The Westfield Watcher

Podcast Episode originally aired April 30, 2021.

This story made headlines in 2014, when a couple thought they would be moving their family into their dream home - only after receiving threatening letters from a mysterious sender - they were too terrified to move in.

After months of stress and anxiety, they made the decision to sell, but after the story went public, no one was interested in buying.

It would take years and a major financial loss to finally sell the home.

This is the Creepy Case of The Westfield Watcher.

In the Summer of 2014, Derek Broaddus, his wife Maria, and their three children were getting ready to move into the home located at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey.
Purchasing this home allowed them to fulfill a dream as Maria was raised in Westfield - this home being just a few blocks from her childhood home. The home’s spacious layout, and it’s in one of the “30th Safest Cities in the United States”.

Derek grew up in working class Maine, moving his way up to the Senior Vice President position of an insurance company.
Just three days after closing on the 6-bedroom home - their three children already debating which chimney Santa would come down - their dream turned into a nightmare for the Broaddus Family.

Derek had just finished doing a few chores to prepare the home for move-in when he went outside to check the mail. Of course, there wasn’t much as they officially weren’t living in the home yet, just a few bills, and what has been described as a white, card-shaped envelope, addressed to “The New Owners” in thick, chunky handwriting.

The note inside was typed. It began innocent enough -

“Dearest new neighbor at 657 Boulevard. Allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.”

From there, the letter took quite a turn.

“How did you end up here? Did 657 Boulevard call to you with its force within? 657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now, and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming.
My grandfather watched over the house in the 1920s, and my father watched it in the 1960s.
It is now my time.

Who am I? There are hundreds and hundreds of cars that drive by 657 Boulevard each day. Maybe I am in one. Look at all the windows you can see from 657 Boulevard. Maybe I am in one.
Look out any of the many windows in 657 Boulevard, and all the people who stroll by each day. Maybe I am one.

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. You have children, I have seen them. So far I think there are 3 that I have counted.
Do you feel the need to fill the house with the young blood I requested? Better for me. Was your old house too small for your growing family? Or was it greed to bring me you children? Once I know their names, I will call to them and draw them to me.”

The author then signed “The Watcher” in cursive.

While I couldn’t find any photos of the actual letter anywhere, some sites say that it mentioned details about the Broaddus Family - as in the writer was able to identify their family’s minivan, as well as the workers renovating the home, saying -
”I see that you have already flooded 657 Boulevard with contractors so that you can destroy the house as it was supposed to be, tsk, tsk, tsk…bad move. You don’t want to make 657 Boulevard unhappy do you?”

Earlier that week, Derek and Maria had gone to the house, and while chatting with their new neighbors, their children - aged 5, 8, and 10 ran around the backyard with several kids from the neighborhood.
The letter writer obviously saw this, he or she also asked if “there were more on the way” - That part was before the young blood line.

The letter included a message that this would not be the last correspondence and even stated “Welcome my friends, welcome. Let the party begin.”

Being that it was later, and Derek was alone, he ran through the house, turning off all the lights and then called the Westfield Police Department. An officer came to the house, read the letter, and said “What the fuck is this?”
He asked if Derek had any enemies and suggested he moved construction equipment in case the Watcher got the idea to throw it through a window. Derek immediately went home to Maria and their children, who were living in their old home, somewhere else in Westfield.
Together, they wrote an email to the previous owners, John and Andrea Woods, to ask if they had any idea who The Watcher was or why he - or she - had written, “I asked the Woods to bring me young blood and it looks like they listened.”

Andrea replied the next morning. A few days before moving out, the Woods had also received a letter from “The Watcher”. The note had been “odd,” she said, and made similar mention of The Watcher’s family observing the house over time, but Andrea said she and her husband had never received anything like it in their 23 years in the home, and threw the letter out.

After talking to the Woods, both families went to the police and told them what was happening. The police instructed them to keep the letters to themselves, and not to tell any of their neighbors as they were all suspects.
Two weeks later, the Broadduses had still not moved into the home, and were living on high alert, Derek even cancelled a work trip. When they visited the house, they would call the children’s names if they went out of sight.
When giving a tour of the house, Derek froze when the wife said, “It’ll be nice to have some young blood in the neighborhood.”
The contractor showed up one morning to find a heavy sign he’d hammered in the front yard had been removed.

Two weeks after the first letter arrived, another letter came.
Maria recognized the thick black lettering on the card-shaped envelope and called the police.

“Welcome again to your new home at 657 Boulevard,” the letter began, “The workers have been busy and I have been watching you unload carfuls of your personal belongings. The dumpster is a nice touch. Have they found what is in the walls yet? In time they will.”
This letter was addressed to Derek & Maria directly - as Mr. & Mrs. Broaddus - although their name was misspelled. Had The Watcher been close enough to hear one of the Broaddus’s names?

The Watcher went on about having learned about the family, especially their children. The letter referred to them by their birth order and their nicknames, the ones Maria had called.
”I am pleased to know your names now, and the names of the young blood you have brought to me. You certainly say their names often.”
The letter asked about one child in particular, saying they had seen them using an easel inside an enclosed porch, “Is she the artist in the family?

657 Boulevard is anxious for you to move in. 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? I would be very afraid if I were them. It is far away from the rest of the house. If you were upstairs you would never hear them scream.

Will they sleep in the attic? Or will you all sleep on the second floor? Who has the bedrooms facing the street? I’ll know as soon as you move in. It will help me know who is in each room. Then I can plan.
All of the windows and doors in 657 Boulevard allow me to watch you and track you as you move through the house.
Who am I?
I am The Watcher and have been in control of 657 Boulevard for the better part of two decades now. The Woods family turned it over to you. It was their time to move on and kindly sold it when I asked them to.

I pass by many times a day.
657 Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession. And now you are too Braddus family. Welcome to the product of your greed! Greed is what brought the past three families to 657 Boulevard and now it has brought you to me.

Have a happy moving in day. You know I’ll be watching.”

After receiving this letter, Maria and Derek stopped bringing their children to the house, halted their plans to move in, causing a third letter to appear.

“Where have you gone to? 657 Boulevard are missing you.”

Many Westfield residents compare their town to Mayberry. Forty-five minutes from New York, a slow-moving town, most of the 30,000 residents are well-to-do families. It’s the 99th richest city in America and 18th in New Jersey.

Built in 1905, 657 Boulevard was perhaps the grandest home on the block, and when the Woods put it up for sale, they received multiple offers above their asking price. This led to the Broadduses to initially believe The Watcher might be someone who was upset over losing out on buying the house, but the Woods said the others backed out for other reasons.
Andrea proposed another theory based on the mention of construction trucks, and the children that it was someone in the neighborhood.

Details like the postmark proved the letters were mailed close, in proximity.
The first was sent on June 4, before the sale was made public, and the Woods never put up a “For Sale” sign. No one noticed any unusual activity and when they walked around the house, they realized the porch where the easel sat was blocked in view unless someone was behind the house - or right next door.

Derek believed he figured out who was sending the letters at one point while chatting with John Schmidt, he told Derek about the Langfords who lived in between them.
Peggy Langford was in her 90s, and several of her adult children all in their 60s, lived with her. They were an odd family, but harmless.
The Langford house sat next to the porch with the easel, the family lived there since the 1960s, when the Watcher’s father was observing the home. Richard Langford died 12 years earlier, and the current Watcher had been on the job for the “better part of two decades”.

Frustrated with the police investigation - or lack thereof - Derek took matters into his own hands.
He set up webcams and spent nights crouched in the dark, watching to see if anyone was at the house - which of course, if someone was watching, they knew where he was so they could keep their distance.
They even turned to several experts. A private investigator who staked out the neighborhood and ran background checks on the Langfords, but didn’t find anything noteworthy.
A former FBI agent who served as the inspiration for Clarice Starling, and Robert Lenehan, another former FBI agent, to perform an assessment of threat. He suggested the writer was older, many attributes such as salutations, the mention of weather, the sentences were double spaced, also indicated a “less macho” writer.
He didn’t feel he would act on any threats but there were typos to imply erraticism. The Watcher also didn’t seem happy with “new money” moving into the neighborhood.
”Are you one of those Hoboken transplants who are ruining Westfield?”
Perhaps he was jealous that they bought a home The Watcher couldn’t afford.

The Langfords were the main focus of the investigation. They set up a plan to try and get a reaction, sending a letter of intent to tear down the house, but no response was received.
Detectives questioned Michael Langford, and his sister claimed the police was harassing their family.

The situation became so bad that it caused nightmares for both Derek and Maria. Derek came down with depression and Maria developed post traumatic stress disorder. Both were afflicted with paranoia, and even though they had installed an alarm system, they were still overcome with anxiety on the thought of moving into the home. By the end of 2014, the case had come to a stand still.

No evidence to point out a suspect, the house remained empty.

The Broadusses were petrified to move into the new home after many alarm trips in the middle of the night.

Derek began looking at dogs and personal security, he even had the home blessed, but they still just couldn’t bring themselves to move in, fearing they would be voluntarily putting their children at risk.

It also didn’t help that the letters were getting even more aggressive.

“657 Boulevard is turning on me,” on letter read, “It is coming after me. I don’t understand why. What spell did you cast on it? It used to be my friend and now it is my enemy. I am in charge of 657 Boulevard. It is not in charge of of me. I will fend off its bad things and wait for it to become good again. I will be patient and wait for this to pass and for you to bring young blood back to me. 657 Boulevard needs young blood. It needs you. Come back. Let the young blood play again like it once did. Let the young blood sleep in 657 Boulevard.
Stop changing it and leave it alone.

Six months after the letters began, they decided to sell 657 Boulevard. Initially listing it higher to reflect the renovations, but rumors had already moved around the town. Agents were saying that their clients loved the home, but they needed to know more as they heard whispers about a child predator or a stalker.
The Broadusses offered to show the letters to anyone interested in buying.

They tried to sue the Woods, but the case was thrown out, ruling that there was no harm meant. Andrea claimed the letter seemed more stranger than threatening, they never felt watched or as if they were in any danger, they barely even locked their doors.
In 2016, a family agreed to rent the home, on the condition they could move out if another letter arrived.

I’m sure you can guess what happened.

Addressed to “The vile and spiteful Derek and his wench of a wife Maria”
It then read in great detail how the house despised them and how they would never escape it, how the Watcher won.

Still unsolved today, they had very little to go on, no digital trail, no fingerprints, and even multiple stakeouts at the home brought about few suspects.
The odd family next door, a gamer in the area whose codename was “TheWatcher”, and even the Broadusses themselves.

In 2019, the home was finally sold at $959,000 - $400,000 LESS than what was paid in 2015.
There has been no reports of letters from the new owners.

This is one of those cases that drives me insane, there are so many suspects…and SO many questions!

The DNA on the stamp did show up female, but that could also mean multiple people were involved.
Could it be the Langfords in on it together? The gamer?
Why so many references to “young blood” and nothing was ever found in the walls, so what was that all about?

I just want to know!

Tower of London

Dorothy Jane Scott