Topics: Netflix, True crime, Film and TV, Health, Mental Health, Documentaries, Streaming
Experts believe a psychological condition could be why a Michigan mom secretly sent vile text messages to her own daughter for more than a year.
The new Netflix documentary, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, delves into the shocking case of Kendra Licari, who viciously cyber-bullied her daughter, Lauryn. It's currently the most-watched movie on Netflix US, having been released on Friday (August 29).
13-year-old Lauryn and then-boyfriend Owen McKenny began receiving abusive texts from an unknown number in October 2020.
After a break, the ominous texts resumed in September 2021 and continued for 15 months. They were threatening and often sexually explicit, while some goaded Lauryn to take her own life.
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The stress drove a wedge between Lauryn and Owen, breaking them up. When Owen eventually met someone new, she also became the target of the malicious anonymous texter.
Other school children were investigated over the messages as parents desperately scrambled for answers. But neither the school nor the local police could trace the perpetrator, so it was time to call in the FBI.
They eventually traced the messages back to Licari's phone number, although she'd been using a VPN (virtual private network) in an attempt to conceal her identity.
She denies starting the messages, but claims she continued them in 2021 in an attempt to identify the original sender.
In the documentary, she admits that once she started, she 'didn't know how to stop'.
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 and isn't allowed to see her daughter due to her plea deal.
While the very concept of a mom sending such vulgar messages to her own daughter is unthinkable, some experts believe a psychological disorder could've partly fueled Licari's obsession.
Isabella County prosecutor David Barberi suggests Licari could've been exhibiting signs of 'cyber' Munchausen syndrome by proxy - now known as factitious disorder imposed on another.
As per Mayo Clinic, the mental health condition is where a caregiver fabricates or exaggerates medical needs for someone under their care. However, Licari was never formally diagnosed with the condition.
Although experts are unsure of the exact cause, it's often linked to factors such as past trauma, neglect or abuse, the loss of a caregiver, extreme stress or a desire for attention from others.
Perhaps the most famous case of Munchausen by proxy is Dee Dee Blanchard, who duped those around her into believing her daughter Gypsy Rose Blanchard was seriously ill.
The new Netflix documentary raises the possibility that Licari may have bullied her daughter to manufacture a crisis - one that would let her play the role of rescuer and feel needed.
In the documentary, the former superintendent of Beal City said: "I think it was a cyber-Munchausen’s case. She wanted her daughter to need her in such a way that she was willing to hurt her.
“This is the way she chose to do that, versus physically trying to make her ill, which is typical Munchausen’s behaviour.”
Isabella County prosecutor David Barberi also supported the theory.
Speaking on the idea, director Skye Borgman told Netflix Tudum: "To give it any sort of medical foundation is a little bit problematic... But I think that there are elements about Munchausen by proxy - about harming someone to keep them close - that definitely existed.”
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is streaming now on Netflix.
