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‘American Nightmare' rapist convicted of terrorizing campers at Northern California lake
Serial rapist and kidnapper Matthew Muller, the former Marine and Harvard-educated immigration lawyer whose bizarre abduction of Denise Huskins in Vallejo became a Netflix documentary, was convicted Wednesday of terrorizing a young couple at Folsom Lake as a teenager more than three decades ago.
In 1993, Muller was 16 years old when he used a gun to order two young campers out of their tent. He tied up the male and carried the female away to sexually assault her, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office. Muller would later admit to the crimes to law enforcement and on Wednesday he pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 11 years to life, prosecutors said.
'This case is a powerful reminder that the pursuit of justice never ends,' said Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho. 'Matthew Muller's admission to the horrific kidnapping and sexual assault of a young girl in 1993 brings long-overdue justice for the victims. Thanks to the continued efforts of law enforcement, a dangerous sex offender is being held responsible for his crimes in our community.'
Muller has now been convicted of six separate kidnappings and rapes spanning five Northern California counties since 1993.
Muller agreed to be transferred to adult court for the Folsom Lake attack. The 32-year-old cold case was filed by Sacramento County prosecutors after evidence linked Muller, now 48, to the crime. The office's Cold Case, Science & Technology Unit helped solve the case, prosecutors said.
In 2015, Muller broke into Huskins and her boyfriend's Mare Island home where he bound, blindfolded and forced them to drink a sedative. He forced Huskins into the trunk of his car and drove her to his South Lake Tahoe home where he raped her twice. Two days later, he drove her to her family's home in Huntington Beach and released her.
While she was held captive, Muller sent an anonymous email to the Chronicle with an audio clip of Huskins speaking. Vallejo police initially believed her story was a hoax, saying she faked her own kidnapping.
After Dublin police arrested Muller for a similar home invasion, investigators found a cellphone traced to him which led to evidence linking him to Huskins' abduction.
Vallejo police would issue a public apology for the botched investigation and the city would pay the couple $2.5 million in a settlement. The entire episode would be chronicled in the Netflix documentary 'American Nightmare.'
A judge sentenced Muller to 40 years in prison for the Vallejo case.
In January, investigators from Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties connected Muller to unsolved cases in those areas.
Muller broke into a woman's Mountain View home on September 29, 2009, attacked her, tied her up and forced her to drink a mix of medications, threatening to rape her. The next month, he broke into a woman's Palo Alto home, gagged the woman, forced her to drink NyQuil and assaulted her.
Muller pleaded guilty to two felony charges of assault with the intention of committing rape during a burglary and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
In Contra Costa County, prosecutors charged Muller with kidnapping three victims for ransom near San Ramon. In spring 2015, prosecutors said, Muller held two men and a woman for ransom, demanding that one of the hostages withdraw tens of thousands of dollars from their bank account in order to secure their release. After getting the money, Muller fled.
His involvement in that case was revealed during correspondence between law enforcement and an incarcerated Muller, in which he confessed to multiple crimes in Northern California, prosecutors said.
