Kendra Licari, the mother who anonymously sent cruel text messages to her daughter for a year and harassed the minor, expressed remorse over her actions before her sentencing.
In the small town of Beal City, Michigan, Lauryn Licari began receiving menacing messages in 2021 from an unknown number.
The sender told Lauryn to break up with her then-boyfriend, Owen McKenny and, while pretending to be one of her classmates, claimed she was secretly sleeping with him.
Highlights
- Kendra Licari anonymously harassed her daughter with cruel texts for a year, causing severe emotional harm.
- The FBI traced the hateful messages back to Kendra, who pleaded guilty to stalking a minor.
- Kendra expressed deep remorse in court and said she was "embarrassed."
Kendra worked alongside Owen’s mother, school officials, and law enforcement in an effort to track down the stalker who was making her daughter’s life miserable.
However, after the FBI joined the investigation, the messages were traced back to a device used by Kendra.
Kendra Licari cried in court and expressed regret after anonymously harassing her daughter Lauryn for a year
Image credits: Isabella County Jail
The disgraced mother pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor in 2023, receiving a maximum sentence of five years, as per court documents obtained by Today.
In exchange, Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi dropped three additional charges: one count of obstruction and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
She was released in August 2024, but isn't allowed to see Lauryn due to her plea deal.
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Before being sentenced, Kendra reflected on her harmful behavior and delivered a tearful statement in the courtroom.
"I never want to hurt anyone else like I have already done," she expressed. "I actually look forward to continuing my work and continuing my progress daily. I have caused a lot of damage to my family."
The woman reportedly cried when she told Judge Mark Duthie she was sorry for her actions, which affected not only her daughter and her boyfriend but a teenager who was initially blamed for the texts.
When she was in high school, Lauryn began receiving anonymous texts insulting her and telling her to break up with her boyfriend
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
She also told Judge Duthie that she was “ashamed, remorseful, and embarrassed” and that she would take back everything she did if she could.
A defense attorney for Kendra reportedly told the judge that her client had begun counseling and was taking parenting classes to remedy her behavior.
Additionally, the attorney stated that a psychiatric examination had determined that the mother suffers from mental illness.
The texts, sent from an unknown number, were later traced back to Lauryn's mother
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
The woman, who still resides in Michigan, was released on parole on August 8, 2024, and will be supervised as a parolee until February 2026, as per Today.
The aggressive text messages looked like they were written by one of Lauryn’s peers, saying things like, “Hi Lauryn, Owen is breaking up with you.” The sender repeatedly said Owen liked her better, telling Lauryn, “we’re both DTF” and “He will be with me while your lonely ugly a** is alone.”
Many texts also called Lauryn by “Lo,” a nickname only used by her close friends and family.
Prior to being sentenced, Kendra Licari said she felt "ashamed" by her actions
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Despite their decision, the harassment continued, and Lauryn kept receiving messages like “k*ll yourself now b****” and “his life would be better if you were “d*ad.”
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
“I can’t imagine any parent saying such horrible things to her own daughter,” the judge told Kendra, adding that "it's the kind of case that makes me glad that at the end of my term, I’m retiring.”
The judge said Kendra’s behavior wasn’t a single lapse of judgement but a well-thought out scheme that involved her trying to convince law enforcement that the messages were sent by one of the victims, as per The Morning Sun.
After Owen and Lauryn broke up, she began receiving more anonymous texts telling her to take her own life
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
The disturbing case is the focus of the new Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. In the film, Kendra says she’s “very disappointed” in herself and explains that she began sending the messages “in the thoughts of needing some answers.”
She said that once she started, she couldn’t stop. “I just kept going, it was a spiral, kind of a snowball effect, I don't think I knew how to stop," she said.
Judge Duthie said the case reflected "the worst in human nature"
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
The mother, who allegedly used software to hide her location, tried to argue that everyone makes mistakes and that “realistically, a lot of us have probably broken the law at some point or another and not gotten caught.” She went on to compare her behavior to that of someone who drinks and drives.
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
In the documentary, superintendent Chillman suggests that Kendra had the cyber version of Munchausen syndrome, the psychological condition most commonly associated with the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case.
Chillman argued, “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 behavior.”
Kendra was released in August 2024 but isn't allowed to see Lauryn
Image credits: Netflix/Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Meanwhile, Owen and his mother questioned whether Kendra was secretly attracted to him. The young man said she frequently checked in on him one-on-one to ask how he was doing, cut his food, and attended his sporting events, even after his breakup with Lauryn.
But Kendra argues that her actions were caused by previous trauma that she hadn’t processed, sharing that she was r*ped at 17.
“As my daughter was hitting those teenage years, I got scared,” she admitted. “I was afraid of letting her grow up, want[ed] to protect her and keep her safe.”
Image credits: Netflix
Lauryn, now 18 years old, stayed in touch with her mother throughout her prison sentence but has grown closer to her father, Shawn, the documentary shows.
The teenager said she’s not ready to see her mother yet, expressing, “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 and the way it was before,” and adding that she still loves her “more than anything.”
"I really struggle to understand how a mother could do this to her daughter," wrote one social media user
