Where Is Owen McKenny Now? Inside the Teen's Life After Years of Cyberstalking By Caroline Blair 12

Owen McKenny’s life was turned upside down when he began receiving threatening messages from an anonymous number.

McKenny was just 13 years old when he and his then-girlfriend, Lauryn Licari, began getting suspicious text messages from an unknown number in October 2020. The messages briefly paused for a year before they picked back up in September 2021 and heightened in threats and aggression.

Both their parents and school officials contacted authorities, who began investigating the messages. After looking into Lauryn and Owen’s friends and schoolmates, the FBI learned that the messages were actually coming from Lauryn’s mother, Kendra Licari.

In December 2022, she was arrested and charged with two counts of stalking a minor and two counts of communicating with another to commit a crime, per ABC News. She later pleaded guilty to the two stalking counts and was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison, according to the San Bernardino Sun.

Three years after the cyberbullying case sent shockwaves through the small town, Owen, Lauryn and Kendra spoke about the ordeal as part of Netflix’s documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, which was released on Aug. 29.

So, where is Owen McKenny now? Here’s everything to know about his life nearly three years after his girlfriend’s mom was arrested for cyberbullying him.

What happened to Owen McKenny?

Owen and Lauryn began dating when they were in seventh grade, but just a few weeks later, they both began receiving anonymous, suspicious text messages. Although the texts briefly stopped, they escalated when they entered Beal City High School in the fall of 2021.

Beginning in September, both Owen and Lauryn received nearly 40-50 messages per day from different numbers. The texts ranged in vulgarity and aggression, but mostly insulted their relationship and poked at Lauryn’s insecurities.

Owen explained that the messages were specific, and both he and Lauryn began getting paranoid about who might be watching them and listening to their conversations. The couple initially theorized that the texts were coming from a jealous classmate, so Owen told The Cut in January 2025 that he was overly cautious at school because he feared what the cyberstalker might overhear.

“It was so bad to the point where I didn’t want to even go to school anymore,” Owen said in the Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. “Each and every day I’d feel like I’d lose trust in everyone.”

After the messages continued escalating, Owen and Lauryn’s parents decided to contact the high school and authorities. However, investigators initially struggled to determine the source of the texts because they were coming from random numbers that were generated by an app.

Two years after the messages started, the FBI discovered the shocking reality that Lauryn’s mom, Kendra, was the culprit. She was arrested for stalking and was later sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison.

Are Owen McKenny and Lauryn Licari still together?

Lauryn and Owen started dating in seventh grade and continued dating until high school, where they were known as the “Golden Couple.” However, the texts, which often centered around their relationship and false accusations, took a toll on their relationship during freshman year.

Lauryn admitted that some of the messages got to her head and she began to question Owen’s loyalty and love for her. In August 2021, Owen suggested they take a break in hopes of getting the person to stop sending messages. The texts didn’t stop, though, and the couple dated on and off until breaking up for good in November.

“It’s just hard to be with someone after all that,” Owen told The Cut, while adding that he also hoped the breakup would cease the texts altogether. Even after the split, both Lauryn and Owen continued receiving messages from the user, who boasted about defeating them.

Both Lauryn and Owen candidly spoke about their experience in Unknown Number: The High School Catfish and explained that they hadn’t kept in touch because the ordeal was too difficult to get over.

“I was mad at Lauryn. I don’t think I will talk to her in the future,” Owen said.

What happened to Kendra Licari?

After months of investigating, the FBI eventually got involved and subpoenaed records from the phone number regenerator app to find the IP address of the cyberstalker. Authorities pinpointed the user as being in the Licari home, searched the residence in August 2022 and Kendra confessed to the cyberbullying shortly afterwards.

In December of that year, she was arrested and charged with two counts of stalking a minor and two counts of communicating with another to commit a crime. She pleaded guilty to the two counts of stalking and was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison in April 2023. At the time of her sentencing, Kendra apologized to Owen and his family and called it a “blessing that I was caught,” because it “forced me to stop.”

On Aug. 8, 2024, Kendra was released on parole and will continue living under supervision until February 2026, per the Michigan Department of Corrections.

In the midst of her prison sentence, Kendra’s husband, Shawn Licari, divorced her and got full custody of Lauryn. The father and daughter have grown closer, while Kendra and Lauryn don’t have a relationship, as of August 2025.

“It’s been about a year and a half since I’ve seen her,” Kendra said in the Netflix documentary. “We both know that we’re with each other no matter what. I definitely think we can have a healthy relationship. I know we both hold that bond that we have close.”

Meanwhile, Lauryn explained, “Being without that relationship is really hurting me. I think rebuilding our relationship will help both of us a lot. I love her more than anything.”

Where is Owen McKenny now?

Owen continued studying at Beal City High School and tried to move on with his life, while also reflecting on the entire ordeal in the Netflix documentary.

He graduated in May 2025 and committed to Hope College in Holland, Mich., to play baseball, according to FieldLevel. Before graduating, Owen also played football and was named senior homecoming king.

Although he has moved on with his life, Owen reflected on the texting ordeal in interviews with The Cut and for the Netflix documentary in August 2025. He told the publication in January that he still didn’t understand why his girlfriend’s mom had been bullying him and found the whole thing “super confusing.”

“Its crazy how having a phone could become the worst thing that happened to me,” Owen said. “Crazy that someone that close could do something like that.”