"American Nightmare" still has us lying awake at night. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re discussing this Netflix docuseries, exploring what it says about law enforcement, the media, and where the line between true crime and “entertainment” becomes problematic.
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00:00 "I'm sick of hiding. I don't have anything to hide from."
00:05 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're discussing the Netflix docuseries American Nightmare,
00:10 exploring what it says about law enforcement, the media,
00:14 and where the line between true crime and entertainment becomes problematic.
00:18 "Isn't it true that truth is often stranger than fiction?"
00:21 "This is only strange because law enforcement made it strange."
00:24 The Boyfriend, The Girlfriend, The Ex, and The Home Invasion.
00:29 Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins met in 2014 while working as physical therapists in Vallejo,
00:35 California. "We ended up talking a lot at social gatherings and quickly,
00:41 there was just an instant connection." Huskins was conflicted about her feelings for Quinn,
00:47 who had recently broken off an engagement with Andrea Roberts.
00:50 Quinn claims that his ex-fiancé cheated on him, effectively ending their relationship.
00:55 To make matters even more complicated, Roberts worked with Quinn and Huskins.
00:59 Nevertheless, Huskins and Quinn were drawn to each other. Although Roberts tried to distance
01:04 herself from him, Quinn struggled to move on from his ex. "But they were still living in the same
01:09 house in different rooms, so that was like he was falling in love with you, but he still wasn't
01:13 done with that." Huskins considered ending things with Quinn in February 2015,
01:18 discovering that he had messaged Roberts about potentially giving their relationship another
01:22 chance. On March 22, 2015, Huskins went to Quinn's house to discuss the future of their relationship.
01:28 "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I wanted to hear him out."
01:34 Huskins spent the night at Quinn's on March 23, when their lives forever changed. At least one
01:39 other person was in the house, but the couple could only make out a bright light shining in
01:43 their eyes. "I see three laser dots crossing us. There's the taser goes off, and the man says,
01:51 'Aaron, lie face down.'" Armed with a fake gun, the intruder had the two restrained and blindfolded
01:58 with goggles covered in duct tape. The intruder also gave them headphones with pre-recorded
02:03 messages explaining that this was a kidnapping. "The voice tells me that he's gonna take my blood
02:07 pressure. I feel him wrap the cuff around my arm. I feel that squeeze." Both would be given
02:15 sedatives, with Huskins being taken in the trunk of the intruder's car. Quinn was left behind to
02:20 pay the ransom of $17,000 within 48 hours. Although Quinn was instructed not to call the police,
02:26 he eventually decided that this was better left in the hands of professionals. "I thought there
02:31 would be a manhunt. They're gonna do everything they can to track these guys." The Vallejo PD was
02:36 anything but professional. Finding the story far-fetched, Detective Matthew Mustard concocted
02:41 a narrative in which Quinn murdered Huskins. "So now I get out my puzzle pieces, and I start
02:47 figuring out, okay, how do I make it so you look like a monster?" The police did send a search
02:52 party of more than 100 to Mare Island, but they remained fixated on Quinn while ignoring potential
02:58 leads. The authorities spent 18 hours attempting to force a false confession out of Quinn until
03:03 he was let go. All the while, Huskins endured an even more traumatic experience. "Completely
03:08 detached from myself, just watching this all happen, and I just, just my heart breaks for
03:20 that woman." The intruder held Huskins captive for two days, during which time he indecently
03:25 assaulted her twice on videotape. While the ransom never arrived, Huskins was released roughly 400
03:32 miles from Vallejo and Huntington Beach, where her family lived. Although her father wasn't home,
03:37 Huskins was taken in by a neighbor. True crime or crime fiction? Huskins corroborated that she
03:43 was kidnapped, and a medical test backed up her accusations of assault. While Quinn didn't murder
03:48 Huskins, the authorities cooked up another narrative. "Did you make any noise?" "Uh,
03:53 no, I was woken from a dead sleep." "And I realize they are, they are looking at her like she's a
04:01 piece of trash. Like she's criminal." They found it suspicious that Huskins disappeared only to
04:08 turn up alive after 48 hours. Rather than follow up on Huskins' claims, the police, as well as the
04:14 FBI, were quick to label this as a, quote, "orchestrated event." "Ms. Huskins has plundered
04:21 valuable resources away from our community while instilling fear amongst our community members.
04:27 So if anything, it is Ms. Huskins that owes this community an apology." Doug Rapoport,
04:32 Huskins' lawyer, recalls speaking with FBI agent David Sesma, who compared the case to "Gone Girl."
04:38 In that film, based on Gillian Flynn's novel, Amy Dunn fakes her death with the intent of framing
04:44 her husband. Deciding to give the marriage another shot, she returns home and emerges a media
04:49 darling. It's a gripping work of fiction, but the word "fiction" should be emphasized. "Do they
04:54 really think all of this is an act? This whole thing? And why? What do I have to gain?"
05:03 Huskins and Quinn's ordeals mirror "Gone Girl" in one way. Amy's husband, Nick Dunn, is initially
05:09 vilified in the press despite being innocent of murder. The media also failed Quinn, and especially
05:15 Huskins, making her out to be a real-life "Gone Girl." "We're thinking that we're covering the
05:20 story, the salacious story of a lifetime, and it all went horribly wrong." Journalist Nancy Grace
05:25 ironically went from being parodied in "Gone Girl" to commentating on Huskins' story. As most outlets
05:30 ran with the "Gone Girl" angle, the San Francisco Chronicle received a series of emails from the
05:35 kidnapper, which seemed to back up Huskins' claims. Although the authorities continued to push the
05:40 hoax theory, their narrative started to unravel in June when Matthew Muller, a former Marine and
05:45 disbarred lawyer who graduated from Harvard, was arrested for a home invasion robbery.
05:50 "I could feel that there was much more to it."
05:54 Sergeant Misty Caruso, who brought Muller in, noticed parallels between this home invasion
05:59 and Huskins' kidnapping. Searching his South Lake Tahoe cabin, Caruso found, among other things,
06:04 a fake gun, goggles with duct tape, and blonde hair resembling Huskins'.
06:10 "Are they alive? Are they dead? We have to find out who this hair belonged to."
06:16 Caruso eventually got in touch with the FBI, who were compelled to revisit the case after
06:20 seeing the new evidence. The FBI also uncovered videotapes of Muller with Huskins,
06:25 who identified him as her assailant.
06:27 "The cadence of how he spoke, the rhythm, I know it's him."
06:34 Huskins testified against Muller in 2017, saying that she still has, quote,
06:38 "nightmares every night." Pleading guilty, Muller was sentenced to 40 years in prison,
06:44 with another 31 years being added in 2022. Quinn and Huskins also pursued legal action
06:49 against the city, settling out of court for $2.5 million in 2018.
06:55 "Why didn't you listen to us? Why didn't you take what we said seriously?"
06:59 Is the nightmare over? Although Muller was brought to justice,
07:03 the case isn't without several loose ends. Among the lingering questions is why Muller broke into
07:08 Quinn's house and kidnapped Huskins.
07:10 "I feel him sit down next to me. He says, 'This wasn't meant for you.
07:18 This was meant for Aaron's ex.'"
07:22 One might assume that it was a random home invasion, but Muller has claimed that Huskins
07:27 wasn't his intended target. That distinction goes to Andrea Roberts. But Muller didn't
07:32 elaborate beyond that.
07:33 Roberts has maintained a low profile, opting to not participate in American Nightmare.
07:52 Making her potential connection even more curious, Roberts used to date agent David Sesma.
07:57 While no other arrests were made, Huskins and Quinn have speculated that Muller might
08:02 have had accomplices. Whether or not Muller acted alone, it's been argued that several
08:06 authority figures got off with no repercussions.
08:09 Matthew Mustard continued to rise through the ranks at Vallejo PD,
08:24 being promoted to the head of the department's investigations division and the evidence and
08:28 property unit. He was even named Officer of the Year in 2016. His mishandling of Huskins
08:34 and Quinn's case isn't the only blemish on Mustard's career, being accused of racism
08:39 and withholding evidence. The American Nightmare crew attempted to interview Mustard and David
08:44 Sesma, but they declined.
08:45 "You're going to lose the respect of your family. You're going to destroy them,
08:50 'cause they're going to defend you, and everything that they've worked hard for
08:54 will get flushed down the toilet."
08:56 Bernadette Higgins, one of the docuseries' co-directors, says that she doesn't think
09:00 David Sesma or Andrea Roberts were directly involved in what Muller did to Huskins and
09:05 Quinn. However, Higgins added,
09:07 "There should be a bar when it comes to integrity, and that clearly was not reached
09:12 on many, many occasions during this investigation."
09:14 "It becomes patently obvious that law enforcement did very little work into the actual crime
09:21 of kidnapping. What they did focus their intention on was prosecuting Denise and Aaron."
09:26 While we wouldn't say that the story has been wrapped up in a tidy bow,
09:30 Huskins and Quinn would get the happiest ending possible given what they've endured.
09:34 "We moved to the coast and started a new life."
09:37 The two were married on September 29, 2018, about six months after reaching their settlement.
09:42 They became parents two years later with the arrival of their daughter, Olivia.
09:46 Between Olivia's birth and the delivery of their second daughter, Naomi,
09:50 Huskins and Quinn collaborated with journalist Nicole Wisensee-Egan on the book "Victim F.
09:55 From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors." With "American Nightmare" releasing in 2014,
10:00 the couple is focusing on recovery and moving forward with their new family.
10:04 In many respects, the true story of "American Nightmare" isn't quite like anything we've seen.
10:10 In others, Quinn and Huskins aren't alone.
10:12 "Misty didn't connect Muller to us. I have no idea where we'd be."
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10:33 For every Misty Caruso who follows the evidence, there's a Matthew Mustard who chases the easiest
10:40 answer. The Innocence Project has found that quote "25% of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA
10:47 evidence involve a false confession." "The people that they wrongfully incarcerate, it doesn't just
10:53 affect them. It affects their entire family and everybody that's connected to them. And it affects
10:59 society as a whole." The police didn't break Quinn, but numerous others have been pressured
11:04 into false confessions under similar circumstances. Likewise, Huskins is far from the first assault
11:10 survivor to be ignored and demonized by the authorities, as detailed in another Netflix
11:14 documentary, "Victim Suspect." "I managed to gather more than 160 cases where alleged victims of
11:21 sexual assault were turned into suspects." Stories like this happen every day, but they rarely
11:27 dominate the headlines because they aren't as catchy as real-life Gone Girl. The next time a
11:31 crime like this is reported, the question shouldn't be, "Have you seen Gone Girl?" but rather, "Have
11:36 you seen American Nightmare?" "The police refused to follow the evidence, and the media all laughed
11:44 along the way." What did you think of American Nightmare? Let us know in the comments. "How could
11:49 this person who's charged with investigating crime think that this is like a Ben Affleck movie?
11:55 That's Hollywood. This is real life." Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip
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