Lauryn Licari Was Cyberbullied When She Was Just a Teenager by the Person She Loved the Most
"When they informed us later in the spring that they were suspecting that it possibly was her, it was as a shock to all of us."
Published Sept. 2 2025, 6:04 p.m. ET
In the small community of Beal City, Mich., almost everyone knew the Licari family. According to The Cut, Kendra was a "modern-day Super Mom" while her husband, Shawn, was a devoted father who looked to Kendra for most things. Their daughter, Lauryn, played sports and sometimes went hunting with her dad.
Although Kendra was the breadwinner, she still found time to support her daughter at every game or school function.
An outwardly idyllic life ground to a screeching halt in October 2020 when 13-year-old Lauryn Licari and her then-boyfriend, Owen McKenny, began receiving abusive texts from an unknown number. A mysterious individual was ridiculing the teenagers, often pitting them against each other.
After a break, the texts resumed in September 2021 and continued for 15 months. Who was cyberbullying the young couple? Here's what we know.
Who was cyberbullying Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny?
According to ABC 7, the catfisher eventually began targeting some of Lauryn's friends. They even made Lauryn believe one acquaintance, a popular athletic girl named Khloe, might have been the person responsible. Police compiled tens of thousands of messages, which Isabella County Prosecuting Attorney David Barberi said left quite the digital footprint.
In the spring of 2022, police were able to trace the messages back to one person: Lauryn's mother, Kendra.
"Even when we realized that it wasn't a kid, we weren't expecting that it would be a parent," said Beal City Public Schools Superintendent William Chilman. "When they informed us later in the spring that they were suspecting that it possibly was her, it was a shock to all of us, I think everybody involved."
Although Kendra used multiple burner numbers she obtained from an app, police made the connection that her IP address was "popping in and out" at the same time texts were received. When confronted with the evidence, Kendra confessed immediately. In March 2023, Kendra pled guilty to two counts of stalking a minor and was sentenced to 19 months in prison.
Where is Kendra Licari now?
Per The Cut, Kendra was released in August 2024. By then Shawn had divorced her and subsequently got full custody of Lauryn, who graduated high school in May 2025. Kendra moved to Detroit in order to be closer to her family.
She doesn't have much contact with Lauryn, who is not ready to pursue a relationship with her mother.
In August 2025, Netflix released a documentary titled Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. They were able to speak with everyone involved in this tragic story, including Lauryn and Kendra.
Director Sky Borgman (Abducted in Plain Sight) told Tudum that Lauryn was finally starting to process what happened to her. "She is at the beginning of figuring out that she can be the one in charge, that she can make all the decisions for herself and for her relationship with her mother," explained Sky.
As far as what Lauryn wants to do next, the documentary revealed that she plans on attending college and studying criminology. Although she isn't ready to speak to her mother, Lauryn has grown much closer to her father.
"We just bond so well together," said Lauryn in the documentary. "In everything we do, we can find a way to laugh."