A woman’s arrest in a violent stalking plot became a local scandal. The doc asks: Who was really behind it?
When a newlywed began receiving threatening emails from a mysterious sender who called themselves “Lilithistruth,” all signs pointed to one person. But after that suspect, her husband’s ex, was arrested, it kicked up a scandal in their well-to-do California suburb. The case, it turned out, was far from closed. Even more disturbing was that as the investigation progressed, it became increasingly unclear who was the true victim and who was the villain.
The documentary A Toxic Love Story, now streaming, unravels the insidious web of deception at the heart of this sensational case. Directed by Alexandra Lacey and produced by Curious Films, the doc examines the players — a husband, his new wife, and his former fiancée — in a game where everyone is playing a part.
“These psychological crime stories are very complex and nuanced,” Lacey says. “Oftentimes, they are simplified by news media as very black or white. But particularly with stories like this, with such a level of psychological manipulation, we as documentary filmmakers want to explore the nuance, the gray area. That’s why I find these stories so interesting to tell.”
A Toxic Love Story is produced by Emma Supple. Dov Freedman, Charlie Russell, and Sam Hobkinson are executive producers.
Here’s everything to know about the documentary.
What is A Toxic Love Story about?
In 2016 in Anaheim, California, Angela Connell reported receiving violent threats over email from an unknown sender calling themselves “Lilithistruth.” The reference seemed related to a figure from Jewish mythology who, after refusing to submit to Adam’s authority, transformed into a revenge-seeking demon. Suspicion quickly fell on Michelle Hadley, the former fiancée of Angela’s husband, Ian Diaz. On June 6, 2016, Michelle was served with a restraining order barring her from contacting Angela, but the email harassment continued — escalating to include graphic images, threats against the unborn twins Angela was pregnant with, as well as Craigslist postings, allegedly made by Michelle posing as Angela, soliciting men to take part in rape fantasies. On multiple occasions, different men reportedly showed up at the condo Michelle still co-owned with Ian, expecting to take part in the assault fantasy described in the ad. One man allegedly attacked her but then fled when Angela called 911 for help. Police were unable to track down the alleged assailant, but Michelle was arrested, charged with stalking and harassment, and held in jail for 88 days.
But Michelle’s arrest was only the beginning. It would take years for the truth — and a far more calculated scheme — to come to light. A Toxic Love Story reconstructs the case largely in real time, allowing viewers to experience the same shifting suspicions investigators and the public did.
“We structured the film so the audience experiences the story the way it actually unfolded — not as a retrospective, but in real time,” Lacey says. “You’re receiving information the same way the public did, the same way law enforcement did. As each new piece of the puzzle emerges, your assumptions are challenged, just as theirs were.”
“As the film progresses, viewers gain access to new information that reveals a far more complex truth than first appeared,” Supple says. “It was important to us that the audience experienced that evolving understanding, as it mirrors the emotional journey of our characters.”
Who is Michelle Hadley?
Michelle matched with Ian online in 2013. In the documentary, she says she was drawn to Ian, who was working as a deputy US marshal, because he seemed to offer the “white picket fence life” she’d grown up wanting. The two got engaged and moved in together in summer 2015, after Hadley cleared out her savings to front the down payment on a new-construction condo they bought together in Anaheim, with the understanding that Ian would help with the monthly payments. But soon after moving in, she says in the doc, “everything took a turn for the worse.”
After a tumultuous few months when Michelle alleges she was a victim of Ian’s domestic abuse, Michelle moved out of their condo, the pair broke off their engagement, and Ian met his new partner, Angela, who moved in. After Angela began receiving harassing email messages from an unknown sender calling themselves “Lilithistruth,” including graphic images, references to her unborn twins, and threats of sexual assault, she and Ian suspected Michelle was behind them.
After all, the messages contained certain similarities to those Ian had previously received from Michelle. After leaving Ian, Michelle had sent him a couple of emails that leaned into biblical language to describe how he would be held accountable for his actions. But according to her, those messages were sent during what she would later come to understand as a dissociative episode resulting from complex post-traumatic stress.
“I don’t even really understand where a lot of it came from or why I wrote it,” she says in the doc about the messages she sent to Ian during that period. “I listened to a lot of sermons growing up. It almost was like some weird brain dump from childhood. … It’s hard to explain because it’s not really like anything else I’ve ever experienced… . I thought, ‘Oh my God, I really am losing my mind.”
After her arrest, Michelle denied sending any emails under the Lilithistruth alias. But the confounding sequence of events that followed would reveal a more twisted truth.
Who is Angela Connell?
Ian met Angela online in January 2016, just months after Michelle left him. After they married in February, Angela moved into the condo Ian still owned with Michelle, and announced she was expecting twins. By that spring, Ian told his longtime friend, Leslie, who is interviewed in the documentary, that Angela had begun receiving threatening emails from a sender named “Lilithistruth.” As the emails continued into the summer, Ian and Angela began reporting them to the Anaheim Police Department, convinced they were from Michelle. In the documentary, never-before-seen bodycam footage shows Anaheim PD visiting their condo three times in a single week, but they didn’t yet have enough evidence to seek action against Michelle.
That changed after a string of Craigslist postings made by the account posing as Angela solicited strangers to the condo to assault her as part of a rape fantasy. Then, on June 24, 2016, Angela called 911 to report she had just been the victim of an attack by an unknown assailant who ran off after she called for help. Police finally had what they needed: That same day, officers pulled Michelle over at a traffic stop, warrant in hand, and arrested her on felony charges including stalking, making criminal threats, assault, and attempted rape.
But the true identity of Lilithistruth had yet to be revealed.
Who is Ian Diaz?
Ian Diaz was a deputy US marshal who met Michelle online in 2013 and, shortly after their breakup, met Angela in early 2016. To those around him, including his longtime friend Leslie, who is interviewed in the documentary, he came across as devoted and easygoing. But both women’s stories would come to center on him — and on the question of who he really was beneath that surface.
Who is Lilithistruth? Where is Michelle Hadley now?
Hear from Michelle on where she is now, about the true identity of Lilithistruth, plus additional commentary from the filmmakers, here.
A Toxic Love Story is available to stream now.
What’s this doc like?
An unsettling, inquisitive, ripped-from-the-headlines tale of relationship revenge fraud, A Toxic Love Story chronicles an innocent woman’s wrongful arrest and the yearslong investigation that ultimately exposed the calculating ex who framed her.
- Watch out for sensitive topics, including descriptions of emotional and verbal abuse and threats of sexual violence. If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence or relationship abuse, information on how to get help is available here.
- Could be described as the calculated romantic manipulation of The Tinder Swindler meets the anonymous digital harassment and shocking unmasking of Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.
