Brandon Boudreaux was only inches from death when a gunman opened fire outside his Arizona home in 2019.
The attack uncovered an alleged murder-for-hire scheme tied to Lori Vallow Daybell. Prosecutors said Vallow enlisted her brother, Alex Cox, to kill Boudreaux amid his bitter divorce from Vallow’s niece, Melani Pawlowski.
Now, Boudreaux is publicly recounting what happened.
On Oct. 2, 2019, Cox allegedly opened fire from a parked Jeep Wrangler as Boudreaux drove his Tesla into the driveway of his Gilbert residence. Boudreaux noticed the Jeep’s rear window was open just before the gunman fired. One bullet struck the driver’s-side door and blew out the window.
Brandon Boudreaux was targeted in a failed murder-for-hire plot connected to Lori Vallow Daybell. (Courtesy of Brandon Boudreaux)
Police quickly identified Cox as the suspected shooter, but he died in December 2019 before charges were filed.
In June 2025, an Arizona jury found Vallow, widely known as the “cult mom,” guilty of conspiring to kill Boudreaux. Two months earlier, another jury convicted her of conspiring in the death of her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, who was shot and killed by Cox in July 2019.
Those Arizona convictions came after Vallow’s 2023 trial in Idaho. Jurors convicted her of murdering her children, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, as well as conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell, the former wife of Vallow’s husband, Chad Daybell.
She was also found guilty of grand theft for continuing to receive her children’s Social Security benefits.
Lori Vallow looks toward the camera during a March 6, 2020, hearing in Rexburg, Idaho. Defense lawyer Edwina Elcox sits beside her. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool)
Putting his experience on paper
Boudreaux shares his account in a new book, “Unthinkable.” He first wrote the manuscript for his four children, hoping to give them a fuller understanding of the ordeal and the choices he made.
“I’m sure I made some mistakes,” Boudreaux told News Outlet. “If they need some closure, if they need to understand better … my goal was to give them all the information.”
He also wanted the book to explain how his faith helped sustain him, while making clear that his children should be free to follow their own spiritual journeys.
“I want them to understand their dad, and maybe by understanding their dad and why he made the choices he did, they’ll understand themselves better,” he said.
Lori Vallow appears to smirk in a mugshot taken after her Idaho murder conviction. (Madison County Sheriff)
The private project grew after Boudreaux shared the manuscript with family and friends, who encouraged him to publish it.
“They all encouraged me,” he said. “They said they thought it was good enough and that there was enough in there people would be interested in.”
Even so, Boudreaux held back until the criminal cases progressed. He deliberately kept details private so he would not risk affecting the investigations.
Lori and Chad Daybell were convicted in the deaths of 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old J.J. Vallow in 2019. (Rexberg Police Department)
“I needed to take the stand with a defense attorney,” he said. “I felt more comfortable waiting and making sure I allowed that process to happen first.”
“Now that it feels like it’s most likely over, it was something I had always intended to do—to share my perspective.”
A divorce ends in gunfire
While testifying at Vallow’s Idaho murder trial, Boudreaux said his marriage to Pawlowski fell apart in 2019 as her relationship with Vallow became closer.
The couple filed for divorce in July 2019 and later became embroiled in a custody dispute involving their children.
In a 2020 custody filing in Maricopa County Superior Court, Pawlowski’s second husband, Ian, wrote that she believed a “dark entity” or demon had taken control of Boudreaux, according to East Idaho News.
The filing further alleged that Chad Daybell told Pawlowski something needed to happen to Boudreaux so that his spirit and the Lord’s plan could move forward.
Chad Daybell sits at the defense table after the jury returned its verdict at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on May 30, 2024. (Kyle Green, Pool)
Pawlowski has not been charged in connection with the shooting.
Boudreaux remarried in 2020, but said the shooting, the divorce and his continuing fear that someone might still be pursuing him made it difficult to trust people.
“After someone shoots at you—and, in my opinion, continues looking for you—you’re naturally going to have some trust issues,” he said.
He said the attention surrounding the case has sometimes been uncomfortable, though most people have treated him respectfully and with compassion.
Lori Vallow Daybell smiles outside an Idaho courthouse on Aug. 16, 2022. (Tony Blakeslee/East Idaho News via AP)
Police investigation continues
Boudreaux declined to provide details about the shooting investigation, saying those questions should be left to law enforcement.
“I encourage them to keep investigating,” he said. “I really don’t want to discuss the investigation. I want to leave that to them.”
The Gilbert Police Department told NBC News that its investigation into the 2019 shooting remains open.
‘Everyone has value’
Boudreaux said he hopes “Unthinkable” leaves readers with a message about resilience, personal worth and the possibility of moving forward after trauma.
“I hope people understand that everyone has value and everyone can help someone else,” he said, stressing that hardship does not have to determine how a person responds.
“Just because something difficult happens in your life doesn’t mean you have to react in one particular way.”
