Michelle Hadley spent 88 days in prison for a crime she didn’t commit after being framed by her ex Ian Diaz and his wife Angela Diaz. Now, her story is being told in Netflix’s “A Toxic Love Story.”
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Warning: this story contains spoilers from Netflix’s new documentary, “A Toxic Love Story,” streaming now.
While Michelle Hadley served 88 days in prison for a crime she did not commit, she kept her sanity by making calendars and welcome packets for other inmates – resources she says she wishes she had.
“I would just find ways to find purpose in a horrible situation,” Hadley tells USA TODAY, noting that she would also trade coffee packets in exchange for artwork and aid her older cellmate who had difficulty hearing.
Hadley, 39, ended up behind bars in 2016 after being falsely accused of a crime involving her ex, former U.S. Marshal Ian Diaz, and his then-wife Angela Connell Diaz. The twisted tale is now at the center of Netflix’s new documentary, “A Toxic Love Story” (streaming now).
At the time, Ian and Angela claimed they were receiving death threats, cyberstalking messages and images of decapitated fetuses from a “Lilithistruth” user, believed to be Hadley. The newly married couple also claimed Hadley was posing as Angela on Craigslist and responding to “rape fantasy” ads to lure men to her home to sexually assault her.
The Anaheim Police Department eventually arrested and imprisoned Hadley – only to learn months later that Ian and Angela were actually the ones who puppeteered the stalking and harassment scheme. Hadley was then exonerated in January 2017.
That same month, Angela pleaded guilty to all charges, including fraud, false imprisonment and falsely reporting a crime. She was later sentenced to five years in state prison. By June 2023, Ian was also sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison for conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking, perjury, and obstruction of justice.
“It turns your whole world upside down, and it really did feel like being buried alive because it just felt like I was so powerless,” Hadley says, recalling the time she spent in jail. “You don’t have access to outside information. You’re just so at the mercy of the system.”
Below, Hadley discusses the traumatic ordeal, the red flags she saw in Ian and what life has been like since clearing her name.
Question: Why did you want to be part of this documentary and revisit such a traumatic chapter in your life?
Michelle Hadley: I never felt like I really had a chance to reclaim the narrative, and most importantly, to tell the story about the domestic abuse that I experienced in the relationship. This documentary was an opportunity for me to partner with a production company that was just as committed as I am to telling the story in a way that would uplift survivors of domestic abuse. That was very important to me. And it was the best telling of the story that’s been done so far.
In your opinion, what percentage of this cyberstalking hoax was Ian’s doing? How much do you think Angela played a part?
We don’t really know what was going on behind closed doors. I do know that Ian was extremely controlling, extremely manipulative. I had no doubts from the moment that this whole thing started happening – even while I was in it – that he was the one driving the whole thing, that he was the mastermind. That was never a question for me. The real question is how much did he get Angela to participate? And I don’t think any of us will ever know the answer to that question.
You mentioned some concerning behaviors in Ian while you were dating. What were those red flags you may have overlooked at the time?
I’m much older, much wiser, and there were a few things that I realized. One is how quickly the relationship progressed. This is something I tell everyone now when people ask me for my advice. I say, “Always slow down the early stages of dating because people like Ian thrive on speed, because speed doesn’t give you enough time to think and to assess and to evaluate and even check in with yourself.” You’ll hear it called colloquially as love bombing.
The other thing is you should really be evaluating if the person sitting across from you, especially if you’re a woman dating a man, has a level of respect for the opposite sex. Pay really close attention to how they talk about women in general. In Ian’s case, [it was evident] how he spoke about women, female friends, his mom … A lot of the time, these types of guys will speak in a derogatory way about the women in their lives, and will also objectify women.
That’s interesting, considering one of the key voices in this doc is Leslie, a female friend of Ian’s for 20 years. Did Ian speak in a derogatory way about her?
He would come back from the time he spent with Leslie and do nothing but say negative things about her. I never had any jealousy about their relationship because, for me, I was seeing the flip side of it, which I don’t think she ever saw, to be honest. In retrospect, I look back, and I realized what a huge red flag that was. Because here’s someone who was supposedly his closest friend, and yet he was turning around and saying negative things about her behind her back. And same with his mom; he would say negative things about her. A lot of it centered around appearance and looks.
Have you heard from Ian or Angela since everything unfolded?
No. And to be honest, I’ve reached a point in my healing journey where I’m not living for the apology.
After being exonerated, what was it like finding a job?
It was almost impossible to find work after what happened. Before, I had no trouble finding work at all, any time I needed to find work. And afterwards, I saw a noticeable difference. I actually ended up having to pick up and move all the way across the country. New York City was the place where I relaunched my career. I’ve been working in marketing and CRM, customer relationship management, for over 15 years now.
Have you been able to re-enter the dating pool?
It’s something I’ve had to be really on guard with [and] just be very careful who I let into my world because I’ve had some bad experiences. There are some people where it’s just too much for them. They see that you’ve got all these articles about you, and they just don’t want to deal with it for whatever reason. So it does make it a little more difficult. I have dated, but I’m still single.
You gave birth to your daughter the same day Ian was convicted in 2023. What has it been like raising her?
The biggest trip-up for a lot of women is that we’re so trained to defer to or default to what men say. And it just makes you much more susceptible to abuse. So if I can teach her to just rely on her own instincts, trust what she sees, trust what she feels, be confident in herself, that’s one of the most powerful things I can give her as her mom.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
