A man has been charged with kidnapping a woman from her home in California, months after police accused her of faking the abduction in a case reminiscent of the film 'Gone Girl'. Denise Huskins, 30, was taken from her Vallejo home in March, with her boyfriend reportedly tied up and given instructions for a £5,000 ransom.
Huskins reappeared two days later in Huntington Beach, 400 miles away, leading police to label the incident an 'orchestrated hoax'. However, a federal arrest warrant has now led to charges against Matthew Muller, 38, who was already in custody for an unrelated burglary and assault in Ohio.
Muller was arrested on June 8 at his South Lake Tahoe home and later charged with first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. The FBI connected him to Huskins' kidnapping after details from the Ohio case matched the California abduction.
During the kidnapping, a hostage recording was emailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, in which a woman claiming to be Huskins said she was 'kidnapped' but fine. The email also referenced a plane crash in the Alps, and instructed police to wait for her release.
Huskins' case drew comparisons to the 2012 novel and film 'Gone Girl', in which a woman fakes her own disappearance. Police initially expressed doubt, stating there was 'no evidence' to support a stranger abduction, but the new charges have vindicated Huskins' account.
