A Toxic Love Story is the latest true crime Netflix documentary, following a couple’s ordeal with receiving life-threatening emails, allegedly from an ex-girlfriend. The logline suggests that we will probably be surprised by the crazy antics of an ex-partner holding a grudge and the lengths they can go to. But hold on to your seats because the case is anything but predictable.
It’s A Curious Films production, directed by Alexandra Lacey and produced by Emma Supple. A Toxic Love Story has a runtime of 1 hour 30 minutes. It features Leslie, Michelle Hadley, Rick, Mike Hadley, Jason Fryburn, Mary Bukovskis, and Jason Higley.
–This article contains spoilers–
A Toxic Love Story Review
A Toxic Love Story starts with body cam footage of Angela Connell (Diaz) recounting an attempted assault in her own home by a masked man. She pins the blame on her fiance/husband Ian Diaz’s ex-girlfriend, Michelle Hadley. As per Angela, she had been receiving some threatening emails from Michelle for the past few months, where she threatened to kill her and the baby in her womb. Allegedly, Michelle even posted a r**e fantasy advertisement on Craigslist, posing as Angela and inviting men to Angela’s house and violate her (even if she screams).
Most of the events are recounted by Leslie, Ian’s best friend of 20 years. She describes Ian as a wholesome, family guy who used to work at Disneyland with her. He later applied for the U.S. Marshal recruitment representing the Department of Justice. He met Angela in 2016 at a Starbucks, and within a few months, they were engaged, living together in a condo in Anaheim. Angela was also said to be pregnant with twins.
As per Leslie, Michelle couldn’t see Ian moving on and building a family with someone else. Thus, she allegedly plotted to make their lives hell by stalking Angela, sending death threats via email, sending strangers to her home to violate her, etc. She used the alias ‘Lilithistruth’ in her emails, where Lilith is a figure from Jewish mythology who, after refusing to submit to Adam’s authority, transformed into a revenge-seeking demon. Eventually, as the intensity of the threats increases, Michelle is arrested after multiple police reports.
By this time, we have only reached the 20-30 minute mark of the documentary, which means we would now get Michelle’s side of the story, where she might justify her heinous acts. You don’t have a suspicion that she wasn’t behind everything because the narrator, Leslie, believes so. However, this is where the layers start peeling off very slowly. Initially, it seems like Michelle is a somewhat naive person, brought up in a conservative religious environment, who maybe got a bit too attached to Ian and couldn’t handle the breakup.
Because of conditioned misogyny, we don’t even question if Ian had done something to Michelle instead. She shares how they met in 2013 through online dating and connected quickly due to their love for Disney. Having dates at Disneyland (because Ian probably got some former employee discounts) and believing that being the good girl that she is, she would get her prince, who would sweep her off her feet, Michelle saw a future with him.
When he suggested that they buy a condo together, she didn’t hesitate (despite still studying) and took out all her savings for the down payment. But everything turned for the worse when they started living together. Before she could reveal what happened with her, we moved to Angela’s background, before she met Ian. This is the best part of the rollercoaster, because nobody would have predicted what we were about to hear. In the same year, 2013, Angela met Jason Fryburn in a bar and instantly connected.
Jason worked in law enforcement, and Angela, referred to as Angie here, told him that she worked as an attorney with the Department of Justice. She moved in with him in his apartment, but something tragic interrupted their romance. Angela was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and it had progressed to the last stage. Despite being at death’s door, Angela kept on a strong demeanor and didn’t bother Jason with her chemotherapy and doctor visits. After hearing multiple worst ex stories, this right here is the biggest red flag when someone gravely ill doesn’t let you accompany them for consults.
Fortunately, luck was on Jason’s side when he still went with her to a consultation, only to realise that it was to remove a harmless mole on her ankle. Well, it rang a warning bell, and then he started analysing everything Angela did or said, including back-searching the fake treatment images that she sent him after downloading from the internet. It’s a good thing AI wasn’t popular in 2013; otherwise it would have been pretty easy to fake it and not get caught.
What I like is how Jason handled the whole situation. He invited all the family and friends whom Angela had lied to about having cancer and held a surprise intervention for her. After asking her to sit, he calmly asks her about her job (if she’s even an attorney?) and her diagnosis.
Everyone asks her to show her chemotherapy port, but she couldn’t show anything to back up her story and walked out of the intervention. This revelation leaves us questioning whether Angela was the mastermind behind the emails and threats, as she has already engaged in deception.
Still, no fingers are pointed at Ian because, again, the narrator is Leslie, and she is leading us. Leslie shares that after Michelle’s conviction, Ian found out that Angela lied about the pregnancy. The sonogram was downloaded from the internet and photoshopped. It leaves them utterly shocked, and they share everything about Angela with the Anaheim PD. This leads to Michelle being released from jail after 88 days and fully exonerated of all charges. On January 6, 2017, Angela pleads guilty to all charges, including fraud, false imprisonment, and falsely reporting a crime. She was then sentenced to 5 years in prison.
At this point, one would think, “Okay, the real perpetrator is caught, right?” But A Toxic Love Story wouldn’t be a Netflix documentary if it were this linear and predictable. We are now told another version of the events, which puts Ian’s innocence on trial. After all these years, Michelle sits down with the crew and reveals how controlling and manipulative Ian was. When they were together, Ian consistently persuaded Michelle to engage in sex with another man, and he could watch them. Being young and wanting to create her ‘happy ever after’ with him, she agrees.
But that’s the start of his controlling nature to cage Michelle completely. She shared how after they bought the condo, she felt like she was monitored all the time, with cameras inside the house filming her, Ian always keeping tabs on her GPS location, making her change her appearance to fulfill his fantasies, having to wear skimpy clothes picked by him, etc. When she couldn’t take it any longer, she escaped to her parents’ place and tried to avoid Ian’s constant calls and texts.
She had a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with complex PTSD. This makes us question: then why did she accept that she sent those vile emails? Apparently, once before driving off to Arizona in a dissociative state, Michelle sent two emails to Ian, telling him that he would be punished by god for what he had done to her. Then the dots are connected that basing on her religious-tone emails, Ian created the Lilithistruth alias and sent emails to Angela, mimicking the writing style.
And all of it came to light in 2017, when Jason Higley, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) Cyber Investigations Office, quietly opened an inquiry to see if Ian had abused his position as a Deputy US Marshal and influenced Angela’s actions. Higley grew more suspicious of Ian after interviewing Michelle and reviewing emails and bodycam footage. He saw Ian coaching Angela and directing what to report to police.
The main evidence was found in Ian’s laptop’s metadata. Digital forensics found an email from Ian’s personal account asking Rick (the man who answered a r**e fantasy ad on Craigslist) if he was on his way to his condo, which led Higley to conclude Ian had been posing as “Lilithistruth.” Using his designation as Deputy US Marshal, Ian built trust with the police, who didn’t cross-question Michelle’s involvement and imprisoned her.
However, Ian was convicted after years on May 13, 2021, and he pleaded not guilty to all the allegations. Due to strong evidence, he was convicted of cyberstalking, conspiracy, perjury, and obstruction of a federal proceeding. Ian is currently serving a 10-year federal sentence in Texas. But why he did all that still remains unanswered. One of the reasons could be that he feared that Michelle could ask for her ownership of the condo, which he already sold in 2016, after her arrest and didn’t give her down payment back.
Another is the obvious undiagnosed psychological issues, which made him act in such a way. And it’s almost funny how he met someone on the same wavelength as Angela. What were they trying to achieve by framing Michelle, and if Ian was oblivious to Angela’s past or was actually shocked by the fake pregnancy, or were they partners in crime, or was Angela coerced into it? All of it can only be answered by them, but they refused to take part in the documentary.
A Toxic Love Story Final Thoughts
I am glad that it’s not a three-part series where events are stretched for a longer runtime. It’s a rightly paced documentary film, which keeps the suspense until the end. While the actual motives behind everything remain unclear, it ended on a positive note where Michelle was able to move on from this traumatic phase in her life.
However, it’s a shame that Leslie continues to advocate for Ian’s innocence and tries to blame Angela completely. Her adamancy raises questions if she was also involved in Ian’s plans and keeping the right distance to avoid getting entangled in it. If anything, her involvement in A Toxic Love Story works in the favour of the filmmakers, as she helps lead the audience astray by portraying the picture of a helpless man tormented by these crazy women, and then surprises them with twisted revelations.
A Toxic Love Story is available to stream on Netflix.
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