Denise Muller was kidnapped in March 2015. Picture: Facebook

But two days later she showed up at her hometown with sunglasses on and carrying an overnight bag. She appeared unscathed despite a frantic and desperate 48-hour search for her.

It appeared to many Ms Huskins disappeared of her own accord but she actually spent two days in hell after being kidnapped — nobody believed her.

Police dubbed the disappearance as a hoax and said the tanned, blonde woman was in fact a real life Gone Girl, and was accused of faking her own kidnapping.

This turned her two-day nightmare into a story that resembled a Hollywood thriller.

Despite police calling the kidnapping a hoax, Ms Huskins fought desperately for people to believe her.

It all started on March 23, 2015 when Ms Huskins was in bed with her boyfriend Aaron Quinn in their Vallejo home in California.

They were woken by blinding lights and Mr Quinn claimed he was drugged and his girlfriend was abducted.

The kidnapper demanded a ransom of $8500 ($A11,000) and the police were sent on a wild-goose chase until they found the 29-year-old physical therapist dumped unscathed two days later in her hometown of Huntington Beach in Orange County.

The day she was found police said that her story was so “incredible” they had a “hard time believing it” and thought it was a hoax created by Ms Huskins and her boyfriend.

Police were suspicious because the ransom was such a small amount of money

Authorities also said there was nothing to back up Mr Quinn’s missing persons report to police, where he told them she had been kidnapped.

In a press release sent out at the time, police said “there is no evidence to support the claims that this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all”.

“Given the facts that have been presented thus far, this even appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping,” the release said.

But on Thursday it was revealed Ms Huskins and Mr Quinn never lied about the abduction with Matthew Muller pleading guilty to the kidnapping, acknowledging he used computer-generated voices, blackened swimming goggles, liquid sleeping medication and numerous props in the abduction.

Matthew Muller pleaded guilty to the kidnapping of Denise Huskins. Picture: Dublin Police Department via APSource:AP

According to court documents, Muller put blackened swim goggles over the eyes of Ms Huskins and Mr Quinn and headphones over their ears to play a recorded warning that Ms Huskins’ face would be cut or she would be hurt with an electric shock if they did not comply.

It is believed Muller also wanted his victims to believe he had accomplices and made a computer recording of people whispering.

Associated Press reports Muller held Huskins hostage in South Lake Tahoe in California, and sent an email to a newspaper reporter with a recording of Ms Huskins’ voice to prove she was alive.

Prosecutors said another email had pictures of items used in the kidnapping, including a black spray-painted water pistol with a flashlight and laser pen attached.

Ms Huskins’ lawyer Doug Rappaport told media on Thursday Muller was caught about three months after Ms Huskins was kidnapped.

He broke into another house but a man fought him off and when Muller fled, he dropped his mobile phone.

The phone led police to Muller and they later discovered he had kidnapped Ms Huskins.

Associated Press reports Muller also confessed to a jailhouse interviewer that Ms Huskins’ kidnapping was not random, but no motive for the crime has been revealed.

Mr Rappaport said right from the beginning, law enforcement “screwed up” the investigation of Mr Huskins’ disappearance.

Earlier this year Ms Huskins even sued the Vallejo police for calling her kidnapping a hoax and likening the case to the movie Gone Girl.

She said it damaged her and Mr Quinn’s reputations.

Associated Press reports in the lawsuit filed, she accused Vallejo police of defamation and infliction of emotional distress.

Muller, a disbarred Harvard University-trained lawyer pleaded guilty to kidnapping Ms Huskins and he could be jailed for up to 40 years, but Mr Rappaport didn’t think this was good enough and believes he should face charges for other alleged crimes, like drugging the couple and sexual assaults during Ms Huskins’ 48-hour ordeal.

“If there ever was a man who deserved to be behind bars, it’s Matthew Muller,” Mr Rappaport said.

Denise Huskins was accused of lying about her abduction. Picture: Vallejo Police Department via APSource:AP

Associated Press reports a shackled Muller acknowledged in a Sacramento federal court that he abducted the young woman and held her for ransom.

He told US District Judge Tony Nunley he was on antidepressants, mood-stabilising and antipsychotic drugs and Muller’s lawyer said he had been diagnosed as manic and depressive.

But Nunley ruled Muller was able to enter the guilty plea.

Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of California, Phillip A. Talbert, released a statement saying Muller committed a “serious and violent crime that terrorised the victims in this case”.

“He violated the sanctity of their home and caused fear and panic for all those affected by the kidnapping,” he said.

Muller’s lawyer said outside the court that there was a “tremendous amount of remorse” and the kidnapper had “tremendous potential”.

A family friend of Muller’s, Steve Reed, told Associated Press the crime came out of the blue and he didn’t know why his childhood friend turned to a life of crime.

Reed blamed mental illness and said it was controlled with medications.

]Denise Huskins, left, and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn. Picture: Mike Jory/The Times-Herald via APSource:AP

Muller lost his law license last year after he was accused of taking a $1250 advance from a client without filing a green card application for the person’s son.

Mr Quinn’s mother spoke outside court after Muller pleaded guilty to the kidnapping.

“Forty years is a long time,” she said.

Prosecutors have also asked Muller to be slapped with the highest possible supervision if he is ever released from prison.

The mother criticised the Vallejo police for botching the investigation of the kidnapping and didn’t buy Muller’s mental health issues as an excuse.

“He also is a psychopath,” she said.

“His mental illness did not cause what happened to Aaron and Denise.”

Muller will be sentenced in January and Mr Quinn and Ms Huskins will reveal their victim impact statements.

— With Associated Press