If you’re looking for your next true crime obsession, Watch With Us has the perfect docuseries to watch this February.
Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter premiered on Netflix back in 2024 and told the story of Cathy Terkanian, a woman who embarked on a relentless journey to find out what happened to her missing biological daughter.
Produced by Charlize Theron, the documentary went on to receive raves from both critics and audiences for its fascinating real story, sensitive approach and searing commentary.
Read on to see why we agree that Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter will blow you away.
It’s a Riveting True Crime Narrative
The two-part story of Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter surrounds Cathy Terkanian, who discovers that, after giving birth as a teenager to a baby that she ultimately placed up for adoption three decades ago, her child has been missing for 21 years. While this premise might seem like the plot of a compelling mystery novel, that’s the true subject matter of this documentary. Cathy’s quest to find her biological daughter, Aundria Bowman, is a passionate and dogged search fueled by what can only be described as a motherly instinct that can’t just be evaporated by distance and time.
Despite never wanting to give her daughter up, Cathy’s mother persuaded her to, and so Cathy lived with the hope that they’d connect years later. That never happened, and instead, Cathy received a letter from the adoption agency in 2010 informing her that Aundria had gone missing in 1989, when she was fourteen. Since this letter, Cathy became committed to her investigation, recruiting her husband, online sleuths and Aundria’s real-life friends to search for the answers. What she finds is unsettling history about the family that adopted Aundria.
‘Into the Fire’ Avoids Exploiting Its Tragic Source Material
Rather than focus primarily on the lurid details of the crime, Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter instead takes pains to emphasize a mother’s search for her missing daughter, and thus centers the narrative on the victims of the crime rather than on the crime itself. The documentary showcases Cathy’s determination in her investigation, her refusal to be beaten down or take no for an answer and how sometimes, intuition is an almost supernatural gift. It’s an all-around fascinating exploration of family, sacrifice and the strength of parental bond.
Still, the film manages to keep itself from becoming an overly reverential portrait of motherly instinct because the details of the crime are so horrific that they require restraint and a steady hand. And Cathy’s climactic gut instinct that she chalks up to her undying mother-daughter bond instead comes across like the unfortunate knowledge that comes with living in a world where monstrous men feel entitled to do whatever they want. By leaning into Cathy — and Aundria’s — story and highlighting the way they were failed, Into the Fire becomes more than just pulpy voyeurism.
It Emphasizes Systemic Failures Towards Women’s Safety
If there’s a lasting takeaway from Into the Fire, it’s that stories like Aundria’s have happened too many times. Men have been able to abuse, mistreat and even kill women, while women’s cries for help are ignored. Into the Fire places emphasis on a system that doesn’t value the lives of women. Aundria received far from the better life Cathy had been told she’d receive through adoption. Instead, she was viciously mistreated and abused by her adoptive father, Dennis Bowman, and when she confided in her school, her church and the police, what happened? Nothing.
Aundria likely could have been saved if only one person in authority had given her the decency to listen to her and believe her story. Instead, she was dismissed, and she met her tragic fate because of that. Of course, Into the Fire isn’t the only true crime documentary to comment on the way women’s safety isn’t taken seriously, and when considered together, a devastating and infuriating pattern emerges in which the system is rigged in favor of white men and against everyone else.
Stream Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter on Netflix.
