Imagine going to a Halloween party and you receive a text message on your phone from an unknown number. You check the number out of curiosity only to discover the message sent to you was a threat stating that your partner or significant other is breaking up with you. Now, imagine these texts start becoming more frequent, more aggressive, more explicit, to the point of your relationships becoming ruined. This is the case of Lauren Licari from the recently published Netflix documentary, Unknown Number: The Highschool Catfish.
In October of 2020, Lauren Licari was invited to a halloween party by her boyfriend, Owen McKenny when she received her first text. Throughout the next few months, Lauren and Owen both received more and more text messages, up to 40 or 50 a day, that became more and more vulgar and aggressive. Some messages included how the perpetrator wanted Lauren dead, body shaming, and most of all, threats of her boyfriend cheating on her. Because of these texts, many close to Owen were blamed for being jealous of Lauryn like Owen’s cousin, Adrianna, and his former friend, Chloe. Finally, in December of 2022, two years later, the FBI uncovered who was behind the disturbing messages. It was Lauren’s mom, Kendra Lucari.
After Kendra’s confrontation at the end of the documentary, she stated that the reason she sent those messages was because it was a way to escape reality in a time when she had poor mental stress. She also stated that she endured traumatic experiences around Lauryn’s age and wanted to protect her. Kendra later pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor and was sentenced 19 months to five years in prison. She was released in August of 2024 and will have supervised release until February 2026. She is not allowed to come in contact with Lauryn (Netflix).
To learn more about the case, watch the documentary, “Unknown Number: The Highschool Catfish”.
THS Interviews:
Have you seen the documentary? (Yes) What surprised you the most? Do you think this could happen in school?
Have you seen the documentary? (No) Have you or someone you know ever been cyber bullied? What would you do or what did you do when you got cyber bullied?
Mr: Tucker – “Yes I’ve seen it. I was so angry that I almost threw something at the t.v.. I was most surprised that the mom did it, it hurt emotionally. What kind of parent do you have to be? And with no remorse! The teen must have been paranoid because of how creepy it is. I think that everything is possible, but I’m on the fence between yes and no. There may be overbearing parents, but I think students at this school are more in tune with their surroundings and what goes on. “
Brook Drogmund – “Yes I have watched the documentary. What surprised me the most was that Chloe didn’t throw carrots at Adrianna, even though she said she did. Adrianna was bullied, but no carrots were thrown. I don’t think that this could happen in our school because the story is so surreal and strange. Plus you aren’t allowed to have your phones out.”
Mathew Mettler – “No I have not seen the documentary and no i have never been cyberbullied. I also do not know anyone else who has. If someone I know were cyberbullied I would tell them to man up and get through it, or I would tell them to turn their phone off and block the person.
Hallie Tyler – “I haven’t seen the documentary yet. Yes, I know someone who has been cyber bullied. It was from her friends, but she didn’t know. She ended up blocking them because they snitched on themselves. She told her mom and she said to ignore them.”
