What Happened to Kendra and Lauryn Licari After Catfishing Scandal

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In my teenage years, juggling the complexities of high school life, romantic entanglements, friendships, and the digital world through social media felt overwhelming enough. Yet, somehow, Lauryn Licari’s mother took things up a notch, making an already challenging situation even more difficult to navigate.

In October 2020, Lauryn who was then 13 years old along with her boyfriend, Owen McKenney, received a group text from an unknown number stating that Owen was ending their relationship with Lauryn. Sporadic messages from unknown sources surfaced, but the pair thought it might be a joke and chose to ignore them.

However, as shown in the recent Netflix documentary “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish”, the conversations took a worrying turn on September 13, 2021. From that date onwards, the Michigan teenagers were overwhelmed with aggressive, sexually inappropriate messages. Remarkably, these messages arrived from various numbers, rendering the blocking option futile as they continued to flood their inboxes, reaching up to 40-50 per day.

According to a 2022 report from the Isabella County Sheriff’s office (as reported by NBC News), a significant number of messages contain hostile or harmful language, often including phrases like ‘you should kill yourself.’ Many of these messages repeat this type of negative language.

The disturbing messages persisted all the way up until February 20, 2023. Eventually, it was found out that they had been originated from Kendra Licari, Lauryn’s mother.

Kendra asserted that she wasn’t responsible for the initial set of texts initially, claiming instead that she merely “drew inspiration from it” and began forwarding messages in September 2021. After that point, she admitted to becoming engrossed or carried away, and continued her actions. (according to the sheriff’s report)

Upon confessing her part in the situation to the authorities, as stated in the report, she requested discretion, fearing that others might discover it and potentially interact negatively with Lauryn at school.

Once Kendra was taken into custody, it wasn’t long before the incident found its way into the public domain, making headlines nationwide. In the end, she admitted her guilt on two charges of stalking a minor and received a sentence of 19 months imprisonment.

Delve deeper into the incredible sequence of incidents recounted in “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish” to discover the current lives of Kendra and Lauryn.

For quite some time, dating back to their junior high years, Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny had been each other’s sweethearts. Starting in October 2020, they began receiving mysterious texts from an unknown number. The sender appeared to be attempting to create tension and potentially disrupt their relationship.

The initial text said, “Hello Lauryn, Owen is ending the relationship with you.” The following messages indicated that “Owen no longer feels affectionate towards you and this feeling has been there for some time,” and “It seems like he prefers me now.

After a prolonged silence, several months passed. However, on September 13, 2021, the text messages resumed, but unlike before, they became frequent – around dozens per day. What made these messages particularly distressing is that their content was significantly troubling.

In a report from December 2022, as reported by NBC News, Isabella County Sheriff Michael Main wrote that the messages were highly specific, suggesting they might be from someone known. These messages often contained hateful speech and repeated phrases such as “kill yourself,” indicating a recurring theme of aggression.

During the events detailed in the 2025 Netflix docuseries titled “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish“, Owen and Lauryn ended their relationship, however, the messages continued to arrive.

As cyberbullying started, Lauryn resided with her parents Shawn Licari and Kendra Licari in the town of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

At Ferris State University, Kendra found herself working within the IT sector, while simultaneously coaching the girl’s basketball team at Lauryn’s high school.

Initially, Lauryn and Owen’s families believed that some other students might be behind the bullying and conveyed this to their school, the Beal City Public Schools. Eventually, they handed over the matter to local police authorities for further investigation.

The Isabella County Sheriff’s Office enlisted the help of the FBI in an investigation. According to Sheriff Main’s report, a cybercrimes expert traced some texts back to an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with Spectrum’s servers in Mt. Pleasant and a user who was utilizing a number-generating application on an iPhone.

According to the report, the FBI expert discovered that Kendra’s phone number corresponded with the IP address every time a text message was sent to the victims.

Kendra stated to the detectives on August 10, 2022, as per Main’s report, that she didn’t initiate the initial set of messages her daughter and Owen received in October 2020. Instead, she admitted to having started forwarding them on, beginning in September 2021. The report mentions that Kendra found herself involved in sending the messages and it carried on from there.

In “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish,” Kendra admitted that she launched a text messaging initiative on her own, with the intention of identifying the individual who was reportedly tormenting her child initially.

She mentioned, in the series, that she had been sending messages with the hope of receiving a reply like, “‘Is this [person’s name]?'” Her reasoning behind this was initially, “We require some responses,” and it continued from there.

Later on, Kendra shared that the traumatic events she went through during her teenage years significantly drove her determination to shield her child from any potential harm whatsoever.

As Lauryn grew older, Kendra found that long-hidden emotions began to surface. She admitted, “I tried to manage the course of her life’s journey. I was anxious about watching her grow up. I was terrified of what might befall her.

On December 12, 2022, as reported by NBC News, Kendra was taken into custody and indicted for allegedly engaging in two instances of stalking a minor and conspiring with someone else to carry out two criminal acts.

In a conversation with Good Morning America, David Barberi, Isabella County prosecutor, mentioned that they had numerous text messages, some intended for Isabella’s daughter and others from her daughter’s friends. He further added that the digital trail left behind was simply overwhelming.

The superintendent of Beal City Public Schools, William Chilman, shared with GMA that initially, they hadn’t suspected a parent was behind the situation. However, when they learned later in the spring that there were suspicions it could have been her, it came as a surprise to everyone involved.

In the end, Kendra agreed to a deal and admitted guilt to two charges of stalking a minor. As a result of this agreement, all other charges against her were dismissed. She was sentenced in April 2023, with a minimum prison term of 19 months, deducting 22 days for time already served.

Following the disclosure that Kendra had been harassing her own daughter, Shawn decided to divorce her and secured sole custody of Lauryn instead.

In the Netflix show, I exclaimed with disbelief, “I could hardly fathom such an action from someone who was supposedly so deeply loving towards her own daughter!” It left me feeling utterly nauseous. She had not only wounded my emotional core but also shattered it – a dagger to the heart, thrown away callously.

Kendra, who’s currently 45 years old, was granted early release under supervision on August 8, 2024, by the Michigan Department of Corrections, and will remain under supervision until February 8, 2026.

In an unspecified call, she mentioned that it had been approximately one and a half years since she last saw Lauryn. As things stand according to their release agreement, they are currently prohibited from getting back together.

Kendra stated, ‘It’s clear we’re committed to one another through thick and thin.’ She also expressed her belief in the strength of their relationship, adding, ‘I am certain that our strong connection is something we cherish deeply.’

At the age of 18, Lauryn has no objections to rebuilding a relationship with her mother, Kendra, and expresses optimism that Kendra will receive the necessary assistance, given that she is now free from prison.

In the series, Lauryn expressed, “The absence of that connection is causing me great pain.” She further added, “I believe mending our bond would greatly benefit us both. I cherish her more deeply than any other.

The series also noted that Lauryn is no longer in touch with Owen.

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2025-09-04 20:17