The High School Catfish’—Who Was The Texter?

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For more than two years, teenage couple Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny were harassed by an anonymous texter. When the cyberbully’s identity was finally revealed, it shocked everyone, including the couple, investigators, their small town and the entire world.

This disturbing true crime case is the subject of Netflix’s new documentary, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, released on Aug. 29. The film features interviews with Licari and her ex-boyfriend Owen, who describe becoming targets of persistent, cruel messages when they were just 13 years old. The documentary also interviews Licari’s parents and investigators, from local law enforcement to the FBI.

At the time the texts began, Licari and McKenny were living in the small town of Beal City, Mich. The young couple had been dating since their junior high school years and friends referred to them as the “golden couple.” As they grew closer, so did their parents, who had each other over for barbecues.

What Happened To Lauryn Licari And Owen McKenny?

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Just before Halloween in 2020, Licari and McKenny received a group text sent from an unknown number. “Hi Lauryn, Owen is breaking up with you,” one of the messages read, according to documentary. Other texts continued to suggest that Owen was cheating, saying things like, “He no longer likes you and hasn’t liked you for a while,” and “It’s obvious he wants me.”

The couple initially found the messages strange but dismissed them. One year later, the harassment returned with greater intensity, escalating to nearly 50 texts daily. According to Netflix, the texts grew increasingly disturbing and more sexual in nature. Some told Licari that Owen was going to end their relationship because she was not satisfying him sexually. “He wants sex, bjs n making out, he don’t want ur sry a**,” one text read, per Time.com.

Licari and McKenny were unable to block the number because the perpetrator was using a software platform that showed the texts coming from multiple numbers and area codes. Ultimately, their high school got involved, and the principal reached out to state police, who questioned friends in Licari and McKenny’s inner circle.

One student, named Khloe, was suspected of involvement after it was discovered that she had several burner accounts on her phone, and the language she used online resembled some of the texts. Khloe claimed that she was being framed, and police eventually cleared her after her phone records didn’t match her number.

However, one thing everyone could agree on was that the stalker was someone Licari knew, especially after the sender started calling her by her nickname, “Lo.” They would also make comments about her outfits in school and how she had styled her hair that specific day.

Unfortunately, Licari and McKenny broke up due to the stress of the harassment. The texts grew worse, including physical threats and messages telling her to die by suicide. Other texts referenced McKenny’s new girlfriend, taking the stalking to a new level.

Who Was The Texter In Unknown Number: The High School Catfish?

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Isabella County Sheriff Michael Main enlisted the help of federal authorities, who linked investigators with a cybercrimes expert from the Bay City Police Department, according to NBC News.

The cyber investigators discovered that the texts were linked to “an IP address from a Spectrum host from the Mt Pleasant area” and a user who “opened the link with an Apple iPhone,” according to the report obtained by NBC News. There was “only one number that matched anyone involved in this case was” — Licari’s mother, Kendra Licari.

Courtesy of Netflix

When police confronted Kendra at the family home, she admitted to being the sender almost immediately, as seen in police camera footage shown in the film. Licari and her father were in disbelief when they were told the news that Kendra was the stalker. That wasn’t the only secret she was hiding — she was also lying about being employed at a job that didn’t exist for the last year.

According to a report from Isabella County Sheriff Michael Main, Kendra insisted she hadn’t sent the early texts, “but then she just fed off of it and began to send them.” She also added that “she got caught up in sending the messages and it just continued.”

Licari recalled in Unknown Number that her mother encouraged her not to get caught up in the harassment. “I was just getting super frustrated with it but my mom was like, ‘Just ignore them. Obviously you’re beautiful.’ Like, she was just encouraging me to not read them.”

McKenny’s mom, Jill, explained that Kendra had access to information no one else would know. For example, the texter sent a photo of McKenny taken at their Christmas party, which Kendra had attended. Additionally, after Licari and McKenny broke up, Jill noticed that Kendra would question her about her son’s dating life, which explains how she knew about his new girlfriend.

What Was Kendra Licari Charged With?

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In December 2022, Kendra Licari was arrested and charged with two counts of stalking a minor, two counts of communicating with another to commit a crime and one count of obstruction of justice, according to the arrest warrant obtained by NBC News.

The stalking counts carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison, while the computer counts carried a maximum penalty of up to 10 years behind bars.

“Shocked and saddened, then quickly back to the students, because as educators, our students’ physical, mental, social and emotional well-being and learning is our focus, our No. 1 priority,” Beal City Public Schools Superintendent William Chilman IV told the news outlet in a statement.

In April 2023, Kendra pleaded guilty to two stalking counts (in exchange for her plea, the other charges against her were dismissed). She was sentenced to a minimum of 19 months in jail.

Where Is Kendra Licari Now?

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Kendra Licari was released on parole in August 2024. Shawn Licari divorced Kendra and received full custody of their daughter, Lauryn, according to The Cut. Kendra is currently living with family, but she is not allowed to contact her daughter.

At the time filming for the documentary finished, the Michigan mother still wanted to be a part of her daughter’s life, according to Netflix’s Tudum. Lauryn said in the documentary that she would like to rebuild her relationship with her mother “when the time is right.”

Kendra was interviewed in Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, but getting her on board was not easy, director Skye Borgman said. Much of the film had already been completed before she finally agreed to be interviewed.

“It was a long process with Kendra,” Borgman told Tudum, adding that she eventually agreed to speak directly to the questions circling around the case. “That was appealing to her, [to] sit down and tell her story from her perspective and that Lauryn [could] see her do that. She wanted to do it, I think, for her daughter.”

As for why she did it, the mother argued that everyone makes mistakes in life. “Realistically, a lot of us have probably broken the law at some point or another and not gotten caught. I’m sure people drove drunk, haven’t been caught,” she explained. Kendra also claimed that her actions stemmed from past trauma, including being raped at 17.

“As my daughter was hitting those teenage years, I got scared,” she recalled in the documentary. “I was afraid of letting her grow up, want[ed] to protect her and keep her safe.”

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.

The High School Catfish’—Who Was The Texter?

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