How did Henry and Jenna’s Daughter Die? Why did Henry Kidnap Mags?

Apple TV’s ‘Last Seen’ follows a man’s renewed quest to find his daughter, who was kidnapped from her bedroom more than a decade ago. The protagonist is a former cop named Ian Ridley who now works as a dispatcher. Just when he is on the brink of losing any hope to find his lost daughter, Mags, he picks up a distress call from a teenage girl who claims to be Mags. Slowly, some shocking details come to light, and it is in the penultimate episode that we discover what really happened to Mags and why she was kidnapped. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Henry and Jenna’s Devastating Loss Almost Breaks Them

Henry and Jenna came from different worlds but were brought together by the desire to start a life together. He was raised by a religious father in a community largely isolated from modern society. She was brought into it by his brother, Donnie, who left owing to his alcohol addiction, but Jenna stayed behind. When her aunt died and left a piece of land in her name, she and Henry decided to move there and start a new life, away from his father’s imposing shadow. This decision was prompted by Jenna’s pregnancy. Soon, the couple welcomed their daughter, Sarah, and started working on the farm. Things were a bit tough, which led Henry to take a job in town to keep them afloat. But overall, things were looking up, and above all, they were happy.

This little paradise they had created for themselves came tumbling down when Sarah unexpectedly passed away. She had been playing around the farm, looking at chickens from outside the coop. She climbed up on the fence, with her feet balancing on the piece of wood that eventually broke under her weight. Ideally, she should have fallen off and walked away with minor injuries. But her head had been resting on the upper plank of the fence, and she fell so suddenly and with such force that her neck broke in the fall, leaving her hanging by the fence. It was a shocking and tragic way to go, and the death of their beloved daughter broke Henry and Jenna’s hearts. It was a loss they could never recover from.

Henry Kidnapped Mags to Replace Sarah

When Sarah died, Jenna broke down completely. She refused to leave her dead daughter’s side, and it seemed to Henry that he would lose his wife as well. Still, he needed to keep the house running, so he went to work at the police station. The same day, Ian Ridley brought his daughter to work and left her alone in his office while he went out to check out a report. Mags had been playing in the office when Henry’s eyes fell on her while cleaning the window. She reminded him of his own daughter, and he became so fixated on her that he followed Ian home that day. The same evening, Ian and Deb were to go out for a date night, leaving Mags in the care of their teenage son, Dean.

Henry knocked on the door, and when Dean answered, the man knew that the boy’s attention was elsewhere. He went around the back and found an opening in the window of Mags’ bedroom. By this point, he had convinced himself that Ian and Deb were bad parents for leaving their daughter behind with a weed-smoking son. He told himself that he was saving Mags from a family that didn’t deserve her. At the same time, he also knew that bringing a daughter to Jenna would save her from drowning in her own sorrow. He had lost his daughter; he couldn’t lose his wife, too, so he stole Ian and Deb’s daughter. He stole Mags and turned her into Sarah, raising her as if his biological daughter had never died. Or at least that was the idea, until Sarah/Mags grew up and started doubting everything around her.

Read More: Last Seen: Is Port McKenna a Real Town in Australia?