- 3 months ago
Brace yourself for the parts Netflix left on the cutting-room floor. We dig into the real-life drama behind Unknown Number, exposing the anonymous texts that terrorized a Michigan town and the shocking identity of the sender. From community suspicion and FBI involvement to the twisted manipulation of teens Lauryn and Owen, spoilers ahead as we reveal the lies, control, and fallout that the documentary only hinted at.
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00:00now that she's out i just want her to get the help that she needs welcome to ms mojo and today
00:05we're taking a deep dive into the most shocking details from the real life case behind unknown
00:11number the high school catfish that netflix left out of the documentary needless to say there are
00:17spoilers ahead just like crazy that someone that close could do something like that well to me but
00:24also to her own daughter background of the case how's the happy couple preparing for the end of
00:32the golden relationship we hear about how you are the forever couple the netflix documentary unknown
00:39number the high school catfish left viewers around the world dumbfounded when it dropped in august
00:452025 the film explores the truly baffling case of lauren lucari and owen mckinney two teenagers in
00:53the small town of beale city michigan who began receiving threatening text messages from an unknown
00:58number in 2020 i asked chloe because we were like best friends and it was her party you know i'm like
01:04like do you know who sent this or like did you send it you know just asking around i was like okay it's
01:10just gonna stop just give it some time although the harassment briefly stopped it resumed in september
01:162021 and escalated significantly over the next year this time the torment was far more
01:23severe i was getting at least six text messages plus a day it was just really annoying because i
01:30knew owen wasn't involved with it and i knew he didn't know what was going on either every single
01:35day lauren and owen were bombarded with graphic and disturbing messages with lauren bearing the brunt
01:42of the ordeal the anonymous sender exploited her deepest insecurities and mocked her relentlessly
01:48even urging her to take her own life i was just getting super frustrated with it but my mom was
01:55like just ignore them obviously you're beautiful like she was just encouraging me to not read them
02:02the identity of the anonymous sender it quickly became clear that the anonymous sender was someone
02:08close to lauren and owen as the messages contained details only an insider could know and thus began an
02:15investigation into their friends and classmates so i began with some video surveillance marking when
02:22the text would come in and then looking at video to see if we could see someone in the hallway
02:28sending a text at that particular time suspicion soon fell on chloe wilson a popular athlete who played
02:35sports with lauren and was also close to owen after a while like i kept getting asked more and more
02:41because after i got asked once it really just all started to look more and more like me however the
02:46case against her fell through once the investigation hit a dead end the fbi was called in to assist
02:53they eventually traced the messages to the last person anyone watching could have suspected
02:58lauren's own mother kendra lakari a reasonable person would say there is no absolute way that
03:05kendra lakari is sending these messages to her daughter but we've eliminated everything up to this
03:11point when isabella county sheriff mike main confronted kendra at her home she confessed blaming
03:17her actions on stress and financial issues she more or less is tacitly admitting that she did it by not
03:25denying it but it wasn't a you know clear admission of guilt a suspect to many the reveal may have
03:34shocked viewers but it was less surprising to many in beale city what the documentary left out was some
03:40key details about kendra's past and her standing in the community unlike most parents who had grown up
03:47together in the town kendra was a transplant she met lauren's father sean in college and they moved to his
03:53hometown after marrying eager to fit in kendra reportedly sought attention and validation from
03:59locals she does like attention i think if she was here right now and you were talking to me she would
04:05be dancing over there to try and get you to look at her this made her a suspect when the messages began
04:10chloe wilson's father craig told the sheriff early on that he believed kendra was responsible i remember
04:16within a day or two of our initial interview i had sent him a text message that said that a very good
04:22part of me believes that this is probably kendra doing this another parent who saw the messages said
04:27they sounded like they came from an adult and admitted quote i wouldn't put it past kendra even the high
04:33school secretary diane fussman told the principal she suspected kendra because she was quote a little
04:39obsessive with her child but when sheriff main brought this theory to owen's parents they quickly dismissed it
04:45he's like do you think there's a possibility it could be her and i said no she's helping me she's
04:53lauren's mom i said it's it's not her kendra lakari's suspicious behavior although owen's mom jill was
05:00skeptical of that theory at first she gradually began noticing strange behavior from kendra months after
05:07lauren and owen broke up kendra questioned jill about her son's love life asking if he was dating chloe
05:14through these conversations kendra discovered that owen was seeing a girl in another town and
05:19soon began targeting her and here we go again it's the same format same words telling the girl from
05:27penconning to back off me because i'm theirs her constant prying forced jill to restrict their
05:33conversations to matters about the anonymous sender but even while lauren and owen were together
05:38kendra's behavior was concerning she frequently asked them to pose with their arms around each
05:44other for pictures which she then converted into gifts for owen like a customized phone case she
05:50would cut my own stake for me like it was it was just to the point where like it was almost too weird
05:56she even tried to turn owen's tournament in florida into a family vacation an idea jill quickly declined
06:02in one particularly troubling incident a friend claimed kendra took lauren's phone read her texts
06:09with owen then replied as her daughter saying quote i love you you guys are gonna think i'm the crazy lady
06:16the confusing nature of the messages lauren and owen began as one of the most popular couples in school
06:23but the constant stream of threatening messages soon wore down their relationship the messages had just
06:29gotten to be too much and i think that's really what the last several months of their relationship
06:34revolved around was did you talk to this girl over time owen started pulling away from lauren during
06:41one volleyball game when they sat apart kendra texted her daughter directly not as the anonymous sender
06:47but as herself saying quote sit next to him answer me come here now i am fuming pissed off this is
06:55where i started to really kind of think okay is somebody on the high school team jealous or envious
07:01then as the anonymous persona she continued sending messages that both undermined and praised the couple
07:08one text taunted quote could this be the end of the aka golden couple while another insisted quote you're
07:15the definition of a perfect couple and will be the forever couple that gets married i do think that
07:21there was some jealousy you know in their class maybe wanting a relationship or wanting boys to
07:28to notice the girls and you know they both had that it's not hard to see how these contradictory
07:34messages could have further tormented lauren and owen especially as their relationship was heading for
07:39the rocks kendra's lies and control over the family the documentary only scratches the surface of kendra's
07:46deception especially regarding her employment status kendra initially worked at central michigan
07:52university but told her husband sean that she secured an additional higher paying position at ferris
07:58state university believing this story the family moved into a bigger house it just you know led to
08:04financial struggle worst financial struggles than we were already in in reality kendra only got the
08:10ferris state job after she was fired from central michigan and it didn't come with any salary bump
08:15i got my goal from that yeah what about the texas job you still have that you got terminated from
08:21that i don't have that you don't have to have you there no so when did you get that goal from that
08:27that position was also short-lived as she was soon placed on a performance improvement plan for
08:32spending excessive time on personal texts and calls she eventually quit but pretended to work remotely
08:39even faking work calls whenever sean was home she acted like she was working and like said she had stuff to do
08:45and she just she played it off really well when the family could no longer afford the house and were
08:51evicted kendra lied once again she told sean and lauren that structural issues with the house's
08:57foundation required them to move out for repairs kendra's participation in the documentary i really
09:11wanted to get to the bottom of who it was right and that's when i started sending the text messages to
09:17lauren and on most crime documentaries like unknown number the high school catfish rarely feature the
09:23perpetrators themselves that's why many viewers were shocked to learn that the anonymous sender had
09:28been right in front of them all along this woman we allowed into our lives in our house and my kids
09:34lives and i just but kendra's participation in the film almost didn't happen in fact according to
09:43director sky borgman the documentary was almost complete before kendra finally agreed to an interview
09:49she explained that she wanted to address the audience directly and share her side of the story
09:54yet when asked why she harassed her own daughter for almost two years kendra offered no clear answer
10:00i was sending the messages in hopes that maybe they would send back asking is this somebody or is
10:05this so-and-so um to just kind of give me something right her explanation that she was trying to
10:12protect her daughter from the same trauma she once endured received mixed reactions from viewers
10:18and i know some people may question that or diminish that or whatever but i know lauren and i know the
10:26conversations that her and i had before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell
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10:43lauren's lauren's changing relationship with her mother it's a question many viewers might have
10:49asked themselves after watching the documentary what would you do if your parent harassed you with
10:54such messages for two years for lauren answering that question was certainly not easy i can't even
11:00imagine how it made her feel so i'm sure she's i'm sure lauren is just eating alive inside apparently when
11:06the filmmakers first interviewed her in 2023 kendra had just gone to prison and lauren missed her mother
11:13deeply as shown in the film they kept in touch while kendra was incarcerated she made it seem like
11:20everything's better and she just made me feel better however by the time of a second interview in 2024
11:27lauren's relationship with kendra had changed she had chosen to distance herself from her mother and
11:33their communication was a lot more strained after kendra's release sean divorced her and was granted
11:39full custody of lauren you know how much i love you right yeah no sometimes well i love you okay i'm
11:48proud of you you're a good kid kendra now lives with relatives outside beale city and reportedly has even
11:54less contact with lauren than she did while in prison i know to some i'm a headline i'm a villain i'm a bad
12:02mom i'm a whatever but that's because they know one little piece of my story they don't know my
12:09whole story have you seen unknown number of the high school catfish what were your thoughts on the
12:14baffling case let us know in the comments there's no doubt that it'll have a lasting impact uh on all
12:20all of these families and the impact that this is going to have on these kids may be lifelong
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