Cyberbullying is the practice of bullying a person by sending messages or posting social media content of an intimidating, mocking, or threatening nature. In the 21st century, social media has become increasingly popular throughout the world, which can have both positive and negative effects on teens and adults. However, there are times when cyberbullying has gone too far. In the case of Lauryn Licari, it went as far as the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) being involved, all in an attempt to figure out who the unknown texter truly was. When I first chose to watch the documentary Unknown number, my first original guess at who could be texting Lauryn and her boyfriend Owen McKenny all of these horrible things would probably be a classmate. And based on how the interviews went with the parents and students involved in this case, that seemed to be the situation, but by the end of the documentary, my jaw had dropped, figuring out who the real culprit was.

The documentary is composed of multiple interviews from all of the involved students, families, and law enforcement in the case. They also shared multiple text messages sent to the victims, which added suspense and overall disgust at whoever could ever send these messages. Some of these messages included “Hi Lauryn. Owen is going to break up with you,” and even went as far as sexualizing Owen and telling Lauryn to commit suicide. The documentary did a great job showcasing the obscurity of the case, documenting everything, including interviews with the perpetrator themself. 

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

 The whole documentary was an eventual build-up to the later reveal by the FBI agent, stating that Lauryn’s mother, Kendra Licari, was the one behind the messages the whole time, which genuinely sent me over the edge. The entirety of the documentary, Kendra was portrayed as a caring and loving mother, who was trying to get to the bottom of who the texter was as much, or more than, anybody else. 

Overall, this is probably one of the best documentaries that I have ever watched. It was so surprising, and nothing gave away the fact that Kendra was the one behind the texts, and I would definitely recommend this documentary to others, as it was surprising and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.