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American physical therapist, author, and social media personality, Denise Huskins was born in California in 1987 to Mike Huskins and Jane Remmele.
Mike and Jane reside in California, but they prefer to stay away from the spotlight.
They have separate, happy lives, where they’re simply glad to be surrounded by loved ones to gradually keep moving on from the past.
When Denise Huskins parents were informed about her disappearance
In March 2015, when they were told that their little girl had disappeared, possibly kidnapped, they couldn’t believe it. “It’s like a nightmare that I can’t wake up from…this is not supposed to happen,” Mike stated. “It just doesn’t seem right…that she would just let somebody take her.”
On the other hand, Jane could initially only focus on how easily officers told her to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Thankfully, two days later, when Denise was dropped off in an alleyway in Huntington Beach, California, it was near the same locality she grew up in. She made her way to her mother’s home, but no one was there.
Thus, she borrowed a cellphone, called her father, left a voicemail, and then walked to his place, unaware that both her parents were in Vallejo looking for her.
Mike contacted the Huntington Beach Police and a few family members as soon as he heard the call and ensured that their daughter was safe.
They reunited just days later, but it was heavy considering the circumstances.
What happened to Denise Huskins?
On Tuesday, March 24, 2015, just one day after Huskins was taken from Quinn’s home, an audio recording was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle.
In the audio clip, a woman, who identified herself as Huskins, revealed a personal detail about herself and mentioned a plane crash in the French Alps to corroborate when the clip was recorded.
The following day, Huskins was found in the vicinity of her childhood home in Huntington Beach, California.
She walked to her mother’s house, but after realizing nobody was home, borrowed a cell phone and left a voicemail on her father’s phone.
After leaving the voicemail, Huskins walked over to her father’s home, where a nearby neighbor allowed her inside their apartment.
Police officers quickly arrived at the neighbor’s apartment and began questioning Huskins, who told the officers that she had been held captive for two days.
Huskins alleged that the kidnapper had threatened her, her family, and Quinn if she revealed that those involved in the abduction were in the military, and if she revealed that she had been raped.
Meanwhile, Huskins’ disappearance – and subsequent reappearance – had set off a media firestorm.
Comparisons came flooding in that her case strongly resembled Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel and David Fincher’s 2014 film, Gone Girl.
The fictional story describes a woman who fakes her disappearance and kidnapping as revenge against her cheating husband but ultimately comes back home to him.
During a press conference on March 25, 2015, Vallejo police spokesperson Lieutenant Kenny Park suggested that both Huskins and Quinn weren’t, as they claimed, victims, but instead suspects.
“Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins have plundered valuable resources away from our community and taken the focus away from the true victims of our community while instilling fear among our community members,” Park said.
“So, if anything, it is Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins that owe this community an apology,” Park added.
On March 26, 2015, just one day after the police and the media labeled the case as a hoax, the San Francisco Chronicle received a message, allegedly from the kidnapper himself.
The message included explicit details about Huskins’ kidnapping, photos of Huskins, and photos of the room she was held in.
Despite the new evidence, the police stuck to their theory that Huskins and Quinn had orchestrated the entire experience.
Nearly a week after the kidnapping, Quinn and Huskins were reunited.
The surrounding media frenzy and ongoing police investigation made it difficult for them to move on with their lives, as both parties were now considered prime suspects in the case.
Months later, their case received a major break and made police question whether they had unfairly targeted Huskins and Quinn.
On June 5, 2015, police received a report that an attempted home invasion had occurred in Dublin, California, about one hour south of Vallejo.
Details of the break-in were eerily similar to what had occurred at Quinn’s home months earlier.
While the burglar – and attempted kidnapper – had managed to escape the home, he had left his phone behind, allowing police to trace it back to a man named Matthew Muller.
Muller was a five-year veteran of the US Marines, a Pomona College California grad, and a former student at Harvard Law School.
Muller’s mother led police to the family’s South Lake Tahoe cabin, where they found and arrested Matthew Muller.
Upon searching the cabin, police discovered a stolen vehicle, several laptops and cell phones, ski masks, stun guns, replica squirt guns, swim goggles, and a wetsuit.
One of the laptops belonged to Quinn, while the stolen vehicle’s GPS included the address where Huskins had been dropped off after her 48-hour kidnapping.
In 2016, Muller pleaded guilty to one count of federal kidnapping and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
While he faced additional charges, including kidnapping, rape by force, robbery, and burglary, in November 2020, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
