Hello. Welcome to dateline. Denise huskins and her boifed went to sleep one nied blissfully unwaaware they would wake up to stranger. He didnt appear to be alone. What happened next was so odd, it would lead detectives and the public scratching their head. Was this real life or fiction . An unexpected break in the case would steer authorities tworowa an unlikely suspect with the truth. Here is josh mankowi tenchtsz with twisted tale. Their hand was over my mouth. Reporter if youre wondering, there was no way to fight back. I must have been screaming. Reporter this woman doesnt want us to use her real name. We are calling her samantha and she is sharing with us things she has told very few people. This is a man . A man. Felt very big and strong. I couldnt move. September 29th, 2009, the sun wasnt up yet and in samanthas bedroom, a masked intruder was holding her down. She had no idea who the man was or what he was planning. He said this is going to take a couple of hours. You know, i think just in shock. Reporter the details of what happened to samantha are not only frightening, but also deeply strange. She has come forward because she believes her long night of terror may shed light on a different case in a different town with victims shes never met. Its a bizarre mystery that riveted californias bay area. Then rippled across the country and around the world. March 24th, 2015, a young woman was missing. She is 57 and 150 pounds and blond hair, blue eyes. Her abductors wanted money in exchange for her return. We requesting the publics help in locating her. It happened in the city of vallejo. Henry valee was a reporter for tthe San Francisco chronicle. This crime victim did not strike me as someone who usually would be targeted. Reporter the kidnapped person Denise Huskin had been staying with her boyfriend. Aaron was the one who reported denise missing. We are doing everything that we did and then some to ensure her safe return. Police dogs and dive teams were soon part of a huge search for Denise Huskins. Across the country, denises good friend ashley saw the news. There want article posted online and someone sent it to me. I said this is denise. I started texting everybody. Joo including denise. I tried to text her. I figured better than not do anything. Reporter there was no reply. She texted another friend. I couldnt believe what i was reading. It didnt even seem real. Reporter that was pretty much the reaction vallejo cops had to the story denises boyfriend was telling them. We have a lot of information still to sift through. We dont have all of the facts in yet. Reporter the store aaron told the cops that night eventually smelled out in an fbi affidavit would seem, frankly, preposterous and something prevented by someone with too much imagination and too much free time. Aaron said he and denise were asleep in their house when at 3 00 a. M. He was awakened by a bright light and an electrical noise that sounded like a stun gun. Then a mans voice telling them to lie face down on the bed. Aaron said the man told denise to bind aarons hand and feet. Then he said his eyes were covered with swim goggles which had been blacked out so he couldnt see. He has been blindfolded and ziptied. Reporter aaron said the intruder demand that his banking private and email and played calming music along with instructions to use denises work and text her work and said she would be gone a coupled and let his work know the claim. Aaron claimed he was given a mixture of nyquil and valium to knock him out and told him to stay in one spot in his living room that was outlined in red duct tape and monitored by a web cam. Then ed intruders left with denise. His story sounded so implausible, people wondered if he made it up to hide something more sinister. At first blush, when a woman is missing and her husband or boyfriend said, oh, yeah, she was abducted, well, certainly the first thing i think, maybe because of what i do for a living is, the guy in these kind of situation, you always look at the signature other. Is he a suspect . He is making it up . What is going on here . What is the real story . Reporter police treated aaron less like a victim and more like a murder suspect and confiscated his cell phone and read him his rights. They were suspicious about why he waited 11 hours before calling 911. Aaron quinn, it took himself hours. It wasnt until that afternoon the Vallejo Police were able to talk to him after he came forward. Reporter aarons mother later told us police polygraphed him five times and he was put in jail clothing and given little food or water and held in a small Interrogation Room for hours. Across the country, denises friends didnt know any of this. But they knew enough to be worried. I mean, someone being kidnapped, to be honest a lot of those stories dont end well and you dont want to think about those things, but you think maybe they are not going to alive. Reporter then about 33 hours after Denise Huskins disappeared, reporter henry lee was standing outside of aarons home when his phone buzzed an an email. What is chilling than email became attached with an audio file and this audio file, a womans voice. Im Denise Huskins. The softspoken woman on the recording said she was denise. This very strange tale was about to get much stranger. What had happened to denise . Was she still alive . Or was this all an elaborate hoax . Coming up. We still dont know where Denise Huskins is. That encrypted recording, exactly what kind of message was it . She sounded absolutely calm, not terrified and not distressed at all. Reporter not like someone feared for their live . Right. Like she was talking with a friend over coffee. 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Its a proof of life audio, trying to prove, a, she is denise and, b, syes, she is the kidnapped victim. Reporter and shes aware of events that happened that day . To prove, in fact, she was alive. Reporter clearly this wasnt a murder case, but was it a kidnapping as aaron claimed . We found it odd that denise didnt sound at all frightened. She sounded absolutely calm. Not terrifieterrified. Not distressed at all. Not someone in fear for their life . Right. As if she was talking with a friend over coffee. I think the subject line was, wtf. What is this . Her friend ashley had heard it. It was sort of reassuring she was making an audio that clearly dated that day, but also still scary because you still have no idea if the persons safe, how theyre being treated. You know . People are putting her through. Reporter and if denise doesnt sound paniciced, her friends say that made perfect sense. After all, the three of them had already lived through what should have been the most traumatic event of their lives. Ashley, deneka, and denise went to watch the Boston Marathon in 2013. They say it was denise who remained calm that day. We were all scared and rocked by it, but i think of all of us, she was probably the best equipped to keep her cool. She was the one who was kind of my rock. She grabbed my hand and she was like lets go. Reporter but where was denise now . This is a bizarre case with a lot of twists. Very ba vizarbizarre, rod. Reporter sheryl hurd covered the cover. We still dont know where Denise Huskins is. Were really not sure what her boyfriend, aaron quinn, is telling police. All we know is they cant find her. Reporter then the story took another whiplash turn. About 45 hours after denise was reported missing, police made a dramatic announcement. Approximately 10 30 this morning, ms. Denise huskins was located safely. Reporter it seemed over. Denises cousin told knbc how thrilled everyone was. You hear these stories all the time and you watch tv about them. You never know. I was just happy to hear that she was alive and safe and home. Reporter but to police and reporters, all professional skeptics, this story hadnt smelled right from the start and denises sudden reappearance did nothing to change that. Shes alive. Shes well and they found her. That was great, but there was still something funny going on because no one had all the answers. Reporter for one thing, denise turned up in huntington beach, which was 400 miles south of vallejo and which was also her hometown. She was dropped off right by her moms house. She was not released out of state. She was not released in the desert. She was not released in the middle of california. Where did she show up . Right near her parents house. That seemed too convenient. Reporter any thing. The ran com the kidnapper demanded had never been paid. Denise told police in her hometown the same story her boyfriend had told up north about the swim goggles, the nyquil, the threat of electric shock. But then when Vallejo Police wanted to question her Denise Huskins disappeared. And wont cooperate. Would not fly up in a plane offered by the fbi to talk to the police. Reporter after she was released . After she was released. Reporter suspicion was building. Near denise nor aaron made any Public Statement, but they did hire separate attorneys. Everyones thinking why are they doing that . Reporter lots of questions and not many answers, but then less than 12 hours after denise reappeared then we get a tip that police are holding a News Conference. So i jump in the car, the photographer and i, and we haul ass back to vallejo to be a part of this News Conference and thats when the bombshell came down. Let me know when you guys are ready. Coming up we were not able to substantiate all of the things that he was saying. Was this all some kind of prank . Was there some chance that denise and her boyfriend were going to be prosecuted . It was a very strong possibility. Emails, photos. Some strange new clues are about to emerge from the shadows when dateline continues. Lets be honest, insurance can feel a little outdated. The paperwork. The calling for everything. The searching for id cards. Its like youre stuck in the 90s. Thats why esurance makes it simple with an app that has everything you need because thats how we live nowadays. Rad. Your id card is on a bodacious tiny future tv. Wow youre really committed to this whole 90s thing, arent ya . No, im just saying whats in the script. Thats true. Everything were sayings in the script. When insurance is simple, its surprisingly painless. Enterprise car sales and youll take any tradein . Rom thats right great here you go. Well, it does need to be a vehicle. But i need this out of my house. vo with fair, Transparent Value for every tradein. 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Quinn provided was such an incredible story, we initially had a hard time believing it and, upon further investigation, we were not able to substantiate any of the things he was saying. Reporter then about denise, herself. Mr. Quinn and ms. Huskins has as of right now we have not heard from miss huskins. And then finally this. Mr. Quinn and ms. Huskins has taken valuable resources from our community while instilling fear amongst our community members. It is mr. Quinn and ms. Huskins that owes this community an apology. After a search and about 54 hours of investigation, Vallejo Police had concluded the whole kidnapping story was phony. This was one of those made for california dramas. Police seemed to think denise and aaron were, for some reason only known to them, seeking publicity and telling an elaborate lie. Left unanswered is why anyone would want to become famous for fooling police. Remember, no ransom was ever paid. Aaron told police the kidnappers took his bank information, but no one tried to access his accounts. Someone did try to call aarons cell phone a couple of times while denise was missing from a blocked number. According to aarons mother, Police Suspected aaron had somehow programmed another phone to call his own cell while he was with investigators. Was there some chance that denise and her boyfriend were going to be prosecuted . It was a very strong possibility based on those public pronouncements. Reporter denises friends didnt know aaron, but they had every confidence denise was telling the truth. Everyone that knew or that knows her personally and cares about her believed her. Reporter the day after police branded the kidnapping a hoax, denise finally did show up at vallejo pd to tell the cops they were wrong. She said that not only had she been kidnapped, she had also been raped. That same day, reporter henry lee received another email. A long message, soon followed by more, supporting denises claim that this was no hoax from a person claiming to have been one of the kidnappers. They were very articulate. Clearly written by someone who was extremely intelligent. Ms. Huskins was absolutely kidnapped. We did it. We will provide incontrovertible proof. The writer claimed to be part of a group. More than two and fewer than eight in number. They good into extreme length with a series of crimes they committed. Breakins and you name it. Reporter some of us have a tech background. Stealing late model cars, according to the email, the group decided to try kidnapping because we wanted something with a high payout that we only had to do once or a few times. What is going on . Why are you apparently confessing . Reporter the writer admitted that the reality of the kidnapping was much more upsetting than expected. We fancied ourselves a sort of oceans 11 gentlemen criminals who only took stuff that was insured from people who could afford it. The horrifying reality of what we had become and what we were doing did not sit in until confronted directly with denises suffering and humanity. At least one of the abductors seemed to sympathize with denise. Reporter and now the email said they were angry that denise was being accused of making the whole thing up. We will not stand by and see the life of a really good person ruined. Attached