
Happy Friday, weirdos! We are SO EXCITED to spend our FIRST MONTHLY BONUS EPISODE digging into the shocking Netflix Documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish! MAJOR spoilers ahead, so if you haven't watched it yet, press 'pause' and get thee to Netflix IMMEDIATELY!
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Alaina
Okay.
Ashe
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Ashe
Hey, weirdos. I'm Ashe.
Alaina
And I'm Alaina.
Ashe
And this is a bonus episode.
Alaina
It's a bonus episode.
Ashe
And that is our new intro.
Alaina
Yeah, that's the thing.
Ashe
Let's not. We're gonna workshop it.
Alaina
Yeah. We're gonna think of something fun as an intro for bonus episodes. You've probably heard it right now.
Ashe
Yeah, you already.
Alaina
You already heard it. Perhaps.
Ashe
Yeah. We need some good music. And hopefully you just heard some.
Alaina
But if you didn't, if you. Or if you heard good music but it's the same theme song as regular morbid, then we're still thinking on it, you know, so just bear with us.
Ashe
We're working on it.
Alaina
We're Working on it.
Ashe
All right, brothers, so today we are here to talk to you for our very first ever bonus episode on SiriusXM.
Alaina
This is so exciting.
Ashe
I just took one sip of. Actually, we had to pause for a second to make sure that the recording was, like, working the intro. And then now one sip of coffee. I'm a change.
Alaina
Yeah, the energy has shifted. Just in about five minutes.
Ashe
I am Lorelai Gilmore. Actually. You are Lorelei Gilmore.
Alaina
Yeah. And I'm Rory. Yeah, but only sometimes. Yeah, like in. Only in some ways, pretty much only.
Ashe
When we have coffee. Coffee, coffee.
Alaina
Exactly. So.
Ashe
So we're going to be talking today about unknown number. The high school catfish, honey. Okay, wait. Before you say anything else, there are going to be spoilers. Spoiler, spoilers, spoilers. If you don't want to be spoiled, go watch it now and then listen, my brother in Christ, if you listen.
Alaina
To it first, you will be spoiled, and that won't be our fault.
Ashe
It's not my fault if past this point you get a spoiler, because we.
Alaina
Are going to talk about it, and we are going to talk about all of it.
Ashe
All right, so let's get into it.
Alaina
Let's do this. And we're gonna. We're gonna, like, do it so we don't reveal the twist until.
Ashe
Until the twist is revealed.
Alaina
Exactly. Okay.
Ashe
So we're in Beale City, Michigan. It's a. It's like central Michigan. It's a super tiny town. It seems like everybody knows everybody. It also seems like people are, like lifelong residents.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
And we. So we watched the documentary, and then we also found a cut article written by Lauren Smiley that gave, like, a. And she was saying, like, even a lot of these parents are lifelong residents of Beale. And, like, if you're not a lifelong resident, you do feel somewhat of an outsider.
Alaina
That makes sense. And isn't it like the. The school is like preschool to 12th grade.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
All in the same building.
Ashe
Yes.
Alaina
Which to this, it's my opinion.
Ashe
It's my opinion.
Alaina
That's wily to me. Like, that is horrifying to me.
Ashe
Bonkers.
Alaina
Yeah. I can't imagine my kindergartner in the same school as a 12th grader.
Ashe
That's just not for me. But I guess each class of kids, like, is 60 kids.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
So they can all just fit in.
Alaina
One building, which is nuts. No, it makes sense for the. What it is.
Ashe
Yeah. But I completely agree with you. No, it is scary. So we start off the film, and we started off with a threat. It says all real threat with a literal code 10 threat. Code red. All the texts in this film are real. It says.
Alaina
And I said, and you'll know. You'll find out why that's a threat very shortly. Quickly.
Ashe
So we're introduced to Lauren and Owen. They started dating when they were like 12. And I think they were probably like around like seventh grade. And it's funny because when I was reading the cut article, it turned out Owen's parents also started dating in seventh grade.
Alaina
That's crazy. Yeah.
Ashe
So their families ended up becoming good friends, especially their moms, Jill and Kendra. Jill is Owen's mom and Kendra's Lauren's mom. So they like, it's. It all seemed really cute. Like.
Alaina
Yeah, you know, cute, small community. Yeah, everyone supports each other. Exactly.
Ashe
So October 2020 rolls around and this girl Chloe Wilson's family always has this big Halloween party.
Alaina
Sounds pretty sick.
Ashe
It sounds like a sick ass Halloween party.
Alaina
It's like a haunted corn maze or some.
Ashe
Yeah, moderately exclusive, evidently. I mean, Lauren was not invited, but Owen was.
Alaina
Oh, so.
Ashe
So Owen ends up inviting Lauren because they're together.
Alaina
Oh, okay.
Ashe
So right around this time, Lauren gets a text telling her that Owen doesn't like her. He likes whoever this unknown texter is, and they are both dtf.
Alaina
Down to fuck.
Ashe
Down to fuck. I was gonna say for my. For my homies out there who don't know what DTF is. Down to fuck.
Alaina
Yeah. I only know what it is because. No, not even that. I didn't even realize that was in there. I. I only know it from on Southern Charm. Shep said it about somebody and then immediately regretted it because that person was like, go yourself. And I thought it was funny.
Ashe
Why don't I remember who that is?
Alaina
It was Bailey. Oh, I remember. He was like. Because, like, that was shitty to say. Yeah, it is. Because he said it in like a jokey way. And she was like, you're an. Yeah.
Ashe
And she was like, actually, I don't want to you. She was a queen.
Alaina
She was a queen.
Ashe
And she was. I think she was like the one that got away.
Alaina
I think she.
Ashe
To be a better person.
Alaina
Be better. But can we. Can we clarify too? This whole text comes through that's like DTF. These are like 13 year olds.
Ashe
Not even yet. They're 12.
Alaina
They're 12. 12.
Ashe
Nobody's DTF at 12.
Alaina
Nobody. Nobody should be saying DTF at 12. Nobody.
Ashe
Oh, I find a text in my kid's phone someday that says an acronym that I have to Google, I'm sure at that point.
Alaina
And it.
Ashe
And it's anything like DTS going down for real. Lockdown.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
Lock down in the home.
Alaina
All of a sudden, it's like.
Ashe
It's like the purge.
Alaina
Let the bodies hit the floor starts playing.
Ashe
I'm like, well, you live here forever now. So honestly valid. So the texts come in like that and they're pretty shitty.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
Then they stop for a year. They literally stop for an entire year. And then all of a sudden, almost 365 days later, they start up again. And they start up and they go every single fucking day, multiple times a day. Essentially, like sun up to sundown.
Alaina
Oh, yeah. And they said that the nighttime texts, because it was. It wasn't even sun up to sundown. It was like through the night, past sundown. Because they said the night ones would get particularly, like, nasty, which is interesting. Yeah, like that's. It's very interesting when you find out what's going on here.
Ashe
Yeah, definitely. So some of the texts and. And these texts are being sent to Lauren and Owen at this point. Both of them, mostly to Lauren, though some of them said, effing trash. Don't wear effin leggings. No one wants to see your anorexic ass like that. So upsetting that.
Alaina
The anorexic thing is such a thing that gets like. It's such a weird insult. It is a weird insult. And it's, like, common. You know what's common insult? I used to hear that all the time in middle school. Oh.
Ashe
I've been on both ends of that spectrum because I was a lot tinier senior when I was in middle school, and I got anorexic then. And then I got, like, obese bitch when I was in high school, I was like, awesome.
Alaina
Why are we. Why are we commenting? First of all, because it's like, they're all assuming and, you know, like, that this is because. Especially because this is somebody saying, like, Owen is down to them, that this is a girl.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
And it's like, why are we commenting as women and girls on other girls and other women's bodies? Can we stop doing that?
Ashe
Because also, like, growing up, I remember being like 9 years old and becoming aware of my body and becoming aware that I didn't like it.
Alaina
And you absolutely should never be aware of that. It shouldn't even be a thought in your mind.
Ashe
But that's the thing. Like, young girls so early learn to be their biggest critics.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
And then they grow up almost immediately becoming critics of each other.
Alaina
Yeah. Because they. And you have to be so care. Like, I don't allow anybody to, to talk about weight.
Ashe
No.
Alaina
Or bodies in that way around my kids.
Ashe
Because there's so many different reasons why bodies look the way they look. And one is not better than the other for any reason.
Alaina
It's not something.
Ashe
You're healthy and your doctor's not concerned.
Alaina
Exactly.
Ashe
You look great.
Alaina
That's the thing. I'm like, you go to your yearly physical, they say that you're healthy, they say thumbs up and that's all that matters. You don't need to hear anything else about what's going on.
Ashe
I totally agree with that. And that's something I'm going to adopt when I have kids. It's no weight talk.
Alaina
Yeah. I don't want any weight talk around them. And it's like so for like them you call it like anorexic because like you know, like girls especially at her age, like seventh grade and shit. Yeah. Like 12 years old, you're like every kid is like gangly at some point and trying to like their body's just like growing into itself. You know what I mean? Or they're holding on to like extra baby weight and it's like. And they're trying, their body's trying to grow out of that. Like everybody's in that weird in between area where you're either like weirdly gangly and like noodly and like nothing makes sense and you're just this like skeleton with like a little bit of flesh on it. Or you're just like trying to figure it out and your body's not growing fast enough to like catch up with the baby weight you had on.
Ashe
Yeah, exactly.
Alaina
Like everybody's so different at that time and it's like all weird. It's all weird.
Ashe
I feel like 6th, 7th and 8th grade especially are so hard.
Alaina
Yes.
Ashe
For that reason and obviously like so many other reasons. Cuz one thing that they. I forget who said it in the article. I think the principal said it eventually that this is like the age where you start to break off from your parents too and you like really get involved in your friend group and you like break away.
Alaina
Yeah. It's like an inside out. Yeah. Her, her family island gets smaller and her friend island gets bigger and kind of hides the family island.
Ashe
And it does because you same age, it's like this age where you're trying to navigate all of this and people saying everything about you and you starting to like self criticize and you're also at the same time kind of like taking away your own support system, you know, like It's a weird time. Unknowingly. Exactly.
Alaina
Like pushing away your own support system.
Ashe
Right. So beyond that awful text message, there was worse ones even you are worthless and mean nothing. You never have. Get a life out of here. Owen will never look at you again or talk to you. You up his life so bad. His family hates you for it. He will never in his life acknowledge you again. Get the lost he's done with you.
Alaina
That is like so unhinged.
Ashe
Just like you don't mean anything. You're worthless. Get a life. His family hates you. Like even making her doubt her. Her support system beyond her own family.
Alaina
Like when that's diabolical for a kid to write to another kid. Like a peer. Yeah, it's. This is diabolical.
Ashe
Well and then. And I should mention too. So like saying his family fucking hates you. So like his mom and dad were a big part of his life. But he also has a younger sister who was in the friend group too. So Lauren's like, okay, does Macy hate me? Is everybody like, does Jill hate me? Does Dave who hates me? And why do they hate me? And why have I up his life?
Alaina
And now she's wearing like that adults don't like her.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
Like now it's like going beyond like, it's just like, what, like what is going on? And also like what is this about?
Ashe
Like what.
Alaina
What the hell?
Ashe
It's wild. So then the texts start getting insanely sexual. Like listen messages when you watch. I'm not gonna like say all of them because I, I'm not capable of saying some of the things that this person wrote.
Alaina
They're horrifying.
Ashe
The narrator in this was like, it's not funny by any means. But the narrator was cracking me up because it's like almost a robotic voice.
Alaina
It is, it's got like a very like, it's very. It's computer esque. So it sounds like if you, if you've ever seen. And again, the like information being told is not funny. I'm saying the voice is funny. Agreed. If you've ever seen the Office. And there's an episode where Michael finds out that his computer can talk to text or like text talk. Yeah, yeah. And he puts like eyes on it, on the back of it and like a mouth and then has people come in the office and he just types things out and it's like. And he'll be like. And it's just like, hello, Pam, you look particularly hot today. It's just.
Ashe
Yeah, that's what it sounds like.
Alaina
I know. That's what it felt like. It's like that kind of weird robotic voice that just makes it so unhinged.
Ashe
And like, in the office, apparently, it's like, you look hot today. These text messages were talking about, like, tits, BJ's, creamin. Like, literally.
Alaina
That's not even that. That is a verbatim.
Ashe
I didn't want to say any of that. Especially the latter of that.
Alaina
No, I.
Ashe
We want to jump into traffic. Like, it's too much.
Alaina
It's all that. If this. If this is, like, her peers, you're like, what the. How is that coming out of a literal child's mouth? 1. How do they know any of those words? Yeah, and to like, you're too young. You're too young to know all those words. Like, what the is going on? You're a baby. And it's like they're talking about, like, literal sex acts. Yeah. They're talking like they, like, mention, like, somebody's dick. Yeah.
Ashe
They mention, like, crazy. They mention insanely explicit things. And you'll see it if you watch it.
Alaina
Yeah. And when we get to, like, where we're gonna reveal who it is, we'll get further into how wild this is.
Ashe
Yeah. One of them just to, like, one of the actual verbatim ones was, he wants sex. BJ's. And making out.
Alaina
Out and making out.
Ashe
And it's the way the narrator says it. He's like. And making out.
Alaina
Yeah, he's like, I'm making out. I'm like, damn.
Ashe
So once that started happening, because these are literal, like, 12, 13 year olds maybe, I don't even think they're 14 at this point, the parents, including especially Jill and Kendra, because these are their kids being victimized, went to this school and the superintendent ended up getting involved, and obviously so did the principal. Now, basically, what they did as a school, which it's interesting because at one point, Kendra, Lauren's mom, is like, I didn't think they were doing enough. And I was like, it sounds like they were doing a lot. Because what they did was they set up surveillance so that anytime a text came in, they could look at the cameras and see who, like, what student was on their phone at that point.
Alaina
Yeah, I thought it was, like, pretty. It was especially. This is a member a small community, and this is a small town. These are like, you know, like, they don't have all this resources to do. And they were really, like, doing, like, grunt work, trying to, like, investigative work, trying to figure out who this could be.
Ashe
Well, and when you think about all the things that I'm sure school, like, I don't know, all the things the school administrator has to do throughout the day.
Alaina
I imagine it's a lot, but I.
Ashe
Would assume it's a lot and like to take the extra time to be able to do this.
Alaina
Yeah. It sounds like they took it seriously, especially in the beginning.
Ashe
I think so. Yeah. So then people started to actually think that Lauren was sending the text to herself to get attention, which is really sad because she definitely wasn't.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
But after some sit downs with the admin at school, they ruled her out and they also ruled Owen out. I don't, I'm not exactly sure how they did it, but they think something with the surveillance.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
So also you said something hilarious at this point because I think the principal was like, there's a lot of kids in this school. Like, you can't rule anyone out. And that's why we had to do the surveillance.
Alaina
And I was like, and I stand by it. I feel like we can pretty like confidently rule out the preschoolers.
Ashe
Yeah, definitely the priests. I think I was dying.
Alaina
She could feel good about that.
Ashe
Elena goes, I don't know, I feel like we could probably rule out the preschoolers.
Alaina
I feel like they're not involved.
Ashe
She was like, I don't know, who am I to say?
Alaina
But like, I feel like I, I feel confident in that. Like, that's just me. I feel like even the kindergartners, we can probably, you know, rule them right out.
Ashe
Yeah. You get to first grade, Chicken.
Alaina
You get to first grade and things get really wily now. So I don't really know.
Ashe
They have like Apple watches and shit.
Alaina
But preschool and kindergarten, I think we're safe. We' cut out a little portion of the community.
Ashe
I think so.
Alaina
Yeah. Yeah.
Ashe
And you know, less to watch.
Alaina
It's true.
Ashe
So once they cut out the kindergartners and the preschoolers, they, they kept their eye on everyone else. And at the same time, Jill and Kendra were getting together on their own a lot to talk about the text messages because Lauren's getting her own set, Owen's getting his own set. Then they're probably getting like group messages. So they're comparing notes basically and probably.
Alaina
Feeling like, like, thank goodness they have somebody they can go to to talk about it. Miserate with. Like it's not just their kid that's going through it. Like. Because I imagine if this was just happening to your child, you must feel so isolated and alone. Absolutely. And just wanting help, figuring out what to do. So like to have that. Like, you don't want it to be happening to both your kids, but, like.
Ashe
At least have each other to try.
Alaina
To figure this out with.
Ashe
Right. So they went together to talk to the principal themselves once they. They were like, can you do more? And he was like, I really can't. I suggest you change their numbers, block the texter. Something like.
Alaina
Okay. When we were watching this, because Ash had already watched it and then watched it with me for the first time. Me watching it for the first time, I literally said. I was like, I. I knew that who had done this. So I immediately, like, checked my own question, basically. Yeah. But I was like, why aren't they just changing the numbers? Like.
Ashe
Right.
Alaina
Like, shut down that line, get a new number, give them a new phone. Or, I mean, now, especially little kids, you can get them, like, phones that are just calling and texting people you approve and that you can approve all the apps and all that stuff. And it's like, maybe you have to do that for a little while. Yeah. Just to, like, see how it stops and see if you can figure out something via that. And while you're figuring it out, you hang on to those other phones so your kids don't let anybody know except their, like, close friends who has that new number.
Ashe
Smart.
Alaina
And then see if somebody infiltrates smart. Because if they're only telling their close friends who those numbers are and you're approving them, boom, you're in.
Ashe
It's gotta be one of the close friends.
Alaina
And then you hold on to those other phones and you can start doing some investigation.
Ashe
It could have worked.
Alaina
I was a little confused why that didn't happen.
Ashe
Well, so basically, they said blocking the number didn't work because the texter was using one of those, like, random number generators. I think it was pinger, which should.
Alaina
Absolutely, absolutely be outlawed. Yeah.
Ashe
There's no reason to ever disguise your phone number.
Alaina
No. Why does that exist?
Ashe
Nope.
Alaina
No, no, no, no, no. Yeah.
Ashe
So they couldn't block it because another text would just come in. Whoever was doing this had the number, and that's all they needed because they could just get phone number after phone number to continue. And they also said they didn't want to get their. Their kids new phones because they wanted to get the. To the bottom of who this was, which I do understand, because. And Jill said it, Owen's mom, she was saying, like, this could have been somebody that we were letting into our lives because this community is so small. And obviously this person knew a lot about our kids. Knew, like, where they Were at what time, what they were wearing sometimes. So we didn't want to continue inviting somebody like that into our home. And if we had, if we had gotten them new phones and like that person didn't end up getting those numbers, we would never know who that was and we would keep spending time with them, you know?
Alaina
Yeah. And I totally get that.
Ashe
So I did understand that.
Alaina
But that's why they'll the the phones that you only approve the numbers.
Ashe
It worked. It's true. So Lauren and Owen at like, they're very far into this because this was, I think ultimately this went on for like was, it was 20 months, right. Almost two years. So like, like a good amount of the, of the way into this all happening. Lauren and Owen started fighting with each other because this caller would be like, oh, like he wants me. He hung out with me. Me and him went to a hotel this weekend. His family likes me. So Lauren's going to Owen and being like, who are.
Alaina
Were you hanging out with this girl? Right.
Ashe
Like, were you hanging out with this person? But so they started fighting because of all the tension and they ended up breaking up. And Owen thought that maybe if they broke up, the messages would stop and Lauren would not, you know, be going through what she was going through anymore. He could end what he was going through. And then he said like, maybe, you know, try again someday. Which was so sweet because I'm like, you little beans.
Alaina
I know you little 13 year olds.
Ashe
Liked each other like they did. They were so cute together. But the thing was, after they broke up, the messages got a million times worse.
Alaina
Now the bullies won a million times. Never want to give them the, the prize.
Ashe
So they started telling Lauren to kill herself.
Alaina
This is where it just like multiple.
Ashe
Times a day, texting her how worthless she was, how she should just kill herself because Owen didn't like her and didn't want to be with her anymore. How she. They wrote hashtag bang, bang. Do it now.
Alaina
Literally kill yourself now. Yup. Hashtag bang bang.
Ashe
Yup.
Alaina
Like how that. And the worst part is nobody can do anything. No. Because they can't figure out who this is. So this person's literally texting death threats and they just get away with it. Yup.
Ashe
And they're also, it seemed like they were stalking her at this point too because like I said before, like whoever this was knew where they were at certain points in time. And then like they knew how Lauren was doing in basketball games and they were trying to tear her confidence down in her. And her dad said that she's an incredible athlete. Like, I think she played basketball and either softball or baseball, who knows what else. But she was really talented, like a great athlete. And this. Whoever this person was knew that, and they were trying to break that confidence. So, like, if she didn't get a ton of points in a basketball game, they'd be like, wow, like, how embarrassing. You suck. Kill yourself, quit basketball.
Alaina
And they knew how many points she would get.
Ashe
They knew specifically like what that one.
Alaina
Game, they said like two points. Haha, you suck.
Ashe
Yep. So that is when Sheriff Mike Maine got involved. Everybody started getting very worried about the trauma surrounding all of this. I also think that I read in the. The Cut article that Jill herself had read an article or like saw news about somebody bringing a gun to school in another community, and she was like, what if all of this, they get pushed that far? Exactly. Pushes them that far. So that's when the sheriff got involved.
Alaina
Because they were also writing like, we're gonna break you. Oh yeah. Like, we won't stop till we break you.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
It's like, what the.
Ashe
And also at that point they're like, okay, is this a group of people? And how do we.
Alaina
That's the thing.
Ashe
How do we figure out who this is all coming from? And I also understand, like, it was coming from multiple different numbers too.
Alaina
So yeah.
Ashe
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Ashe
Sheriff Mike Maine starts looking at this one particular girl, Chloe. Chloe. Remember, she's the one who her family has like the big Halloween party.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
She had somewhat of a reputation for being a bully at the school. Like administrators seem to have talked to her a few times. Her parents got called in and like there was just incidents.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
And the reason she specifically got called in for this is because the texter said something about how they had the most points in the game. And when they looked at the points on the scorecard, it was Chloe who had the most.
Alaina
And Kendra helped them out with that.
Ashe
Kendra helped them out with that.
Alaina
Lauren's mom, because she's the scorekeeper.
Ashe
And at one point, she'd also been the girl's coach.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
Basketball coach. And also it was Chloe's Halloween party where this all started. And Lauren originally hadn't been invited and, like, didn't want to go. So they kind of felt like they had a hot lead here.
Alaina
Well, and I think, like, her and Owen were.
Ashe
Her and Owen were. After Lauren broke up and they had, like, crushes on each other.
Alaina
So there was just a. And I think there was just like, never a great relationship between Chloe and Lauren because of that, like, lingering, what's going on here kind of thing. Yeah.
Ashe
Basically at this point in time, all roads were leading to Chloe Wilson. And I do kind of get why. You get why they went down that road. So Chloe's friends, moms, were looking at their phones because they're like, is this group of Chloe's friends doing this? Like, are they all doing it together? Parents were reaching out to other parents, to the school, to the coaches. Everyone is turning on everyone in Beale, Michigan, at this point.
Alaina
The parents are turning on each other. The kids are turning on each other.
Ashe
Like, all the girls on the basketball team are fighting. Parents were trying to get in to talk to the kids, but the principal and the superintendent are like, we can't have an angry mom of mob of parents, like, hunting the kids down, you know?
Alaina
Yeah. And Chloe's, you know, like, these kids are getting interrogated by police, like, school.
Ashe
All year, actual police officers. And the other thing was another reason why they were looking at Chloe is because the texter or texters were saying that they had connections to the cops and that's why they were never going to get caught. And Chloe's dad, as Sophie put it, was a police.
Alaina
She was a police.
Ashe
He was a police officer.
Alaina
Excuse me.
Ashe
So things started looking even more like Chloe when her family took a trip to Florida. And the area code of the text texts that were coming in started coming from a Florida area code. Now, on top of that, too, in the cut article, Lauren, the author of the article, had written that Snapchat account had even been made in Chloe's name. And Chloe was like, that's not my account, and I'm not sending those messages.
Alaina
And, like, showed that.
Ashe
And she showed her dad and also was like, this is how easy it is to make an account and say it's me. So her parents believed her the whole time.
Alaina
Of course. Course.
Ashe
But at that point, it also seemed like they didn't really have any other option to prove that it wasn't their daughter than to have her phone dubbed with the police, which. That is such an in. Like, obviously it took a long, like, road to get there.
Alaina
But I do feel for them for actually doing that.
Ashe
Like, well, that's a thing.
Alaina
In that way.
Ashe
Kudos to them because that's such an invasion of privacy. That is everything on your phone. Every picture, every text, every file. Yeah. Y. I don't know if it even goes into, like, every website you've ever been to. Probably, like, it's everything you've ever done on your phone.
Alaina
Yeah. And it's like, that's a lot. And especially if you. I mean, one of the main things you should be teaching your kid is that their privacy. They have a right to privacy and that. That privacy should be respected. Yeah. And that respect breeds. Because of privacy being respected. And it's like. And now you're kind of being like, I'm sorry, we don't have any other choice, so we let strangers invade your privacy. Like, that sucks. Sucks.
Ashe
It does. Well, they dubbed Chloe's phone, and it proved that she wasn't doing anything.
Alaina
So she had been literally.
Ashe
She'd been framed.
Alaina
Like, framed for this.
Ashe
And then somehow whoever was sending the text messages didn't realize that Chloe's phone had been dubbed and it proved that she wasn't doing anything because they kept trying to make it seem like they were Chloe. Even after the phone was dubbed, they would send. They would send all kinds of messages, basically, like. Like, they would send pictures of Owen and Chloe to mock Lauren and say, like, oh, he's hanging out with us, not you.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
That kind of thing.
Alaina
And can you imagine how Chloe felt? Yeah.
Ashe
She's like, I'm not doing this.
Alaina
One, being, like, railroaded for an entire year of her high school career and, like, treated like a villain. And then two, she's sitting there going, who the is this person that's trying to frame me? Yeah. Like, that would be terrifying. I'd be like, why are they doing this to me now?
Ashe
It's like a Pretty Little Liars.
Alaina
Yeah. It's really scary.
Ashe
It is.
Alaina
That would freak me out.
Ashe
Absolutely. So then around Christmas time, everybody ended up getting a text about Owen's phone case and the picture his family realized had tape had been taken at a Christmas family party where they only had family in their house and nobody else.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
So that's when they were like, okay, this has to be somebody in our family that was in our house that day. That was in our house that day. So they started looking at met Owen's cousin Adriana, who also went to school with everybody else.
Alaina
Adriana broke my heart.
Ashe
Adriana seemed like the sweetest bean.
Alaina
I felt so awful.
Ashe
She got. She like she was the next person basically to get railroaded.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
Everyone thought that it could have been her and especially thought that it was maybe her because she and Chloe didn't really get along. She had felt before in the past like Chloe had kind of bullied her. Chloe said she didn't bully her. It was like this whole back and forth thing. High school is awful for everybody involved. High school.
Alaina
High school sucks ass.
Ashe
Yeah, I would never do that.
Alaina
Middle school and high school suck ass.
Ashe
It's awful. So they pull her in and she's trying to prove to them that she didn't do anything. She ends up getting checked out. But then once her story checks out, she got a text from one of the random numbers asking her for help to like terrorize Lauren again and protect Owen. Like get, get Lauren away from Owen. Even though they were already broken up.
Alaina
Like what they the.
Ashe
And Adriana starts freaking out because she's been cleared at this point, but now she's got a text from the number and she started like bawling her eyes out. And this poor girl has like PTSD now.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
She said she'll pass a cop and she like doesn't trust them anymore.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
Because she felt like she couldn't prove to them that she wasn't doing this.
Alaina
Which is so like the far reaching effects that this had on so many kids and so many families. Especially because of how small and tight knit of a community this is. Like it would be, it would do this kind of damage even in like a bigger community.
Ashe
Oh yes. It was just so much. It was so much easier because it was such a tight knit community. And now it also is starting to infiltrate people's family dynamics. Apparently Kendra, Lauren's mom and Lauren's father Sean were fighting all the time. Sean said the tension in the house was awful.
Alaina
Like she. It was like Kendra saying like she was handling it and Sean was saying.
Ashe
Like, obviously you're not, cuz it's still going on. Lauren's sobbing every morning, not wanting to go to school because like the call. The texter would berate her about like outfits she was wearing. She could never wear the right thing. Like just awful. I can't imagine how she Lived through it.
Alaina
It's awful. That was my bullies thing in middle school. If you're listening. Hey, what's up? You remember it was always what I. It was my clothing a lot of the time in my hair. And they would like leave handwritten because it was like back in, you know, the pioneer days. So they would leave, they would leave like handwritten notes in the bathroom and then they would find them for me or direct me to them like they were helping me. And it would be this like awful letter that was like talking about how shitty I dress and my hair is gross and all that. So it's like that that's tale is oldest time. Oh yeah. Especially with unfortunately girl on girl bullying is to do that kind of shit because it's the stuff that's going to get the most. Because every day you're going to wake up, you're going to put. You're going to rip through your closet.
Ashe
And do your absolute.
Alaina
You're going to put on a hundred different outfits and each time you're going to say what are they going to say about this one? How are they going to make me feel like today about this one? Yep. It's crazy. It is.
Ashe
It's so sad. I don't understand like, I just don't understand doing that to somebody else.
Alaina
I don't understand. It's like I, I, yeah, I don't get it.
Ashe
It's up. So a year and a half has gone by at the this point of them just whoever this caller texter is just terrorizing everyone in this town. But specifically Lauren and Owen. And at. So Lauren's getting all these text messages telling her to kill herself. Telling her like all the things we've been talking about just bullying her beyond belief.
Alaina
This crazy sexually explicit too.
Ashe
And well, that's the thing I was just gonna say. Exactly. And Owen is experiencing these text messages detailing graphics sex acts so graphic that.
Alaina
Like the superintendent of the school literally says he was like I'm a grown ass man. And like that kind of was making me uncomfortable. Like if like another adult said that to me. Like it's, it is crazy.
Ashe
It's beyond. When Drew and I, Drew and I watched this together the first time I saw it. And I. We literally had to pause halfway through because it was so shocking, so uncomfortable. I was like, I like need a second. Hold on.
Alaina
And it's like I, I don't think enough emphasis, emphasis. And we'll talk about more of that later. But I don't think enough emphasis either. In the documentary was Put on how to. It was obviously traumatizing for Lauren, what was being said to her. But what was being said to Owen? Like, they weren't saying, like, you know, you suck and everyone hates you. To Owen, they were literally assault. Sexually assaulting him via words. Like, they were literally sexual harassment. Like, he was being sexually harassed as a child. And it's like. And the. That was being said to him, will you up for a long time. Like, he. That's going to, like, stay with him.
Ashe
Oh, absolutely.
Alaina
And it's like, I don't think enough was put on that, like, how uncomfortable he probably felt and how, like, he probably had some kind of, like, weird, like, because that will make you feel like, shame for no reason.
Ashe
Absolutely it will.
Alaina
Like, I feel for him like that as well.
Ashe
Like, damn. Going into how we feel for this poor kid.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
So a year and a half into this, the sheriff got the FBI involved. Because the sheriff went as far as he could. He said, yeah. And the FBI needed to get involved to kind of do like, the IP tracking and all that.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
But obviously you don't just like, beep and boop onto a computer and figure that out in one day. It takes time.
Alaina
No.
Ashe
So while they were working on their investigation, Owen started dating this girl from another town. And her mom started getting messages, trying to break Owen and this girl up.
Alaina
Up. So whoever from another town's mom.
Ashe
Yeah. And she was getting, like, multiple text messages. I think something happened, like, where they knew what she was posting on Facebook, like, that kind of thing. And Owen is sitting here being like, I just can't date anybody.
Alaina
No.
Ashe
He ended up breaking up. Like, they ended up just, like, going their sep. Separate ways because he didn't want this girl to experience what Lauren had gone through.
Alaina
And, like, this girl was freaking out, like, scared, being like, what the hell's going on right now? And Owen was trying to be like, I don't know who it is.
Ashe
I don't know who it is, and I don't want this to happen. Happen to you. And also probably sitting there and being like, okay, am I ever going to be able to have a relationship with.
Alaina
Anyone or they just going to follow me forever?
Ashe
Or that's the thing. Like, I can't imagine how claustrophobic and, like, controlled you would feel.
Alaina
Yeah. And totally helpless.
Ashe
Well, and that's the thing. So he started, I'm sure, feeling out of control. And his mom, Jill said, like, during sports games, like basketball especially, she saw him starting to get, like, extra aggressive.
Alaina
Like, he was letting it out on the field.
Ashe
Exactly. Because it was somewhere where he could be a little more aggressive without actually hurting somebody.
Alaina
But she was probably worried about.
Ashe
But she was. And I, at one point in the Cut article.
Alaina
Oh, it destroyed this part. Destroyed me. The bullying thing. Yeah, I. I haven't talked about the bullying a lot lately, but, like, I used to talk about it all the time, and it apparently pissed some people off. I know why. But. But, but. But when I experienced it in middle school, I was insufferable at home. I got in fights with my parents all the time just because I was so upset and so frustrated and so, like, just sad all the time. And also angry that I would end up, like, exploding on them just because I was under so much stress and pressure. And that's exactly what happened. Reading that, I was like, whoa. Cause I was like, I can feel that feeling. He's feeling that. Apparently, Owen got really upset one night, according to the article, and had said, like, yelled at Jill, his mother, saying, like, you're my mother. It's your job to, like, you should be able to stop this bullying. I can't. And she said. She just sobbed.
Ashe
I can't imagine how she must have felt, because I'm sure all. And he know. He knew in his heart of hearts all she wanted to do is stop that.
Alaina
But he didn't say that to hurt her. He said it because he was exploding.
Ashe
That's the thing. It's a pressure cooker. And at some point, you do explode.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
And that must have been awful for him and for her.
Alaina
Like, I. I can't imagine how. I. It's like, I know how he felt in that moment. And now as a mother, I can't fathom how she felt in that moment. Because if one of my kids looked at me and said, like, why can't you make your job? You should be able to make this stop. You're my mother. It would be just take out a katana and stab me through the chest. Like, that would literally annihilate me. Well, and that would annihilate me.
Ashe
This is my opinion. But I do think Jill was ultimately really the one who got this to stop, because she basically told the sheriff, like, I'm done here. And if you don't, don't. If you don't do more, I'm going to the papers.
Alaina
Yeah. And I was like, good for you.
Ashe
So she did the work to get something done. Like, I give Jill. Jill is a mama bear.
Alaina
She is. You can tell. Tell that she was just doing whatever she could.
Ashe
So the FBI. The FBI. Agent Bradley. Peter started doing his thing. He's beeping and booping. It's taken a while, but he finally finds out that these texts are coming, like we said before, from this app called Pinger, which you could use to disguise a phone number. And as we said, you should just. No app like that should exist.
Alaina
No.
Ashe
But what is great is that the FBI can send a warrant to a place like that.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
To get IP addresses. So he got all these warrants served at, like, Verizon Panger, all these different places to really, you know, put the puzzle pieces together. And we're about to tell you who it was finally.
Alaina
So we can really just start ripping.
Ashe
I need you all ready. We're gonna take a collective deep breath together. If you don't know who this is, you're about to get your shit rocked. Ready? In through the nose, out through the mouth. For a year and a half, these text messages were coming from Lauren's mother, Kendra.
Alaina
I need you to really take that in. Starting with the first text that said DDTF to 12 year olds to a.
Ashe
12 year old that Owen was DTF. Now, according to Ms. Kendra, those original texts did not come from her.
Alaina
Her.
Ashe
And we'll get there.
Alaina
Which.
Ashe
That's my opinion. I don't believe it.
Alaina
Yeah. Personally, I don't believe that. No. And I don't think a lot of people believe that.
Ashe
So we'll get there in a minute. So they find out that it's Lauren's mom. And literally everybody is like, no, that's not possible. Like, how a mother, I should say mostly everybody.
Alaina
A mother could not do that to their child.
Ashe
No, that. And that was everybody's thought. A mom could never do that to their child.
Alaina
And I. I still think that. That.
Ashe
I also.
Alaina
A mother could not do that to her.
Ashe
That's not a mama.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
So the sheriff goes to confront her and she denies it for about 3.2 seconds.
Alaina
It's on body cam footage, by the way, in the documentary.
Ashe
It's the wildest you'll ever see and.
Alaina
You are going to be seething.
Ashe
She barely denies it. They basically say, like, yeah, so it's coming from your phone, Kendra. And she's like, no, that can't be.
Alaina
She literally goes, no, no, no, not like.
Ashe
And like you were saying, if you were ever accused of this and you were not guilty, you'd be like, oh, my God, no. Like, look through my phone right now. It's not me. I would never do that. What the. Like, oh, my God.
Alaina
You would be losing Your mind and being like, wait, how is that possible? Like I'm not. Like you'd be like holy. Like I'll do whatever it is to prove that I didn't do this. I can't believe that you're telling me this right now.
Ashe
She's like, no. And then he says, what was it Kendra? Like some kind of infatuation with Owen? And she goes, no, nothing like that.
Alaina
And the way she says it is like, no, nothing like that.
Ashe
Like just, just so, so care if somebody's asking you if you haven't as like a. I don't know how old she is, but I'm assuming like grown ass woman. Yeah. I was gonna say I won't even, I won't even assume her age here. But above, above the age of 18. If somebody's asking you if you have an infatuation with a child, a boy who was 12 to 14 years old when you sent these text messages, or 12 to 13 and a half, whatever, you would emphatically scream from the rooftop that you don't have any kind of infatuation with this child. But Kendra couldn't. Because you look at those text messages where she's talking about his private life.
Alaina
And, and private body parts.
Ashe
Private body parts, everybody and her body parts. She can't deny that. No, you can't deny that there's not.
Alaina
Some kind of infatuation we mentioned. She wrote. Yeah, to a 12 year old boy. Yup. Like a boy, a baby. A child. Barely passed single digit age.
Ashe
Like, like what the fuck is wrong with you, lady? I don't know. Like, I don't know how anyone in like she. There's no way she lives there anymore because I feel like she would literally be like hunted and pitchforked out of there. Yeah. Like she can't, you know like Beauty and the Beast when they're going to like take down the beast.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
And they all have like the, the.
Alaina
Flaming throwers and like throw.
Ashe
Not flamethrowers but like flaming torches when.
Alaina
They pulled out bazookas and beauty at the beach.
Ashe
Listen, I probably crazy I. In this case.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
Honey, like I don't. There wouldn't be a safe corner on.
Alaina
The earth I hear here. I like Jill, Owen's mom.
Ashe
I, I bow down.
Alaina
I was Owen's mom. I'm not kidding you. Not a safe place on earth.
Ashe
Not a.
Alaina
You'd have to move to Jupiter to get away from me. Yeah. Like you just would. Yeah.
Ashe
And even then I'd probably figure out a way to Jupiter.
Alaina
Pick one of the moons or something.
Ashe
I'd probably go there too.
Alaina
And I'll take the time to search all of them. Yep. Like that's. I'm.
Ashe
I'll go to another universe.
Alaina
The shit she said to her child, her young child is unforgivable. It is fucking disgusting. Yeah.
Ashe
And it's.
Alaina
And in my opinion, Kendra is a sack of shit. Yeah. And there is something deeply disturbed there.
Ashe
Deeply.
Alaina
And deeply dangerous. Absolutely.
Ashe
Very.
Alaina
Because she should, she said to. A child should not be taken lightly.
Ashe
She should be on a list. In my opinion.
Alaina
That is, that's the part of this and I mentioned it a little bit before, that's the part of the documentary that I don't think. I think they could have done a two part documentary.
Ashe
Totally.
Alaina
One on how she affected Lauren and two too how she affected Owen. Yeah. And how up it is that. Because like we'll get even more into the Lauren stuff. But the Owen stuff is a. Is a different kind of up. It really is. And it's something that really should have been taken more seriously in that documentary and touched upon more. Yeah.
Ashe
So the crazy thing about this too, to me is that she basically spent less time in prison, I think than she got 19 months in prison. The text went on longer than that. Yeah, the text went on at least 20 months.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
And during that time she couldn't speak. She couldn't speak to any of the victims involved, which meant that she couldn't speak to her daughter. And the sad thing in my opinion is that like that was hard for Lauren.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
Because in that, in that police like footage camp, like in that police body footage, you can tell at least I think that Lauren's in shock.
Alaina
Oh, I think she's purely. That is straight up shock because even she disassociated out of this planet.
Ashe
That's the thing. She looked to me at least like she was fully disassociating even like Kendra is literally like grabbing her, trying to.
Alaina
Comfort her, grabbing her hand like, like.
Ashe
Basically like hugging her while she's sitting down, like stroking her head. I'd be like, don't touch me. But also you're the person that I've gone to for comfort my whole life. Like, and you're the person I've gone to for comfort throughout this whole ordeal.
Alaina
That's thing. So it's like. And now another development has come that I would come to you for comfort for. But it's you. Yeah. Like how do you reconcile that she's still a young girl and like that's come on like that is crazy.
Ashe
It turned out, by the way too, that Kendra was lying to everybody, it seems, because so they call. They were worried obviously about like the, when the sheriff was there, he was like, I can't just like leave you two. Now that I've noted your mom as the, the person who's been ruining your life and telling you to kill yourself for the past however many.
Alaina
Can I say one thing too? Yeah. That rubbed me the wrong way about that whole thing. Yeah. They never should have told Lauren in front of her mother.
Ashe
I feel that way too.
Alaina
Because she was not allowed to have a genuine reaction.
Ashe
I feel that way too. She should have been taken into a separate room or something like that. But I don't know what the logistics are there. Like if they, if they needed Kendra's permission to do that.
Alaina
Cuz she's a minor.
Ashe
Cuz she's a minor. Exactly.
Alaina
But it's like, like I don't know.
Ashe
There was, it didn't seem to me like there was a lot of thought put into delivering the message.
Alaina
Like maybe perhaps I'm missing a part of the puzzle and I won't claim that I know everything here that like maybe they did ask Kendra, like we would like to tell her, talk to her alone. And Kendra said no. Yeah. And again, she's a minor, so I don't know how that works. I. I feel like if the mom says no, the parent says no, then that's just the way it goes. I mean, the only other thing I could think that you could do was to say you need to call your husband and tell him that he needs to get home and tell him and be like, okay, this is what happened. Tell him the whole thing outside and then be like, and we would like to tell your daughter or you and I can tell your daughter alone without her present.
Ashe
Cause that's the thing.
Alaina
I just felt like having Kendra in the room did not allow Lauren to actually have any reaction. No. Like, cause.
Ashe
And she probably didn't. I mean, I don't know how she felt because obviously it's very clear in the documentary that she, she still loves her mother and like she, She's a strong fucking girl. One, for getting through all of this and two, being able to move on from this and like maintain a relationship or like some kind of relationship with.
Alaina
Her mom and just like maintain like her humanity and kindness.
Ashe
Exactly.
Alaina
That is something Owen said was what drew him to Lauren was she was supremely kind. Yeah. So that is like one of her Hallmark.
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Alaina
Possibility means you have a chance. Passion opens the door to all possibilities.
Ashe
When I feel like anything's possible, I.
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Feel kind of giddy. I want to be an astronaut, an artist, an actress, to visit another country.
Ashe
All I need is a backpack and a pair of shoes and I'll find a way I'm able to do anything I set my mind to. I've never felt like more such things are possible right now.
Alaina
In the right shoes, anything's possible.
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Ashe
But it's like, she should have. I just feel like maybe in that moment, she probably didn't want to be comforted by her mom. And like, she should have had that.
Alaina
Option is what we're talking about.
Ashe
Yeah, that's the thing.
Alaina
She didn't need to be, like, instantly grabbed at and touched. Her mom was like, grabbing her hand and like, Lauren's just kind of like, limply allowing her to.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
And it's like, it's just fucked up. It was a fucked up situation. I was like. I wanted somebody to, like, remove Kendra from the room because I was like, she needs to be able to, like, process this for a second.
Ashe
No, that's the thing.
Alaina
I. Without being.
Ashe
Got any time to process.
Alaina
No.
Ashe
And any time to process that. For over a year, her mom was sending her boyfriend and her explicit sexual messages, literally saying, like, he doesn't, like, you need, like, basically, I think. Let me find one that I. That I wrote down. It was. Was like.
Alaina
There were times when she was like, you won't sleep with him.
Ashe
That's the one I was trying to find.
Alaina
Sleep with him. Like, you're not sleeping with him. You're not giving him blowjobs. That's why he's breaking out with you. And I was like, this is a quote. You're talking to your child.
Ashe
This is a quote. Maybe you shouldn't have picked cross country over him. You proved he isn't important to you. We were there, though. You don't get with him in bed. You don't sneak out with him. You dress awful. Ain't no guy want that.
Alaina
That's her mother talking to her. A child.
Ashe
Yup. Like, that's beyond.
Alaina
I. I can't Comprehend it. I can't. Nothing about my brain can compute this in any way, shape or form. And her excuses to me, I don't. Oh, I'm not saying didn't happen to her. I'm not saying that Kendra doesn't have trauma, but to be quite honest, I don't give a about what happened to her because she used it as an excuse use to literally inflict trauma upon two children, including their own.
Ashe
More than two children.
Alaina
Exactly. More than two children. And it's like, I'm sorry a whole community doesn't give you a free pass to be a goddamn tornado in everybody's life. It just doesn't.
Ashe
So many people go to therapy, right? So many people unfortunately do experience trauma. That's unfortunately just the way that our world. That's the thing. It's just the way our world works.
Alaina
It's awful.
Ashe
But I feel like this is my opinion, but like 9 out of 10 people you talk to have experienced some kind of pretty awful trauma. Not everybody texts their daughter from an anonymous number telling her to go kill herself and like text her boyfriend about explicit things about his body.
Alaina
Exactly.
Ashe
Because they had trauma. I'm sorry, that doesn't give you a pass. And it doesn't make me feel bad. I feel bad for what happened to you when you were younger. 100. I don't feel bad for you now that you did this.
Alaina
No.
Ashe
Like, no, no, no, no, period.
Alaina
No.
Ashe
So also, she literally compares this to driving drunk. She like, she is so callous. At one point in the documentary, she's like, everybody has broken the law at some point. People probably have driven drunk before and not got caught. The only difference is that I got caught. Ah, babe. No, no.
Alaina
To compare sending sexually explicit texts to a 12 year old boy as a grown adult to someone having a DUI beyond my brain said no.
Ashe
That's comparing. No, that's comparing a zebra to a clementine.
Alaina
Literally.
Ashe
That's how, that's how, how insanely they don't exist. The differences between them.
Alaina
You can't compare those two things. And she's just like, whatever. She's like, everyone's broken the law. And it's like, first of all, no.
Ashe
And second of all, I've never broken the law like that.
Alaina
Babe, babe, no, no, no, no. And it's also like, we're not just talking about breaking the law. Yeah, that's a massive part of this. You. You told your daughter to kill herself. Hashtag, bang, bang, bang.
Ashe
Do it now.
Alaina
Do it now. Kill yourself now. And she also says, because they were like, what the is wrong with you?
Ashe
They're like, why did you say that? And they. And they said, did you think she. Like, were you ever worried that she was going to kill herself?
Alaina
And she had to think about it for a second. She was like, no, no. Oh, okay. And also, she. It's like the anorexic stuff. She literally admits that that was an insecurity.
Ashe
She said, Lauren knows she's fine because.
Alaina
She knows she has a small frame, and sometimes it can be an insecurity for her.
Ashe
And here's the thing.
Alaina
So her mother preyed on that.
Ashe
Here's the thing, too. First she says that. And then. And I. It's so funny. You had the exact same reaction that I did when I watched it the first time. And then when I watched it with you, you said it. They gave her such an out for that.
Alaina
That.
Ashe
Because they were like, were you talking to yourself when you were sending those messages? No.
Alaina
Yeah. That interviewer. I was literally like, shut the.
Ashe
I was like, don't give her a pass.
Alaina
Like, don't make her a victim.
Ashe
And she was like, maybe I was. Maybe I fell into that anorexic category, too, because I was so small.
Alaina
And it's like, first of all, can we stop throwing around the usage of anorexic?
Ashe
Like, it's not just like. Anorexic isn't just like, you're small.
Alaina
Yeah. It's like, thin does not mean anorexic.
Ashe
Way beyond that.
Alaina
So. So, you know, there's that. And it's like, two. Also, like, there was that whole thing where they, you know, Kendra, as this, like, phantom, like, of her daughter would say, like, call her like a JV Ho. And like, you're not good enough for varsity because she didn't make it on the varsity team. As someone who played. And it sounds like, you know, as someone who played sports and, like, sports.
Ashe
Meant a lot to you.
Alaina
It did. It meant.
Ashe
And it meant a lot to Lauren.
Alaina
And I remember sophomore year, I didn't make it on varsity for. And I was fucking devastated. It was a huge moment in my life. It shattered my confidence. Yeah. I was so upset. And it's like my mother heard all of that. She. She was there when I was crying about it and saying, I'm not good at this and I should just quit, and why am I even doing it? Her mother also heard that, I'm sure, because Lauren, sports was everything to her. So for her to use even that. That. That little, like, JV Ho. You're not good enough for varsity. She probably comforted her through not getting on varsity. And then to pull that out and use it on her. I'm sorry. Kendra's diabolical.
Ashe
She, like, diabolical.
Alaina
Diabolical behavior.
Ashe
Not only that. Like, there were text messages that said things like that. There were also pictures of Lauren and Owen together with Lauren's face crossed out.
Alaina
Out.
Ashe
And then words all over the picture saying, JV Ho Sluck. Not like, worthless. Like.
Alaina
Like, nobody will miss you.
Ashe
Nobody will miss you. All these awful things. Writing. Like, writing JV Ho alone would have been awful.
Alaina
Like. And again, remember, this is her mother. Her mother. I need. I can't stress this enough. Her mother brought up a picture of her own baby girl, her only. Her only baby girl, and wrote that shit over her fucking face.
Ashe
And that.
Alaina
I can't reconcile that in my mind. And for her to sit there and be like, you know, if I could go back and change it out. No, you wouldn't.
Ashe
No, no, you wouldn't also because you.
Alaina
Did it for two years.
Ashe
Again, I can't stress enough. That same woman who brought up the picture of her baby's face crossed it out, wrote all those things, told her to kill herself, was texting her boyfriend explicit acts, then had the gall in that documentary to sit. Sit there and talk about hearing Lauren's heartbeat for the first time.
Alaina
Oh, my God.
Ashe
And how she realized in that moment that, like, you think you can love this. This baby so much, and then you realize it, you have more love than you ever. You don't love there. That's not love.
Alaina
You don't treat someone you love that. And that is your baby. You're supposed to keep them safe. And you're preying on her insecurities. And foster. You're nurturing them, creating them. She nurtured those insecurities that she had and made them bigger. Because no matter what, after this, not only did she. Did Lauren think for a period of time that her peers were feeding on those insecurities. Didn't she realize now she's sitting there going, holy shit. My own mother said that shit to me.
Ashe
Me.
Alaina
That won't go away anytime soon.
Ashe
That is a.
Alaina
The damage is lasting there.
Ashe
That is a mind.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
That is the mind of a century.
Alaina
And for Kendra to sit there and act like she is any sort of victim. I was.
Ashe
Living.
Alaina
I am. I'm still seething just thinking about her face sitting there crying to act like it's like she's.
Ashe
Like she's the victim.
Alaina
Yep.
Ashe
She also said, and this makes no Sense. So remember I said, I think somewhere in this that she claims that she didn't send those original text messages. Like when they started around that Halloween party, she said that she didn't send those and that the reason why she eventually started sending the text messages was to get to the bottom of who sent the original ones.
Alaina
No sense.
Ashe
That makes no sense. Sense. Two, what did talking about explicit sex acts have to do with getting to the bottom of it? And three, what would telling your daughter to kill herself, how is that going to help you uncover the real villain here? And then at one point she said, I think it was my escape. Telling your daughter to kill herself was your escape prison.
Alaina
I don't think that was touched upon enough in that documentary. That part of it.
Ashe
No. So here's the thing. It basically ends by saying that, like, Lauren, I think Lauren basically didn't get to talk to her mom during the trial, but then she. And she couldn't see her while she was in prison. But they exchanged emails. Yeah, the emails are over the top on Kendra's side of things. In my opinion. She's way too much.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
A lot of people, like, including professionals, nobody can, like, diagnose her without her being their client, whatever. But a lot of people believe that this is a case of Munchat, like digital Munchausens, which is.
Alaina
It appears to at least resemble that.
Ashe
I think it's very.
Alaina
I think there's even deeper, though, to be quite honest, I don't even think it ends there.
Ashe
So here's the thing. So that's basically, like, how the documentary ends. And like Lauren says, like, she hopes they can repair their relationship and she hopes her mom gets the help she needs.
Alaina
And remember, I don't know if we totally touched upon it before, but, like, that she was lying about having a job for a year.
Ashe
Oh, my God. We forgot to touch on that.
Alaina
Yeah. When the dad shows up and they actually, I. I feel her dad's name is Sean. I feel horrible for this man as well. He thought she had a job for the entire time she was doing this. And it turned out she didn't. She got fired for, you know, texting at work. Yeah. And allegedly, according to the article, they.
Ashe
Literally put her on a plan. Like a performance plan. Performance plan. Because she was spending too much time on outside things.
Alaina
According to the article.
Ashe
According to the article. And then she decided to leave.
Alaina
She quit and never told him. And just they lost houses. She was claiming to be working. And also he was lied to for the full two years about all of this including the fact that she was bringing money and wasn't because she also had control of the finances. And when he gets there, he's like, did you get her phones? Did you look at her phones? And. And the sheriff is like, phones?
Ashe
She gave us one.
Alaina
Because when they said, do you have anything else? She said, I have a laptop. And he was like, oh, no, she's got a couple of phones. Yeah. And then when they go in there and ask her for them, she acts, first of all, she's shocked that they know about that second phone. Which I was like, you're a fucking diabolical.
Ashe
And she tries to say like, no, there's no problem.
Alaina
And she's like, yeah, no, I don't know. And then he's like, one of the other sheriff is literally like, it's fine, I'll just tear this fucking house apart part like. And you can tell, he's like, give me a reason.
Ashe
Yeah, like, let's go. I knew everything. I knew going into that. I wouldn't have even given her the opportunity. I just ripped the house apart looking well.
Alaina
And he's like, I'll rip the house apart. And she's like, it's outside now that when they pulled up, she was outside.
Ashe
And Lauren's out like swimming. So I'm like, was your daughter sending.
Alaina
To her out there?
Ashe
Was your daughter, like enjoying her lake day swimming and you're sitting there texting her horrible things?
Alaina
Yeah. So she wasn't working all day and would just text Owen and Kendra or Lauren all day and all night, and they weren't. In the article, it actually says that somebody in town saw her parked in like a church parking lot one day.
Ashe
With her head down.
Alaina
In the middle of the day, like with her head down. And like, when she looked up and was like, oh, like, wave. It was Owen's father, I was gonna say. Cause it was Jill later who like said that Kendra brought it up later out of nowhere and was like, oh, he saw me. It must have been like, funny. I had spilled coffee on my lap and I was trying to like, wipe it off. And she was like, why did she bring that up?
Ashe
And it was like a weird thing.
Alaina
She knew she got caught. And it's like, so this lady for almost two years was lying to her entire family, putting her entire family at risk financially, emotionally, everything. And was spending her entire day ruthlessly texting nasty ass and death threats to her child and her child's then ex boyfriend.
Ashe
Yep.
Alaina
And sexually sitting God knows where in the middle of the day texting sexually explicit to a 12 and 13 and 14 year old boy. Like what the. Like.
Ashe
And also potentially creating these other. Like it does the documentary never touched on that in the article. Like very briefly touches on it, but I don't know how it all worked but could have created those accounts that were like fakes of Chloe sending messages.
Alaina
Yeah. Like what the.
Ashe
Are you kidding me?
Alaina
Like what is that? And it sounds like according to the article that like there was always like a very big focus on Owen.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
In that family. Like that, in that, like from Kendra.
Ashe
Yeah. So this is a direct quote from, from the article. And they, this was, the article was written before the documentary came out. So they refer to Lauren as Ashley because they. She was still a minor at the time. So it said this is direct from the article. After Ashley started dating Owen, her mother came along too. At every opportunity, Kendra would ask them to wrap their arms around each other for a photo. Photo which Ashley would turn into presents for Owen like a personalized phone case. When they hung out at the Lacaris, Kendra would chime in, why don't you jump on the trampoline, Take a spin in Ashley's Ranger utility vehicle. Kendra talked about the kids. Jill says, quote, like they were going to be together forever. Once a friend, Paige saw Kendra take Ashley's phone, read her her daughter's text with Owen. Then as Ashley, Kendra typed out a reply, reply, I love you. And Jill says it. And again it's not taught. It's so briefly touched on in this article. But sorry, in this, in the documentary.
Alaina
Which I imagine they needed to leave things vague to get Kendra to agree to participate in. I'm still shocked they did.
Ashe
I. It was one of those things where like I was like, how did this not turn into like. We reached out to Kendra for a comment and she has never replied to us.
Alaina
How Netflix when she, when they, when she was like, yeah, totally. You know, they were like cameras, cameras, cameras. Like they were literally like get in the car. Like holy.
Ashe
Literally. It's like in Bravo and they're like, I need Andy and a camera now.
Alaina
Somebody like repels from the ceiling with the, with the waiver for her to sign. And it's just like, sign here, sign here.
Ashe
She's like, okay, yeah. But at the same time, who knows? Because in the documentary her cousin says she, this is her cousin saying she loves attention. She says, said if you were, if Kendra was here right now and you were talking to me, she would be dancing over there trying to get your.
Alaina
Get your attention on her. So it's like, it's bonkers.
Ashe
So we, we were kind of like touching upon it before how maybe they like left some things out or like didn't go too hard into some things to get Kendra to be a part of it. But one thing that they did include was Jill saying that she thought that it, like maybe, you know, there was the whole Lauren people piece, but also that maybe Kendra had some kind of infatuation with Owen.
Alaina
Yeah. And that was Jill thinking that.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
And Owen also felt that way.
Ashe
Owen also felt that way. And it seems like a lot of other people felt that way. And that's where the, the Cut article kind of like goes into that a little bit more. Here's another quote. In 8th grade, Kendra signed up to coach Owen's track team, becoming, he says, like a second mom. A regular spectator at Owen's matches. She drove Ashley actually three hours across Michigan to watch one of his championship games. Once Kendra even suggested turning Owen's tournament in Florida into a Lakari family vacation, to which Jill had to gently say no.
Alaina
Which like Jill was probably like, okay. And like she even says it. She's like, I just thought like, okay. I guess she's just, you know, we're good friends, we're family friends.
Ashe
I guess maybe she's just like being supportive.
Alaina
Like her family's very sports focused so like maybe that they're just kind of extending it off to Owen. But like still, even she was like.
Ashe
It'S a little much.
Alaina
No, like you can, we're not doing that. Like, what the fuck?
Ashe
And it's like you also. They're in seventh grade. This is also around the time that these text messages start. And it seems like also around the time where her job is hanging on by a thread.
Alaina
Exactly.
Ashe
And it's like you're gonna take time off to go to Florida to watch a 12 year old compete in a championship that's not your 12 year old.
Alaina
Oh yeah. And also Kendra is an IT professional.
Ashe
Yeah.
Alaina
So that'll show you exactly how, you know, she got that far. It's. You can't make this shit up.
Ashe
It's strange.
Alaina
You can't make this shit up.
Ashe
It is strange.
Alaina
And obviously like Shawn, Kendra, Kendra's ex husband, now divorced her. Yeah. And I think he had complete, he has complete custody of Lauren who I, you know, they seem to be doing well together.
Ashe
They seem like they have a great relationship, so that's awesome.
Alaina
But yeah.
Ashe
And then I guess one final note is that Lifetime kind of made like a. Their own version loosely based on this Story. It's called Mommy Meanest, and it's the.
Alaina
Most time I've ever heard.
Ashe
I'm gonna watch it immediately because Lisa Rinna is the moment mom. And it says she is a Machiavellian brunette mother harassing her daughter. I was like, lisa Rinna.
Alaina
What? Ash literally was like, I'm in.
Ashe
I said, I'm watching it.
Alaina
I'm in.
Ashe
I don't think this documentary, mark my words, right here, right now. I don't think this documentary is the last we're gonna hear about this case. No, I think they're. I think it goes a little deeper.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
And I think there's a lot more there.
Alaina
I'm telling you, they could have done a part 2 just on the stuff she was saying to Owen and really focused on Lauren stuff in one and Owen in another. Because they are two different sides of the same coin.
Ashe
Yes.
Alaina
And equally as horrifying on either side. Just in totally different ways.
Ashe
Well, what bothers me is, like, she never. She never got charged with any, like, sexual crime.
Alaina
Yeah. Like, misconduct. Like, this is, like, Owens was able to say to her in her, like, hearing because they didn't get to go to, like, full trial while he said, like, I'm going to be scarred by this for life.
Ashe
Like, you might move on, but I won't.
Alaina
Yeah, he literally said, like, you'll move on, but I won't. Yeah, Like, I'm going. This is going to affect me for the rest of my life. And it will because.
Ashe
Oh, and sorry.
Alaina
That that lady was sending you that or talking about you like that.
Ashe
And not only that, finding out that she was sending you that. Talking to you about, like, sending texts to you about those kind of things. And then finding out that after you broke up, you and her daughter broke up.
Alaina
She was stalking.
Ashe
She was stalking your new girlfriend another town away.
Alaina
Like, this is a woman who, like, that's my opinion. This feels like this woman was obsessed with this little boy and would not let him move forward.
Ashe
Allegedly, in my opinion.
Alaina
Allegedly. In my opinion. That's what it feels like.
Ashe
100.
Alaina
And that's what it could look like. It would feel like that to me if I was. Oh. And I'd be like.
Ashe
And if I was Owen's mom and I would. Fucking up.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
So that. I think that's everything we have to say about Unknown Number, the high school catfish. I will remember this documentary as long as I breathe air on this earth.
Alaina
It blew my mind.
Ashe
I need to know if some of you guys, like, went into this not knowing who it was.
Alaina
Oh, please tell. I'm actually like, Jerry. I'm envious of the people who didn't get it spoiled because I got it spoiled on Tik Tok before I watched it it. And so I went in knowing. Even going and knowing I was still.
Ashe
It's still wild.
Alaina
Still blew me over. But I wonder what it must feel like to get that complete shock.
Ashe
There are so many. I think I said it on one of the last episodes we did. There are so many Tik Tok compilations of people finding out, just being like, what? Oh my God.
Alaina
I saw one the other day that was like some lady and she turned and she just goes, I knew it.
Ashe
I saw that.
Alaina
Knew it.
Ashe
I saw that.
Alaina
Like, oh, yeah, yeah.
Ashe
It's unthinkable.
Alaina
But damn.
Ashe
One of the. One of the most compelling documentaries I've seen in a while.
Alaina
I hope everyone else is thriving and doing well and healing in this story, except for Kendra. I don't give a about Kendra. Yeah.
Ashe
So that was our first bonus episode. It was fun to talk to you guys about a documentary. I don't think we talked about, like a film film since we did. Shockingly vile. Wickedly super nasty. Gross, Disgusting. Zac Efron.
Alaina
Yeah, you're right. Yeah.
Ashe
That was like many years ago.
Alaina
That was many moons ago.
Ashe
Many moons.
Alaina
Yeah.
Ashe
So we hope you keep listening, we hope you enjoy the bonus episodes and.
Alaina
We hope you keep it weird, but.
Ashe
Not so weird that you don't tune into our bonus episodes which are going to happen one one Friday a month.
Alaina
Woohoo. Yay.
Ashe
Bye, girl.
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You know, they have Marc Jacobs, Nike.
Ashe
Yes. Just so many good brands.
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Alaina
What does possibility mean to you? Um, that's a hard question.
Ashe
Something that you can strive for.
Alaina
I'm able to. To do anything I set my mind to. You're confident in yourself and you believe in yourself. Stuff that you could achieve.
Ashe
I feel it's Sarah.
Alaina
Anything is possible when you're more confident. Shoes are a huge part of that.
Ashe
They are the most important part of my style. You can, like, express yourself in the right shoes. Anything is possible.
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This special bonus episode is a deep-dive discussion and dissection of the documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, a recent Netflix release focused on a harrowing catfishing and psychological abuse incident in a small Michigan town. Ash and Alaina bring their signature blend of dark humor and insight to unpack the twists, emotional trauma, and far-reaching impact of the case—one that revolves around years of anonymous, abusive texting targeting two teenagers…and an unthinkable perpetrator.
After a long investigation involving the FBI and data warrants, the true perpetrator is unmasked: Lauren’s own mother, Kendra.
Notable “Holy Shit” Moment:
The reaction is pure shock and disbelief from everyone, including law enforcement and the family:
Bodycam footage reveals Kendra barely tries to deny her involvement, showing chilling calm: “No, nothing like that.” (45:04)
The hosts are appalled by her demeanor and the monstrousness of the betrayal:
The emotional and psychological fallout is severe, especially for Lauren, who is seen dissociating and unable to process the revelation in the moment.
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 07:23 | Alaina | “Nobody’s DTF at 12. Nobody should be saying DTF at 12.” | | 09:41 | Ashe | “Young girls so early, learn to be their biggest critics…then they grow up immediately becoming critics of each other.” | | 20:22 | Alaina | “If they’re only telling their close friends who those numbers are and you’re approving them, boom, you’re in. It’s gotta be one of the close friends.” | | 28:36 | Alaina | “She had somewhat of a reputation for being a bully at the school…” | | 31:38 | Alaina | “One of the main things you should be teaching your kid is that their privacy...they have a right to privacy.” | | 43:19 | Ashe | “For a year and a half, these text messages were coming from Lauren’s mother, Kendra.” | | 47:49 | Ashe | “She should be on a list, in my opinion.” | | 61:31 | Alaina | “That is the mindf*** of the century.” | | 72:44 | Alaina (quoting Owen) | “You might move on, but I won’t.” |
For listeners seeking a cathartic, thought-provoking review of a modern cautionary tale, this bonus episode is both a sensitive and searing analysis, filled with memorable moments, honest reflection, and the hosts’ inimitable weirdness.