Harvard-Educated Lawyer Pleads Guilty to “Gone Girl”-like Crime

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Summary: A Harvard-educated lawyer has pled guilty to kidnapping a woman in California. 

Denise Huskins disappeared in March of 2015. Someone had kidnapped her from her home and asked for a $8,500 ransom, her boyfriend Aaron Quinn said at the time. According to the Associated Press, the measly amount didn’t match the elaborateness of the abduction, and police ruled the crime as a hoax.

  

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The problem was—Huskins had been kidnapped, and by a Harvard-educated disbarred lawyer to boot.

On Thursday, Matthew Muller, 39, pled guilty in Sacramento to kidnapping Huskins. He had previously pled not guilty in March.

Muller attended Harvard Law School, and he was admitted to the California bar in 2011. His family friend Steve Reed said he was surprised by Muller’s crime, but that his actions were due to his mental illness.

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Last year, Muller was disbarred when he was accused of taking a $1,250 advance from a client and failed to complete the work.

Prosecutors recommended a maximum term of 40 years.

“Muller committed a serious and violent crime that terrorized the victims in this case,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert in a statement. “He violated the sanctity of their home and caused fear and panic for all those affected by the kidnapping.”

After Huskins resurfaced days after her boyfriend reported her missing, she sued the police for damaging her reputation and wrongly comparing her case to “Gone Girl.”

Marianne Quinn, mother of Huskins’ boyfriend, shamed the police for their initial treatment of Huskins and Quinn, and she said that Muller’s mental illness was no excuse for what he did to them.

“He also is a psychopath,” Marianne Quinn said. “His mental illness did not cause what happened to Aaron and Denise.”

Source: Associated Press