Denise Huskins was not kidnapped for ransom as her boyfriend had reported, Vallejo police said late Wednesday, hours after she was found safe in Southern California and one day after The Chronicle was e-mailed a purported hostage recording in which a woman identifying herself as Huskins said she was “kidnapped” but alive.

“Today, there is no evidence to support the claims that this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all,” Vallejo 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.”

Park noted that Huskins, 29, had promised to meet with Vallejo police — and that the FBI had even arranged for a jet to bring her back to Northern California for an interview. But detectives have been unable to contact Huskins, who has since retained an attorney, and police do not know her whereabouts, Park said.

Park said Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, are no longer considered victims or witnesses and that if evidence showed they had “committed a criminal act, the Vallejo Police Department will request either state or federal charges.” Attempts to reach Quinn have been unsuccessful. Huskins’ family did not return calls or messages seeking comment on the developments late Wednesday.

'Ransom’ was $8,500

At a hastily arranged news conference Wednesday night, Park revealed that the purported ransom was $8,500. He acknowledged that detectives, from the beginning, had trouble believing the statement provided by Quinn.

Park said Quinn’s recounting of the purported kidnapping “was such an incredible story, we initially had a hard time believing it, and upon further investigation, we were not able to substantiate any of the things that he was saying.” Park said Quinn was also not cooperating with the investigation.

Park noted that search crews from around the region had been searching for Huskins. “That is a tremendous amount of resources that, in my opinion, was wasted,” he said.

Park said Huskins and Quinn have “plundered valuable resources away from our community and have taken the focus away from the true victims of our community while instilling fear amongst our community members. So, if anything, it is Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins that owe this community an apology.”

The announcement is the latest twist in a case that has garnered national attention since Quinn reported to police on Monday afternoon that his girlfriend had been forcibly kidnapped from their home hours earlier. No explanation had been given by police as to why Quinn had waited so long to come forward.

Voice mail from Huskins

Huskins, a Kaiser Permanente physical therapist, left a voice mail for her father Wednesday morning saying she had been dropped off at his home in Huntington Beach (Orange County), where she grew up. Mike Huskins said he immediately called police in order to have someone go to her and make sure she was unharmed.

“I almost had a heart attack,” said Mike Huskins, who had traveled to Vallejo after the reported kidnapping. “I tried to get authorities to pick her up, but they kept asking me a bunch of questions. I said, 'Send a squad car.’ I was hyperventilating.”

He added, “It doesn’t sound like she knew what a big deal this was. She said, 'Dad, I just want to let you know that I’m all right.’”

The shocking case began Monday afternoon, when Quinn called police to report the purported kidnapping from his home on Kirkland Avenue on Vallejo’s Mare Island. Police said a 2000 Toyota Camry registered to Quinn, reportedly taken from the two-story yellow home, was later found at an undisclosed location in Vallejo.

E-mail to The Chronicle

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, The Chronicle received an e-mail from an anonymous person claiming to be holding Huskins.

The person wrote that Huskins “will be returned safely (Wednesday). We will send a link to her location after she has been dropped off. She will be in good health and safe while she waits. Any advance on us or our associates will create a dangerous situation for Denise. Wait until she is recovered and then proceed how you will. We will be ready.”

The e-mail included an audio file of a woman identifying herself as Denise Huskins. To verify she was alive, she referred to Tuesday’s plane crash in the Alps in southern France.

“My name is Denise Huskins,” the woman on the recording said. “I’m kidnapped, otherwise I’m fine. Earlier today, there was a plane crash in the Alps, and 158 people died.”

Facts from childhood

To prove she was Denise Huskins, the woman said the first concert she had attended in her life featured Blink 182 and Bad Religion. She said she had attended with a childhood friend, whose name she provided, and that friend’s mother.

The Chronicle played the audio file for Mike Huskins.

“That was her. The tape recording was her. That I know. They said they were going to drop her off and they did,” he said. “I’m relieved. You have to expect the worst — but in my heart, I knew she was still alive.”

He added, “When I heard the recording, that gave me hope.”

Henry K. Lee, Evan Sernoffsky and Kale Williams are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, kwilliams@sfchroincle.com Twitter: @henryklee, @EvanSernoffsky, @sfkale

Online

To hear the audio recording sent to The Chronicle, in which a woman identifying herself as Denise Huskins said she was “kidnapped” and alive, go to http://bit.ly/1FI5JkN.