Review of the Netflix documentary series Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter rating *****
This is one of those stories where you don’t see what’s coming next. Just when you think you have a grasp of what might have happened to Cathy Terkanian’s daughter, who she had given up for adoption at the age of sixteen, you learn new disturbing information that sends the story spiraling in a whole new direction.
It was a closed adoption, so Cathy had no way of learning about the family who adopted her daughter. She hoped that someday her daughter might come looking for her. Instead, Cathy received a letter some thirty years later from the adoption agency informing her that her daughter had been missing since the age of fourteen. There was also a request for her to submit a DNA sample to see if her DNA matched a Jane Doe who had been found around the same time that Cathy’s daughter went missing.
After learning that her daughter had been missing since 1989, Cathy began searching for answers. She started by learning everything she could about the adoptive parents. I can’t go into the details of what she and other online sleuths and detectives discovered without giving away the many twists and turns of the story. It’s best that you discover these on your own without any prior knowledge.
This story takes several years to unravel, yet the filmmakers seem to be present throughout. The viewer learns the twisted facts right along with Cathy. What the documentary lacks in visuals is more than made up for in the strength of the story being told.
Aundria deserves to have the world learn what happened to her, and her biological mother deserves credit for her indefatigable efforts to uncover the truth.
If you are looking for something to watch, add this to your watchlist.
Bad journalism. If you’re going to review make sure you watch it properly and report the facts properly.
You state above that the Jane Doe case that Cathy was asked to submit comparative DNA for was found around the time Cathy’s daughter went missing. This is completely false. The film makes clear that Aundria went missing in 1989 and the Jane Doe body was found in 1999.
Okay, thanks for pointing out my error. However, I believe that the remains that were found were thought to be about the same age of Aundria when she went missing, thus the reason for the DNA test.