us and supporting us, and we find hints of that constantly in our lives. she was a wonderful person. >> and we're blessed to have known her as a friend. >> narrator: that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ♪ i'm craig melvin and i'm natalie morales sneechlt . >> narrator: and this is "dateline." >> she was receiving long, rambling e-mails threatening her life, saying her husband is cheating on her. she's telling her to watch her back, she better get out of the picture. >> narrator: menacing e-mails sent to a newlywed. the new wife went to authorities and said she was being harassed. >> that's when the fireworks started happening. >> obviously this has to stop. >> narrator: what arrived next

was far worse. >> strange men appeared at her door. >> were posting ads online saying they wanted to fulfill a rape fantasy. >> everything pointed to her husband rex. >> you're incarcerated. >> for potentially the rest of your life. >> but hiding behind the threats was a cyber secret. >> evil. something the devil might do. >> narrator: who was the real devil? >> the d.a. would use the word die boll kag. >> i think he's close to the mark. ♪ >> narrator: hello and welcome to "dateline." michel michelle hadley seemed to have it all, a loving family, solid education, with the opportunities and support to help her fulfill the promises of youth. now she had a fiance she was crazy about, but her life was about to be turned upside down.

here's dennis murphy with "diabolical." >> locked in a cage. the shrieks of women howling in the night. >> this isn't real. it is like something you would see in a movie. this doesn't happen in real life. >> how did a self-described goody-two shoes, a disney princess get swept away in a conspiracy so convoluted and twisted. >> this is one of the most well-thought-out plans and scary. >> diabolical? >> absolutely. >> a tangled web, you bet. an all-together bizarre scheme. complicated scheme. >> very complicated. >> it is the most shocking love rivalry i have ever seen. >> there would be allegations of harassment, cyberstalking, assault and attempted rape. someone was going to get hurt, someone was going to jail, and at the end of the nightmare, well, no one saw that coming. you decide whether it was a love

rivalry. but in the beginning it was clearly a boy-meets-girl love story. >> it was a very intense period of my life in the sense of just a very kind of whirlwind type of romance. >> august 2013, 20-something michelle hadley met a u.s. marshal named ian diaz over a cup of coffee, things moved fast. >> he told you he loved you, you were beautiful. >> yes. >> sort of hit you with a thunder bolt. >> yes, actually early on. by the second date he told me he loved me. >> did you think, slow down, buddy? >> when you are a young girl who has been raised on the fairy tale princess dream, it is very exciting and flattering. >> could this be her prince charming she was meeting over a cap chino, the man she dreamed of since she was a little girl? >> she was very imaginative, very intelligent and she loved the play and create.

>> narrator: michelle's mother suzanne and father michael raised her and her younger sister in this model home in ontario, california. she was a cross country runner, good student. >> "i was an over-achiever. she was offered a scholarship to attend dickinson back east. >> you must have been proud how your child was turning out? >> very proud. >> after graduation she tried various careers before landing a marketing job at disney. now she met this man, ian diaz, u.s. marshal, her own prince charming. he whicsked her off to new york and proposed. >> and you said? >> i said yes. i said yes. >> it was time to find a starter castle to complete the fairy tale.

minutes from her job at disney, they bought into a new condo development in anaheim. she would be able to watch the disneyland fireworks from the roof. >> i put the whole down payment down. >> you put the whole down payment down? >> yes. >> she waited for the condo to be finished and in june they moved in, but michelle said that's when the relationship changed, fell apart actually. two months later she packed her jetta with whatever stuff she could fit in and left. showed up at her parents' doorstep. >> surprised? tell me about that night. >> i had gotten a text saying, can i come home, and i said you don't even need to ask. >> why weren't you suited for him in your opinion. >> i did not feel that the relationship was healthy. >> not nurturing? >> yes. >> were there tempers. >> let's just say not a strong personality and i have to be afl the kind of people i surround myself with. it is better for me not to be in a relationship than in a bad

one. >> but there were still ties that bound the former couple, a mortgage, the deed to the konld owe in anaheim which became a source of tension. both hired lawyers but it got personal. michelle claimed ian was unfaithful, even abusive, and she sent him a strange e-mail, the language laced with references to the bible, satan and a mythical demon called lil igt. please explain to your real estate attorney that god's law is higher than the law of man. lilith, you may try to hide behind the will of man but it is a weak shield. >> he denied the allegations and said he was so alarmed by the e-mail he applied for a restraining order against her. he accused her of infidelity and said because of her emotional instability and fits of rage i fear for my safety. the request for the restraining order was advertise missed a few

years later and the law of man prevailed or so it seemed. the lawyers hashed out a compromise. >> we ended up getting a settlement agreement. >> ian and michelle signed it in november 2015. the deal allowed ian to stay in the condo, but he had six months to get his own mortgage. failing that, he would have to sell the condo and split any profits with michelle. michelle stood to lose most of her down payment, about $10,000, but she said it was worth it. >> i moved on with my life completely. 100% completely. i actually had started dating again. >> this toothache of a problem with the condo but not a major part of your life? >> and once the settlement agreement was signed it was a waiting game. >> she went back to school, started an mba program at chapman university. ian too moved on quickly, married a woman named angela, but the nagging condo issue still wasn't resolved and the six-month deadline was

approaching. >> and that's kind of when the fireworks started happening. >> narrator: soon, more e-mails. really frightening ones aimed at a new target. coming up -- >> angela was claiming she was receiving long, rambling e-mails saying that her husband ian doesn't love her, that she better get out of the picture soon before he hurts her. >> narrator: and after the e-mails arrived, so do police. >> i said what is going on out here. the guy said, we just arrested michelle. >> when "dateline" continues. ah. alexander graham bell here... no, no, my number is one, you must want two! two, i say!! like my father before... [telephone ring] like my father before... ahoy-hoy! as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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♪ >> narrator: by june 1, 2016, tension over the anaheim condo michelle hady and ian diaz shared was starting to peak. the deadline was fast approaching, ian needed to take over the mortgage or sell the condo and that's when odd events began to unfold. michelle's father michael was at work. his youngest daughter was at their home in ontario. >> i get a phone call from the youngest daughter saying, hey, somebody is beating on the door. i said look outside. is there a police car? she said, yeah, there's two of them. i said, well, open the door, because it scared her i guess. a woman throws down a restraining order. >> here, you've been served kind of thing? >> yeah, with the police, two officers there. it is from angela diaz.

>> the restraining order was for michelle who was still living at her parents' home. it came from angela diaz, ee wran's wife of three months, who recently announced she was pregnant. >> angela came into the picture not long after ian and michelle broke up. >> narrator: the reporter covered the story for "the daily beast." she spent hours digging through the curious e-mails michelle sent to him. >> one minute she is polite, thanking him for reminders on her car insurance, the next minute she is saying he is satan and the anti-christ. >> even after they signed the agreement on the condo, the e-mails kept coming. ian got this one on may 22nd. you told me i was your first love, but you did not treat me like the precious, perfect treasure i am. you have sinned against god and i want my power back because it belongs to us, the daughters of god. then something new and strange started happening.

angela began receiving e-mails, too. >> long, rambling e-mails saying that, you know, her husband ian doesn't love her, that michelle is, you know, his one true love, and that ian is cheating on her, he manipulates women, she better get out of the picture soon before he hurts her. >> these new e-mails to angel all sounded like michelle's e-mails to ian, complete with biblical imagery, but they came from multiple e-mail addresses and were signed jason ray. >> telling angela she would always be eve and that michelle was his lilith, his truth, and angela never would be his one true love. >> then another e-mail appear to angela, the subject line die. i hope you are scared of death tomorrow.

be prepared, don't sleep. be watchful of the daughters of guy. the e-mail continues, we will steal your child and watch as it dies. when she looked to see who sent the e-mail it was from michelle hadley. >> you can understand why angela would be so rattled. >> right. >> a barrage of e-mails arrived. be warned, you have lost, you will suffer, i will pray for you. on june 1st, the next morning, angela filed for a restraining order, the one served at the hadl hadleys home. it said she has been e-mailing me, threatening my life, slandering my husband. >> the rhetorical language you used to your ex had a biblical philosophy to it. so it is the same person. >> no comment on that. >> but it was not at all -- >> no, no.

>> michelle admits she sent fire and brimstone e-mails to ian, though she was reluctant to discuss them on camera. she later told us it was a symptom of post traumatic stress disorder which she blamed on her volatile relationship with her ex, but she told us she never sent e-mails to angela. in fact, michelle says she didn't even know her. >> i have never heard of her, i have never communicated with her. >> couldn't say where she lives or pick her out of the line-up? >> exactly. i am assuming she lived at the condo with him, but aside from that, that's the extent i know about her. i don't know what her job is, where she works, i know nothing about her background. >> or so she said. police thought otherwise. >> there was very compelling evidence. >> sergeant darryn wyatt is the public information officer for the anaheim police department. >> there was ferocious imagery written by michelle to her ex. it seems to be the same kind of e-mails coming to angela. did that drive some of your theory about the case?

>> i can't talk about specifics, but there was clear and convincing evidence to believe that michelle hadley was the person sending the e-mails. >> a judge ordered michelle to cease all contact with angela and ian, but the e-mails continued. june 6th, you will pay for this. i hope to god you are ready for the pain i will show you. then this, burn in the fiery pits of heel tonight as by god's law you will be hurt. three weeks after the restraining order was filed, police returned to michelle's parents' house. >> they have a search warrant for my devices and so i hand all of my devices over, i give them all of the pass codes, and he opens up my cellphone. >> the officer looked through her e-mail account, checked the activity there, then arrested michelle for violating the restraining order. >> i heard doors slamming out in front and i went out the front and i said, what's going on out here. the guy said, we just arrested michelle. >> arrested your michelle? >> yes. >> she was placed in a holding

cell. her parents posted a bond to get her out. after a very long night, they picked her up from the anaheim police department. >> there she was sitting on the steps out front. >> one of the stranger days of your life? >> the strangest. >> but strange days were only beginning. >> narrator: coming up -- from daggers by e-mail to danger at the front door. >> somebody was posted ads online through craig's list, saying they wanted to fulfill this rape fantasy. >> narrator: when "dateline" continues. of protein and 80 calories. it's nutrition that fits my healthy life. light & fit. do what fits you. it'now the dentisms of trg fits my healthy life. 3 days is really fast.

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♪ >> narrator: june 2016. michelle hadley was out on bail, living with her parents. anaheim police suspected michelle sent threatening e-mails to her ex-boyfriend ian and his pregnant wife angela, even though on its face it didn't make much sense. >> a young woman who lived an exemplary life, good student, trying to get an mba. >> there's two sides to every person and all we're seeing is the evidence that looks clear that everything is originating from michelle hadley. >> narrator: but the case against michelle went way beyond threatening e-mails. police had evidence she was up to something much more sinister, something stomach churning. it began in early june, about the same time as the deadline on the condo was approaching.

>> somebody was posting ads online through craig's list, saying that they wanted to fulfill this rape fantasy. >> rape fantasy is a genre. >> reporter: i don't think i have heard of this? >> i don't think i have heard of it until this particular case, but there's apparently a market for it. >> it is a personal ad you can find elsewhere online. men seeking women who want to meet and act out a rape. a woman responded to an ad. i have been dying to have a rape fantasy occur. if you can fulfill this tonight, please let me know. i am 30, tall, gorgeous and ready. i have a yorky i walk every night. come find me. the e-mail gave an address, the condo in anaheim where angela and ian lived. on june 13thth, angela and ian told police a man showed up at their door expecting to have violent sex with angela. they told police they sent him away but other men followed, all invited by e-mail responses to

rape fantasy ads. >> it escalates to the point that angela diaz calls the police department and reports another person had shown up and tried to rape her. >> police officers responded to angela's 911 call. >> what did they encounter? >> they encounter a distraught angela diaz who says another person had shown up. >> and she has abrasions, look here. >> correct, on her neck and her shirt is torn. >> this is way beyond internet misdemeanor mischief, this is a criminal act? >> most definitely a criminal act. >> who was inciting men to rape angela. police had no question it was michelle hadley. angela reported during the night michelle spent in yale sjail sh received no e-mails. she made bail and she was out. >> and almost immediately they started get. >> was there a, look, we have

warned you about, and it is continuing in. >> correct. >> daily beast reporter kate brickley tried to unravel the story from her office in new york city. angela diaz appeared to be the victim of an increasingly dangerous game. >> she was afraid for her life. she was afraid to go anywhere. she felt she had to uproot her whole life, take down her online profiles and hide. >> july 11th, two weeks after michelle bailed out of jail, a new rape fantasy ad appeared on craig's list and a response. once again, the e-mail directed the man who placed the ad to the home of angela diaz. >> and what would michelle's motivation be in doing this campaign? >> it is interesting. i mean there's the fact that there's some sort of a love triangle going on, right? there's two women, one guy, and there's also the unsold condominium. >> the condo was still a factor in the story. the bank had not approved ian and angela for a mortgage, so it

was time to sell as agreed to. but that wasn't going to happen according to michelle's father. the ex-boyfriend was digging in his heels. >> he's not going to sell the condo. he does not want to move out, period, he makes that clear. >> on july 12, 2016, even as she remained under investigation for cyberstalking and worse, michelle filed a breach of contract lawsuit against ee wia over the condo. the next day michelle called police. another man was outside her condo. anaheim detectives found a 17-year old in the courtyard. he told police he was responding to a craig's list ad. >> we've got to get her off the street. it is hazard us to angela at this point. >> michelle looked like a loose cannon out there. capable of harm. >> absolutely. >> police got a warrant and once again arrested michelle hadley.

>> it is hard to see your daughter placed in handcuffs. i kept saying to him, no, no, i can't believe it. >> this time it was much more serious. michelle was charged with stalking, making criminal threats, and six counts of attempted rape for directing those men to angela diaz's door. michelle's second arrest got the attention of reporters both in orange county and across the country. >> the leheadlines seemed too cookie and convoluted to be true. >> bail this siem was one million dollars. michelle faced life in prison. >> is this a rock bottom moment for you, michelle? >> absolutely. it is the scariest moment of my life. >> "dateline" returns after the break. might get windy. have a good shift. fire pit. last use -- 0600. i'd stay close. morning. ♪ get ready to switch. protected by flo. should say, "protected by alan and jamie." -right? -should it?

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i'm dara brown . here is what is happening. an empty commuter plane stolen from seattle's airport crashed late last night on an island in puget sound. police say an airline agent took

the plane. military jets tried to intercept the plane but did not down it. terrorism was not a motive. the city of charlottesville is under a state of emergency with sunday being one year since the violent crash between white nationalists and counter-protesters. now back to "dateline." ♪ >> narrator: welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. michelle hadley was in jail, accused of multiple felonies including stalking and attempted forcible rape. had she sent those threatening e-mails to her former fiance's wife or was this all a terrible mistake? her parents thought so and were determined to help. but where to even start? here again is dennis murphy. >> the charges and the headlines were devastating. in an article in her hometown

paper, the shorthand was that michelle hadley was the psyche ex girlfriend from hell, the mover behind a devious plot. her parents, michael and suzanne, couldn't, wouldn't believe it. >> there's nothing in character with the michelle you raised here? >> not at all. >> it is actually 180 degrees so out of sync with her behavior. >> they went to see michelle on her first day in jail after being charged. >> is this going to be a conversation with phones through glass? >> yes. >> they're cells without cages but she is in a caged one. i don't know why she always has to be in a caged one but she does. >> michelle's bail was set at a million dollars. to get her out, mike and suzanne would have to come up with 10% of that, that's $100,000 cash. they told their daughter they had enough to do that or hire a good lawyer but not both. >> the bottom line is we have to fight this and there's no bail

and that's it. >> how tough is that? you had the money, you could have had her home for dinner. >> it was pretty tough. >> i told my dad i was scared to death. i at any time know what was going to happen in jail, but i told my dad, i was like, i can handle it. don't worry about me, get a good attorney. >> and you're incarcerate fsdb. >> yeah, for potentially the rest of my life. >> the girl who loved disney land, fairy tale princesses and her morning starbucks said she would stay behind bars and tough it out. jail house dinners with her new black. >> i stood out like a sore thumb. >> what was your cell line? >> tiny. they have two bunk beds, a table and two chairs and your toilet is attached to the sink and so everyone can kind of see in so you never get any privacy. >> what is the day like? >> they wake you up at 4:30 a.m. and bring you your breakfast. >> which is what? >> it is usually some sort of

gruel looking potato mash. i don't know how to describe it. >> i'm guessing not a foamy starbucks. >> no starbucks. >> while we're talking about food, what is lunch. >> bologna sandwich and really, really nasty bologna. i almost didn't eat from the first three or four days. >> the sounds at the jail house? >> good luck sleeping in jail. the doors slamming. it is very loud. and the women at night sometimes scream line banshees. you will hear it echoing throughout the jail. >> the population of straight-hardened prisoners took a close look at the petite young woman from the good home now living in their cell block. checked her out especially after the story about her in the local paper got passed around. >> after that article i had women coming up to my cell door harassing me about it. i got a death threat letter at one point slipped under my cell door. what if one of the girls goes after me, what happens then? >> one of the women who took you

under her wing said, you got to toughen up, girl. >> yeah. >> you need to develop a swagger. >> apparently i walk like a church mouse and that's not cool. she said, you're going to get hurt in here because you look weak when you walk. >> you need to become scar face? >> yeah, yeah. >> of course, to the outside world she was scar face. kate of "the daily beast" reported on the case. >> these were incredibly serious charges michelle was facing, felony charges that included attempted forcible rape. >> meanwhile, michelle's parent were in crisis mode looking for an attorney. >> you don't have criminal defense attorneys on your speed dial i guess? >> we do not. >> mike and suzanne wanted the right lawyer to deal what cyber crime. they also wanted to start working in michelle's defense right away. their daughter was in trouble, so they started their own investigation. >> was it clear to you, mike, if you are going to claw your way out of this thing you have to understand the story told by the computers? >> correct. >> the forensic's of this case?

>> absolutely. >> you have to learn a lot. >> right, find out ip addresses and all of the stuff. >> an ip address is a new merrick code that identifies a computer network or individual device. mike had copies of the incriminating e-mails from the evidence filed with the restraining order. he started going with them with software that traces ip addresses. >> this investigative software you used to become your own detective, is it something you have to go to cal tech to get a copy of, is it nsa material? >> oh, gosh, no. it is teenage kid material. >> suzanne would organize the information. >> he would printout the ip addresses and i would take them and put them on a spreadsheet, and then we highlighted where certain ip addresses were the same. >> idea being that this ip address will go back to a physical location? >> yes. >> if they could trace an e-mail sent from one location and prove

michelle was somewhere else at the same time, it could be an alibi. but to d.a. tony racacas it looks like a bad set of facts for michelle hadley. >> looking at the e-mails and the pictures and the ads, it looked like michelle hadley was doing this terrible thing, stalking and victimizing of angela. >> the wheels of justice were grinding slowly, and the lives of two young women were hanging in the balance. >> narrator: date returns after the break. oikos triple zero greek non-fat yogurt gives me fifteen grams of protein and zero added sugar. whether i'm on the field or off, every decision matters... including how i fuel. oikos. fuel your hustle. i never count the wrinkles. and i don't add up the years.

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♪ >> each day in jail was a struggle for michelle hadley. not just the daily grind, but the death threats, the fear, living in legal limbo. she took comfort writing long letters to her family, trying to convince them and maybe herself that she was okay. >> july 21, 2016. dear mom, daddy and rebecca, my commissary order arrived take so i have decent pencils and other goodies. writing has always relaxed me, and since this is the most stressful ordeal to date, you can expect to get letters from me daily. i want to send you one positive thing and one thing when i'm

free, as much for my mood and sanity as for yours, one positive thing. i haven't had this much time to read in a long time. wish list. >> a gour may burger and a glass of red wine. all of my love, michelle. >> i hear a lot of you reassuring them in that. >> that is exactly what was happening. >> i didn't want them to worry too much. i didn't want them to be afraid. they were already fighting so much for me outside and doing so much work, you know, and i wanted them to be proud of what a brave girl they had raised. >> narrator: but as the weeks turned into months, her brave front started to crack. >> there were mornings when i would wake up and i would open my eyes and i would see the white jail cell wall and i would think, okay, i'm going to wake up a second time, this is just a nightmare. and it wasn't. it was for real.

i was starting to feel like i was slipping away. >> you felt your humanity slipping away? >> yeah. >> she looked absolutely not even close to a criminal. >> that's your gut talking, right? >> my gut is pretty good. >> michelle's parents hired defense attorney michael justy. he felt an instant connection to the hadleys. >> i looked at michelle's family and to a large extent i saw my family. i saw -- i saw a working-class family who fiercely defended their child. she was a young, ambitious mba student who was nothing but bright-eyed and optimistic. >> and was facing life in prison. >> for no reason. no reason. >> so this is kind of the case you go to law school for? >> this is the reason you become a lawyer.

>> michelle's mom and dad showed justy the computer research they had done on the e-mails at the heart of the case. michael hadley was convinced they had found something crucial. >> why are michelle's digital fingerprints on this thing? >> they're not. there is no digital fingerprints whatsoever. >> it looks like it is coming from michelle. >> it looks like somebody is trying to make it look like it is coming from michelle, that's for sure. >> the hadley's spreadsheet showed some of the incriminating e-mails were sent when michelle could prove she was in a classroom at chapman university. >> here's michelle at school at chapman and here's e-mails coming and she's in class. >> she was in class doing her final course presentation. there's no way she's going to be sending this e-mail. >> the hadleys thought they had it, proof michelle was innocent. but defense attorney justy disagreed. he knew it would take skillful legal leg work to convince prosecutors. >> a district attorney is never going to buy my evidence.

a district attorney is going to have to convince themselves that they have evidence which might actually coincide with what i have. >> in fact, police and prosecutors were still doing everything they could to link those e-mails to michelle. >> we have a very skilled detective who is working on the case, and he was in constant communications with the district attorney's office and trying to piece it together to help prove a case and solidify it for court. >> the problem was -- >> it just wasn't coming together. these electroning messagc messa coming from a different place. we couldn't verify it was coming from michelle hadley's device. >> it was a blow to the prosecution prosecution's case, but there was more evidence than just the ip addresses. there was the bad blood between michelle and ian, the restraining orders, the harrowing attempted rapes of ian's wife angela, and the fire and brimstone language so distinctive and seemingly in michelle's voice.

>> that language of religious retribution. >> made it appear to be from michelle. that caused the police and investigators to look at it and say, this is michelle writing this. >> one thing was clear though, the computer forensics had blown a sizable hole in the prosecution's case. the moment was ceased and he worked out an agreement. after 88 days, michelle walked out of jail. >> on the outside were my parents. they were there waiting for me and got my coffee. >> you missed coffee, the good coffee? >> yeah, the good cup of coffee, which, oh, man, i had been dreaming about that for so long. >> it was an incredible moment for the hadleys, a legal victory but not the end of the road. >> she is still in jeopardy, still charged with the same crimes. >> and she had an ankle bracelet

on. >> she had an ankle bracelet on. >> i felt like i was scarred from jail, and wearing that device, you kind of still feel like you're an animal, and i just remember thinking how did i get here? i didn't do anything? >> coming up -- >> narrator: if michelle wasn't sending the e-mails, who was and why? the d.a. has a word for it. >> diabolical. >> how did that word come to you? >> diabolical is something evil. >> narrator: when "dateline" won'ts. ask your vet for more information. con. t. in. u. e. s. voxgard. the vet's #1 choice.

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ke ton ketron. michelle hadley had been released from jail, but if she hadn't sent those ominous e-mails filled with threats of kid p thatti kidnapping and rape and death, then who did? could the answer be within the e-mails themselves? now with the conclusion of our story, here's dennis murphy. >> michelle felt like she was losing a little part of herself. out of jail, but not out of jeopardy. free to go to a high end coffee shop, but not allowed to remove the ankle monitor. >> i wrapped it with this sports bandage because i was so embarrassed to be wearing it, you know. >> but everything was about to change. after a thorough search of michelle's digital devices

investigators concluded the damning e-mails did not come from them. >> we have a lab, our own computer forensics lab and that's really how this came to fruition that we were able to determine that michelle hadley wasn't the suspect. >> this was momentous. after months in jail, after the ankle bracelet, michelle hadley was cleared. >> you're happy but your emotocrosses are all over the place. i'm lucky my parns were there to take care of me because it's a rocky transition. >> now police faced a daunting new investigation. the suspect could be literally anybody with a cell phone or access to the internet. >> we can't show where it was coming from without the service of a search warrant and getting the information from the internet service provider and it took months. >> police needed critical data from internet provide ers to confirm the precise times and locations of the cyber attacks against angela.

they executed more than 60 search warrants in their investigation. >> very few cases where we've had to write that many search warrants to get to the truth. >> and when they finally started getting the information they needed, the results were stunning. the ugly trail of ones and zeros seemed to show that at least some of the e-mails were coming from the condo in anaheim. the one ian and angela were now living in. the condo, suddenly looking like the scene of the crime and the motive all in one. >> this is where angela and ian lived and i don't think that they wanted to leave. >> so if the ex- girlfriend, crazy ex- girlfriend in the public eye is incarcerated that resolves some of these financial issues. >> they'll have complete control over their residence. >> and now both of them were suspe suspect. ian the u.s. marshall.

>> but the deeper they looked, the more police zeroed in on the woman ian married and all the bizarre goings on swirling around her. one that stood out was angela's report that someone tried to rape her in the garage of the condo. >> you have to go to an alley to get to the garage and the garage doesn't have an address on it. >> so you're wondering how this allege assailant found her. >> that is a question but also there were surveillance cameras in the area. >> and presumably would show someone trying to inter. >> you didn't have that. >> you start questioning about whether this happened and the story about how she bought the guy off and compare that to the rather light jainjuries she was showing it started looking sketchy. >> angela seemed to have a troubling history. >> we started seeing some of the fraudulent things that she's been involved in. >> some bad checks.

>> faking a cancer episode? >> things like that. >> the d.a. says angela lied about something else too. she was not pregnant with ian's child. but it wasn't the trail of lies that really mattered. it was the trail of e-mails that ultimately cracked the case. it turned out the the e-mails sent from the condo didn't come if a computer at all, but says the d.a., from a cell phone, angela's cell phone. in an already beyond strange case this turned things up to 11. the original victim ended up being their number one suspect. >> how is that for whiplash? i don't think anyone could believe it. >> it was time. six months after michelle hadley was first charged, angela diaz was arrested and jailed. >> good morning and thank you all for coming. >> d.a. held a press con presence and delivered the stunning news. >> i'm here to announce the filing of a felony complaint against angela diaz by the orange county district attorney's office.

>> there were no charges against ian, the man in the middle. the d.a. said angela diaz was the master mind and sole actor in an elaborate scheme to portray herself as a victim. she had quite simply framed michelle hadley. >> michelle is accused of being angela who pretended to be michelle who pretended to be ange angela. >> angela, accused of sending herself threatening e-mails invietding men to own home to rape her and all to put her husband's ex- girlfriend behind bars. what's more, at least for a few months, authorities say she succeeded. >> when someone who's innocent gets arrested and charged with a crime, that's not just a bad day, it's a nightmare. it needs to be made clear in the media and in cyber space, ms. hadley is an innocent victim of a diabolical stecheme.

>> what do you mean now with that word. >> diabolical is something evil. >> your theory was wrong was you untangled it is that what happened here? >> that is right. >> you're sorry that the first theory was wrong. >> absolutely. it's a terrible thing to accuse an innocent person. >> were the apologies enough? doing a walk of shame saying we got this terribly wrong. >> i appreciate the apologies, but the apologies don't rebuild your life. and the apologies don't undo what's been done. i'll carry this around for the rest of my life. >> to attempt to get justice for michelle, her lawyer filed a lawsuit against angela diaz, ian diaz and the city of anaheim. a spokes person for the city of anaheim issued a statement, which reads in part, we believe our detectives properly followed

the evidence. we are letting the legal process play out. >> the anaheim police department, our detective didn't create the situation. angela diaz did. we did what we had to do as the circumstances came about and as the evidence presented itself up to and including continuing to investigate and exonerating michelle. >> the court had considered the impact on michelle hadley's life by being incarcerated, by wrongfully accused through no fault of law enforcement. in fact, it was through the tremendous efforts of law enforcement that the truth was finally uncovered. it was a tragedy and a waste of limited resources to have law enforcement running around in circles chasing ms. hadley because of the evidence presented to them because of the repeated accusations being made against ms. hadley. >> angela faced fell nir charges including kidnapping, false imprisonment, perjury and forgery. she pleaded not guilty to all of

them. but in october 2017 she changed her plea to guilty. sat before a judge to learn her fate. >> the court will sentence you to state prison for a period of 5 years. >> angela's defense attorney believes ian deserves a closer look. >> the failure to investigate adequately the role of ian diaz in it is a serious concern. >> we reached out to ian hoping to speak to him but got no response. >> is he in on this thing? >> there's no evidence at this point that he is. everything points to her. >> when we sat down with her, michelle's personal struggle was far from over, a struggle to rekindle the spirit of an innocent young woman whose life was changed forever by something diabolical. >> i don't think there's anything more evil than finding a girl who believes in the best in humanity and who loves other

people deeply and making her question who she is. making her question her faith in humanity. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. in new york, it is 7:00 in the east. 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. breaking news, a stolen plane chased by military jets crashes into a small island. what the pilot told the control tower during the flight. and the president's legal team gets an unusual opportunity to criticize the russia probe. >> the moment we are living in is grave. the democratic party must be a party that fights fire with fire. we