Imagine If your days were filled with unknown terror, a threat that slowly lurks over your life every single day. This discussion is more shocking and terrifying than any horror movie. This is the true story documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish which seeks to uncover a tragic case of cyberbullying. This movie reveals who was behind this terror that targeted Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny, a chilling truth, and knowing the impact felt by the victims of cyberbullying to this day?

The Beginning of The Mysterious Messages

Lauryn Licari and her boyfriend, a high school couple, they received messages from an unknown number since 2020. Initially, the messages only contained insults and false accusations about their relationship. 

But over time, the messages changed into threats and aggression with the intention of breaking their relationship. They tried to block the unknown number, but their attempts were unsuccessful. 

A year later, the cyberbullying continued, and the terror intensified. They received approximately 50 messages every day containing sexual content and urging suicide. Therefore, they experienced high psychological pressure, and they decided to end their relationship. 

The perpetrator appeared to be using a software platform that showed multiple numbers and area codes, making them extremely difficult to trace.  The cyberbullying perpetrator knew details about their lives, like a problem with their families. 

The case caused fear and anxiety among other students in the school. Eventually, Lauryn and Owen were isolated to maintain the safety of the school environment and its students. They are never able to trace the perpetrator behind the unknown number terror. The high school requested help from the police to investigate the case.  

Who Was Behind The Unknown Number Terror 

Before the police launched the investigation, the high school checked using surveillance footage, which they were able to link certain students to the messages. At the same time, Lauryn and Owen received messages nonstop, although they have already changed their number. 

The school was concerned about the incident and contacted the local Sheriff’s office. The initial investigation led to the detention of several suspects, including Khole, his classmate, Wilson, Sophie Weber, and Adrianna. Nevertheless, they denied sending the messages. 

However, one of them, Khole, had a Burner account on her handphone. The language used in the apps looked similar to the text messages they had received. 

Khoe denied the accusation, and she had been framed by the perpetrator. Eventually the police conducted a metadata check on her phone also links that having access to the messages and the result showed nothing. 

On the other hand, this couldn’t serve as strong evidence that Khole was the perpetrator of the cyberbullying case. In the end, the police released her after finding phone records that did not match her number.

The Shocking Revelation of The Truth

The local police, Isabella Micahel, requested assistance from Federal authorities (FBI), who were connected with cybercrime experts. Because the messages were sent through several unknown numbers, the FBI used the Pinger application to trace the IP address from which the unknown numbers originated. 

When the FBI discovered the messages were traced to an IP address in the Mr Pleasant area, they also used an iPhone device to access the link. 

From the investigation, it can be concluded that there was only one number matching with an IP address and that area, which connected to this case, belonged to Lauryn’s mother, Kendra Licari. 

During the interrogation, Kendra didn’t acknowledge sending the initial messages. But later, she attempted to claim that she had taken advantage and started sending the message by herself, and eventually became consumed by it. 

According to the investigation, Kendra acknowledged that she was struggling and had experienced sexual abuse when she was a teenager. This became her hidden motive to protect her daughter from sexual abuse like hers. 

Not only that, another hidden motive was that Kendra had a personal obsession with Owen, when Owen moved to another city and began dating a new girl. Finally, Kendra was sentenced to a minimum of 19 months in prison. 

The Long-Term Effect of Cyberbullying Case 

There are many effects felt by the victims of cyberbullying cases, especially for Lauryn Licari. The trust that should have existed between mom and daughter has been shattered. Never could I imagine before that the perpetrator behind this case would turn out to be someone so close to Lauryn’s life.  

If they want to build this relationship from the ground up, it will be hard. Because the trust foundation has been broken, the same goes for Owen; he should repair his relationship with his classmates because he had been accused of causing the terror.  

 In addition, Owen and Lauryn must rebuild their mental health, which was affected by psychological trauma over the years, such as anxiety, fear, and paranoia. Those things have made them more cautious of their surroundings, and now they are in the process of recovery. 

This documentary movie, Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, serves as a reminder of the cyberbullying attack, which can leave deep psychological scars and take a long time to heal before victims can return to a normal life without anxiety, even though the perpetrator has been caught. It also teaches the importance of being more aware of our digital environment. This documentary can be on your watch list over the weekend.