Netflix’s A Toxic Love Story breaks down Ian Diaz and his then-wife Angela Connell’s (formerly Angela Diaz) scheme to frame his ex Michelle Hadley for stalking and harassment. The couple hoped to scare Hadley into giving Diaz her portion of the Anaheim, California, condo they bought together, but the plan backfired when police learned that Diaz and Connell were actually behind the upsetting messages at the center of the case all along.
While Hadley’s name was cleared in 2017, Diaz was not arrested for the scheme for several years. Us breaks down everything we know about Diaz’s life today, below.
Where Is Ian Diaz Now?
After Diaz was arrested in May 2021, a federal jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking, perjury and obstruction of a federal matter in March 2023. He was then sentenced to serve 10 years and one month in prison, and was dismissed from the U.S. Marshals Service.
He is currently serving his sentence at FMC Fort Worth. In January 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his convictions.
While Hadley appeared in A Toxic Love Story, neither Connell nor Diaz chose to participate.
“We did approach Ian. We did write him a letter, and he declined to take part,” director Alexandra Lacey told Netflix’s Tudum.
She added that the filmmakers have no knowledge about what his life is like behind bars.
What Did Ian Diaz Do?
A Toxic Love Story sheds light on Hadley and Diaz’s romance, which began in 2013 when they met on an online dating website. They eventually bought a condo together, and Hadley covered a large portion by paying the down payment.
The pair split in August 2015, and Diaz quickly moved on when he married Connell in February 2016.
Diaz and Connell claimed that they started receiving messages from an online account called “Lilithistruth” in May 2016, and they went to police to state they believed Hadley was behind the messages.
One month later, Connell called 911 again to report that a man entered her home’s garage and tried to rape her. She told police that she believed Hadley had organized the attack.
Hadley was then arrested and charged with attempted forcible rape and stalking. She spent 88 days in jail before authorities determined that the couple had framed her so that she would give up her portion of the condo.
In January 2017, Hadley was released from jail and her charges were dropped.
Meanwhile, Connell was arrested that same month and later pleaded guilty to kidnapping, false imprisonment by menace, fraud or deceit, forgery, possession of a forged check over $950, perjury and grand theft, falsely reporting a crime to a police agency and falsely reporting a crime to a peace officer. She was ultimately sentenced to serve five years in prison, and she was released in July 2020.
Diaz and Connell have since divorced.
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