Shocking true story behind the ‘tragic’ new Netflix true crime documentary that divided viewers

I know we're only halfway through, but September was a great month full of Netflix blockbusters.

Of all those who are obsessed with The perfect couple to the “scariest movie” of 2023, there is plenty for us to see.

Others may satisfy their interest in true crime with one of the latest documentaries.

And behind a particularly “tragic” new series lies a harrowing story that evokes mixed feelings among some viewers.

Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter landed on Netflix on Thursday (September 12) and is co-produced by star Charlize Theron.

The documentary follows Cathy Terkanian, who, 35 years after giving her daughter up for adoption, receives the devastating news that she is “missing and presumed dead.”

“With the help of an amateur detective and local authorities, Cathy begins a grueling ten-year mission to discover the truth about her daughter's fate, delving deep into the shadowy realm of missing persons,” the synopsis states.

In 2010, the woman learns that her daughter disappeared from her adopted home in 1989 and embarks on a ten-year search to find out what happened.

During the course of the documentary, Terkanian learns that her daughter was renamed Aundria Michelle Bowman and adopted by Dennis and Brenda Bowman.

She comes into contact with a woman who believes the man was the same man who kidnapped her as a child (which can never be proven), and also with people Aundria was friends with as a child, one of whom claimed her adoptive father beat her.

In 2019, Dennis was arrested and confessed to the murder of a local woman in 1980. The documentary includes footage of his meeting with his wife.

He tells her: “Aundria is dead. She was dead from the beginning.”

The man stated that he had an argument with the daughter and that he had hit her when she tried to run away, causing her to fall backwards down the stairs.

The daughter was tragically murdered (Netflix)

Dennis says he cut off her legs and stuffed the remains into a barrel that he put out with his neighbor's garbage. But in letters in prison, he changes this story and it turns out that the barrel containing the remains was buried in her back garden.

In February 2022, Dennis was convicted of first-degree murder.

Given all of these details in the documentary, viewers called Terkanian an “incredible titan of a human being” and said, “A mother’s intuition is like nothing else.”

Many said it was one of the “most gripping documentaries” and that it was “guaranteed to make you want to throw bricks through one window or another.”

However, there have been isolated complaints that Terkanian often “repeats” himself.

One Reddit user wrote, “The facts of the case are sad, the story is pretty compelling. I had a few moments where I realized why editors say 'less is more. You've already said that. No need to keep hitting readers over the head with a hammer' as the birth mother kept repeating how angry she was… I understand that her persistence 1. probably solved the case and 2. set the story arc for the movie, but if they had cut 20-30 minutes of her talking, I think it would have been stronger.”

You can watch Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter on Netflix.