The 2025 Netflix crime thriller documentary, Unknown Number: High School Catfish, is absolutely insane. This true story introduces us to a mother, Kendra Licari, who, for very troubling reasons, began sending disgusting text messages, with explicit descriptions, to her fifteen-year-old daughter, Lauryn, and her ex-boyfriend, Owen McKenny. After watching the documentary, one could only imagine the psychological trauma and emotional torture these kids must have endured.
Through these messages, Kendra began criticizing her own daughter for her looks and attacking her insecurities, causing Lauryn to lose self-confidence and stop participating in extracurricular activities. She even broke up with Owen because that's what the texter wanted. Meanwhile, Owen and his family, especially his mother, Jill McKenny, couldn't understand why this anonymous author was harassing and verbally attacking this young couple.
Director: Skye Borgman
Stars: Lauryn Licari, Sophie Weber, Macy Johnston
These families live in a close-knit community in Beal City, Michigan. When the cyberbullying escalated, Owen's mother, Jill, and Lauryn's mother, Kendra, began investigating the case together, as the school didn't do much to address their concerns. They always knew the person sending these nasty messages must be someone in their inner circle because the sender often called Lauryn "Lo," a nickname only a few people knew or used. On another occasion, the bully sent Owen and Lauryn an image of a sweatshirt and a phone case, which no one except the family had access to.
That was the moment Jill was certain that whoever the bully was, it was someone in the family, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine it would be her closest friend, with whom she had shared all her secrets. Jill felt betrayed, to say the least. As soon as Kendra was exposed, Jill began recounting all the conversations she'd had with her, trying to piece together how Kendra could have misled authorities and jeopardized the investigation so they'd never catch her.
After Kendra confessed to her crimes, Jill wanted to talk to her so she could ask all the questions she'd had in mind. She wanted to know why she'd attacked her young son and betrayed her trust. During the trial, when Jill was allowed to speak to Kendra in court, she looked her in the eye and asked, "Was it worth it?" You see, this wasn't just a prank. Kendra wasn't just harassing the children for something they'd done. She began sexualizing them in conversations, and these children were minors. And now, when we analyze the incident in this context, it becomes even more insane how she, as a grown woman, gave such explicit descriptions to a 15- or 16-year-old boy.
When these messages started flooding the boys' inboxes, they believed it was one of their classmates envious of their relationship. At first, they tried to ignore it, but then the messages became more sexual and degrading. They began to question themselves and eventually gave in to the threats of the catfisher, who had asked them to break up. Owen and Lauryn cut off all communication, but these messages didn't stop. Kendra did everything she could to find out the number of the new girl Owen was dating and began doing to her the same thing she had done to Lauryn.
It was clear Kendra didn't want Owen to be alone. But why? The young man hadn't done anything wrong or caused him any harm. So why was he making his life miserable? What did he really want? After Kendra sent a message to Owen's second girlfriend, he began to think about harming himself. He believed it was the only solution to stop these messages. Luckily, his mother saw them and prevented him from doing anything stupid. But what if someone had been seriously hurt by these nasty messages? What if one of the children had committed an unspeakable act? Did Kendra ever even consider it?
Kendra continued harassing and bullying the children for almost 22 months (including the first messages), and these children had no choice but to live under constant emotional and mental torment, unable to process who was doing this to them and why. It's obvious that neither of them will recover from such a traumatic experience anytime soon. They will never trust anyone again, and any message from an unknown number will awaken all those memories they've been trying to forget.
Currently, Owen and his family still live in Michigan. Owen graduated from Beal City Public Schools and, in 2025, will attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan, to pursue his passion for sports and playing baseball. Jill, her husband David, and their youngest daughter live in Beal City. Jill and Owen also participated in the Netflix documentary, where they were interviewed by the director to share their side of the story and how it affected them and their family.
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