364: What if they believed you staged your own kidnapping? Part 1: Aaron

This Is Actually Happening

Wondery

True Crime, Tiah, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 9.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A privileged young man, on the cusp of reconciling with his true love, is tied up in a home invasion and his girlfriend is kidnapped with her whereabouts unknown, but a far greater trauma lurks as the powers meant to protect him frame him as the monster.

Today’s episode featured Aaron Quinn. If you’d like to reach out to Aaron, please find him on Instagram @aaron_quinn_pt

Aaron has written a book with his wife, Denise Huskins titled ""Victim F: From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors"", available now where books are sold. You can also find it here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/617482/victim-f-by-denise-huskins-and-aaron-quinn-with-nicole-weisensee-egan/

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Jason Blalock

Content/Trigger Warnings: home invasion, kidnapping, police interrogation, assault, partner in distress, explicit language

Social Media:

Instagram: @actuallyhappening

Twitter: @TIAHPodcast

Website: thisisactuallyhappening.com

Website for Andrew Waits: andrdewwaits.com

Website for Jason Blalock: jasonblalock.com

Support the Show: Support The Show on Patreon: patreon.com/happening

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Transcripts: Full transcripts of each episode are now available on the website, thisisactuallyhappening.com

Intro Music: “Sleep Paralysis” - Scott Velasquez

Music Bed: Uncertain Outcomes

Services

If you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of trauma or mental illness, please refer to the following resources:

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Text or Call 988

National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264

National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to exclusive episodes of This Is Actually Happening by joining
0:05.7	Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:15.4	Hi listeners. Today we bring you part one of our two-part series from a couple in Northern California,
0:22.3	who are awoken in the middle of the night to an unimaginable crime that would forever change
0:26.8	the course of their lives. Some of you may be familiar with their story as the Gone
0:31.3	Girl case that took place in Vallejo, California in 2015, and was featured in a popular
0:36.8	docu-series on Netflix last year called
0:39.4	American Nightmare. Today, you'll hear from one half of that couple, Aaron Quinn. Aaron will speak to
0:45.3	his own profound and horrifying experience, but the full scope of these events cannot be understood
0:50.3	completely without hearing what Denise Huskins went through as well. So there will be
0:54.5	gaps in the story Aaron shares today, many of which Denise will speak to when she shares more crucial
1:00.1	details of her experience in next week's episode. There are also many more details about the police,
1:06.1	detectives, FBI, and the role of the media in the documentary. So if you want the full scope of the investigation
1:11.7	side of things, please watch the documentary, American Nightmare, in tandem with these episodes.
1:17.7	But now, without further delay, from Aaron Quinn, what if they believed you staged your own
1:23.3	kidnapping? Part 1.
1:28.1	It is this distorted reality where you can't tell what's up or what's down or what's
1:32.5	truthful, what's not. That's the psychological torture that they put you through that.
1:37.0	No one can understand unless you've been through it.
1:50.1	From the From Wondery, I'm Whitmyssledine.
1:53.7	You're listening to This Is Actually Happening.
1:59.9	Episode 364.
	...

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