The reported abduction of a Vallejo resident from a Mare Island home early Monday appears to have been a hoax, Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park said late Wednesday.

“There is no indication that this was a random act of violence,” Park said of the alleged kidnapping of Denise Louise Huskins, which made national news. Instead, he said, the facts indicate “this event appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping.”

Park said Huskins, 29, her family and Aaron Quinn, 30, her Vallejo boyfriend and co-worker who said he had waited more than 10 hours to report the abduction, no longer are talking to investigators.

The woman was the subject of a massive hunt that included more than 40 detectives, 100 other searchers and multiple law enforcement agencies at local, state and federal levels, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Park said.

Once the abduction for $8,500 ransom was announced, Huskins’s family raced to Vallejo.

The San Francisco Chronicle released a recording linked to an email it received Tuesday. In it, a woman said she was Huskins and that she was kidnapped but OK. Her father, Mike Huskins, confirmed the recording was that of his daughter.
Wednesday morning, he said he received a voicemail from her that she had been dropped off near his home in Huntington Beach, her former home town.

She spoke briefly to Huntington Beach police officers who raced to the scene. Park announced Wednesday that Huskins, who was found safe in Huntington Beach in Southern California at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, spoke briefly with an officer from that city’s police department.

But by late Wednesday, the stories fell apart, Park said.

“Today, there is no evidence to support the claims that this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all. Given the facts that have been presented thus far, this event appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping,” he said Wednesday night.

The turning point happened when Vallejo police sought to bring Huskins back to Northern California.

“There was some initial indication that she would be cooperative and speak with investigators from the Vallejo Police Department,” Park said. “Through family members, Ms. Huskins promised to meet with Vallejo police detectives and provide additional details.”

Vallejo detectives and the FBI arranged jet transportation to fly Huskins to Northern California for an interview, Park said, but then authorities lost contact with the family and the woman didn’t show for the flight, developments Park called “disheartening” and “disappointing.”

Park said investigators were skeptical of Quinn’s story from the beginning, and were unable to substantiate the man’s statements. But now Quinn, Huskins and her family aren’t talking, and their whereabouts are unknown, he said.

“As of this moment, detectives have been unable to contact either Ms. Huskins or family members,” Park said. “Ms. Huskins has since retained an attorney, and detectives are unaware of (Huskins’s) location.”

He has called the search for Huskins “a wild goose chase” that squandered valuable resources and created unnecessary fear among neighbors.

Park promised that if evidence shows Huskins and Quinn committed a criminal act, Vallejo police will pursue state or federal charges.

“If anything, it’s Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins that owe this community an apology,” he said.

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