Contra Costa County prosecutors on Monday charged Matthew Muller — the imprisoned man featured in Netflix’s most up-to-date season of “American Nightmare” — in a 2015 kidnapping and ransom case out of San Ramon, which had by no means beforehand been reported to authorities.
Matthew Daniel Muller (Dublin police photograph)
The announcement by Contra Costa County District Legal professional Diana Becton marks one other gorgeous twist within the burgeoning variety of alleged kidnappings, break-ins and rapes tied to Muller, who’s already behind bars for kidnapping and raping a Vallejo lady 9 years in the past in a case that drew worldwide infamy after police wrongly accused the sufferer of fabricating the ordeal.
Simply final week, Santa Clara County prosecutors introduced prices in opposition to Muller in two house invasions from late September 2009 — the primary in Mountain View and the opposite a couple of weeks later in different in Palo Alto.
In all three instances new throughout Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties, prosecutors have been tipped off to Muller’s alleged involvement by letters he himself wrote to legislation enforcement, throughout which he confessed to the crimes, authorities stated.
The Santa Clara County instances got here to gentle throughout letters despatched between Muller and the police chief of Seaside in Monterey County.
The newest case out of San Ramon got here by way of a tip from the El Dorado County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
In that case, two males and a girl have been allegedly held held ransom by Muller, who demanded that certainly one of them pay tens of hundreds of {dollars} to win their launch, in keeping with the Contra Costa County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
As soon as he obtained the cash, Muller fled, the district legal professional’s workplace stated. The three individuals held ransom — who stay nameless — by no means reported the alleged crime, as a result of they feared retaliation for doing so, the DA’s workplace stated.
Contra Costa County prosecutors filed three counts of kidnapping for ransom. No first courtroom date has been introduced.
“The trauma of crime can have lasting effects that some people endure for their entire lives — whether the crime is reported or not,” stated Becton, in an announcement saying the fees. “Muller committed serious offenses throughout Northern California, and my office will be resolute in seeking justice on behalf of the victims in Contra Costa County.”
Test again for updates to this creating story.
Initially Printed: January 6, 2025 at 6:40 PM PST
