Dateline Friday: “Simply Diabolical” August 21 2026

NBC’s Dateline presents “Simply Diabolical” on Friday, August 21, 2026, at 10/9c, with correspondent Dennis Murphy reporting on a cyber-revenge case that took investigators through allegations of stalking, threatening emails, sexual violence fantasies and an innocent woman’s imprisonment before federal investigators uncovered a much different story.

At the center of the case are Michelle Hadley, her former fiancé Ian Diaz, and Diaz’s then-wife Angela Connell. Hadley spent 88 days in a California jail in 2016 after authorities accused her of conducting a frightening campaign against Connell. Years later, a federal investigation concluded that Diaz himself had participated in the scheme used to frame Hadley.

The case has received renewed attention through the 2026 Netflix documentary A Toxic Love Story. Dateline now examines the extraordinary investigation and the evidence that transformed Hadley from an accused cyberstalker into the victim of a calculated plot.

Michelle Hadley and Ian Diaz’s Relationship

Before the criminal case, Michelle Hadley and Ian Diaz had been engaged and owned a condominium together in Anaheim, California. Their relationship ended, but their lives remained connected through disputes involving the property.

Diaz was also a deputy U.S. marshal, a position that gave him credibility when the accusations against Hadley reached local police. Hadley has since described her former relationship with Diaz as controlling and abusive, allegations that became an important part of understanding what happened after their breakup.

According to Hadley, Diaz tracked her whereabouts and displayed behavior that made her afraid of him. She has also described sexual pressure within their relationship. After their separation, she sent Diaz angry emails containing biblical language. Those messages would take on new importance when investigators later examined the communications attributed to an online persona called “Lilithistruth.”

Ian Diaz Marries Angela Connell

Following the end of his relationship with Hadley, Diaz became involved with Angela Connell and married her.

Connell presented herself as having an impressive professional background, but serious questions about her personal history later emerged. According to accounts examined in A Toxic Love Story, a former boyfriend said Connell had previously claimed to have Stage 4 cervical cancer. He became suspicious when the details surrounding her supposed cancer treatments failed to make sense.

Connell was also accused of falsely representing herself as an attorney with the Department of Justice. Those claims did not become central to the Hadley investigation until much later, when authorities began questioning whether Connell’s allegations could be trusted.

A Terrifying Cyberstalking Campaign Begins

Authorities were initially presented with what appeared to be an escalating campaign against Connell.

Threatening messages were attributed to Hadley, and an online identity known as Lilithistruth appeared to be behind disturbing communications. The material went far beyond insulting or harassing emails.

The scheme included online advertisements connected to sexual assault fantasies. Men were allegedly directed to the Anaheim condominium under circumstances that made Connell appear to be in serious danger.

From the perspective of investigators examining the initial evidence, Hadley appeared to be a former romantic partner seeking revenge against Diaz and his new wife.

That interpretation would prove disastrously wrong.

Michelle Hadley Is Arrested and Spends 88 Days in Jail

In 2016, police arrested Hadley on stalking and harassment allegations. The accusations were serious enough that she remained incarcerated for 88 days.

Hadley maintained that she was innocent.

Her position was difficult. Authorities had been presented with digital communications that seemed to point toward her, while Diaz was a federal law enforcement officer. Hadley has said she felt that authorities trusted Diaz’s version of events while dismissing hers.

For nearly three months, she remained behind bars while media reports portrayed her as the perpetrator of an extraordinary revenge plot.

Then the case began to unravel.

Angela Connell’s Stories Raise Questions

Investigators discovered major problems with Connell’s credibility.

One revelation involved Connell’s claim that she was pregnant with twins. Diaz eventually discovered evidence indicating that the pregnancy was fabricated, including a doctored sonogram and pregnancy tests that appeared to have been altered.

Questions also emerged concerning Connell’s employment and previous claims about having cancer.

Those discoveries forced investigators to reconsider a crucial assumption. If Connell had fabricated major parts of her life, could the evidence supposedly showing that Hadley was stalking her also have been manufactured?

Authorities began investigating Connell.

Angela Connell Is Arrested

On January 6, 2017, Connell was arrested.

She later pleaded guilty to charges that included fraud, false imprisonment and falsely reporting a crime. She ultimately served five years in prison.

The development cleared Hadley of the allegations that had put her behind bars. Diaz also had his marriage to Connell annulled.

For a time, the case appeared to have reached its conclusion. Connell had been exposed, Hadley had been exonerated and the supposed cyberstalking campaign had been revealed as a fabrication.

Hadley, however, believed investigators still did not understand the full story.

Federal Investigators Turn Their Attention to Ian Diaz

In 2017, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Cyber Investigations Office opened an investigation into whether Diaz had abused his position as a deputy U.S. marshal and whether he had played a role in what happened to Hadley.

Federal investigators went back through the evidence.

Special Agent Jason Higley examined emails, police body-camera footage and other material from the original investigation. According to the account presented in A Toxic Love Story, investigators became suspicious of Diaz’s behavior, including what appeared to be coaching of Connell during interactions with police.

The federal inquiry shifted the focus from the question of whether Connell had framed Hadley to a more disturbing possibility: Hadley may have been targeted by both Connell and Diaz.

The “Lilithistruth” Evidence Changes the Case

One of the most important questions concerned the identity behind Lilithistruth.

Hadley acknowledged that she had previously written angry messages to Diaz using biblical imagery. Investigators believed someone had imitated aspects of that language when constructing the more violent Lilithistruth messages.

A major breakthrough came through a man who had responded to an online sexual fantasy advertisement. The advertisement had once been attributed to Hadley.

Digital evidence showed an email from Diaz’s personal account continuing a conversation with the man and asking whether he was on his way to the Anaheim condominium.

That evidence helped investigators conclude that Diaz himself had been operating as Lilithistruth and participating in the scheme attributed to Hadley.

The case that once seemed to show an angry ex-fiancée targeting a newly married couple had been turned upside down.

Ian Diaz Is Convicted

The federal investigation eventually resulted in criminal charges against Diaz.

In March 2023, a federal jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking, perjury and obstruction of a federal matter.

His law enforcement career was over. Diaz was dismissed from the U.S. Marshals Service.

In May 2023, he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

His convictions represented a remarkable reversal from the situation in 2016. Hadley, once jailed as the alleged perpetrator, had been vindicated, while the federal law enforcement officer whose claims helped direct suspicion toward her was now a convicted federal prisoner.

Where Is Ian Diaz Now?

Ian Diaz remains in federal prison serving his 10-year sentence.

His effort to overturn his convictions on direct appeal was unsuccessful. In January 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions.

Diaz subsequently filed a federal court motion in February 2025 seeking to have his sentence vacated on grounds that included ineffective assistance of counsel. According to the July 2026 account provided by Netflix’s Tudum, that petition remained pending.

Diaz declined an invitation to participate in the Netflix documentary about the case.

Where Is Angela Connell Now?

Connell served five years in prison after pleading guilty to offenses including fraud, false imprisonment and falsely reporting a crime.

She has since been released and moved away from California. She declined to participate in A Toxic Love Story, and little information about her current life has been made public.

One question surrounding Connell remains complicated. The Netflix documentary raises the possibility that she could have been manipulated by Diaz while still bearing responsibility for her own criminal conduct. The filmmakers said they could not determine the nature of what occurred privately between Connell and Diaz.

Hadley has expressed a similarly nuanced position, saying she could have compassion for Connell if Connell had also experienced abuse while still holding her accountable for what she did.

Where Is Michelle Hadley Now?

Hadley survived a criminal accusation that cost her 88 days of freedom and left her publicly identified as the perpetrator of crimes she did not commit.

She has since become an advocate for people experiencing abusive relationships. She has spoken about coercive control, financial abuse and the difficulties victims can face when authorities fail to recognize patterns of manipulation.

Hadley is also now a mother. In an extraordinary coincidence noted in A Toxic Love Story, her daughter was born on the same day Diaz was convicted.

She has said that telling her story is partly about helping other women recognize warning signs and understand that abusive relationships do not always resemble the stereotypes people expect.

“Simply Diabolical” Brings the Case to Dateline

The title “Simply Diabolical” captures the central twist in a case built around manufactured evidence and competing versions of the truth.

Michelle Hadley initially appeared to investigators to be an obsessive former fiancée conducting a cyberstalking campaign against Ian Diaz and Angela Connell. She was arrested, publicly accused and jailed for almost three months.

The evidence eventually revealed a different story. Connell’s lies brought the original allegations into question, while a deeper federal investigation exposed evidence connecting Diaz himself to the online campaign.

What began as a cyber-revenge case against Hadley ultimately led to the conviction of a former deputy U.S. marshal.

*Dennis Murphy reports on the case in Dateline: “Simply Diabolical,” airing Friday, August 21, 2026, at 10/9c on NBC.

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