Blindsided

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Tonight on Dateline.

I'd never had anybody try to kill me before. Like, was I scared? Sure, I knew they killed somebody, but why? Why would they come for me?

Um, someone just shot my window and I was pouring in my house. I'm sorry, I'm a little out of breath.

Muzzle comes out, boom, window shatters. I saw the bullet hole.

Literally, what? An inch away?

Way too close, way, way, way too close.

I just was so worried about my brother, my heart stopped.

You realize there is some evil going on. You have any enemies? There's some crazy stuff that happened. We started to piece some things together. It's like, holy smokes, there's a pattern here.

They're murdering people.

They're murdering spouses, and you are one of those.

Your mind's just racing, like, what do I do?

A frightened father in the crosshairs, and a notorious killer behind it all. Guess who?

You've been known as the doomsday mom, most hated mom in America.

Good one, Keith.

Your stomach just drops. All you can think about is, are my kids safe?

How did he escape from the web of Mommy Doomsday? I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here is Keith Morrison with Blindsided.

Of all people, why him? Him, the straight arrow, quiet, unassuming, and marked for death.

Did you ever think you wouldn't make it through this?

Sure, I was really worried. When you wake up every morning and you know someone wants to kill you, it's a very different way that you live than most people.

And when dead bodies began showing up,

You just feel sick to your stomach and you're just like, this is not good. They're murdering more people.

his name is Brandon Boudreaux. He is talking to us now because finally, he can. But when it started,

Um, someone just shot my window.

So as I was kinda pulling in, they lifted their like back window, I saw muzzle, they shot.

wasn't safe at all.

who's pissed off at you?

The dude actually got shot right here.

I just want this to end.

Sure, no problem at all.

It's gonna hit me, you know?

He went underground, hiding with his four children, convinced they all had targets on their backs. They fled town to town, state to state, in a singular effort to stay alive. But who would want them dead? These sweet, God-fearing people.

It's crazy. Yeah, it's it's crazy. That's the only right word for it. And when crazy becomes real, that's unthinkable.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Best to begin at the beginning. It was the very last day of the year 2007, a college just south of Salt Lake City, in the town of Orem, Utah. Utah Valley University, where two young people crossed paths for the very first time. One, of course, was the man you just met, Brandon Boudreaux. He was twenty-two years old, had just completed his two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Would say I'm just an average person who tries to live their faith. I think there's lots of people like me in the world, you know, doing their best.

The other one, the young woman, was just eighteen. She was Mormon too, and she had a curious story. She joined the Air Force, but within months she failed a test and was allowed to leave. Her name was Melanie Cope. How'd you meet her?

We met at a New Year's Eve dance. I went with a bunch of buddies. I was kind of always the guy that could drive everybody home, but happened to meet a girl there, dance with her, and just got her number. You know, it was a very casual thing when we first met. What was it about her? You know, it's it's a mix of physical infatuation with each other. And then, as we spent time together, uh, lots of lots of little things clicked.

Clicked? All right, maybe even something more for Melanie, at least.

she was very like, in love with Brandon from the very get-go.

This is Jennifer Coons. She describes herself as once one of Melanie's best friends.

She was a little bit more of a wild child, I'd say. Yeah, she was a lot more wild than Brandon was. Brandon's always been very like, you know, the best guy.

Really, okay. And though Melanie seemed immediately smitten, Brandon said his friends needed a little push. This is Mark Bell,

We were telling Brandon like, Hey, you better snatch this girl up, you lucked out, like, this is the one, like, get this girl.

and Brandon did. He and Melanie were young, yes, but that didn't seem to matter. Between the time you met and the time you got married, how long was it?

Ten months, eleven months.

Okay, so it was pretty quick.

Yeah, quick by most standards, right?

Within a year, Melanie was a mother, and then there was another, and another, and another. Two boys and two girls. Brandon's sales business flourished, and the Boudreauxs moved from Utah to Phoenix, where they were enveloped in a big hug by Melanie's extended family. Her aunt Lori, they called her Lolo, her uncle Charles, and the children they were raising, son Colby, daughter Tylee, and an adopted nephew named JJ. What were they like? As you got to know them?

Wonderful. They were wonderful people, and we were as close as you can get, right? As as extended family, we lots of holiday meals together, lots of trips back and forth between each other's houses. What you would expect out of, like, a a family that's close and and loves each other.

Two, one, JJ. Say hi.

Often, the children played together.

Happy family.

Little JJ became best friends with Brandon's oldest son

Worry no more.

and Tylee.

Lori and and Tylee had talked to me and said, You know, do you wanna baptize Tylee? And of course, the answer is yes, right? And I was just lucky to get to go be a part of it, and I was grateful.

But the relationship was about more than children. Often, Melanie spent hours and hours with Lolo and Charles and Brandon. They became as close as two men could be, with their happy families, their successful businesses.

We'd always end up in the the old soul moment, sitting there talking while all the kids are playing and the and we're just sitting there discussing the, you know, how lucky we were, how blessed we were, that we had all this, and it was running so smoothly. And it's what you imagine when you imagine, like, what would a great life look like?

By 2018, Brandon and Melanie had been married for ten years, ten happy years. And then one day, he was with Melanie, and oh, he had no idea

It was just this is how it is. There's no arguing about it.

it had begun.

She said that Brandon was involved in some very dark things.

I was just scared, to be honest.

Afraid for a reason. Oh, yes,

I'm really protective of my family and it's it's really hard for me to accept that it happened.

yes, many reasons to be afraid, though, what those reasons were

Sex, money, and power. That was really the driving motivation.

about that? They had no idea at all. A decade after Brandon met Melanie, life was still very good, very good indeed.

We had a very comfortable life, for sure, you know, trips to Hawaii or Cabo or the Caribbean, a lot of trips to the Caribbean.

Brandon's sales business in Phoenix had succeeded wildly, too.

I'm just some guy who knocks doors for a living, right? And then you're hanging out in, um, these parties with like celebrities. Like, I'm standing at a Taylor Swift concert with Shaq, literally next to me. I took a picture with him, right? Like, I met Mark Cuban at one of his parties that they put on. You know, I mean, by all means, we were blessed, we were building a new house and things were good, things were really good.

But across town, things did not seem to be so good. Trouble of some kind between Melanie's aunt Lolo and Uncle Charles. After twelve years of marriage, something was off. Brandon didn't know exactly what,

My initial response was like, love them both and kinda stay out of it and let them work through it, or let them work to whatever the conclusion would be.

he might have asked, might have offered to help, but

Melanie made it very clear to me that she didn't want us to be involved in any way, and that was a hard thing for me. But it was what I felt like the right thing was because my wife was asking and she needs to come first.

but events, strange events, terrible events,

Let's come over here.

did not wait long.

So what's going on tonight?

I can't get in touch with my kids. Perhaps you've seen this,

How old are your kids? Six,

the opening scene in one of the most disturbing stories we've told.

She's lost her mind. Uh, how the hell is this safe? She took all the money out of her bank account today.

In January 2019, Charles Vallow, Yes, Melanie's uncle, was that Charles Vallow, married to that Lori Vallow, had come home from a business trip and discovered he was locked out of his own house.

Delaware police, money in the house.

Charles told the police that his wife seemed to have fallen under some sort of spell.

She said, You're not Charles, I don't know who you are, what you did with Charles, but I can murder you now with my powers.

Has she been to a doctor?

She won't go to the doctor because she's a translated being, and they would find out she's translated. She cannot be killed, she cannot die.

But Brandon knew none of that. There were strange events enough in his own house, with his own wife, Melanie. Did you know she was going out to meetings of some kind? Yeah, I mean, And when she came back, what what was it like?

when she started being, you know, a little more religious and like, really wanting to talk to me more about, um, faith and things like that, I got excited. You know, I was like, Oh, this could be good.

After all, Brandon had always been more religious than Melanie, but his excitement didn't last. In its place was confusion.

She started telling me, like, I'm I'm going to go to the temple every day it's open, you know, and going to the temple maybe once a month, like, is a good goal, or or if you're really trying to get after, maybe once a week. But, like, every day is just a bit extreme, maybe? Is the right word, right? Like it would it's abnormal, I would, that's how I would put it.

Not at all normal, said Melanie's longtime friend Jennifer Koons. She saw this new Melanie develop on Facebook posts, her sudden, intense interest in the biblical end times, utterly unlike the Melanie she knew.

It was a lot more extreme than she had ever been before, and so it was just weird. I never really mentioned anything to her, cause I didn't want to make her feel awkward, or, you know, like I was judging what she was doing, or whatever, but it was pretty strange.

And then, in late June 2019, it was as if someone simply flipped a switch. The event Brandon's grandfather died, and Melanie announced she would not be attending the funeral. An argument ensued, and the new Melanie suddenly spoke as if with some divine authority.

God said that I can reveal this to you now. And so then the very next thing she says is, You hacked my aunt Lori's computer. I need you to admit this.

You hacked my aunt Lori's computer?

This is this is what she says to me. Yeah, and

Did you?

of course not. I mean, that's why, why, why would I care?

But Brandon now knew where this was coming from and decided to make some phone calls.

I tell her I'm gonna talk to Lori and to Charles because this isn't okay. And try calling both. Lori never answers, Charles picks up, says, You're right, you should have nothing to do with this. I'm sorry you're involved.

But if Brandon thought this misunderstanding with Melanie could be cleared up quickly, he was in for a shock. What else did she accuse you of?

Eventually, she came forward and, um, and said, You know, God's told me that that you're gay and we need a divorce. Yeah,

What's it like to hear that from the person you've been living with for ten years, have four kids with, we're in love with, felt closer to than anybody else on the planet? And she's telling you, God said, we have to get a divorce because you're gay.

I mean, y- uh, your your response is probably the normal, if you're not personally invested in it, right? Response, which is just kinda laughing, like, a what? This doesn't make any sense, you know? Um, mostly I was just devastated, right? At this point, y- y- this was kind of the moment where I realized, all this isn't just gonna get better, and there's something really wrong.

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June twenty fifth, 2019, Brandon Boudreaux's head was spinning. One moment, he thought Melanie was taking a deeper interest in their LDS faith, and the next, she revealed that God had spoken to her, had told her he Brandon was gay. So it was just a sharp break like that, from you thought everything was okay and getting better to I want a divorce.

Yeah, it was just a matter of hours. Once she made that decision, she made it clear that we weren't gonna be alone in the same room ever again.

Surely she would recant, tell him that was all nonsense, that their life together could be normal again. But no, it was over. And as if to make absolutely sure there was no going back, Melanie fired off a missive to Brandon's family, who had gathered for their grandfather's funeral at the time, including his sister Desiree and her husband Chandler.

Like, eleven o'clock at night, we got a group text from Melanie, which was very weird. Melanie did not group text us anything, and it was just saying, please pray for our family. Some things have come to light. And and we just were like, what? Like, it was so out of the blue and it was late at night, so we were like, we'll just go to bed and figure this out tomorrow.

That was it.

Yeah. So we didn't know what it was. We were like, Okay, you know? And it wasn't till the next day I called my dad and found out what had actually happened.

Wow, yeah. Or which was what?

She accused him of being gay and asked for a divorce.

What'd you think when you heard that?

Um, I was very surprised. That was not something I saw coming, so

I was kinda like, do we have some evidence or something that supports this? Or like, help me understand where this is coming from. Cause for me, it was it was kind of an unbelievable accusation, just knowing Brandon as long as I'd known him. And

and you have to remember, like, my grandpa had just died, so that week it was really selfish of her. Like, we were already a mess.

You were grieving, yeah.

We were we were a big mess. And then to throw this in on the mix of it, it was just really hard.

on the mix of it, it was just really hard.

Brandon must have been pretty blindsided by it.

Oh, he was a mess. He was a mess.

Brandon also broke the news to a close friend and business partner. His name is Brandon, too, Brandon Yule. Here he is with his wife Claudia.

It was a pretty good shock.

The Yules thought they knew Melanie, knew all about her. They had traveled together, their kids played together, and Claudia admired Melanie.

She was a great mom. They always trusted me with their kids, and I always trusted them with my kids. Because, um, Melanie, she was just great.

Great mother.

The ultimate compliment, yeah.

I mean, this is the girl that you would look up to when you're trying to be. If she would have an Instagram, I would be like stalking her because she is the one that I wanted to be like her. Because she was very sweet, very spiritual, and also always being kind to other people.

So when Brandon told the Yules why Melanie said the divorce was necessary, well,

She had received revelation from God that he was gay.

With that, I thought it was a joke.

Or what? I I'm like, Well, yeah, I'm like, this can't, it's not real. Like,

I just don't. I didn't think it was real. I

What do you mean? What? He's like, Yeah, I, I don't, I don't know what's going on with my life right now. And I was very sad for my friend.

Brandon was sad too, sad for what was, sad, especially for his children.

Man, I, I had such a desire to have my family stay a family unit, and I had such a like, I had spent my whole life building this unit. But in that moment, I was just emotionally overwhelmed and I was, uh, devastated.

But Brandon, emotionally wrecked as he was, was still a logical thinker, and the sequence of events was not lost on him. That is what was happening in his own life seemed a mirror image, somehow, of the marital weirdness that had been afflicting Charles Vallow, Aunt Lori's husband. How long before you made the connection?

That night, I recognized this is how Charles was feeling since January.

Remember, for six months, Brandon had honored his wife Melanie's request to stay out of Charles and Lori's marriage troubles. But what Brandon didn't know was that ever since that night in January, six months before, when Charles had called the police about Lori's erratic behavior.

She said, You're not Charles, I don't know who you are, what you did with Charles, but I can murder you now.

Charles had been, like Brandon was now, searching for a lifeline, a friend to talk to, and repeatedly reached out to Brandon via text. Charles's text to Brandon read, Call me, please, it's urgent. Please call me, please. Please call me when you can. Please Brandon, just need a moment. I won't bother you again. Yet Brandon had not received any of these text messages. Why?

There's only one person who had access to my phone, had gotten in my phone and blocked Charles.

That would be his wife, Melanie, as Brandon would later tell police, he found she had blocked all of his incoming texts from Charles for months. Looking back now, knowing he was trying to reach you, knowing he was trying to communicate with you, probably needed a friend in that situation. What's that like for you?

Yeah, it's something to weigh on you the rest of your life. Can't go back and change it.

So in late June, after Melanie had made it clear that she wanted a divorce, Brandon finally picked up his cell phone and called Charles. Tell me about that conversation.

I just, yeah, a apologized to him. Um, I missed the mark. I wasn't there enough for him. I coulda done more, I coulda been better while he was going through this. And so I told him, and he forgave me and said he loved me and said he understood, and we talked through things. And he reminded me how he'd been warning me. He even sent me a text that I didn't get because my phone was blocked. And he told me, Hey, Lori's gonna convince Melanie that you're gay.

That would be the last conversation Brandon and Charles would ever have, because in the next few days, Charles discovered Lori was cheating with a married man and contacted that man's wife and blew the whistle. And then Brandon got a phone call, like a cold hand around his heart.

What was your first thought? I was just like, What?

It was the height of a torrid Arizona summer, July thirteenth, 2019, and Brandon Boudreaux's life seemed to be falling apart. It was two weeks after Melanie demanded a divorce, and just like that, Brandon was loading her worldly possessions into a truck, and she was moving out of their dream home and into a rental. When he heard his phone,

I remember it was kinda like I put on speakerphone, cause my face was so sweaty. And, you know, I just a Adam was calling me, Adam Cox, uh, Lori's brother. And he said, they they killed Charles.

just like that, they killed Charles. What was your first thought?

I think he's just going to shock a little bit, you know? Um, so just I was just like, What? They killed Charles, they shot him.

It was true. In fact, it happened two days earlier at Lori's home in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. So the guy, We've told you that part of the story before. The police were wearing body cams when they responded to the nine one one call from Lori's house

you have no weapons. All right, come on out this way.

and encountered another one of Lori's brothers, not Adam, but Alex, standing in the front yard.

Chandler Police Department, anybody inside, make yourself known.

Inside, Charles Vallow, age sixty-two, was lying dead on the living room floor.

Hey, team, we got one subject down, apparent gunshot wound to the chest.

A bit later, Lori arrived,

How long have you lived here? Oh, geez. and then she said, That's why the neighbors don't know. I was there. Gotcha.

Very strange. Just like the story Lori told the police, which was that Charles had come to her house that morning to pick up seven-year-old JJ for school and was in a rage.

And he's like banging on the door, like, Oh, great, here we go, you know? And I was just trying to be nice, I was just gonna be nice as possible.

But there was just no calming him down, said Lori.

He's like acting really weird, like he's plotting something, but anyway, he goes, he goes nuts, he's going nuts on us. A lot of times goes nuts, like yelling and screaming, yelling and screaming.

Go ahead.

So that woke up Tylee, she said. Tylee was Lori's sixteen-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

And so Tylee came out of her room upset and she had a bat, and she told him to leave her mother alone. Like, right, so she was really whatever, and he's screaming at her. And then my brother heard all the commotion.

That's Lori's brother Alex, who was staying over, and here he is telling police he felt the need to protect Lori.

all I heard was her say, Don't touch me, and then him coming right after her. And I shoved him back. And I said, What are you doing? Cause I'm gonna hurt my sister.

In another room, Tylee was supporting her mother's story. Tylee told police that Charles made a move for the baseball bat.

He just grabbed it and tried to take it, so I held onto the end, and then eventually I fell and he kind of took it into his hands, like he was gonna do something with it.

And he came at me with a bat.

Quite a scuffle then, said Alex.

What did you do? Did you go?

I just went straight to the room, cause I said, Hey, this needs to calm down.

Alex picked up his forty five caliber handgun.

I said, put that bat down.

How many times would you say you told him to, like, put the bat down? Once? Okay, and then he started advancing towards

He shot Charles in the chest, two bullets. Self-defense, said Alex.

he was just yelling at me.

And when Brandon heard that story, that Charles had gone after Tylee with a baseball bat, preposterous, thought Brandon. One of the attempts that was made was to make him sound like somebody who was potentially violent, who would take a baseball bat and try to hit somebody, a child.

I if you knew him, you know, there's no chance. That's all I would tell you. He wasn't a quick to anger guy, you know, he was. I mean, you don't do sales and learn all of that patience and be very successful like he was for years and years and years without learning how to temper your emotions and work through them and be patient.

In fact, Brandon was coming to his own conclusion about the shooting, that it was an ambush.

I think they just murdered him. I think he walked in the door and they shot him and killed him. The story that they gave doesn't even make any sense.

You never got a chance to say goodbye properly.

Huh? But I did. I. I got a phone call. It's more than most people get.

But in the middle of a divorce himself, and in spite of the lesson he might have taken from the killing of Charles, Brandon didn't quite make the connection. The connection to his own mortality, too far fetched. In that moment, did you get your mind around the idea that if that happened to him, I'm next?

You get scared of it, but, like, to just assume that someone was gonna murder me felt extreme, right? Scared, yes. A little bit concerned for safety, yes. I still knew in my mind I hadn't been doing anything that they were accusing me of, so I in some what seemed logical to me at the time, I just assumed I was. I'd be fine if I just minded my own business and, you know, stayed away from the crazy people, right?

All very well, unless the crazy comes to you.

And he's like banging on the door. He's like acting really weird, like he's. Then my brother heard all the commotion.

After Lori Vallow spun her story for police, Brandon Boudreaux felt like he was sinking, falling into some weird, unfamiliar netherworld. While their divorce was in the works, Brandon found himself exchanging the children every week with his now estranged wife Melanie, who seemed an entirely different person. The people he had loved and trusted without reservation were quite suddenly strangers. Aunt Lori had been treating her husband, Charles, like some satanic enemy, and now Charles was dead, shot to death by Lori's brother, Alex.

He came at me with the bat again after he'd already hit me in the head, so I shot him to stop him.

And it seemed that nobody was doing anything about it. He considered calling the police, but

It's complicated, right? Cause, like, what do you know when you think about it from a police perspective, right? They just only want to deal with facts, and it's like, man, I don't have a lot of facts for you, just a lot of conjecture.

besides, an unpleasant notion was beginning to grow in the very darkest corners of Brandon's mind. Saying nothing would be safer for you. Maybe it'll all blow over.

I I think the real thing was I just didn't think that what I had was important. I still could have done it, still should have.

But Brandon had just made a big commitment that might require not rocking the boat. He had just sold his shares in his multimillion-dollar business so he could bank the money and take some time and focus on his family. So he tamped down his suspicions, or tried to, and busied himself with the duties of a dad. He had to stay friendly, he figured. After all, he was sharing custody of his four kids with Melanie, and with all four under the age of ten, it was an eye-opening experience.

I was always a daddy who didn't mind changing a diaper. That was easy enough. As you start realizing, like, I don't know some of the things that, you know, that these little girls need, and and so you're trying your best to be the best dad you can be. But, uh, for sure, you feel like, when you start trying to do your daughter's hair, you you realize real quick, Oh, I don't know how to do this. And and it's not a skill I'm gonna learn quickly.

Oh, he did his best to keep life for his children as normal as seemed possible under the circumstances. How are they taking all of this?

Young young kids are resilient, you know, Oh, they are. Yeah, they and and they can adapt quickly and change. And but deep down, you just don't, you don't know, you don't know, like, what you're doing to them.

no. And then, with his blessing, they'd go, they'd be with their mother, this woman he didn't really know anymore. In those days, without his kids, said Brandon, he counts as some of the darkest of his life. You sell your business, you really have no job, you're facing all these situations. What was it like? How? What was your mood? What was your emotional, mental health?

You're just doing your best, you know? I chose to try to wake up and be positive. You don't always win, you know? Some days you're,

You gotta wallow once in a while.

yeah, some days you're in the slog of it and you're just working your way through. And and for a few months, it was, that was what I was doing. I was just working my way through. It's just you just wake up, you just try to move forward.

know which in your back that somebody was gonna come gunning for you.

I'd never had anybody try to kill me before, you know, and I'd never even put myself in a position where I thought there was anybody who'd hate me that much.

His friends and big extended family tried to help, but felt mostly helpless. He fell into something of a depression over that summer, didn't he?

Well, that's the thing is, it came out of nowhere, even though all this is happening. Like, he still loved her, so we're watching him grieve the marriage as he's trying to figure out how to figure out custody and get his own home and everything.

Like, let's go to a movie, cause you're just depressed and you could just see just his whole demeanor was just slumped over, just like Al, almost like a ghost, almost just gone. Like we were watching Spider Man at one point, Spider Man, uh, like, kisses MJ. He just like turned to the side and I was like, Holy smokes, he is just destroyed right now.

And then, late September 2019, with the separation complete, but the divorce still in the works, Melanie asked Brandon if he'd take the kids a few extra days. Of course, he said, happily. He didn't know, of course, that she was taking a trip to see her aunt Lori, who'd recently left Phoenix with children JJ and Tylee, and moved to Idaho. Didn't know that Lori's brother, Alex Cox, the man who'd shot and killed Lori's husband, Charles, had also moved to Idaho and lived in an apartment near Lori.

Didn't have a clue that on October second, Lori was caught on camera moving the back seat from a Jeep she owned, along with a spare tire, and putting those items in a storage unit in Idaho. Didn't know Lori and Alex got the Jeep's windows tinted. Didn't know the Jeep would be caught on a license plate reader on the road to Phoenix, where Brandon lived, and almost certainly did not know why that very Jeep was parked near Brandon's house.

Or why, as Brandon watched, the back window opened and the muzzle of a gun appeared.

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Remember, GoodRx is not insurance, but works whether you have insurance or not, and it could beat your insurance copay price. Save time and money on your prescriptions. Check out GoodRx at GoodRx dot com slash Dateline. That's GoodRx dot com slash Dateline. It might not be too much to say that as October 2019 dawned, things were finally looking up in the life of Brandon Boudreaux. In fact, on October first, Brandon had finally closed the deal to sell the family home that he and Melanie had shared.

October first is the day that the deal finishes. It's done, right? I had divided up all the other assets and given a bunch of money.

To Melanie, that is.

That was kind of the final piece to that puzzle.

And so on the morning after, on Wednesday, October second, Brandon had an extra spring in his step as he left his house and got into his car, all four children with him.

And then dropped them off at school, the two oldest, and then dropped my next oldest off at a preschool, and then my youngest at her mom's house.

Mom would be Melanie, of course. Remember, they were doing custody exchanges every week. And then Brandon went on with his day. No idea what was waiting for him.

I go to the gym for an hour, hour and a half, then I drive from the gym back to my house. And as I pull around the corner, I notice that this Jeep's parked awkward in a weird spot.

Alarming, not yet, but that Jeep seemed familiar somehow. Had he seen it before? And why was it parked that way, back end facing his house?

As I kind of pull up, I notice it's got a Texas plate.

Sudden recognition. The Jeep. And what was this?

Window lifts up and muzzle comes out, boom, loud noise, window shatters, and I think, Oh, someone's shooting at me.

He tells the story so nonchalantly now, as if refusing to re-enter the moment. But back then, in the moment,

And so I just push the accelerator on my car and zoom straight instead of turning into my driveway.

and as he sped away from danger, Brandon dialed nine one one.

um, someone just shot my window and I was pouring in my house. I drove away, but I can see them driving off as I was trying to pull in my driveway. I'm sorry, I'm a little out of breath.

Within minutes, a Gilbert City police officer showed up.

Hi there. So what's going on?

Someone shot my window out.

Okay, give me a little bit more than that.

Yeah, so I was just pulling in. I noticed their like back window, I saw muzzle, they shot. It hit my window and instead of turning in, it scared me really bad.

I wonder if he would have shot again if you hadn't driven off in a hurry.

Yeah, those are the kinda things you think about.

The Jeep with the shooter inside had disappeared from the subdivision. A search was on. More patrol units arrived.

Anyone who wants to can see all of my trauma in real time.

Where were you on the car driving?

He began to doubt. Maybe that shooter wasn't trying to kill him. Maybe it was some kind of prank.

I was thinking, maybe it's just an a paintball gun or something.

Cause when I opened my door, the window shattered and fell down. And but like, I couldn't see a bullet hole anywhere, so I was like, maybe I didn't get shot at, you know?

But then he saw it, the doorframe of his car.

I think the point where I realized, for certain, I had been shot at was when I saw the bullet hole in the frame.

How close did it come?

Couple inches. It was right here in the frame. My head was about the exact same height. Way too close, that's all I can say. Way, way, way too close. That's when I was like, Oh, it was 100% like someone was trying to kill me. Then your body just, I think the shock starts setting in and you go from the adrenaline to, like, whatever else, and you start kinda getting overwhelmed by it. I remember at some point I had to sit down, I couldn't even stand up anymore.

I sit down.

Brandon sat down on the sidewalk, started texting. One went to Mark, Mark Bell.

I got a text message saying somebody just tried to kill me. I said, What? said, Yeah, somebody just tried to kill me, and said, What do what do you mean? Somebody? He's like, somebody just shot at me. He's like, I need you, so jumped in my car and headed over there. And s and and still in your mind, you're thinking, This isn't possible. Like, what's going on? What's? And it's not making sense.

Before long, the officers who surrounded Brandon seemed to recognize that a serious investigation would be necessary.

Are they sending a detective up? This definitely

I don't know.

that the detective should come up. Assuming

So they asked Brandon the obvious question.

You have any enemies? Any anybody that you?

I just went through a divorce. Um, there is some crazy stuff that happened with her aunt, killed her husband, but I don't. I would hope that has nothing to do with this.

But as the shock diminished, a new certainty took its place, and Brandon told detectives something different. Yes, he said, there were people who, now that he thought about it, people who wanted him dead. A S A P. And so would begin his life on the run.

We're like, Brandon, this is the only thing that makes sense. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Owen, speaking of smoke, do you realize how astonishing this sounds? I know, but I mean, really astonishing. Events, thought Brandon Boudreaux, were more than strange. Now they were frightening.

So they shot, then what happened?

Someone had taken a shot at him, missing his head by mere inches, not even three months after Aunt Lori's husband, Charles Vallow, had been shot dead by Lori's brother Alex. Brandon's worried family surrounded him.

I can still picture his face like he just was in shock.

His protective friends jumped in to support him.

once there's an attempt on somebody's life, that's when you realize there is some evil going on.

But one person Brandon did not hear from, not a word about this incident, was the mother of his children. Did you hear from Melanie at all about this? She didn't express any concern about you, like somebody shot at you, are you okay? It didn't say anything like that.

I guess I had already been conditioned not to expect that out of her from everything else that had happened so far.

Still, Brandon didn't deep down really want to believe Melanie's aunt Lori and Uncle Alex murdered Charles and had plotted to kill him, Brandon, or that Melanie had anything to do with it. Even as his friends told him, wake up.

We're like, Brandon, this is the only thing that makes sense. Where there's smoke, there's fire. But it did almost take some convincing because, uh, I think he also couldn't believe it all the way. He was already just so broken that I think something inside of him was also helping protect him.

And the thing was, as Brandon soon realized, his friends didn't know the half of it. For instance, the timing of that attempt to kill him. It happened the day after the sale closed on Brandon and Melanie's family home. And why was that significant? That sale, along with a whole life insurance policy still in effect on Brandon, made his life worth up to $1 million, payable to Melanie.

And there's not a better time, like it's gonna be the maximum amount of money you can get. That's the best day ever, if you're gonna get the most money you can for a situation, which is heartless and emotionless and super, you know, scary.

But Brandon had just moved, so how would the shooter know where to find him? It hit like a rude awakening. Melanie had sent him a text asking, What's your new address? And he told her, told her, and almost no one else.

In our divorce decree, we had agreed that any time we change, we let each other know. So she's the only person, besides the people who helped me move, who know where my house is, because I didn't tell anybody.

And he thought about that Jeep with the Texas plate, the one the shooter fired from. He knew that Jeep. It belonged to Melanie's aunt Lori. He was all but sure it was Alex he saw in the Jeep aiming that rifle at him, and he knew Alex had already killed Melanie's uncle Charles. It all seemed to lead straight back to Melanie. Did you have any doubt that she must have known at that point?

For me personally, no, of course not.

Investigators in Gilbert called Melanie in for an interview. She denied knowing a thing, didn't know who shot at Brandon, although she did admit being close to Lori. And that was that. The police thanked her and let her go home, where a few days later, it was time to exchange custody of the kids again. Brandon was to pick them up at Melanie's place.

I was very, very concerned about picking those kids up. I mean, that that's how they killed Charles, was in a custody exchange.

Brandon thought it smelled like a setup for another attempt on his life. He asked Melanie to change the meet location to the police station. She refused. They met in a park, steps from her home.

Now I've really gotta lean into figuring out how do I work with law enforcement to get them caught for the thing that they did? So I think a lot of what starts to occur is you just your mind's just racing, trying to figure out, like, what do I do?

So when he collected the kids, Brandon enlisted his friend Brandon Yule to come along.

I usually have a a firearm in my vehicle.

Did you think at the time, I might have to use this gun? Or

I was prepared for the worst, hoped for the best.

how comfortable were you about that, Claudia?

Not very comfortable at all. I even ask him, I say, Does he not have any other friends that can go help him? Because we also have younger kids. But he's like, you know, he said, like, Brandon really needs us.

In the end, the custody exchange was uneventful, but a week later, mid October, Melanie sent Brandon a text that would take this strange tale in a new and even weirder direction.

I get this bizarre text that says that she's moving to Idaho and, you know, I can keep the kids, and, you know,

Just like that.

just red flags, right?

To Brandon, it felt like Melanie was quite prepared to abandon their kids, though she did offer him a choice keep the kids in Arizona or send them to Idaho. To him, it amounted to the same thing. Melanie was ready to ditch her own four children for the sake of whatever awaited her in Idaho.

Like, no one would say this about their kids, like, you can just have the kids and I'm just moving to a different state. I'm just abandoning my kids.

What did it say to you that she was suddenly moving to Idaho?

Honestly, I don't even I didn't even know how to process it. It was just, oh my gosh, something else is up. I've gotta get sole custody of my kids, and I gotta get us somewhere safe.

To gain sole custody, Brandon needed a new attorney. When he found one, the attorney dropped a shocking news Brandon and Melanie's divorce was not yet final.

The person we'd paid to file the divorce papers hadn't even filed them yet. Um,

Oh, really?

and so he kinda explained how the law works and that, hey, either of you can take the kids and not return them to the other person. And once everything's filed, then you have a pattern for how you resolve disputes. But since it's not filed yet, you're both just parents, neither of you can have the custody of the kids.

So just take the kids and run.

I wouldn't say run, I would just say take the kids and keep them safe. You know, there's a difference. Running implies that you're the one that did something wrong.

Right, sure. Brandon took his kids and left Phoenix to stay with a sibling, and while he was there, he went through his old emails. The emails Charles Vallow sent him before he was killed.

And I'm just going through every little detail, every crumb that Charles left me, right?

And one name jumped right out at him.

This, uh, guy who I'd never heard of, but his name was Chad Daybell.

Chad Daybell. Who was he?

Just typed his name into Google and up pops this obituary for a Tamara Daybell. And I realized this is his wife, and it just says she died, it doesn't say how. And I'm sure I sounded like a crazy person, but like, killed Charles, trying to kill me. This dude just killed his wife, like, this is just crazy.

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Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers, or go to Quince dot com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. Remember to note Dateline in the post-purchase survey. Late October 2019, with his divorce from Melanie now complete, Brandon Boudreaux thought he had uncovered another murder. He was sure of it, so he called the Gilbert Arizona police, told them about this guy Chad Daybell, whose wife Tammy had just died up in Idaho.

Both Chad's spouse and Lori Vallow's spouse were now dead. As with Brandon's attempted murder, Gilbert police weren't immediately sure what to make of Brandon's claims, but they did follow through and call Idaho about the death of Tammy Daybell.

Was there an actual report by any chance? So there wasn't an autopsy autopsy or anything done. She had already passed when the husband called it in. They just kind of looked at her, and from what I was, I was advised the family refused an autopsy.

Refused an autopsy. That didn't look right at all. Brandon started calling around to check in on members of Lori's family, like Tylee. Brandon had baptized the girl. Now he worried about her, especially when she didn't answer his calls. He couldn't know, of course, what had already happened to Tylee. Anyway, just then, solving a murder took second place to avoiding his own. Melanie, who weeks before had told Brandon he could keep the kids in Arizona while she moved to Idaho, had apparently changed her mind.

And posted on Facebook 10,000 dollar reward for help to find him and the children.

Paranoia kicks up to a whole different level at that point.

Did you take any steps to protect yourself?

Uh, you know, about about my first handgun.

Melanie's post made it clear that she and her uncle Alex were still hunting him, and in his mind, Alex was looking for another chance to shoot him. And Brandon didn't know where they were. Brandon hired a private eye, this man, Rich Robertson. Brandon's story spilled out at the PI as if from a fire hose. Did you believe all this stuff?

Well, not entirely. You just never know. Some people have tried to hire private investigators as an alibi. I didn't know if maybe he had done something to her and was hiring me to make it look like he was trying to find her. There was all kinds of scenarios in your mind.

If I was him, that's probably how I would feel.

but no matter. Robertson took the case and drove over to Melanie's last known address, and what do you know? Soon found Melanie and Alex moving clothes and such into a U-Haul.

In between loads, but just slipped up there and popped a GPS unit on the bottom of that U-haul.

A tracker.

A tracker. That's how I was able to keep track of him for a couple of days.

Soon, Melanie and Alex showed up at the home of Brandon's friends, the Ewells, who had been helping him take care of the kids. Claudia Ewell was pulling out of the garage when she saw a car parked at the curb, a bald man behind the wheel, and standing in her driveway, Melanie.

My heart stopped.

Claudia quickly made a decision to act like this unannounced visit by Melanie was nothing unusual. But

He said, Um, I'm here to pick up my kids. And they said, Uh, what do you mean? The kids are not here. And she says, The spirit told me that my kids are here. the spirit told me Yes, and I thought,

the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, the Holy Spirit told her that the the kids were at my house. And I immediately, for me, I was like, Oh, my heavens, this is not gonna be okay.

Claudia went into the house and yelled for her husband. Melanie joined her inside. How was she behaving? As if she was angry, or did she behave like your friend or a stranger? Or what? Stressed out, very troubled Melanie asked the Ewell's if they knew where her ex-husband Brandon was. When they said they did not, she said this.

that Brandon was involved in some very dark things.

it's better for you to not get involved,

She said, If you guys know, like, what's good for you and your family is like,

do not get involved.

do not get involved.

Wait a minute. If you know what's good for you and your family, don't get. Involved. It sounds like mafia talk or something. Yeah, it was it would feel like a

a threat, and for us,

for sure.

at that moment, we just very You guys are scared.

hiding my kids, like, it's not gonna go good for you.

It became clear to the Ewell's that Melanie wanted to search their home for her children. Claudia was telling Melanie the truth, the Boudreaux kids were not there, but she didn't tell Melanie that they had been there. And very recently.

My biggest fear was like, if she would have found something like a toy from the kids. Um, there was actually this teddy bear that one of the boys always carried everywhere he goes, and that teddy bear was upstairs. So I was like, if she really finds that, she's gonna know that we're lying to her. I was like, praying that she would not notice.

And then, quite suddenly, Melanie seemed to change her mind. She did not go upstairs, but left the house to rejoin the bald man in the car.

And I went to the car. I asked, So who's that? who's that? And she said, Um, that's my uncle,

Uncle Alex, of course, Alex Cox.

and the uncle didn't even like, he didn't even look at me, he didn't even acknowledge me. But they drove down But they drove down a couple houses and yeah,

and they stayed there for a long time. And I'm just, I'm s, I'm sitting in my driveway in a in a beach chair, Watching. just staying there. I mean, I stayed awake very late into the night watching. Or maybe they thought they were gonna catch the kids, the kids coming in or out or something, or I don't know.

Later, when they called Brandon and described the man in the car, there was no doubt, said Brandon, that was Alex.

That's the guy that shot at me, so you need to know that.

Pretty spooky stuff. So Melanie and Alex were still looking for Brandon, still looking for the kids, and the PI's tracker was about to show something alarming. One month after the attempt on his life, Brandon Boudreaux was hiding, hiding with his four children from Melanie and her uncle Alex, the one with the gun.

He felt like, as long as Alex and Melanie were in Phoenix, he needed to put some distance in there for his own and protection and the kids.

Brandon had taken refuge ten hours away at his parents house in American Fork, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. Seemed like a safe choice until the PI's tracking device showed Alex and Melanie heading north, straight for Brandon.

Did somebody know that Brandon had taken the kids up there? Are they headed straight to those kids? And what would happen if they went and showed up where Brandon was staying?

As the U-Haul sped toward American Fork, PI Robertson contacted law enforcement.

Just compiled all the information I had on the vehicle, the license plate, s who was driving, Melanie and Alex's information, and I put all this into a report that we were able to give to the American Fork Utah Police Department and let them know what was going on.

The PI called Brandon, too, of course. What'd you do with the kids? How'd you keep them safe?

I didn't know for certain that they had my parents address, but I knew that if they had my parents address, that they didn't know where my sister lived. So I sent my kids over there, and I stayed there just in case at my parents house, because I figured it was better just me than my kids.

Brandon's sister Desiree and her husband Chandler that night suddenly had a house full of children. Was there any concern in your mind that they might be targets?

Yes, like, I just was so worried about my brother, about my nieces and nephews. And like, even as I talk about it, it brings back some of the stress that I felt, cause it was such a hard and scary time.

Then Melanie and Alex suddenly stopped at an exit twenty minutes from Brandon's parents house.

At that point, you know, I think the paranoia hits a peak for me. Pacing, you know, waiting, expecting a knock any minute. I just waited, waited, waited. I don't know how long it was. If you want the honest truth, Keith, maybe thirty minutes, an hour. Then, uh, eventually, I got a text that they were moving again.

Moving closer and closer, but then

They drove right by, drove right straight through. They went right through the middle of Salt Lake and K kept heading north, never stopped.

what happened inside your stomach when, uh, you saw a mess?

man, it was. But It was like everybody just sigh of relief.

the P I relayed the news to Brandon.

So I started calming down a little bit.

Brandon brought his four kids back to his parents house, breathed easy for a week or so, until

Nine one one. What's the address of your emergency?

while Brandon was out and his mom was watching the kids, Melanie showed up. Although she ditched the tracker, Brandon saw her on doorbell video, and he called police. Melanie left

She didn't know the kids were here. She's just trying to find my son and the kids. minutes later, Brandon arrived,

Uh, my detective said he wants to talk to you guys.

and then, two days later, she was back.

Officers, I have a legal mediation right now. My kids have been held out of state.

Melanie showed up again, tried to push her way into the garage, demanded to see if her kids were safe.

My kids are I'm worried they're in danger, cause I've I've my husband's been doing a lot of things that cause

Me to worry? me.

So officers went inside and checked.

But they are safe and they're taken care of. So we're not just gonna go in there and remove them from the house.

Then the officers noted somebody sitting in a car on the street nearby.

Who's in the car? What? Yeah, Alex Cox, Alex Cox, who shot him?

Uncle Alex, the shooter.

You have your ID. On you,

Here, an officer approaches him. Alex is calm, cooperative, unruffled.

How's it going? Pretty good, dude, not bad. You guys came all the way from Arizona. Oh, where are you coming from? Idaho? Oh, Idaho, that's right. Do you live in Idaho? Yeah, I just moved up there. Alright, Melanie, today you're gonna be receiving a citation for criminal trespass.

Initially, the police decided to give Melanie a ticket, but then they spoke with her down at the station, and before long, they changed their minds and upgraded the charges.

Okay, so things have changed a little bit. Okay, uh, your criminal trespass is enhanced to domestic violence, uh, because you were in domestic relationship. Uh, you had, you know, in-laws there, you trespassed, you entered the garage unlawfully. So we're actually gonna be taking you into custody tonight.

Okay, so I'm just gonna need you to go ahead and stand up, face away from me, cross your hands behind your back. Alright, let's go ahead and have a seat in there.

Never been in a cop car before.

And still nearby was Melanie's uncle Alex.

Fuck's it. We'll leave this with you. Melanie's gonna be going to the Utah County Jail tonight.

Alex posted bail before dawn, and Melanie was freed. Eventually, she pleaded no contest to criminal trespass and got a suspended six-month sentence. But Brandon knew now that Melanie and Alex had been to his parents house. It wasn't over.

Now more people I love, more people I don't want anything bad to happen to, and now I'm putting all this extra pressure on them. You know, now they're, and now what if my dad has to do something he doesn't wanna do, or my mom?

Only one thing to do. It was drastic, but what choice did he have?

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Brandon Boudreaux felt like a fugitive, hunted by his ex-wife Melanie and her uncle Alex, the guy he was sure had already tried to kill him. And when they showed up at his parents house in Utah, he warned his family he was about to vanish.

He just said, I need to get somewhere where I don't have to feel that stress that they're always gonna show up. He was so paranoid, and, uh, and rightfully so.

So Brandon threw a dart at the map and flew with his children, ages nine, six, four and two, across the country to Florida.

I was on the run from people who might be able to figure out where I was.

And he revealed his location only to his parents, siblings, attorney, and the Gilbert police detective back in Arizona. Even longtime friend and business partner Mark Bell was in the dark.

I had no idea where he was, and that's how it was supposed to be. He wanted to vanish.

You know, we moved around wherever we needed to.

Staying in hotels, Airbnbs. I tried to not ever have anything in my name, no rental car in my name. I mean, I was trying everything.

Airbnbs. I tried to not ever have anything in my name, no rental car in my name. I mean, I was trying everything.

There were, of course, some issues, like what to tell the kids.

You know, I told him we were doing vacation. When we talked about where mom was, it was just, Hey, she's visiting some friends. We all miss her. We'll see her again soon.

But it helped with the kids and their questions that Brandon's mom and two sisters flew out to help. As the little family hopscotched around the deep South, it was a family affair.

It was we. That is one thing I can say about us. We we take care of each other. So

Brandon's youngest sister, Nene, was a kindergarten teacher at the time, so she played the role of the fun aunt.

The first day I was there, I took a niece and my nephew to Disney World, and I took my nephew for a full day in Universal. I bought coloring books and board games, whatever I could do to just ease his burden and help take care of his kids.

It sounds like a kind of a sweet time that week.

I don't know if sweet time is what I'd call it, but, uh, it was a time.

As Thanksgiving 2019 approached, a couple of weeks after Brandon had gone underground with his children, he got some good news from the detective working on his case back in Arizona. Investigators had found the Jeep, the one believed to have been involved in Brandon's attempted murder, and in what came as a surprise to no one, the Jeep had been traced to a town 900 miles from Phoenix, Rexburg, Idaho, traced to this apartment complex, where Lori Vallow suspected shooter Alex Cox and Lori's niece Melanie, aka Brandon's ex-wife, all lived in separate units.

And where the police knocked on Lori's door, as you can see in this body cam footage.

Lori, I'm with the Nevada Police Department. How are you? You got a minute?

Lori said she was new in town.

I had to move around a lot when my brothers is trying to kill me.

Kill her for her life insurance money, she said. Wasn't true, of course, but she told the police that was why she was being a bit dodgy.

So I don't tell people the truth about where we are and what we're doing because of those reasons. So I look like a suspect, but I am not a good person.

Oh boy, Lori soon learned the detectives weren't just looking for that Jeep, they were also looking for Lori's children, Tylee and JJ. JJ's grandmother had reported she hadn't had any contact with him since Lori moved the children with her to Idaho three months before. Investigators told Brandon that warrants would be served at Lori's apartment the next day.

They got those warrants, and so we were like, you know, fingers crossed, like this is gonna help, this is gonna do something.

But when a SWAT team arrived the following day,

They go in and guess what, everybody's gone, they all just disappear.

Lori was gone. There was no sign either of Tylee or JJ.

It was just kind of par for the course, like I, you kinda get used to being disappointed.

But clearly, the ground was shifting. In the following days, detectives told Brandon that his ex-wife Melanie had gotten remarried to a man she had just met weeks before.

Very shocking, right? It was within a month, I think, of our divorce.

Melanie's marriage was related to a cult like group called the Church of the Firstborn, run by that guy whose name Brandon had come across in those emails from Charles Chad Daybell, Chad, who was now Lori's husband. Chad and Lori seemed to be on the run. A nationwide alert would soon be issued for Tylee and JJ, and Brandon was told that the body of Chad's wife, Tammy, would be exhumed and autopsied.

It's just kind of a wave of like of good for change, you know, like you're going through, like just trying to keep your head above water. And you're like, Oh, some good things are happening, like there is some hope.

And then came the call from the Gilbert police detective. It was about Melanie's uncle Alex, Alex Cox.

Tells me, Hey, um, I've got some news. Alex is dead. And I say, Who? He said, Alex Cox, who we believe shot at you, he's dead.

Dead. And quite surprisingly, given the events enumerated in this report of natural causes. So was Brandon safe now, he and his four kids, and what about Melanie, their mother? What would become of her? Answers were coming now, strange, terrible, and in one particular way, very, very good. As the calendar flipped from the worst year of Brandon Boudreaux's life into the new year, 2020, karma finally began to catch up. Good karma, that is. A judge awarded Brandon temporary sole custody of his four children.

And after the sudden death of suspected hitman Alex Cox, their life in hiding, hopscotching across the South, that all could finally end, and the family was back home in Phoenix. And one day, when the karma was particularly auspicious, Brandon encountered her. Her name is Jenny.

So one of my dear friends was marrying one of his dear friends. I was one of the bridesmaids, he was one of the groomsmen, so they paired us up to walk down the aisle together, and that was the beginning of the end.

Jenny lived more than a thousand miles from Phoenix, so for months after meeting, she and Brandon were only together by phone. It was enough. Against her better judgment, Jenny fell in love. Did it occur to you? I have allowed myself to get close to somebody who, you know, may be tied up with the wrong kind of people who want to shoot other people. Maybe you want to think twice about this.

Absolutely. But l let me tell you, when you meet a man like this, he's hard to let go of. He is, even through all these hard things.

By the end of January 2020, some of those hard things were over. And one day, Jenny and Brandon were spending time together in person when they saw this.

Chad, where are Lori's kids?

Listen, just tell people what's happening. There's people around the country,

Lori and Chad Daybell had been found in Hawaii, but there was no sign of Lori's kids, Tylee and JJ.

there's people around the country praying for your children, praying for you guys. Why don't you give us answers?

Here these two are off, just gallivanting around in the sun, you know, and enjoying their lives as if there's nothing that's happened. And finally, you get to see somebody ask them the question,

Can you tell me where your kids are?

And with that, the shroud of mystery around Chad, Lori, and this group Chad had christened the Church of the Firstborn, began to melt away.

Where are your kids?

You remember the story? How Chad, a small-time author of end times fiction, met Lori at a meeting of like-minded believers back in late 2018, while Lori was still married to Charles, and convinced her she was a goddess who'd been his wife in previous lives. And in this life, Chad told Lori, their mission was to bring together 144,000 true believers for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Oh, and Chad decreed. They also had to fight off evil spirits inhabiting people in their own families, including Chad's wife Tammy, who an autopsy showed died of asphyxia.

And, of course, Lori's husband Charles, who'd been shot to death. And now, with Lori's kids, Tylee and JJ missing, everyone was fearing the worst for them too. Less than a month after these scenes, Lori was arrested for refusing to produce the children and was flown back to Idaho, held on $1 million bail. Not long after, Brandon's ex-wife Melanie and her new husband Ian sat for an interview with us on Dateline. She denied being part of any cult and defended her aunt Lori.

Remember, Melanie had moved to Idaho and lived next door to Lori for several weeks after the divorce. Did you ever see Tylee and JJ?

When I moved up there, I did not see them.

Did you ask, Where are they?

I'd ask Lori, Um, you know, I wasn't close with Tylee during her teenage years. She was very independent, so if Lori, you know, said that she was with friends, I just believed her. I didn't ask further questions. You had to wonder, I just I have a lot of trust for Lori. She's always done everything to protect her kids, and I have to wonder if she has a reason she doesn't trust authorities or, um, or the court system.

Do you realize how astonishing this sounds? I know, but I mean, really astonishing.

sure, I understand that, but the bottom line is I don't know what I don't know.

Will we see JJ and Tylee again?

I absolutely believe so. I hope so.

Brandon and Jenny watched Melanie on Dateline, too, in disbelief.

I couldn't believe she did it, and it made me sad for Brandon and sad for these extra bonus kids of mine who I love. Because one day they will see it and be disappointed.

Well, the search for the children went on. Brandon and Jenny planned a wedding, and then, one day before they were to walk down the aisle, they saw this.

It looks like, uh, there is an area of focus in the backyard.

Authorities had finally found the bodies of the children just outside Rexburg, Idaho, buried on the property of Chad Daybell. When you found out those kids had been buried like animals in the backyard, what did that do to you? You knew those kids well. You baptized Tylee. What was that like?

It's miserable, like there's no good words for it. It's miserable, it's terrible. You grieve, it's all you can do.

Difficult, sure, and you're gonna get married the very next day. How did that affect your wedding day?

You can only imagine, you know, this is a day that's supposed to be filled with joy and anticipation. Our hearts were heavy that day.

but the wedding went on in Provo, Utah, with Brandon's four children and Jenny's two standing up for their parents. And when the day after dawn,

I woke up in the morning, but I just told her, I said, Hey, I feel like we need to drive up to Rexburg.

Brandon and Jenny visited the burial site to pay their respects, and Brandon volunteered to identify little JJ's body so the boy's grandfather wouldn't have to.

It's the unfortunate side effect of a situation like this is that someone has to do that. And so I just said, I'll do it.

What was that process of like, of identifying the kids?

It's terrible. I don't know what else to say. I'm grateful nobody else has his memories. That's all I would say.

There would soon be opportunities for answers for Brandon to face the people who had tried to kill him, and, in an unbelievable twist, to be questioned on the witness stand by Lori Daybell herself.

Mr. Boudreaux, you and I met in 2009, is that correct?

Justice grinds slow, as they say, and Brandon Boudreaux and his wife Jenny were marking their third wedding anniversary. By the time Idaho prosecutors were finally able to put Lori and Chad Daybell on trial, the charges murder and conspiracy. Children JJ and Tylee and Chad's wife Tammy were killed for the basest of reasons, said prosecutor Rob Wood.

This was about sex, money, and at some level, some degree of power. That was really the driving motivation for the case.

Tammy had life insurance.

Yes, and there were social security funds for Tylee and JJ.

Chad viewed those children as obstacles to the life he wanted, so Chad wanted them out of the way, and Lori needed money.

My name is Brandon Boudreaux.

Brandon testified at both trials, and it was at trial that he learned Chad had declared two of Brandon's children dark, possessed by evil spirits. Some of those Chad declared dark aren't around anymore, a fact not lost on Brandon.

What kind of person is that? That's what you ask yourself. How could you think that about children?

The Idaho trials ended with convictions on all counts. Lori received three consecutive life prison terms. Chad, the death penalty.

My feelings were that we needed to keep everybody else safe, so the only option was to keep them in prison the rest of their lives.

A year later, in Arizona, Lori was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for the killing of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. And then, finally, in June 2025, it was Brandon's turn. Lori went on trial for trying to get him killed.

A Jeep Wrangler?

Prosecutors showed the jury that security camera video recorded the day of the shooting. Lori and Chad putting a tire and a rear seat from a Jeep Wrangler into a storage unit to make room for the shooter, Alex Cox. And then the day after the shooting, there were Lori and Alex removing those same items from storage and loading them back into a vehicle. There was also evidence in the Jeep that was used in the shooting, gunshot residue and Alex Cox's DNA, and there were witnesses who testified that cell phone calls linked Alex Chad and Lori to the shooting conspiracy.

My name is Brandon Boudreaux.

For Brandon, the strangest moments came when Lori, acting as her own attorney, questioned him on the witness stand.

So we've known each other a long time. Is that correct?

A long time can mean a lot of different things. Your heart's just racing when you start, and then you just try to breathe, be calm.

And we always had a friendly relationship, you and I. Is that correct?

I wouldn't say always.

Who is the beneficiary on October second on your policy? Melanie Boudreaux Were you trying to have him charge Melanie with your murder? Reject to relevance? Sustain. No more questions, your honor.

When all the testimony and arguments were finished, the jury came back.

Conspiracy to commit first degree murder guilty.

At Lori's sentencing, Brandon gave an emotional victim impact statement.

I choose to forgive Lori for myself, so that I can be able to be a better father to those children I described. But I have never seen any remorse or acknowledgement from Lori.

The judge sentenced Lori to two more life prison terms, and then it was done. Or was it? Because at Lori's final trial, prosecutors referred to Brandon's ex-wife Melanie as an active member of the conspiracy to kill Brandon. But Melanie has never been charged with any crime. But as Brandon sees it,

I think it's pretty clear. Anybody can put the pieces together. Whatever level she wants to claim, there's no no way she wasn't involved in a in a participator in what was going on.

the lack of charges doesn't sit well with Brandon's friends and family.

It's bull crap. It pisses me off. It's makes me sad. I think that people have dropped the ball, to be honest.

How is she not in trouble? How? How is she still out?

So about that, we asked this woman.

Well, we've never received a submittal to charge her.

She is Rachel Mitchell, the elected Maricopa County attorney, and the one who would ultimately make the decision whether or not to put Melanie on trial.

If the police submitted it to us, we would definitely review it to go over everything we could and then make a charging decision as to whether we should go ahead with that.

You can't charge her until the Gilbert Police Department decides to recommend that she be charged.

That would be unusual on our part.

It's telling that it has not

It's telling that it has not been submitted been submitted to us for to us for charges. charges, whether there's Whether

a feeling that it's too circumstantial, I don't know.

Some people wonder if too much time has passed, uh, for charges to be laid. What would you say to that?

Um, I don't believe too much charge time has passed. Obviously, in a conspiracy to commit first degree murder, you don't have the statute of limitations concerns that you do in other cases.

Would you encourage the Gilbert Police Department to take another good, close look at this?

You know, I, I don't guide what the Gilbert Police Department does. If they choose to do that, I certainly am open to reviewing it.

So we asked the Gilbert Police Department about that, and the PD would say only this, quote, We can confirm that this investigation is currently active, end quote. We also asked Melanie for a statement regarding her alleged participation in the conspiracy to kill Brandon. Through her lawyers, she declined to comment, but in past court filing, she's denied having anything to do with the shooting and said she would never put her children in harm's way. So right now, Melanie has not faced charges in the attempted murder of Brandon, and she might never face charges.

Is that something you can accept if nothing ever happens?

You've already had to. I mean, that's the way life works. We have a system and I gotta follow the system.

Which included this. In 2020, Melanie filed for a custody reevaluation, and after a court-appointed evaluator recommended that Melanie and Brandon share custody of their kids fifty-fifty, Brandon decided not to fight it. So for now, Brandon pays child support to the woman he's convinced tried to have him killed, and he and Jenny drop off the four kids, now aged seventeen down to nine, every week with Melanie, who lives about a mile away with her husband Ian.

We see her occasionally. Yeah, at a occasionally at a sporting event or a play, or

What happens in here when you see her show up?

yeah, we just you find your space, you give each other space, and you just

Ignore and pretend?

avoid conflict. That's the way I put it. Because, said Brandon Boudreaux, People are gonna go through hard things, and we can move forward through those hard things. And you can create a new family, you can pick a family, and if it doesn't work the way that it was supposed to, you can heal, and then you can go create a new one. And you can make something better, and you can make something even more beautiful than you imagined.

And that's the blessing that I get, Keith, is I get to make something more beautiful than I imagined. that's all for

this edition of Dateline, and don't forget to check out our Talking Dateline podcast, in which we'll go behind the scenes of tonight's episode. Available Wednesday in the Dateline feed, wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at nine eight central. I'm Lester Holt for all of us at NBC News. Good night.

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