Posted on 11/14/2018 10:48:43 AM PST by conservative98
The Watcher A family bought their dream house. But according to the creepy letters they started to get, they weren’t the only ones interested in it.
One night in June 2014, Derek Broaddus had just finished an evening of painting at his new home in Westfield, New Jersey, when he went outside to check the mail. Derek and his wife, Maria, had closed on the six-bedroom house at 657 Boulevard three days earlier and were doing some renovations before they moved in, so there wasn’t much in the mail except a few bills and a white, card-shaped envelope. It was addressed in thick, clunky handwriting to “The New Owner,” and the typed note inside began warmly:
Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard,
Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.
For the Broadduses, buying 657 Boulevard had fulfilled a dream. Maria was raised in Westfield, and the house was a few blocks from her childhood home. Derek grew up working class in Maine, then moved his way up the ladder at an insurance company in Manhattan to become a senior vice-president with a salary large enough to afford the $1.3 million house. The Broadduses had bought 657 Boulevard just after Derek celebrated his 40th birthday, and their three kids were already debating which of the house’s fireplaces Santa Claus would use.
But as Derek kept reading the letter from his new neighbor, it took a turn. “How did you end up here?” the writer asked. “Did 657 Boulevard call to you with its force within?” The letter went on:
(Excerpt) Read more at thecut.com ...
Who do you think The Watcher is?
Videos and game cameras verified his ID on his 3rd and last visit.
Warning: Be prepared to read a novel. It is a VERY LONG article, and ultimately ends without any resolution whatsoever.
From the comments:
This exhaustive narrative will likely lead to a break in the case, I believe — especially the long quotes from the letters. Someone is going to recognize this writing style. (As in the Unabomber case.)
1) Since this happened via mail, an FBI agent should have been assigned to this case, not a local police officer. It’s been mishandled from the start.
2) What the neighbors should have done to protect their property value and get to the bottom of this for once and all, is gotten together as a group and gone from house to house, asking every resident to go to police and submit to a DNA test. And those who don’t want to be eliminated as suspects, remain suspects in the eyes of every neighbor. And as we now know, the police can find people through DNA of distant relatives, so Watcher, your days are numbered.
3) Whether written by man or G-d, the 10 Commandments are pretty basic — “Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house.” Here is a perfect example of what such envy can drive one to. And it is disgusting. It is not funny. SHAME ON YOU Watcher! SHAME SHAME on YOU! If the Feds don’t get you, Karma will!
4) My humble opinion says, look into the backyard neighbor, their daughter, and their son-in-law who used to live in the house. Strange they wouldn’t appreciate the property values have gone up to their benefit. But the children who don’t necessarily benefit from that, and can’t afford to live in the neighborhood where they grew up, may be resentful and pull a prank that got out of hand. Maria and Derek did the right thing by not moving in. A parent isn’t going to put their kids in harms way when some sociopath is running loose and threatening them. And we really don’t know what the lunatic and sicko is capable of. Arsonists always return to watch the fire. The sicko isn’t that far.
Uh if it’s made up then why did the previous owner get a letter too ? Also this seems like more then just one person is in on the letters. This whole town of Westfield seem like a bunch unsympathetic sickos. ‘I don’t want to face a garage or driveway’, who ever sits and stares at their neighbors homes needs a life -plus is probably working with or is this ‘Watched’ ....and then a year or two later the town planning board approves a lot split with smaller lot sizes, they should on principal have their appeal then.
Not to mention if this is how my community, in which I paid a lot in taxes, supported me I’d rent out the house to a halfway or Oxford home for recovering drug addicts.... or just start putting where I am currently living under surveillance and personally deface the interior and exterior of the home to drive this ‘Watcher’ even more insane. I mean you’ve already spent a lot of money in trying to solve the issue why not just drive him/her nuts. In fact I’d love to help just to make this ‘Watcher’ loose his/her mind.
This story is heartbreaking.
What sort of monster would reach out to harm a young family in this ugly, cowardly way?
And what sort of neighbors would react not with compassion but with a cruel (and illogical) innuendo campaign against the victims of a psychological terror campaign?
So very depressing.
great article, my $$ is on the schizophrenic neighbor and his sister.
Is this a true story? It reads like a fictional narrative. At any rate, I don’t blame the Broadduses for not moving in. The story is creepy.
Whoever it is, I very much hope their DNA helps law enforcement to catch them soon. Tick, tock, Watcher!
The stalker is real. The originally read about it on Fox News, but this article had more details.
Wow! That is really, really creepy.
Who has time to read that word wall? Anyone who suggests that I read it in its entirety is probably the writer.
The dna sample could be unfortunate contamination, thus ruling out the actual culprit.
I would have moved in, with my kids and played the game. I would have started hanging out garden banners talking to the watcher. Simple and friendly stuff. Good Morning Watcher, Happy Easter Watcher, etc. The more letters the culprit wrote the more likely and faster she would be caught.
Also, I think the writer was more likely to have been into Gothic romance novels rather than horror films so I would investigate who borrows that genre heavily from the library or buys from the local bookstore, new and used.
Westfield NJ, My home town. Quintessential Americana when We left in ‘62. I wouldn’t go back for anything.
Very, very weird.
Here’s the Cliff Notes version:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7736200/the-watcher-new-jersey-stalker-letters-children/
‘IT’S LIKE A CANCER’ Mysterious stalker dubbed ‘The Watcher’ has spent decades writing chilling ‘I can see your kids’ letters to whoever lives in this house
During three haunting years, the obsessed oddball sent a series of bizarre handwritten notes to the Broaddus family at their New Jersey home
The purpose of the letter is to make them afraid. There’s a good chance the writer is otherwise powerless.
Would be more than a little entertaining to find and go after the person.
Okay so it turns out the father started writing anonymous letters too.
Seems to me this makes him a primary suspect for being the writer of all the letters to begin with.
I’d at least check the “Letters to the Editor” section of the local newspaper. But it might be somebody trying to drive down the price of the house, and the owners along with it.
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