NORFOLK, Va. — A local cold case detective's work in solving a cold murder case from the 1980s is gaining national attention in a new Netflix documentary.
“Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter” chronicles crimes committed by a man with ties to Norfolk.
It tells the story of a mother’s unshakable determination to uncover the truth behind the mysterious "1989 disappearance of the daughter she placed for adoption," according to Netflix.
It wasn’t until Norfolk Cold Case Detective Jon Smith solved the 1980 murder case of 25-year-old Kathleen O’Brien Doyle, that answers to the disappearance of 14-year-old Aundria Bowman would come to light.
Watch related coverage: Newport News Police Department launches new cold case team
The Murder of Kathleen Doyle
In September 1980, Kathleen Doyle was raped and murdered inside her Ocean View home.
“It was definitely a brutal crime scene,” Det. Smith said. “It was almost borderline, if not, over borderline - overkill.”
Doyle had moved to Norfolk with her husband, who was in the Navy. Her husband was away on deployment when someone broke into Doyle’s home, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her to death.
The case went cold for decades.
“(Kathleen Doyle was) very outgoing, a people person,” Det. Smith said. “She was an aspiring writer, she was an aspiring journalist, and described as that type of girl that had never met a stranger.”
In the early 1980s, someone confessed to Doyle’s murder, but it was later determined to be a hoax.
Not long after Det. Smith took on the case, investigators out west solved the Golden State Killer cases through the use of investigative genetic genealogy, which is the process of using a DNA profile, genealogy trees, and databases to find perpetrators.
Watch related coverage: James City County police credit detective work, DNA tech for solving 1987 cold case
In Doyle’s case, the suspect’s DNA was left behind at the crime scene.
“I know the Kathleen Doyle case was a great candidate to explore that new technology out there,” Det. Smith said.
Det. Smith said Doyle’s case was actually the first of many to land on his desk.
As he worked to find the killer, Det. Smith said he eventually developed a list of 32 names of potential suspects.
The name at the bottom of that list was Dennis Lee Bowman.
Catching a killer
The following week, Det. Smith says he attended a conference with homicide detectives around the country at the Sheraton in downtown Norfolk.
That’s where he met with an investigator from Michigan, whom he mentioned Bowman’s name to.
“The guy, his mouth dropped, his eyes were wide open, and he says, ‘I know Dennis and I know his family and he’s probably your guy,’” Det. Smith said.
Det. Smith soon learned Bowman was in the Norfolk area at a training camp for the Navy in September 1980: the same time Kathleen Doyle was murdered.
He asked investigators to compare Bowman’s DNA sample to the sample from Doyle’s case.
It was a match.
“Murder cases never go away, solved or unsolved,” Det. Smith said. “And every case that I’ve worked takes a piece of me with it spiritually, mentally and physically, and those are pieces I’ll never get back. Those are pieces that stay with those cases.”
Det. Smith traveled to Michigan to arrest Bowman for Doyle’s murder.
“I got on a plane and went up and we arrested him and he ended up confessing to all kinds of stuff over the next two years,” Det. Smith said.
One of those confessions led to the discovery of what happened to Bowman’s adoptive daughter, 14-year-old Aundria Bowman, the same girl who went missing in 1989.
“Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter”
The documentary largely focuses on the mother, Cathy Terkanian, who gave her daughter up for adoption out of Norfolk, only to realize years later the girl had disappeared in 1989.
The documentary follows Terkanian as she tells the story of what happened to her birth daughter, but it also details Doyle’s case.
In the documentary, interviews Det. Smith conducted with Bowman are shown, including one where he confesses to killing Doyle.
Another clip showcased in the documentary is one in which he confesses to his wife to killing Aundria Bowman.
“I’ve interviewed hundreds of people in my career: good, bad, neutral, whatever,” Det. Smith said. “But I can tell you this, that man gave me the chills.”
In June 2020, Bowman pleaded guilty to killing and raping Doyle and was sentenced to life in prison.
He later pleaded no contest to killing his adoptive daughter in Michigan.
He is serving out his life sentences in southwestern Virginia.
“It’s definitely satisfaction knowing that I played a small piece in a four-decades-old case,” Det. Smith said.
Old-fashioned police work
The documentary also showcases Det. Smith’s unique fashion sense, including Prada sunglasses, which he wore again for News 3’s interview with him.
“I fancy the nice glasses and the cool glasses,” Det. Smith said. “A little out of the norm, but that’s me and that’s what I do.”
The documentary also displays a coffee mug that says “World’s Greatest Detective,” which can be seen sitting on Det. Smith’s desk.
“I did not go out and buy that cup,” Det. Smith said. “I do not think I’m the world’s greatest detective by any stretch of the imagination. The cup was given to me as a gift.”
He said he’s gotten emails from people all across the country, thanking him for not giving up on Doyle’s case.
“The story definitely sheds light on a mother that never gave up on her birth child,” Det. Smith said.
The story of his police work and flair can now be viewed on Netflix.
“It sheds light on old-fashioned police work,” he said. “Science and technology played a great role in this but so did old-fashioned police work, so it sheds light on those things and I think portrays us in a positive manner.”
