Netflix's latest true crime drama explores the 'Gone Girl' kidnapping case which was so far-fetched it was wrongly dismissed by cops. Denise Huskins and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn successfully used law enforcement for $1.2 million after being accused of hoaxing.
It was an ordinary spring night in March 2015 and Denise and Aaron, both physiotherapists, were asleep at home in Vallejo, California. The pair were suddenly awoken by a bright light and commotion - and what happened next would change their lives forever.
A man in a wetsuit, wielding a fake gun, forced the couple out of bed and made Denise tie her boyfriend's hands behind his back. The intruder played out a pre-recorded message to make the petrified duo believe they were outnumbered.
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He put his blindfolded victims in a closet where he drugged them before forcing Denise into his boot and driving 500 miles away. Aaron eventually rang 911, as heard in the show's Netflix trailer. He told them: “My girlfriend Denise got kidnapped last night.” Asked why he didn’t contact them sooner, he replied: “I was tied up.”
Cops arrived on scene to find blood on the walls, zip ties, toy guns and bizarrely a blow up doll. Aaron found himself at the centre of the investigation, being interrogated for 48 hours while the real culprit demanded $15,000 (£11,000) for Denise's safe return.
Two days later, Denise wound up being dropped off near her parent's house in Huntington Beach, California. Having only been missing for two days, she was widely accused of being a hoaxer and was nicknamed the real-life Gone Girl because of similarities to the Gillian Flynn novel and subsequent Hollywood film - which had been released only months prior.
Police could not believe that a kidnapper would drop his victim off so close to her home. But three months later, a new suspect came to the forefront. A man, Matthew Muller, was arrested in connection with an attempted robbery at a property around 40 miles from Denise and Aaron's home.
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There were similarities between the attempted robbery and Denise and Aaron's case. A disbarred Harvard University-trained lawyer, it later transpired that Matthew, 41, had been stalking the couple before the break-in and kidnapping.
He eventually pleaded guilty to the crime and Denise later spoke in court about how she was raped and treated like “an animal” by the monster. She said: “You flopped me around the bed like a rag doll. The only way I got through it was to picture that it was Aaron that I was with, and that will haunt me for the rest of my life.” Denise added: “I told myself, no matter what they do, I’m not going to beg and scream. If it is the last moments that I am going to be living, I am just going to stay calm and be grateful for the life I had.”
Matthew was sentenced to 40 years in prison on federal kidnapping charges before later being sentenced to 31 more years for two counts of rape along with robbery and false imprisonment charges. Denise and Aaron went on to sue the police and won a $2.5 million defamation settlement.
Writing on Instagram ahead of the documentary's release, Denise, who has also written a book called Victim F From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors, said: “This goes way beyond just us as victims, and this one case.
"The bigger themes of rushing to judgement, victim blaming, misrepresentation in the media, false accusations fuelled by tunnel vision and confirmation bias in law enforcement, and the dangerous tactics they use to try to get a false confession, are sadly all too common in our world.
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“But perhaps more importantly, it’s a story of hope when all feels lost. I believe anyone who’s overcome a trauma can connect with different parts of this series and what we went through. We look forward to having you watch.”
All three episodes of American Nightmare are now available to stream on Netflix.