Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Crime, Netflix, Parenting, Technology, True Crime
Lucy Devine
This article contains spoilers for Netflix's new documentary, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Netflix has shared a series of text messages that a mother secretly sent to her own daughter in a horrifying catfish case.
The documentary focuses on a young girl who, in late 2020, began receiving bizarre text messages from an anonymous person.
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Lauryn Licari, 13, and her at-the-time-boyfriend Owen began receiving numerous text messages and, in 2021, these escalated to full on regular death threats.
Eventually this led to the FBI becoming involved and the trail lead back to Lauryn’s Mum, Kendra Licari.
At one point in the documentary, Isabella County Sheriff Mike Main confronts Kendra, telling her: “The messages coming were originating from you… your number even though it was being hidden was showing up on every message.”
Now, Netflix has released a video, sharing some of the real messages that were sent.
The teaser explains: "All of the text messages in this film are real. WHO exactly was anonymously cyberbullying this high schooler for 2 years?"
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The messages include 'you are the ugliest person I've ever seen', 'U are worthless n mean nothing', 'get lost b***h', 'sorry, not sorry!', 'we will make everyday miserable' and 'finish yourself or we will'.
At the time she was confronted, Kendra claimed she didn’t start the messages but had sent some of them.
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Dave Barberi, the prosecutor who eventually led the case in which Kendra was found guilty of two counts of stalking a minor that earned her up to five years in jail, said that it wasn’t a ‘clear confession’, though Kendra didn’t deny it.
Speaking after she was released from jail, Kendra explains in the doc: “Every single one of us makes mistakes, not a single one of us has lived a perfect life and, realistically, a lot of have probably broke the law at one point or another and not got caught.
“I know to some I’m a headline; I’m a villain I’m a bad mum, I’m a whatever. But that’s because they know one little piece of my story, they don’t know my whole story.”
Kendra states in the doc that she was assaulted when she was around her daughter’s age at the time of the messages, and that she was scared of her growing up and so wanted to keep her close.
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Lauryn now lives in Michigan with her dad, who has full custody.
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is available to watch on Netflix now.