A newly released Netflix Documentary is retelling a decades-long cold case of a young Allegan County resident.
Released September 12, 2024, Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, is a two-part series detailing the 1989 disappearance of 14-year-old Aundria Bowman, later discovered to be killed by her adoptive father, Dennis Bowman.
Audrina’s case has previously been the topic of multiple true crime podcasts, but none were told in quite this way.
The documentary, produced by Ryan White (known for The Keepers and The State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith), follows Cathy Terkanian, Aundria’s biological mother, and her dogged pursuit of justice in solving her daughter’s disappearance.
At sixteen, Cathy was urged to give her daughter up for adoption, a choice she deeply regrets. “I was told she would have a beautiful life,” Cathy mourned to Into the Fire producers.
She went on to become a traveling nurse and marry her now husband, Edward. In 2010, Cathy received a letter from social services asking her to get in touch, believing her daughter was looking for her. Instead, she learned Aundria, born Alexis, had been missing since 1989.
The Terkanians spent a decade in pursuit of justice for Aundira. The fight was so dogged in fact, that Cathy was once contacted by Detective Chris Haverdink of Allegan County Sheriff’s Department, discussing possible harassment and stalking charges against her by Aundria’s adoptive parents, Dennis and Brenda Bowman.
Despite this, mother’s intuition played a strong role in propelling the case forward. Cathy long held a suspicion that Dennis murdered and buried Aundira on the Bowman’s Hamilton property. The theory, developed by Dennis’ prior criminal sexual assault record and Google Maps satellite imagery, proved accurate when Dennis confessed to the murder in 2019. Law Enforcement Officials found Aundria’s body buried below a slab of concrete in February 2020.
Bowman went under law enforcement’s radar for decades, committing multiple rapes, attempted abductions, and a prior act of murder. At the time of locating Aundria’s body, Bowman was serving two life sentences plus twenty years in the 1980 death of Norfolk, Virginia resident Kathleen Doyle, a 25-year-old Navy Pilot’s wife.
In December 2021, Dennis pled No Contest to Second Degree Murder. Judge Margaret Zuzich Bakker later sentenced him on February 7, 2022, to 35-50 years in prison.
Also making a brief appearance in the documentary is Kellie DeBoers, sister of Richard “Richie” Hitchcock, who went missing shortly before Christmas 1990 and also presumed to have met foul play.
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, consists of two episodes, running for a combined 2 hours and 31 minutes and is available for on demand streaming on Netflix.
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