The man convicted in a bizarre Vallejo kidnapping in 2015 is now accused in other abductions and assaults in and near the Bay Area.
Matthew Muller, the kidnapper at the center of the notorious 2015 Vallejo “Gone Girl” case that later became the focus of a Netflix documentary series, has been linked to crimes in San Ramon, via an investigation by authorities in Monterey County, and another similar case in Dublin.
The alleged kidnappings for ransom in the East Bay happened just months after Muller kidnapped and sexually assaulted Denise Huskins in March 2015 in a case that Vallejo police initially called a hoax.
Muller pleaded guilty in the kidnapping of Huskins, a case that was later chronicled in the Netflix true crime series “American Nightmare.”
Just last week, Muller was charged in two 2009 home invasion sexual assaults in the South Bay, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. The DA said advances in forensic DNA testing linked Muller to assaults that occurred in Mountain View and Palo Alto.
Muller, who is currently serving a 40-year prison term, faces two felony counts of committing a sexual assault during a home invasion in Santa Clara County.
“The details of this person’s violent crime spree seem scripted for Hollywood, but they are tragically real,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Our goal is to make sure this defendant is held accountable and will never hurt or terrorize anyone ever again. Our hope is that this nightmare is over.”
According to the district attorney’s office, Muller broke into a Mountain View home on Sept. 29, 2009, attacked a woman in her 30s, tied her up and made her drink a concoction of medications while saying he was going to rape her. The victim persuaded Muller against it, to which he responded by suggesting the woman get a dog. Muller then left the scene.
Less than a month later on Oct. 18, 2009, Muller broke into a Palo Alto home, bound and gagged a woman in her 30s, and made her drink NyQuil. He started to assault her but was persuaded to stop, the district attorney’s office said. He then gave the victim crime prevention advice and left.
Authorities investigated both cases, but they went unsolved.
The district attorney’s office, following a new lead, worked with the Palo Alto and Mountain View police departments to send all of the evidence back to a crime lab for additional testing. Criminalists found Muller’s DNA on straps that he used to bind one of the victims, the district attorney’s office said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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