American Nightmare: What is the Gone Girl kidnapping?

With one of Netflix’s most anticipated true crime documentaries arriving this week – American Nightmare – a question has been thrown around: why is the case at hand named the “Gone Girl kidnapping” and what does it mean? 

Those who enjoy getting stuck into some fact-based content were catered to at the start of 2024 with the release of several major documentary series, including the anticipated The Curious Case of Natalia Grace follow-up Natalia Speaks – which is set to get a Season 3 in the coming months. 

There was also The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, supplemented by Gypsy’s newfound fame after being released on probation. Elsewhere, Casey Anthony’s parents took a lie detector test in a recent Lifetime special. 

Amid the true crime rush, Netflix announced American Nightmare, a brand new series from the makers of The Tinder Swindler. Here’s what you need to know about the meaning behind the case and why it was named the “Gone Girl kidnapping.”

American Nightmare: What is the Gone Girl kidnapping?

In 2015, Denise Huskins was kidnapped before turning up two days later alive and well. Due to the unusual details about the case, authorities and the media initially accused Denise and her partner Aaron Quinn of creating a hoax, dubbing it the “Gone Girl kidnapping.”

For the uninitiated, Gone Girl is a 2012 Gillian Flynn novel that was turned into a 2014 movie directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. The story centers on a woman who fakes her own death in a bid to frame her cheating husband. 

20th Century Fox

In the case of Huskins, despite significant and ongoing evidence to prove that the kidnapping took place, she and her partner Quinn were under constant scrutiny by the police. Initially, after Huskins disappeared, Quinn was suspected of murdering his girlfriend and covering it up. 

When they brought Quinn in for questioning, he detailed the incident, stating that they had been asleep in their home when they were ambushed by a man. He said they were placed in the closet and made to wear blacked-out swimming goggles and headphones, and both were force fed sedatives. 

Detectives refused to believe his turn of events – even when a proof of life audio recording was later sent to a reporter. Two days later, Huskins turned up on the street of her parents’ home, disorientated but alive.

Although her story matched Quinn’s, once again authorities didn’t believe the couple. On the day Huskins was released, Vallejo police spokesperson Lt Kenny Park said in a press conference: 

“Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins have plundered valuable resources away from our community and taken the focus away from the true victims of our community while instilling fear among our community members. So, if anything, it is Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins that owe this community an apology.”

The case took another turn when it was suggested Huskins had faked the whole thing in a bid to get back at Quinn, having found out he had been texting his ex-girlfriend. This is where police started throwing the Gone Girl comparison around. 

The media ran with the narrative, the pair’s names accompanied with the term “Gone Girl kidnapping hoax.” It was a constant uphill battle; Huskins even explained that she had been sexually assaulted, but when her lawyers requested a test, authorities refused unless she came in for further questioning. 

Now Huskins and Quinn are ready to share their side of the story, the trauma they experienced, how they finally achieved justice, and what it was like battling against the odds. 

As per Netflix’s Tudum: “On March 23, 2015, Denise Huskins and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn were woken in the dead of night by a home invader. Huskins was kidnapped, and what transpired next in the terrifying, twisty, (and twisted) tale is the subject of American Nightmare, the new docuseries from The Tinder Swindler filmmakers Felicity Morris and Bernadette Higgins. 

“The story of Huskins’ disappearance invited national media scrutiny, with many comparing it to the 2012 Gillian Flynn novel Gone Girl. Law enforcement claimed the young couple’s recounting of the events was too far-fetched for anyone to believe. 

“Incorporating a mix of interrogation footage, and new interviews, the three-part docuseries unravels the consequences of our cultural rush to judgment – and what happens when law enforcement decides the truth can’t possibly be true.”

American Nightmare drops on Netflix on January 17.