Were the voicemails heard in Candace Owen’s lawsuit against Stamford school

1. The core claim: voicemails of racist death threats documented

Local coverage and Owens’s own open letter repeatedly state she received multiple racist, graphic and death‑threatening voicemails as a high‑school senior in 2007; the family’s civil suit and subsequent $37,500 settlement with the Stamford Board are reported facts ^{[2] [1] [5]}.

2. How journalists and Owens describe what was heard

Contemporaneous Stamford reporting and later profiles quote Owens saying the messages contained “the most horrific” language she had heard and that they were left “one night” while she watched a movie; several outlets report “three” voicemails totaling about two minutes in some summaries ^{[2] [6] [5]}.

3. Police action and evidence handling at the time

Local TV reporting noted police questioned suspects, including the mayor’s son, and that “tapes of the voicemails” were submitted for forensic analysis and the case remained under investigation as arrests were made ^{[4] [3]}. Available sources do not provide public forensic results or judicial findings in detail beyond the settlement ^[4].

4. The civil suit’s outcome and what settlement means

The Stamford Board of Education settled the family’s federal lawsuit for $37,500, a fact reported in local coverage; a monetary settlement resolves the claim without a public judicial finding of guilt or innocence on each alleged caller’s part ^[1]. Reporting frames the settlement as compensation for the school system’s alleged failure to protect Owens from harassment ^{[1] [7]}.

5. Disputed details and areas where records are thin

Press summaries differ slightly on counts and wording: some pieces say “a series” of voicemails, others “three” messages totaling two minutes; multiple outlets identify four boys in a car in follow‑ups, while the earlier criminal investigation references several teens and arrests ^{[8] [6] [9]}. Contemporary reporting confirms tapes were examined but available sources do not publish forensic conclusions or full transcripts ^[4].

6. Political and reputational context that colors coverage

Several stories note one alleged caller was the son of then‑Mayor Dannel Malloy and that Owens later linked delays in action to that connection; local coverage and later profiles emphasize the political sensitivity and public attention surrounding the case ^{[7] [5]}. That context creates incentives for critics and supporters to highlight different aspects: victims’ advocates stress the hostility Owens faced, while others have seized the episode when debating her later public statements ^[5].

7. How Owens has used the episode in later public life

Owens has authored an open letter and multiple profiles have recounted the voicemails as formative, and the incident appears frequently in biographical summaries used in profiles and critiques of her later commentary ^{[2] [10]}. The settlement and her accounts are widely cited when commentators question the consistency between her experiences and later political positions ^[5].

8. Takeaway and limits of the public record

Available reporting establishes that threatening, racist voicemails were left, police investigated and evidence (tapes) went for forensic analysis, and the Owens family obtained a $37,500 settlement from the Stamford Board ^{[4] [1]}. What is not found in current reporting: public forensic reports, full transcripts of the messages released to media, or a criminal conviction of specific individuals as a result of those voicemails; those details remain absent from the cited sources ^{[4] [1]}.

Limitations: this account relies on local news, Owens’s own statements and summary public records supplied in the cited reporting; competing narratives exist but documented facts across those sources converge on the existence of threatening voicemails, police scrutiny, and a civil settlement ^{[2] [4] [1]}.