Denise Huskins

I think I got really emotional.

Because it's not, we're not asking for a whole lot, you know?

Like, just to be respected and listened to and treated like we have value, it meant the world to feel like we had an ally.

Chief Borges invited Denise and Aaron to Seaside to speak about their experiences with law enforcement.

Chief Borges wanted to do more to help Denise and Aaron get answers.

He decided to write Mueller in prison.

Within weeks, Mueller wrote back.

So you start this kind of writing relationship with Mueller.

Yeah.

In the letter, Mueller confessed to two crimes in Santa Clara County in 2009, six years before Denise and Aaron's attack.

One was in Palo Alto, one was in Mountain View.

He broke in, sort of disguised, and attempted sexual assault.

Back then, Palo Alto police had identified Mueller as a suspect because he'd been caught prowling in the area, but they didn't have enough to charge him.

Now, he was coming clean.

Mueller also indicated there were even more crimes, but only teased the details in his letters.

Vern Pearson is the district attorney of El Dorado County, where Denise Huskins was held captive.

Although he was not involved with the original investigation, in 2024, Pearson also offered to help and wanted to speak with Mueller directly.

Pearson thought the best way to get him to open up more was to use a strategy called science-based interviewing.

One of the hallmarks of science-based interviewing is speaking to somebody without revealing any judgment you might have about either what they're saying or what you think about them as a person.

It just strikes me how different what you're talking about is from the way that the Vallejo PD handled Aaron and Denise's case.