The man decided to not stop at the girls’ destination, so they tried to get out of the station wagon, but were unable to.
— Read on wibc.com/234709/how-investigators-solved-an-indiana-cold-case-from-1975/

American Nightmare is a three-part series now streaming on Netflix that chronicles law enforcement’s mishandling of a California woman’s abduction, captivity and rape in March 2015. https://m.imdb.com/news/ni64403195/?ref_=nm_nwr_1 . You may remember this case from the news, but the initial media coverage was a far cry from the real story. 

There is a monster in the story, of course, but the bad guys here are the Vallejo, CA, police department and the FBI. Some of these officers/agents seem straight out of central casting, but it is a true story and the interviews/polygraph you see are from official videotape. 

Police initially suspect the boyfriend of making his story up to hide her murder. He understood the level of interrogation initially and says he “foolishly thought they would follow evidence.” https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/american-nightmare-denise-huskins-aaron-quinn .

The breathtakingly ignorant detective interviewing the abducted woman’s boyfriend (who had been drugged and terrorized) is a stupid, myopic, misogynistic, flabby thug. When he interviews the missing woman’s mother, who tells him her daughter might have been molested as a child, he responds “I just want you to know that in our experience, women who have been sexually assaulted before often pretend that it is happening again to get attention and relive the excitement and thrill of that experience.” It’s on tape, it’s right there. 

You will see a Special Agent for the FBI (a Special brand of Asshole) demonstrating how police polygraphers use their magic show/voodoo/verbal intimidation to try to coerce a false confession from the boyfriend. It’s on tape, it’s right there. 

The police spokesman, hamming it up for the press at the direction of the integrity-deficient police chief, is a true, compliant pig. You have to see it to believe it. It’s on tape, it’s right there.

Another FBI SA is allowed to continue on the case even after it is learned that he had dated one of the peripheral people to the investigation (the boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, who was later said to be the intended victim). The FBI tells the victim’s attorney that it isn’t a problem; no big deal. And of course the FBI doesn’t release the video of their interrogation of the victim after she is released. 

After the woman is blindfolded and dropped off by her abductor, Vallejo police accuse her and the boyfriend of perpetrating a hoax. They stopped searching for the man who committed the crime. So much for Detective “Puzzle Maker.” The couple believed more than one perpetrator was involved and they remained fearful due to threats made during and after the abduction. But for the work of Dublin, CA PD Det. Misty Carausu, who connected evidence found at the home of an arrestee to that of the Vallejo abduction, the Vallejo PD would probably still be defaming this couple. Detective Puzzle Maker would probably still be reliving the thrill and excitement of his various interrogations. 

The couple filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Vallejo and its police department for defamation. In rejecting the defendants’ motion to dismiss, the judge explained that the conduct alleged in the complaint “goes beyond defendants being skeptical, investigating alternate theories, and expressing skepticism,” and that “[a] reasonable jury could find that defendants engaged in conduct that was extreme and outrageous.” The case later settled for $2.5 million. https://globalnews.ca/news/4088930/california-couple-police-faking-abduction-settlement/ . That seems light to me, but dealing with these assholes any longer than necessary seems worse. 

Vallejo police and the FBI were asked to comment for the series, but declined. ”There’s a real missed opportunity here for law enforcement to be humble, and admit that they made mistakes and share with us how they’re trying to remedy these kinds of errors so that they don’t happen again,” said one of the filmmakers. 

Meaningful change? Responsible change? The same year the Puzzle Maker was fucking up this case and laying the ground work for a $2.5 million dollar settlement and this Netflix series, he was named Detective of the Year. It appears that aside from the city having to write a check, there has been no accountability and no examination of how it came to this or will be avoided in the future. https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/american-nightmare-denise-huskins-aaron-quinn .

The couple regained their reputations, went on to marry and have two daughters. I’m willing to bet the Vallejo police department is still filled with shitbags. Just hope you never “need” the police.