The couple from Netflix hit American Nightmare have revealed crippling fears for their children’s future following the horrific kidnapping ordeal.
An emotional Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn took the stage at CrimeCon in Nashville on Saturday to talk about their harrowing hell in front of a packed house and how they were critically failed by authorities.
3
3
Her bizarre, stranger-than-fiction story made global headlines after a documentary about Denise’s kidnapping and sexual assault at the hands of a masked intruder in March 2015.
Online critics and local police investigating initially unhelpful allegations of a crime, accusing the couple of acting out their nightmare in a case similar to the Ben Affleck thriller Gone Girl.
But the California-based physical therapists ultimately proved their story and were awarded $2.5 million in damages.
However, an emotional Denise said that although she has improved in recent months after long periods of intensive trauma therapy, she is constantly worried about the safety of her two young children.
She revealed that while horrific panic attacks sometimes left her worried she would need to be hospitalized, there were also doubts about her “being too broken” to get pregnant.
Matthew Muller was convicted of kidnapping and raping Denise and is serving 40 years in prison.
But the pain remains.
“I wanted to have kids, but if I’m going to deal with this emotionally for the rest of my life somehow, you know, is that fair to them?” Denise, whose daughter was born five years before her release, told a large crowd at CrimeCon.
“When we become parents, it is programmed into us to see and predict all the things that could go wrong.
“It’s as if you carried a newborn down the stairs and imagined slipping and falling. It’s kind of a crazy way for your brain to age, anticipating anything so bad could happen to this little human.
“They are your responsibility. We have two girls and I’m so grateful to have them. They are so sweet and bright and have their whole lives ahead of them.”
Their first daughter, Olivia, was born in March 2020, while Naomi arrived in November 2022.
“It’s scary not knowing exactly how the world could hurt them. There were times when I ran to her room in her crib because she was sleeping more,” she continued.
“Is she there? Did someone take her? It’s a challenge trying not to let your mind go crazy with all the possibilities.
“But I think in some ways, having that experience gives us a little more education to know what to look for.”
Husband Aaron, whose FBI agent brother was an “invaluable resource” to the couple, wasted no time in criticizing authorities for their handling of the case, admitting it was “shocking and terrifying”.
Denise revealed that without the help of her legal team, they may never have been able to clear their names.
“My criminal defense lawyer had a two-day-old baby and he came and took calls with me all night,” she said.
“He called his wife and said ‘honey, I know you need me, but she’s broken.’
“Our lawyers were our saviors.”
“I think looking back, the trauma caused by the false police accusations, the media misrepresentation, the hate on social media, the public shaming, the victim blaming, all of that, in many ways, was even more traumatic than the own kidnappings and rapes.”
“You grow up believing that if something bad happens, you call 911 for help. You turn to your community for help, and unfortunately we have been abandoned and attacked.”
Asked by an audience member what Aaron’s recommendation would be if something terrible happened, he said, “Call a lawyer first.”
What happened to the Huskins?
In the early hours of March 23, 2015, Aaron Quinn and his girlfriend Denise Huskins suffered a horrific home invasion in Vallejo, California.
A masked intruder broke into their home, waking them up with the words: “wake up, this is a robbery.”
The attacker claimed to be part of a highly trained group of criminals who collect debts.
The couple was tied up, drugged and blindfolded, and Denise was kidnapped in the end.
The attackers gave Aaron tasks to complete and demanded he pay a ransom for Denise’s release.
After being transferred downstairs, Aaron was monitored by a camera and warned not to involve the police, or they would kill Denise.
The next morning, Aaron contacted his brother, an FBI agent, who in turn alerted the police.
However, Vallejo Police Department detectives quickly became skeptical of Aaron’s story, accusing him of making up the story, comparing it to Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl, a story about a woman who fakes her own disappearance to take revenge on her husband.
Despite a small bloodstain found on Aaron’s sheets, the VPD’s interrogation focused intensely on Aaron, treating him as the prime suspect despite not believing his story.
His brother, Ethan, sought the help of veteran criminal defense attorney Dan Russo, who found Aaron disheveled and dazed after hours of relentless questioning by police.
Despite Russo’s belief in Aaron’s story, the police were unconvinced, dismissing the kidnapping as a hoax.
In a critical turn of events, Denise was miraculously found alive two days later, 400 miles away in Huntington Beach.
She managed to contact her family on a neighbor’s phone, sharing her harrowing experience of being held captive, assaulted and raped.
Despite Denise’s eventual safe return, the VPD publicly undermined the couple’s story, labeling it an “orchestrated event.”
Russo expressed his disgust with the way the police handled the case, emphasizing the psychological toll it left on Aaron and Denise, who continued to face public skepticism due to the police dismissing their story.
But in June 2015, police in Dublin, California, responded to a similar home invasion involving Matthew Muller, a Harvard-educated former Marine and suspect in three home invasion attacks in Mountain View and Palo Alto in 2009 and 2012, which had striking similarities to the Huskins Kidnapping.
A search of his property revealed several laptops, cell phones, several ski masks, black glasses with tape, toy guns and an empty bed with no blankets that appeared to have been used for sleeping.
Muller was later charged in Solano County with kidnapping for ransom, two counts of forcible rape, robbery, robbery and false imprisonment.
He is currently in a mental health facility after being found unfit to stand trial on these charges in November 2020.
Aaron, Denise and Russo continue to believe that other people were involved in the kidnapping, but only Muller has been charged.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
