Where Is Kendra Licari Now After ‘Unknown Number’ Doc & Prison Release?
Warning: The following post contains discussions of cyberbullying and suicide.
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish has quickly become one of Netflix’s most-talked-about documentaries. In October 2020, Michigan teenagers Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny found themselves the targets of a vicious cyberbully whose goal was to break up the young couple.
For nearly two years, Lauryn and Owen received countless text messages from this unknown number. The texter even told Lauryn to kill herself and sent many messages that were of a sexual nature to the minors. The FBI eventually discovered that Kendra Licari, Lauryn’s mother, was behind the text messages.
After watching the shocking documentary, you’re probably wondering what happened to Kendra Licari. She shares her side of the story in Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, but it’s been some time since the documentary was filmed. Scroll down to get the latest updates about Kendra, her relationship with her daughter, and more.
Where is Kendra Licari today?
Kendra is now out of prison after serving time for what she did to Lauryn and Owen (more on that below). She was released on August 8, 2024. In January 2025, The Cut published a feature about the case. At the time, Kendra was living with family near Detroit, Michigan. It’s unclear if she is employed.
Netflix
Her participation in the Netflix documentary was a last-minute decision on her end. “It was a long process with Kendra,” director Skye Borgman told Tudum. Kendra ultimately agreed to speak about questions surrounding the case. “That was appealing to her, [to] sit down and tell her story from her perspective and that Lauryn [could] see her do that. She wanted to do it, I think, for her daughter,” the director noted.
Why did Kendra Licari cyberbully her own daughter?
In the documentary, Kendra maintained that she did not send the original pre-Halloween 2020 texts to Lauryn and Owen. (Law enforcement believes she is behind all of the messages.)
Netflix
“I really wanted to get to the bottom of who it was, right? And that’s when I started sending the text messages to Lauryn and Owen,” Kendra said. She claimed that her hope was that these new texts would ultimately lead to the person who originated the texts. Once she started texting Lauryn and Owen, she couldn’t stop. “It was a spiral, kind of a snowball effect,” she said. “I don’t think I knew how to stop. I was somebody different place in those moments. I was in an awful place mentally.”
Many of the text messages Kendra sent mocked Lauryn’s appearance, but Kendra said “the messages weren’t really targeted at her insecurities.” Kendra was asked if she had been afraid that her daughter would hurt herself since she sent messages telling Lauryn tell kill herself. Kendra responded, “So, I can say I was not scared of her hurting herself. I know Lauryn and I know the conversations that her and I had.”
Kendra admitted that she’s “very disappointed” over what she had done. She blamed some of her decisions on “previous trauma” that had started to resurface when Lauryn became a teenager.
“When I was 17, I was raped, and as my daughter was hitting those teenage years, I got scared, very scared,” Kendra said. “I didn’t want her to go through the process that I did. I think that really led to me [to] not know how to handle things.” She added, “I was reliving what I had been through, but also at the same time, wanting to protect her. I wanted to try to control the outcome of her journey.”
How long was Kendra Licari in jail?
Kendra was arrested and pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor. She was sentenced to 19 months in prison.
What is Kendra & Lauryn Licari’s relationship like today?
When Kendra was in prison, she was in communication with Lauryn. During that time period, Lauryn was open to having a relationship with her mother.
Netflix
The end of the documentary features a newer interview with Lauryn, which was completed after Kendra was released from prison, and she was hesitant about trusting her mother moving forward. “I’m not allowed to see my mom now that she’s out of prison,” Lauryn said. “I want to see my mom when the time is right. I think it would just be a relief to see her but, like, also hard.”
She continued, “I think I want to trust her now, but I don’t think I can. Now that she’s out, 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.” Despite everything that’s happened, Kendra believes that she and Lauryn “can have a healthy relationship” in the future.
At the time Kendra completed her interview, she hadn’t seen Lauryn in about a year and a half. Lauryn’s dad, Shawn, had full custody of their daughter until she turned 18. Kendra and Shawn are no longer together.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or dial 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, Streaming Now, Netflix
Conversation22 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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O
I feel like for the personal nature of the crime 19 months is a shockingly light sentence.
47
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G
How a mother can tell her child to kill herself is out of my realm of comprehension, and probably that of any normal human being. I'm also finding it hard to believe that she's currently living and breathing the same free air as folks in Detroit. This person? has proven to be a threat to her own flesh and blood! Why is she permitted to unsupervised mobility ANYWHERE other than a prison or a psychiatric institution?!!
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O
She should have been killed tbh
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S
Everything about that woman was sick and twisted. It was really hard to watch for me.
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B
Why are they allowing people to use trauma and mental illness as an excuse for what she did to her daughter and 19 months isn't long enough for what this mother did
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O
She hugs her daughter and says she can’t leave her but just bullied her for months, told her to kill herself and was so vulgar. Sick woman should not be out free Bring back mental institutions
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G
She should have got 10 years for what she put all those kids through. And her excuses are bullshit, those texts were filthy, frightening and so threatening.
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G
😲 what a disgusting human being. Beyond pathetic!!!! There is absolutely no excuse for this behavior. I dont care what excuse she tries to use. She is a psychopath. To watch anyone go through this trauma is truly evil. To do this to your own child and other children is outrageous. She watched her daughter, and others, suffer and continued this behavior. She purposely hurt people who trusted her and she should have been protecting. This woman is awful!!!! To see her hug her daughter made me extremely angry. She is a terrible mother and human being. There is absolutely no excuse for this. What if one of these kids hurt themselves??? She only got a slap on the wrist. I really despise her. To compare this to a dui, is she serious. She's a liar too. She did this for attention in my opinion. I can't believe how upset and angry this made me
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C
I would never forgive her if she were my mother! She is a truly manipulative disgusting human being who should have spent a lot longer in prison
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R
She should be banned from technology altogether! It’s sickening to know that she told her own daughter to offer herself. Then to try and use a fake mental health excuse. Disgusting human being.
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B
Why anyone is talking about the fact that she's a pdfile?
11
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G
Kendra is full of s. Excuses,deflection, justification....
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O
I'm confused as to why they just got her for stalking. Like some of those texts are not just harassment but sexual harassment as well towards minors. Maybe it's different in different states, but I know where I'm from they would have charged her for cyber harassment, sexual cyber harassment, and the stalking.
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G
I want kendra to be cyberbullied and shamed across the internet and in public now idc
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C
Totally agree! She ruined so many lives and those kids are forever scarred
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P
Lifetime has the movie Mommy Meanest with Lisa Rinna, based on Kendra and Lauryn.
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T
The mother was jealous of her daughter. I hope the daughter stays away from her. The mother confessed because she was caught. How humiliating, the world will never forget this.
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H
Why is she free? She deserves to be in prison; 19 months is a joke.
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O
I have survived rap abuse from family member there is no way that I would ever write those despicable groce disgusting hurtful foul things to my daughter the amount of pain and scaring trauma she caused her daughter wont be visible just yet, that mother was obsessed with her daughter's boyfriend and knowing she could never have him took her anger on the closest person that loved her unconditionally "her daughter " I would never have a relationship with a phyco thats why she was controlling manipulating and deflect what she did , comparing it to a dui , wtf really
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O
She should have a 15 year federal sentence… also where was she getting the money from with no job? And where was she when she was “going to work” how many other young kids were hurt by this woman?
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O
Absolutely disgusting. That woman was a manipulative evil woman… and she made excuses over and over at the end which was making me physically ill. Atleast own up to it…. Thats how u kno she didnt learn her lesson. That poor girl…. Lauryn didnt deserve this.
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B
And how not attempt to murder charges?
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