Netflix has unique ways of entrapping true crime enthusiasts with one chilling story after another. Its latest buzz-worthy documentary, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, is a haunting dive into the dark underbelly of cyberbullying and fraud. Finding a spot among Netflix's broad line-up of engaging documentaries, Unknown Number whisks the audience away from their couch to an idyllic small town scandal where mayhem ensued as mysterious harassment texts entered the life of a high school couple. The texter's shocking persistence transformed love into heartache. 

A flood of heinous texts, broken trust, and the secret lurking in plain sight make for a compelling watch to discover the one pulling the strings of chaos.

Upending all guesses and clues, the true identity of the person behind the cruel texts that tormented high school student Lauryn Licari and her boyfriend marks a pivotal part of Netflix's documentary, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. Lauryn Licari's peace of mind and stability were shattered by the incessant anonymous messages. They received 40-50 daily messages, from infidelity accusations to graphic threats to callous humiliation. The intimate intrusions revealed details only someone close could know, ultimately revealed to be Licari's own mother, Kendra Licari. 

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish also shed light on the local suspicion that fell on Licari's classmates and friends, only to yield no leads until the FBI came onto the scene and finally cracked the case. With diligent cyber-forensics, they tracked the texts to the shocking source, i.e., Kendra Licari, who, when confronted, readily admitted to her crime. The news shook the close-knit community, becoming a sensational scandal, and Netflix viewers reeled.

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When the one they trusted the most was revealed to be behind the worst, the high school couple's entire world collapsed, and they had to break up.

Directed by Skye Borgman, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish exploded on Netflix on August 29, 2025, retelling the coverage of Kendra Licari's ruse. Working its way through about 94 minutes of true crime suspense, the documentary features the stalking and harassments victims, Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny, their parents, Shawn Licari, Kendra Licari, Jill McKenny, Dave McKenny and their friends Sophie Weber, Macy Johnston, as well as Bill Chillman, the Superintendent, Dan Boyer, the school Principal, and Mike Main, the Sheriff among others. 

Audiences tuning into the documentary should prepare for an unflinching deep dive into cyberbullying, heart-shattering texts, and intimate confessions from a teen betrayed by her own mother. According to Today, in March 2023, Licari pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor and was released from prison in 2024 on parole, to be supervised until February 2026. Meanwhile, the documentary shed some light on Lauryn Licari's future plans to pursue criminology towards its conclusion, reverberating a sad reality of a lethal betrayal as a shockwave to the audience.

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