The Shocking True Story of Netflix's The Watcher
The Letters
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In June 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus closed on a beautiful, $1.3 million house at 657 Boulevard in the affluent town of Westfield, New Jersey. Built in 1905, the century-old Dutch colonial boasted 6 bedrooms, 4 baths, and sat on a highly coveted street, just blocks from Maria’s childhood home. But before they could move in with their three children, they received a sinister welcome to the neighborhood. On the night of June 5, Derek checked the mail and found a handwritten envelope addressed to “The New Owner.” The letter, with no return address, began nice enough but quickly veered into creepy territory. “Do you know the history of the house? Do you know what lies within the walls of 657 Boulevard? Why are you here? I will find out.” The letter was signed in typed cursive – The Watcher. Reasonably alarmed, Derek got an officer to read the letter and then returned to their old home, where he and Maria emailed John and Andrea Woods, the previous owners who sold them the house. Turns out the Woodses also received a strange letter at the end of May, only days before the house sold, but tossed it without taking it seriously. Both families went to the Westfield Police Department, who told them to keep the letters a secret from their neighbors, as they were all suspects. Two weeks later, Maria found a second letter, which now addressed the Broadduses by name, though misspelled, along with the nicknames of their children who were 5, 8, and 10 years old at the time. The Watcher also asked if one of their daughters was the “artist in the family,” as they’d seen her with an easel on their closed off porch. “It has been years and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of the house. Have you found all of the secrets it holds yet? Will the young blood play in the basement? Or are they too afraid to go down there alone.” After this, the Broadduses didn’t allow their kids to accompany them to the house. They began their own investigation into the creepy occurrences. Derek had also learned about the bizarre Langford family who lived next door since the 1960s. An elderly Peggy Langford lived in the home with her adult children, who were in their 60s. Her son Michael in particular was suspect given his strange behavior in the neighborhood. But police had already spoken with Michael before the second letter was sent, meaning it would be risky for him to continue sending letters. Hoping to get a revealing response, the Broadduses anonymously informed the Langfords that 657 Boulevard would be demolished. However, this tactic didn’t work. In mid-July, a third letter arrived inquiring their whereabouts, stating: “657 Boulevard is missing you.”
Who Is The Watcher?
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By December 2014, the investigation into the Watcher was at a standstill. In 2015, the Broadduses attempted to sell the house but had no luck. On June 2, 2015, they took legal action and filed a lawsuit against John and Andrea Woods for neglecting to disclose the letter they’d received shortly before the Broadduses moved in. A local reporter came across the documents and the story went viral. News outlets, including NBC’s the TODAY Show, ran the story later that month. Once the story made headlines, Derek and Maria finally had to tell their kids what was going on, as they’d protected them from the scary truth the entire time. At a town council meeting on June 23, Westfield’s Mayor Andy Skibitsky stated that, even though no one was in custody and no one had any answers, the investigation had been “exhaustive.” However, residents in the neighborhood claimed they hadn’t even been questioned by police. Barron Chambliss, a veteran detective with the Westfield Police Department, added a fresh set of eyes to the case. He looked into Michael Langford again and learned he was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. Neighbors admitted he was strange but ultimately harmless. But the major discovery made by Chambliss was that a DNA analysis had already been conducted on one of the envelopes and the results pointed to a woman. Michael’s sister Abby was not a match, and neither was Andrea Woods or Maria Broaddus. It was determined the Langford family were no longer suspects. The Broadduses went back to their own investigation and hired more experts including a security firm to analyze the handwriting in the letters, and forensic linguist Robert Leonard to scour online forums for similar language. Neither yielded results. On one nightly stakeout, Barron Chambliss saw a young woman in her car momentarily stop in front of the home. The car was tracked to a woman from a neighboring town whose boyfriend lived on the Boulevard. According to Chambliss, she told investigators that he was into “some really dark video games,” specifically playing as a character called the Watcher. The man agreed to be interviewed but never showed up, and without enough evidence, he was dropped as a suspect. Chambliss also discovered that another family on the block received a weird letter but, like the Woodses, threw it away without concern.
Westfield vs. the Broadduses
With the increased media exposure, residents of the once quiet town of Westfield, ranked America’s 30th safest town in 2014, turned on the Broadduses. Rumors spread that the couple made up the letters themselves, either to increase property value, or possibly land a movie deal. It was also theorized that they could have buyer’s remorse or realized the $1.3 million home was too much. However, the traumatic experience they endured for over 4 years makes that theory unlikely. Derek and Maria eventually had to ask relatives to lend them funds to purchase a new home, still in Westfield. To keep its location under wraps, they bought it using an LLC (limited liability corporation). By March 2016, 657 Boulevard was back on the market. One idea their real-estate lawyer had was to sell the house to a developer. Then the property could be divided into two homes instead of one, but neighbors were adamantly against the demolition. The Westfield Planning Board held a meeting in January 2017, and the request was ultimately rejected. Later that year in October, the Broadduses’ lawsuit against Woods was dismissed.
New Owners
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In February 2017, the Broadduses had a new renter at 657 Boulevard, though their leasing agreement included a clause to let them vacate if another letter showed up. As luck would have it, a fourth letter from the Watcher had arrived. It was dated February 13, which was oddly the day Derek and Maria gave their depositions in the Woods lawsuit. Not that bothered by the letter, the tenants agreed to remain in the house if cameras were installed. The couple continued to reduce the asking price in an effort to sell the home. And in July 2019, Derek and Maria Broaddus finally sold the house, albeit at a $400,000 loss. The new owners are Andrew and Allison Carr.
In the Media
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Ever since the case made international headlines, people have said that it sounded like a horror movie. The Broadduses reportedly rejected offers for years, even though Lifetime made a 2016 film “The Watcher” without their permission. The story was also the subject of a popular “Buzzfeed Unsolved” episode. In November 2018, journalist Reeves Wiedeman published an in-depth article covering the story for New York Magazine’s The Cut. A month later, the news that Netflix bought the rights to the story was announced, with them reportedly beating out several other studios. Though originally planned to be a movie, the Netflix limited series from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, titled “The Watcher”, is set to premiere in October 2022, starring Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale.
