fulfill this rape fantasy. reporter: everything pointed to her husband s ex. they said we re gonna have to take you into custody. reporter: you re incarcerated. potentially for the rest of my life. reporter: but hiding behind the threats was a cyber-secret. evil. it s something the devil might do. reporter: so who was the real devil? the da in this case would use the word, diabolical. i think he s close to the mark. hello. welcome to dateline. 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.
prosecutors were still doing everything they could to link those emails to michelle. we have a verskille detective that was 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. reporter: problem was it just it wasn t coming together. these electronic messages were coming from from a different place. and we couldn t verify that it was coming from michelle hadley s device. reporter: it was a blow to the prosecution s case, but there was more evidence than just ip addresses. there was the bad blood between michelle and ian, the restraining orders, those harrowing attempted rapes of ian s new wife, angela. and that fire and brimstone language of the threatening emails, so distinctive and seemingly in michelle s voice. reporter: so that language of religious retribution made it appear to be michelle. reporter: you stand before god on this thing and
reporter: june, 2016. michelle hadley was out on bail living with her parents. anaheim police suspected michelle had sent threatening emails to her ex-boyfriend, ian, and his pregnant wife, angela. even though on its face it didn t make much sense. reporter: a young woman who lived an exemplary life, good student, she s trying to get an mba, and well, there s two sides to every person, and all we re seeing is the evidence that looks very clear that everything is is originating from michelle hadley. reporter: but the case against michelle went way beyond threatening emails. 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 craigslist saying that they wanted to fulfill this
faking a cancer episode. yes, faking cancer. and she was not pregnant with ian s child. it was the trail of e-mails that ultimately cracked the case. it turned out the e-mails sent from the condo didn t come from a computer at all. but the d.a. says from a cell phone, angela s cell phone. in an already beyond stran case, turd things up to 11. their 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 for coming. the d.a. held a press conference and delivered the stunning news. i m here to announce the filing of the felony complaint against angela marie diaz by the orange county district attorney s office. there were no charges against ian, the man in the middle.
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 any emails to angela. in fact, michelle says she didn t even know her. i ve never heard of her, i ve never communicated with her. reporter: couldn t say where she lived or pick her out of a lineup. exactly. i mean, i m assuming she lives in the condo with him. but aside from that, that s the extent of what i know about her. i don t know what her job is. i don t know where she works. i know nothing about her background. reporter: or so she said. poli thoughttherwise there was very compelling evidence. reporter: sgt daron wyatt is the public information officer for the anaheim police department. reporter: there was some very vivid religious, ferocious imagery that was clearly written by michelle to her ex that seems to be the same kind of emails that are coming to angela. did that drive s