Vallejo Police: 'Missing' woman case appears to be orchestrated event

Denise Huskins, the woman who reportedly was kidnapped for a ransom of $8,500 on Monday in Vallejo and was found safe in Huntington Beach Wednesday morning, had initially promised to cooperate with investigators in a conversation with Huntington Beach officers, police said.

Police were told through family members that Huskins would meet with them and provide additional details of her alleged abduction.

However, after Vallejo detectives and the FBI arranged for a jet to bring her to Northern California for an interview, they were unable to contact or locate Huskins or contact her family members.

Police now understand Huskins has retained a lawyer.

"Today there is no evidence to support the claims that this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all," police Lt. Kenny Park said in a statement. "Given the facts that have been presented thus far, this event appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping."

Vallejo police said they were informed around 10:30 a.m. by Huntington Beach police that Huskins, 30, had been found safe.

Huntington Beach police said earlier Wednesday that Huskins had been moved to an undisclosed location with a family member. Huskins is a former resident of Huntington Beach.

Huskins was believed to have been taken against her will from a residence in the 500 block of Kirkland Avenue on Mare Island early Monday morning.

Around 2 p.m. Monday, a man reported the kidnapping and more than 75 people began searching on Mare Island, police said.

Huskins' Toyota Camry was found in Vallejo and police said at the time that they believed it was taken from her home.

This comes after KTVU spoke with Huskins' father, Mike, earlier in the day. In that interview he told KTVU the past 24 hours have been "hell" and that last night "I only got two hours of sleep, and then I woke up crying."

But he said he started jumping up and down and shouting with joy when he got a call from his daughter at 9:30 Wednesday morning.

"I was ecstatic," he said. "I want to hug her, I want to say, it's OK, baby, We're OK."

Mike Huskins said that joy quickly turned to panic, once he realized he was hundreds of miles away from her daughter and she was not yet in police custody.

"I wasn't relieved because she wasn't in the hands of the authorities, she was just walking the streets, but I knew it was her," he said. "I'm grateful. I can't tell you the prayers that have been answered."

Huskins told KTVU Vallejo Police had asked him not to discuss specifics of the case or his brief conversation with his daughter, but Huskin's uncle, Jeff Kane, said he was with his brother-in-law when Huskins received the call. .

"He [Huskins] answered a call from an unknown number and it was her. She said, ‘Daddy I'm safe. They let me go and I'm walking to your house," he said.

Vallejo police say if evidence indicates that either Huskins or her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, have committed a criminal act, the department will request either state or federal charges.