Calif. woman's "kidnappers" demand apology from police, report says
VALLEJO, Calif. - A person claiming to have kidnapped a California woman -- whose alleged kidnapping is being investigated as a possible hoax -- has been sending e-mails to a newspaper demanding that the victim's name be cleared.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports they have received a series of e-mails in the bizarre case from someone claiming to be one of Denise Huskins' abductors.
The 29-year-old Huskins was reported kidnapped Monday, March 23. Police say her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, 30, called authorities around 2 p.m. that day and said Huskins had been abducted from his Vallejo home in the middle of the night by intruders who demanded an $8,500 ransom.
Two days later, on Wednesday, March 25, an unharmed Huskins resurfaced at her father's home in Huntington Beach, about 400 miles from Vallejo. Hours after that, police revealed they found no proof of a kidnapping and believed it was a hoax.
Since then, Huskins' attorney and an attorney for Quinn have disputed police's claim of a hoax.
Huskins' attorney, Doug Rappaport, told the media that his client was cooperating with the investigation "with the hope of clearing her name because she is absolutely, unequivocally, 100 percent, positively a victim."
Quinn's attorney, Dan Russo, said that Quinn waited hours to report his girlfriend abducted because at least two kidnappers bound and drugged him.
Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park has said the delay in Quinn reporting Huskins abducted is part of what aroused suspicions.
No one has been charged in the case, but authorities have vowed to bring charges if they determine either Quinn or Huskins broke the law.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that they have been receiving a series of e-mails since Huskins' return from a person claiming to be one of her abductors. According to the paper, the e-mails apologize for the alleged abduction of Huskins and what the e-mails referred to as a case of mistaken identity. The e-mails also reportedly mentioned auto thefts and home burglaries in the Vallejo area that the sender claims his group committed.
In one e-mail, the writer reportedly detailed Huskins' alleged abduction, saying he and his team drilled holes in a window of Quinn's home to gain entry and then used plastic squirt guns with "strobe flashlights and laser pointers" duct-taped on them to mimic firearms.
The e-mail reportedly said Huskins and Quinn were given headphones playing "calming music and some spoken instructions" and then set up a plan to monitor Quinn electronically before putting Huskins into the trunk of Quinn's car and driving off.
In an email sent to the paper on Monday, the sender reportedly demanded that Vallejo police apologize to Huskins and Quinn for calling the alleged kidnapping a hoax.
The e-mail reportedly said that if Vallejo police did not apologize by noon Tuesday, "I/we may be the direct agent of harm."
According to the Chronicle, authorities declined to comment on the e-mails.
The Chronicle first received an email from an anonymous person claiming to be involved in the case on March 24, when Huskins was still missing. The person claimed to be holding the 29-year-old and said that she would be returned safely the next day, the newspaper reported.
That initial e-mail reportedly included an audio file of a woman identifying herself as Huskins.
The paper says all of the e-mails came from what appear to be dummy accounts, with addresses such as, huskinskidnapping@hotmail.com