'American Nightmare' serial kidnapper Matthew Muller enters plea in San Ramon ransom case ...Middle East

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American Nightmare serial kidnapper Matthew Muller enters plea in San Ramon ransom case

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Matthew Muller, a serial kidnapper whose disturbing criminal history was documented in Netflix's "American Nightmare," pleaded no contest in court Thursday for a San Ramon ransom case.

Muller's plea secured his conviction for three counts of kidnapping for ransom. In the spring of 2015, he broke into a San Ramon house where two men and a woman were at home, prosecutors said. Muller held the three victims hostage and demanded that one of the captives withdraw tens of thousands of dollars from their bank account, according to prosecutors.

    The San Ramon victims were so terrified, they never reported the crime, prosecutors said. "After obtaining the money, Muller fled the residence. Fearing retribution, the victims never reported the crime," the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office wrote.

    Matthew Muller is seen in mugshots from 2015 and 2018. (Images via Solano County District Attorney's Office)

    "American Nightmare" chronicled Denise Huskins’ harrowing story of survival after she was kidnapped from her boyfriend's Vallejo home in March of 2015. Muller drove Huskins to his cabin in South Lake Tahoe, recorded videos of rapes, and held her hostage for two days.

    On March 25, 20215, Muller dropped off Huskins in Huntington Beach. Before police and news reporters arrived, Huskins said she thought her "nightmare" was over. Hours later, the Vallejo Police Department held a news conference and told reporters that police found no proof of a kidnapping. VPD claimed that the incident was a hoax and Huskins made her story up.

    Denise Huskins walks into a news conference in San Francisco on Sept. 29, 2016. (Photo By Paul Chinn/ The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

    Investigators describe Muller as an "exceptionally intelligent" predator who meticulously planned and practiced his crimes. He served in the U.S. Marines, graduated from Harvard University, and became an attorney.

    After Dublin Police Department detectives found crucial evidence of the Vallejo kidnaping, Muller pleaded guilty for the Huskins case in 20216.

    Denise Huskins helped find more victims of ‘American Nightmare’ kidnapper Matthew Muller

    The 48-year-old inmate is currently serving a life prison sentence for crimes committed across Northern California.

    His criminal career began when he was just 16 years old, when Muller kidnapped a young girl who was camping in a tent near Folsom Lake in 1993. Muller ordered two young campers out of their tent at gunpoint. "He tied up the male and carried the female away to sexually assault her," prosecutors wrote.

    Muller left behind “a trail of traumatized and terrified victims," prosecutors said, between 1993 and when he was finally caught and jailed in 2015.

    In a series of prison letters exchanged in 2024 with Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges, Muller confessed to carrying out several home invasions and kidnappings around in Northern California, including the 2015 hostage incident in San Ramon. Borges said he worked closely with Huskins to find more victims.

    Denise Huskins (right) and her husband, Aaron Quinn, appear at a law enforcement training event in Seaside in March 2024. (KRON4 / Amy Larson)

    "After learning of Muller’s confession, detectives from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Officeinitiated an investigation, despite the lack of a reported crime in 2015. The Contra Costa DistrictAttorney’s Office joined the investigation on December 13th, 2024, which included a meetingwith Muller," CCDAO wrote.

    After making confessions in his prison letters and meeting with CCDAO prosecutors, Muller has pleaded guilty in several cases this year.

    In June, Muller pleaded guilty in the Folsom Lake kidnapping case. In January, he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting women during a pair of 2009 home invasions in Mountain View and Palo Alto in Santa Clara County. A Santa Clara County judge sentenced Muller to life in prison.

    In one prison letter, Muller explained why he first began breaking into the homes of young women in the South Bay, court documents obtained by KRON4 state. While in manic states, voyeurism escalated over time into attempted rapes, kidnapping, and rape.

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