Matthew Muller, the convicted rapist who became the subject of the TV series “American Nightmare,” has been given additional life sentences, according to the El Dorado County district attorney’s office.
Matthew Muller, pictured in a June 2015 booking photo, has been serving a 40-year sentence in Tucson.
(Dublin Police Department via Associated Press)
In a statement released on Thursday, officials said that Muller was convicted in connection with a 2015 home invasion in Contra Costa County.
This is the latest of multiple convictions that have been brought to light since Muller was sentenced to 40 years in prison for a Vallejo kidnapping and sexual assault in 2015. The case garnered national attention and became the focus of the true crime series, which was released last year.
In 2015, Muller invaded the home of Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn. Muller bound and drugged the couple, before putting Huskins in Quinn’s car and taking her to his family’s cabin in South Lake Tahoe. Muller sexually assaulted her and kept her at the cabin for two days before releasing her at Huntington Beach.
A complicated and faulty investigation followed, with the Vallejo Police Department and FBI officials initially believing that Huskins and Quinn had orchestrated the events. Two months later, a home invasion in Dublin led authorities to link Muller to the kidnapping of Huskins.
Shortly thereafter, Muller pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated kidnapping, and in 2022 he pleaded guilty to sexual assault. He’s currently serving his 40-year sentence in Tucson.
The home invasion that Muller was most recently convicted of happened just two weeks after that of Huskins and Quinn, but it was never reported to authorities at the time, according to the district attorney’s statement. The case was investigated by the El Dorado County district attorney’s office, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI — an effort driven by “the persistence” of Huskins and Quinn, Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges and Detective Misty Carausu, the statement said.
The district attorney’s release does not say who initially tipped off authorities to the crime, but it does say that a multi-day interview in Tucson took place between authorities and Miller. Officials said Muller provided them a rough diagram of the location, and authorities said they used Google Maps to find the home he described.
In the interview, Muller said he used a ladder to get into the second story of the home. He disposed of the ladder in a nearby ravine while he was departing the area, the release said.
Last month, Muller pleaded guilty to a 32-year-old kidnapping and sexual assault — his earliest known crime, according to the release. He was sentenced to 11 years to life in prison. Officials said Muller admitted to these crimes in the same Tucson interview.
Muller has an additional life sentence without the possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to two 2009 home invasions in Santa Clara County.
“It’s a shame it has taken 10 years to correct the mistakes made in the original investigation that permitted Muller to terrorize two additional families,” El Dorado County Dist. Atty. Vern Pierson said. “Poor interview and investigation practices permitted these additional families to be victimized.”
Huskins and Quinn will soon be given the California District Attorneys Assn.’s Witness of the Year Award, “in recognition of their perseverance and commitment to justice,” the release said.