Warning: this article contains spoilers for Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
The world has been left reeling ever since watching Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, which dropped on Netflix a few weeks back (29 August).
The docu-film in question follows the seriously unsettling catfish case of Kendra Licari and her teen daughter, Lauryn, who began receiving alarming text messages from an unknown number back in 2020.
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While there was a brief hiatus to the creepy messages, they then resumed in September 2021, with the then 13-year-old finding herself on the receiving end of a daily avalanche of threats and insults over the next 15 months.
And, when officials turned to law enforcement for help after the messages began containing information that only someone close to Lauryn could have known, authorities eventually made the harrowing discovery that the perpetrator was in fact her own 'obsessed' mother, Kendra
Kendra, who some believe has something called 'Cyber Munchausen' syndrome as an explanation for her heinous crimes, was arrested in December 2022 and charged with multiple counts of stalking and using a computer to commit a crime.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking a minor, and was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison. She was released on 8 August, 2024.
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Footage included in the doc sees Isabella County Sheriff, Michael Main, going to the family’s home to 'try and get a confession' out of Kendra where he explained: "The messages coming were originating from you… your number, even though it was being hidden, was showing up on every message."
Lauryn's mother, Kendra Licari, was found to be the perpetrator (Isabella County Sheriff’s Office)
Kendra then responded, claiming that she didn’t start the messages but did indeed send her daughter some of the messages she received.
Body language expert, Lekan Alli-Balogun, has since shared their insights on the chilling clip.
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"What struck me most in Lauryn’s reaction was how her body gave her feelings away before she said a single word. Before the police revealed the truth, she was swinging lightly on her chair, a little release of nervous energy, a way of coping with the tension in the room," Lekan began.
"The moment she heard it was her mum, she froze. Her eyes dropped to the floor and the swinging stopped."
According to the expert, that exact sudden stillness 'tells its own story'.
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"It’s shock, the body shutting down while the mind scrambles to process something it never expected. Then came the head turn, moving her face away from her mother. That’s instinct," they continued. "When we’ve been hurt by someone close, avoiding their gaze is often the first thing we do.
"It’s the body’s way of protecting itself, of saying, 'I can’t look at you right now'."
Kendra then stands and puts her arms around Lauryn but she doesn’t melt into the hug. Instead, she locks her eyes on the police officer, staring almost without blinking.
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"That fixed gaze says everything: in that moment, she’s shifted her trust from her mum to the authority figure in front of her," Lekan carried on. "And what about the mother? Why reach out at all, knowing she’s the one responsible?
"From a psychological point of view, that hug feels less about comfort and more about control. It’s an attempt to hold on, to remind Lauryn, I’m still your mother, even as the truth has shattered that trust."
Lekan went on to theorise that the hug may have even been an 'unconscious move to soften the blow', to cling to closeness at the very point it was slipping away.
"This scene is a reminder that body language doesn’t lie. Lauryn’s movements show shock, withdrawal and a search for safety. Her mother’s show of desperation to hold onto a bond that’s already broken," they added before drawing the sobering conclusion: "When words fail, the body tells the story for us."
Another body language expert, Anna Lancaster, also shared her verdicts on the same clip.
"Lauryn’s first instinct to hug her mother isn’t rational - it’s subconscious," she explains. "In the split second of learning the truth, her body reached for the person wired in her brain as safety, even though that very person had betrayed her.
"The calmness that follows isn’t acceptance, but a protective freeze response, her subconscious buffering the shock while she processes the enormity of it. What looks like affection could actually be her nervous system’s attempt to regulate in the most bewildering of circumstances."
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Topics: Real Life, True Life, Crime, US News, Netflix, TV And Film, Documentaries
Rhiannon Ingle