VALLEJO, Calif. — Editor's note: This story contains mention of kidnapping and sexual assault.
The Vallejo Police Department is receiving backlash on social media after the release of a Netflix documentary about Denise Huskins’ kidnapping, which the department once called a hoax.
“American Nightmare” was released Jan. 17. The documentary centers on Huskins’ two-day kidnapping and its subsequent investigation, which law enforcement started in full swing roughly three months after Huskins returned home.
Matthew Muller, of Orangevale, a disbarred Harvard-trained attorney and ex-Marine, kidnapped Huskins from her Vallejo home March 23, 2015. Her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, with whom she shared the home, was bound and drugged during the kidnapping but later considered a suspect.
On March 25, 2015, Muller returned Huskins to Huntington Beach, about 400 miles from Vallejo. Hours after she was returned, police said they found no proof of a kidnapping and believed it was a hoax.
Per the documentary, Vallejo Police Department Detective Mathew Mustard said during interrogation women who have been sexually assaulted pretend to have it happen again so they might “relive” the thrill of it.
On June 5, 2015, Alameda County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a report of a home invasion robbery, the FBI said in a news release. During their investigation, detectives identified Muller as the subject of the investigation. He was arrested June 8, 2015, the release said.
On June 25, 2015, the FBI and Alameda County deputies identified ties between Muller’s and Huskins’ cases.
A complete timeline of the case can be viewed HERE.
Social media response in 2024
Vallejo Police Department posts on Facebook since the Netflix documentary’s release have been bombarded with comments in response to the department’s original claim the kidnapping was a hoax.
A post published Thursday about a firearm arrest currently has 1,672 comments; other posts in the last two weeks have reached over 100 to almost 700 comments.
Sgt. Rashad Hollis, a spokesman for the Vallejo Police Department, said the organization does not track the average response to their Facebook posts.
Comments regarding the Huskins’ case will appear under recent posts about crime unrelated to the kidnapping.
The department posted a commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. On Saturday, five days after the post was published and three days after the documentary’s release, someone responded:
“Your detectives would have told Martin Luther King Jr. after the shooting that it was all a hoax, and that he was pretending to have been shot and killed.”
Hollis declined to respond to criticism the department is receiving on social media.
When asked if Mustard was still employed with the department, Hollis told ABC10 it can file a public records act request for that information.
Mustard was still employed by the Vallejo Police Department as of 2022, according to Transparent California, a statewide database of public pay information. He holds a police sergeant position.
