Into the Fire True Story Explained: What happened to Dennis Bowman?

Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, Netflix’s second true crime series, follows the true story of Cathy Terkanian’s hunt for Aundria Bowman, the daughter she put up for adoption and who went missing in March 1989.

In 2010, Cathy Tarkanian received a letter from the adoption agency seeking her DNA to determine if she matched an identified corpse because her daughter had been missing since 1989.

The letter Terkanian received sparked a ten-year investigation into what happened. Cathy Terkanian learnt that her daughter’s name was Aundria and that Brenda and Dennis Bowman, a young couple, had adopted her.

Authorities assumed Aundria Bowman had fled, but Cathy Terkanian became determined to investigate the details of her daughter’s abduction and discover what happened to her. Cathy Terkanian set out on a 10-year odyssey to learn how Aundria Bowman vanished and what led to it.

She contacted Aundria Bowman’s friends, relatives, and anyone else who may have known her. Cathy Terkanian’s hard work and perseverance eventually lead to the truth, as depicted in the Netflix original series.

1. When did Aundria Bowman Disappear?

Aundria Bowman Disappeared In March 1989 When She Was 14. Dennis Bowman contacted police in March 1989 to report his daughter, Aundria Bowman, missing.

Dennis Bowman observed something odd about the house: the door was unlocked, and numerous items were missing, including a cash envelope, a carry-on bag, and Aundria’s purple jacket.

Dennis and Brenna Bowman discussed their troublesome daughter, claiming she stole, used drugs, and lied. When Cathy Terkanian discovered her daughter’s turbulent years, she realized the police had not thoroughly probed Aundria Bowman’s disappearance because they assumed she had fled, so Terkanian became even more desperate to find her.

2. Aundria Bowman’s Birth Mother Investigated The Murder Starting In 2010

After learning of her daughter’s absence and potential death, Cathy Terkanian set up a Facebook group called Find Aundria M Bowman, hoping that Aundria’s friends and relatives would respond with information.

She got more determined after getting the DNA findings, which revealed that Jane Doe’s body did not match Terkanian’s DNA. Then, a local woman called Metta McLeod approached Cathy Terkanian, believing her experience was related to Aundria’s.

When Metta McLeod was six years old, a guy abducted and sexually molested her, but he fled due to dogs barking in the distance.

Metta McLeod suspected her case had something to do with Aundria Bowman, who disappeared in the same area of Michigan the same year. Metta McLeod learned more about Aundria Bowman’s case and concluded that the man who had hurt her was most likely Dennis Bowman.

Cathy Terkanian, forensic artist Carl Koppelman, and Metta McLeod exhaustively studied the situation and determined that Dennis Bowman kidnapped and injured McLeod.

This revelation prompted Cathy Terkanian to question Aundria Bowman’s friends and relatives, who all believed Dennis Bowman had physically and sexually assaulted his daughter, with events to back it up.

Cathy Terkanian used the Freedom of Information Act to get information on Dennis Bowman, and she discovered he had a major criminal background. Cathy Terkanian became persuaded that Dennis Bowman had killed Aundria and buried her in his backyard.

Terkanian spent the next few years doing everything she could to expose him. She set up missing person posters and billboards and slept outside the Bowmans’ house.

She confronted Brenda Bowman and repeatedly called her to persuade Dennis Bowman to confess. According to the Netflix true crime documentary, detectives did not have enough evidence to arrest Dennis Bowman despite his status as a person of interest.

3. Did Dennis Bowman Ever Confess?

Dennis Bowman confessed to killing Aundria. He Sexually assaulted & abused his adoptive daughter, Aundria.

When the police finally arrested and charged Dennis Bowman, Cathy Terkanian was shocked to learn it was for an entirely different crime. However, this arrest eventually led to Dennis Bowman confessing to his involvement with Aundria Bowman’s death.

The crime police had charged Dennis Bowman for occurred in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1980. That case had also been cold for several decades, but a breakthrough in DNA technology allowed Virginia detectives to place Dennis Bowman at the scene. After Dennis Bowman’s arrest, the detectives assigned to Aundria Bowman’s case created a plan.

The authorities offered Dennis Bowman the opportunity to be imprisoned in Michigan, closer to his family, provided he confessed to Aundria Bowman’s murder and divulged the location of her remains.

After much back and forth, he finally told his wife what had occurred to Aundria. Dennis Bowman stated that when he returned home, he went upstairs to learn that Aundria Bowman was leaving and planned to report her father’s sexual abuse. Dennis Bowman became enraged and struck her, causing Aundria Bowman to fall down the steps and die from a broken neck.

However, Dennis Bowman refused to say where he buried his daughter. Every time the cops or Brenda inquired, he told a different story. It was not until Brenda Bowman was at her wits’ end that Dennis Bowman finally confessed on a phone call where their daughter had been all this time.

Dennis Bowman admitted he placed her in a barrel and buried her in their backyard, and when the Bowmans moved to another house, he took the barrel with them and reburied it in their new backyard.

Detectives and anthropologists returned to the Bowmans’ property, excavating the area until they discovered the barrel and Aundria Bowman’s remains.

Her remains were found in several different bags, implying that Dennis Bowman had sliced her up. Dennis Bowman was finally charged with the second-degree murder of Aundria Bowman.

According to the documentary, which is presently streaming on Netflix, the police were unable to charge Dennis Bowman with first-degree murder based on his confession.

However, given that his claims for each crime he committed were continuously changing, it is unlikely that anybody will completely understand how Aundria Bowman died.

4. Dennis Bowman’s Other Criminal Cases Explained

Dennis Bowman was successfully charged and convicted by Michigan police due to other offences he committed over the years. In November 2019, Virginia officials arrested Bowman for the sexual assault and death of Kathleen Doyle in September 1980.

Dennis Bowman was linked to the crime by authorities because his DNA was found at the scene. He was in Norfolk, Virginia, at the time, and he confessed to police. However, this was not Dennis Bowman’s sole violent crime.

Although Dennis Bowman was never formally charged and convicted, Metta McLeod is confident that he had abducted and assaulted her when she was six years old, in September 1989, six months after Aundria Bowman’s disappearance.

In 1980, Dennis Bowman was arrested for attempted murder and pleaded guilty to the crime of intent to commit sexual assault, which landed him a prison sentence of 5-10 years.

The judge in the case believed Dennis Bowman was a danger to women. In 1998, Dennis Bowman also received a one-year sentence for breaking into a co-worker’s home.

Dennis Bowman also admitted to Michigan police and his wife that he had committed several sexual assaults around the United States over the years.

Despite everything Dennis Bowman had done, Brenda Bowman continued to support him, believing he was simply a man who had made numerous mistakes.

Notably, Brenda Bowman has declined to appear in Netflix’s Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter. Dennis Bowman was sentenced to life in prison by the judge in Aundria Bowman’s case and two life terms by the judge in Kathleen Doyle’s case.

Dennis Bowman is now serving a jail sentence in Virginia.

5. About Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter

Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, Netflix’s second true crime series, follows the true story of Cathy Terkanian’s hunt for Aundria Bowman, the daughter she put up for adoption and who went missing in March 1989.

According to the documentary, which is presently streaming on Netflix, the police were unable to charge Dennis Bowman with first-degree murder based on his confession.

However, given that his claims for each crime he committed were continuously changing, it is unlikely that anybody will completely understand how Aundria Bowman died.