Warning: This story contains spoilers for \u201cUnknown Number: The High School Catfish.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Every so often, Netflix releases a sleeper hit that becomes everyone\u2019s favorite new obsession. This past week, it was a true crime documentary with one of the most bizarre plot twists in recent memory.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cUnknown Number: The High School Catfish,\u201d currently the top movie on the streamer, follows the mysterious case of a teenage girl, Lauryn Licari, and her boyfriend, Owen McKenny, from a small high school in Beal City, Michigan, who were viciously cyberstalked by an unknown number for months in 2020, seemingly in an attempt to break them up. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n At first, the texts were mild, like one that read, \u201cHi Lauryn, Owen is breaking up with you.\u201d Another read, \u201cHe no longer likes you and hasn\u2019t liked you for a while. It\u2019s obvious he wants me.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The teenage couple thought it might just be a prank. But then the messages got more aggressive and extremely graphic in nature, even escalating to physical threats. They eventually turned into a full-out harassment campaign, with upward of 40 to 50 texts being sent to Licari and McKenny at all hours of the day and night. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This went on for roughly two years; however, the teens\u2019 parents became involved after the first few months, once they learned how severe the situation had become, and alerted the school principal and local authorities. But by then, they realized that they weren\u2019t dealing with the average cyberbullying case \u2014 this one hit much closer to home. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It appeared that the person behind the texts was someone close to Licari and McKenny who knew intimate details about them and their relationship. Their parents were determined to find the leak in their circle, and so most of the Netflix documentary plays like a guessing game of sorts to figure out who could possibly be the culprit. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In addition to Licari, McKenny and their parents, their fellow schoolmates \u2014 some of whom were under suspicion \u2014 were all interviewed on camera about this catfish scheme and how it spun so out of control that the FBI eventually got involved. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The assumption was that one of Licari or McKenny\u2019s classmates was the cyberbully, even from a viewer standpoint. But the person everyone least suspected turned out to be the perpetrator all along \u2014 Licari\u2019s own mother, Kendra Licari.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n To the doc\u2019s credit, no one could\u2019ve seen that plot twist coming from the way Kendra Licari was interviewed throughout the doc. To an unsuspecting person, she seemed like a concerned parent trying to get to the bottom of the text mystery, just like all the other adults involved. However, an IP address tracked by the FBI eventually led right back to Kendra Licari, and from there, she confessed.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It was a pretty shocking reveal, to say the least. And even though the case made national headlines in 2023 after she pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking and was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison, viewers were still caught way off guard, as evidenced by reactions online:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I just finished Unknown Number: The High School Catfish and I\u2019m gobsmacked lol what the actual fuck<\/p>\n \u2014 Ashley Reese (@offbeatorbit) September 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019m watching Unknown Number: The High School Catfish right now and bitch the way my jaw just fucking dropped and I threw my phone across the room. pic.twitter.com\/CN8pTaAZFL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 chris evans (@notcapnamerica) August 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Netflix doc \u201cunknown number the high school catfish\u201d has my mouth on the FLOOR! There are some sick people in the world, and it\u2019s always the ppl closest to you. Utterly disgusting! pic.twitter.com\/ZGuX7oeQFm<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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