Netflix’s true crime catalog has sort of become that Scandinavian seed ark, but for preserving descriptions of human misery instead of pine nuts. Exhibit A: American Nightmare.
The documentary, released on the streaming service in January 2024, tells the story of Aaron and Denise, a folks-next-door young couple full of pep and dreams who went through a spectacularly bad couple of years. It all started in 2015, when the pair reported being the victims of a home invasion. Denise was kidnapped, Aaron was told to pay an $8,500 ransom, and somehow, none of that was the worst part.
The authorities were suspicious, first that Aaron had set the whole thing up, then that Denise might have framed her husband for attention. The whole thing kind of sounded like the plot of Gone Girl. Weirdly, this detail makes American Nightmare suspiciously similar to a Whitest Kids sketch from about 15 years ago. Postmodernity is a maze.`
Even after Denise returned home, the police framed her kidnapping as a scheme that either she or both she and Aaron had ripped off from a David Fincher movie. Between the publicity, the allegations of deeply troubling behavior, and what was presumably a mile-long line of streaming service executives at their door trying to land their life rights, the duo was undoubtedly under a ton of stress. What was the end result?
Did Aaron and Denise end up okay – are they still together?
Not every Netflix documentary gets a happy ending – practically none of the tigers from the Joe Exotic series got adopted by loving families with fenced yards for them to play in.
But American Nightmare isn’t every Netflix documentary. The good news doesn’t stop at the fact that nobody involved in the story was lying for clout, pity, or $8,500. In a happy turn of events, Denise and Aaron didn’t just stay together, they got married in 2018, the same year that they sued the city of Vallejo for defamation, pocketing $2.5 million in the process – substantially less than what Gone Girl made at the box office, but that’s not uncommon with remakes.
And the good news doesn’t end there either. Aaron and Denise welcomed a pair of kiddos into the world, including a daughter named Olivia, mentioned in American Nightmare. Also, the man responsible for Denise’s kidnapping was found, tried, and convicted. As codas to true crime stories go, that’s about as good as most people ever get.
American Nightmare is currently available to stream on Netflix.