Denise Huskins

That wasn't the only crime Mueller said he'd gotten away with.

He recalled another attack, which he said was his first, back when he was a teenager in the suburbs of Sacramento.

Mueller said one day he'd walked by some campsites at a state park in nearby Folsom and fixated on a young couple.

He returned that night with a stolen gun.

Muller said he tied up the couple, then carried the woman away and down a bike trail.

Then, he says, he saw a light nearby.

He sexually assaulted her, then fled.

Leaving that interview, Pearson set out to prove Muller committed these crimes.

Starting with the unreported home invasion.

The interviewer had him describe the location and we had him draw a diagram that kind of roughly showed that.

Pearson wondered if the ladder Mueller mentioned using might still be there nine years later.

It was a long shot, but his team asked Contra Costa investigators to search the ravine behind that house.

But we think there might be this ladder.

Would you go look for it?

And a couple hours later, I get a text message that they found the ladder.

But how remarkable is that?

Pretty remarkable.

The family, who still lived there, confirmed everything.

Next, Pearson set out to find the campsite victims.

His team scoured Folsom and Sacramento County records until finally one of his staffers found a four-page state parks report of an incident from August 7, 1993.