Where Is Lauryn Licari Now? Inside Her Life 3 Years After Cyberstalking Case

Lauryn Licari endured more than a year of relentless cyberbullying from an anonymous number — only to discover that the person tormenting her was her own mother, Kendra Licari.

Netflix‘s new documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, which was released on Aug. 29, unpacks the disturbing case that shook the small town of Beal City, Mich. In October 2020, Lauryn and her then-boyfriend, Owen McKenny, began receiving suspicious texts from an unknown number. Though the messages briefly stopped, the alarming texts resumed nearly a year later — and grew increasingly vulgar and aggressive.

Over the course of the next few months, Lauryn received up to 40 to 50 messages a day. In December 2022, the FBI uncovered that it was Lauryn’s mom who was responsible for the harassment.

“She told me to kill myself. It makes me feel a little bit sad,” Lauryn said in the documentary. “Why is my own mom telling me to do that?”

Kendra was charged with two counts of stalking a minor and two counts of communicating with another to commit a crime in December 2022, per NBC News. She later pled guilty to the two stalking counts and was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison, per UpNorthLive.

So, where is Lauryn Licari now? Here’s everything to know about her life nearly three years after her mom was arrested for cyberstalking and bullying her.

What happened to Lauryn Licari?

Lauryn was 13 years old when she and her boyfriend, McKenny, began receiving suspicious texts from an unknown number in October 2020. The first text claimed that McKenny was “breaking up” with Lauryn, with additional ones claiming that he “no longer likes” Lauryn and instead “wants me.”

The messages then paused, but resumed in September 2021. With nearly 40-50 texts coming in a day, the messages ranged from sexually explicit advances toward McKenny to aggressive insults toward Lauryn.

The school and local authorities worked together to try and find out who was behind the unknown number, but struggled to crack the case. The sender used an app that kept regenerating new phone numbers, so Lauryn and McKenny were unable to block them.

The FBI eventually got involved, and nearly two years after the harassment began, were able to use the app company’s phone records to find out who was responsible. In a twist that shocked the whole town, it was revealed that it was Lauryn’s own mother, Kendra, who had been stalking and harassing her and her boyfriend.

In December 2022, Kendra was arrested and charged with two counts of stalking a minor and two counts of communicating with another to commit a crime, according to NBC News. In April 2023, Kendra was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison after pleading guilty to the two stalking counts.

As for why she did it, the school’s superintendent Bill Chillman said in the documentary that he believed it was a “cyber Munchausen’s case.”

“She wanted her daughter to need her in such a way that she was willing to hurt her, and this is the way she chose to do that, versus physically trying to make her ill, which is typical Munchausen’s behavior,” he said.

How did Lauryn Licari react to finding out her mom was behind the harassment?

Lauryn was home in another room when her mom was confronted by police and ultimately confessed to the crimes, as shown in documentary footage. Officials then brought Lauryn into the room to hear the truth, and she stayed silent, holding onto her mother’s hands as she learned the news.

Although Lauryn remained quiet in the moment, she later said in the documentary that the “shock feeling turned into sad, which turned into mad, which turned into crazy.”

“I don’t even know how to describe the feeling,” Lauryn said. “Why would my mom do this? But like, did she really, actually do this? I can’t believe it, honestly. I was just really confused.”

What happened between Lauryn Licari and her boyfriend Owen McKenny?

Lauryn and McKenny grew up next to each other and began dating in eighth grade. While Lauryn and McKenny were known as the “Golden Couple” when they entered high school, once the harassment began, the texts led to a strain in their relationship. The couple began fighting, with Lauryn saying that she grew insecure and began questioning McKenny’s loyalty.

Meanwhile, McKenny decided they should take a break in hopes of the sender leaving them alone. However, the texts continued — and got worse. Not only did she begin receiving physical threats, but his new girlfriend — who lived in another town — began receiving texts, too.

Now, several years after the breakup, Lauryn shared that she and McKenny don’t speak to one another.

“I see him in the hallways and stuff, but we don’t really have interactions at all,” she said.

McKenny added, “I was mad at Lauryn. I don’t think I will talk to her in the future.”

Where is Lauryn Licari now?

As revealed at the end of the documentary, Lauryn is planning to attend college and study criminology. Since Kendra was caught, Lauryn has “gotten so much closer” with her dad, Shawn, who has since won full custody of her, per The Cut.

“We just bond so well together,” Lauryn said of her dad in the documentary. “In everything we do, we can find a way to laugh.”

Shawn noted that she is starting to “come to dad a lot more,” and is “growing up to be a beautiful woman.”

Meanwhile, director Skye Borgman told Netflix’s Tudum in August 2025 that Lauryn has been doing “a lot of pretty critical thinking” about what happened during her teenage years.

“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,” Borgman continued. “I think that’s going to be a really interesting place for Lauryn to explore.”

Where does Lauryn Licari stand with her mom?

In the documentary, Lauryn shared that she and her mom haven’t gotten to the bottom of Kendra’s stalking.

“I’ve talked to her about it, but not necessarily like, ‘Why did you tell me to kill myself?’ ” Lauryn said. “I still question it every day. Like, I still don’t know why.”

As for where they stand, Borgman told Tudum that when they began interviewing Lauryn in the spring of 2023 for the documentary, she “just wanted her mom back in her life.” In early interviews in the documentary, Lauryn said that she “liked communicating” with her mom while she was in prison, including sending emails back and forth.

However, once the filmmakers returned after Kendra had been released from prison in August 2024, they noticed that Lauryn’s perspective had changed. As Borgman told the outlet, Lauryn “wanted to approach the relationship with more caution in our second interview.”

Lauryn noted that they haven’t been allowed to see each other following Kendra’s release from prison. However, she said that she would like to see her mom “when the time is right.”

“I hope me and my mom can rebuild our relationship, because I feel like I’m definitely missing a part of me,” she said. “Now that she’s out [of prison], I just want her to get the help that she needs, so then, when we see each other, it doesn’t go back to the old ways and how it was before.”

She added, “Being without that relationship I think is really hurting me, and I think rebuilding our relationship will help both of us a lot. I love her more than anything.”

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