‘Me and my baby are gonna die’: Pregnant woman survived fatal abduction and arson attempt by treacherous friend

Do you really need a Netflix subscription if you own a TikTok account? Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. Not when TikTok users are on the app sharing their real-life experiences that feel like a true crime documentary or dark psychological thriller movie waiting to happen.

Take the case of Angelique Cruz, for instance, who left jaws on the floor worldwide when she revealed the epic saga of how she almost had her baby stolen and got burned alive by a woman who had wormed her way into her life as a friend. There are genuinely enough twist and turns in this story to fuel at least two seasons of the next smash-hit streaming drama, but let’s try and summarize it as succinctly as possible.

12 years ago, 18-year-old Angelique was pregnant and was grateful that she had a friend to go through this with, Cassandra, who was also expecting. After several months of friendship, Angelique was heavily pregnant, although Cassandra was still not showing, and the two friends were hanging out at Angelique’s, where Cassandra gave her many extravagant baby shower presents. Cassandra’s behavior was very overbearing and eerie, however, and Angelique’s gut was telling her that something wasn’t right. In fact, she grew convinced that Cassandra was going to kill her. “Me and my baby are going to die,” she remembered thinking.

“Long story short,” as Angelique casually puts it, her house was set alight and the fire department and cops came. When Cassandra was being seen to by medics because she was having “contractions,” Angelique was freaking out to her friends and family about how she was convinced the fire was all Cassandra’s doing. Sure enough, when she looked in Cassandra’s bag, she found two butcher’s knives, scissors, and various other sinister medical gear.

As it was all so circumstantial, however, Cassandra couldn’t be charged and Angelique went on to give birth a couple of weeks later — under extreme security for her own safety and amid constant anxiety. Eventually, the police informed Angelique that Cassandra had confessed to everything, and her full horrifying plan came to light.

First of all, Cassandra was never pregnant, but she had been obsessed with having a kid for years. This was confirmed to Angelique by Cassandra’s cousin after she did some investigation of her own when the cops initially didn’t believe her. Her cousin also revealed that Cassandra had significant mental health issues and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and “multiple personality disorder,” as DiD was still known at the time.

So, having gained Angelique’s trust, her aim was to kill her and steal her baby. Not only that but she had brought the knives and medical supplies with her as she was going to perform a C-Section on Angelique and flee the scene with the baby. The arson wasn’t intended to be part of her scheme, but became her desperate Plan B once Angelique grew skittish of her.

This isn’t even touching on the shocking events of Cassandra’s trial, which both reveal the police’s stunning incompetence and also paint a picture of the woman as a deeply callous and sociopathic person. The full story can be viewed in various parts shared on Angelique’s TikTok account.

Like one commenter said, “So when is the Netflix documentary?” If I were Ted Sarandos I would snap up the rights to Angelique’s story immediately and watch it become a global hit. Probably with Jenna Ortega cast in the lead. Not that Angelique’s harrowing experience needs to be sensationalized, of course, but when your life turns into a horror movie the least you deserve is to get some Hollywood money from it. In the meantime, Netflix’s loss is TikTok’s gain. And, Angelique, you are incredibly strong and the entire TikTok-using world is in awe of you.