'A Toxic Love Story' is the wildest true crime doc Netflix has released in years - Mashable

Netflix has been on a streak lately, releasing outrageous true crime documentaries that are stranger than fiction. There's been The Perfect Neighbor, a grim recounting of a manipulative murder told through police bodycam footage; Maternal Instinct, in which a con woman faked a pregnancy, before going to fatal lengths to make her lie seem true; and The Crash, wherein a reckless teen girl's vehicular menace led to the death of two friends. Now comes A Toxic Love Story.

By the title alone, you might think you know what you're in for. But documentarian Alexandra Lacey shrewdly takes audiences through the waves of understanding that investigators had to wade through before finding a truly shocking truth. Along the way though, there's plenty of WTF before the final reveal. Unlike the other true crime docs mentioned above, no one dies in this one. And yet, this is surely the most bizarre of the bunch.

Diving into increasing spoilers, we're discussing three big reveals, and the clues Lacey dropped along the way to warn keen viewers all is not what it seems.

A Toxic Love Story begins with the tale of an allegedly crazy ex-girlfriend.

This sexist trope has been a horror element that's most recently resurfaced in Focus Features' indie hit Obsession. What if there was a woman so obsessed with you that she'd rather burn your whole life down than lose you? For the first chapter of A Toxic Love Story, this seems to be the narrative unfurling.

In 2016, newlyweds Ian Diaz and Angela Connell Diaz seemed to have a postcard-worthy life. Living in Anaheim, California, minutes from Disneyland, they could visit the park anytime they wanted, which was important to Ian, as a confirmed Disney adult. Plus, Angela was expecting twins. According to Ian's friend of 20 years, Leslie, this was all he wanted. Then came the emails.

From an account called "Lilithistruth," Angela began getting messages that threatened her life, her home, and the lives of her unborn twins. Ian, a U.S. deputy marshal, reached out to the local police department, who only intervened when the threats escalated to an attempted sexual assault. See, the mysterious Lilith replied to a Craigslist ad, which suggested Angela was up for a "rape fantasy" in the Diaz condo. When a stranger showed up, the couple called 911, and the police arrested Ian's ex-girlfriend, Michelle Hadley.

In an interview with police, which is heard in the documentary, Hadley seems to admit to writing the Lilith emails. She's arrested and held for 88 days on a million-dollar bond. That is, until the police uncover another suspect. There are some red flags along the way, but we'll get to those at the end.

A Toxic Love Story reveals a con woman who went to extreme lengths for love.

Twenty-eight minutes into A Toxic Love Story, the focus shifts from the narrative that Michelle was a vengeful ex to pull back and ask, "Who is Lilith?"

Lacey transports her viewers back to 2013, Huntington Beach, where a pre-Ian "Angie" is desperate to impress her new beau and his circle of friends. However, part of her appeal to be liked includes faking a cancer diagnosis by employing photos of chemo treatments snatched from Google and a knit cap to cover her long hair.

Former friend Mary Bukovskis recounts this fraud with venom and vigor, even sharing cellphone video of a bizarre intervention in which the friends confront Angie, saying, "You don't have cancer!" until she literally runs away.

This audacious scene hits before even the halfway mark of A Toxic Love Story. So, in 2016, amid the "bizarre Orange County love triangle" events that were all over the news, it's somehow less shocking to learn that Angela faked her pregnancy.

Like in Maternal Instinct, this fraud used a sonogram she pulled from online as proof she was pregnant. From there, Leslie recounts how Ian was floored by the revelation, and even more disturbed when he realized Angela was Lilith, sending the emails and unwitting rapist upon herself to frame Michelle.

"It seems like I've been sleeping with the enemy the entire time," Ian says in an audio interview with the authorities.

At the 46-minute mark, A Toxic Love Story puts up a title card, detailing how Angela pled guilty to fraud, false imprisonment, and falsely reporting a crime. But while this seems like case closed, this is only the halfway point of the doc!

A Toxic Love Story is about an abusive boyfriend with a twisted scheme.