Real-Life Love
‘Unknown Number’: What Happened to Lauryn Licari & Owen McKenny? Their Relationship After Netflix Doc
Warning: The following post contains discussions of cyberbullying and suicide.
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is the latest Netflix documentary to have everyone talking. The documentary follows Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny, a teen couple from a small town in Michigan, who were victims of relentless cyberbullying for nearly two years.
As authorities investigated who was behind the cyberbullying, fingers were pointed at fellow students at Lauryn and Owen’s high school, and the citizens of Beal City, Michigan, wanted answers. When the FBI got involved, they finally discovered the person responsible for the cyberbullying of the young couple.
So, how did the case impact the teen couple at the center of it all? Where do Lauryn and Owen stand today? Let’s break down what happened to their relationship, who was behind the texts, and more.
What happened to Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny?
In October 2020, about a year into Lauryn and Owen’s relationship, they got a text message from an unknown number that claimed Owen was going to break up with Lauryn. Nearly a year later, the text messages from the unknown number started up again.
Netflix
Lauryn and Owen knew that the person sending the text messages was someone close to them because the texter would call Lauryn by her nickname “Lo.” The cyberbully sent texts about Lauryn’s looks and style, as well as comments that were sexual in nature. (Lauryn and Owen were 13 years old at the time.)
The texter eventually started sending dozens of messages in a day. After Lauryn and Owen broke up (more on that below), the text messages got worse. The texter told Lauryn that she should kill herself and that Owen’s life would be “better off” if she were dead.
More than a year after the vicious texts started, Sheriff Mike Main got involved in the case. He interviewed Lauryn and Owen as well as potential suspects, including Khloe Wilson, who was a friend of Owen’s at the time. Eventually, Sheriff Main reached out to the FBI for assistance. Bradley Peter, the FBI liaison, investigated and found the culprit.
Are Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny still together?
No, Lauryn and Owen are no longer together. Lauryn and Owen met when she was in seventh grade. They bonded over their love of athletics, and when they started dating, their families became close.
Netflix
After more than two years together, Owen and Lauryn ended their relationship in the middle of the cyberbullying situation. Lauryn had started to question her relationship with Owen because of the text, which led to fights. Owen had hoped that by breaking up — which is what the texter claimed they wanted — the messages would stop.
Lauryn was heartbroken over the breakup. She called Owen her “first love.” At the time, Owen had said they could could maybe try again when the cyberbullying was over, but that never happened.
About 19 months after the messages began, Owen started dating a new girl from Pinconning, Michigan, which was a little over an hour away in Beal City. The texter discovered the phone number of Owen’s girlfriend’s mom and started texting her. Owen didn’t want to put his new girlfriend through the cyberbullying he’d experienced, so they broke up.
Who was the texter?
The FBI liaison traced a phone number to the IP address used by the texter. The phone number belonged to Kendra Licari, Lauryn’s own mother. The news of Kendra’s involvement shocked Lauryn, Owen, and the Beal City community.
Kendra had a background in IT, and everyone believed she was working at Ferris State University during the cyberbullying time period, but she hadn’t been working at all for quite some time.
In the documentary, Kendra claimed she didn’t send the pre-Halloween text messages, and the reason she started sending text messages was to find out who was behind the original ones. Sheriff Main believes Kendra was responsible for all of the text messages. Once she started sending texts, Kendra said she couldn’t stop. When asked if she was worried about Lauryn hurting herself after sending text messages telling her to kill herself, Kendra replied, “I can say I was not scared of her hurting herself.”
Kendra was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor, one count each for Lauryn and Owen. She was sentenced to 19 months in prison. At Kendra’s sentencing hearing, Owen and his mother, Jill, addressed the court.
In their documentary interviews, Owen and Jill spoke about Kendra’s strange behavior towards Owen. From randomly texting him to attending all of his sporting events even after he and Lauryn broke up, Owen and Jill didn’t find that behavior appropriate.
Kendra was released from prison on August 8, 2024. In the documentary, Kendra claimed she was raped at 17. Around the time she started sending the text messages to Lauryn and Owen, repressed memories began to resurface. “I didn’t want her to go through that process that I did, and I think that really led me to not know how to handle things,” Kendra said, before adding that she was “scared to let [Lauryn] grow up” because of “what could happen to her.”
Where are Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny today?
Netflix
At the time of his interview for the documentary (which was when he was still in high school), Owen said he had not spoken to Lauryn in a “very long time.” He added, “Yeah, I was mad at Lauryn. I don’t think I will talk to her again in the future.”
Owen graduated from high school in 2025 and is now attending Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He’s set to be a member of the baseball team there.
Lauryn echoed what Owen said about not being on speaking terms. “Me and Owen don’t talk at all now,” she said. Lauryn is not allowed to see her mom now that she’s out of prison. “I think I want to trust her now, but I don’t think I can,” Lauryn admitted. Lauryn is planning on attending college to study criminology.
Lauryn’s Instagram profile is now private, but she appears to be in a new relationship with a boy named Zayne Cooper. Her Instagram profile picture is from Lauryn and Zayne attending prom.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or dial 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, Streaming Now, Netflix
