Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.
The new Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish tells the story of a 13-year-old girl, Lauryn Licari, who was the victim of vicious bullying, harassment, and stalking for over a year, in the form of anonymous texts.
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is directed by Skye Borgman, produced by Ross M. Dinerstein and Rebecca Evans, and executive produced by Borgman, Ross Girard, Tom Forman, David Metzler, Justin Sprague, and Alysia Sofios, via their Campfire Films production. Using real texts received by Lauryn and her then-boyfriend, Owen, the film recreates what can only be described as every parent’s worst nightmare. The texts to Lauryn knew exactly how to attack her insecurities—her appearance, her weight, her basketball performance—and referenced specific details from her life. The texts were at times shockingly sexual, with the text-er taunting Lauryn for not satisfying Owen sexually. (Again, they were both 13!) And over and over again, the texts called for her to “kill herself.”
That’s why it’s so shocking when an FBI investigation finally obtains the identity of the stalker: Lauryn’s own mother, Kendra Licari. Via body camera footage from police, viewers see Kendra confess in real time. In December 2022, Kendra was arrested. She pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor, and was sentenced to 19 months to 5 years in prison. Both she and Lauryn appear in the documentary.
Why Kendra did what she did is not clear, although the school’s Principal Boyer poses a theory in the film that it’s a case of “cyber-Munchausen’s:” Kendra was emotionally hurting her daughter so that she could play the hero and give her daughter comfort. Read on to find out where Kendra Licari is now.
According to the Michigan Department of Corrections website, Kendra Licari was released from prison in August 2024. She is current on parole until August 2026, living in Pontiac, a suburb north of Detroit, Michigan. According to a 2025 feature from The Cut, Shawn left his wife and received full custody of their daughter, Lauryn. Kendra is living with family, and is allowed little to no contact with her daughter.
In an interview with Tudum, director Skye Borgman said it was a “long process” to convince Kendra to participate in the documentary, much of which had already been filmed before Kendra agreed to participate. Ultimately, she was convinced by the opportunity to directly answer questions about the case from her own perspective. “That was appealing to her, [to] sit down and tell her story from her perspective and that Lauryn [could] see her do that,” Borgman said. “She wanted to do it, I think, for her daughter.”
Kendra says at the end of the documentary that it’s been over a year and a half since she’s seen her daughter. Both Lauryn and Owen—who say at the end of the film they no longer speak—graduated from high school in May.
“I want to see my mom when the time is right,” Lauryn says at the end of the documentary. “I think it would be relief to see her, but also hard. Now that she’s out, I just want her to get the help that she needs. So then, when we see each other, it doesn’t go back to the old ways and how it was before.”
The documentary ends with Lauryn voices her wish to rebuild a relationship with her mom. “I love her more than anything,” she says.