Rare syndrome explained which experts in Netflix doc say caused mother to catfish her own daughter

A rare syndrome has been pointed to as the cause of a woman who catfished her own daughter, sending regular death threats amongst a barrage of vile messages.

This is the focus of a brand-new Netflix documentary which covers what initially appeared to just be a standard case of bullying gone too far, but was instead revealed to be something far more sinister.

The doc focuses on a young girl named Lauryn Licari who, alongside her boyfriend Owen, began receiving horrific messages via text and social media in 2020.

By the back end of 2021, she was receiving up to 12 hateful anonymous messages a day, however body cam footage in the doc shows the moment her mother Kendra’s lies were exposed.

Called Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, an expert speaking in the documentary posits an idea of what may have led her to anonymously send her daughter the hateful messages.

Experts in Unknown Number: The High School Catfish suggest Kendra may have ‘Cyber Munchausen by proxy’

Several people with intimate knowledge of the case suggest that Kendra may have a ‘cyber’ form of Munchausen by Proxy.

Speaking in the Netflix documentary, the former superintendent of Beal City, the district where Lauryn went to school, 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.”

Kendra herself says in the documentary that she wanted to try and keep her daughter ‘close’, pointing to a traumatic assault she suffered when she was about her age.

Though she was never formally diagnosed, the cousin of Owen, Lauryn’s boyfriend who was also subject to abusive messages, said: “I think that’s exactly it, because Lauryn would come home upset about these text messages, and Kendra got to play the hero and be there for her.”

This diagnosis was supported by prosecutor on the case, David Barberi.

What is Munchausen by proxy and what is the cyber version of it mentioned in the Netflix doc?

Experts on the case suggest Kendra may have had 'Cyber Munchausens by proxy' (Netflix)

Munchausen by proxy is a more rare version of Munchausen syndrome, a physiological disorder in which someone pretends to be ill or even deliberately makes themselves ill in order to get attention.

When this is done by proxy, as took place in the infamous Gypsy Rose Blanchard case, caregivers will sometimes make someone ill or convince them they are so they can care for them and leach off their attention.

Cyber Munchausen in this case would refer to the fact that, by sending these horrific messages, Kendra forced Lauryn to interact more closely with her.

The closest clinical term is Munchausen by Internet, in which people feign illness in online spaces and communities for attention, however Cyber Munchausen used in this situation has clear connotations.

Speaking about this with Tudum, director Skye Borgman said: “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 available to stream on Netflix now.