FBI find link to two separate cases of home invasions in California.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A convoluted kidnapping case once dismissed by police as a hoax has taken yet another surprising turn as the FBI once again connected a 38-year-old former Marine and Harvard Law School graduate with the incident and a separate alleged home invasion that occurred last month.
Matthew Muller, of Orangevale, California, was charged last month after he was arrested in a home-invasion robbery in the San Francisco Bay Area that had notable similarities to the kidnapping, the FBI said Monday.Follow @ambazaarmag
The Dublin Police Department said it got a call on June 5th of a home invasion in a hill community in the Northeastern part of town.
Per local news outlet Fox40:
According to an arrest warrant, three people, a couple and their adult daughter were asleep in the home, when around 3:30 a.m., the husband and wife awoke to a man standing at the foot of their bed, shining a flashlight in their faces.
He ordered them to lay on their stomachs and tried restraining them using a zip tie. But before he could, the husband fought back, with the suspect hitting him in the head with the flashlight, according to the warrant.
During the struggle, the wife was able to get away and locked herself in a nearby bathroom and called 911.
Although the suspect had fled by the time officers arrived, police found a cell phone which didn’t belong to anyone in the house, which is what led them to Matthew Muller, according to court records.
The kidnapping saga that is now being revisited due to the ringing similarities it shares with the Dublin home invasion unfolded when Denise Huskins’ boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, reported kidnappers broke into the couple’s Vallejo home on March 23, abducted her and demanded $8,500 in ransom.
According to CBS Sacramento, Quinn was awakened by a bright light shining in his face on March 23 earlier this year. The suspect, who allegedly had a stun-gun, ordered Huskins to tie Quinn up with zip-ties and then ordered them into a bedroom closet.
The suspect then reportedly put swim goggles that were covered by tape on Quinn’s eyes and headphones on his ears that played a prerecorded message saying the break-in was being executed by a professional group collecting on financial debts and that both victims would receive electric shocks and cuts on their faces if they didn’t cooperate.
After the suspect got their financial account numbers and information from the victims’ Wi-Fi router, Quinn was placed on a couch where he was rendered unconscious. When he woke up he found that Huskins, his laptop, and his car were all missing.
Law enforcement officials reported Huskins was allegedly assaulted during the incident, according to the Associated Press, and she alleges other suspects were involved as well.
Huskins was subsequently located two days later near her home, which led Vallejo Police to state the situation was likely a hoax and that there was no evidence that there had even been a kidnapping, according to the Washington Post.
However, FBI Special Agent Jason Walter said in an affidavit that recently discovered evidence led him to conclude there was probable cause to believe Muller kidnapped the woman.
Muller, a former U.S. Marine, attended Harvard University where he also taught, according to the official affidavit. He was admitted to the California state bar in 2011, and was disbarred in 2015.