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“The Grudge”: Dateline NBC Revisits the Murder of Daniel Anderl and the Gunman Who Targeted Judge Esther Salas September 4 2026

Ryan Gill

NBC’s Dateline presents “The Grudge” on Friday, September 4, 2026, at 10/9c, with correspondent Andrea Canning examining the attack that shattered the family of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas and exposed a wider trail of violence stretching from California to New Jersey.

The case began with a gunman posing as a delivery driver at the Salas family home in North Brunswick, New Jersey, on July 19, 2020. Within seconds, 20-year-old Daniel Anderl was dead and his father, attorney Mark Anderl, had suffered life-threatening gunshot wounds. Judge Salas escaped physical injury because she was elsewhere in the house. Investigators would conclude that she was the person the gunman had come to kill.

The investigation identified New York attorney Roy Den Hollander, who had appeared before Salas in federal court and had written attacks against her, as the gunman. His death by suicide the following day meant there would be no criminal trial for Daniel’s murder. Instead, the evidence left behind led investigators into another homicide almost 3,000 miles away and raised concerns that Hollander had considered other targets.

The September 4 presentation of “The Grudge” is an encore of the Dateline report that first aired in January 2021, based on the programme information available for the broadcast.

Dateline Episode Trailer: The Grudge | Dateline NBC

Daniel Anderl Had Just Celebrated His 20th Birthday

Daniel Anderl was the only child of Esther Salas and Mark Anderl. Born after his parents had endured four miscarriages, he occupied the centre of a close family whose lives revolved around one another. He grew up playing baseball and developed an interest in following his parents into the legal profession.

By 2020, Daniel was a student at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he was preparing to enter his junior year. He had earned a place on the Dean’s List and had decided to concentrate on his studies rather than pursue college athletics. Friends later described a young man who spoke with pride about both of his parents and hoped to attend law school.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent Daniel home from university in the spring of 2020. As his 20th birthday approached that July, his parents allowed several college friends to visit their New Jersey home. The group spent much of the weekend outside, following the precautions that had become part of daily life during the pandemic.

Daniel told his friends that it had been the best weekend of his life. They left on Sunday, July 19. Hours later, he was killed.

A Delivery Driver Appears at the Salas Family Home

That Sunday evening, Salas and Daniel were cleaning in the basement and talking. Salas later recalled that her son wanted their conversation to continue. The doorbell interrupted them.

Mark Anderl looked outside and saw what appeared to be a delivery driver holding a package. A Sunday delivery did not seem impossible. With courthouses affected by the pandemic and Salas working as a federal judge, packages were a regular part of the family’s life.

Daniel ran upstairs and answered the door.

The man outside was not making a routine delivery. Authorities identified him as Roy Den Hollander, a 72-year-old New York attorney. He had come equipped with a handgun and used the appearance of a delivery worker to gain access to the family.

According to the FBI account later presented by CBS’s 48 Hours, the visitor asked Daniel to get Judge Salas so she could sign for an envelope. Gunfire followed within moments.

Daniel Is Killed and Mark Anderl Is Shot Three Times

The shooting took place at the entrance to the home. Daniel was struck in the chest. Mark was shot three times and suffered a severe abdominal wound.

Salas was still downstairs. She heard gunshots and someone screaming. By the time she reached the entrance, the shooter had fled. Her husband was critically injured and her son was dying.

Salas later said Daniel had taken the first bullet as he tried to protect his father. Mark also recalled his son raising his arms before being shot and falling backward. The encounter gave Hollander no opportunity to reach the judge deeper inside the house.

Daniel could not be saved. Mark was rushed to hospital and underwent multiple surgeries. His recovery would continue for months.

For investigators, the first question was whether the family had been attacked because of Salas’ work, Mark’s work as an attorney and former prosecutor, or for some other reason.

Investigators Consider an Attack on the Federal Judiciary

The involvement of a federal judge brought an immediate response from the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies. Investigators could not initially rule out terrorism, an organised plot or an offender with a personal grievance.

Salas had handled hundreds of criminal and civil matters during her judicial career. Investigators began examining people who had directed hostile or threatening comments toward her. Mark’s legal career also had to be considered.

Salas had joined the federal bench in 2011 after President Barack Obama nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Her confirmation made her the first Latina to serve as a U.S. District Court judge in New Jersey. Before her district court appointment, she had worked as an assistant federal public defender and served as a U.S. magistrate judge.

The attack therefore created a large pool of possible motives. Investigators did not yet know whether Daniel had been the target, whether the gunman wanted Mark or whether the young man had died because he happened to answer a door meant for his mother.

A discovery in rural New York soon provided an answer.

Roy Den Hollander Is Found Dead the Following Day

On July 20, the day after Daniel’s murder, New York State Police responded to a remote road in Sullivan County in the Catskill Mountains. They found the body of an older man near a vehicle.

Identification in his wallet named him as Roy Den Hollander. A Walther semiautomatic pistol was found nearby, and investigators concluded that Hollander had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

At first, police appeared to be dealing with a suicide. A search of Hollander’s vehicle changed the investigation.

Inside was a FedEx envelope addressed to Judge Esther Salas.

The discovery had immediate significance because the gunman in New Jersey had posed as a delivery driver. Investigators also learned that the .380-calibre weapon associated with Hollander was the same calibre as the firearm used at the Salas residence.

Evidence was now pointing toward the dead attorney as Daniel’s killer.

Then investigators found another address among Hollander’s belongings.

A California Address Connects the Case to Marc Angelucci

The address was in San Bernardino County, California. When investigators checked it, they discovered that a murder had taken place there only days earlier.

On July 11, 2020, eight days before the attack on the Anderl family, 52-year-old attorney Marc Angelucci had been shot at his home in Cedar Pines Park in California’s San Bernardino Mountains.

The similarities were striking.

A man had arrived posing as a delivery driver and carrying a package. Another person initially answered the door, but the visitor insisted that Angelucci come to sign for the delivery. When Angelucci appeared, he was shot at close range.

The killer escaped in a white vehicle. A .380-calibre handgun had been used.

At the time, California investigators had no identified suspect and no clear motive. Hollander’s death gave them a major lead.

Investigators Reconstruct Hollander’s Cross-Country Journey

Investigators established that Hollander had travelled across the United States by train in early July. Surveillance footage placed him in Southern California before Angelucci’s murder.

Authorities said Hollander arrived at a train station in San Bernardino on July 7. The station was around 20 miles from Angelucci’s residence. Images showed Hollander wearing a mask and carrying a cup of coffee.

Four days later, Angelucci was murdered.

Hollander was then captured by surveillance cameras at Los Angeles Union Station. Investigators determined that he travelled back east, placing him in position to carry out the second attack in New Jersey eight days after Angelucci was killed.

The evidence allowed investigators on opposite sides of the country to combine two cases that had appeared unrelated.

Marc Angelucci and Hollander Occupied the Same Legal World

The connection between the two men provided investigators with a potential motive.

Angelucci was an attorney and activist whose legal work included cases alleging discrimination against men. Friends described him as committed to equal treatment rather than hostility toward women, and much of his legal work was performed without charge for people who lacked the resources for lengthy litigation.

Among Angelucci’s successes was litigation concerning services for male victims of domestic violence. He also worked on challenges involving the requirement that men, but not women, register for the U.S. Selective Service System.

Hollander operated within some of the same legal territory. He had built a public profile through lawsuits challenging what he considered discrimination against men, but his writings revealed hostility that extended far beyond legal arguments about equal treatment.

Investigators came to believe Hollander regarded Angelucci as a rival who had achieved progress in an area Hollander considered his own.

Roy Den Hollander Had Spent Years Pursuing Gender-Discrimination Lawsuits

Before becoming linked to two murders, Hollander was known for provocative litigation.

He challenged “ladies’ night” promotions in bars and nightclubs, arguing that discounts offered to women discriminated against men. He sued Columbia University over its women’s studies programme and pursued other cases concerning gender-based distinctions.

His cases brought him television appearances and media attention. They produced fewer victories in court.

Hollander had not always occupied the fringes of the legal world. He had worked for a major law firm, earned an MBA from Columbia University and spent time working in Moscow. During his period in Russia, he met and married a younger Russian woman. The marriage ended in a bitter divorce.

His writings after the relationship deteriorated contained deep resentment toward women. That resentment expanded into a worldview in which Hollander blamed women and feminism for setbacks throughout his life.

Hollander Leaves Behind Thousands of Pages of Hostile Writings

After Hollander’s death, investigators examined an extensive manuscript he had posted online. Running to roughly 2,000 pages, the material combined autobiography, political argument and attacks on people he disliked.

Women occupied a central place in his grievances. His mother and former wife were among the targets of his anger, along with women in positions of authority.

Judge Salas was another target.

Hollander’s writing about her contained attacks based on her sex and Hispanic background. He referred to Salas in racist and misogynistic terms and portrayed her handling of one of his cases as evidence of incompetence.

The writings provided investigators with evidence that his dispute with Salas had moved beyond disagreement with her judicial decisions.

A Lawsuit Brought Roy Den Hollander Before Judge Salas

Hollander’s direct connection to Salas came through federal litigation involving the military draft.

The case challenged the requirement that men register with the Selective Service System while women did not. Hollander represented a woman who wanted to register for the draft and argued that the male-only registration system was unconstitutional.

The case was assigned to Salas.

Investigators later concluded that Hollander blamed the judge for what he perceived as delays or obstruction in the litigation. His writings attacked her in personal terms rather than restricting his criticism to her judicial decisions.

Hollander eventually withdrew from the case after receiving a cancer diagnosis, though another law firm continued the litigation. His grievance against Salas did not disappear when his formal involvement ended.

Authorities concluded that it became part of the collection of resentments that preceded the attack on her family.

A Cancer Diagnosis Appears in Hollander’s Final Writings

Hollander wrote that he had been diagnosed with melanoma in 2018 and believed his illness would kill him.

His writings from his final years suggested a man who believed his remaining time was limited and who was preoccupied with settling grievances. One passage described having too many enemies to settle every score and needing to “prioritize.”

After the killings, that language took on a new significance.

Investigators did not find evidence that Hollander belonged to an organisation that had helped him carry out the attacks. The FBI concluded that he acted alone.

The evidence instead pointed toward planned violence by a man selecting people connected to personal grievances, preparing disguises and travelling long distances to reach them.

The Delivery Disguise Was Part of the Plan

The use of a delivery disguise was one of the strongest similarities between the murders of Angelucci and Daniel.

In California, the purported deliveryman demanded that Angelucci come to the door and sign for a package. In New Jersey, a man carrying a package appeared at the home of a federal judge and asked for her.

The tactic gave the killer a reason to stand at a stranger’s front door without causing immediate alarm. It also allowed him to request a particular person.

Investigators found another disturbing detail in Hollander’s earlier writings: he had described using the appearance of a FedEx delivery worker during an unrelated encounter.

The package found addressed to Salas after Hollander’s death strengthened the case that the disguise formed part of his preparations.

Investigators Believe Esther Salas Was His Intended Victim

The evidence led investigators to conclude that Judge Salas, not Daniel, was Hollander’s intended target.

Daniel’s decision to answer the door changed what happened.

According to the FBI’s reconstruction, Hollander asked for Salas. Instead of reaching her, he confronted Daniel and Mark at the entrance. Daniel was killed, Mark was wounded and Hollander fled before reaching the judge.

It remains impossible to know what would have happened had Daniel not answered the door or had Hollander gained entry to the house. The evidence found after Hollander’s death, however, showed that he had researched Salas and had travelled to her residence carrying a grievance against her.

Daniel and his father stood between Hollander and the woman investigators believed he intended to murder.

Investigators Find Information About Other Possible Targets

The discoveries did not stop with Salas and Angelucci.

Investigators found information concerning other people among Hollander’s possessions, including judges and individuals associated with the medical profession. One of the names connected to material recovered from him was Janet DiFiore, then chief judge of New York’s highest court.

Law enforcement notified people whose names had been discovered because investigators could not assume Hollander’s interest in them was harmless.

The FBI spent hundreds of hours analysing his writings and reconstructing his activities. Authorities found no public evidence establishing that he had murdered anyone beyond Angelucci and Daniel or that another attack was under way when he died.

His suicide also meant investigators could never question him about how many people he had considered targeting.

There Was No Murder Trial for Daniel Anderl or Marc Angelucci

Unlike many cases examined by Dateline, “The Grudge” does not end with a murder prosecution, jury verdict or prison sentence.

Hollander died the day after the Salas attack. His death ended any possibility of putting him on trial for Daniel’s murder, the attempted killing of Mark and the alleged attempt to reach Salas.

It also prevented a prosecution over Marc Angelucci’s killing.

Authorities instead built their conclusions through ballistic evidence, travel records, surveillance images, material recovered with Hollander’s body, his writings and the similarities between the attacks. The FBI came to identify Hollander as responsible for the New Jersey shooting, while investigators also connected him to Angelucci’s murder.

The legal outcome was therefore unusual: the suspected killer was dead before authorities knew his name was central to the case.

Mark Anderl Faces a Long Recovery

Hollander’s death did nothing to lessen the consequences inside the Salas household.

Mark had been shot three times and required multiple operations. Months after the shooting, he remained in recovery from injuries that had come close to killing him.

His survival left him and Salas facing another reality: their only child was gone.

Daniel’s death carried particular weight for the couple because of the four miscarriages they had experienced before his birth. Salas called him their miracle and spoke of the bond between the three members of the family.

The final conversation between mother and son became part of Salas’ public account of the attack. Daniel had been asking her to continue talking with him moments before the doorbell rang.

Judge Salas Turns Her Attention to Judicial Security

As Salas dealt with her son’s death and her husband’s injuries, she began focusing on how Hollander had located them.

Her concern centred on the amount of personal information available about judges and their families. A person angered by a judicial decision could search for an address and move the conflict from a courtroom to a judge’s home.

The Salas attack demonstrated that the danger extended beyond judges themselves.

Daniel had never ruled against Hollander. Mark had never presided over one of his cases. They were attacked because they lived with the person Hollander blamed.

Salas began advocating measures that would restrict access to judges’ home addresses, telephone numbers and other personal information.

New Jersey Enacts Daniel’s Law

The first major legislative response came only months after the murder.

In November 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Daniel’s Law, named in honour of Daniel Anderl. The legislation created protections against the disclosure of home addresses and other personal information belonging to judges, prosecutors and law-enforcement personnel.

For Salas and Mark, the legislation represented an attempt to prevent another family from facing what happened at their home.

The campaign also moved beyond New Jersey. Salas became a national advocate for greater protection of the federal judiciary and their immediate families, arguing that security at courthouses was insufficient if personal information could lead an attacker to a judge’s residence.

The push eventually reached Congress.

Congress Passes the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act

In December 2022, more than two years after Daniel’s murder, the federal government enacted the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act.

The law established protections intended to restrict the disclosure of personally identifiable information about federal judges and their immediate families. It created mechanisms for judges to request the removal or nondisclosure of information such as home addresses from certain records and online sources.

The measure turned a security concern exposed by one family’s tragedy into federal policy.

Daniel’s name now sits on legislation designed to address the precise vulnerability Hollander exploited: the ability of someone with a grievance against a judge to locate the judge’s private home and, by extension, the judge’s family.

For Salas, that became part of her son’s legacy.

Daniel Anderl’s Legacy Has Continued Beyond the Security Laws

Daniel’s life has also been commemorated at Catholic University. A scholarship was established in his memory, and a plaque honouring him was installed at the entrance to the university’s Columbus School of Law. Salas said her son had intended to pursue a legal career.

His story took another turn in 2025.

Catholic University announced in October 2025 that the Diocese of Metuchen had established a commission to study a request concerning a possible cause for Daniel’s canonization. Bishop James Checchio said diocesan canon lawyers would research what would be required to proceed.

Daniel’s godfather, David Oakley, has described his death through the family’s Catholic faith and has spoken of his belief that Daniel died protecting his father. The diocesan inquiry does not mean Daniel has been declared a saint. It represents an early examination of whether a formal cause should proceed.

Six years after his murder, Daniel’s life therefore continues to be remembered through his university, legislation carrying his name and the family and friends who describe his final actions as consistent with the person they knew.

“The Grudge” Returns to Dateline

Dateline’s “The Grudge” returns to NBC on September 4 with Andrea Canning reporting on a crime that began at a suburban front door and expanded into a multistate investigation involving two murders, an attempted murder and evidence of other potential targets.

At its centre is a devastating fact: Daniel Anderl was not the person investigators believe Roy Den Hollander travelled to North Brunswick to kill. Daniel was a 20-year-old college student spending a Sunday at home with his parents when he answered the door. His father survived three gunshots. His mother survived because the attacker never reached her.

Hollander’s suicide ensured that neither the Anderl family nor Marc Angelucci’s loved ones would see him stand trial. Investigators instead reconstructed his path through the evidence he left behind, connecting the California and New Jersey shootings and uncovering the grievances that appeared to drive them.

The case did produce another form of legal outcome. What happened at the Salas home prompted state and federal changes intended to make it harder for future attackers to locate judges and their families. The federal legislation bears the name of the young man killed at that door.

Dateline: “The Grudge” airs Friday, September 4, 2026, at 10/9c on NBC.

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