Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter showcases the search of a mother for her daughter Aundria Bowman, who disappeared from Hamilton, Michigan on March 11, 1989. Her adoptive father, Dennis Bowman, considered her a runaway, reportedly saying she had run away in the past. Also missing were Aundria's purple coat and $100. Authorities investigated several leads in attempting to find Aundria but nothing worked out.
Netflix's two-part documentary tells the extraordinary true story of Cathy Tarkanian. In April 2010, Cathy received a life-altering letter stating that her daughter, whom she gave up for adoption 35 years prior, had vanished from her new home back in 1989.
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter films real-life Cathy in her search to discover what happened to her child, a search that takes her on a 10-year journey.
What is Cathy Terkanian's story in Netflix’s documentary
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter is an incredible true-crime story. At the core of the tale, however, lies the unbeatable bond between a mother and her child that transcends time and space.
Cathy Tarkanian was just a teenager when she had her daughter Alexis in the 1970s. She placed her with an adoption agency in the hope of giving her a better life than she could manage to provide. Fifteen years later, Cathy wanted to get in contact with her daughter and called social services.
But instead of a happy reunion, her world came crashing down, when she discovered that Alexis-who was named Aundria by her adoptive family disappeared back in 1989 at just 14 years old.
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter finds out what happened to Alexis
Alexis Badger was adopted into the Bowman family of Hamilton, Michigan when she was 21 months. She disappeared in 1989, and for a very long time, everyone presumed that she had run away. In 2020, the truth came out: Dennis Bowman, the adoptive father of Alexis, confessed to her murder.
According to Dennis, it was an accident. He said, he and Aundria got into a fight, in which he hit her and she tumbled down the stairs, breaking her neck. Dennis would later not want to discuss what was done with Aundria's body. He merely told detectives that he cut her up, placed her in a barrel, and left it outside for the garbage trucks to take away.
Later, he confessed the truth. Aundria was buried in the backyard of the Bowmans' house. Exorbitantly, it was what Cathy had been suspecting all this time.
This wasn't the first time he had been abusive. Dennis Bowman's rap sheet was long, and filled with violence and crimes. In 2019, he was arrested for the murder of Kathleen Doyle in Virginia, committed 39 years prior in 1980.
Upon learning that her daughter had died under tragic circumstances, Cathy now seeks to annul the adoption and rename her daughter back to Alexis. She would like to bring her daughter's remains home and cremate her because, to Cathy, Alexis will always be her child and thus need to be with her.
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter is now available to stream on Netflix.
