'Gone Girl' Kidnapper Sentenced For San Ramon Kidnapping For Ransom

SAN RAMON, CA — Convicted rapist and kidnapper Matthew Muller was sentenced seven years to life in prison after pleading no contest to a 2015 kidnapping for ransom case in unincorporated San Ramon, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office reported Thursday.

The crime was only uncovered in 2024, when Muller was already serving a 40-year prison sentence for the kidnapping and rape of Vallejo woman Denise Huskins, a widely-reported case that became the focus of the 2024 Netflix true crime series “American Nightmare.”

According to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, Muller confessed to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office that in 2015, he broke into a home in unincorporated San Ramon, where he held two men and one woman for ransom. He then demanded that one of the victims withdraw $30,000 from their bank account to secure the release of the others. After receiving the money, Muller fled the residence.

The victims never reported the crime for fear of retribution, and have asked to remain anonymous.
On Thursday, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge sentenced Muller to seven years to life under a negotiated disposition, adding time to existing life sentences and a 40-year sentence for other rapes and kidnappings committed in Northern California over several decades.

In June, Muller was convicted of ordering two young campers out of their tent at gunpoint in Folsom in 1993, when he was just 16. He tied up a man, and then sexually assaulted a woman, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Muller, a Harvard-educated attorney and former Marine, is currently being held at a prison in Tucson, Arizona for crimes committed against Huskins.

According to a lengthy and controversial investigation that became the subject of a Netflix documentary, Muller had broken into the couple's Vallejo home, then drugged and tied them up, before taking Huskins to a cabin in South Lake Tahoe, where he sexually assaulted her. Two days later, Muller drove Huskins to Southern California and let her go. Three months later, he was arrested after attacking a family inside their Dublin home. He pleaded guilty in 2016 to the Vallejo kidnapping, and later to the sexual assault charges.

In December 2024, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said forensic DNA testing linked Muller to home invasions and sexual assaults in Mountain View and Palo Alto committed six years before the Vallejo case.

According to court documents, Muller broke into a woman's Mountain View home in September 2009, attacked and bound her, then made her drink "a concoction of medications." Investigators said the woman persuaded him against raping her, and he fled the home.

Less than a month later, prosecutors allege Muller broke into a Palo Alto home, bound and gagged a woman, and made her drink Nyquil before sexually assaulting her. According to investigators, the woman convinced him to stop and he fled the home.

Both cases went unsolved until a new lead prompted cold case investigators to send the evidence from the South Bay cases back to the crime lab for further testing. Investigators said DNA matching Muller was found on straps used to bind one of the victims, and further investigation led to charges being filed in both 2009 cold cases.

"The seriousness of Muller's offenses was indeed nightmarish for the victims,” Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton said in a statement. “The investigative work by law enforcement and our coordinated efforts with the El Dorado County District Attorney, Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office show that being resolute in the pursuit of justice can bring a measure of closure for the victims and reinforce our commitment to public safety.”

— Patch staffer Lucas Combos contributed to this report.

RELATED:

• Notorious 'Gone Girl' Kidnapper Convicted In South Bay Home Invasions
  
• Muller Ordered To Stand Trial Locally On Kidnapping, Rage Charges
  
• Kidnapping Suspect Who Pleaded No Contest to 2015 Dublin Home Invasion, Will Enter Guilty Plea
  

EDITOR'S NOTE: The headline on this story has been updated to reflect Muller's convictions.