“Gone Girl” kidnapper Matthew Mueller was indicted Monday on new charges in two home invasions that occurred nearly 15 years ago and six years before the infamous kidnapping of Vallejo woman Denise Haskins. California prosecutors announced.
Mueller is already serving a 40-year prison sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting Haskin in 2015, which police initially believed was a hoax, but he was arrested less than a month later in 2009. He is accused of breaking into the homes of two other women.
Mueller, an Ivy League-educated Marine, allegedly broke into the Mountain View home of one of the victims in the early hours of September 29, tied her up and forced her to drink cocktails before telling her he was going to rape her. It is said. Santa Clara District Attorney's Officeis prosecuting a new case.
Prosecutors allege that the woman, in her 30s, was able to persuade the man not to carry out the crime, and that Mueller instructed the victim to get a dog before fleeing.
Then, on October 18 of that year, Mueller allegedly broke into a Palo Alto home, tied up a woman, gagged her and forced her to drink Nikil. According to prosecutors, the victim, also in his 30s, stopped the assault midway through.
According to the District Attorney's Office, Mueller allegedly fled after offering crime prevention advice.
“The details of this man's heinous crimes appear scripted for Hollywood, but they are tragically real,” Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.
“Our goal is to hold this defendant accountable and ensure that he never hurt or terrorize anyone again. Our hope is that this nightmare will end.”
Although charges were initially laid in the Palo Alto incident, both cases remained unsolved. CBS News reported at the time.
Eventually, the case was revived with the help of advanced DNA testing. Prosecutors said the Harvard graduate's DNA was found on the straps he used to bind one of the victims, drawing new attention to the case.
Mueller gained notoriety for drugging Haskins and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn inside their Vallejo home, then dragging them to a cabin in Lake Tahoe in March 2015 and sexually assaulting them, according to Netflix. It was also the subject of the documentary series “American Nightmare.” .
He released her two days later after shipping her to Southern California. Police initially believed the boyfriend had carried out a fake kidnapping dubbed the real-life “Gone Girl” incident, after the book and the 2014 blockbuster movie starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. .
But in June of that year, officers arrested Mueller as a suspect in another home invasion in Dublin, California.
“I still have nightmares every night,” Haskins told Mueller at his sentencing hearing. “Sleep for me is not rest. That's what started it.”
Sico has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting Haskin and is currently in federal custody.
He is currently charged with felony sexual assault for the 2009 incident and could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.
