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Unknown Number: The High School Catfish

September 30, 2025·1 hr 29 min·5 clips

The FBI traced 80,000 vile texts back to Lauren's mother, exposing a predator hiding in plain sight.

This episode covers the Netflix documentary "Unknown Number: The High School Catfish," which details a prolonged cyberbullying case in a small Michigan town. Hosts Gillian Pensavalli and Patrick Hinds, known for their comedic and passionate true crime commentary, unpack the film's disturbing story. The case revolves around a teenage girl, Lauren Licari, who was terrorized by anonymous, sexually explicit texts aimed at destroying her relationship with her boyfriend, Owen. The harassment began in October 2020 when Lauren, Owen, and others started receiving messages from an unknown number claiming Owen wanted to be with the sender. The texts, often 40 to 50 per day, used Lauren's nickname "Lo" and referenced specific classroom details, suggesting the sender was a classmate. Lauren's parents, Sean and Kendra, and Owen's parents, Jill and Dave, became involved as the messages grew more vulgar, personally attacking Lauren's appearance and encouraging sexual acts. The school administration, including Superintendent Bill Chillman and Principal Dan Boyer, was criticized for its ineffective response and lack of a uniform cell phone policy. After 15 months, the police, led by Officer Mike Main, got involved as the texts escalated to threats telling Lauren to kill herself. A surprising theory emerged among some students and adults that Lauren might have sent the texts to herself for attention, despite her being a successful athlete. The hosts highlight the specific, shocking language of the texts, which repeatedly used crude sexual terms like "cream" and were read in the documentary by Sky Borgman with a distorted voice. They note the immense pressure placed on the 13-year-old "golden couple" and contrast Owen's perspective that "boys don't have drama" with the reality of the situation. A key clue arose when a text referenced scoring 12 points in a basketball game, which Lauren's mom, the volunteer scorekeeper, traced to a student named Chloe Wilson. Chloe, who had a known crush on Owen and hadn't initially invited Lauren to a Halloween party, became a prime suspect. The hosts point out the complex social dynamics of Beale City, a K-12 school where everyone has known each other since kindergarten. They express frustration that the school didn't treat the cyberbullying as the severe crisis it was, especially given the FBI's warning that such harassment can lead to suicide. The episode's tone is conversational, energetic, and filled with the hosts' trademark emotional reactions and humorous asides, particularly comparing the vulgar texts to dialogue from the character Judy Gemstone. Listeners who enjoy deep-dive recaps of true crime documentaries with a blend of outrage and comedy will love this episode. Those who prefer a more serious, straightforward analysis of criminal cases or are sensitive to discussions of explicit harassment targeting minors might want to skip it.

As heard by us

True Crime Obsessed gives the story a fast, furious, no-patience recap.

True Crime Obsessed turns the story into a fast, loud reckoning, keeping the momentum up while staying fixed on how quickly suspicion settles on Chloe and how poorly the adults handle the pressure.

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Why you'd press play

You want a scammer story that keeps asking, in full disbelief, who the hell Jason Porter is.

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