Content warning: This article mentions anorexia, suicide, cyberbullying, and sexual messages.
In the Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, Lauryn Licari’s life is turned upside down after she receives a message from an unknown number. What may seem like a harmless prank turns into relentless bullying. The film follows the harassment that Licari and her boyfriend, Owen McKenny, endure over the course of two years and ultimately reveals the shocking identity of the catfish.
It began with a single text from an unknown number, which quickly escalated into 50 graphic messages a day. How could one text turn into relentless harassment? In a small town, everyone knows everyone, and big drama rarely spreads beyond the community. Unfortunately for Licari, her life changed the day the first text arrived: “Hi Lauryn, Owen is breaking up with you,” sent to a group chat between Licari and McKenny. Similar messages aimed to create insecurity in their relationship. They were only 13 at the time, and while the texts caused anxiety, they soon stopped. What seemed like a cruel prank would later evolve into a nationwide story, heartbreak, and a jail sentence.
Months passed quietly, but in September 2021, the harassment returned, and this time it was more rapid, explicit, and harmful. Licari received 40–50 messages a day for nearly two years, targeting both her and McKenny. The texts escalated from relationship rumors to attacks on Licari’s insecurities, including her anorexia, and even messages telling her she should kill herself. Blocking the number didn’t stop it; new numbers kept appearing, forcing Licari and McKenny to break up in hopes of stopping the harassment.
The identity of the cyberbully remained a mystery until an IT specialist traced the messages to an IP address, leading to a shocking discovery: the harassment was coming from Licari’s own mother, Kendra Licari. Kendra Licari confessed, claiming she hadn’t sent the first texts but began messaging in September 2021 to identify the original cyberbully. She admitted she couldn’t control herself and ended up sending 50 messages a day. In the documentary, she presents herself as a regretful, worried mother, but her body language and expressions suggest otherwise.
What is confirmed is that, initially, Licari would go to her mother for comfort when the first texts began. When the messages stopped, Kendra Licari no longer felt needed. Who knows the true reason why she brought back the messages, or whether it was her from the beginning, but it is clear that things escalated because she wanted to feel needed. When asked why she focused on Licari’s insecurities and sent explicit texts urging her to kill herself, Kendra Licari seemed regretful but claimed she “knew Lauryn would never kill herself,” which is why she sent them. To me, this suggests that Kendra Licari may have been jealous of her own daughter. Licari had what her mother seemed to want: a good life and a perfect boyfriend at a young age. McKenny and Licari were seen as the “golden couple,” and throughout the documentary, Kendra Licari appears to have an unusual fixation on McKenny.
The first set of texts wasn’t sexual — only messages suggesting McKenny didn’t love Licari anymore. But as soon as it was Kendra Licari harassing them, it became more explicit. Knowing now that Kendra Licari sent those texts, the sexual content about McKenny is deeply unsettling. Even after Licari and McKenny broke up, Kendra Licari attended McKenny’s baseball games and acted overly close to him. Kendra Licari did not comment on her feelings toward McKenny, but her continued presence in his life after the breakup, along with the sexual messages, raises serious questions about her behavior.
We may never know the real reason why this began or who started it, but Licari and McKenny’s lives will never be the same. Licari endured online harassment not from a stranger, but from her own mother. Kendra Licari’s actions reveal deep insecurity, obsession, and a need for control, showing that anyone can become a bully. Though Kendra Licari served jail time, she has since been released as of 2025, and the trauma Licari and McKenny endured will never fade. There is a difference between love and manipulation, yet Kendra Licari could never see that line.Â