Netflix's new true-crime doc might be the most head-spinning yet - here's the real story behind it
For years, Netflix bosses have stuck to the same formula when it comes to their true-crime documentaries.
The tale of a horrific crime will be recounted by a small number of eye-witnesses, their emotional testimonies all pointing towards the same evil perpetrator. Suddenly, said suspect will appear on screen, confirming they're not behind bars at all, asking producers, 'Which camera do I look at?' before telling viewers something along the lines of, 'Here's what really happened'.
Before you know it, you're doubting everything you thought you knew about the case, your entire perspective being turned on its head.
It's the streaming giant's signature move to include a ground-shaking plot twist around three-quarters of the way through a feature-length film.
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In A Toxic Love Story, however - a chilling new addition to Netflix's true-crime roster - producers opted to play around with their formula.
I was lucky enough to have been issued a screener for sinister hit, binging through the entire film in just one sitting.
"Terrifying cyber threats escalate into a violent plot involving a US marshal, his wife and his ex in this documentary," its initial description read.
By the time the credits began rolling, however, I was already doubted everything I knew about relationships, the police, the internet and the justice system, wondering who in this world I'd ever be able to trust again.
As opposed to including just one pivotal twist, the 1 hour, 30 minute thriller is laced with a number of blindsiding red herrings, making it - in my humble opinion as a true-crime nut - the most confusing documentary of recent years.
Separating the sequence into three distinct parts, and sometimes replaying certain sections over within a new frame of mind, the chilling hit kept me guessing again and again who the real villain was.
What happens in the documentary?
Part 1: An envious ex
The film starts with viewers being introduced to Ian and Angela Diaz, a seemingly happy-go-lucky California couple who fell hard and fast for one another during a chance meeting in Starbucks in 2016.
Within a matter of months, Ian had proposed and Angela had moved into the condominium he co-owned with his ex-girlfriend, a woman named Michelle Hadley, from whom he'd split the prior year. Angela also quickly fell pregnant with twins.
Ian's longtime friend, Leslie, is also interviewed, telling producers: "When he met Angela, nothing made me happier. Ian always wanted to be married, and he wanted to have kids, and he was really excited that Angela wanted the same things."
We also hear audio of a police interview with Ian, a US Marshal, early on in the documentary, describing his and Angela's relationship as being on track for a happy ever after. That was, until they began receiving vicious emails from a user nicknamed 'Lilithistruth'.
In the messages, which have a creepy, biblical undertone, the couple were threatened physically, and told they were being followed.
As Lesie explains, they contacted the police, convinced Ian's ex, Michelle had been behind the emails.
In police bodycam footage, he tells officers at his condo: "You guys have been here a whole boatload regarding the same b***h."
Angela adds: "She is crazy."
They filed an initial complaint with the cops, with Leslie serving Michelle with a restraining order on their behalf.
Several weeks later, Ian and Angela got back in touch with police, claiming Michelle had responded to an advert shared on the website Craigslist.
The response had been posted from the point of view of Angela, sharing several photos of her and asking men to pay a visit to their property to engage in a 'rape fantasy' with her.
"Hi there, I've been dying to have a rape fantasy occur while walking my dog, following me to the door and forcing me into the condo, forcing me not to scream, dragging me upstairs and taking me from behind on the bed," the message read.
In bodycam footage, tells police Ian: "She needs to be in f****g cuffs and in a padded room."
Harrowing 911 audio is then played, hearing a frantic Angela claiming some days later that she'd been attacked by an unknown man outside of Ian's condo, who'd allegedly been recruited by Michelle.
"I tried to move and he grabbed me," she is seen telling responding officers. "He had my pinned by the hair at the back of my neck."
Michelle was subsequently arrested, with footage of her initial police interview being aired in the documentary.
During the encounter, she admitted to sending the couple emails under the name 'Lilithistruth'.
Case closed right? Far from it.
Part 2: A history of lies
Suddenly, in what I considered the 'second part' of the devastating doc, a new witness appears on screen.
Introduced as Jason Rayburn, he's an ex-boyfriend of Angela, claiming the two dated in 2013 after at a bar in Huntington Beach, several years before she entered Ian's life.
Jason alleges that, not long after they went official, Angela broke the news to him that she was battling cervical cancer.
Another onlooker is then interviewed. Mary Bukovskis, a former friend of the couple, claims she was told the same heartbreaking story, and even shaved her head in solidarity with Angela after she began chemotherapy.
Between them, however, it didn't take long to determine Angela wasn't exactly telling the truth.
Jason realised that images of treatment devices she'd sent to him had been borrowed from Google Images, while Mary noticed she was still hiding a full head of hair beneath her hat. They also discovered fake medical tubes and gauze in her belongings.
"A mindf**k'," Mary describes Angela's history, adding: "I'm sorry, but I don't know if anything I know about her is true."
The pair confronted her in a full-fledged intervention, after which Angela - who insisted she really had been unwell - fled the scene, as well as her relationship with Jason.
Fast-forward several years, and Ian turns up to the police station one day, suggesting Michelle - who, by then, was waiting trial in jail - may not be the culprit behind the emails after all.
He suggested his wife, Angela, may have feigned the entire fiasco, claiming to have discovered a number of false pregnancy tests in her possession.
He also put forward the suggestion that the sexual attack against her had been a hoax.
"I can't believe this," Ian says in interview audio. "I feel like a f*****g idiot. I think Angela did it all."
Suddenly, Angela is framed as the mastermind behind the vindictive plot - Ian's 'jealous new girlfriend', who can't seem to swallow the pill that he'd been in a loving relationship before her.
A text description then appears on screen, reading: "Angela was arrested on January 6th 2017 and pled guilty all charges including fraud, false imprisonment and falsely reporting a crime. Ian annulled the marriage to Angela in April 2017.
"Angela was sentenced to 5 years in prison and moved away from California. She declined to take part in this film."
But, is that the whole story? Of course not. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a part three.
Part 3: The final act
The third and final 'section' of the documentary sees a fresh-faced Michelle introduced to audiences for the first time, recalling the day that the charges against her were dropped after 88 days in prison.
She claims her reputation had been destroyed by the press frenzy that followed the case, and that she lost friends and family members over the horrific accusations Ian and Angela had made about her.
"I think the media gleefully grabbed ahold of this narrative of the 'crazy woman', the 'jealous woman'," Michelle notes. "And if they couldn't paint me as that, they were going to paint Angela as that, but they don't want to talk about the man involved."
In yet another unfathomable plot twist, Michelle went on to pin the blame on Ian.
Simultaneously, as part of his job, Department of Justice (DoJ) as a special agent and digital forensic examiner Jason Higley had been tasked with reviewing Ian and Angela's case even after she was sentenced, being that it involved a US marshal.
Sensing investigators officers may have overlooked something sinister, Higley got hold of the police bodycam footage, email evidence and testimonies used to convict Angela.
"My general impression of Ian and his responses, is that he's a bit anxious," Higley reflects on the footage. "In addition to those recordings, there were a few things in the body camera footage that jumped out."
A number of the bodycam clips shown at the beginning of the documentary, in which Ian and Angela made damning allegations about Michelle's state of mind, and imploring officers to act, are then played again.
The second time around, it becomes apparent that Ian was using certain phrases to sway the views of the attending investigators.
During one call-out, Ian is seen subtly giving Angela prompts about what to say.
After Angela is asked by a cop what time the last email from Michelle came through, she replies, '5.33pm', after which Ian immediately jumps in to correct her, saying, 'No, there was one just now'. Angela then adds, 'Oh, oh yeah'.
Higley notes: "It sounds to me like Ian is trying to coach Angela."
The special agent is also surprised by the distain Ian shows towards his ex, recalling one video where he tells an officer: "This ex-girlfriend of mine has it out for this woman because she f*****g hates her, and hates the fact that I'm not with her anymore."
Higley then interviewed Michelle, who recalled Ian showing major signs of abusive behaviour during their relationship, including by setting security cameras up inside the property, tracking her location, instructing her to change her appearance, yelling at her, and even arranging for her to sleep with another man for his pleasure while he watched.
After eventually leaving the relationship, Michelle did send Ian several emails, admitting she hoped they'd frighten him away from bothering her again in what she described as a 'disassociated episode', but that she never addressed any to Angela, or orchestrated the 'rape fantasy' set up.
Higley and his team subsequently discovered that Ian had responded to the Craigslist add - not Michelle - had sent direct messages to a man that showed interest in Angela, had even recruited her to send a verification voice message to potential matches to confirm she was eager.
They also found that, using his DoJ laptop, he'd sent emails under a 'Lilith' username to create the impression that the first few emails that actually were sent by Michelle had continued.
"This was evidence that Ian Diaz is Lilith," Higley recalled. "There it was in black and white."
A second text message then appears, telling viewers that on 13 May 2021, Ian Diaz was arrested.
"He pled not guilty to all charges brought against him," it continued. "But was convicted of stalking, perjury and obstruction of justice."
Tyla's final thoughts:
For what feels like the first time in years, producers cleverly abandoned Netflix's familiar one-big-twist formula with this unpredictable production, in favour of a constant stream of shocking revelations.
In my view, it made A Toxic Love Story one of the most unpredictable true-crime documentaries I've watched in a long time.
I'm not saying the relentless back-and-forth doesn't come at a cost, however. With perspectives constantly shifting and key scenes replayed under new contexts, there were moments where I genuinely struggled to keep track of who was manipulating who.
So much so that, at times, the film feels almost determined to keep viewers off balance.
Still, if you're willing to stick it out, I assure you, the payoff is more than worth it.
By the time the documentary reaches its jaw-dropping conclusion, the tangled web finally clicks into place in the most frustrating yet fascinating way.
If you're still struggling to wrap your head around it, however, worry not. We've crafted a chronological timeline of events for you.
Toxic Love Story: A timeline of what happened
2013: Ian Diaz meets Michelle Hadley
Ian Diaz, a deputy US marshal, meets graduate student Michelle Hadley online and the pair quickly begin dating.
2015: The couple purchase an apartment together
In June 2015, they buy a condominium together in an Anaheim suburb in California. This wasn't cheap due to the location - Ian and Michelle obtained a mortgage worth just under $500,000 (£371,442), with Michelle paying out almost $15,000 (£11,000) as a down payment.
August 2015: Ian and Michelle's relationship ends
Just two months after buying their apartment, the couple call it quits. Their apartment very quickly becomes a source of financial frustration for the former couple, with text messages in September of that year showing them discussing the financial burden.
2016: Ian marries Angela Connell
Despite tying the knot in 2016, the early stages of their relationship are overshadowed by the financial problems Ian continued to share with Michelle over the apartment.
2016: Ian and Angela plot to frame Michelle for being a cyberstalker
In a shocking plan, the married couple open up multiple online accounts under Michelle’s name, using fake emails to create and respond to 'rape fantasy' ads on Craigslist.
They later lie to authorities by saying that Michelle had purposely invited men to their home, pretending to be Angela, so that they would sexually assault her.
A number of men respond to the ads and arrived at Ian and Angela's property, which Angela then used to fabricate her claims against Michelle.
2016: Michelle is arrested and imprisoned
After the Diaz family file several restraining orders against her, Michelle is eventually arrested by Anaheim authorities. Despite protesting her innocence, she spends 88 days in prison after being given a $1 million bail.
2016: Ian and Angela's lies begin to unravel
While Michelle was wrongly serving time behind bars, digital forensic investigators begin tracing the online accounts and posts, and what they found pointed not to Michelle, but to Angela.
The devices used to create and manage the accounts were also linked to Angela, with IP address records telling the same story.
2017: Michelle is released from prison and Angela is arrested
On the same day Michelle got her freedom back, Angela is arrested and later in the year, she pleads guilty to charges including forgery, false imprisonment and kidnapping.
She is sentenced to five years in prison.
2021-2023: Ian is arrested and charged
His involvement was investigated in more depth in 2021, and two years later, in 2023, Ian is found guilty of cyberstalking, perjury and obstruction of justice.
He is sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison, alongside three years of supervised release.
2023: Michelle speaks out following the sentencing
Michelle, who amazingly gave birth to her first child on the very day Ian was sentenced, says in a statement to NBC News: "I am so grateful to the [Justice Department Office of Inspector General] for the work they put into this case and to the jury for a conviction that has brought so much peace to my family and restored some of the faith we lost in the justice system as a result of Diaz’s crimes against me."
Topics: True Crime, Netflix, Documentaries, Crime, Real Life
Rhianna Benson