Court records and announcements from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office

Matthew Muller Faces Life in Prison for 2009 Home Invasion Sexual Assaults in Mountain View and Palo Alto

Dec 31, 2024, 01:31 AM

Matthew Muller, a disbarred, Harvard-educated attorney and former Marine, previously convicted for the 2015 kidnapping and sexual assault of Denise Huskins in Vallejo, has been charged with two additional home invasion sexual assaults from 2009. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced that Muller, 47, faces two felony counts related to incidents in Mountain View and Palo Alto. In the first attack on September 29, 2009, Muller allegedly broke into a home in Mountain View, attacked a woman in her 30s, tied her up, forced her to drink medications, and threatened to rape her, but she persuaded him not to. He then suggested she get a dog for protection before fleeing. The second incident occurred on October 18, 2009, in Palo Alto, where Muller allegedly broke into another home, bound and gagged a woman, forced her to drink NyQuil, and began to assault her before she also persuaded him to stop. He then gave her crime prevention advice before leaving. The new charges were filed following advances in forensic DNA testing, which linked Muller's DNA to straps used to bind one of the victims. Muller is currently serving a 40-year prison term for the 2015 kidnapping and faces life in prison if convicted on these new charges. The case has been featured in the Netflix documentary 'American Nightmare.'