Brandon Boudreaux, the surviving target of a 2019 shooting tied to Lori Vallow Daybell, is speaking out for the first time on network television in an all-new episode of NBC’s Dateline. The two-hour broadcast, titled "Blindsided," aired on Friday, October 23, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, marking the fifth installment of the investigative series' 35th season and its eighth broadcast examining the sprawling Vallow Daybell case. Sitting down with correspondent Keith Morrison just over seven years after a gunman ambushed him outside his home in Gilbert, Arizona, Boudreaux details the breakdown of his marriage to Vallow’s niece, Melani Pawlowski, the warnings he received before the attack, and the ongoing legal fallout surrounding the conspiracy against his life.

Warnings from Charles Vallow and a Fractured Marriage

In the extensive conversation with Morrison, Boudreaux addresses how Lori Vallow Daybell influenced the dissolution of his marriage to Pawlowski. According to a press release from NBCUniversal News Group, Boudreaux outlines striking parallels between his own marital collapse and the experiences of Lori’s fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in the months leading up to Charles’ death.

In a preview clip released by NBC News, Boudreaux recalls reconnecting with Charles Vallow shortly before Charles was killed. During that period, Boudreaux discovered that Charles had repeatedly tried to reach him for months, but the calls and text messages had been blocked on Boudreaux’s phone. Boudreaux alleges that his then-wife, Pawlowski, was the only other person with access to his device.

"I apologized to him. I missed the mark. I wasn’t there enough for him. I could have done more. I could have 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," Boudreaux told Morrison. He added that Charles had tried to warn him specifically about Lori's manipulation: "He even sent me a text that I didn’t get because my phone was blocked. And he told me, ‘Hey, Lori is going to convince Melani that you’re gay.’"

The 2019 Gilbert Ambush and Aftermath

The tensions surrounding the family escalated into violence on October 2, 2019, as Boudreaux drove toward his new residence in Gilbert, Arizona. As reported by NJ.com and detailed in a published first-person excerpt from NBC News, Boudreaux noticed a green Jeep Wrangler with tinted windows parked near his home. As he approached, a gunman opened fire from the raised rear window of the vehicle. A long black object emerged from the back of the Jeep, and the shooter missed Boudreaux's head by inches, shattering his driver-side window as he accelerated away unharmed.

The ambush forced Boudreaux into hiding for months, according to Oxygen. While some media coverage compresses the shooting and subsequent legal proceedings under the general phrasing of attempted murder, NBCUniversal News Group notes that Lori Vallow Daybell was specifically convicted in 2025 of conspiring to kill Boudreaux, alongside a conviction for conspiring to kill Charles Vallow. Those Arizona verdicts followed her prior Idaho convictions for the murders of two of her children and conspiracy to murder Tammy Daybell, the previous wife of her current husband, Chad Daybell. At Vallow’s 2025 sentencing, Boudreaux spoke of enduring fear, loneliness, constant vigilance, anger, and heartache in the wake of the ambush, though he ultimately stated that he chose to forgive her.

Active Investigation and Potential Additional Charges

Beyond Boudreaux's personal testimony, "Blindsided" examines the current legal status of the Arizona shooting investigation and whether other individuals could face prosecution. In an interview segment highlighted by NBC News, Morrison presses Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell on the possibility of bringing additional charges in the plot, including against Boudreaux's ex-wife.

Mitchell told Dateline that if the Gilbert Police Department wanted to take another look at the case, her office is "certainly" open to reviewing it. Furthermore, the Gilbert Police Department confirmed to the program that the investigation into the shooting remains "currently active." As reported by both Oxygen and NBCUniversal, Pawlowski has never been charged in connection with the shooting, and through her attorneys, she declined to comment for the broadcast.

Inside the Broadcast and Streaming Details

In addition to the central interviews with Boudreaux and Mitchell, the two-hour special features commentary from Boudreaux’s friends and family, prosecutor Rob Wood, and other key figures involved in the multi-state investigation. The program also revisits Morrison’s 2020 interview with Pawlowski. Longtime followers of the case will recognize Morrison's ongoing reporting on the saga, which previously included the Mommy Doomsday podcast and his first-ever television interview with Lori Vallow Daybell last year.

For viewers looking to catch up on the broadcast, NJ.com notes that "Blindsided" is available through NBC and streams on Peacock, which hosts an extensive library of past Dateline episodes. Following the resolution of a previous carriage dispute between NBC and Fubo TV, cord-cutters can also access the network's programming through that live streaming platform.

Sources