UNKNOWN NUMBER: THE HIGH SCHOOL CATFISH (2025)

I remember this story, I know who the culprit is.

Same here r1

I didn't know the case but I knew right away who it was, and I was right. What an asshole!

Spoiler.

That is sooo fucked up! Small town MAGA life. Thanks for sharing, OP.

Don’t read the people mag article or it will reveal the ending!!!

That is a whole lot of crazy. And dumbassery. That town seems to have a collective IQ of 3.

Spoiler alert.

[quote]That is a whole lot of crazy. And dumbassery. That town seems to have a collective IQ of 3.

R7 I knew nothing of the story and was SHOCKED at the conclusion. I can't imagine anyone guessing it who doesn't know the story.

I just read r4. Does Missy Kendra give a reason for her actions?

Uhhh..how old is Owen now?

[quote] I can't believe I didn't see it coming.

If you didn't see that coming, you're an idiot. It was so obvious within in the first 2 minutes of this Netflix puke docu they spit out everyday.

[quote]Don’t read the people mag article or it will reveal the ending!!!

Hence, the title "Spoiler" right above it.

So we're on R14 already and still can't discuss anything out of fear for spoiling it for some idiot who read this far into the thread without watching the documentary first?

Mmkay.

I haven't watched it yet...

R14, actually, an anti-social, friendless asshole like yourself is free to do whatever you want. That's what makes you a friendless asshole.

So go ahead and spoil it. You know you want to.

Mmkay.

I'm glad I read R4, since I wouldn't have watched the film.

Is it some form of munchausen by proxy?

"Because the sender used an app that kept regenerating new phone numbers"

Maybe that's how Datalounge's serial ff-er keeps banning posters: an IP app?

What a fun thread where we can't actually discuss the fucking documentary because people like R16 read threads about documentaries they haven't yet seen and don't want SPOILER ALERTS!!!!! 🙄🙄🙄

Let's all keep walking on eggshells for R16's sake! He hasn't seen the documentary yet! Shhhhhhh!

R9 I didn't know the story but guessed it right away too. As soon as the ugly mom said that they all became friends when the kids started dating, and they flashed stupid, instagram pics of the mom's doing happy hour, I knew it.

The daughter's denial at the end was sad. She may have a change of heart in a few years, as she matures.

Some thoughts after watching:

-Why did Kendra’s husband continue to let her control the finances after she lost all of their possessions in storage due to non-payment? That whole relationship dynamic wasn’t fully explained and left me with so many questions.

-Khloe and her parents come across as very unlikeable, but they are entitled to be pissed for being falsely accused. They aren’t being painted as villains on Reddit.

-The major problem was the small town dynamic and incompetence of the podunk law enforcement. Everyone likely knew each other, and it made it impossible to be objective.

-The premise of the crime wasn’t about catfishing at all. It was Kendra’s obsession with Owen. She viewed her daughter as a rival. This was further demonstrated when she went after Owen’s new girlfriend later on. Owen’s mom brought this up but Netflix basically ignored it and decided to reframe it by letting Kendra control the narrative. Owen is as much as a victim as Lauryn.

Edit: are being painted as villains…

I hope Owen goes to college out of state and gets as far away from Kendra as possible. She's not sorry at all. Honestly, the best thing for that kid would be to get out of that backass town.

Lauryn may not have the brain power for much more than something local. Same for the other girls.

I also assumed it was a mom within ten minutes. I worked at a high school for years. Middle aged moms who have gotten ugly become super jealous of their pretty teen daughters. Some also become obsessed with hot teen boys. Certainly not true of every mom, but more than you would think.

Owen is a cutie.

That's what I think, R18.

If it was all about getting attention from her daughter or making her turn to her, then why did she continue the texts with Owen’s new girlfriend?

Been together since Junior High: gay.

So...did Kendra ever say *why* she did it?

R32 Because she was raped when she was 18 or something.

She tried to turn herself into the victim of the story. Shes a habitual liar so who gives a shit what reason she gives?

My first thought was "why the fuck did she agree to be interviewed?" It's because she's a nutcase who loves attention. Just like the cousin said. What a tragic woman she is. That cop cam footage mad me feel soooooo uncomfortable. That was definitely the money shot of that whole documentary. Christ on a cracker...

Elon Musk? Stephen Miller?

[quote]r34 = so who gives a shit what reason she gives?

I wanted to know how creative she was.

R30 - she probably was in love with Owen, or jealous of her daughter having a boyfriend. She’s clearly nuts.

Just finished watching. Haven't read the comments here yet.

My first impressions are that the mother has no credible remorse and continues to play the victim and that she still has emotional control over her daughter, which is disturbing. Is this Stockholm Syndrome? The mother seems to have Munchausen's Syndrome and/or narcissism, both of which were stated or alluded to. Sheriff Mike waited way too long to contact the FBI for assistance. I wonder why.

No one involved will ever completely get over what happened.

The mother likely has borderline personality disorder. Whenever a mother tries to harm or undermine her own child, that’s usually the answer.

Michigan's really representing in the true crime documentary genre lately! WOOT-WOOT! Here's another one featuring a flat-affected Michigander:

DOH!

Anyone think Heather Matarazzo can play her in the lifetime movie?

The mom seemed to really struggle with closing her lips over her giant teeth. Were those natural, caps or dental implants?

A lot of redditors seem to think the girl is a liar and she was involved the entire time.

What would have been in it for her, r45?

R45 I don't believe that. As R46 said, why? She seemed pretty fucking upset about the language of the texts, shit we wouldn't bat an eye at. I just don't think she was. Reddit is full of dumb assholes who love to victim blame.

Honestly, the girl seems dim like her dad.

I knew it was her mom too because this story reminded me of "Tall hot blonde" and if you haven't seen it, you have to! They made a movie too with Garrett Dillahunt. I wonder whatever happened to that woman? I bet she's not real happy with toothy Kendra, because now people will be looking her up again.

I guess if you've made it to post #50 you know who did it. I thought it was artfully told, thinking first this person and then feeling sorry that that person was being blamed, especially Adrianna. I liked Kendra's cousin -- she pulled no punches. I narrowed it down pretty quickly, but was still somewhat surprised.

It's amazing what social media has done to our society. Looking at these teens who, by their own admission live in a small town with nothing to do, seem to be addicted to their phones. I just kept thinking, Why not write and say you're giving up the phone and throw it in the lake? I was also oddly hopeful that the guilty person's stated rationale -- that they started doing it in hopes of finding out who wrote the first texts -- would have some merit, but alas, no. The director never pressed them on this point, but it's probably because it's just another way of excusing and forgiving themselves.

I didn't guess it completely, but I knew it had to be an adult - mostly because if it had just been one of the kids it wouldn't have made it into a Netflix documentary.

That woman is fucked up and the fact she tries to make excuses for it even now makes it worse still.

Several disturbing things here:

1) she made excuses up and down about how EVERYONE does something illegal, she just got caught, and also she had a rough childhood; oh, and also wouldn't admit that it was her from the start...and that she just picked up where someone left off;

2) she was talking to her daughter using all that sexual language AND telling her to kill herself, among other things;

3) I guess she developed an obsession with the boy, but they really didn't spend a lot of time on that part;

4) her daughter still loves her, can't imagine life without her, wants to see her but is just a teense upset that her mom DID say those things to her...but nevermind, let's just forget about that part and focus on how great it will be to see her and have her back in her life.

When they showed the cop body cam footage, the daughter had pretty much a LACK of a reaction. There was no surprise at all, no shock...it was really almost like she knew about what her mom had been doing already, and in fact - you could see that she was watching with more attention about how her DAD was going to react to the news. I think there might be more there to the story and that perhaps this might have been a mother-daughter kind of thing. They do seem to have a too-close, co-dependent relationship.

Do any of the articles upthread give more detail than the Netflix did? I feel there's some key pieces that we're not being told or are missing.

Does Owen have any nude scenes?

I went and watched it after reading the OP in this thread. I guess I'm naive, because I had no idea who it was until the FBI investigator revealed his findings. I was leaning towards Chloe's abrasive mother, thinking perhaps she wanted to free up Owen to date her own daughter, Chloe.

Owen's mom suggested that perhaps Kendra was obsessed with Owen. Owen seems to agree because she made a big show of waiting on him when he visited her home. But causing them to break up led to him not coming to Kendra's house anymore. I think this is a form of Munchausen. In this small town, everyone knew everyone else. She must have received a lot of attention from community members checking in with her to see how things were going with her daughter and then offering their sympathy about the situation.

Chloe's parents seem to think Lauryn and Shawn were involved. But their anger seemed genuine to me. I wonder if Lauryn did homeschooling after her mom was outted.

1. All I kept telling myself was, grab the little brats’ phones and it’s over. Easy. Done. Now let’s see them survive ten minutes without TikTok.

2. The daughter seemed fishy, she knew something.

How are they "brats"...it's the mom who's Catfishing, not the kids. Someone should have taken HER phone away

When the cops showed up at Mom’s place, did you see that dining table? It looked like a liquor store clearance sale. If she was guzzling even half of that, no wonder she went off the rails.

The mom wanted Owen bad. It’s clear as a bright sunny day. She wanted to fuck Owen and was extremely jealous of her daughter’s relationship with him. I think she wanted the daughter to have sex with him hoping to see him nude.

Owen seems gay.

R57, you're right. I thought that maybe they were going to host a party or something. I can't imagine any other reason to have that much alcohol in your home, just sitting out in the open like that.

Mothers like Kendra don’t see their daughters as full, individual human beings but as extensions of themselves living lives they don’t have access to.

Kendra wanted that 13 yr old D.

Owen should throw her a mean fuck just once.

How the hell could they not recognise she is a narcissist? The love bombing of her daughter in prison was a dead give away.

That poor girl is still under that monster’s thumb.

Ha ha ha, R57, even in the tensest moments I'd just scrub back a little and think, What the hell is with all that booze? Also, the way Kendra grasped at the daughter, almost mauling her, and she looked almost catatonic.

R50 There were no "first texts" though, she wrote them all.

R53 I don't know about nude scenes but he does have a weird speech impediment.

She was obsessed with Owen when he was 13-15 yrs old.

Her mom at the end, trying to act like she loved her so much. "I'm mad at you for not saying you loved me the most" What a cunt. Poor kid, she needs to avoid her mom.

What an awful person that Kendra is.

^ Oops

Definitely BPD. Kendra was jealous of her daughter and wanted Owen.

I saw it coming.

The documentary leaves us kind of hanging on whether or not the original texts were the Mom or someone else. Also, we never really hear anything about what they found on the second phone she tried to hide from the police.

My diagnosis: Batshit Crazy. Don’t try to explain Batshit Crazy.

Hard to believe these people all participated in the film. Must be a big payday from Netflix.

Does Kendra take dictation?

It feels like they handled the family a bit like they did the family of the cruise ship girl (forgot her name): both families agreed to participate in the docu and give interviews, but they DEFINITELY had things they would and would NOT talk about.

Ultimately, both docus leave you thinking there are many known details that have been left out as a condition of participating in the production. We're definitely getting a heavily-slanted and edited story in both cases.

Kendra is definitely a fucked up monster/person, and it seems like the damage has already been done on transferring her fucked-up-edness onto her daughter Lauryn. I really do think that Lauryn had some knowledge of what was going on, if not actual participation in some of the messages, etc. Her non-reaction when the cop told her what her mom did was very telling. Lauryn only started crying when the Dad said Kendra needed to leave WITHOUT Lauryn...that was the only time she showed any emotion.

What a sick dynamic.

Lauryn know more than she lets on.

The mom is just crazy, and I hate to use this now meaningless word, but she's a narcissist too. The fact she fucking agreed to do this shows that any attention is good attention as far as she's concerned. Her cousin said "if you were talking to me, she would be over there dancing in the corner trying to get you to notice her" And goddamn if that isn't true! She really doesn't seem to care that everyone will hate her, she wanted to be on this show.

R74 I don't think there were any original texts. The fact that she could throw herself so fully into writing this bullshit unprompted, shows that she had been planning this. And what pissed me off the most, is her ebonic like speech. I really would have been so pissed if some dumb fucking wanna be black poser was spewing that garbage to me. I would have made that bitch cry with my responses.

I watched it last night and got a bad vibe off of Kendra. She reminded me of Igor, with that hunched back. I was still shocked, because what the fuck kind of mother does that?

I looked for an update and found that the husband divorced her and has full custody of the poor daughter, who doesn't talk to her anymore.

Also, while I found Khloe and her fat family disgusting too, I don't blame them for being so pissed. I, of course like we all probably did, assumed that the cops had aleady looked into Kendra's mom and came up snake eyes. The fact these dumb fucks needed the fbi to gauge shit any other cop would have sussed out in however long it took to get the IP address is insane. You can see that small town mentality there, how they just believed the victim's family.

The Munchausen Proxy idea was formulated by one of the school administrators in the last episode and made sense.

Unfortunately, Kendra's face and false victim weepy-ness made me dislike her from the beginning. I can't believe how much I disliked her immediately because of her face -- I've never had that kind of reaction before. Her big teeth, her weak chin, her pity-me eyes; I've never judged anyone so severely based on their looks!

R81 Me too! I was just thinking that exact thought, like would I be more sympathetic if she looked like Linda Evangelista or something? We'll never know. It's like the girl said in "Mean Girls", "I don't hate you because you're fat, you're fat because I hate you." And the desperate need to be in some fucking friend group, "we all hung out when they dated." How fucking lame is that? My mom would never have hung out with my high school boyfriend's parents. She's just so goddamn needy for attention.

[quote] I watched it last night and got a bad vibe off of Kendra.

Wow, are you some kind of empath or something?

Just finished watching it, that evil, cave-woman looking bitch... I think the cousin summed Kendra up best, she always had to be the center of attention, here's this pretty, young girl with a cute boyfriend, with their whole lives ahead of them & Mommy Dearest wasn't having it.

I don't think Lauryn & her father had anything to do with it, Kendra would've squealed & probably blamed it all on both of them.

It’s not Ebonics, grandpa from Generation X @ R78. Maybe it was Ebonics 40 years ago. Today it’s just how kids talk. I’m surprised she was able to mimic it so effectively.

R83 I guess I must be. She struck me as someone who never got enough attention in her life and was overlooked and ignored.

Mom is a crazy cunt who hates her daughter. She wanted her daughter to commit suicide

[quote] Her mom at the end, trying to act like she loved her so much.

That is how Kendra loves Lauryn. She considers Lauryn a younger, more beautiful version of herself with more freedom and potential, which is how she excuses the way she has destroyed her.

It’s really common among some mothers. They despise the hat their daughters have.

Butch Chloe and her parents are very entitled and are hiding something. She is definitely a mean girl. The parents come across as cunty too

Chloe is a massive cunt dyke. She’s a mean girl bitch for sure. And she barely hides that she’s proud of it.

Lauryn eventually found out her mom was behind it before the police did. I don’t think the dad knew.

Kendra wanted that 13 year old dick so bad. She wanted to give him sex and bjs. He made her pussy cream. She said it.

The docu avoided diving into the mom’s pedo yearnings.

[quote] She wanted her daughter to commit suicide

Goodness. Who has the patience first that?

^For that

Dammit

That’s exactly it, R90, and what the documentary never touched on fully. Her texts were her subconscious thoughts and feelings. I bet she wasn’t popular in high school. Not pretty enough to get the guys she wanted. I mean, look at her husband. Probably annoyed everyone by always trying to be the center of attention. She completely resented her daughter for having what she always wanted, and was wholly fixated on Owen, or at least what he represented in her daughter’s life. I don’t know how you get over your mother telling you to kill yourself. She’s a monster.

I would never, ever tell someone related to me to kill themselves—and I don’t even like all the members of my family. It takes a very evil person to be able to say that and then continue to go skipping through life blaming everything you’ve done on someone else.

Kendra continued to go to Owen's games after he broke up with her daughter. That says it all. She was fixated on Owen. She wanted him something fierce to where she hated that her daughter and the other girl had him. She evens says Owen's dick was hers while she was pretending to be anonymous. I bet there were way more sexually explicit texts about Owen from her.

I hope Owen and his family has a restraining order against her.

Maybe Batshit Crazy is giving her too much of the benefit of the doubt, and “evil” is the right word.

The photos of Owen when he was younger reminded me of Mackenzie Astin when he was on Facts of Life.

Oh R98, never change! I could read about this on reddit or even lipstick alley, but no one there will bring up the facts of fucking life! They don't know how great Lisa Whelchel is and her closeted husband has been a topic of gossip here for many years.

She definitely wanted his young dick. Remember this when people say believe all women. This is a perfect example of borderline personality disorder.

[quote] Remember this when people say believe all women.

I remember it also being said that children do not lie.

Rebecca Hall as Kendra

Nepo babies as Lauryn, Owen and the gang

Melanie Lynskey as Khloe’s Mom

They could do a dark comedy with this shit.

Kendra is the biggest fucking liar. She’s a very scary person. I’m not sure BPD covers her. She’s next level. Wanting to suck and fuck a 12/13/14 year old, saying how creamy he makes her, stalking her daughter telling her how ugly, anorexic, stupid she is then telling her to kill herself, sending over a hundred thousand anonymous texts, lying about her job, putting them in financial ruin. I mean DAYUM!

Lauryn knew. Not a first, but she found out. Lauryn is dumb as a box of rocks. JHFC.

Owen is gay. He’ll be very closeted.

Chloe can drown in a hairy pussy that dyke cunt.

Jon Watters, where are you?

It is very disturbing that all these parents and officials let the kids keep those phones and keep up with all? the messages for months on end. Lauryn could’ve done without reading every single one of Kendra’s intrusive thoughts.

The FBI could have done those basic forensics much earlier, on any number of messages received, and still find some repetition. It would have been warranted, as to protect minors from further harm.

Some of these teenagers could sue that whole town into oblivion.

From what I’ve heard the sex messages got very graphic.

Kendra wanted Lauryn to blow and fuck Owen so she could live vicariously through her. She probably would’ve asked her details about it.

Kendra absolutely told Lauryn at some point probably after the breakup and during the “kill your self” texts. Lauryn didn’t act one tiny bit surprised when the revelation happened.

Kendra wanted to have sex with Owen and wanted Lauryn to as well.

R103 I don't know where he is

R108 that dumb fuck AutoCorrect

I don’t think one can predict how anyone would react to that news. Shell-shocked is not inappropriate. However, it would have been remarkable if the thought never crossed her mind since the number of people with access to the private information in the texts was limited.

I don’t think the FBI is available for any catfish/harassment. It has to be extreme and long-lasting to get the Feds involved.

Now that he's 18, is there any chance Corbin Fisher will recruit Owen? He's perfect for their line-up.

I assumed that Lauryn is just Aspy, and not in on it. She's almost robotic when around her mother.

It sounds like she’s snapped out of the hold her mother had on her and is keeping her distance.

That this story is already a polished documentary feels extra slimy even for Netflix.

Laying out a teenager’s still developing and harmful relationship with an unwell mother, and humoring said mother’s pathological need for attention, all for the whole world to see, is almost unprecedentendly amoral.

Kendra now knows how to get camera time, Lauryn will never know true peace, and this all will definitely end in tears.

That mom was voracious for teen cock and that's what set this whole thing in motion. Some ugly women take it to their head that they get someone younger by doing things that girls on age won't do. And this woman terrorized her own child to go after what she was probably denied when she was that age given how ass ugly she was.