Was Aundria Bowman’s death confirmed in ‘Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter’?

Content Advisory: The following article contains references to child abuse and sexual assault. Please take care while reading.

It may seem that the true crime documentaries on Netflix can be a dime a dozen, but Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter is something different. In a span of only two episodes, the docuseries gets right to the point.

Into the Fire follows Cathy, a woman consumed with righting a wrong committed decades past. As a teenager, Cathy made the supremely difficult decision to give up her daughter for adoption. Understanding that she did not yet have the capacity to provide a stable home for her baby, the young mother did what was necessary. Decades later, however, Cathy made the devastating discovery that her daughter, Aundria Bowman, was not only missing, but had been presumed dead for the past two decades.

With the help an independent investigator and her husband, Ed, Cathy follows the clues to her daughter’s adoptive family to discover what became of her. What she learns is heartbreaking, as she strives to find justice for a daughter who never had the chance to live into adulthood.

What happened to Aundria Bowman?

At first, it seemed that Cathy had given a gift to family who really needed it. Based out of Hamilton, Michigan, the Bowman family had been trying to have children for some time. Dennis and Brenda adopted Aundria before she was even a year old. On the surface, they seemed like a happy family. But as Aundria grew older, her behavior declined and it became apparent that something was very wrong.

In the first episode of the documentary, adoptive father Dennis reports that Aundria had behavior problems, and would run away. But only when Cathy travels to Michigan and interviews Aundria’s high school friends does she learn the truth. Aundria had reported several times that her adoptive father had assaulted her. But as God-fearing Christians, all the Bowmans did was hand her over to the church for counseling. Aundria allegedly recanted her statement, but this all became moot when she disappeared one night at only 14 years old.

Dennis claimed that Aundria packed a bag, stole some money, and left the house. She was never seen or heard from again. Only decades later with Cathy’s tenacity and a confluence events did the truth come out. Dennis was a sexual predator who was eventually arrested for the assault and murder of Kathleen Doyle, the wife of a Navy pilot. This, along with Aundria’s accounts of abuse, finally trapped Dennis in a prison of his own making — as well as a real prison.

DNA evidence confirmed that Dennis killed Doyle, and after pressure from authorities, he confessed that he had murdered Aundria as well. Viewers may never really know what happened to Aundria that night. Dennis Bowman is a master manipulator who had evaded capture for decades. What is clear is that he was responsible for Aundria’s murder the night he claimed she ran away. Ultimately, Dennis claimed that Aundria was trying to run away that night, and in his effort to stop her, she stumbled and fell down the stairs, breaking her neck. Authorities throw doubt on this alleged accident. Many believe that Aundria’s murder was premeditated. But at the time of the documentary, her cause of death was eventually recorded as a broken neck and head trauma from falling down the stairs. Dennis later confessed to dismembering her body and putting her in a barrel. He moved the barrel from one house to another so he would continue to have control over Aundria, even in death.

After a decade of Cathy’s investigation, she finally got closure in the matter. But this was cold comfort. Even though Cathy eventually received half of Aundria’s ashes, no one can deny this was a result that never should have happened. Cathy internalized guilt for thinking she was giving her daughter a better life, only to put her in the home of a monster. Into the Fire stays with the viewer until the final moments, urging you to empathize with its main investigator. Fans can watch both episodes of Into the Fire streaming on Netflix.