aaron told them he took so long to call 911 because he was drugged and confined to a square of red tape and monitored by a webcam, they didn t buy it. and when denise wouldn t get on the plane to talk to vallejo pd, they thought it was because she had something to hide. she said she was afraid the cops would treat her as they treated her boyfriend aaron, like a suspect. now everything was about to change. three months after vallejo police accused denise and aaron of concocting a hoax, the fbi announced that matthew mueller was the prime suspect in denise s very real kidnapping. i never doubted that there was someone who kidnapped her. neither did the woman we re calling samantha. to her, denise s story was very
denise. and now the e-mail said they were angry that denise was being accused of making the whole thing up. we will not stand by and see the life of a really good person ruined. attached to the e-mails were photos. one showed a water gun spray painted to look more threatening at least in the dark with a laser pointer and flashlight duct taped to it. another showed a room with cardboard partially covering a window where denise was supposedly held. was this visual proof of denise and aaron s story or an elaborate deception? legit or more hoax? i thought it was part of a prank. henry lee wondered if they might have been sent by an attorney. the reporters started referring to the case as the gone girl kidnapping after the
own disappearance but detectives were about to learn something that would shift the investigation. another attack suspiciously similar to the one denise and aaron had been describing. too similar to ignore. this began as a high-tech kidnapping that sounded like a tv movie. we were not able to substantiate any of the clouds. substantiate any of the claims. then police said it was a hoax. and that may have been the end of it until a little over two months later, this story took another unbelievable turn. june 5th, 2015, 3:34 a.m. they possibly have her daughter. police were called to a house in dublin, california. locked herself in a bedroom.
what went wrong. i asked him, how do you feel now sitting here because you ve now done the opposite, you ve hurt people. and he kind of just staired at me for a minute and was silent. then he said i don t know where to begin with that.red at me for a minute and was silent. then he said i don t know where to begin with that. he put his head down and started to cry and said, i m so sorry. what he s sorry for, he didn t say. mueller did say he thought he was exactly where he belonged. dewane: he said the facts are pretty clear. i think i ll spend a few decades in jail and i m fine with that. about a year after he spoke with dateline, mueller pleaded guilty in federal court to kidnapping denise. he was sentenced 40 years in prison. he pleaded no contest in the home invasion. in 2015 he faced new state charges of kidnapping for ran some, rape, robbery, and falls imprisonment.