Netflix viewers have pointed out a major part of Kendra Licari’s motive in the bizarre new documentary about how she catfished her own daughter, and have gone as far as to say it was ‘deliberately downplayed’ in the doc.
Licari’s daughter, Lauryn, began receiving hateful messages in 2020 when she was 13, which continued for almost two years.
These included death threats, calls for Lauryn to kill herself, and horrific sexual comments suggesting her boyfriend Owen was going to leave her.
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Owen also got messages daily for this period, going as high as 40-50 a day, according to his parents. After 22 months of investigation, it was discovered that Lauryn’s mother, Kendra, was behind the messages.
Netflix’s newest doc Unknown Number: The High School Catfish features interviews with Lauryn, Kendra, Owen, and various investigators who were close to the case.
Whilst it was posited that Kendra may have had a rare mental disorder which contributed to her behaviour, viewers have pointed to a major part of the text messages which was largely overlooked by the documentary.
One post on Reddit asked: “Why did Kendra go after Owen's new girlfriend, a full year after he and Lauryn broke up?”
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In the documentary, Kendra is shown to have sent anonymous messages to a new girlfriend of Owen’s over a year after he and Kendra’s daughter Lauryn split up.
The post went on to say: “That isolated single detail proves this had absolutely nothing to do with protecting her daughter and everything to do with her own predatory obsession with Owen.
“Owen's mom tried to point it out, but they barely gave her a voice.
“It feels like the real story was 'Predatory Mom Coach' but decided 'Highschool Catfish Story' was way more marketable. It's like they are deliberately downplaying the darkest part of this story and perpetuating Kendra's misdirection/manipulation.”
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Owen’s mother, Jill McKenny, spoke in the documentary about how bizarre it was that Kendra had been sending horrific sexual messages to Lauryn and Owen.
These included anonymous texts to Lauryn claiming that Owen wanted to be with them instead, with one saying: “Finish yourself or we will #bang."
Kendra claimed that someone else had started the anonymous texts and that she joined in to try and figure out who was doing it, though viewers pointed to her clear infatuation with Owen.
She was sent to prison after pleading guilty to two charges of stalking a minor.
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One viewer commented on Reddit, saying: “Seriously, the mom needed to be read for filth. The messages she sent were absolutely vile and disgusting. If it was a father/a man sending those messages, I feel the backlash would have been much harsher.”
Another said: “This was actually so disgusting. Every time I saw Kendra shed a tear I couldn’t help but roll my eyes because who does this to their own kid?
“She was obsessed with Owen. The end. And why didn’t the Netflix crew ask her real questions.”
A third criticised her sentencing as she was given between 19 months and five years in prison for her crimes. They said: “No remorse. So full of excuses. Disgusting behavior. What if her daughter had committed s*cide? Sentence was far too short.”
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Reddit, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries
Michael Slavin