Woman in Vallejo kidnapping case recounts her 'nightmare'

VALLEJO, Calif. -- The woman accused of a kidnapping hoax in Vallejo is speaking exclusively to ABC News.

Denise Huskins was kidnapped from her boyfriend's bed in 2015. Her boyfriend, now fiance, Aaron Quinn reported it to police. But when she was found alive in Huntington Beach two days later, authorities called the entire thing a hoax.

Huskins says Matthew Muller bound, drugged and separated the couple. He kidnapped and raped her.

Huskins spoke to ABC News' Amy Robach in an exclusive interview. She says she hoped to survive by appealing to Muller's sense of humanity, so she told him a story from her childhood. It worked.

"When he opened the car door, I thought this is it. Either I'm going to hear a gunshot and that's it, or I'm going to be pushed off a cliff. I could feel him guiding me and I thought I was walking to my death. And then I heard a door close behind me, and I pulled up the blindfold and I thought oh God, he is going to release me," said Huskins.

Muller was eventually arrested. He pleaded guilty in Huskins' kidnapping and was sentenced to 40 years in prison last year. The couple reached a settlement with Vallejo police last week.

Watch the couple's full exclusive interview on "Good Morning America."