Woman in kidnapping story was a victim, says attorney
SACRAMENTO — The California woman who police now say staged her kidnapping was no criminal but the victim "of a very serious assault," said her attorney Thursday night.
"She is one hundred percent, positively a victim," attorney Doug Rappaport said of Denise Huskins, 29.
Huskins is at the center of an apparent kidnapping and ransom case that began Monday when her boyfriend told police she had been abducted and that her kidnappers wanted an $8,500 ransom. The report prompted a multi-agency search for Huskins, with 100 support personnel and 40 detectives assigned to her case.
Huskins was found in Huntington Beach, Calif., about 400 miles south, on Wednesday morning. But according to police, she initially refused to talk to investigators or board a flight that police and FBI had arranged so she could return to Vallejo, the Northern California town where she had been living with her boyfriend.
Police then said they considered the incident an "orchestrated event and not a kidnapping."
Huskins' attorney refuted that characterization.
"This is no hoax. This is no laughing matter," Rappaport said. "She was a victim of a very serious assault. Like a number of women who have been victims."
When asked about the kidnappers, Rappaport said he could not comment about how and why the kidnappers released his client.
Earlier Thursday, attorneys for the boyfriend also backed his claims of a kidnapping. They said Aaron Quinn, Huskins' boyfriend, had been drugged and restrained by the kidnappers.
According to Quinn's attorneys, the kidnappers entered the couple's home between 3 and 5 Monday morning.
At least two kidnappers "forced him to drink something" they said was a drug, according to the attorneys. Quinn, 30, contacted police when he was able to, and went down to the station.
Quinn reportedly gave DNA samples and blood samples for testing, and gave investigators his phone in case the kidnappers tried to contact him. At some point the phone was checked, and there were calls and messages, supposedly from the kidnappers.
Quinn's attorneys say there was some confusion at first because the phone was somehow put into "airplane mode" and messages were not being received.
Police were upset that they wasted resources searching for Huskins. The town of Vallejo has recently emerged from a bankruptcy.
Huskins' family responded that the police statements were "reckless" and could be considered character assassination.
Huskins' uncle Jeff Kane said he spoke to Huskins, who was in shock. He said the family had been cooperative. He said she didn't immediately get on a plane for an interview because she wanted to be near the family members she feared she'd never see again.
"She needed to decompress," he said.
Quinn and Huskins have reportedly not talked since she was located in Southern California. Each has retained a lawyer, and are not talking to the media.
Contributing: Hayley Guenthner, KXTV-TV, Sacramento, Calif.; The Associated Press.