Shocking Documentary Reveals Mother Behind Teen Cyberbullying

BEAL CITY, Mich. — A new documentary titled “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish” reveals unsettling details about a teenage couple, Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny, who fell victim to a relentless cyberbullying campaign from 2020 to 2022. The film shows how the harassment, primarily targeting Lauryn, escalated to a shocking level, eventually tracing back to someone close to them.

Initially, weeks of seemingly innocent prank messages led to intense scrutiny, with many suggesting that a classmate was behind them. However, nobody could imagine the truth that unfolded: the perpetrator turned out to be Lauryn’s own mother, Kendra Licari.

Lauryn and Owen began dating in 2020, and shortly after, they received messages claiming Owen was no longer interested in Lauryn. At first, they dismissed the messages as pranks. But when the frequency and content of the messages deteriorated, their parents got involved.

In the documentary, Lauryn shares, “Before all of this, I was just having a good life. I loved life. [After] I would question what I wear to school, how I look. It definitely affected how I thought about myself.” Their parents, Dave and Jill McKenny, and Shawn and Kendra Licari, were desperate for answers and turned to school authorities and law enforcement.

Beal City High School Principal Dan Boyer expressed his shock, saying, “I’ve never seen this kind of volume in my career.” Attempts to monitor the situation with school surveillance and by changing phone numbers did not stop the harassment.

Authorities investigated numerous leads, including questioning several schoolmates. After multiple dead ends, the local sheriff’s department enlisted the help of the FBI, who discovered the messages originated from an app called Pinger. This breakthrough ultimately led to Kendra.

When confronted by law enforcement, Kendra initially denied sending any of the messages but later admitted to her actions, explaining her intentions were to identify the original bully. Kendra admitted to sending the hostile texts even after learning the distress they caused her daughter.

Kendra was charged with multiple offenses, including stalking, and received a sentence of 19 months in prison after pleading guilty. Since her release in 2024, Lauryn has not been allowed to see her mother, though she expresses a conflicted desire for Kendra to receive help.

“Now that she’s out, I just want her to get the help she needs, so when we see each other, it doesn’t go back to the old ways,” Lauryn said. The eerie twist of Kendra’s deception leaves viewers in shock, prompting dialogues about parental roles and the complexities of mental health, as well as the nature of support.