A Vallejo, Calif., police official told Cable News Network (CNN) that the alleged kidnapping of 30-year-old Denise Huskins from a Kirkland Avenue apartment on Mare Island apparently never happened and that searchers who looked for her had been sent on a “wild goose chase” by reports of an abduction.
“I can tell you that our investigation has concluded that none of the claims has been substantiated,” Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park said in a prepared statement.
“And I can go one step further to say this,” he said, “that this was not a random act and that the members of our community are safe and that they have nothing to fear.”
The announcement came after a frantic search of Mare Island and downtown Vallejo following Monday’s report of a kidnapping by Huskins’ live-in boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, authorities said.
Quinn said Huskins had been forcibly removed from their home by people demanding ransom, police said.
Dozens of detectives from Vallejo and other agencies, including the FBI, converged on the historic San Francisco Bay Area city in an unsuccessful effort to find Huskins, who, it turned out, was in Southern California where her father and a former boyfriend were living.
Huskins contacted her father, Michael, in Huntington Beach and arranged to meet at his home.
Michael Huskins had made an emotional appeal to the kidnappers on KGO-TV in San Francisco to let his daughter go unharmed.
“Don’t hurt her, please don’t hurt her, “ Michael Huskins said.
“The biggest fear is the horror she might be going through,” he told the station.
“The horror – she doesn’t deserve that, not from anybody,” he said.
The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper said on its website that it had received a link to an audio clip of Huskins saying she had been kidnapped but was fine.
Her father then received a phone call telling him Huskins had been dropped off at his apartment, CNN said.
Huntington Beach police met with Huskins at her father’s apartment and she reportedly told them she would be happy to speak with Vallejo detectives, CNN said, but did not show up for a meeting with them after they flew to Southern California.
Huskins and Quinn then said they would no longer cooperate with authorities, CNN said.
“As of right now, we have not heard from Miss Huskins and we are no longer in contact with any of the family members,” Vallejo police Lt. Park said late Wednesday.
The couple has hired an attorney, CNN said.
Park said charges against Huskins and Quinn were possible but would not be determined until the Solano County District Attorney’s office completes its investigation of the case.
