On Jan. 17, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn’s collective and firsthand account of the horrors they endured on March 23, 2015, was released on Netflix. 

The three-episode docuseries “American Nightmare” maps out the entire kidnapping case from beginning to end, including interrogation footage, interviews, audio recordings, police evidence and emails.

This series left me angry, frustrated and heartbroken at the justice system for failing these victims. I think this is a series everyone who is entering the justice system should watch.

The way the case was handled from beginning to end is outrageous. A system in place to protect people put them through a nightmare. A system put in place to protect people allowed disgusting and humiliating things to happen to multiple victims, especially Huskins.

In the early hours of March 23, 2015, Huskins and Quinn’s home in Vallejo, CA, was invaded. They were both drugged, and Huskins was abducted. When Quinn was finally able to reach Vallejo police for help, they didn’t believe him. 

When Huskins was set free by her abductor and was able to reach the Vallejo police for help, they didn’t believe her. 

Their stories matched up, but the story itself is unpredictable because it was planned in an extravagant way.

The reason for the inaction to truly investigate this crime was because of the film “Gone Girl” which was released a year prior to the crime in 2014. The detectives thought the nature of the crime was similar to the fictional film, and that was enough to paint the victims as liars. 

The series was released in three parts, “Part One: The Boyfriend,” “Part 2: Gone Girl” and “Part Three: The Others.”

The way this docuseries is filmed feels like it takes you through the accounts of what happened. It allows you to experience the case as it unfolds, and you’re left to connect the puzzle pieces with infuriation and frustration.

At one point, the sheriff’s office received a forwarded email with a confession from the kidnapper himself under an unknown email, giving them a reason to pursue an investigation, and they barely looked into it. 

Vallejo County had ample reasons to dig deeper into the crime, but they were infatuated with the idea that this couple tried to recreate a “Gone Girl” story.

This couple was publically called liars by Vallejo PD and was faced with a media frenzy of hate because they were not believed or helped by the ones who would validate it to the public.

To me, the most enraging part about this case was the fact that Vallejo County would only do a SART exam on Huskins after she went through an interrogation.

The fear this woman conquered to tell these investigators the horrors that happened to her was squashed by the stigma that people do not initially, or sometimes ever, believe women.

Had they done the SART exam when she asked, they would have been multiple steps closer to catching the perpetrator, even though there was proof. What do women have to do to be believed? 

This docuseries tells society that we must die or have it happen to multiple other women for a man even to consider the possibility, let alone the validity of it.

It took Misty Carausu investigating this case in another city, investigating a different crime, for the truth to prevail. The crime occurred 10 weeks after Huskins’ return and almost 40 miles away from Vallejo, CA, with the same evidence of weapons, suspect description, and timeline of events, even similar to cases that occurred in 2009.

The perpetrator was a Harvard graduate and United States Marine. This docuseries ends with screens that say none of the officers received any sort of discipline for the negligent way they handled this case. Their inability to properly investigate and their ignorance even won one of them “Officer of the Year.”

It’s people like these officers and people like the perpetrator who enter into organizations of power like the police force or the military and create these misunderstandings of the justice system, amongst other factors.

I have numerous family and loved ones who work in the police force and the military. Pointing out the wrongs of a few does not mean an accusation of all, but it’s better to be weary than trusting. Some of the perceived reputations that the justice system and the military have is partly because of the people who work for it.

There’s a reason Huskins and Quinn went to the police: they trusted them. 

But in the end, it failed them deeply and validated the fears people have when coming in contact with the justice system. This docuseries shows how the justice system is essentially a business, not a sanctuary. Safety and justice mean nothing when paychecks and quotas are on the line.

There are still unanswered questions and holes in the case. This piece doesn’t get into the half of it. Please watch this docuseries if you can.

Please think about these questions:

• How can the justice system balance the presumption of innocence for the accused with the importance of believing and supporting victims?
• How does media coverage impact public perceptions of victims and their credibility? 
• What accountability measures should be in place to address mishandling or dismissal of victim reports?
• How does society determine the credibility of a woman’s experience?