'American Nightmare' rapist pleads guilty to additional charges

Christopher Buchanan, Los Angeles Times on Jun 20, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — Matthew Muller, a convicted kidnapper whose crimes were portrayed in the Netflix documentary "American Nightmare," pleaded guilty to an additional, 32-year-old kidnapping and sexual assault on Wednesday, according to the Sacramento County district attorney's office.

In 1993, a 16-year-old Muller held a couple at gunpoint while they camped at Folsom Lake in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Muller then tied up the male victim and proceeded to carry away and sexually assault the female victim, according to the district attorney's news release.

The district attorney's Cold Case, Science & Technology Unit was "instrumental" in uncovering additional evidence in the case, the news release added.

The latest conviction is part of a string of similar sex crimes committed by Muller, who is currently serving a 40-year prison sentence for a 2015 kidnapping and sexual assault in Vallejo, Calif., and a life sentence for two 2009 kidnappings and assaults in Santa Clara. The 2015 crimes and a subsequent, flawed investigation were the subject of "American Nightmare," which premiered last year.

Muller was sentenced to 11 years to life for the latest conviction. The sentence will be served consecutively with his other sentences.

In 2015, Muller broke into a Vallejo home and drugged and bound a couple, Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins. Muller then kidnapped Huskins in Quinn's car and held her for three days in his family's cabin in South Lake Tahoe. Muller sexually assaulted Huskins until he eventually released her in Huntington Beach.

Huskins was accused by Vallejo police and FBI officials of fabricating her accusations before more of Muller's crimes were uncovered. Huskins and Quinn were treated as suspects until an attempted home invasion in Dublin, Calif., revealed Muller as the perpetrator.

"We knew there was more to this from the beginning, and clearly how things were handled from the beginning led to a lot of errors," Huskins told The Times earlier this year.

According to court documents, Muller drugged his victims with a cocktail of "¼ of a bottle of Diazepam and Nyquil," and threatened them with violence if they did not comply. Muller's tactics apparently became more sophisticated after the 1993 gunpoint kidnapping, court documents said.

Muller, a Harvard-educated immigration lawyer and former Marine, later admitted his involvement with the 1993 crimes to law enforcement, the news release said.

"This case is a powerful reminder that the pursuit of justice never ends. Matthew Muller's admission to the horrific kidnapping and sexual assault of a young girl in 1993 brings long-overdue justice for the victims," Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Thien Ho said in the release.