I Will Find You ending explained: Who took Matthew? – The Mirror
Need to know
Netflix fans still can’t believe how this “insane” Harlan Coben thriller ended.
Hayley Anderson Screen Time TV Reporter
14:45, 19 Jun 2026
Netflix I Will Find You ending explained. (Image: NETFLIX)
Everything you need to know about Netflix I Will Find You ending
Netflix’s I Will Find You follows father David Burroughs (Sam Worthington) who is wrongly imprisoned for murdering his son Matthew. When his ex sister-in-law Rachel Mills (Britt Lower) shows him a photo suggesting Matthew might still be alive, David breaks out of prison to investigate.
The shocking truth slowly comes out as David’s ex-wife Cheryl reveals that after struggling with getting pregnant with Matthew, she visited a fertility clinic but shortly after found out she was with child. However, when she visited the clinic, Cheryl used her sister’s name so David would never find out.
With this new information, Rachel realises that Matthew was kidnapped by Rachel’s obsessed ex-boyfriend Hayden Payne (Milo Ventimiglia) whose family owns the clinic. He was desperate to have a family with Rachel and when he saw her name down for a sperm donor, Hayden donated his own. Upon realising that it was Rachel’s sister who went to the clinic, he tried to put Matthew out of his head until he met the young boy, believing that he was his biological son. For five years, Hayden and his wealthy mother Gertrude had been raising Matthew under the name Theo.
Hayden staged the murder in David’s home by killing a terminally ill boy called Martin from a Swiss orphanage and paid officials off to “confirm” that he was actually Matthew. When confronted about using the dying child, Hayden coldly tells Rachel: “He was going to die a painful death from his condition. It doesn’t matter.”
In a dramatic finale, Hayden kills his mother in a rage, having known that Matthew wasn’t biologically is, before being fatally shot by FBI agent Sarah Greer. David’s conviction is overturned and he’s reunited with Matthew, whilst Rachel writes a book about their ordeal.