The moment a father learned that his wife had been anonymously bullying and harassing their 13-year-old daughter for over a year was captured on camera.
The shocking case is the focus of the new Netflix documentary, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.
The documentary explores how, from October 2020, Lauryn Licari and her then-boyfriend, Owen McKenny, were subjected to a relentless campaign of cruel and threatening messages from an anonymous sender.
The messages began with scathing insults and escalated over the months, involving sexually explicit content and death threats.
At one point, Owen and Lauryn were receiving up to 12 messages a day, each more threatening than the last. The pair feared for their safety, and the harassment became a significant source of distress.
School officials and law enforcement's involvement in trying to track down the stalker led to an unthinkable discovery: Lauryn's mom, Kendra Licari, was behind the messages.
The police investigation uncovered that the texts had been sent from her phone, even though she had taken steps to hide her number.
"The messages coming were originating from you… Your number, even though it was being hidden, was showing up on every message," Isabella County Sheriff Mike Main said, in footage shared in the documentary.
Kendra admitted to being the anonymous stalker, but prosecutors noted that her statement did not amount to a full confession.
The mom was arrested in December 2022 and charged with multiple counts of stalking, including using a computer to commit a crime. In court, she pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor and was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison.
However, she was released on parole in August 2024.
Despite Kendra's release, she has expressed deep remorse for her actions.
In a tearful interview for the documentary, she spoke about the moment she was exposed. “It was a very high emotional day in our house, a day of confusion,” she says, per Daily Mail. “A day of confusion, unknown answers, shock, a day of not even knowing how we move forward to the next day, so it was a hard day, but at the same time, it was an end."
Kendra also shared that her past trauma, including being assaulted at around the same age Lauryn was when the harassment occurred, contributed to her actions.
"I was somebody different in those moments. I was in an awful place mentally. It was like I had a mask on or something, I didn't even know who I was," she admitted.
Lauryn, now 18, has been deeply affected by the events, though she has found solace in the support of her father, Shawn Licari, who now has full custody of her.
Shawn was devastated when he learned the truth. In a particularly emotional moment captured in the documentary, he recalls the call he received from the sheriff: "I'm sorry, I gotta' tell you this... unfortunately it's your wife."
The dad, visibly shaken, rushed home to confront his wife, where he learned of the extent of her betrayal. The couple’s relationship collapsed in the aftermath, and Shawn said: "I knew there was a lot more to unpack than just what was going on with Lauryn."
The documentary has shocked viewers worldwide, as many struggle to understand why Kendra decided to torment her own daughter.
"I’m a villain, I’m a bad Mum," Kendra said, acknowledging the harsh public reaction to her crime. "But that’s because they know one little piece of my story, they don’t know my whole story."
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is now available for streaming on Netflix.