Five disturbing details missing from ‘A Toxic Love Story’
Netflix’s A Toxic Love Story has become the talk of the town, and rightfully so, due to the twisted nature of the true crime at the centre.
Released on July 22nd, the Netflix Original documentary revisits the shocking miscarriage of justice involving Michelle Hadley, who was accused of cyberstalking and orchestrating violent acts of sexual violence by her ex-fiancé Ian Diaz, a former US Deputy Marshal, and his then-wife Angela Connell Diaz, and wrongfully imprisoned for 88 days.
While A Toxic Love Story offers important insights into the shocking real-life incident, including the paper trail that derailed the investigation, the documentary clearly leaves out quite a few alarming details as well.
So, for those curious, here are five disturbing details missing from A Toxic Love Story.
Five unsettling details A Toxic Love Story leaves out
Ian Diaz reportedly refused to delete Michelle Hadley’s tape
A Toxic Love Story reveals an unbelievable, disturbing detail from Ian Diaz and Michelle Hadley’s relationship where he allegedly coerced her into sleeping with another man while he watched. In her 2020 lawsuit against the city of Anaheim, Hadley alleged that Diaz called a stranger over from Craigslist, and in preparation, was given three shots of whiskey at a time when she was on medication for sickness.
In a conversation with BuzzFeed News, Hadley went on to reveal that he not only pressured her into the act but also documented it. When she demanded he delete the tape the next day, Diaz allegedly said, “No one put a gun to your head.”
Diaz was supposed to assume payments of the condo when he reported Hadley
To mitigate the settlement over their condo dispute, Ian Diaz and Michelle Hadley both appointed property lawyers in November 2015. By then, she already paid the original $14,400 down payment and was also clearing half of the mortgage. During her conversation with BuzzFeed and in her 2020 lawsuit, she alleged that Diaz was supposed to fully assume payments for the condo by June 2016.
Had he failed to do so, they would have amicably sold it. However, that part never really arrived because his then-wife started receiving threatening emails from “Lilithistruth”, coincidentally a month before the deadline. It was in early June 2016 that Hadley reportedly learned that Ian’s application to assume the mortgage had been denied.
Hadley suspected Diaz of stalking her
In the Netflix documentary, A Toxic Love Story, Michelle Hadley confessed that she always felt as if she was under surveillance during her relationship with Ian Diaz. But it turns out that the feeling didn’t really fade even after their breakup. In a conversation with the Crime Scene podcast earlier this month, she said, “The first time I tried to leave, he pulled out a phone, and he threatened to call the cops on me just for wanting to leave the relationship.”
“So, he was already using his association with law enforcement as a mechanism to control me.” Although Hadley eventually managed to get out of that cage, the condo dispute came into the scene, instilling a fear that her ex-fiancé was using his profession to force her into giving him the property.
Hadley revealed to BuzzFeed News that multiple SUVs identical to that of Ian’s without license plates were always making the rounds. She was so alarmed that she reported the situation to her university, leading to the alleged barring of him from entering campus.
Diaz attempted to get a restraining order against Hadley
Months before Ian Diaz and Angela Connell Diaz reportedly started receiving threatening emails from “Lilithistruth,” the former US Deputy Marshal allegedly filed a restraining order against Michelle Hadley. He claimed that she was emotionally unstable and had a “history of fits of rage” (via BuzzFeed News). According to the reports, a judge finally dismissed the order. However, it remains unclear whether Hadley was made aware of it.
Even then, during her appearance on the Crime Scene podcast, Hadley admitted that she always felt in her veins that Diaz would “do something” to her when she broke off the relationship. She recounted him asking her what she knew about inmates convicted of a sexual crime. “He told me about their conditions [in prison], and he asked me how I would feel if I was one of them,” she said. “I told him it would be my worst nightmare.”
Angela Connell Diaz allegedly faked two pregnancies, not one
Before it was unveiled that Ian Diaz was the real mastermind behind the entire framing, he alleged to the police that Angela was the actual architect. At the time, Ian also claimed that his then-wife lied not about one, but two pregnancies.
According to BuzzFeed News, Angela Connell alleged that she suffered a miscarriage in spring 2016, a loss that was expected to be redirected to the online harassment they claimed to have been victims of. However, Ian reportedly told investigators that the miscarriage was a lie because he had reportedly encouraged Angela to opt for an abortion when she was unsure about the biological father of the baby.
He went on to further claim that Angela allegedly faked a second pregnancy. According to Ian’s allegations to the investigators about her, she bought sonogram images online and tampered with pregnancy tests to fool him.