One afternoon in January 2022, the parents of two freshmen at Beal City High School in central Michigan gathered in the principal’s office. They were there to discuss the texts: vicious, anonymous messages flooding the phones of their children, Ashley Licari and Owen McKenny, sometimes 30 a day. The messages would arrive at any hour, and no one knew who was sending them.
Although they were sent to both Ashley and Owen, they mostly targeted Ashley.