A MOTHER’S desperate search for justice after her biological daughter vanished from her adoptive home 35 years ago has been turned into the latest true crime documentary.
Cathy Terkanian didn’t learn of her daughter’s disappearance until 2010 and teamed up with a detective to learn what actually happened.
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What they didn’t expect was to embark on a decade-long search to uncover the truth about her daughter’s fate.
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter documents the search for Aundria Bowman, who suddenly disappeared from the home of her adopted parents in 1989.
Aundria, born Alexis Badger was given up by her mother when she was nine months old.
She was adopted by the Bowman family from Hamilton, Michigan at 21 months old.
However, a then-14-year-old Aundria vanished on March 11, 1989, and for years, it was believed that she ran away.
In reality, her adoptive father Dennis Bowman was behind the horrific truth.
Aundria accused Bowman of sexually abusing her and threatened to report him to the police.
The two got into a heated argument and Bowman punched the teen, knocking her down a flight of stairs.
Aundria broke her neck and Bowman took her body to a barn and burned her clothes before leaving her under a tarp.
Later that day, he reported Aundria missing, saying she stole $100 from the couple before running away.
Bowman dismembered her body, using an axe to cut her limbs so they would fit in a barrel.
He buried Aundria’s corpse and later reburied her at their new home after they moved.
SKETCHY PAST
Terkanian had been convinced for years that Bowman was behind her daughter’s disappearance after learning that he had a history of violence against women.
Police say Bowman raped a 27-year-old woman in 1979 and assaulted a 19-year-old woman in 1980.
The year Aundria vanished, authorities said he was involved in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a six-year-old girl.
Bowman was arrested for Aundria’s murder in 2019 and he quickly confessed to the crime.
In a recorded phone call at the Allegan County Jail in Norfolk, Virginia, Bowman told his wife, Brenda, where Aundria’s body was buried.
Her skeletal remains were discovered near the Bowman’s home.
When and where to watch Into the Fire?
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, will premiere on Netflix on September 12, 2024.
The two-part docuseries is directed by Ryan White, who was behind another Netflix documentary, Pamela, a Love Story.
Into the Fire was produced by Matt Maher, Jessica Hargrave, and Charlize Theron.
“Cathy was resilient and followed her intuition all the way to the end to get answers about her daughter,” Theron told Tudum.
“I think that sort of tenacity in the face of a bunch of people telling you you’re wrong is something that really resonates with audiences.
“We so often are taught to trust our gut, but rarely see it in action.”
“I have confessed to the death of Aundria,” he wrote in a confession letter.
“I myself and no one else. In an argument with her, I struck her, which made her stagger backwards and fall headfirst down a steep staircase in the house we rented between Holland and Hamilton.
“Fearing more prison time and losing my loved ones, I hid the body and then disposed of it days later. I have kept it to myself these many years so I could live with Brenda and watch Vanessa grow into a successful young lady.
“Please with all love I ask you to support Brenda because I have caused her hurt and left her desolate.”
Bowman’s arrest also led to him being charged with the 1980 rape and murder of Kathleen Doyle, which remained unsolved for nearly 40 years.
When he pleaded no contest to the murder of Aundria in 2021, he had already been serving two life sentences.
In June 2022 Bowman was sentenced to 35 to 50 years in prison for Aundria’s murder.
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter will be released as a two-part docuseries on September 12 on Netflix.
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