For more than a year, Lauryn Licari, a teenager from the small town of Beal City, Michigan, was relentlessly bombarded with up to 50 anonymous threatening and sexually explicit messages every single day. The texts were vicious, taunting, and often included demands for her to break up with her boyfriend or even suggestions that she should harm herself.
Lauryn had no idea who was behind the harassment, and the constant fear took a severe toll on her mental health and daily life.Terrified, she did what any frightened teenager would do — she turned to her mother, Kendra Licari, for help and support. Together, they reported the disturbing messages to the school and then to the local police. What followed was a lengthy investigation involving local law enforcement and eventually the FBI. Investigators traced thousands of the messages back to a single IP address, which led them directly to the family home. Shockingly, that IP address belonged to Kendra Licari — Lauryn’s own mother.
Kendra was not only Lauryn’s parent; she was also her basketball coach. She had sat beside her daughter during police interviews and actively helped “build the case” against the unknown harasser — all while being the perpetrator herself. When police arrived at the family home with a search warrant in December 2022, Kendra admitted to the crimes almost immediately. Her husband, Shawn Licari, who had been completely unaware of what was happening, was present when the devastating truth came out. Body camera footage capturing the emotional moment when Lauryn was told the identity of her stalker is featured in the Netflix documentary.Shawn later described the revelation as feeling like being stabbed in the heart. The betrayal shattered the family:
Shawn divorced Kendra and was awarded full custody of Lauryn. Kendra claimed she initially began sending the messages as a way to “identify” whoever had been harassing her daughter, and that unresolved personal trauma from her own teenage years caused the situation to spiral out of control. However, experts and those familiar with the case have suggested a darker motivation: that Kendra wanted to make her daughter depend on her so desperately that she was willing to terrorize her in order to maintain that bond.In April 2023, Kendra pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor. She was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison
. As part of her plea deal, she is prohibited from having contact with Lauryn. The disturbing case became the subject of the Netflix true-crime documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, which includes interviews with Lauryn, her then-boyfriend Owen, family members, friends, school officials, and investigators, along with the raw body camera footage and text message evidence.This is a longer, expanded retelling in clear English while keeping the core facts intact. Let me know if you want it even longer, shorter, or adjusted in any way!
