I love me a good documentary – especially when it is as unhinged as Netflix’s new series: Unknown: The High School Catfish. This documentary unpacks a chilling case that looks like, on the surface, a standard “catfish” story — teenagers tricked online, deception, and a swirl of digital lies. But as the layers are peeled back and the truth is finally revealed, I promise you that your jaw will hit the floor. I know mine did. But why did this all happen? What could possibly have gone so wrong as to allow something so horrific to happen? That is why we are here today – we are here to discuss the ins and outs of this tragic situation and to see if we can make just an ounce of sense out of it all.
From here on out, I’ll be discussing major plot details and revelations from Unknown: The High School Catfish. If you haven’t watched yet and want to experience the twists firsthand, stop reading now and come back once you’ve seen it. You’ve been warned…
Unknown Number Unfolds
The film begins by introducing us to a high school community in Michigan that is suddenly plagued by an online predator. The story centers around Lauryn Licari and Owen McKinny, a duo that have been dating for many years in High School. One day, Lauryn and Owen began receiving truly diabolically evil messages. They berated Lauryn for being ugly, stupid and mean. They similarly harassed Owen and the messages’ objective seemed to be to break up the two dating high schoolers.
The anonymous messages all come from an untraceable number and anonymous social media accounts. What is worse is that it seemed to everyone involved that their every move was being watched closely by a scary outside predator. At first, it looks like a textbook catfishing operation targeting vulnerable teens — something authorities have unfortunately seen all too often. But the truth behind this story was much scarier and much closer to home unfortunately…
Soon enough, the school principal and superintendent were made aware of the terrible messages these kids were receiving. The administration is basically helpless against these violent messages – but school administrators do what they can by starting to watch school cameras in useless attempt to find parallels with the messages or a lead of any sort. After months of useless thrashing, the administrators turn to the police in order to try and figure out where this texting abuse was coming from. But they have no idea how to crack this case either. Interview after interview goes by as every possible lead just vanishes into smoke. Eventually, after a year or more, the FBI is called in and their digital forensics teams begin tracing IP addresses and the digital fingerprints on these terribly abusive messages.
But before any real leads emerge, the community collapses in on itself. It’s like a real Salem Witch Trials sort of experience where the parents allege horrible things against perfectly innocent kids in the school. Similarly, other students begin dragging other innocent kids out into the middle of the firing squad only to learn later that it couldn’t possibly be them. The community’s shock and chaos at the hatefulness of these messages and their desire to find the culprit only causes more harm and injury within a previously peaceful community.
But as the investigation moves forward, the evidence begins pointing in a shocking direction — not to a stranger, but to someone far closer to the victims than anyone imagined. The big twist comes when investigators reveal that the orchestrator of the harassment campaign is not a classmate at all, but Lauryn’s mother, Kendra Licari. Wait, what?!? It can’t possibly be Lauryn’s mother that is the center of all this hate and vitriol being spammed at her daughter’s direction. No. But yes, the FBI is certain that the owner of the IP Addresses resides with a second phone that Lauryn’s mother owns.
Turns out that not only was Kendra Licari behind the multiple years worth of vitriolic hate spewing towards her daughter and her boyfriend, but she was actually hiding a double life from her husband as well. Come to find out, the two different jobs she supposedly had were all lies. She was either let go from them both or she never had them at all. Thankfully, it was Kendra’s husband, Shawn, that tipped police off to her second phone that was in her car. Without that, she probably would have gotten away with it all.
Come to find out, she had created dozens of fake accounts, she had impersonated men, boys, and friends at the high school, all in order to turn the spotlight off of herself. She even targeted her own daughter and her daughter’s friends, weaving a complicated web of lies that spanned years.
What Investigators Discovered
Through digital footprints, authorities pieced together how the scheme worked:
- Multiple Fake Identities: Kendra fabricated online personas, often presenting herself as boys interested in her daughter and her daughter’s friends. These accounts would escalate into harassment, creating a cycle of fear and dependency.
- Self-Victimization: Kendra positioned her daughter as the central “target” of this harassment. By doing this, it allowed her to play both the role of the protector (the loving mom swooping in to help) and the victim (through her daughter’s suffering).
- Control Over Her Daughter: By making her daughter feel unsafe, dependent, and isolated, she maintained emotional power. Her daughter constantly had to rely on her mother for comfort and protection — because the threat was always “out there.”
- Escalation Over Time: What began as minor online drama ballooned into full-blown terror campaigns, with threatening messages, fake images, and sometimes even violent overtones. She even told her daughter to “kill herself” on more than one occasion. Kendra always stayed one step ahead, adapting when investigators or school officials tried to intervene.
Eventually, after enough forensic evidence was collected — IP tracing, device analysis, and account logins — the truth became undeniable.
The Daughter’s Perspective
One of the most heartbreaking elements of the film is the daughter’s testimony. She truly believed she was being tormented by strangers. She lived with constant fear and anxiety, unaware that her own mother was orchestrating the ever-present nightmare.
The betrayal is profound. The one person she should have been able to trust completely — her mother — was the very source of the trauma. The documentary does an excellent job of capturing that emotional whiplash: the realization that every late-night comfort session, every tearful hug, was part of the manipulation.
Why Would a Mother Do This?
The natural question that arises is: Why? What could possibly motivate a mother to torment her own daughter in this way?
One theory, and the one that seems to fit best, is Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP).
What is MSBP? – This is a mental health disorder where a caregiver — usually a parent — makes up or causes illness or harm to someone under their care (often a child) to gain attention, sympathy, or control.
How It Applies Here: In the case of Unknown: The High School Catfish, the mother wasn’t faking medical illness, but she was creating a digital equivalent: a constant crisis that required her intervention. By doing so, she ensured her daughter remained close and emotionally dependent on her.
This aligns with high-profile cases like that of Dee Dee Blanchard, dramatized in Hulu’s The Act. Dee Dee convinced her daughter Gypsy Rose (and the world) that Gypsy was gravely ill, when in fact she was perfectly healthy. In both cases, the mothers created a manufactured a crisis to tether their daughters to them, eliminating independence and ensuring control. It’s obvious that Kendra enjoyed the attention she received from friends, neighbors, and even law enforcement. She was the “strong mom protecting her daughter,” earning admiration and pity. Kendra was able to exert control by isolating her daughter from normal teenage relationships (friends, dating, social media).
Underlying Psychological Need: For some, MSBP stems from deep insecurity, a desperate need to feel important, or unresolved trauma in their own past. While the documentary doesn’t dig into her full backstory, the behavior strongly indicates a psychological drive rooted in this disorder.
Final Thoughts on Unknown Number the High School Catfish
This isn’t just a shockingly true documentary — it’s also a deeply disturbing psychological study of manipulation and betrayal. It forces us to confront how trust can be weaponized, even within families, and how new technology can provide tools for abuse in ways few could possibly imagine.
The ending left me so unsettled I was tormented by nightmares for the next few nights as I tried to make sense of this particular brand of madness. I was unnerved not just because of what happened, but because of how it raises larger questions: How well do we really know the people closest to us? And how much control can parents exert under the guise of protection before it becomes harmful?
Edited by: CY
