In case you’re in search of your subsequent true crime obsession, Watch With Us has the proper docuseries to look at this February.
Into the Fireplace: The Misplaced Daughter premiered on Netflix again in 2024 and informed the story of Cathy Terkaniana girl who launched into a relentless journey to seek out out what occurred to her lacking organic daughter.
Produced by Charlize Theronthe documentary went on to obtain raves from each critics and audiences for its fascinating actual story, delicate strategy and searing commentary.
Learn on to see why we agree that Into the Fireplace: The Misplaced Daughter will blow you away.
It’s a Riveting True Crime Narrative
The 2-part story of Into the Fireplace: The Misplaced Daughter surrounds Cathy Terkanian, who discovers that, after giving delivery as a youngster to a child that she finally positioned up for adoption three a long time in the past, her baby has been lacking for 21 years. Whereas this premise may seem to be the plot of a compelling thriller novel, that’s the true material of this documentary. Cathy’s quest to seek out her organic daughter, Aundria Bowmanis a passionate and dogged search fueled by what can solely be described as a motherly intuition that may’t simply be evaporated by distance and time.
Regardless of by no means wanting to provide her daughter up, Cathy’s mom persuaded her to, and so Cathy lived with the hope that they’d join years later. That by no means occurred, and as a substitute, Cathy obtained a letter from the adoption company in 2010 informing her that Aundria had gone lacking in 1989, when she was fourteen. Since this letter, Cathy grew to become dedicated to her investigation, recruiting her husband, on-line sleuths and Aundria’s real-life pals to seek for the solutions. What she finds is unsettling historical past concerning the household that adopted Aundria.
‘Into the Fireplace’ Avoids Exploiting Its Tragic Supply Materials
Moderately than focus totally on the lurid particulars of the crime, Into the Fireplace: The Misplaced Daughter as a substitute takes pains to emphasise a mom’s seek for her lacking daughter, and thus facilities the narrative on the victims of the crime slightly than on the crime itself. The documentary showcases Cathy’s dedication in her investigation, her refusal to be overwhelmed down or take no for a solution and the way typically, instinct is an nearly supernatural reward. It’s an all-around fascinating exploration of household, sacrifice and the energy of parental bond.
Nonetheless, the movie manages to maintain itself from changing into an excessively reverential portrait of motherly intuition as a result of the main points of the crime are so horrific that they require restraint and a gentle hand. And Cathy’s climactic intestine intuition that she chalks as much as her timeless mother-daughter bond as a substitute comes throughout just like the unlucky data that comes with residing in a world the place monstrous males really feel entitled to do no matter they need. By leaning into Cathy — and Aundria’s — story and highlighting the best way they had been failed, Into the Fireplace turns into extra than simply pulpy voyeurism.
It Emphasizes Systemic Failures In the direction of Ladies’s Security

Aundria Bowman in Into the Fireplace
NetflixIf there’s a long-lasting takeaway from Into the Fireplace, it’s that tales like Aundria’s have occurred too many occasions. Males have been in a position to abuse, mistreat and even kill ladies, whereas ladies’s cries for assist are ignored. Into the Fireplace locations emphasis on a system that doesn’t worth the lives of girls. Aundria obtained removed from the higher life Cathy had been informed she’d obtain via adoption. As an alternative, she was viciously mistreated and abused by her adoptive father, Dennis Bowman, and when she confided in her college, her church and the police, what occurred? Nothing.
Aundria seemingly may have been saved if just one individual in authority had given her the decency to hearken to her and imagine her story. As an alternative, she was dismissed, and he or she met her tragic destiny due to that. In fact, Into the Fireplace isn’t the one true crime documentary to touch upon the best way ladies’s security isn’t taken critically, and when thought of collectively, a devastating and infuriating sample emerges by which the system is rigged in favor of white males and in opposition to everybody else.
Stream Into the Fireplace: The Misplaced Daughter on Netflix.
