Warning: this article discuses sexual assault.
It landed on Netflix less than a week ago and already, mind-blowing true crime documentary, American Nightmare, has climbed its way to the no.1 spot.
This high-suspense three-parter has left many viewers both 'astounded' and 'disgusted'.
For readers who haven't yet watched streaming giant's harrowing tale, spoilers lie ahead.
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California couple Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins were woken up at their home in the middle of the night back in 2015 by a group of intruders wearing wetsuits, who - after tying up and drugging the pair - threw a blind-folded Denise in the trunk of their car and sped off.
Waking up after being sedated, a terrified Aaron received an email threat demanding payment, before telephoning the police and reporting Denise's abduction.
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Instead of offering to help him, however, investigating officers launched a brutal line of questioning onto Aaron, after finding blood in his apartment, labelling him the prime suspect.
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He was then informed his story resembled that told in 2014 blockbuster Gone Girl when it transpired that he'd exchanged messages with his ex and being accused of killing Denise,
And again, even more shockingly, in a plot twist similar to that featuring in the 2014 thriller, a missing Denise unexpectedly reappeared three days later near her childhood home in Huntington Beach.
After she corroborated her boyfriend's claims, however, police became even more suspicious over their elaborate story.
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Their claims earned further comparisons to the famously intense movie, which tells the story of a woman who faked her own kidnapping.
But it wasn't just the ceaseless plot twists, 'wild story', 'brilliant production' that has seen viewers expressing their thoughts on the mind-boggling limited series on social media.
That's because the majority of online viewers claimed the 'real horror' of this haunting tale was the behaviour of the authorities themselves.
Instead of hunting down the man that had harmed Denise - who, as the final episode explains was finally caught following another crime he committed months later - the documentary shows officers initially branding her story a 'hoax'.
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In a press conference at the time, Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park stated: "If anything, it is Miss Huskins who owes this community an apology."
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They even claimed the couple was lying wasting police time.
Taking to Twitter this week, one viewer penned: "The true American nightmare wasn’t even the kidnapping, it was having to deal with the police," one viewer penned on Twitter this week.
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"Not me watching AMERICAN NIGHTMARE actually hoping for ONCE the police are useful and being disappointed, once again, that all they're capable of is victim blaming a couple (especially women) to the point the ACTUAL CRIMINALS wrote them going, 'do your damn job,'" another wrote.
A third went on: "On the last episode of American Nightmare and I hope this ends with them suing tf out of this police department. The incompetence was astounding!"
At the end of the investigation, another police district eventually tracked down perpetrator, Matthew Muller.
He pleaded guilty in 2016 to one count of federal kidnapping, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison, and faced additional state charges of rape by force, robbery and burglary.
Despite this, however, directors of the hit series have this week opened up about their decision to have the show feature much more heavily on the police incompetence, rather than Muller, who committed the crimes.
Filmmakers Felicity Morris and Bernadette Higgins told GQ this week: "We were of the mindset that these true crime stories should be about the victims, and their experiences, as opposed to fetishising the perpetrator and making them notorious household names.
"We would rather nobody remembered his name, to be honest with you. So there's a fine line to walk there, because you can't leave the audience feeling frustrated."
They ended their statement by saying: "But we just wanted him as a footnote, really. This is a story about victims, and how they're treated by law enforcement."
Topics: Crime, Netflix, TV And Film, True Crime, US News
Rhianna Benson