Dateline Friday: “The Grudge” September 4 2026

Dateline NBC presents “The Grudge” on Friday, September 4, 2026, at 10/9c on NBC, with correspondent Andrea Canning reporting on the attack that killed Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, and critically wounded her husband, Mark Anderl.

The September 4 broadcast appears to be an encore of a Dateline report that originally aired on January 21, 2021, despite scheduling information that had initially identified the 2026 broadcast as original programming. The episode examines the July 2020 attack at the Salas family home in North Brunswick, New Jersey, the investigation that identified attorney Roy Den Hollander as the gunman, and the evidence suggesting Judge Salas herself was his intended target.

A Gunman Arrives at the Salas Family Home

On July 19, 2020, the Salas family was at home in North Brunswick when a man arrived at their front door. He appeared to be a delivery driver.

The visitor was actually Roy Den Hollander, an attorney who had developed a grievance against Judge Salas. Investigators determined that he had arrived at the house armed and disguised, allowing him to approach the family without immediately raising suspicion.

Judge Salas was elsewhere inside the house when someone came to the door. Her son, Daniel Anderl, answered it, with his father, Mark, nearby.

Within moments, the encounter became a shooting.

Daniel Anderl Is Shot and Killed

Hollander opened fire at the doorway, fatally shooting 20-year-old Daniel. Mark Anderl was also struck several times.

Daniel died from his injuries. Mark was critically wounded but survived.

Judge Salas was not physically injured because she was elsewhere inside the house when the shooting occurred. The circumstances later led investigators to believe that Daniel and Mark had stood between Hollander and the person he had intended to confront.

The attack devastated the Salas family. Daniel was their only child.

What initially confronted authorities as a shocking shooting at the home of a federal judge soon developed into a larger investigation into the gunman’s history, motives and other possible acts of violence.

Investigators Believe Judge Esther Salas Was the Intended Target

Authorities came to believe that Judge Salas, rather than Daniel or Mark, was Hollander’s primary target.

Salas had encountered Hollander through her work as a federal judge. Hollander was an attorney known for bringing lawsuits challenging policies he believed discriminated against men.

One of his cases had come before Salas.

Investigators examining Hollander’s writings and conduct found evidence of hostility toward the judge. His grievance against Salas provided investigators with a possible explanation for why an armed man would travel to her family’s home.

The shooting therefore took on an even more disturbing dimension. Daniel appeared to have been killed because he happened to answer the door when a man targeting his mother arrived at their home.

Daniel and Mark May Have Prevented the Gunman From Reaching Esther

The positioning of Daniel and Mark at the doorway became an important part of the investigation.

In the original Dateline report, FBI Special Agent Joe Denahan discussed the evidence surrounding the shooting and the possibility that Daniel and Mark prevented Hollander from getting farther into the residence.

Had the gunman entered the home, Judge Salas could have been exposed to the attack investigators believed had been intended for her.

For Salas, that realization added another dimension to the loss of her son. Daniel had not been the person against whom Hollander held his grievance, yet he was the person who died.

The investigation would soon establish that Hollander’s violence might not have begun at the Salas residence.

Roy Den Hollander Is Found Dead

The search for the person responsible developed quickly.

On July 20, 2020, the day after Daniel’s murder, Hollander was found dead in New York. Authorities determined that he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

His death meant there would be no arrest, criminal trial or opportunity for the Salas family to confront him in court.

Investigators instead had to reconstruct his actions through physical evidence, records, his writings and other information he had left behind.

That investigation produced evidence linking him to the Salas shooting and raised questions about another killing.

Investigators Connect Hollander to Another Judge’s Family

Authorities examined possible connections between Hollander and the earlier murder of attorney Marc Angelucci in California.

Angelucci, an attorney associated with men’s-rights litigation, had been shot and killed at his home on July 11, 2020, eight days before the attack on the Salas family.

The circumstances contained disturbing similarities.

The gunman who approached Angelucci’s home had also reportedly presented himself as a delivery person.

As investigators examined Hollander’s activities, they found evidence connecting him to Angelucci and began looking at whether the two attacks formed part of the same violent campaign.

The possibility suggested that the shooting at the Salas home was not an isolated explosion of anger.

Hollander’s Grudges Become Part of the Investigation

The title “The Grudge” reflects the resentments investigators uncovered while examining Hollander’s background.

His writings contained attacks against women and people he believed had wronged or opposed him. Investigators also examined the people and institutions toward whom he had directed his anger.

Judge Salas had become one of those people.

The investigation raised a frightening question for law enforcement: Had Hollander identified other potential targets?

His death prevented authorities from questioning him about his complete intentions, forcing investigators to rely on the material and evidence he left behind.

For Salas, however, the motive behind the attack was clear enough to transform her life. Her position as a federal judge had exposed information that helped a hostile litigant locate her family home.

Who Was Daniel Anderl?

Although the case became a national story involving judicial security and violence against public officials, Judge Salas has worked to ensure that her son is remembered as more than the victim of a notorious crime.

Daniel was 20 years old and the only child of Esther Salas and Mark Anderl.

He had been preparing for his future when he was killed. His death came not because of anything he had done, but because he opened the door of his family’s home.

Salas has spoken publicly about her son’s personality, ambitions and importance to his parents. She has also described the events surrounding his death and the impact of realizing that the attack had apparently been intended for her.

Daniel’s name would eventually become attached to a national effort designed to prevent another judge’s family from experiencing the same type of attack.

Esther Salas Turns Her Grief Into a Fight for Judicial Security

Following Daniel’s murder, Judge Salas became a prominent advocate for stronger protections for judges and their families.

One of the central problems highlighted by the attack was the amount of personal information about judges that could be located through public records and online searches.

Home addresses and other identifying information could potentially allow someone with a grievance to move from online hostility to a judge’s front door.

Salas argued that judges should not have to expose their families to unnecessary danger simply because of their public service.

Her campaign moved the case beyond the investigation into Hollander and toward a larger discussion about threats against the judiciary.

The Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act

Those efforts eventually contributed to federal legislation named after Daniel.

The Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act was created to strengthen protections surrounding the personal information of federal judges and their immediate families.

The legislation represented a significant legacy arising from Daniel’s death. Its purpose was to make it more difficult for potentially dangerous individuals to obtain personal information that could be used to locate and target judges.

For Salas, the campaign was deeply personal. The goal was not only to respond to what happened to her family, but to reduce the chances that another judge would experience the same loss.

Daniel’s name therefore became associated not only with the crime that took his life but with an effort to protect thousands of judicial officials and their families.

There Would Be No Trial for Daniel’s Murder

Unlike many Dateline cases, “The Grudge” does not conclude with a conventional murder prosecution.

Hollander’s death the day after the attack meant prosecutors could never bring him before a jury. There would be no murder trial, verdict or prison sentence.

Instead, investigators had to establish what happened after the person they believed responsible was already dead.

The evidence they assembled pointed toward a planned attack motivated by Hollander’s hostility toward Salas. His disguise and arrival at the family’s home indicated preparation rather than a chance confrontation.

Daniel and Mark were caught in that plan when they answered the door.

“The Grudge” Returns to Dateline

“The Grudge” originally aired on Dateline NBC on January 21, 2021, with Andrea Canning reporting on the Salas family attack and its aftermath.

Although some scheduling metadata initially described the September 4, 2026 broadcast as “ORIGINAL,” the title, correspondent and subject correspond to the previously aired report. Based on the information currently available, the September 4 presentation should be treated as an encore unless NBC confirms that new material has been added.

The case has gained an important additional legacy since the original broadcast through the federal judicial-security legislation bearing Daniel’s name.

The fundamental story, however, remains the loss of a 20-year-old man who opened his family’s front door and encountered a gunman apparently seeking his mother.

Dateline Examines a Murder That Changed Judicial Security

“The Grudge” brings together a deeply personal family tragedy and a broader question about the safety of judges who make decisions capable of provoking anger from litigants appearing before them.

For Esther Salas and Mark Anderl, those risks became real on July 19, 2020. Mark survived his wounds. Daniel did not.

The investigation identified Roy Den Hollander as the gunman, uncovered his hostility toward Salas and examined evidence connecting him with other violence. His suicide prevented the case from ending with a criminal trial.

Judge Salas instead pursued another form of accountability by campaigning for reforms designed to protect other judicial families.

Dateline NBC: “The Grudge” airs Friday, September 4, 2026, at 10/9c on NBC. Andrea Canning reports on the murder of Daniel Anderl, the shooting of Mark Anderl, the investigation into Roy Den Hollander and Judge Esther Salas’ campaign to strengthen judicial security following her son’s death. The broadcast appears to be an encore of the Dateline report originally aired January 21, 2021.

About Dateline NBC