DENISE HUSKINS AND AARON QUINN WERE SUBJECTED TO A BRUTAL HOME INVASION AND KIDNAP – BUT THAT WAS JUST THE START OF A LIVING HELL
When Denise Huskins was twelve, she was sexually assaulted. Through fear, she never reported the crime,and when her abuser attacked a teenager two years later, she was overcome with guilt. When Denise turned 19, she was assaulted again. She vowed she would not let another abuser go free, so this time reported what had happened to the police. Devastatingly, they told her it was “her word against his” and they wouldn’t press charges. Denise was crushed, but she could not have known that, in a few years, she would experience another dreadful ordeal – and not only would she again receive no support from the police, she’d be subjected to a vicious public shaming.
MASKED INTRUDER
By 2015, Denise had a successful career as a physiotherapist and was in a relationship with co-worker Aaron Quinn. While Denise, 29, was besotted, Aaron had a chequered love life,andhadbeenengagedtoAndrea,whowas also employed at the hospital where Aaron and Denise worked. The engagement was called off after Aaron discovered Andrea was cheating and, by all accounts, he was heartbroken. Despite moving on with Denise, he still lived in the house he’d shared with his former fiancée in Vallejo, California.
On 22 March, Denise and Aaron were spending the evening together there when Denise found messages on Aaron’s phone. He had been contacting Andrea in the hopes the two of them could rekindle their relationship.
Denise was distraught, but Aaron insisted he wanted to be with her and was just confused. Despite the quarrel, the couple went to bed on good terms. At 3am, they were woken by an intruder wearing diving equipment. They were restrained and had blacked-out goggles placed over their eyes. The intruder instructed them to drink a liquid that would ensure they passed out. Before the drugs took effect, the masked man placed a camera on the wall and told Aaron he would be watching him, and to await further instruction. The man then abducted Denise, putting her into the boot of his vehicle. Aaron was informed that there would be a ransom demand for Denise’s return, and under no circumstances should he contact authorities.
At almost 2pm, Aaron woke from his drugged state and managed to free himself. He had received a ransom message from the kidnapper, but with no way of raising the funds, he decided to call 911. In taped recordings, he is heard telling the operator his girlfriend had been kidnapped and giving the time of the abduction. When asked why he had not reported this sooner, he tells the operator he was drugged. Meanwhile, Denise had been transported to a house in South Lake Tahoe, where her abductor revealed Andrea had been his intended target. Denise was left in a room unti
