You just bought a million-dollar, six-bedroom dream house where your family including three small children will live for years to come. Days after the purchase, you start receiving disturbing letters.
My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time.
Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested? Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them to me. I asked the (prior owners) to bring me young blood.
This is the cold reality Maria and Derek Broaddus faced when their highly publicized nightmare began in Westfield, New Jersey, in 2014. The Son of Sam-like series of notes come from an unknown, creepy letter writer dubbed “The Watcher.”
Fearing for their small children, the Broaddus’s refused to move in and filed a lawsuit against the previous owners for failing to disclose this information when the “stalked” home wouldn’t sell after a year.
On Oct. 19, a Superior Court Judge dismissed the final counts in the Broaddus’s lawsuit containing three counts of fraud against John and Andres Woods, who had previously owned the home for 23 years.
Although Andres Woods also received a letter days before closing that she claimed was unthreatening and discarded, the Woods’s denied there was anyone watching the house and filed a counter suit for the damaging attention they received from the first suit.
Westfield police conducted an exhaustive investigation but could not identify the person who penned the letters.
Judge Camille M. Kenny said he dismissed the charges because he didn’t want to enforce a future burden on sellers and what they need to disclose to buyers.
Kenny also noted that the Woods’s experienced a one-off letter from “The Watcher,” an incident that wouldn’t require disclosure any more than another one-time issue such as a loud party.
The home is back on the market as of Oct. 9 for $1.2 million.
Although the listing describes a “stately colonial designed with all the character and charm of the early 1900s,” without mention of “The Watcher,” the incidents are still causing trouble for the current owners.
Now that the suit is dropped, the Broaddus family just wants to sell the home. They are reportedly disclosing all of “The Watcher” letters to any prospective buyers, which their lawyer, Lee M. Levitt, said is a brave and truthful choice that is repelling prospective buyers.
“They are continuing to try and sell, but once people see the letters, they turn and run,” Levitt told the Westfield Patch.
It’s unfortunate that this beautiful home will sit vacant until a brave buyer comes along.
We reached out to their real estate agent, Michael C. Buccola, who said he’s not in a position to talk about that home right now.