LINK: unknown number: the high school catfish
If you haven’t heard about it yet, this documentary has been making headlines over the past few days. It’s a complete cluster fuck.
*SPOILER ALERT* If you don’t wanna read the spoilers, just stop here.
Within the first ten minutes, I already knew who the perpetrator was.
I felt terrible for Lauryn and Owen, two kids who were only thirteen at the time and dating one another. They seemed like good, normal teens just trying to navigate life, only to find themselves being targeted in the most twisted and vile way. To learn that it was Lauryn’s own mother, Kendra, behind those disgusting and chilling messages is beyond comprehension. It’s one thing to get disturbing messages from a stranger—I know firsthand how unsettling that can be (Remember Sam? Even to this day, I haven’t forgotten him.), but to have it come from someone within the home, someone who’s supposed to protect you, makes it even more devastating.
Watching how the entire small town turn on each other, suspicious and paranoid, was almost just as bad as the texts themselves. Kendra’s actions didn’t just traumatize her daughter and Owen, it poisoned the entire community. And what makes it worse is that Kendra’s apology seemed disingenuous. She wasn’t sorry for what she did, she was just sorry that she got caught. She texted these children to unalive themselves, lied endlessly not just to the neighbors but to her husband and daughter, and sent sexually explicit, predatory messages about Owen.
I couldn’t believe how long the police let those messages continue before involving the FBI. Kendra was hiding behind apps to spoof numbers and when the FBI liaison got search warrants for the app company and Verizon, it all came to a head.
Someone suggested this could be a case of “cyber Munchausen by proxy,” and it does make sense. The need for attention, the manipulation, the harm inflicted on others to fulfill her twisted psychological need, does check off a lot of the boxes.
Personally, I think her jail sentence was far too short for the level of trauma she caused. It was heartbreaking to see Lauryn finding out that it was her mom sending these hateful texts and despite it all. It seemed like she was in disbelief or shock and with her mother clamoring all over her, I wondered if Kendra fostered an environment which made Lauryn codependent on her. It was sad to see that Lauryn still wants to have a relationship with her mother. I can only hope that she has the strength and support that she needs to heal and realize the damage her mother has caused.
Leave a Reply to Violet LentzCancel reply