All language subtitles for Unknown Number- The High School Catfish 2025

[cell phone chimes]

-Close it?
-[woman 1] Yeah.

-[girl 1 giggles]
-[woman 2] Perfect.

-[crew chuckles]
-[girl 1] My name's Lauryn Licari.

I grew up in Beal
City, Michigan.

[light, electronic
music playing]

[Lauryn] Beal City is so extremely small.
There's one stoplight and two bars.

[cow moos]

I go to Beal City High School.

It's a really small
school in a small area,

and everybody knows everybody.

[girl 2] My name
is Sophie Weber.

I go to Beal City High School
with Owen and Macy and Lauryn.

There's nothing
in the area to do

besides walk around the
small town. [laughs]

No one really has anything better
to do than talk about other people.

Like, even the parents.

Like, they talk about what
us teenagers are doing,

and I feel like that's kind of a toxic
thing that just gets passed down.

A lot of people spend up to
13 hours on their phone a day,

which I think is a little
bit, like, excessive.

I really like going on my phone.

I love going on
TikTok and Snapchat.

I love texting my friends.

[Sophie] It's kind of the only
way that people communicate now,

like, is with their phones.

♪ Go, little mama,
shake it fast... ♪

[upbeat hip-hop music plays]

I was 13 years old when
I got my first phone.

Everyone else had a phone, you
know? I just... I wanted to fit in.

I was getting to that age where, like,
social media was becoming popular,

and I just wanted to
be cool, you know?

[rhythmic, electronic
music plays]

[Sophie] Your phone can be a good thing
to, like, communicate with your friends,

but it could definitely be a way that
something dangerous could happen.

It's crazy how having a phone could become
the worst thing that happened to me.

[ominous music playing]

[distorted voice
reading message]

A high school girl in Michigan was
cyberbullied for more than a year.

And who turned out to be the
suspect shocked everyone.

[man 1] There were details
in some of the texts

that made it seem as though
somebody was stalking them.

[Sophie] You had to be careful
of every single word you said,

or else you could look guilty.

These texts were coming in
at a clip of 40, 50 a day.

[man 2] When they involve the state
police and then eventually the FBI,

you can just see how
fast this escalates.

Have you ever sent anything to
either one of them like this?

This is felony stalking.

I have to make sure you
are safe before I leave.

[Lauryn] The more
friends you have,

the easier it is to
be betrayed by them.

[girl 3] It's crazy how something
like that could happen at Beal.

Things were about to
get so much worse.

[dramatic music building]

-[music abates]
-[static crackles]

[music ends]

[ominous music playing]

There was a girl in my class that
threw a Halloween party every year,

and all of our classmates would go,
and all of our parents would go.

[Owen] We were about a year into
our relationship, me and Lauryn,

and she was not invited,

but, like, I
basically invited her.

Like, "If I'm going,
you're gonna come with me."

[Lauryn] I didn't wanna
go to the Halloween party.

[Owen] She wasn't a fan
of the girls in our grade.

She just wanted it to be
me and her, no one else.

About two weeks before
the Halloween party,

we got a text from an unknown
number in a group chat.

-[phone chimes]
-[distorted voice reading message]

[phone chimes]

[phone chimes]

[phone chimes]

[phone chimes]

[distorted voice] ...and
we are both down to fuck.

[phone chimes]

[Lauryn] I was just really
confused of who this could be.

Maybe one of our friends just
trying to mess with me and Owen.

[Owen] I asked Khloe 'cause we were,
like, best friends, and it was her party.

You know, I'm like, "Do
you know who sent this?"

Or, like, "Did you send it?"
You know, just asking around.

I was like, "Okay, it's just gonna
stop. Just give it some time."

[Lauryn] After the Halloween party,
the messages had kind of stopped,

and things seemed to get better.

[Owen] Everything is normal, you know,
at the school. Like, everyone's friends.

You know, like,

there was, like, no beef between anyone
that would have started these messages.

[Lauryn] I was actually excited
about the new school year.

But then, after almost a year,

the messages came back.

[school bell rings]

[Lauryn] It seemed like the text messages
were trying to break me and Owen up.

I knew it wasn't somebody I knew

because I would have had their
phone number saved in my phone.

[Owen] There was no
reason for it, you know?

Like, the first text was
for the Halloween party.

Like, this just happened,
and then we got more.

[line ringing]

I wanted them to answer the phone so
we could maybe figure out who it was.

[ringing continues]

But they would just text us
right after we called them.

-[ringing ends]
-[beep]

They would never
answer the phone.

[Lauryn] In a lot of the
texts, the unknown sender

called me by my nickname, Lo.

So it really made me
think it had to be

someone who had been around me or
one of my close friends before.

I was getting at least six
text messages-plus a day.

It was just really annoying

because I knew Owen
wasn't involved with it,

and I knew he didn't know
what was going on either.

["Feels Like Falling" plays]

Before all of this, dating Owen,
I was just having a good life.

I loved life.

♪ Daydreams... ♪

I first met Owen in seventh
grade when I was 12 years old.

♪ Move me, baby, like
no one's watching... ♪

I thought he was cute.

[Owen] Lauryn was shy, but,
you know, she was sweet.

She was caring.

We always just were talking,

and then one day,
eventually, I asked her out.

It was very, like,
nerve-racking.

And so I was like, "I don't know if
I'm ready for this." I was super red.

♪ My head is spinning... ♪

Lauryn started talking
to a boy named Owen.

And I'm like, "You're talking to a boy?
Aren't you a little young for that?"

You know, dad talk, you know?

They liked a lot of the same stuff,
you know? A lot of the sports.

They went
trick-or-treating together.

Little things like that.

[music continues]

[director] What was your
first date? Where did you go?

[Owen] Hmm.

[music halts]

-Mom, do you know?
-[laughter]

I remember Owen just coming home

and telling me there was this
cute blonde in his class.

-[music resumes]
-♪ Daydreams, I hear the... ♪

[man 3] They shared common
interests, particularly in athletics.

Owen was very athletic and involved
in sports, and so was Lauryn,

and so I thought they
were a really nice fit.

[Shawn] We all just started hanging
out as a group, started doing things.

[Owen] My whole family liked
her. You know, we just clicked.

[Shawn] Kendra and Owen's mom,
Jill, became really good friends.

We would invite each other over.
We'd have bonfires and just hang out

and spend time together while
the kids were off playing.

[cheering on video]

-Yeah.
-It's gonna go.

-It'll set on fire.
-[Lauryn giggles]

[Shawn] Lauryn and Owen, they were
always smiling and giggling together.

[Jill] They were just like a
high-school couple in a movie.

Their freshman year,

they were referred to
as the golden couple.

I do think that there was some
jealousy, you know, in their class,

maybe wanting a relationship, or
wanting boys to notice the girls,

and, you know,
they both had that.

I'm sure there was
some... some of that.

[music fades]

[Lauryn] Beal City School is preschool
through 12th grade, all in one building.

The people in my high school,

I've grown up with since
kindergarten, basically.

[Owen] There are
only 30 kids a class.

We all have group chats.
We're all friends.

No one really, truly
hates each other.

[phone chimes]

We had this class together,

which was science, and
we would sit together.

And one day, Owen told
us what was going on.

At first, it was like,

"Oh, I'm getting these weird messages.
I don't know who they're from."

But as they would come in more,

he would start to tell us, like,
actually what they were saying

and how they were saying things

from the conversations
we were having in class.

[phone chimes]

[Macy] I never really suspected
it was the boys in our grade,

just 'cause the boys in our grade
aren't super involved with people.

They don't really
care about drama.

Boys don't really have drama. We just
play sports and have fun. That's all.

[Lauryn] Usually, there's
a lot of mean girls.

[Owen] I wanted to try to narrow it
down to a certain amount of people.

We would FaceTime each other
at night and just talk about it

and be like, "Okay, what
came up in the text today?"

Like, "Who was around?"

[Sophie] We were making a
list of what group it could be

or who specifically it could be.

I feel like, at Beal, like,
there's certain groups.

The more popular one,

then there was the
cheer group that...

They were just cheerleaders.

And there was just another group of
girls that my cousin Adrianna was in,

who didn't have much drama.

And I thought it could've
been the quieter ones

'cause they could
have been more techy.

[Lauryn] I was like, "Is it
someone that even goes to Beal?"

"Is it someone
inside the school?"

[Owen] If it's a student,

when I get it at a certain time,
there's only so many people it can be.

If I got a text message during
the middle of a school day,

I would look around and see
if anyone was on their phone.

They knew, like, what I was
doing in class, I feel like.

[distorted voice] Fuckin' trash
bitch. Don't fuckin' wear leggings...

[Lauryn] I would question
what I wear to school,

how I look, how's my hair.

Definitely affected how
I thought about myself.

[Shawn] Lauryn came home
from school one day,

and she just had this look
on her face and attitude.

And I'm like, "What's going on?"

She's just like, "No, I just
got this dumb text at school."

I was just getting super
frustrated with it.

But my mom was like,
"Just ignore them."

"Obviously, you're beautiful."

Like, she was just encouraging
me to not read them.

[Kendra] I told her
just to keep being her

and just not even worry
about anything, right?

I didn't believe anybody
would do anything harmful.

[Owen] Then it started
to get worse and worse.

[phone chiming]

[Owen] It was so bad where I didn't
want to even go to school anymore.

I didn't really
know who to trust.

And then I said, "Okay, that's
it. I have to tell my parents."

[Jill] They're 13.

If this is a
ninth-grade girl or boy,

these are pretty intense.

-[dramatic music plays]
-[phone chiming]

[Jill] We started,
unfortunately,

having to take Owen's
phone every night.

I tried to fight them on it. I haven't
had my phone for a year. I wanted privacy.

[Jill] We would have to sit and
read all the messages, start to end.

There were times that these text messages
were coming in at a clip of, you know,

30, 40, 50 a day.

And that just seemed
very, very excessive.

[Jill] Shawn and Kendra
and Dave and I decided,

"Okay, the four of us need to
go to the school and sit down

and really show how
terrible this has gotten."

We were hoping for some
type of action, right?

'Cause some of the messages were
happening during school hours.

The school is responsible for them
when they're on school property.

So we really thought the school
would, you know, kind of,

"Let's see what we can do."

Unfortunately, in my opinion,

I don't think the school
handled things very well.

[man 1] I thought we were
gonna be doing a typical

cyberbullying type
of investigation,

which we handle a lot of,
unfortunately, in schools today.

Obviously, this situation turned
out much different than most.

When they showed me some
of the text messages,

I... I... I was astounded
by how vitriolic they were.

I've never seen this kind
of volume in my career.

What in the world?

They were vulgar and
nasty enough in nature

to make a 53-year-old man blush.

The evidence was extraordinary,

the egregiousness
of these texts,

and we knew this was
a serious matter.

[Lauryn] Me and Owen got called
out of last hour, I think it was,

and we walked in
there, and I was like,

"Oh no, this is not
about to happen."

"I'm so scared."

We didn't know exactly what was
going on, so we called Lauryn in,

'cause we didn't know.

She could be sending them to
herself for attention or...

We had no clue.

[Sophie] So we would try to, like,
say things loud next to certain people

to see if it would get brought
up into the text messages.

And the only time it got
brought into the text

was when we would
say it around Lauryn,

which was definitely a red flag.

Lauryn would never really
directly talk to me about things.

[Sophie] Lauryn was always
just, like, to herself,

never showed any emotion,

and only talked
about, like, sports

and just stuff that didn't
really mean a lot to her.

[lip-synching] ♪ Everybody want to
know What I would do if I didn't win ♪

♪ I guess we'll never know ♪

[Sophie] She had friends,

but not, like, a ton, and she was
always kind of a quiet person.

So I thought that Lauryn could have been
sending the text messages to herself

to try to, honestly,
get closer with Owen.

And it kind of seemed
like she wanted attention,

and this would be a way
that she could get it.

[Bill] We talked
to Owen and Lauryn,

but we did feel that we ruled them
out pretty quickly by their responses,

genuine responses.

[Owen] It kind of became a
little hot topic of the school.

[Bill] There's 700 kids
that go to Beal City.

Really, at this point,

you know, this could be anybody.

[dramatic music pulsing]

[Dan] I went to
some of my students

who I knew would be the
most truthful with me

and asked them
about the situation.

We asked every question
imaginable to these kids.

[Dan] They knew little
to nothing about it.

So I began with some
video surveillance,

marking when the
text would come in,

and then looking at video to see if
we could see someone in the hallway

sending a text at
that particular time.

Mr. Boyer wanted me to text
him when I got a text message,

so then he could see
who was on their phone.

So that I would know,
here's a time stamp,

and we could begin checking
cameras and looking to see

if we see someone who
excused them self from class.

They did all this, and they still
couldn't come up with it, you know?

And they kept getting
these text messages.

[Dan] It's hard to say if they're
sending a Snapchat or a harassing text

when we're just
looking at video.

[Jill] Kendra and I
started comparing notes.

We were at the school almost every day
with a practice or some sort of event.

So it would just be like, "Hey, you
know, did Lauryn get any messages today?"

"This is what Owen got."

Jill and I spoke about it.

When we were together, we could
talk about just about anything,

share things, you know,

kind of really feel,
like, a support there.

[Jill] We would sit down and
have conversations with Mr. Boyer

about the messages.

[Dan] Some of the first
techniques that we talked about

is to simply block the caller.

In this case, that wasn't
possible because they were using

a random number generator
application for their phone.

You know, we did try
blocking the number,

but then it would come
from another number.

We gave further advice to
change the students' numbers.

[Jill] We did contemplate
that for a while,

but we knew that it was someone
that we were close with.

The information that they knew.

They knew where they
were at all the time,

and we were afraid of never finding out
and allowing this person into our home.

You know, if it's one of their
friends, are we inviting them over?

Are we opening the doors to
somebody who did so much damage?

So we were not willing to give
up that hope of finding out.

I can't tell you
the countless times

just standing in the principal's
office, in tears, going,

"Can we please enforce
a cell phone policy?"

"Why does my kid have
access to look at this

when he should be learning?"

I'm kind of all over the board
with kids having phones at school,

because our cell phones... I mean,
I use mine as a personal office.

I work a lot from my phone.

You know, I know that they can be used
in a classroom as an educational tool.

[low, tense music plays]

[phone chimes]

[phone chimes]

So me and Lauryn were fine
through the text messages,

but then they started to make Lauryn
question herself and our relationship.

[phone chimes]

[Owen] And then the texter
was saying that we hung out.

[Lauryn] So then I was like,

"Okay, I don't even know if
I can trust Owen anymore."

[Owen] Me and Lauryn got
into a lot more fights.

She would accuse me of things
that aren't true at all

'cause she would listen
to the text messages.

We were just getting mad
at each other about it

when we shouldn't have
been mad at each other.

[Owen] The one thing the texter wanted
was for me and Lauryn to break up.

Me and Lauryn, we FaceTime,

and I told her that
it just got too much

and that maybe if we give them
what they want and they stop,

maybe one day, we can try again.

-[poignant music plays]
-[Owen] She was very heartbroken.

She was super hurt.

[Lauryn] He was my first love.

We had been together
for over two years.

And we just kind of stopped
talking to each other.

[Kendra] I talked to
Lauryn, just reminding her,

"You know who Owen is,

and... as a person,

even if he didn't like you, he's
not gonna say these things."

And, unfortunately, it became
a strain in their relationship.

The messages had just
gotten to be too much,

and I think that's really what the last
several months of their relationship

revolved around, was,

"Did you talk to this girl?"

"Were you, you know,
with this person?"

'Cause it's a lot of lies.

[Lauryn] I feel like, in the messages,
all they want us to do was break up.

But then, when we broke up, it
seemed like the messages got worse.

The fact that they're still going
after the one thing they wanted,

that was really heartbreaking.

[phone chiming]

[distorted voice]

[Lauryn] When I first read that,
I was, like, totally in shock.

Made me definitely feel sad.
I was in a bad mental state.

This is getting bad.

[Shawn] There are
some sick messages.

"Lauryn needs to
go kill herself."

"She shouldn't be alive. She
shouldn't be at this school anymore."

My blood pressure
is skyrocketing.

[Dan] When I think
about a student

who's been subjected to
this kind of harassment

for this period of time,

I'm worried about
their mental health.

The incredible toll
that that must take

on the emotional well-being
of a young person.

[phone chimes]

[Owen] It could definitely
mess with someone's mind.

[Jill] What happens one day
if this kid has enough of this

and they're not getting
the satisfaction

or the reaction that they're
wanting from the messages anymore?

One day, somebody
is going to snap.

I said, "We gotta nail
this son of a bitch."

[distorted voice]

[Jill] When the physical harm
started coming out in the messages,

we were afraid, as parents,

that something could
happen to our children.

It was a breaking point.

That was also about the time
that Officer Main got involved.

[man] I was contacted
by the school district

in regards to some
cyberbullying and harassment.

We met at the Beal City high school.
Both sets of parents were there.

The school superintendent
and principal were there.

And the parents explained that
this harassment had been going on

for over a year.

Both Jill and
Kendra, the mothers,

they were extremely concerned
about their children,

their mental health status,

how it was affecting
their school academics.

They were pleading for help.

The worst fear ever

is that both of the kids have
emotional trauma over this.

And when that gets to the point

where they can't sustain that
emotional trauma anymore,

their potential for risk
of self-harm is huge.

It's actually
extremely concerning.

[school bell rings]

[dramatic music playing]

[Mike] I knew I was looking
for a group of students

who had a very close bond.

Like, they're sworn to secrecy.

They're not gonna tell
anybody about what's going on.

So early on, I thought
that's probably what it was.

[phone chimes]

[Lauryn] Once or twice a week,
Sheriff Main would come to school

and just ask questions like,
"When was your last message?"

"What was it about?"

[Mike] How are things
transpiring? Any different?

-Anything less, more, same?
-[Owen] Hmm.

-Not as many messages.
-[Mike] Okay.

Don't let it get you down. It's
just garbage. Somebody's...

Somebody needs some serious help.
So, um, we'll go from there.

[man on video] Shot is good.

[Lauryn] During basketball
season, I started getting messages

related to our games.

I remember there was
one basketball game

where I didn't have any
points or something,

so they were hating
on me in the messages.

[phone chimes]

The sad part is that Lauryn
is a really good athlete,

and she just, you
know, kind of gave up.

[Lauryn] Maybe somebody watching
the game could have been sending it.

[cheering on video]

[cheers erupt]

[Bill] There were details
in some of the texts

that made it seem as though
that somebody was stalking them.

[Jill] I called Kendra and said, "You
know the girls on the basketball team."

"I don't know them very well."

"Does this look like any of them?
I mean, you've coached them."

"Who competes with Lauryn?"

[Kendra] This is where I
started to really think,

"Okay, is somebody on the high
school team jealous or envious?"

[Lauryn] I got one text
where the sender talked about

how many points they scored
in the game the night before.

So me and my mom thought
maybe we could figure out

who scored that many points.

My mom was a volunteer
scorekeeper at most games,

so she thought we could
look at the score chart.

And when we looked, only one
person had that amount of points.

Khloe Wilson.

It's like, "Whoa."
Like, "Hold on."

[unsettling music builds]

[music halts]

[Owen] "It can't be Khloe."

[Sophie] Khloe and
Owen kind of like...

They weren't... I don't know how
to explain their relationship.

They were a little bit more than friends.
They kind of always liked each other.

[Lauryn] Khloe really
had a crush on Owen.

I think she would always just go and
talk to him just to make me jealous.

[Sophie] Owen and Khloe became,
like, really good friends,

but then he started
dating Lauryn.

So, yeah, Lauryn and
Khloe never got along.

Khloe wasn't the nicest
person growing up,

and she wasn't a bully, but she...
she wasn't a nice person by any means.

And I think that she said
some things to Lauryn

that just made
Lauryn not like her.

I didn't like Khloe

because I feel like we just had
two completely different vibes.

We played basketball together, and
we just didn't match each other.

We were told by the school
that, when we took the name,

like, "Could this potentially...
Could you see this being Khloe?"

At that point, it was like, "Well,
we've had some issues in the past."

Seventh through eighth grade, there was
just multiple allegations against Khloe

where she was bullying or she
wasn't being nice to this person.

The principal called Khloe in constantly,
and she's like, "I'm not doing anything."

♪ Where I wanna go, break free ♪

♪ Tattoos on her body
And she light-skin... ♪

[Craig] She was a leader.

At the time, she had
a huge friend group.

It spanned, you know...

-To other schools.
-...to several other schools.

And, you know, so I think
that, to some people...

I'm not gonna say they
were offended by that,

but maybe they wanted that
sort of thing for themselves.

[unsettling music builds]

-[music abates]
-[phone chimes]

[dramatic sting]

[music fades]

I started to look at a young
lady by the name of Khloe Wilson.

She had scored the 12 points
in the basketball game.

I learned that there was a
lot of messaging going on,

talking about a Halloween party.

And it was interesting because
I discovered that that party,

it was actually put on
by Khloe and her family.

Maybe Khloe was interested in Owen
and that was one of the other motives.

Was she

jealous of Lauryn?

-[Mike] All right. Khloe, how are you?
-[Khloe] Hi.

[Mike] Have a seat right here.

[man] Sheriff Main, here you go.

[Mike] Tell me your story.
I mean, let's hear it.

[Khloe] Okay. So...
I didn't even...

I didn't know about
all of this stuff

that was happening until, like,
probably around volleyball season.

I would just hear, like, little
things here and there from Owen.

I didn't really talk to them
that much at all really.

Like, I'm not close with Lauryn.

And... [scoffs] ...then it
started getting blamed on me.

[Mike] There's 348 pages.

They're nasty. I mean, they're... they're
past, like, harassment. These are...

This is stalking.

I just wanna get it stopped.
Like, it's gotta stop.

[Khloe] Well, I don't have
anything to do with it.

I'm with people all the time, and if
something were happening like that,

someone would see it.

[Shawn] I thought, "Khloe's gonna get away
with this. Her dad is a police officer."

"He's gonna do certain
things to get rid of things."

And there was all kinds of, like,
thoughts going on with that.

[Mike] I did some research and
asked questions at the school,

and they said Sophie and Macy are
really good friends with Khloe.

They're a pretty close group. So
I thought, "Well, there we are."

"There's my close group."

"There's the three that are... that
know about what's going on here."

"I'll talk to one of
these two young girls."

"We'll get to the
bottom of this quickly."

Me and Sophie have always been close.
Our parents were super close friends.

And so our whole childhood, basically,
was spending time with each other.

I might have been, like, taking
Owen away from Sophie a little bit,

so she might have wanted
to get back at me.

-[Mike] Hi. Sophie?
-[Sophie] Yeah.

[Mike] Hi. I'm talking
to lots of people today.

Any idea why?

I don't know. I kind of have an
idea, 'cause I'm close with Owen.

[Mike] Okay. Are you
friends with Khloe?

[Sophie] Yeah, she's
one of my close friends.

[Mike] Do you think
Khloe would do it?

[Sophie] I couldn't,
'cause her dad's a police,

so she wouldn't be dumb enough
to do something like that.

[Mike] Thank you.

[woman 1] I got a phone
call from Mike Main

stating that he had pulled
Sophie into an interview,

and they had actually interviewed
an entire group of kids.

[Jill] I remember reaching out
to Korin, who's my best friend,

saying, "Can you please talk
to your daughter about this?"

"This is getting
out of control."

[Korin] So I had taken Sophie's
phone and gone through it.

She was looking if there's
messages from Khloe to Sophie,

or if Sophie has these
burner apps on her phone.

[Korin] There had been arguments
and, you know, yelling.

"I think you know what's
going on. You have to know."

[Lauryn] Khloe, Macy, Sophie
were always in a certain area,

just all huddled up
together on their phones.

[phone chimes]

At that point, the parents started to
get more and more upset with the school

because we weren't doing more.

I reached out to the
basketball coach,

who was fed up at this point 'cause
the girls on the team are fighting.

And I said, "Is there any way that
we can talk to your basketball team

and just show them, like,

'This is what's happening. Can you
go through your kids' phones?'"

And he was like,
"Yes, absolutely."

"I think this is a great idea.
Just run it through the school."

Then we were informed by Mr. Chillman
that that was not going to happen.

The parents wanted to
come into classrooms.

[chuckles] And they just...

They wanted to get involved in
the investigation themselves,

you know, have
these group meetings

and confront people and
start pointing fingers.

We told the parents, I
told them point-blank,

"That isn't gonna go how
you think it's gonna go."

[Tami] You got Jill and
Kendra going into the school,

just bitching at Dan.

And luckily, the superintendent
is like, "You're crazy."

They made quite a
scene at the school.

There was a point

to where Owen was trying to
get Khloe to confess to this.

He was giving her the what-for
constantly, like a daily thing.

Owen later texted Khloe
or called her the next day

and said, "That was my
mom. I'm sorry about that."

Jill was sending texts that wasn't...
that was not her, pretending to be Owen.

All the evidence kept
pointing to Khloe.

[Sophie] Me and Macy
did confront her,

and she, like... got upset,

and she was like, "I... I'm not doing it.
I don't know why no one will believe me."

[Khloe] Owen said something to
me first. "Are you doing this?"

And I was just like, "No."

After a while, I kept
getting asked more and more,

'cause after I got asked once,

it really just all started to
look more and more like me.

[Mike] As it continued, Owen
and Lauryn received area codes

from an area in Florida.

And we're told Khloe and her family
had taken a spring break trip

to the Florida area during
that period of time.

So when those messages come in with
those area codes, you start to think,

"Okay, this is, you know, potentially
pointing right back to her

as a person of interest."

[Tami] I don't think we
were across the border

for not even an hour,

and Mike's texting us that
it's coming from Florida now.

[intriguing music playing]

I was just like, "It's not me. I
don't know what you want me to do."

And my dad was like, "You
should get your phone dumped."

Khloe and her family provided Khloe's
phone for a forensic download.

But there was just
nothing on her phone.

[music rises, fades]

[phone chimes]

[Owen] Khloe was searched by the
police, her phone was dumped,

and we kept on getting messages
saying that she got her phone dumped.

It was weird because if
Khloe was the one texting,

why would she reference herself?

I would get texts of
pictures of me and Khloe,

and it just... it
just got so weird.

Like, she was referencing
herself too much.

Why would Khloe send a picture of
herself if she didn't wanna get caught?

Nobody would actually
directly point to themselves.

It almost had to be
somebody setting her up.

[Khloe] I was just thinking about
who in my class would want to, like,

frame me like this
and just do this.

[dramatic music playing]

[music fades]

[Mike] As an investigator,

we have to be very careful that
we don't get that tunnel vision.

We were probably over a
thousand pages of full messages.

So I read every one of them,

looking for that...
that hidden clue.

A few weeks prior,

there was a text message conversation
about a sweatshirt and a phone case,

and a picture had been taken.

And that picture was sent to Owen
and Lauryn from this perpetrator.

[Jill] It was very alarming

because the only people
that would have been able

to even take that picture
at our family Christmas

were obviously people
that were there with us,

which would just have
been our families.

Sheriff Main asked us who would have
been potentially at the Christmas

that also would have
been in Owen's class.

The only family member
that is in Owen's class

is his cousin Adrianna.

[Khloe] I think Adrianna could
have been a part of this.

She was in a group of girls that
just kind of kept to themselves.

We grew up playing sports
together with these girls,

and maybe they thought I
was just being rude to them,

or I just didn't like
them for some reason,

just 'cause I can be a little competitive
in sports and stuff like that.

So maybe they just didn't like
me because of that, I thought.

[Sophie] When we were in middle school,
Adrianna, like, made up this rumor

that we bullied her and that
we threw carrots at her.

[Mike] Khloe thinks
somebody's setting her up.

Your cousin is, uh,
Adrianna, right?

[Owen] Yes.

[Mike] Sounds like maybe there was history
with Khloe or something from forever ago,

but she was just trying to
figure out who could be doing it.

There's no one else that
would dislike us that much

to make it sound like we're
bullying someone else.

[Adrianna] There was a couple of
times I did not wanna go to school.

It was a very
stressful time for me.

I was on the volleyball team
with Khloe, Macy, and Sophie.

They had their group, and if
you weren't part of that group,

you were considered what
I call "the outsiders."

And if you were an outsider,
they weren't nice to you.

It was last volleyball season that
we dealt with Adrianna and her mom.

It started last year.

They started this huge
thing in volleyball.

And this... There was another time
that we got called into Boyer's office,

and they got caught lying.

And it wasn't until a
couple of parents stood up,

that go to the games, see all
this, say, "This is ridiculous."

[Mike] None of it's true.

[Adrianna] It makes you feel like the
entire world is going against you.

Like, it feels like
there is no way out.

There was no good days
I had at that point.

I didn't tell anybody. My mom
had noticed it, and she spoke up.

She made a Facebook post.

It wasn't calling
anybody out or anything.

She was just saying, "This is
what my kid is going through."

"We need to get this
fixed" type thing.

And after that, it kind of...

I wouldn't say it spiraled,
but it didn't get any better.

Parents were involved in it,
making all these Facebook posts.

Her mom was, like, on a "I'm
a victim," you know, journey.

My finger is pointing towards
Adrianna. That's who I think it is.

[Adrianna] People thought it
was me trying to frame Khloe

because of the way she
had been treating me.

When I first heard about the
messages, Owen had texted me

and asked if, like, I was
getting these text messages.

I remember I told him,
"Just send me the numbers."

"I'll check and see if I have them
in my contacts." And I did not.

But that was really the
last I heard about it

until after I got
questioned by the cops.

The next step in the investigation
was obviously to speak with Adrianna.

I asked her if she was involved or
if she had any information on this.

He was drilling me with questions.
Like, it was very intense.

He had asked me, like, if I
had anything against Lauryn.

Um, and, of course, I was like, "No,
I don't have anything against Lauryn."

[Mike] I asked about the picture that
had been taken at a Christmas party.

[Adrianna] He had asked me if
I knew who took the picture

or if I took the picture.

I just... I didn't know how
people thought I could do that.

But it was also very hurtful, 'cause
I was this quiet kid at school.

I didn't really talk to
anybody. I... I wronged nobody.

I was just kinda confused as to
why they thought I would do that.

Walking into class after being
questioned by Sheriff Main,

everybody was looking at me
like they knew what happened.

They were looking at
me like I was guilty.

My opinion towards police
officers has changed since then.

Now, every time I pass a cop
on the road, like, I am scared.

Like, I'm scared of cops now.

It was very traumatic
for her, A, to think...

I mean, you got called into
the office to talk to a cop

about a situation that she
really didn't know a lot about.

And, I mean, absolutely, there was
no way that she was a part of this.

[Adrianna] After I had
talked to Sheriff Main,

there was one day I was sitting in
the living room with my parents...

[cell phone chimes]

...and I got a message
from an unknown number.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Adrianna] I was terrified.

As soon as I got the message,
I dropped my phone. I cried.

Like, I was bawling my eyes out.
Like, I was... I was terrified.

[sniffles]

I was really worried about
like, "Who is this person?"

"Why do they have
my phone number?"

It was scary 'cause I didn't think
that it would ever happen to me.

[geese honking]

[Jill] In the spring of 2022, we
were not living our normal lives.

Every night was
practically sleepless.

[phone chimes]

[Jill] The messages
would just go nonstop.

I mean, 1:00 in the morning, 3:00
in the morning. It was relentless.

You wake up and see this. You're like,
"Oh, okay. Good morning to you too."

[Shawn] Kind of turned into an
argument at home about these messages.

And the tension in the house, you know,
you could just feel the vibe in the house.

No one could get along
right now, you know,

and just everybody
is mad, you know.

I started to yell
at Kendra because,

"You're doing nothing. You
told me you can handle this."

And she's like, "Oh, you know
what? I'll keep taking care of it."

[Kendra] I wasn't spending
enough time at home.

Yes, Lauryn was a priority, and
I spent tons of time with her.

But unfortunately... Shawn
wasn't made a priority.

[Shawn] Kendra and I were
arguing and fighting.

Then, all of a sudden, we had to
start moving from place to place.

Went through four houses
through all this mess.

And it just, you know,
led to financial struggle,

worse financial struggles
than we were already in.

[Shawn] Lauryn can't sleep. We're
forcing her to go to school.

She's crying in the morning.
She doesn't wanna go to school.

[phone chimes]

[Lauryn] Like, reading them now,

little me was just trying
to stick up for myself.

[Jill] Uh-huh. Wow.

[Jill sobs]

Oh my God. Clearly this is lack
of sleep and stress, but...

[Mike] Okay.

[voice breaks] So there is
nothing... nothing that we can do?

I... This is like...

Have we taken the phone,
changed the number?

I have the phone.

-[Mike] Okay.
-I... I have it, um...

It's already going
off all morning.

It was horrible
yesterday, and...

I... I don't know how
to handle Owen with it,

and, um... [sobs]

I mean, there's no
way to just track this

when they send their messages.

And they're doing it...

They're taunting
me right now about

the police, and, like, it's...

I just can't...

Did... did you get... did
you get Owen a new phone?

-No. No.
-Okay.

He just doesn't have
one at the moment.

Like, a week or so ago,

I think it was two... Oh, no.

They would not leave Owen alone.

So he sent them this message

that said, "I hope you people know
that you make me feel suicidal."

Um, you know, he didn't
actually spell it all correctly,

but that's what he responded,

um, which totally
put me over the edge.

[tense, electronic music plays]

Jill had said to Mike that
she was gonna go to the papers

if they couldn't
figure something out.

[Jill] Mike Main had talked
to all of these people,

Khloe, Sophie, Macy, Adrianna,

and still was no closer to
finding out who was behind this.

Again, he said, "I think you're just
gonna have to get Owen another phone."

And I said, "That's
not good enough."

"Someone needs to be held
accountable for what they've done."

[Mike] I had tapped out the resources
that I felt that I had available to me.

So I provided my reports
and my case to the FBI

and asked for assistance
in their cybercrimes unit.

[man] In April of '22,

Sheriff Mike Main
requested some assistance

in a case he was investigating.

He gave me a thumb drive that
contained 720 pages of messages.

[Jill] Brad was appalled at the
messages and the lack of help.

I've seen cases like this where
the victim can't handle any more,

and they commit
suicide, unfortunately.

The first thing I wanted to do

was a full phone
extraction of Owen's phone

to see if, maybe
somewhere in his phone,

I could gather some clues as to
who may be sending these messages.

[rhythmic, intriguing
music plays]

I did perform a full extraction.

So, basically, messages,
pictures, emails,

geolocations is presented
to me in separate files,

but I was not able to find
anything that was linking

any of his friends that may
be sending these messages.

So I didn't really gather anything
new after doing a phone extraction.

[light, electronic
music playing]

[Owen] I started dating
a girl from Pinconning.

We talked a lot. We were close.
Like, it was a serious thing.

I slowly started to feel happy again.
Like, maybe everything will be okay.

[Mike] Owen had been over in
the Pinconning, Michigan, area,

which is a couple hours away from
our location, for a sporting event,

and had met a girl and started
communicating with this girl.

[Owen] One day, she texted me,

and she's like, "Um, my mom just
got a random text from someone."

And it... Here we go again.

It's the same
format, same words,

telling the girl from Pinconning
to back off me 'cause I'm theirs.

[phone chimes]

[Owen] The texter
went out of their way

to find her mom's phone number
that lives in Pinconning.

I just felt like I couldn't
do anything anymore.

I... I had no freedom.

I felt like I couldn't date anyone
'cause I was putting them in danger,

and just... I don't wanna put them through
the same thing Lauryn went through.

It would eat me alive. Each and every day,
I'd feel like I'd lose trust in everyone.

That was terrifying, knowing that
somebody was watching him that closely

and also had the ability

to find phone numbers of
people that I didn't even know.

It was somebody who was truly
watching, like, every movement of his.

[phone chimes]

[Owen] So me and the girl from Pinconning
ended up breaking up 'cause of this.

[Mike] Now you're wondering
how would those messages,

that we've seen by the
hundreds and hundreds of,

start to go to this family?

[Jill] He was very
fidgety and angry.

The anger really started
to become apparent to us.

A lot of aggression on
the basketball court

was something that we noticed.

[tense music playing]

It was very obvious, the
days that were harder on him,

especially with the
content of the messages.

It was almost like he was trying
to take it out in a physical way

without physically
hurting anyone.

[phone chimes]

[tense music halts]

[tense music resumes]

[Bradley] The next thing I do is

I take a look at the phone number
that was sending these messages

and try to determine what
company owned this phone number.

I did some research and found out at
least one of them came from Pinger.

It's an application that people
use to disguise their phone number.

I submitted a search
warrant to Pinger,

and they gave me two IP addresses
that belonged to a Verizon network.

So, at this point, I submitted
a search warrant to Verizon

for information on
these two IP addresses.

Tuesday, May 23rd, Verizon did send
me the search warrant results back,

and they gave me a
several-page document

with what phone numbers were
attached to these two IP addresses.

[Jill] He called me
one day and told me

that they got the list of phone
numbers from the IP address

and wanted me to give
him any phone number

from any possible suspect.

So I talked to Owen and had him send
me basically any of his friends,

any phone numbers that he had.

[Bradley] I could not
find any of those numbers

connected to this IP address.

[Jill] What about adults?
What about, you know, whoever?

So we... we just
dumped contacts.

[Bradley] And then I found one
phone number that kept coming up

being connected to that IP address
at the time these messages were sent.

[electronic whirring]

[pinging]

And the phone number was...

[tense music builds]

...Lauryn's mom, uh, Kendra.

[dramatic sting]

[haunting music plays]

[Bradley] Um...

I really didn't
know what to say.

[Jill] Brad got back
a hold of me and said,

"The only phone number on all these
pages out of everybody you've sent me

that matches is
Kendra's phone number."

And I said, "It's not her."

He's like, "Do you think there's
a possibility it could be her?"

And I said, "No."

"She's helping me.
She's Lauryn's mom."

I said, "It's... it's not her."

[Bradley] I ended up
meeting with Sheriff Main.

I presented to him who I felt
was involved in the case.

I gave him a thumb drive with
all the search warrant results,

all my search warrants,
my whole report.

[Mike] I remember
thinking in my head...

[chuckles] "This
doesn't make sense."

A reasonable person would say,

"There is no absolute way

that Kendra Licari is sending
these messages to her daughter,"

but we've eliminated
everything up to this point.

And then I started realizing that
Kendra has tried to interject herself

into my investigation a few
times under the guise of,

"Can you tell me where
you're at with everything?"

"Can you... can you
update me on the case?"

[Bill] Sheriff Main
called me and said,

"We have some concerns that it
might be one of the parents."

And I'm like,

"No way!"

Kendra helped coach and... and...
and was at the school involved.

I... Even when Lauryn
was in elementary school,

I can remember Kendra
helping with the book fair

and other events that
we had at the school.

I mean, she was a
supportive, caring parent.

[man] When the
sheriff came to me

and said, "Hey, we've identified
the mom as a potential suspect,"

I said, "You gotta
be shitting me."

No one in their right mind would have
thought a mother would do this to a child.

When we get involved,

our role is typically to
review a search warrant.

The sheriff approached me and
said we may need a search warrant

for the electronics
belonging to Ms. Licari.

You start to look at it, and you say,
"She's involved as a coach at the school."

"She's got an IT background."

You know, "She's...
she's always around

when the kids are... are
receiving these text messages."

[tense music playing]

[Mike] So one of my detectives and
I, armed with a search warrant,

head to Kendra Licari's home.

There was very limited evidence,
so it was a tightrope to walk.

It wasn't exactly a
straightforward case.

We were able to identify an IP address
that belonged to Kendra Licari,

but we weren't necessarily able
to say who was behind that device.

[Mike] We had to make sure
that we had enough information

to get a conviction
in this case.

I needed a recorded confession.

We want as much
evidence as possible.

[music fades out]

[police radio chatter]

-[Mike] Hi, Kendra.
-[Kendra] Hi.

-[Mike] We gotta have a conversation.
-[Kendra] Okay.

-[Mike] And I have a search warrant...
-Okay.

[Mike] ...for your
devices and your phones.

-Okay.
-[Mike] All right?

I wanna go in, sit down,
and talk. Anybody else here?

[Kendra] Lauryn is.

[Mike] I'd rather
Lauryn stay in her room.

You have a place we can
sit down and have a chat?

[Kendra] Um... yeah.

[tense music resumes]

-[officer] Is there a phone on you?
-Yeah.

[Mike] Here's the warrant.

[officer] Do you have any other
devices you use? Do you have a laptop?

My computer is outside.

-[officer] Where is it at?
-On the back porch.

[Mike] So this is the deal.

When we were doing the investigation
and the FBI got involved,

we come up with some stuff
that comes back to you.

What do you mean?

[Mike] The messages coming
and originating from you.

No.

[Mike] Every message
that went to the kids,

your number come back through
Pinger or whatever it is,

the app that's tried to hide it.

Your number, even though it was being
hid, showed up every single message.

-My number?
-[Mike] Yep.

Is it... Does it
have to do with Owen?

-Is there an infatuation there with Owen?
-No, nothing like that.

[Mike] Okay. Then just tell me what... You
know, did he treat Lauryn bad? I mean...

Um...

[Mike] It's something serious,
'cause it went on a while, right?

Yeah. And it didn't
start that way.

-[Mike] And I'm sure it didn't.
-[Kendra] It...

-I don't even know.
-[Mike] That's okay.

Just start from the beginning.

So they were dating, and then
they started... they broke up.

So how did... how did it really
start? Like, why did it start at...

Did it start during... when
they were still dating?

-It did.
-[Mike] Was he treating her bad?

But it... Like, it didn't...

The first ones didn't
start, like, with me.

-[Mike] Okay.
-I will say that.

Those ones were,

like, random or whatever.

[Mike] So somebody else started
those. You don't know 'em.

Yeah, um, but then I,
like, fed off of it some.

Her confession isn't an
over-the-top admission.

She more or less is tacitly admitting
that she did it by not denying it,

but it wasn't a, you know,
clear admission of guilt.

[Mike] Does Lauryn
know anything about it?

No.

-[Mike] All right.
-I really don't want her to.

[Mike] Not sure that's gonna be
something we can solve, right?

Because I have to let Jill
know and those guys, um...

Really? I mean...

[Mike] There's others that are gonna
wanna know because their daughter,

like the Wilsons, has been
accused of all this throughout.

And it's a bad deal. I get it.

Once this is out there, like, I
don't know how she can go to school.

[Mike] I know. I know.

Do you have any other
electronic devices you use?

I haven't... No.

[Mike] You want me to go
out and talk to Lauryn?

-Can we just bring her in here?
-[Mike] Mm-hmm. Yup.

Miss Lauryn, can you come in?

-How are you today?
-[Lauryn] Good. How are you?

[Mike] Good.

When your mom comes back out, we're
gonna chat for a few minutes, okay?

[Lauryn] All right.

[Mike] All right, Miss Lauryn. So I'm
just gonna start the conversation.

You guys have been under
a lot of stress lately,

some moves going on,

some financial issues, and
everything else going on.

Mom got wrapped up
into some stuff,

and she didn't start
it but continued it.

So we found some evidence
and have a search warrant.

We're gonna take
her phone and stuff.

Sometimes when we're
not... thinking straight,

we do some things
that aren't right.

Your mom doesn't want this to get out,
but it is some public information.

So it's not going to not get out. I
wanna be honest about it, all right?

Um, she said you had no idea what
was going on, and I believe that.

What has to happen now is

I have to make sure you and your
mom are safe before I leave.

So I'd like you to call your dad

so maybe he can come home
and meet with us, okay?

Yeah.

[police radio chatter]

[line ringing]

[indistinct chatter
over cell phone]

[Mike] Hey, Sha... Shawn?

-[Shawn] Yeah?
-Hi, this is Sheriff Mike Main.

-I'm with Lauryn and Kendra.
-[Shawn] Oh, hey. What's going on?

[Mike] Do you have a minute to chat where
you're available in someplace quiet?

[Shawn] Yeah.

[Shawn] I get this crazy
phone call while I'm at work,

and it's the sheriff saying
that they figured it out.

I'm like, "Sweet. Finally,
this is gonna be over with."

He's like, "I'm sorry.
I gotta tell you this."

I'm like, "What? I
wanna know who it is."

He's like, "Unfortunately,
it's your wife."

[inhales deeply] And
I'm like, "Okay."

You know, I don't know what to say to
him because, you know, I'm in shock.

And just, you know, "She's the one
doing this for the year and a half,

the text messaging?"

And he's like, "Are you still there?"
And I'm like, "Are you for real?"

I said, "This is my
fucking wife doing this?"

So I come flying home.

The sheriff was standing
on the front porch.

[Mike] So this is the deal.

Every time the kids received a
message, her number came back.

So that was enough for a search warrant,
and that's why we're here today.

So we took her phone and her computer.
My detective was collecting that.

I started talking to her. I said,
"It's over with. It's done."

May I ask what... what
phone did you take?

[Mike] Mmm... She had it in her
pocket. I can show you. So...

She's got a couple of them.

[Mike] Okay, I have a search warrant for
all of them, so I'd like all of them.

Should she go to jail? I mean...

[Mike] Well... So
this is the deal.

Felony stalking. That's
what the charge is.

I knew there was a lot
of things going on.

Yeah. Worst, yeah.

[Mike] Yep, I know she was
let go from Ferris, you know,

and she had IT backgrounds.

[Shawn] He's like, "She's
doing all the text messaging."

"She lost, you know,
both of her jobs,

and she hasn't had a
job in over a year."

"She hasn't had a
job for over a year?"

You just said she got let go.
She told me that she quit.

[Mike] Uh... I was told by somebody I
know over there that she was let go.

She was no longer employed. So I
think there's more to that story too.

[somber music playing]

[Mike] Shawn looked
like a broken person.

He just... He was trying to

process what I had just told him

and understand

this whole ordeal and...
and... and how this could be.

There was a lot more to unpack than
just what was going on with Lauryn.

[Mike] But we do wanna go ask her about
this other phone. I appreciate that.

And those devices need
to be away from her.

Let's go in the house.

[Mike] Yeah.

Hey, Kendra, so I wanna
be real clear here.

Like, you have
any other devices?

Apparently, there's another phone
somewhere, so where's that at?

[Kendra] I...

[Mike] You... you gotta tell me.
Right? You've already confessed to it.

You gotta tell me where.

[officer] I don't wanna rip
this house apart, but I will.

[Mike] That search warrant right
there gives us the authority

to flip it upside down.

I have no will to destroy
this house, but I will.

-It's outside.
-[Mike] Outside where?

-Where?
-On the side.

[Mike] That house where you
tried to walk away from us?

Okay.

[officer] I'll go grab the other
copy. Just unlock the door.

[Shawn] So what
happened at Ferris?

-[tense music playing]
-What?

-Tell me the truth.
-[Mike] Time to get it off your shoulders.

If I blow a gasket when they leave, I'll
probably go to jail, so tell me now.

I got let go from it.

Yeah. What about the Texas job?

You still have that or you
got terminated from that?

No, I don't have that.

-[Shawn] You don't have that either?
-No.

So when did you get
let go from that?

[Kendra] A while ago.

Are you fucking telling me
the truth? Or are you lying?

No.

When did you get
let go from there?

About the same time.

So you've been lying to me
for, like, six months, a year?

-You haven't been working for Texas?
-[Kendra] Right.

[Shawn] Mm-hmm.

Wow.

[tense music continues]

Okay. You need to go
somewhere tonight.

I don't know where you gotta
go, but she's gotta go.

You need to call your parents,
have them come get you,

because... this is it.

[Kendra sniffles]

I can't do this anymore. The
other house, this house...

Now I know what the truth is.

And having her in the
middle? This is not good.

Okay. You need to call your
parents. Here's my phone.

You need to go.

[Lauryn sobbing]

[Shawn] You need to
call your parents. Nope.

-While he's here... No. You need to go.
-[Kendra] No. Hold on, please.

[Shawn] You gotta
go. I'll call them.

[Kendra] Shawn, just wait
for a second, please.

[Shawn] No. I can't do
this, Kendra. I'm sorry.

I... I can't leave her.

[Shawn] Nah, you gotta.

No.

I can't.

[Shawn] They're getting their stuff
around and they're heading north.

All right.

They're in Waterford, so...

I don't wanna go with them.

[Shawn] Well, your dad
and mom's on their way.

So I told them I'd talk
to them face-to-face.

-I need to stay with her.
-You... We gotta get some time apart.

[Mike] I think...

If I or you do something
stupid, we're both in trouble,

and then she's gonna go away.

Okay?

We gotta work through this.

We just gotta be separated
for a little while.

[Mike] Miss Lauryn, I'm so sorry that
I had to knock on your door today,

and I hope you guys
find a path, all right?

-Okay.
-[Mike] All right. Thank you.

[Shawn] Thanks, Mike.

[sobbing] I don't know.

[music fades out]

[sniffles]

-[sobbing] Sorry.
-[director] There's a Kleenex there.

-I'm sorry.
-[director] It's okay.

[sniffles]

[sighs deeply]

You guys are gonna think
I'm the crazy lady. [laughs]

[director] No.

[Kendra sighs]

It was a very high emotional
day in our house, um...

A day of... confusion,

unknown answers,

um... shock.

A day of not even knowing how we
move forward to the next day, um...

So it was a hard day, um...

but at the same time,

it was an end.

[reflective music playing]

[Lauryn] I think the shock
feeling turned into sad,

which turned into mad,
which turned into crazy.

I don't even know how
to describe the feeling.

Why would my mom do this?

But, like, did she
really, actually do this?

Like, I can't
believe it, honestly.

I was just really confused.

[sighs heavily]

[Shawn] I can't believe she would do
something like that to her daughter...

that supposedly
she loved dearly.

[sniffles]

You know, a 14-,
15-year-old daughter...

You know, it just makes me sick.

You know, she stabbed me in the heart,
shot me in the heart, and threw it away.

[Jill] Mike called
me and just said,

you know, "It's over."

And I'm like, "Wha... I
don't understand. It's over?"

And he said, "I went to Kendra's house,
and, um, she confessed to everything."

And it was like...

[hesitates] I...

I can't ever get that
feeling out of me,

just the disgust
and, like, betrayal.

This woman we allowed into our lives
and our house and my kids' lives,

and I just...

You just can't...

You just cannot imagine
what that felt like.

Hmm. [sighs, scoffs softly]

I don't know.

I was just speechless.

Hmm.

Just, like, I didn't
know how to handle it.

You know, it was just like my...
my head was spinning, like...

Yeah.

How... how could a
mom do such a thing?

It's just, like, crazy

that someone that close
could do something like that,

well, to me, but also
to her own daughter.

[Kendra] Every single
one of us makes mistakes.

Not a single one of us
has lived a perfect life.

And, realistically, a lot of
us have probably broke the law

at some point or another
and not got caught.

I mean, I'll be
honest, you know.

I'm sure people drove drunk,
haven't been caught, right?

But again, if you get caught,

you're in the same situation I'm
in but for a different thing.

So I do feel that, you know,

people lose sight of that.

I know, to some, I'm a headline.

I'm a villain.

I'm a bad mom. I'm a whatever.

But that's because they know
one little piece of my story.

They don't know my whole story.

[light, intriguing music plays]

[woman 1] Kendra's mom
and my mom are sisters.

They were the only two kids,
so we were close growing up

'cause there was
just the two of them.

She was fun, outgoing,
like, the life of the party.

We've been on tons of cruises.
Probably about six or seven cruises.

Some girls' cruises,
family cruises.

[cheering on video]

[man on video] I said, ladies!

[woman 2 whoops]

She does like
attention, I think.

If she was here right now
and you were talking to me,

she would be dancing over there
to try and get you to look at her.

♪ Tell me what you want What
you really, really want! ♪

♪ So tell me what you want
What you really want! ♪

[Melissa] But as far as being there
for people and being... a good person,

yes, I mean, she was.

She would help you. She would...

You know, I could... Before all this, I
probably could have called her anytime

and said, "I need you to do
this," and she would be there.

She was the baseball coach for Lauryn.
She was basketball coach for Lauryn.

So she always seemed
to be very involved.

Kendra being a mom, you know, I thought
she was great at what she's done,

you know, with Lauryn, and made sure
she was always there and on time

and just being a mom, you know.

Life was perfect and everything
was great, and then, you know...

[music fades out]

...things started happening.

[phone chimes]

[Kendra] So the first text
message started around Halloween.

[director] And did you
send those text messages?

No, those ones, I did not.

It wasn't until... [sighs]

...way later, um, on.

So the messages kind of
stopped for a little bit,

and then they picked back up.

In my mind, I'm like, "How
long do we let this go on?"

"What do I do as a parent?"

Honestly, the best way
would have been to stop it

by shutting her cell
phone down, right?

But then I was like, "Well, why
should she have to do that?"

You know? "Why should I have
to get her a new cell phone?"

Like,

because of someone
else's actions, right?

I really wanted to get to the
bottom of who it was, right?

And that's when I started sending
the text messages to Lauryn and Owen.

[foreboding music plays]

I was sending the messages in hopes
that maybe they would send back,

asking, "Is this somebody?"
or, "Is this so-and-so?"

To just kind of give
me something, right?

And then also hoping that,

as they maybe talked about the messages
amongst their friend groups and stuff,

that something might come
up that could help pinpoint,

you know, where they
were originating from.

I started in the thoughts of,

"We need some answers," um...

And then it just...

-[music halts]
-...kept going.

[tense music plays]

It was a spiral.

Kind of a snowball effect.

I don't think I
knew how to stop.

[thunder rumbling]

[Kendra] I was somebody
different in those moments.

I was in an awful
place mentally.

It was like I had a
mask on or something.

I don't even know who I was.

[Melissa] She just kind of
changed. She was more introverted,

didn't reach out as much.

I guess more
self-absorbed too, maybe.

[Kendra] Sometimes,
it was an hour a day

or eight hours a day.

I let it consume me.

[phone chimes]

[Lauryn] Her saying that she didn't
send the first couple messages

makes it sound a
little bit weird,

but, I don't know, I think
it might have just been her.

I had evidence and proof
through search warrants

to third-party vendors and apps that
she had been sending the messages.

Sometimes, you know, in law enforcement,
we see people try to deflect.

But I did ask who started
it. She said she didn't know.

To this day, I do not believe
that no one else started it.

[Dan] Up until the time
Kendra Licari was revealed

as the perpetrator
of the text messages,

we believed that she was fully
employed at Ferris State University

in their tech department.

But that was not the case.

She hadn't been working
for a long time.

This, in hindsight, made
clear how she was able to send

all of the hundreds and thousands
of messages throughout the day.

I am not sure if she ever
went to work at Ferris.

And I don't know that...

I think Shawn thought
she was working there.

So I don't know
what she was doing,

as far as getting up in the
morning, getting ready for work.

How did you...? I don't know.
I've tried to figure it out.

I don't know how you pull that one
over on somebody you're living with.

So, to my knowledge, she never
worked at Ferris, no. Kendra didn't.

She acted like she was working
and said she had stuff to do.

And she just... She
played it off really well.

[Kendra] I think it was
more of an escape, um...

It more...

took me...

kind of out of real life, in a
sense, even though it was real life.

So when I was... really doing
that, and I wasn't myself,

it removed me from...
my everyday life.

Um...

Just kept going and going.

[phone chimes]

[Kendra] Lauryn knows she's
petite. She knows she's small.

She knows she's thin. So...

I might have kind of picked up
on some of her insecurities,

her appearance, her hair,
her looks, her... you know.

But, honestly,

the messages weren't really
targeted at her insecurities.

[director] Were they
targeted at you?

Were you sending these
messages to yourself?

That very well,
possibly, um, because

I was way too thin.

I was not eating.

So you could put me in
that anorexic category.

[director] And were you afraid
she was gonna hurt herself?

Because there were messages
telling her to kill herself.

So... [sighs]

I... can say, I...

I was not scared of
her hurting herself.

Um, and I know some
people may question that

or diminish that or whatever.

But I know Lauryn, and I know the
conversations that her and I have.

But if I didn't know her as well
as I did, it might be different.

So, um...

Yeah.

[Melissa] One of the texts
that I specifically remember,

she said something
about a blow job...

and how Owen doesn't
like Lauryn anymore

because Lauryn doesn't
give him blowjobs.

That little girl
was 14 years old.

She shouldn't be doing that!

So I think it gave
Kendra a false sense of,

"Lauryn and I are friends.
She needs me. She..."

And, I mean, you do, as a teenager. You
do need your mom, but not in that way.

I think it was a cyber
Munchausen's case.

She wanted her daughter

to need her in such a way

that she was
willing to hurt her,

and this is the way
she chose to do that,

versus physically trying to make her ill,
which is typical Munchausen's behavior.

I think that's exactly it,

because Lauryn would come home
upset about these text messages,

and Kendra got to play the
hero and be there for her

and, you know, do
that. So, um...

But as far as Lauryn, I...

[sighs] I can't even imagine
how it made her feel.

So I'm sure she's... I'm sure Lauryn
is just... eaten alive inside.

But I don't think that you can

escape the grips of
Kendra's manipulation

when you're still
talking to her.

[Mike] Kendra Licari was very
manipulative to her family.

She was very controlling. She
took care of the finances.

And whatever they did was determined
and organized by Kendra Licari.

[Melissa] Kendra was telling Shawn
and Lauryn they were fine financially,

so she had to figure out how to
come up with all of this money

while not going to work.

At one time, she had told us that
their house got struck by lightning.

She made some insurance claims,

and I think it's possible that she
could have just kept the money.

[Shawn] One time, we
pull in the driveway,

and there's this big ol' piece
of paper on the front door,

saying that you've been evicted.

She finally told me that, you
know, she wasn't paying the bills.

And I'm hustling, getting
everything out of there.

Phoned the storage units,
got it all in there.

We're like, "We can pay this so
we don't lose any of our stuff."

And she's like, "Oh, yeah. It's no
problem. It's only a few dollars."

But she really was not
taking care of that stuff.

So we ended up losing everything
that we owned in our storage units.

It had my tools.

[voice breaks] All important stuff that
we got souvenirs from was all in there.

Just all the stuff that I worked
for all my life is now gone.

[sniffles]

I think pretty much
everything she's told Shawn

for the last at least
ten years has been a lie.

[director] Is that
true? Is that...

Is that your perspective?

No.

But...

I handled more of the
finances than he did.

Um...

But we were both aware
of situations we were in,

but neither one of us had the
answers to the right actions

that needed to be taken,

so, yeah, unfortunately.

After the identity of the
perpetrator became publicly known,

it shocked our whole community.

[Khloe] We were sitting in
class with Macy and Sophie,

and we had looked on Instagram,

and there was Kendra's mugshot
posted everywhere online.

[dynamic music playing]

[Lauryn] I got a text message at school
from my cousin that said, "Are you okay?"

And I'm sitting in class, and I'm
like, "Yeah, I'm fine. Like, why?"

Everyone was kind of looking
around at Lauryn and everything

'cause her mom is
everywhere right now online.

And then the next hour, I
got pulled into the office.

They were like, "Your
mom got arrested today."

And so then I texted my dad, and
I was like, "What is going on?"

She's like, "They pulled me in the
office and told me Mom went to jail."

And now to the bizarre
case of a mother

accused of cyberstalking
her very own daughter.

A high school girl in Michigan was
cyberbullied for more than a year.

And who turned out to be the
suspect shocked everyone.

[reporter 1] Prosecutors
accusing a mother of cat fishing.

-Catfishing.
-Catfishing.

Even when we realized
that it wasn't a kid,

we weren't expecting that
it would be a parent.

This mother is facing
criminal charges.

[speaking Italian]

[reporter 2] Licari is charged with
five crimes, mainly for stalking,

as the messages went on
for more than a year.

We had tens of thousands
of text messages.

[reporter 3] Kendra Licari was in
Isabella County courtroom Thursday.

The judge made it a point to ban Licari
from having contact with the victims.

That includes Licari's daughter.

[Barberi] One of the challenges on
this case was the level of closeness

between Kendra and her daughter.

And we were hoping that
creating that separation

would provide an opportunity for her to
get outside of that umbrella of control

that she'd had on her throughout
the entirety of this process.

[reporter 3] Licari and her attorney
asked to have the no-contact order lifted.

The court received
letters from her daughter

saying she wanted to be
back with her mother.

Not having the relationship with my
mom, I just don't feel like myself.

I feel like I really
need her in my life.

[director] Do you think people
judge you for missing your mom?

Um, I think some people might
have their own opinions on it.

But... [sighs]

Honestly, I don't really care.

Ultimately, Kendra pled to two
counts of stalking a minor,

one count for Owen and
one count for Lauryn.

[Khloe] I went to Kendra's sentencing
for court, and my whole family was there.

There was a bunch of people
there. The room was filled.

And I saw Kendra,

and it was just very shocking to see
her after everything had happened,

'cause it was just really weird

seeing your coach from
seventh grade like that.

Kendra got to speak first,
the day of court, and, um,

she is very convincing.

[Kendra] I am sorry, Your Honor.

[voice breaking] I am
sorry for my behavior

to Owen McKenny and his family.

I'm sorry for my behavior to
Khloe Wilson and her family.

[sniffles] I am sorry
to my daughter, Lauryn.

I have learned that I
have a mental illness,

and I was unaware that I was
in crisis for many years.

I have learned to acknowledge and
cope with my childhood trauma.

[Korin] There were a lot of
excuses as to what she did,

things that had happened
to her in her life.

And I'm not saying that
those things didn't happen,

but to use those as an excuse
as to why you hurt children

just doesn't seem right or fair.

[Kendra] If I could go back
and undo everything I did,

please know that I would
do so in a heartbeat.

I knew Owen and Jill were
both gonna be talking there,

and I honestly didn't wanna
hear what they were gonna say,

because I knew it wasn't
gonna be anything good.

[Owen] At the end of the
day, this will be over,

and we can try to go
back to our own lives.

You can try, but it scarred me.

This whole thing is gonna
affect the rest of my life.

[Jill] I didn't get to speak with
Kendra from the time she confessed

until that day in court.

It was the only thing
we were gonna get to do

because we didn't get to go to trial
and speak, so it was our one chance.

I will never forget the sick feeling
that overcame me the day we found out.

The hurt, anger,
betrayal, sadness

all hit me at once.

I have waited years
for this moment,

the day that you could look
me in the eye and tell me why.

Was it worth it? Was
all of this worth it?

When you look at the
trauma that this caused,

there's no doubt that it'll have a
lasting impact on all of these families.

And the impact that this is gonna
have on these kids may be lifelong.

[judge] Well, this is
truly a horrible case.

So I think, you know, based on
your conduct, you deserve...

you've earned a prison sentence.

[reporter 3] Kendra
Licari, the catfish mom,

is going to prison for at
least a year and a half.

In this case, the judge sentenced
on what I would consider

to be the high end of the
guideline range, 19 months.

It felt good to just
address her and... ask why.

I know I'll never get the reason
that I... you know, a true reason.

I think she became
obsessed with Owen,

which is hard, being a mom,
and that she's a grown woman.

But I... I think that there
was some level of relationship

that she wanted
to have with Owen

that obviously is not
acceptable at her age.

[Owen] It felt like she
was attracted to me.

She was super friendly
and super like,

"Here, I'll get you this.
I'll go do this for you."

You know, it's just...

It wasn't like it was
my girlfriend's mom.

It felt like it
was something more.

She would do things
for me. She would...

She would cut my
own steak for me.

It was just to the point where,
like, it was almost too weird.

If you look at how she treated
him and how she glorified him,

and she would go out of her way to
do anything and everything for him,

or just to be noticed by him.

She would randomly just text him

and try to keep a
connection with him.

She came to all of his sporting events,
even after Lauryn and him broke up.

This is disgusting.

[camera shutter clicks]

[Lauryn] She told
me to kill myself.

It makes me feel a
little bit sad, like,

"Why is my own mom
telling me to do that?"

I've, like, talked
to her about it,

but not necessarily like, "Why
did you tell me to kill myself?"

I still question it every day.
Like, I still don't know why.

[Shawn] Would I love to
know the truth? Absolutely.

And what caused it,
you know, in her mind.

You know, what...
what made her do this?

I know my dad's angry and will
probably, like, never forgive her,

but I just kind
of put that aside

and just have the relationship
with my mom that I want.

[pulsing string music]

[Lauryn] I liked communicating with
my mom while she was in prison.

I could talk to my mom on
Mondays and Wednesdays.

We were just talking about our days,
things that happened, funny stories,

and she would send me emails, and we
were able to email back and forth.

[keyboard tapping]

She made it seem like
everything's better,

and she just made
me feel better.

[messages chiming]

[string music building]

[music stops]

[soft, emotional music playing]

[Lauryn] My mom got out of
prison August 8th, 2024.

I hope me and Mom can
rebuild our relationship

because I feel like I'm
definitely missing a part of me,

whether it's, like,

the female part of it, or
just, like, not having my mom.

[Kendra] When I go back,

I... am very
disappointed in myself

for allowing myself
to get to where I got.

[sniffles] Um...

You know, I... I
let my family down.

I let myself down,
and that's hard.

So... [sniffles]

Because that time frame in life

is not who I am as a person.

It's not who I was,

and it's not who I am today.

[emotional piano music playing]

Ever since Lauryn was born, her
and I have always been close.

Family really means a lot to me,

so I always knew I wanted
to have that family.

And when we,

you know, got pregnant,

you know, I remember us
sitting in the doctor's office

and hearing that heartbeat
for the first time.

[hesitates]

It gives you chills,
you know? Um...

You know, sometimes
you think you can't

love any more.

And then, all of a sudden, this
little baby is placed in your arms,

and it's a whole new world.

It's a whole new feeling.

[camera shutter clicks]

As, you know, she
started getting older,

I started having things that
were suppressed come forward.

[shutter clicks]

A lot of it, really, was previous
trauma starting to resurface

that I didn't know
how to handle.

When I was 17,

I was raped.

[sniffles] Um...

And as... [falters]

...my daughter was hitting those
teenage years, I got scared.

Very scared. [sniffles]

I didn't want her to go through
that process that I did.

And...

And I think that really
led to... [sighs]

...me not know how to
handle things, right?

Um...

It was hard because I was reliving
what I had been through, um,

but also, at the same time...

wanting to protect her.

I wanted to try to, like, control
the outcome of her journey.

I was afraid of letting
her grow up some, right?

Wanting to protect her and keep
her safe and keep her close,

um, and scared to
let her grow up

because scared of what
could happen to her.

[Owen] I have not
talked to Lauryn

since, pff, a very
long time ago.

Me and Owen don't
talk at all now.

I see him in the
hallways and stuff,

but we don't really have
interactions at all.

[Owen] Yeah, I
was mad at Lauryn.

I don't think I will talk
to her in the future.

[Khloe] Lauryn, she was just so
young for all this to happen.

I really don't think
that it's truly her fault

that her mom was like that and
wanted things to go this way.

[Craig] Khloe missed
a whole goddamn year

of what should have been some of the,
you know, best memories of her life.

A whole year of people
pointing the finger at her

and not believing
what she's saying,

being grilled by her parents,

and, you know, not
believed by the majority.

I thought that I was losing a
lot of friendships because of it.

At first, me and Owen,
like, we were all friends.

Me, Macy, Owen, and Sophie,
we'd sit at a table, um...

[exhales softly]

[sobs]

[Jill] I do feel
guilty about Khloe, um,

placing blame on
her or, you know,

her family.

We just, at that point,

were going off of any little
bit of information that we had,

which was not a lot
throughout two years of this.

And I... I feel very...

You know, I feel guilty
for doing that to her.

Jill, she... she
invited this in.

The impact to my
family, to our family,

is largely because
of her and Mike Main.

I remember, within a day or
two of our initial interview,

I had sent him a text message that
said that a very good part of me

believes that this is
probably Kendra doing this.

You know, she... I said, "I don't
know what you know of her, Mike,

but she's not a
truthful person."

[Tami] I told someone else

that Shawn and Lauryn are
going to play this off

like they were the
victim in this shit,

they had no clue what was going on,
and they're gonna get away with it

because Mike Main didn't do his
fucking job and investigate them.

[clears throat] And that's
exactly what happened.

-[clears throat]
-I'm... I'm proud of her for that.

-[laughing]
-I kept that good. That's good.

[both chuckle]

[Craig] Thank God
for Brad Peters,

'cause without him, it
wouldn't have went anywhere.

Or who knows where it would
have ended with Kendra?

You watch all these other documentaries
of how this ends. It's not good.

You know, who knows what
else she would have done

if this didn't catch up to her?

[Lauryn] Okay.

-[Shawn] That's all you got?
-[Lauryn chuckles] Go on!

Me and my dad have gotten so much
closer since this has happened.

You know how much
I love you, right?

-Yeah, sometimes. [giggles]
-[chuckles] Sometimes? Well, I love you.

-[Lauryn] I love you.
-[Shawn] Okay.

I'm proud of you.
You're a good kid. Okay?

Love you.

[Lauryn] We just bond
so well together.

In everything we do, we
can find a way to laugh.

-[geese honking]
-[Lauryn laughs]

[Shawn] It's fun to watch her
smile and giggle and be a kid

and do stupid things
like we all used to do.

Now she's starting to
come to Dad a lot more.

She's growing, and it's
just... it's unbelievable.

You know, she's just growing
up to be a beautiful woman.

[ethereal, serene music playing]

[geese honking]

I'm not allowed to see my mom
now that she's out of prison.

I wanna see my mom
when the time is right.

I think it would just be

a relief to see her,
but, like, also hard.

It's been about a year and
a half since I've seen her.

We both know that

we're with each
other, no matter what.

[phone chimes]

[Lauryn] I think I wanna trust
her now, but I don't think I can.

Now that she's out, I just want
her to get the help she needs...

[phone chimes]

...so then when
we see each other,

it doesn't go back to, uh, the
old ways and how it was before.

[Kendra] I definitely think

that we can have a
healthy relationship.

[phone chimes]

[Kendra] I know that we
both hold that bond we have

close.

[Lauryn] Being without that relationship,
I think, is really hurting me,

and I think rebuilding our relationship
will help both of us a lot.

[phone chiming rapidly]

I love her more than anything.

[gentle, intriguing music plays]

[music fades out]