Darren Lopez was at one time considered a military hero who had seen death and destruction on his multiple deployments in Iraq.

He was part of the special forces that first rated Saddam Hussein's palace, and during the Iraq invasion, Darren was hurt severely.

He would later tell a courtroom that he was diagnosed with a brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder

which made him feel uncomfortable around lots of people.

He had been married at one point, but that fell apart, and his children went to live with their mom.

After the pandemic hit, he felt even more isolated, which is when he decided to reconnect with his old high school flame, Jennifer,

someone he considered to be his first love. He would later testify that he

thought of Jennifer a lot when he had been overseas in Iraq.

He ended up finding her on LinkedIn.

She was now in her 40s and married to somebody else.

Wow, was I surprised to hear from you?

Jennifer responded to his introductory message in March 2020.

How do I know this is really you?

Would it help if I called you angel as you wish? Darren wrote back,

quoting the famous as you wish line from the movie The Princess Bride. Yep that did it, Jennifer wrote.

Then came emails back and forth,

then text messages by the thousands.

The friendship was rekindled, and the old spark turned into a blazing wildfire.

Little did he know at the time, this fire burning bright was going to end up

destroying Darren's life and completely ending

someone else's.

Jennifer turned me into the monster. I hate it. So you're the victim here, Mr. Lopez, is that what you're saying?

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