Spoiler Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, streaming now on Netflix.
Netflix’s latest true crime documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish plunges into the chilling case that rocked Beal City, Michigan.
At first glance, it’s a story about relentless cyberbullying. But as the layers are peeled back, it becomes a portrait of fractured family ties, unspoken desires, and one mother’s extraordinary betrayal.
A Shocking Revelation
The documentary traces how Lauryn Licari and her boyfriend, Owen, began receiving a barrage of cruel, threatening texts from an “unknown number.” What set this case apart was the intimate knowledge the messages contained — details only someone close to Lauryn could have known.
After months of suspicion falling on classmates and friends, investigators eventually traced the messages back to Lauryn’s own mother, Kendra Licari. The body-cam footage of police informing Lauryn that her tormentor was her mother remains one of the film’s most devastating moments.
A Fractured Marriage on Display
One scene that stayed with me long after the credits rolled was the moment Kendra’s husband seemed to turn on her almost instantly during the search of their home. His first words to police were that she had “more than one mobile phone.” That swift response spoke volumes — not only about the cracks in their marriage, but also about how isolated Kendra must have felt. There was no shock, no hesitation, just an eagerness to hand her over. It left the true-crime detective in me wondering: how much did he really know?
The Uncomfortable Truth About Owen
While director Skye Borgman allows viewers to wrestle with Kendra’s own explanations, what stood out to me most was her fixation on Owen. The film quietly drops hints: Kendra attended his sporting events religiously, fussed over him in ways that made even Owen uncomfortable, and appeared determined to insert herself into his teenage world.
By the end of the documentary, it’s difficult not to believe that the cruel texts had a singular motive — to scare Lauryn away from dating Owen. Not simply out of maternal protectiveness, but because Kendra herself was emotionally entangled. To me, the story doesn’t make sense any other way.
More Than Just a Crime Story
Yes, this is a story of cyberstalking, police investigations, and courtroom drama. But it’s also about a mother whose unaddressed desires warped into something destructive, a father who distanced himself at the first opportunity, and a daughter left to pick up the pieces of both trauma and betrayal.
The documentary ends without easy answers: Lauryn, now 18, is still deciding what kind of relationship she wants with her mother. Kendra, released from prison, insists she wants to be part of her daughter’s life. But can love survive when it has been so badly distorted?
