'Untamed' Finale Explained - Who Killed Lucy?

Cosmopolitan

19-07-2025

Netflix's newest miniseries, Untamed, is probably one of the most aesthetically pleasing murder-mystery shows out there. Set in Yosemite National Park, it has stunning landscapes, waterfalls, and wildlife in basically every shot. But the thing about a 750,000-acre park where dozens of people have gone missing, never to be seen again, is it also provides a pretty darn spooky backdrop for a whodunnit murder show.
The entire series revolves around federal agent Kyle Turner as he tries to figure out who killed a young woman, later identified as Lucy Cook, inside the park. And while that's going on, we also slowly learn bits and pieces about Kyle's son, Caleb, who was killed inside the park years earlier.
After five episodes of build-up, the finale explosively unraveled every mystery and I, for one, was left shooketh. So who killed Lucy? And what happened with Caleb? And what does that drug trafficking ring have to do with any of it? Let's get into it!
At the end of episode 5, Kyle, having found video of Shane Maguire (the guy living on his own in the park with that massive gun) on Lucy's phone, goes to arrest him. When he gets to Shane's camp, he finds a pill bottle marked with an X on the top—the same as the bottles that were being trafficked around the park with the same X that Lucy had tattooed on her arm. While holding the bottle, Kyle gets shot in the side of the stomach. As to be expected, it was Shane who shot him and the two engage in a shootout through the mountains. With Kyle hurt and bleeding, Shane manages to catch up to him. But just as he's about to kill Kyle, Ranger Naya Vasquez saves the day, showing up in the nick of time and taking out Shane.
Kyle passes out from his injuries but wakes up in a hospital where he's expected to make a full recovery.
Lucy went missing when she was a little girl but was found dead many years later as a young woman, so we were all left wondering where the hell was she this whole time? Well, Kyle, now back in action, follows up on a tip he received about a girl who looked like Lucy having been at a foster home in Nevada years ago. He drives out to the home, and although the woman who lives there is elderly, living in hoarder-like conditions, and can't fully answer Kyle's questions, she does mention Lucy. Kyle also finds a depressing-looking room in the basement that locks from the outside where the foster kids would have slept all together with sleeping bags.
He manages to track down the biological daughter of the foster mom who explains her parents essentially ran the foster home as a side hustle, taking money from parents in exchange for housing their child. She says they barely fed the kids and kept them locked in the basement most days. She remembers Lucy and said she was in the home for a few years before she ran away. (Presumably back to Yosemite, since we see a flashback of her in the park with one of the other nomads who lives there.)
The biggest mystery of the whole show is who killed Lucy? After Shane's sus behaviour, everyone assumes it was him, though we don't know exactly why. Kyle guesses that maybe she became a liability for Shane and the drug trade. But when Kyle is talking to the foster parents' daughter in Nevada, she mentions something: Lucy always used to say her police officer father was going to show up and arrest everyone and take her away. Something clicks for Kyle and he resends Lucy's DNA to be tested. He then goes to confront Chief Paul Souter. Turns out Paul had an affair with Lucy's mother years ago and he's Lucy's real father. When Lucy's mother was dying, she told Lucy the truth about her father. He was also the one who took Lucy to the abusive foster family (although he claims he'd been told they were good people).
When Lucy ran away from the home, she came back to the park to see Paul, but he turned her away. He claims she kept coming back demanding more and more money, threatening to blow his life up if he didn't comply. One day, she took Paul's granddaughter, Sadie, from the house. Paul confronted Lucy at gunpoint, and she, understandably, tried to run away. Paul shot her in the leg but she kept running and made her way to the edge of a cliff where she then stepped off it, falling to her death. Filled with shame and knowing Kyle is about to expose him to everyone, Paul shoots himself.
Two of the show's background mysteries end up being tied together in a shocking twist. We find out via a confession from Kyle's ex-wife, Jill, that the man who killed their son was named Sean Sanderson. YES! The same Sean Sanderson who's been missing for five years, whose case Kyle was put in charge of at the time, and whose lawyer has been poking around trying to get info for a wrongful death lawsuit.
Kyle found out Sanderson was responsible for the murder because Shane Maguire caught him on some wildlife cameras he'd put up in the park, and Shane showed the footage to Kyle. Shane offered to kill Sanderson, but Kyle said no. Jill, though, not wanting to have to go through a trial and listen to Sanderson try to defend himself, paid Shane to do the deed. Kyle only found out what happened when Sanderson was reported missing, and Jill says it was this betrayal that led to their divorce–another mini plot twist, considering we were led to believe it was likely Kyle who was responsible for their separation.