Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: TV And Film, Netflix, True Crime, Crime
Rhianna Benson
Warning: This article contains descriptions of child abuse that some readers may find upsetting
A controversial new true crime documentary has divided viewers this week, with some urging others to sink their teeth into it and others wishing they'd never watched at all.
The harrowing limited series landed on Netflix a matter of days ago, and has already sky-rocketed to the streaming service's Top 10.
Into The Fire: The Lost Daughter tells the story of the disappearance of 14-year-old Aundria Bowman, who vanished from the Hamilton, Michigan home of her adoptive family in 1989.
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Aundria had been placed up for adoption by her birth mother Cathy Terkanian when she was just nine months old, before she was welcomed into the family of husband and wife duo, Dennis and Brenda Bowman.
A year prior to her disappearance, Aundria accused her adoptive father of having molested her, though police failed to hold Dennis accountable after he and Brenda claimed the allegations formed part of her increasingly rebellious nature.
On 11 March the following year, however, the family reported the teen missing, claiming she'd stolen money from their home.
Aundria was considered by authorities an 'endangered runaway' in a case that would remain unsolved for decades.
It wasn't until 2010 that Cathy Terkanian - whose story is told in the stomach-wrenching series - would learn of her birth daughter's disappearance, and was heartbroken to hear that police had seemingly given up hope.
That year, she received a letter from the adoption agency she'd left Aundria with, after they requested her DNA in the hope of identifying the remains of another Jane Doe teenager.
Though the body didn't belong to her daughter, Cathy's hope of discovering the truth was ignited, and she set up a Facebook account aimed at finding her little girl.
In the weeks that followed, another woman reached out, claiming she'd been kidnapped and assaulted as a six-year-old girl by a man in the same area that Aundria had disappeared, believing it to be Dennis Bowman.
After request information on him, Cathy subsequently discovered that Dennis had a dark history of abuse, and interviews she conducted with her daughter's friends also pointed to the fact she was being abused by her adoptive father.
Cathy went on to campaign for Dennis to be arrest, but - as the documentary demonstrates - police ceaselessly claimed they hadn't enough evidence.
In 2019, however, in a shock twist of fate, Dennis Bowman was arrested for the 1980 murder of another woman - 25-year-old Kathleen Doyle.
It was whilst he was awaiting trial that human remains - later identified as Aundria - were discovered in a thinly cemented an area near his home.
In 2020, Dennis Bowman was charged with the murder of the missing teenager, after he eventually confessed to having inflicted a head injury before dismembering her body with an axe and machete.
He was sentenced to two life sentences for the murder of Kathleen Doyle, and an additional 35-50 years in prison for Aundria's killing.
As we say, viewers of the new true crime series can't seem to come to a general consensus on their verdict.
What they can agree on, however, is that the two-parter has had an unexpectedly heartbreaking impact on their own lives.
"We just watched both episodes of Into The Fire: The Lost Daughter back to back - a harrowing but necessary watch," one viewer penned on social media this week.
"Cathy Terkanian is an incredible titan of a human and I wish her all the peace in the world. Brenda Bowman belongs in jail. Dennis Bowman belongs in hell."
While another added: "Watched Into The Fire: The Lost Daughter. WOW. Just…WOW!!! I hope that man’s wife never knows peace and burns in hell along with him".
Another claimed they wish they'd 'not watched' the show, adding: "I sometimes find the #TrueCrime genre fascinating, but that's just so miserable & tragic, & what an utterly horrible man...".
And someone else wrote: "Just watched Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter which came out on Netflix today and my god it is infuriating and upsetting.
"I feel for Aundria / Alexis. Cathy is selfish. Brenda is crazy. Dennis is disgusting. Everyone failed her and all parental figures are awful."