Have you ever received a suspicious text from an Unknown Number? Maybe you brushed it off, blocked the caller, or summed it up as a hoax. For most, the unknown number usually takes the hint. However, for thirteen-year-old Lauryn Licari, this was not the case.
On Aug. 29, 2025 Netflix released its latest true crime documentary involving high school student Lauryn Licari. This documentary follows Licari’s story of being anonymously targeted by an unknown number for over a year. The scariest part is that the story took place closer to home than most viewers realized.
For over a year, Lauryn received vulgar and dangerous messages to her cellphone. These messages, at first, had mere cyberbullying tendencies. However, over time, things began to escalate and she was receiving hundreds of life-threatening messages everyday. When she blocked the unknown number, they would text her from a new one. It was a terrifying reality she could not escape.
She reached out to friends, family, and the school, but the identity of the unknown number remained a mystery. Eventually, a police and FBI investigation began. With all hands on deck, a shocking truth was finally revealed.
Through technological evidence the FBI was able to trace the unknown number back to Lauryn’s mother, Kendra Licari. Ultimately, it was discovered that the thousands of harassing texts that Lauryn was receiving, were sent from her mother with the help of a burner phone.
Kendra was tried and found guilty of two counts of cyber stalking. She served time in prison before being released in 2024. Upon her release from prison, Kendra agreed to be in Netflix’s documentary, so that viewers would be able to grasp her side of the story, a point of view no one wanted to hear or see.
“It was a spiral, kind of a snowball effect, I don’t think I knew how to stop,” said Kendra Lacari. “Sometimes it was an hour a day or eight hours a day I let it consume me”
Kendra claimed her actions did not have malicious intent despite the harmful content of the messages. In our opinion, she was given entirely too much screen time to validate her actions.
“It was hard because I was reliving what I had been through um but also at the same time wanting to protect her,” said Kendra Lacari.
Kendra used threats, hate speech and verbal abuse to “protect” her daughter, a kind of love and care no one should receive. Yet, Kendra was portrayed as a victim in this documentary.
“I wanted to try and control the outcome of her journey,” said Kendra Lacari.
The portrayal of Kendra as the victim was overdone. There was an overabundance of her personal interviews and motives behind what she did. Excuse after excuse, she is chasing forgiveness from her family. However, from catfishing, taunting, and lies, the Licaris’ lives are forever changed.
“I think it was more of an escape, it took me of out of real life in a sense,” said Kendra Lacari.
An escape is an easy excuse. Ultimately, Kendra, as the mother, thought she knew best, only to destroy her daughter mentally and emotionally. It’s chilling to watch, and taunting to hear. Your next movie night just got entirely more twisted. Ring. Ring. Ring. Unknown number calling.
