Shivangi Sinha
In April 2010, Cathy Terkanian received a letter from a social worker informing her that the 6-month-old daughter she had given up for adoption in 1974 had been missing since 1989. The letter stated that the police wanted to run a DNA test on an unidentified body they believed to be Aundria Michelle Bowman. Eager to learn more, Cathy launched her investigation and uncovered disturbing truths about her daughter’s life. Netflix’s ‘Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter’ delves into the details of the case and the eventual arrest of Aundria’s perpetrator.
Aundria’s Remains Were Found 30 Years After Her Disappearance
Aundria was born on June 23, 1974, to 16-year-old Cathy Terkanian, who named her Alexis Miranda Badger. However, things did not unfold as expected. As a single mother unsure of how to care for her baby, Cathy followed her own mother’s advice and decided it would be best to give her to another home, feeling she couldn’t provide for her. When Alexis was nine months old, Cathy placed her for adoption. After spending some time in foster care, she was adopted by Brenda and Dennis Bowman at ten months old and was renamed Aundria Michelle Bowman.
Aundria began her new life with her adoptive parents in Norfolk, Virginia, before eventually relocating to the small town of Hamilton, Michigan. Her parents were actively involved in their church community, and Aundria led a life as typical as any other child. She was known for her sense of humor, was well-liked by her friends, and brought happiness to those around her. From her extended family to her peers, she spread joy to everyone. In 1988, her mother, Brenda, became pregnant, and soon after, Aundria’s baby sister, Vanessa Bowman, was born. Aundria embraced the role of the older sister, showing tenderness and care toward Vanessa, and their family life seemed filled with happiness.
Everything changed on March 11, 1989. Dennis took the baby with him to drop Brenda off at work that day. When he returned home, he called the police, reporting that Aundria was missing. He mentioned that some money, a getaway bag, and her purple jacket were also gone. The 14-year-old had reportedly previously run away from home, so the police conducted a brief search before assuring her parents she would likely return. However, the case went cold as years passed, and there was no trace of Aundria. In 2020, her remains were discovered in four plastic bags, hidden inside a barrel, and buried just a few miles from the property where she had lived in 1989.
Aundria’s Biological Mother Was Determined to Find Her Daughter’s Killer
Interest in Aundria’s case resurfaced in early 2010 when Carl Koppelman, an accountant from California, contacted the police. Koppelman had created a missing person database and had helped solve several cases using his online skills. When he came across a 1999 report of an unidentified Jane Doe, he compared it with his database and suspected the body might belong to Aundria. He alerted the police, who then contacted social services and traced Cathy. The social worker updated Cathy on her daughter’s life and requested a DNA sample to assist with identification. While the results were not a match, she became determined to find answers now that Cathy knew about Aundria’s disappearance.
Cathy created a Facebook page to search for her daughter, and she was contacted by several people who had known Aundria. One of them, a woman named Metta McLeod, reached out with a potential lead. In September 1989, when Metta was six years old, she had been abducted from a gas station in Holland, Michigan, not far from Aundria’s home, and sexually assaulted. Metta’s family had reported the crime, and she had even helped create a sketch of the abductor. Metta believed that the man who had abducted her could be connected to Aundria’s disappearance as well.
When Metta saw a picture of Dennis, she claimed he was the same man who had abducted her that night. Meanwhile, Cathy contacted some of Aundria’s school friends, who revealed that her daughter had hesitated to go home. At one point, she had even accused Dennis of molesting her. A social worker responded to these allegations, but Brenda and Dennis denied them, claiming their daughter was going through a rebellious phase. Further evidence surfaced when some of Brenda’s relatives reported witnessing Aundria being mistreated, spoken to condescendingly, and generally unhappy at home.
Aundria Bowman’s Killer Kept Her Remains Hidden For Months
Dennis had a criminal history, too. In 1981, he was convicted of assault on a girl and sentenced to 5-10 years in prison, eventually being released in 1986. In 1998, he was arrested for breaking into a coworker’s home and stealing items, including her lingerie. Despite Cathy’s efforts to push the police to investigate Dennis again, there wasn’t enough evidence for them to move forward. Determined, Cathy flew to Michigan, called Brenda and Dennis frequently, put up billboards, and did everything possible to point suspicion at Dennis. Finally, in 2019, Dennis was arrested for the 1980 murder of a 25-year-old woman named Kathleen Doyle.
While incarcerated, police employed various tactics to get Dennis to reveal where he had hidden Aundria’s body. In February 2020, he confessed to killing her, claiming it happened in a fit of anger after she said that she would report him for molestation again. He said he only meant to strike her but she fell down the stairs and broke her neck. He then said he dismembered her body, packed it in a barrel, and put it out with the trash a few days later. However, the police knew this was unlikely, and he wasn’t telling the truth. After changing his story multiple times, Dennis finally admitted that he had buried the barrel containing Aundria’s remains in the backyard of a new home the family had moved into months after her disappearance. He had kept her remains in the shed all this while. When police dug up the spot, they found the barrel. In December 2021, Dennis pleaded no contest to the charge of second-degree murder.
Read More: Dennis Bowman: Where is the Killer Now?
