Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: US News, True crime, Crime, Netflix
Bec Oakes
A Michigan mother has revealed the real reason why she chose to stalk and harass her 13-year-old daughter for over a year.
In 2021, Lauyrn Licari began receiving numerous anonymous threatening messages, but she wasn't the only one; her then-boyfriend, Owen McKenny, was also receiving them.
Over the year that followed, Lauryn and Owen received text messages from an unknown number, as well as threatening messages on social media from someone claiming to be the same age as them.
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According to Cosmopolitan, they'd sometimes receive up to 12 texts and online messages each day.
In an attempt to locate the culprit, Lauryn's mother, Kendra Licari, and Owen's mother collaborated with school officials and law enforcement in Beal City, Michigan, before the FBI was brought in and ultimately discovered that it was Kendra all along.
They also discovered that the mom had been using a VPN (virtual private network) to hide her location, but the FBI managed to track all the IP addresses before realizing they were all linked to Licari.
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She was subsequently arrested and initially claimed that one of the teenagers had sent the messages; however, she later confessed.
Licari pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor in 2023, receiving a maximum sentence of five years. She was later released in August 2024, according to Today, and isn't allowed to see her daughter due to her plea deal.
At the time, she never revealed the reason behind her actions until her appearance in Netflix's latest documentary series, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.
In the documentary, Licari insisted that she didn't send the initial messages received by her daughter, which told her Owen was going to break up with her, and that she only sent those that followed in an attempt to get to the bottom of things.
She said: "The messages stopped for a little bit, and then they picked back up. In my mind, I'm like, 'How long do we let this go on? What do I do as a parent?'
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"I really wanted to get to the bottom of who it was. And that's when I started sending the text messages to Lauryn and Owen."
Kendra claimed that she hoped the teens would discuss the messages with their friends and 'something might come up that could help pinpoint where they were originating from'.
She also said that once she started, she 'didn't know how to stop'.
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"I started in the thoughts of needing some answers, and then I just kept going, it was a spiral, kind of a snowball effect, I don't think I knew how to stop," she admitted. "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."
Licari has previously expressed remorse for her actions, and in the documentary, she says she is very 'disappointed' in herself and that she has let herself and her family down.
Meanwhile, Lauryn described feeling torn as she lost trust in her mother; however, she also misses her.
She said: "Being without that relationship I think is really hurting me, and I think rebuilding our relationship will help both of us a lot. I love her more than anything."
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Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is available to watch on Netflix now.