Digital Gaslighting and the Ultimate Betrayal: A Review of 20/20’s Tangled Web

The most terrifying monsters are rarely the ones we see coming in the dark; they are the ones sitting right next to us on the couch, watching the same movie and offering a comforting hand while they systematically dismantle our lives. This is the chilling reality at the center of the 20/20 episode, Bad Romance: Tangled Web (Revisited). It is a story that feels like a psychological thriller script, yet every text, every fire, and every drop of blood was agonizingly real.

What starts as a messy dating scenario for Omaha mechanic Dave Krupa quickly spirals into a three-year descent into digital hell. After a brief fling with a woman named Carrie Farver, Dave receives a text saying she wants to move in. When he declines, the switch flips. For the next several years, Dave and his on-and-off girlfriend, Liz Golyar, are relentlessly stalked by "Carrie" via a barrage of 15,000 emails and texts. The narrative brilliance of this episode lies in how it captures the sheer exhaustion of being hunted by a digital ghost.

The Architecture of a Lie

The episode masterfully tracks the transition of Carrie Farver from a missing person to a suspected villain. Because Carrie had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the police initially fell into the trap of assuming she had simply spiraled. It is a sobering reminder of how mental health stigmas can be weaponized by predators to obscure a crime. While Carrie’s mother, Nancy, waited for a daughter who would never come home, the rest of the world was being conditioned to see Carrie as "Crazy Carrie."

The detectives, Ryan Avis and Jim Doty, are the unsung heroes of this retelling. Their decision to split the investigation—one working the case as if Carrie were alive, the other as if she were dead—provides a fascinating look at the rigors of police work. The moment the digital facade begins to crack is where the episode truly peaks. Finding metadata that placed Liz Golyar at the location of Carrie’s car before the police even found it was the first thread in a massive unraveling.

A Masterclass in Manipulation

Liz Golyar’s commitment to the ruse was nothing short of pathological. She didn't just send emails; she burned down her own house, killing her own pets in the process, and eventually shot herself in the leg to frame Dave’s other ex-girlfriend, Amy Flora. The episode uses these events to paint a portrait of a woman who was willing to destroy everything she owned just to maintain a lie.

One of the most haunting revelations is the discovery of Liz’s use of scheduled messaging apps. She would sit next to Dave, and he would receive a harassing text from "Carrie" while Liz’s hands were perfectly still. It was the ultimate alibi for the digital age, and it kept the charade alive for years.

The Golden Nugget: "Instead of being the spider, she became the insect. The web Liz Golyar was weaving, well, she got caught in it."

The Forensic Smoking Gun

The resolution of the case hinges on a piece of technology that nearly stayed in a storage box: an old tablet. The recovery of deleted images, specifically the gruesome photo of a decomposing foot with a distinctive tattoo, provides the definitive proof needed to convict Liz without a body. It is a gut-wrenching conclusion to a story about a woman who was murdered twice—once in the flesh, and once in reputation.

This 20/20 installment is more than just true crime; it is a cautionary tale about the intersection of technology and obsession. It leaves the listener with a lingering sense of unease about how easily our digital identities can be hijacked and used against the people we love most.