:18:26,396
on how not to be a victim in the future.

310
00:18:29,775 --> 00:18:31,777
But Tracey has long brown hair.

311
00:18:33,403 --> 00:18:36,865
The goggles that I collected
could not have been used on this woman.

312
00:18:41,537 --> 00:18:44,206
When the police arrived,
the officer asked me,

313
00:18:44,289 --> 00:18:46,458
"Are you sure
you just didn't have a bad dream?"

314
00:18:46,542 --> 00:18:47,960
[inhales deeply]

315
00:18:48,043 --> 00:18:50,546
And I… I just remember saying,

316
00:18:50,629 --> 00:18:53,090
"Well, no, I… it wasn't a dream."

317
00:18:53,173 --> 00:18:55,509
"How would I get these marks
if it was a dream?"

318
00:18:55,592 --> 00:18:58,720
"No. This is real.
Like, look, this really happened to me."

319
00:19:00,806 --> 00:19:03,016
They talked to my boyfriend.

320
00:19:04,184 --> 00:19:06,728
Asked him was I an attention seeker?

321
00:19:06,812 --> 00:19:09,815
Was I prone to making up stories?

322
00:19:09,898 --> 00:19:12,943
Did he believe that
this really could have happened?

323
00:19:13,986 --> 00:19:17,447
I was flabbergasted, honestly.

324
00:19:17,531 --> 00:19:19,032
I knew he existed.

325
00:19:19,116 --> 00:19:22,786
I knew that this would
most likely happen again,

326
00:19:22,870 --> 00:19:25,289
and I was very frustrated

327
00:19:25,372 --> 00:19:27,916
that the police
weren't taking it seriously.

328
00:19:30,502 --> 00:19:32,504
[pensive music playing]

329
00:19:35,215 --> 00:19:38,886
[Denise] As time goes on,
I'm just trying to hold on to hope.

330
00:19:39,928 --> 00:19:41,138
[seagulls cawing]

331
00:19:41,221 --> 00:19:43,599
All I want is for someone to believe me.

332
00:19:47,603 --> 00:19:48,645
The first time…

333
00:19:51,148 --> 00:19:54,318
when I was assaulted, I was 12.

334
00:19:58,822 --> 00:20:02,534
I was just a child and it was unexpected

335
00:20:02,618 --> 00:20:06,205
and I didn't know what to do and…

336
00:20:09,082 --> 00:20:10,083
[sighs]

337
00:20:12,628 --> 00:20:15,797
I blamed myself. I was ashamed.

338
00:20:15,881 --> 00:20:17,549
And a couple of years later,

339
00:20:18,592 --> 00:20:23,639
I found out that he molested another girl.

340
00:20:25,474 --> 00:20:29,561
And I felt incredible guilt
that I didn't say something sooner.

341
00:20:33,190 --> 00:20:34,316
And I'm 19,

342
00:20:36,026 --> 00:20:37,402
and it happens again.

343
00:20:38,403 --> 00:20:40,906
I'm at a friend's house, a close friend.

344
00:20:40,989 --> 00:20:43,075
We're with a small group of people.

345
00:20:44,201 --> 00:20:45,410
We've been drinking.

346
00:20:46,078 --> 00:20:49,498
I fall asleep on the couch,
and I wake up. My pants are off.

347
00:20:50,415 --> 00:20:53,001
And some guy's fingers are inside of me.

348
00:20:53,085 --> 00:20:55,045
I thought, "Okay,
this time I'm gonna report it."

349
00:20:55,128 --> 00:20:56,505
"I'm going to say something."

350
00:20:56,588 --> 00:20:59,132
I get to the police station,
and in the parking lot,

351
00:20:59,216 --> 00:21:02,844
I met with an officer
who basically talks me out of it.

352
00:21:02,928 --> 00:21:05,055
He says, "You know,
really it's a 'he said, she said.'"

353
00:21:05,138 --> 00:21:07,140
"There's not gonna be any proof."

354
00:21:08,100 --> 00:21:09,393
And then, here I am…

355
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,106
literally taken
in the middle of the night.

356
00:21:14,189 --> 00:21:18,443
My body stolen and violated.

357
00:21:20,612 --> 00:21:21,571
And it's still…

358
00:21:23,699 --> 00:21:25,033
They don't believe me.

359
00:21:25,784 --> 00:21:28,495
I don't know what needs to happen to me…

360
00:21:30,872 --> 00:21:35,377
what needs to happen to any woman
for them to be believed.

361
00:21:35,961 --> 00:21:38,171
[waves crashing]

362
00:21:38,255 --> 00:21:40,257
I mean, it just seems hopeless.

363
00:21:40,340 --> 00:21:41,383
[seagulls cawing]

364
00:21:41,466 --> 00:21:43,468
[pensive music playing]

365
00:21:50,434 --> 00:21:52,311
[phones ringing]

366
00:21:52,394 --> 00:21:55,939
[Misty] I can't give up searching
for a victim with blond hair.

367
00:21:57,733 --> 00:21:59,609
And that's all I really cared about.

368
00:22:01,528 --> 00:22:03,405
[keyboard clacking]

369
00:22:03,488 --> 00:22:06,908
And so, I decided to go back
to the white Mustang.

370
00:22:07,993 --> 00:22:08,952
[mouse clicks]

371
00:22:09,703 --> 00:22:12,497
The vehicle was stolen
seven months previously.

372
00:22:12,581 --> 00:22:14,875
-[mouse clicks]
-In the city of Vallejo.

373
00:22:16,293 --> 00:22:18,795
I contact the registered owner,

374
00:22:18,879 --> 00:22:20,839
tell him, you know,
that we have the Mustang,

375
00:22:20,922 --> 00:22:23,550
it was involved in a home invasion,

376
00:22:23,633 --> 00:22:26,678
and he stops me and says,

377
00:22:26,762 --> 00:22:30,849
"Hmm. Have you heard
of the Mare Island creeper?"

378
00:22:30,932 --> 00:22:32,392
And I thought to myself,

379
00:22:32,476 --> 00:22:35,270
"Where is Mare Island?
And who's the creeper?"

380
00:22:35,354 --> 00:22:37,356
[suspenseful music playing]

381
00:22:38,690 --> 00:22:42,402
Mare Island is connected
by a tiny bridge to Vallejo.

382
00:22:44,613 --> 00:22:46,198
It's a quiet neighborhood.

383
00:22:47,491 --> 00:22:49,368
But in 2014,

384
00:22:50,118 --> 00:22:56,083
there was a bunch of students
that were being harassed by a male subject

385
00:22:56,166 --> 00:22:58,460
who would basically peep
into their windows,

386
00:22:58,543 --> 00:23:01,505
take photos, and then would scurry away.

387
00:23:02,089 --> 00:23:03,799
[dog barking]

388
00:23:03,882 --> 00:23:08,387
Night after night after night,
this man was terrorizing the neighborhood,

389
00:23:08,470 --> 00:23:10,555
and the cops aren't doing anything.

390
00:23:10,639 --> 00:23:12,849
So they decided
to take matters into their own hands.

391
00:23:12,933 --> 00:23:14,518
[crickets chirping]

392
00:23:15,811 --> 00:23:19,064
A couple of students follow the man home

393
00:23:19,731 --> 00:23:22,818
and realize that he, too,
lives on Mare Island.

394
00:23:23,652 --> 00:23:27,447
And they do a further search
and find out that he's ex-military…

395
00:23:29,199 --> 00:23:30,325
and a lawyer.

396
00:23:32,202 --> 00:23:34,037
And in my brain, I'm thinking,

397
00:23:35,163 --> 00:23:37,124
"The Mare Island creeper
is Matthew Muller."

398
00:23:38,834 --> 00:23:39,960
Holy shit.

399
00:23:40,043 --> 00:23:42,045
[tense music playing]

400
00:23:43,380 --> 00:23:47,217
They reported all of these incidents
that occurred to the police,

401
00:23:47,926 --> 00:23:50,387
but the investigation stopped.

402
00:23:51,513 --> 00:23:54,307
How could the police
have not followed up on this guy?

403
00:23:54,391 --> 00:23:55,600
They had leads.

404
00:23:56,810 --> 00:23:58,228
[birds chirping]

405
00:23:59,187 --> 00:24:03,817
And then he tells me
that in March of 2015,

406
00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:06,403
the Mare Island creeper cases stop.

407
00:24:06,945 --> 00:24:08,530
[brooding music playing]

408
00:24:08,613 --> 00:24:13,493
He said, "You know, it was around
the same time of the Gone Girl case."

409
00:24:13,577 --> 00:24:15,078
"You know, the Gone Girl case?"

410
00:24:15,162 --> 00:24:19,541
And I had no idea
what he was talking about.

411
00:24:19,624 --> 00:24:21,626
[music continues]

412
00:24:23,003 --> 00:24:26,965
I google
"Vallejo kidnapping Gone Girl case."

413
00:24:29,384 --> 00:24:31,470
All of these articles pop up.

414
00:24:32,721 --> 00:24:36,725
Kidnapping for ransom mystery
involving a 30-year-old woman

415
00:24:36,808 --> 00:24:40,896
taken forcibly in the night
from a home on Mare Island.

416
00:24:40,979 --> 00:24:44,065
[Misty] She was taken from
an address on Kirkland Avenue

417
00:24:44,149 --> 00:24:47,652
where the Mare Island creeper was
committing his Peeping Tom crimes.

418
00:24:47,736 --> 00:24:50,405
[reporter 1] The suspect restrained them
with zip ties

419
00:24:50,489 --> 00:24:53,992
and then covered their eyes
with blacked-out swim goggles.

420
00:24:54,075 --> 00:24:56,536
My heart is racing. My stomach is turning.

421
00:24:56,620 --> 00:24:58,622
[reporter 2] That woman
who claims she was kidnapped

422
00:24:58,705 --> 00:25:02,501
has turned up safe and unharmed
this morning in Huntington Beach.

423
00:25:02,584 --> 00:25:06,379
[Misty] The GPS in the Mustang
had Huntington Beach on it.

424
00:25:06,463 --> 00:25:08,048
-[mouse clicks]
-And then…

425
00:25:08,131 --> 00:25:10,425
[dramatic sting]

426
00:25:10,509 --> 00:25:13,011
I see this picture of a white woman

427
00:25:14,638 --> 00:25:16,223
with long blond hair.

428
00:25:17,015 --> 00:25:20,227
Oh my God. The blond hair
that I have on those goggles

429
00:25:20,310 --> 00:25:23,438
is hair that matches
the hair that Denise has.

430
00:25:24,189 --> 00:25:27,275
[reporter] Police are now saying
it was all a wild goose chase.

431
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:29,903
It was all a hoax, an elaborate hoax.

432
00:25:29,986 --> 00:25:33,532
[Misty] They're calling this woman a liar
on national news,

433
00:25:34,407 --> 00:25:36,785
but I just wanted
to reach through the computer

434
00:25:36,868 --> 00:25:38,620
and just give her a hug and say,

435
00:25:39,829 --> 00:25:40,830
"I got you."

436
00:25:44,042 --> 00:25:45,710
[music fades]

437
00:25:47,546 --> 00:25:49,339
[line ringing]

438
00:25:49,422 --> 00:25:50,799
So I call Vallejo PD.

439
00:25:52,342 --> 00:25:55,887
I'm so excited and so amped up,
like, "Let's get this solved right now!"

440
00:25:57,013 --> 00:25:58,515
[line continues ringing]

441
00:25:58,598 --> 00:25:59,808
And I get no answer.

442
00:26:01,393 --> 00:26:04,271
But I am like the annoying ex-girlfriend
that never goes away.

443
00:26:04,354 --> 00:26:06,481
[line ringing]

444
00:26:06,565 --> 00:26:08,024
So I continue to call them.

445
00:26:08,108 --> 00:26:09,651
[intriguing music playing]

446
00:26:09,734 --> 00:26:10,819
And call them.

447
00:26:11,528 --> 00:26:13,363
[line continues ringing]

448
00:26:16,616 --> 00:26:17,617
[ringing stops]

449
00:26:17,701 --> 00:26:21,830
Finally, I get transferred to a detective
and he says,

450
00:26:21,913 --> 00:26:25,292
"The case was turned over to the FBI,
so we're no longer investigating it."

451
00:26:25,375 --> 00:26:26,835
"You might want to call them."

452
00:26:26,918 --> 00:26:29,462
"Okay. Um, give me the phone number."

453
00:26:29,546 --> 00:26:33,925
So he gives me the phone number
to the FBI agent, David Sesma.

454
00:26:34,009 --> 00:26:37,012
And I hang up the phone,
like, "Okay, that was useless."

455
00:26:37,887 --> 00:26:40,098
-[line rings]
-And I call David Sesma.

456
00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:41,600
And I tell him,

457
00:26:41,683 --> 00:26:46,438
"We have a suspect in custody,
um, very similar to the suspect

458
00:26:46,521 --> 00:26:49,608
that was involved
in the kidnapping of Denise Huskins."

459
00:26:49,691 --> 00:26:51,651
"You guys deemed it a hoax."

460
00:26:51,735 --> 00:26:54,571
He snapped back and said,
"We never called it a hoax."

461
00:26:54,654 --> 00:26:58,617
I said, "Well, anyways,
I have this person in custody

462
00:26:58,700 --> 00:27:04,497
that you may be interested in speaking to
because the cases are so similar."

463
00:27:05,081 --> 00:27:05,915
And he said,

464
00:27:05,999 --> 00:27:10,045
"Okay, well, send me all the information
that you have, and we'll look at it."

465
00:27:10,128 --> 00:27:12,505
And I thought, "That's it?"

466
00:27:12,589 --> 00:27:14,257
I was so disappointed.

467
00:27:14,341 --> 00:27:16,676
-[suspenseful music playing]
-[phones ringing]

468
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:18,887
[Miguel] We set up a meeting with the FBI

469
00:27:18,970 --> 00:27:22,140
to go over the evidence
that we found in South Lake Tahoe.

470
00:27:25,352 --> 00:27:27,062
I show them the zip ties,

471
00:27:28,271 --> 00:27:29,230
duct tape…

472
00:27:30,815 --> 00:27:32,525
and they were curious.

473
00:27:34,235 --> 00:27:37,322
But when they see the water gun
that we had collected,

474
00:27:37,405 --> 00:27:40,158
they told us
that this was the exact same gun

475
00:27:40,241 --> 00:27:42,869
that the kidnappers
had photographed and emailed

476
00:27:42,952 --> 00:27:45,163
to, uh, the San Francisco Chronicle.

477
00:27:45,955 --> 00:27:47,624
[suspenseful music continues]

478
00:27:48,375 --> 00:27:52,337
And then when I show them the photo
of the goggles with the blond hair,

479
00:27:52,420 --> 00:27:54,547
they look visibly shocked.

480
00:27:54,631 --> 00:27:57,801
They realize that maybe they were wrong

481
00:27:57,884 --> 00:28:01,262
and they need to further investigate
the Vallejo incident.

482
00:28:02,222 --> 00:28:03,473
[music intensifies, ends]

483
00:28:07,477 --> 00:28:09,479
[phone ringing]

484
00:28:09,562 --> 00:28:10,772
[receiver clatters]

485
00:28:10,855 --> 00:28:12,982
[Doug] I get a call from the US attorney.

486
00:28:14,192 --> 00:28:17,779
And he tells me, "Doug, I think
we may have a break in the case."

487
00:28:17,862 --> 00:28:19,239
[police siren wailing]

488
00:28:19,322 --> 00:28:23,993
He says, "We have a man.
We're holding him in custody right now."

489
00:28:24,828 --> 00:28:29,082
"There is evidence that links him
to the crime against Denise and Aaron."

490
00:28:29,165 --> 00:28:31,042
[pensive music playing]

491
00:28:31,126 --> 00:28:33,586
Can you imagine my shock?

492
00:28:33,670 --> 00:28:37,507
[reporter 1] Breaking news at noon
in the mysterious Vallejo kidnapping saga.

493
00:28:37,590 --> 00:28:40,844
Major break in a strange kidnapping case
in California.

494
00:28:40,927 --> 00:28:44,389
A kidnapping case that was once compared
to the movie Gone Girl.

495
00:28:44,472 --> 00:28:47,517
There's been an arrest
in the Denise Huskins kidnapping.

496
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:49,436
This was real all along.

497
00:28:49,519 --> 00:28:51,604
Denise and Aaron were telling the truth.

498
00:28:51,688 --> 00:28:53,314
I'm floored.

499
00:28:53,398 --> 00:28:57,068
[reporter 2] Authorities initially said
Huskins was lying about her kidnapping.

500
00:28:57,152 --> 00:28:59,904
Now we've learned from the arrest warrant
that Denise reported

501
00:28:59,988 --> 00:29:02,532
she was sexually assaulted by her captor.

502
00:29:03,908 --> 00:29:05,160
Oh God.

503
00:29:07,036 --> 00:29:09,205
I mean, the news is just overwhelming.

504
00:29:09,289 --> 00:29:13,877
There's millions of different questions
running on… in our minds.

505
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,881
[reporter 3] A suspect
has now been identified by the FBI.

506
00:29:17,964 --> 00:29:21,634
Matthew Muller graduated
from Harvard Law in 2006

507
00:29:21,718 --> 00:29:24,804
and was a research assistant there
for the next three years.

508
00:29:24,888 --> 00:29:29,184
He told detectives he's bipolar
and suffers from Gulf War Illness.

509
00:29:29,267 --> 00:29:32,771
[reporter 3] Muller had been working
as an immigration lawyer in San Francisco,

510
00:29:32,854 --> 00:29:35,565
but was disbarred earlier this year.

511
00:29:37,275 --> 00:29:39,110
[Denise] I'm looking at this man.

512
00:29:41,404 --> 00:29:43,615
I'm, like, sick to my stomach.

513
00:29:45,950 --> 00:29:48,369
I'm just trying to process…

514
00:29:50,497 --> 00:29:51,664
the situation.

515
00:29:53,500 --> 00:29:56,461
Because the man
who held me captive and raped me,

516
00:29:56,544 --> 00:29:58,963
I never knew what he looked like.

517
00:30:00,256 --> 00:30:03,426
But then there's video footage.

518
00:30:03,510 --> 00:30:06,012
[reporter] He's seen here
in this story on Univision.

519
00:30:06,095 --> 00:30:08,097
They had said, up until today, is that,

520
00:30:08,181 --> 00:30:10,308
"No, we will not even let you
have your day in court."

521
00:30:10,391 --> 00:30:11,893
[gentle music playing]

522
00:30:11,976 --> 00:30:15,647
The cadence of how he spoke, the rhythm.

523
00:30:17,065 --> 00:30:18,191
I know it's him.

524
00:30:23,112 --> 00:30:27,992
Hearing him, seeing him
validated that this all was real.

525
00:30:29,702 --> 00:30:33,456
And I felt that frustration
and that anger of like,

526
00:30:33,540 --> 00:30:37,126
"See? It wasn't that fucking crazy
'cause it happened."

527
00:30:37,210 --> 00:30:38,503
"Why didn't you listen to us?"

528
00:30:38,586 --> 00:30:41,256
"Why didn't you
take what we said seriously?"

529
00:30:45,426 --> 00:30:47,554
[Doug] After the arrest of Matthew Muller,

530
00:30:48,221 --> 00:30:50,640
the only thing in this world
that I want to see

531
00:30:51,349 --> 00:30:52,642
is the affidavit.

532
00:30:54,602 --> 00:30:58,565
An affidavit is a document
that law enforcement puts together

533
00:30:58,648 --> 00:31:02,986
that details every step
of an investigation.

534
00:31:03,069 --> 00:31:04,237
[intriguing music playing]

535
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,990
When I read it,
it becomes patently obvious

536
00:31:07,073 --> 00:31:09,742
that law enforcement did very little work

537
00:31:09,826 --> 00:31:12,787
into the actual crime of kidnapping.

538
00:31:12,871 --> 00:31:16,207
What they did focus their attention on
was prosecuting Denise and Aaron.

539
00:31:17,709 --> 00:31:21,504
They were blind to the fact
that a real crime had been committed here.

540
00:31:23,298 --> 00:31:25,466
So I read about the polygraph and it says,

541
00:31:26,676 --> 00:31:28,344
"The exam was completed…

542
00:31:29,512 --> 00:31:31,598
with unknown results."

543
00:31:32,307 --> 00:31:35,476
Agent French told me
I failed it miserably,

544
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,312
not even a question.

545
00:31:38,688 --> 00:31:42,150
Aaron, there's no question in my mind
that you failed this test.

546
00:31:42,233 --> 00:31:43,985
So he's just lying to me.

547
00:31:44,068 --> 00:31:48,114
Lying through his teeth
to just break me down.

548
00:31:50,116 --> 00:31:53,202
Then I see that there's a section
in this affidavit

549
00:31:53,286 --> 00:31:54,662
that goes over the SART exam.

550
00:31:55,914 --> 00:31:58,875
A SART exam is
a sexual assault examination

551
00:31:58,958 --> 00:32:01,669
that's given at the hospital
to victims of sexual assaults.

552
00:32:02,754 --> 00:32:04,839
According to this affidavit,

553
00:32:04,923 --> 00:32:09,010
there was no physical evidence
of non-consensual sex.

554
00:32:11,596 --> 00:32:14,140
[Doug] Denise spent
hours and hours and hours

555
00:32:14,223 --> 00:32:18,144
going over each detail
about the sexual assault.

556
00:32:18,227 --> 00:32:19,646
[Denise] And I played along…

557
00:32:20,271 --> 00:32:22,398
'cause I didn't know what else to do.

558
00:32:22,482 --> 00:32:27,403
Not every rape
is going to be physically damaging.

559
00:32:27,487 --> 00:32:31,074
I mean, this is the fucking FBI.
Like, they should know better.

560
00:32:31,157 --> 00:32:33,201
[intriguing music continues]

561
00:32:33,284 --> 00:32:36,871
[Doug] Then I read that while Aaron
was in the Vallejo Police Department,

562
00:32:37,538 --> 00:32:42,794
he told the police that the kidnappers
were going to contact him on his phone.

563
00:32:43,753 --> 00:32:46,214
But what does law enforcement do?

564
00:32:46,297 --> 00:32:48,007
They put it on airplane mode.

565
00:32:48,633 --> 00:32:51,260
Law enforcement
didn't turn Aaron's phone on

566
00:32:51,344 --> 00:32:53,680
until that next evening,

567
00:32:53,763 --> 00:32:56,307
when they discovered
that two calls had come in.

568
00:32:56,975 --> 00:32:58,726
These were traceable calls.

569
00:32:59,602 --> 00:33:01,437
And they were traceable

570
00:33:02,230 --> 00:33:04,232
within 200 meters…

571
00:33:04,315 --> 00:33:06,943
[music intensifies, fades]

572
00:33:07,026 --> 00:33:08,861
…of where Denise was being held.

573
00:33:11,239 --> 00:33:12,490
Oh my God.

574
00:33:16,035 --> 00:33:19,956
If they had actually monitored his phone…

575
00:33:22,083 --> 00:33:24,335
they could have saved me
from the second rape.

576
00:33:26,796 --> 00:33:27,714
[exhales]

577
00:33:28,923 --> 00:33:29,757
Yeah.

578
00:33:29,841 --> 00:33:31,175
[somber music playing]

579
00:33:34,429 --> 00:33:37,807
And then, as we were
still going through all of this,

580
00:33:38,558 --> 00:33:40,518
we get a call from the FBI.

581
00:33:40,601 --> 00:33:41,894
[indistinct chatter]

582
00:33:41,978 --> 00:33:45,523
[Denise] They tell us that they are sure
that Muller acted alone

583
00:33:45,606 --> 00:33:47,817
and they're not looking for anyone else.

584
00:33:48,609 --> 00:33:51,320
These are the same investigators
that said I killed Denise.

585
00:33:51,404 --> 00:33:54,157
The same investigators
that said it was a hoax.

586
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:56,951
And now the same investigators
are saying he acted alone.

587
00:33:57,035 --> 00:33:59,287
We know there's other people out there.

588
00:33:59,912 --> 00:34:02,165
And the police are gonna let them
skate through

589
00:34:02,248 --> 00:34:04,250
because it's the easiest thing for them.

590
00:34:04,751 --> 00:34:06,502
[reporter] Keep moving, guys!
Keep it clear!

591
00:34:06,586 --> 00:34:08,921
-[cameras clicking]
-Clear, please!

592
00:34:09,005 --> 00:34:10,131
[indistinct chatter]

593
00:34:10,214 --> 00:34:11,716
Clear, please!

594
00:34:14,343 --> 00:34:17,430
[Denise] The police refused
to follow the evidence,

595
00:34:18,222 --> 00:34:20,600
and the media all laughed along the way.

596
00:34:20,683 --> 00:34:22,685
[cameras clicking]

597
00:34:24,062 --> 00:34:26,314
I want to stand up there…

598
00:34:29,192 --> 00:34:32,862
and look every damn one of them
in the face

599
00:34:33,780 --> 00:34:35,740
while they learn the truth.

600
00:34:35,823 --> 00:34:37,825
[cameras clicking]

601
00:34:39,243 --> 00:34:40,661
I'm sick of hiding.

602
00:34:42,538 --> 00:34:44,624
I don't have anything to hide from.

603
00:34:45,166 --> 00:34:49,253
Nearly four months ago,
we told you that Denise Huskins was right.

604
00:34:49,921 --> 00:34:53,883
That she was not only innocent
of perpetrating a hoax,

605
00:34:53,966 --> 00:34:57,762
but that she was a victim
of a very serious and violent crime.

606
00:34:59,597 --> 00:35:03,101
Seeing Denise and Aaron out in public,
they're not saying anything,

607
00:35:03,184 --> 00:35:05,394
but their emotions spoke volumes.

608
00:35:06,562 --> 00:35:11,317
I regret my part in this
because they went through hell.

609
00:35:12,693 --> 00:35:14,987
We're thinking that
we're covering this story,

610
00:35:15,071 --> 00:35:18,324
the salacious story of a lifetime,
and it all went horribly wrong.

611
00:35:19,408 --> 00:35:23,996
Ms. Huskins and Mr. Quinn
held their heads up high

612
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:28,251
in the face of public shame
and humiliation.

613
00:35:29,085 --> 00:35:33,714
I had this overwhelming sense of relief.

614
00:35:36,384 --> 00:35:39,887
And to know that she was going to be
validated was everything to me.

615
00:35:39,971 --> 00:35:41,556
That she was not a liar.

616
00:35:41,639 --> 00:35:45,476
And how dare we, as law enforcement,
ever say something like that.

617
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:47,562
[mellow music playing]

618
00:35:55,987 --> 00:35:59,323
[reporter 1] A man who has pled guilty
to the kidnapping of Denise Huskins

619
00:35:59,407 --> 00:36:00,741
will be sentenced today.

620
00:36:01,450 --> 00:36:05,663
[reporter 2] This will be Huskins's
and Quinn's first time coming face-to-face

621
00:36:05,746 --> 00:36:06,998
with Matthew Muller.

622
00:36:07,081 --> 00:36:10,126
[mellow music continues]

623
00:36:12,420 --> 00:36:14,922
[Denise] In that entire time in captivity…

624
00:36:16,924 --> 00:36:21,012
I was a body to him behind these goggles.

625
00:36:22,597 --> 00:36:25,183
I never saw him, and he never saw me.

626
00:36:26,267 --> 00:36:27,977
And I knew that standing up there,

627
00:36:28,060 --> 00:36:31,480
I was going to turn to him
and make him see me.

628
00:36:33,816 --> 00:36:36,861
And I stared right at him,
and I said his name,

629
00:36:38,196 --> 00:36:40,031
"Matthew Muller…. [clears throat]

630
00:36:42,491 --> 00:36:46,162
…now we meet face-to-face, eye-to-eye."

631
00:36:47,705 --> 00:36:51,500
"I am Denise Huskins,
the woman behind the blindfold."

632
00:36:59,884 --> 00:37:01,886
[breathing shakily]

633
00:37:04,138 --> 00:37:05,014
And, um…

634
00:37:07,934 --> 00:37:09,852
I took myself back that day.

635
00:37:13,397 --> 00:37:15,399
[pensive music playing]

636
00:37:43,010 --> 00:37:44,011
[attorney] Okay.

637
00:37:45,096 --> 00:37:46,847
Okay, good morning. We are on the record.

638
00:37:46,931 --> 00:37:51,185
This is the recorded video deposition
of Andrew Bidou.

639
00:37:52,061 --> 00:37:55,022
[Doug] During the civil case,
a tip came in,

640
00:37:55,106 --> 00:37:58,401
and it's about the chief of police,
Andrew Bidou.

641
00:38:00,319 --> 00:38:02,697
According to the anonymous source,

642
00:38:02,780 --> 00:38:06,826
before the Vallejo Police Department
had a national press conference

643
00:38:06,909 --> 00:38:09,704
in which they called
Denise and Aaron liars,

644
00:38:10,371 --> 00:38:14,667
Andrew Bidou told Officer Park to

645
00:38:14,750 --> 00:38:16,252
"burn that bitch."

646
00:38:16,836 --> 00:38:21,674
Ms. Huskins has plundered
valuable resources away from our community

647
00:38:21,757 --> 00:38:25,428
while instilling fear
amongst our community members.

648
00:38:25,511 --> 00:38:29,682
So if anything, it is Ms. Huskins
that owes this community an apology.

649
00:38:30,266 --> 00:38:32,184
[attorney] Do you recall anyone saying

650
00:38:32,268 --> 00:38:34,270
any words to the effect
of "burn that bitch"

651
00:38:34,353 --> 00:38:37,231
in respect to Ms. Huskins
on the day of March 25th?

652
00:38:37,315 --> 00:38:39,317
I've never heard anybody say that.

653
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,153
[thrilling music playing]

654
00:38:50,786 --> 00:38:52,330
And I start figuring out,

655
00:38:52,413 --> 00:38:55,416
"Okay, how do I make it
so you look like a monster?"

656
00:38:56,959 --> 00:38:58,961
[music continues]

657
00:39:18,397 --> 00:39:20,024
[music fades]

658
00:39:20,107 --> 00:39:21,984
[Denise] The end of 2017…

659
00:39:24,111 --> 00:39:27,740
we find out that Misty Carausu
would like to talk to us.

660
00:39:27,823 --> 00:39:29,825
[hopeful music playing]

661
00:39:30,493 --> 00:39:33,245
[Misty] I wanted to meet them.
I felt like it was time.

662
00:39:35,498 --> 00:39:37,875
They walk in… Sorry.

663
00:39:37,958 --> 00:39:41,670
They walk in and I see her,
and she looks exactly the same

664
00:39:42,671 --> 00:39:44,632
as she did on… on the news.

665
00:39:45,299 --> 00:39:48,260
We just hugged
and we just talked for a while.

666
00:39:48,844 --> 00:39:50,262
It was very emotional.

667
00:39:51,222 --> 00:39:55,976
And I tell her… [sighs]
…how all I've wanted this whole time

668
00:39:56,977 --> 00:40:01,315
was someone in law enforcement
to call a hero

669
00:40:01,399 --> 00:40:03,609
and that she's our hero.

670
00:40:03,692 --> 00:40:05,694
[hopeful music continues]

671
00:40:08,197 --> 00:40:10,616
[Aaron]
If Misty didn't connect Muller to us,

672
00:40:12,159 --> 00:40:14,537
I've no idea where we'd be.

673
00:40:17,581 --> 00:40:19,417
We're lucky out of this.

674
00:40:20,418 --> 00:40:21,585
[music fades]

675
00:40:21,669 --> 00:40:25,089
["True Love Will Find You in the End"
by Headless Heroes playing]

676
00:40:25,965 --> 00:40:30,678
♪ True love will find you in the end ♪

677
00:40:31,387 --> 00:40:32,847
[Denise] We got married.

678
00:40:34,432 --> 00:40:37,351
We moved to the coast
and started a new life.

679
00:40:42,064 --> 00:40:46,861
And in March 2020,
I gave birth to our daughter, Olivia.

680
00:40:49,947 --> 00:40:53,284
[Aaron] And then we had
another little girl, Naomi.

681
00:40:53,367 --> 00:40:55,327
[song continues]

682
00:40:56,328 --> 00:40:59,165
And so, uh, it feels like
our family is complete.

683
00:40:59,248 --> 00:41:00,082
[Denise] Mm-hmm.

684
00:41:00,166 --> 00:41:01,083
Yeah.

685
00:41:01,750 --> 00:41:06,630
♪ This is a promise with a catch ♪

686
00:41:09,175 --> 00:41:12,178
[Denise] I want them to know their value

687
00:41:12,261 --> 00:41:14,847
and to never let anyone

688
00:41:16,557 --> 00:41:19,935
dictate that or determine that for them.

689
00:41:22,313 --> 00:41:27,276
More than anything, I just hope
that they grow up to be like their mom.

690
00:41:27,359 --> 00:41:29,570
And if they do that, they'll be okay.

691
00:41:33,574 --> 00:41:34,450
Yep.

692
00:41:42,750 --> 00:41:44,460
[song ends]

693
00:41:45,711 --> 00:41:47,713
[thrilling music playing]

694
00:42:26,710 --> 00:42:28,712
[music fades]