Matthew Muller, the man already infamously linked to the so-called "Gone Girl" kidnapping hoax, has recently been charged with a series of home invasion sexual assaults in Mountain View and Palo Alto from 2009. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced the new charges following breakthroughs in forensic DNA technology that identified Muller's genetic profile on evidence collected from the scenes.
The case development arrives as part of renewed efforts by law enforcement to resolve unsolved crimes. According to reports, the Palo Alto and Mountain View police departments worked with the District Attorney's Crime Lab, uncovering DNA on straps to bind a victim that matched Muller. This evidence has led to Muller being faced with two felony counts related to the assaults during the invasions. "The details of this person’s violent crime spree seem scripted for Hollywood, but they are tragically real," District Attorney Jeff Rosen stated, as per the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. "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."
The assaults took place in September and October of 2009, with both victims being women in their 30s. The attacker broke into their homes, attacked, and restrained them before making them drink sedatives. Interestingly, in both instances, the assailant was dissuaded from continuing the assault and fled after giving the victims advice, in one case, on getting a dog and, in another, on crime prevention. These cases remained unsolved for years until the thread leading to Muller was picked up.
Muller's notoriety surged in 2015 due to the bizarre Vallejo kidnapping, where he drugged, restrained, and kidnapped Denise Huskins, later sexually assaulting her in a cabin before releasing her in Southern California. The crime drew national attention when the Vallejo police erroneously dismissed the incident as a hoax. Muller is already serving time in federal prison for the Huskins case, having pleaded guilty in 2016 to the kidnapping and in 2022 to the sexual assaults of Ms. Huskins. His arraignment for the new charges was set for today at 1:30 in department 23 of the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
