Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Michigan, Crime, US News, Film and TV
Callum Jones
A Michigan mother who anonymously bullied and harassed her teenager daughter online for a whole year shared a tearful message before she was sentenced for her crimes.
Lauryn Licari began receiving numerous anonymous threatening messages in 2021. Her then-boyfriend, Owen McKenny, was also being abused with messages. These vile texts lasted for a year, and the pair were also harassed on social media from an unknown sender.
Lauryn's mother, Kendra Licari, worked alongside Owen's mom, as well as school officials and law enforcement in Beal City, to try and catch the anonymous stalker.
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However, it was soon discovered it was Licari all along.
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, but isn't allowed to see her daughter due to her plea deal.
Prior to being sentenced, the mother shared a tearful message in the court room.
"I never want to hurt anyone else like I have already done," she said. "I actually look forward to continuing my work and continuing my progress daily. I have caused a lot of damage to my family."
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Licari said in the Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish that once she started harassing and bullying her daughter online, she didn't know how to stop.
"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."
The Netflix series also detailed a number of messages the mother sent her daughter that ultimately led to her conviction.
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Lauryn received messages from her mother such as 'He thinks you're ugly', referring to Owen, as well as 'you're worthless', 'We won' and 'He thinks you're trash'.
Some messages even included sexually explicit terms, saying that they wanted to 'bang' Owen and telling Lauryn that Owen didn't want her and that they are 'both down to f***'.
Superintendent Bill Chillan said: "They were vulgar and nasty enough to make a 53-year-old man blush. The evidence was extraordinary."
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is available to watch on Netflix now.