Lucy Devine
The daughter of a mom who anonymously bullied and harassed her child for over a year explains why she still loves her.
Lauryn Licari, 13, and her boyfriend at the time, Owen McKenny, began receiving numerous anonymous messages in October 2020.
After stopping for a bit, the threatening texts resumed almost a year later in September 2021.
They included cruel comments about the teens' relationship, Lauryn's appearance and even death threats.
Advert
Lauryn's mother, Kendra Licari, and Owen's mother collaborated with school officials and law enforcement in Beal City in an attempt to catch the anonymous stalker. But it was soon discovered it was Kendra all along.
The case is explored in the new Netflix documentary, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.
The doc charts what happened when Lauryn and Owen first started receiving the messages, as well as the investigation and eventually, what happened when Kendra was exposed.
In the documentary, Kendra 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?'
"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'.
"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."
She also added: "As [Lauryn] started getting older, I had things that were suppressed come forward. A lot of it was previous trauma starting to resurface that I didn't know how to handle. When I was 17, I was raped, and as my daughter was hitting those teenage years, I got scared.
"I wanted to try to control the outcome of her journey. I was afraid of letting her grow up. I was scared of what could happen to her."
During the doc, Lauryn - who lives with her dad Shawn Licari - also spoke about how she feels, years on from the incident
"Being without that relationship is really hurting me. I think rebuilding our relationship will help both of us a lot. I love her more than anything," she said.
She added that she wants to see her mom 'when the time is right' and hopes she is getting the help she needs.
Kendra 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.
She was charged with two counts of stalking a minor and two counts of communicating with another to commit a crime.
She was sentenced to serve 19 months to five years in prison for her crimes.
Kendra was released on parole in August last year and remains under supervision.
Explaining she is not currently allowed to see Lauryn, she said: "It's been about a year and a half since I've seen her.
"We both know that we're with each other no matter what. I definitely think we can have a healthy relationship. I know we both hold that bond that we have close."
Shawn and Kendra are now divorced, with Shawn explaining: "I just can't believe she would do something like that to her daughter that supposedly she loved dearly.
"Just makes me sick. She stabbed me in the heart — shot me in the heart — and threw it away."