The Chilling True Story Behind Into the Fire

Where was Aundria Bowman’s body?

But authorities continued to monitor the couple’s communication, including letters Dennis wrote to his wife, and in one dated Dec. 12, 2019, a copy of which was shown in the series, he changed part of his story.

Aundria did fall, he wrote, but then he buried her in “a proper grave” next to a local graveyard. According to Dennis’ letter, she was wearing jeans, a sweater and a gold necklace with a heart and a cross when he wrapped her in a clean white sheet “like a mummy,” then encased her in a tarp with cedar chips, cloves and cinnamon. He drove by the site more than 100 times over 30 years, he wrote.

Investigators said during Into the Fire that they followed up and searched near graveyards for a potential burial site, but they were admittedly skeptical and told Brenda that she needed to press Dennis harder for the truth.

Finally, over the phone in another recorded conversation, Dennis admitted that Aundria was buried in their backyard. When Brenda protested that they didn’t even live there when their daughter disappeared, he said that he had put her in a barrel and buried her at their previous home. Then, when they moved, he said, he dug up and moved the barrel as well. 

“I dug the hole, and I put the barrel in,” he said. “She’s been right there the whole time.”