Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (2025)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A chilling investigation into a cyberbullying campaign reveals a shocking truth about the identity of the harasser.
The story
The documentary explores the events and investigation into an unknown person cyberbully and harassing teenagers in Beal City, Michigan using an unknown number via insults and sexual claims. It also explores the increasingly great impact of the harassment on the community, the eventual reveal of the culprit, and the trial that followed.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Unknown Number tells the true story of American teenager Lauryn Licari and her then-boyfriend Owen McKenny, who began receiving harassing text messages from an unknown number in October 2020. The messages stopped, but began again persistently in September 2021 for over 15 months. The content of the messages was threatening, insulting, and bullying, with particular aim at Lauryn's appearance, as well as expressing a sexual interest in Owen. Lauryn and Owen's parents and school staff were concerned for their safety and reported the text messages to the police. An investigation was led by the Isabella County Sheriff, with support from police officers from Beal City and the FBI. The IP address for the phone number was eventually discovered, revealing the perpetrator to be Kendra Licari, Lauryn's mother, whose subsequent trial is also explored by the film.
- First release year
- 2025
- Runtime (minutes)
- 94
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Skye Borgman
- Cast and characters
- Lauryn Licari · Self; Owen McKenny · Self; Dan Boyer · Principal; Mike Main · Sheriff; Bradley Peter · FBI Liaison
- Genres
- true crime; documentary
- Themes
- cyberbullying; parental betrayal
- Tone and mood
- disturbing; chilling
- Premise and plot tags
- true crime; cyberbullying; investigative
- Reception
- The film received mixed to positive reviews, with some critics criticizing its approach to the subject matter while others praised it as a chilling cautionary tale and an engaging investigation.
- Production trivia
- Reached Netflix's Top 10 films globally in its first week.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…