The True Story Behind Netflix’s ‘Unknown Number’ and the Mother from Hell
Netflix’s latest true crime entry starts like a teenage mystery and turns into something far darker. Unknown Number follows a small Michigan town where a sweet high school romance is suddenly swarmed by messages from a stranger. The texts arrive at all hours. The tone shifts from teasing to cruel. Adults step in. Nothing makes it stop.
Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny are painted as the golden couple at Beal City High. Then an unknown number cuts in. One early text reads “Hi Lauryn, Owen is breaking up with you.” Others insist she has already lost him. “He no longer likes you and hasn’t liked you for a while” and “It’s obvious he wants me.” The harassment snowballs from there.
What begins as petty drama becomes a barrage. Dozens of messages hit their phones day after day. The sender appears to know Lauryn’s nickname and what she wears to class. Even basic blocks fail because the number keeps changing through an app. Local police chase false leads. The FBI is called in to trace the tech breadcrumbs the harasser tried to hide.
The twist lands hard. Investigators follow data back to an IP address tied to Lauryn’s home. The culprit is her mother, Kendra Licari. She confesses when confronted and later pleads guilty to stalking a minor. A judge sentences her to 19 months to five years. She is released on parole in August 2024. The documentary shows the shock that ripples through family and friends.
Director Skye Borgman does not shy from the ugliest texts. One message to Lauryn reads “kill yourself now b****.” In a filmed interview, Kendra tries to explain her thinking with a line that stuns. “Realistically, a lot of us have probably broken the law at some point or another and not gotten caught. I’m sure people drove drunk, haven’t been caught.” The film lets viewers sit with the dissonance.
People closest to the case search for motive. Former superintendent Bill Chillman describes it as a cyber version of munchausen. “She wanted her daughter to need her in such a way that she was willing to hurt her.” Borgman suggests fear and control may have collided in a way that still defies tidy answers. The film resists a neat resolution because real life rarely offers one.
In the aftermath Lauryn distances herself from her mother but keeps space for hope. She says she wants to try rebuilding “when the time is right.” In the documentary’s final moments she adds another line that lingers. “Now that she’s out, I just want her to get the help she needs” and later “I love her more than anything.” Unknown Number arrives with a simple question that sticks. How do you heal after a betrayal that came from so close.
Unknown Number is streaming now on Netflix. It runs 94 minutes and is directed by Skye Borgman. The story is chilling because it is intimate. A private terror slipped into a family phone and changed a town. Viewers will likely walk away stunned by what the data revealed and by what the heart still wants.