SAEDNEWS: Netflix’s Unknown Number: The High School Catfish revisits the shocking case of Kendra Licari, the Michigan mother who was revealed to be behind an anonymous campaign of harassment against her own daughter, and asks what’s become of her since the arrest.
According to Saed News, the Netflix film revisits the two-year campaign of anonymous, often threatening texts sent to Beal City teens Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny and shows how investigators traced the messages back to Lauryn’s mother, a revelation the documentary lays out in chilling detail.
Kendra Licari, arrested in Dec. 2022 after investigators tied an anonymous texting campaign to her; featured in Netflix’s Unknown Number.
Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny, the teens targeted by the anonymous harassment at the center of Unknown Number.
Kendra Licari was arrested in December 2022; she later pleaded guilty to stalking charges and received a state sentence in 2023. After serving her time, public records and reporting show Licari was released on parole on August 8, 2024, and remains under state supervision with restrictions that, for now, prohibit contact between her and Lauryn.
The film captures the family fallout: Lauryn’s father, Shawn, divorced Kendra and won full custody of their daughter, and neighbors describe a community still grappling with the betrayal. In the documentary and in follow-up interviews, Kendra attributes her conduct in part to resurfacing trauma and says she hopes to get help and rebuild; Lauryn, now older, has voiced cautious hope for reconciliation “when the time is right” while also insisting on boundaries as she processes the harm.
Shawn and Kendra Licari, former spouses; Shawn divorced Kendra and won custody of their daughter after her 2022 arrest.
As Unknown Number streams, the case has sparked renewed debate about online anonymity, parental responsibility, and whether criminal punishment, treatment, and separation can truly promote repair when harm occurs within families — questions the documentary invites viewers to consider.
