I Loved Netflix's 'Unknown Number: The High School Catfish'—But This One Question Still Keeps Me Up at Night

*Warning: major spoilers ahead*

If you haven’t heard by now, there’s a Netflix documentary that’s been holding strong in the platform’s Top 10 since its release earlier this month: Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. It’s a true-crime doc that tells the wild, disturbing story of Lauryn Licari and Owen McKenny—two high schoolers who were relentlessly cyberbullied for nearly two years by an anonymous tormentor.

For those wondering why they didn’t just block the number, here’s the twist, whoever was behind the harassment used an app that constantly generated new phone numbers, making it impossible to block or trace. After years of daily abuse and emotional manipulation, the FBI finally stepped in. And then came the jaw-dropping reveal: the catfish was the last person I ever expected. (Note: You should stop reading here if you don't want any spoilers.)

I wasn’t planning to watch the documentary at first, but much like PureWow’s VP of News and Entertainment, Philip Mutz, I couldn’t look away once I started.

“I intended to half-watch this doc while I did chores around the apartment, but I found myself fully engrossed and transfixed by the story,” Mutz shared. “The film does such a great job of introducing potential suspects and then revealing how they are actually victims. And obviously that twist will go down as one of Netflix’s best ever. No wonder I’ve been seeing memes about it everywhere on social media.”

The doc has definitely struck a chord with viewers, myself included. Some were shocked. Others were furious that the punishment didn’t match the crime. And many were left wondering how something like this could go on for so long before anyone figured it out.

But beyond all that, there's one question that haunts me more than anything else: Why? Why did Lauryn’s own mother Kendra do this to her daughter and the people around her?

The truth? We still don’t know.

The documentary offers updates on Lauryn’s current relationship with her mom, the state of her friendship with Owen and even some light exploration of Kendra’s past trauma. But the central question—the why—remains unanswered. Even the director, Skye Borgman, admitted that the motive remains unclear.