5 key details about Brandy Daniels's murder ahead of Dateline

Dateline returns to the Brandy Daniels case with a focus on how a young mother was killed and how detectives built the file that led to two life sentences. Brandy Daniels, 25, was found shot inside her car near her family’s driveway in Nashport, Ohio, on May 5, 2014.

A re-air of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered features the case in Out There in the Dark. It is set to air on Oxygen on Thursday, September 11, at 10:00 pm ET. The hour tracks the steps from the scene to the plea deals and sentencing.

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Case background for Dateline readers

Investigators worked phone records, tower data, and long interview lists while processing the car and driveway area. Early attention turned to Brandy’s estranged husband, Josh Daniels, who had moved to Alaska during the split.

Brandy Daniels' car (Image via @DatelineNBC YouTube)

Another name surfaced fast. Sirius Underwood, a convicted felon who knew the family, offered an alibi and later wiped his phone, so detectives leaned on carrier records and earlier extractions to keep moving.

The case stalled until a Facebook tip pointed to older robberies in the region. That opened up a pattern that tied Daniels and Underwood together before the killing. From there, phone mapping, witness work, and financial checks filled out a timeline.

Brandy had filed for divorce months before the shooting. Records and interviews showed planning across weeks, not hours.

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5 key details about Dateline’s Out There in the Dark

1) The scene pointed to an ambush

Brandy was found in the driver’s seat with the car still idling. Spent shell casings were outside, and nothing was taken from the vehicle. Firearms testing showed all rounds came from the same gun, a detail that fit a planned attack. According to the Zanesville Times Recorder, these facts shaped the early theory of the case.

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2) A burner phone anchored the timeline

A prepaid number with a 310 area code pinged the small sector that covered the driveway at the key time and had contacts with Josh Daniels’ phone in the days before the murder.

A burner phone anchored the timeline (Image via Unsplash)

FBI cellular analysis later showed that the number moved with Underwood’s known routes before the shooting, reinforcing proximity to the scene. Per the Zanesville Times Recorder, that mapping became a backbone of the timeline.

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3) The one-word text after the shooting

Phone records showed Josh received a message that read “done” shortly after Brandy was killed. That detail appeared in local court coverage and summarized coordination in a single word. According to the Daily Jeffersonian, prosecutors used the text to frame planning and the aftermath.

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4) Pleas and sentencing

Josh Daniels pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and related felonies. He received life in prison with parole eligibility after 28 years. Underwood entered an Alford plea to aggravated murder and other counts and received life with parole eligibility after 38 years.

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5) The appeal in State v. Underwood

Underwood’s conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. The Court of Appeals of Ohio issued its decision in February 2018, upholding the judgment from Muskingum County. According to the Court of Appeals of Ohio, the ruling left the trial court’s result in place.

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Where to watch Brandy Daniels' Dateline episode

The Brandy Daniels case returns to television on Oxygen with Dateline: Secrets Uncovered at 10:00 pm ET. The episode titled Out There in the Dark follows the case from the first 911 calls to the courtroom.

Kate Snow and Craig Melvin of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered (Image via Oxygen)

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Out There in the Dark is also available for streaming on fuboTV, YouTube TV, and Oxygen.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Out There in the Dark adapts the Dateline NBC episode of the same name and can be streamed on Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, NBC, The Roku Channel, and Spectrum On Demand.

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