“Gone Girl” kidnapper charged with 2009 North County home invasions
For release on December 30, 2024
CONTACT:
Brian King
Deputy District Attorney
Sexual Assault Unit
(408) 792-2581
[email protected]
“Gone Girl” kidnapper charged with 2009 North County home invasions
Using advances in forensic DNA testing, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged a notorious kidnapping convict with a series of home invasion sexual assaults in Mountain View and Palo Alto 15 years ago.
The suspect, Matthew Muller, 47, is the subject of American Nightmare, a Netflix documentary series that chronicles his 2015 “Gone Girl Hoax” kidnapping of Denise Huskins from Vallejo.
Following a new lead, the District Attorney’s Office coordinated with the Palo Alto and Mountain View police departments to send all evidence back to the DA Crime lab for further testing. District Attorney Criminalists found Muller’s DNA on straps he used to bind one of the victims. The police agencies and the District Attorney’s Office then conducted follow up investigation that resulted in the current charges.
Muller now faces two felony counts of committing a sexual assault during a home invasion for the 2009 crimes. He will be arraigned today at 1:30 in department 23 in the Hall of Justice in San Jose. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
“The details of this person’s violent crime spree seem scripted for Hollywood, but they are tragically real,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “Our goal is to make sure this defendant is held accountable and will never hurt or terrorize anyone ever again. Our hope is that this nightmare is over.”
In the early hours of Sept. 29, 2009, Muller broke into a woman’s Mountain View home, attacked her, tied her up, made her drink a concoction of medications, and said he was going to rape her. After the victim, in her 30’s, persuaded him against it, he suggested the victim get a dog, then fled.
On Oct. 18, 2009, Muller broke into a Palo Alto home, bound and gagged a woman in her 30’s and made her drink Nyquil. He then began to assault her, before being persuaded to stop. Muller gave the victim crime prevention advice, then fled.
Both cases were investigated and went unsolved.
Six years later, Muller gained national infamy as the ivy-league educated Marine who perpetrated the so-called “Gone Girl” incident.
On March 23, 2015, Muller broke into a Vallejo home, where he drugged, and tied up a young couple. He kidnapped Ms. Huskins, brought her to a cabin in South Lake Tahoe, and sexually assaulted her. Two days later, Muller drove his victim to Southern California and released her. Police initially believed the invasion and kidnapping was a hoax perpetrated by the boyfriend, a twist that the media called a "real life 'Gone Girl'," referring to the hit film and novel Gone Girl. Muller, however, was arrested in June for both the Vallejo kidnapping and a violent Dublin home invasion.
Muller, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to the kidnapping and in 2022 to the sexual assaults of Ms. Huskins, is currently incarcerated in federal prison in Tucson, Arizona.
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