Kendra Licari In High School Catfish: Why Did Lauryn’s Mother Send Her Texts From Unknown Numbers?

Netflix’s Unknown Number: High School Catfish just makes you wonder what truly goes on inside a person’s mind that would compel them to hurt their own daughter? Just like me, you all may have questions or opinions about what was wrong with Kendra Licari. Was she sick? Was she really raped at 17? Did she really have a traumatic past? We will never find out because, as the investigating officer, Sheriff Mike Main, stated, once the perpetrator has been exposed, they often try to deflect. And it’s quite natural, because no one in their right mind would want society or the people around them to see them as evil. In her defense, Kendra told the viewers that she started sending those nasty texts to her daughter, Lauryn, because she wanted to find out the identity of the real perpetrator. As per the timeline, Lauryn received the first text from an unknown number in October 2020, but the texts just randomly stopped coming for almost a year, until they started flooding again. Now, Kendra said that she didn’t initiate the crime, but the evidence says otherwise. So what might actually have happened is that Kendra developed some kind of guilty conscience when she sent those texts and therefore put a halt to it for 11 months. But Lauryn’s closeness with her then boyfriend, Owen McKenny, triggered Kendra to start sending those texts to her daughter again, calling her names and telling her to kill herself.

Kendra Wanted Attention and an Escape

Okay, let’s assume, just for a moment, that Kendra didn’t send those first texts, and she truly wanted to protect her daughter so that Lauryn didn’t suffer the same fate as her when she was 17. But, if that was the case, then why would someone go to such extreme lengths and text other students at the Beal City High School, especially Owen and his cousin, Adrianna, who had nothing to do with Lauryn? Kendra can still justify her attempt to frame Lauryn’s classmate, Khloe Wilson, because she had her differences with Lauryn, and maybe it was Kendra’s way to take revenge on her daughter’s behalf, but after a point, it becomes evident that there’s really no pattern here, and Kendra just started enjoying the attention the anonymous texter was getting. Kendra’s cousin, Melissa Perry, confirmed that Kendra liked to be the center of attraction from a young age. Indeed, it was a case of Cyber-Munchausen, because being a mom to a teenage girl wasn’t getting Kendra the attention she yearned. In 2020, she was doing two IT jobs, but then a year later, she was let go from both of them. And you know what they say about idle hands being the devil’s playthings. But that’s not all. The thing is, Kendra had an IT background, and she was really good with this technical stuff, which made her believe that she would never get caught, and whenever a perpetrator has that sense of security or assurance in their mind, it brings out the worst in them. Kendra asking her daughter to kill herself was one of them. I guess Kendra really hated being a mother, and when things weren’t going well, she blamed her daughter for her pathetic life. In my experience, people on the internet, especially those hiding behind an anonymous username, have a lot of suppressed anger, and a similar thing might have happened with Kendra, through these anonymous texts, she found a way to unleash her anger on the people she believed she could bully. The kids were soft targets. She knew they would get affected, but you have to understand that, for Kendra, their misery was important to her. It gave her satisfaction, a feeling of fulfillment or excitement. People who crave attention often attack the person who they believe is going to react the most. They choose the words they believe will cause the most damage. Kendra knew all about her daughter’s insecurities, and she used them to push her off the edge. Her stunt not only became the talk of the town, but also gave her an escape from her miserable life, where she didn’t amount to much.

Kendra Could Be A Pedophile

Here comes the worst part. After Owen and Lauryn broke up and stopped seeing each other, Owen tried to move on in life and started talking to a girl in Pinconning, Michigan, and as soon as Kendra found out about his new relationship, she got her hands on the number of this girl’s mother and started flooding her inbox with the nasty texts, leaving her no other option but to stop talking to Owen. But why would Kendra do that? Owen’s mother, Jill, and a few others were of the opinion that Kendra had become obsessed with the teenager, Owen, and wanted some kind of relationship with him. Basically, the McKennys accused Kendra of being a pedophile, a mother who was attracted to her daughter’s boyfriend, and based on the kind of texts and the language Kendra used, I don’t think it would be wrong to see her as one. Maybe all those explicit visual descriptions were what Kendra fantasized about. But unfortunately, she wasn’t charged for it.

Kendra Didn’t Think About Consequences

I think, as humans, we really need to reflect on our actions, not only in the real world, but also when we are in this virtual reality, which has become a part of our daily lives. The thing is, all these perpetrators are always too confident about their methods. They believe they will never get caught, which I believe is the reason they never really think about what will happen to their family or their loved ones when their crimes finally come to light. So, did Kendra think about it? Did she ever entertain the thought that her daughter would never be able to face her classmates, her teachers, or their neighbors when the truth will be out in the open? I suppose not, because she was too confident that she would never get caught. But now, she has left her family in a mess from which they may never recover. Many of the teenagers whom she sent those nasty texts to are traumatized for life. I think what we need to understand here is that our actions, our words in this case (online or offline), have consequences. Our hostility, those online attacks, and that hatred can destroy a person’s life. It may stick to them for the rest of their lives, even though we are not aware of it. So, as humans, it is our duty to be conscious of what we say and how we say it. I truly hope that Kendra gets the psychological treatment and the help she needs to overcome her demons so that she won’t spiral back to her former acts. Her daughter is really looking forward to reuniting with her mother, and one can just hope that she won’t become a victim to her desires and try her best not to destroy her daughter’s life again.

Kendra Is A Free Person

In December 2022, some two years after Kendra sent the first text to her daughter, she was arrested and faced five separate charges, mainly for stalking a minor. In the end, Kendra pled guilty to two counts of stalking a minor, one her own daughter and another her former boyfriend, Owen. On 26th April, 2023, a judge in the Isabella County courthouse sentenced Kendra to 18 months in prison. While she was in prison, Lauryn talked to her on Mondays and Wednesdays, as she didn’t want to cut all ties with her mother and wanted to work on rebuilding her relationship with her. 

Kendra finally came out of prison on 8th August, 2024, and as per the reports, she will remain under parole until February 2026. And even though she has served her sentence, she cannot see her daughter because as a part of her plea deal with the state attorney’s office, she is not allowed to make any physical contact with Lauryn. Well, for better or for worse, Lauryn still communicates with her through emails and texts. We even saw some of them in the documentary, and they looked very disturbing to me. I really hope she gets the help she needs so she doesn’t try to destroy anyone else’s life again. As of today, Kendra is a free person who still lives in Michigan. She was even a part of Netflix’s documentary, where she tried to tell her side of the story, but it’s up to the viewers to decide if she was telling the truth or just trying to cover up her crimes through her excuses. 

...