Where is Cathy Terkanian now? 'Into The Fire' mother speaks out

Shortly after Cathy Terkanian gave her little daughter Alexis up for adoption in 1974, she says she was overcome by a disturbing feeling that she couldn't shake.

“I could hear her calling me, 'Find me, find me,'” Terkanian, 66, said in a video interview with TODAY.com.

Terkanian was 16 when she gave birth to Alexis and had no reason to believe her baby was in danger. Terkanian's mother, who urged her to give her baby up for adoption, had promised her that Alexis would be taken in by good people.

“I thought she had the best family there was, and why not? She was perfect,” says Terkanian, a retired nurse, as she holds up a baby photo of Alexis in an interview with TODAY.com.

“She was one of those babies who never cried much,” Terkanian says quietly.

Over the years, Terkanian searched for Alexis, but because it was a closed adoption, she kept running into obstacles. The 1974 adoption records were sealed, meaning Terkanian did not know the identity of the couple who adopted Alexis – Dennis and Brenda Bowman – nor did she know that Alexis lived in Holland, Michigan.

The Bowmans had also changed Alexis' name to Aundria.

Terkanian asked an astrologer to create a birth chart for her daughter. “The person who created the chart said, 'If she's still alive, if she's still here, she'll find you,'” Terkanian says. The “if” stuck in her mind. Why wouldn't Alexis be alive?

Then, in 2010, Terkanian received a letter from a social worker saying that Alexis had disappeared in 1989 at the age of 14. An unidentified body had been discovered in Wisconsin and authorities thought it might be Alexis, but had to find a DNA match with Terkanian's DNA.

Terkanian's DNA didn't match the unidentified body, but the new information ignited her passion. Alexis had been missing for 35 years, and Terkanian wanted answers.

The Bowmans told authorities that Alexis was a rebellious teenager who had run away from home. But Terkanian's “motherly instinct” told her there was something more going on, something bad.

“I can’t explain it,” she says.

From that moment on, Terkanian says, she focused on one thing: finding Alexis.

Terkanian's ten-year search for Alexis's fate is chronicled in Netflix's chilling true-crime documentary “Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter.”

With the help of her husband, Edward, and amateur Internet sleuth Carl Koppelman, Terkanian discovered that Alexis disappeared shortly after she said Dennis had sexually molested her. She says she also learned from Alexis' childhood friends that Dennis had physically abused her. This information was later shared at Dennis Bowman's trial.

Terkanian said the Bowmans “tortured” Alexis, allegations that were later brought to court.

“They told her she wasn't wanted and that no one loved her,” Terkanian tells TODAY.com. Throughout the interview, she maintains constant eye contact – and notes that Alexis had her eyes.

The film details how Terkanian discovered that Bowman had a criminal record, including assault with intent to commit a sexual crime in 1981 and a burglary of a co-worker's apartment in 1998.

Terkanian became convinced that Dennis, a former Marine reservist, had murdered Alexis and buried her body in the backyard of the Bowmans' home.

In 2019, police used forensic evidence to link Dennis to the 1980 murder of 25-year-old Kathleen Doyle.

A year later, Alexis's skeletal remains were discovered exactly where Terkanian had expected them.

Dennis is currently serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of Doyle and an additional 35 to 50 years in prison for the murder of Alexis. Brenda has not been charged and is standing by her husband.

Brenda Bowman declined to comment on the documentary “Into The Fire.” TODAY.com left a phone message for Brenda, but she did not return the call.

“Into the Fire” director Ryan White says the film speaks of the unbreakable bond between a mother and her child.

“Cathy was reduced to the role of the crazy woman… trying to understand something that was traumatic for her. Even the people around her thought it was just too far-fetched,” White tells TODAY.

And yet Terkanian was right all along: her daughter was murdered and buried in the Bowmans' backyard.

“There is no explanation other than maternal instinct,” says White.

Terkanian agrees.

“The mother-daughter bond is, 'I don't care what people think. I care about what happened to that child. So just get out of my way,'” Terkanian says.

Terkanian is happily married and lives in Massachusetts. She has never had any more children.

“I don't know if I'll ever find peace,” she says. “I don't think I can plan it. It will just happen when it happens. I'm a little less angry until I start thinking about Brenda.”