What Happened to Aundria Bowman? The Heartbreaking True Story of Netflix's "Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter"

09/14/2024 09:30 AM

Netflix's 'Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter' tells the true story of Cathy Terkanian's fight to find her daughter, Aundria Bowman

Aundria Bowman, born Alexis Badger, went missing on March 11, 1989. 

At the time of her disappearance, her adoptive father, Dennis Bowman, told the police that the 14-year-old had run away, alleging that her jacket and some money were missing from their house in Hamilton, Mich. 

Aundria's disappearance went unsolved for more than 30 years until her her biological mother, Cathy Terkanian, learned of the cold case in 2010 and began searching for the daughter she'd given up for adoption as a teenager. 

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For 10 years, she investigated her daughter's disappearance and similar cases in the local area and felt a conviction that Dennis was Aundria's killer. Terkanian's suspicions were confirmed when Dennis finally confessed to the crime in 2019.

Terkanian's relentless quest for justice is chronicled in Netflix's 2024 documentary Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, directed by Ryan White. 

Here's everything to know about Aundria Bowman's murder case, including Dennis Bowman's haunting confession and where Cathy Terkanian is now.

Who is Cathy Terkanian?

Cathy Terkanian, a retired nurse, is Aundria Bowman's biological mother. She was 16 when she gave birth to Aundria in 1974 and put her up for adoption in the state of Virginia at the urging of her parents. 

"My fantasy was she had the best life," Terkanian told PEOPLE in 2020. 

Aundria had a closed adoption, but in 2010, Terkanian received a letter from Social Services asking her to get in touch. 

"I thought I was going to meet her," she recalled. Instead, she learned that Aundria had been missing since 1989. Social Services couldn't share the names of the adoptive parents but they did tell Terkanian that her daughter was living in Michigan at the time of her disappearance. 

Terkanian and her husband, Edward, spent the next decade digging for answers — putting pressure on local government and even using a drone to scour the Bowman's property for evidence.

Who are Dennis and Brenda Bowman? 

Dennis Bowman, a former Navy reservist, and his wife, Brenda Bowman, are Aundria's adoptive parents. The couple met in high school and share one biological daughter, Vanessa, who was only 1 year old when Aundria went missing. Vanessa's birth was a surprise as Dennis and Brenda didn't believe that they could conceive a child. 

Into the Fire depicts Brenda as a devoted wife and she has never been charged in relation to her husband's crimes. 

The Netflix documentary quotes Brenda saying, "I haven't forgotten what he did but I have forgiven... I take my marriage vows seriously."

What happened to Aundria Bowman? 

Prior to her disappearance, Aundria told a friend and her adoptive mother that Dennis was molesting her, per The Holland Sentinel. 

"I looked at her and told her, 'That's a lie, and you know it,' " Brenda said on the witness stand at Dennis' trial. 

His confession revealed that on March 11, 1989, he found Aundria packing a bag. She was allegedly planning to run away and report her adoptive father to the police for abuse. 

The last thing Dennis said to her was, "No, you are not," before striking her. The blow caused Aundria to fall down a steep set of stairs and break her neck. Dennis then took her body out to a barn on the family's property, covered it with a tarp and burned her clothes and bag. 

Days later, he used an axe to cut off her legs so that he could fit Aundria's body in a barrel which he buried. When Dennis and his family moved to another home in Hamilton, he reburied the barrel at their new residence. 

"I have confessed to the death of Aundria," he wrote in a confession letter in 2019. "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."

How did Dennis Bowman get caught? 

Before confessing to Aundria's death, Dennis was found guilty of another similar crime. 

In November 2019, according to The Holland Sentinel, police arrested Dennis for the rape and murder of Kathleen Doyle, 25, which occurred in 1980. A judge handed down two life sentences after Dennis' DNA was found on Doyle's bedspread. 

That same year, while being held in the Allegan County Jail in Norfolk, Va., Dennis confessed to Aundria's death and shared the location of her remains during a recorded phone call with Brenda. 

In 2021, police told News 8 that Dennis also confessed to the 1979 rape and assault of a 27-year-old woman from Holland. Metta McLeod, who appears in Netflix's Into the Fire, also suspects that Dennis is the man who allegedly lured her into his red pick-up truck and attempted to harm her in September 1989 — just five months after Aundria disappeared. 

Dennis' wrap sheet also includes a conviction of assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct in 1981, as well as a felony breaking and entering in 1998. 

Where is Dennis Bowman now? 

In February 2022, Dennis pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 35 to 50 years in prison for Aundria's murder, on top of his previous life sentences for the rape and murder of Doyle and 20 years for the burglary of her home.

He is currently incarcerated at the River North Correctional Center, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. Dennis is 75.

Where is Cathy Terkanian now? 

Terkanian, who lives with her husband in Massachusetts, is still fighting for her daughter. She wants Aundria's adoption annulled and her name changed back to Alexis Badger.

"I've got to get that monster's name off of my daughter's birth certificate," Terkanian said in Into the Fire. "Imagine having to fight that system. But I'm going to do it, and I'm going to use this [documentary] as the teeth and take it right to the governor." 

She also wants full custody of Aundria's remains. 

"I want her body back," Terkanian said during an interview with The Holland Sentinel in February 2022. "Brenda has half of it, she's going to give me half of my child's mutilated body? Somehow that just doesn't give me any peace. She doesn't belong with those people."

Dennis will be behind bars for the rest of his life, but that brings Terkanian no comfort. In the final minutes of Into the Fire, she said: "I'm relieved, but I'm still angry. I thought the angry would go away."

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