Growing up in a small town myself, I understand how toxic and crazy that dynamic can get sometimes. But the stories in Beal City, Michigan, had my jaw on the floor.
When I open Netflix, it’s usually for background noise while eating or doing schoolwork. That quickly changed when I found the new true crime documentary, “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.”
As a die-hard “Pretty Little Liars” fan, the description, “anonymous texts torments a teen couple for over a year,” had my curiosity piqued. Truthfully, I didn’t know what I was about to get into.
The documentary tells the true story of cyberbullying case that unfolded over several years. The harassment began in October 2020, and was finally uncovered in December 2022.
Usually, when I watch a documentary, it’s about a case I’m already familiar with. This time I went in completely blind. I’m glad I did.
The production of this documentary was nothing short of genius … and messy. They would insert little parts of the story that would allow you to look back and say, “The signs were there.” Yet, they weren’t in your face. It only became obvious in retrospect.
A vulnerable high school girl, Lauryn Licari, and her boyfriend, Owen McKenney, were stalked and harassed. It was verbal, but had sexual undertones in a lot of messages.
I have issues with almost everyone in this documentary, save for a couple of the victims.
Everyone is bound to be in their cliques in a small town. It was safe to say there were a few options for who could’ve been sending these horrible messages.
One possibility was Khloe Wilson, a girl who was going to school with Lauryn and Owen. She was a reasonable suspect, considering she was painted as a stereotypical mean girl.
However, she was framed by the actual stalker because she was an easy target. When I say she was an easy target, I don’t mean that she was innocent or vulnerable. She tormented and bullied Lauryn beforehand, so she became everyone’s prime suspect. It wasn’t unsupported, so the actual stalker decided to frame her.
While I do feel bad that her r e p u t a t i o n was ruined, if that “new” reputation was that she was a bully, I don’t think that the accusations would be much to blame, considering she’d been a bully before any of this happened.
Owen McKenney, though a victim himself in this situation, also got under my skin. Even in the beginning, he made some passive-aggressive remarks about Lauryn not being invited to a Halloween party, and her “having some issues” with the girls in the grade. Those girls included Khloe, a girl whom Owen later started dating, knowing how she treated Lauryn.
A lot of this is just normal high school drama, but they’re older now, and they haven’t changed their attitudes, which just makes them seem more like shady people and less like just excusable high school kids.
With that being said, the kids were the least problematic people in this case. To start, the principal of the high school was completely unhelpful in this situation. Two of his students were getting stalked and harassed, and when the parents wanted to talk to other parents, he was condescending and acted like it was an inconvenience.
He and a few others mentioned that they thought Lauryn was sending the messages to herself for attention. The basis of that accusation? There isn’t one.
If you’ve seen the documentary, you know the worst adult in this situation was Lauryn’s own mother, Kendra.
Lauryn’s mother cyber-bullied her for a year. She body-shamed Lauryn and told her to kill herself, and that’s just scratching the surface.
She doesn’t even seem sorry about it. Now, this is where I think the production was just flawless. It may seem like the interviewer was too nice to Kendra, but it was perfect because all they did was allow Kendra to stick her foot in her mouth.
They kept it friendly and asked straightforward questions, but Kendra was acting like a victim. She believes that everyone commits crimes; she just got caught, but she’s no different from anyone else.
Mind you, this woman lied to her family about being employed for a year, lost their belongings because she didn’t pay bills, sent sexually explicit messages to minors and told her daughter to kill herself on multiple occasions.
Call me crazy, but I think that’s a little different than jaywalking or loitering.
When all of this came to light, we got to see a little bit of where some of these kids got their personalities. Specifically, Khloe’s parents, who still believe Lauryn had something to do with it, and that she and her dad are “playing” victim.
Even if that was the case, which I don’t believe it was, Lauryn was a child. She’s a victim. It’s clear enough that she’s been manipulated, since she’s still adamant about having a relationship with her mom.
Kendra may have cyber Munchausen by proxy. She most likely did this to Lauryn because she wanted to feel needed. She continuously put Lauryn in a position where she felt like she needed her mom. Kendra was able to be the hero. It was touched on a little bit, but I also agree with Owen’s parents when they say they think Kendra was attracted to him.
Almost everyone in this documentary makes me feel sorry for Lauryn. She’s obviously going to have a lot of trust issues going forward, but she clearly has very limited support, considering half of her town seems to be toxic and untrustworthy.
