When Netflix’s Unknown Number: The High School Catfish dropped, the spotlight naturally fell on Lauryn Licari, a teenager who experienced the trauma of receiving vile and threatening messages from an anonymous number for over a year. And her mother, Kendra, who shockingly turned out to be the sender.
But if you watch the whole mother-daughter dynamic closely, you cannot ignore the role of Shawn Licari. He was Kendra’s husband, Lauryn’s father, who was caught in the storm. While his life turned upside down with the betrayal and financial strain, his perspective added another layer to the already unbelievable case.
Did Shawn Licari know that his wife, Kendra, sent threatening messages anonymously to their daughter?
According to the real-life documentary, Unknown Number, based on the chilling case of cyberbullying in Beal City, Michigan, Shawn was present when Lauryn began receiving texts in late 2020. He saw how deeply the harassment affected his daughter and believed his wife, Kendra, was actively helping solve the problem. What he didn’t see coming was that the real sender lived under the same roof with them. Looking back in the documentary, Shawn admitted he never could have imagined that Kendra, whom he implicitly trusted, would send such cruel messages to their daughter.