How did Brandon Boudreaux hide his four children from Melanie and Alex Cox?

Brandon Boudreaux first took his children to his parents' house in American Fork, Utah, while private investigator Rich Robertson put a GPS tracker on the U-Haul that Melanie and Alex Cox were driving. After Melanie showed up at the house twice and was arrested, Brandon flew the children, aged 9, 6, 4 and 2, to Florida and moved between hotels and Airbnbs with nothing in his name, telling the kids they were on vacation.

• Melanie had posted a $10,000 Facebook reward for help finding Brandon and the children.
• Melanie's criminal trespass charge in Utah was enhanced to domestic violence; she pleaded no contest and got a suspended six-month sentence.
• The family returned to Phoenix in early 2020 after a judge gave Brandon temporary sole custody and Alex Cox died of natural causes.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Dateline NBC (2026-10-27). Read the whole episode summary →

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