Never-before-released interrogations of Matthew Muller, the serial predator who kidnapped Denise Huskins in 2015, reveal confessions to decades of other home invasions and sexual assaults. Those revelations likely would not have emerged without Huskins and her husband, Aaron Quinn — the couple once falsely accused of staging a hoax — who are being honored by the California District Attorneys Association as “Witnesses of the Year” for their persistence in helping investigators uncover the truth.
The confessions were recorded in Arizona last November during in-custody interviews driven by the couple’s efforts to seek justice for additional victims. Muller admitted to a string of crimes, including one that dates back 30 years and another that victims never reported because of threats and fear.
In March 2015 Muller invaded the couple’s Vallejo home, blindfolding and drugging them, then kidnapping, raping and holding Huskins for ransom at a cabin in South Lake Tahoe. Huskins was missing for two days while investigators briefly accused Quinn of killing her; when she was released, authorities at times treated the couple as if they had staged the incident.
Two months after the Vallejo attack, a similar incident in nearby Dublin led investigators to Muller’s Tahoe cabin, where Alameda County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Misty Carausu, then a rookie detective, found crucial evidence that proved the couple’s account. That evidence helped vindicate Huskins and Quinn; Muller was later sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for that case. Interrogation footage from 2015 shows Huskins warned police then that Muller had boasted of other victims.
Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges, after watching a Netflix docuseries about the case, reached out to the couple and organized a law enforcement speaking engagement that included Carausu. When Huskins and Quinn told Borges they suspected more victims, he took the unusual step of writing to Muller in prison; Muller replied in writing, confessing to additional crimes. Borges, Carausu and the couple pushed authorities to re-examine older cases.
Muller first admitted to two 2009 Santa Clara County home invasions and attempted rapes. At the time, police had questioned him but said there was insufficient evidence to charge him; the cases were not reopened or retested for DNA until this year. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen later reopened the files, tested Muller’s DNA, and secured two life terms for Muller in those cases — a justice Rosen described as delayed but made possible by Huskins and Quinn’s refusal to give up.
Muller also confessed to an unreported 2015 home invasion in Contra Costa County that occurred two weeks after he released Huskins. He told investigators he had coerced the family into silence by threatening harm to their children. He drew a map for detectives and said he had discarded a ladder he used to enter the home in a ravine behind the property. El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson and FBI agents interviewed Muller in prison; based on Pierson’s hunch and Contra Costa detectives’ willingness to follow it, officers hiked into the woods, found the ladder nearly a decade later, located the house and identified victims who had never reported the crime. Contra Costa District Attorney Dina Becton said that without Huskins, Quinn and the officers who believed them, the crime would not have been investigated and those victims would have remained unknown. Muller received another life sentence for the Contra Costa crime.
Prosecutors also tied Muller to a 1993 ambush of a couple camping in Sacramento County, a crime Muller says he committed as a teenager. At the time, investigators doubted the victims and questioned the boyfriend. Through the Quinns’ persistence, investigators located other victims who had felt justice had been denied for decades. Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho secured a life sentence for Muller for the 1993 crime and publicly thanked the couple for bringing long-suppressed victims forward.
Altogether the investigations linked Muller to six crimes involving more than a dozen victims over 32 years. Many of these cases could have been resolved sooner; for example, Huskins’ rape kit was not tested until this year. The Quinns’ advocacy prompted law enforcement agencies to retest evidence, reopen cases and finally prosecute crimes that had languished.
Huskins and Quinn have since taken on new roles: they speak at law enforcement conferences, participate in panels on science-based interviewing, and help train officers on how to work with victims. At a South Lake Tahoe conference Huskins, once the name on a case file, spoke as an expert, noting that disbelief of victims is a common and serious problem. The couple is also working with officials to sponsor legislation aimed at addressing failures in how cases and evidence are handled.
Law enforcement officials who supported the Quinns through the process include Lieutenant Misty Carausu and Chief Nick Borges, as well as prosecutors Jeff Rosen, Vern Pierson, Dina Becton and Thien Ho. Their combined efforts led to multiple new confessions, evidence re-examination, identification of previously unknown victims and additional convictions for Muller.
Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn were honored by the California District Attorneys Association as “Witnesses of the Year.” The award recognizes not only what they endured but the impact of their persistence — reopening cold cases, securing convictions, finding victims who had been kept silent for years, and helping change how victims are treated and investigations are pursued.