657 Boulevard, Westfield, NJ 07090
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Author: Jewls Krueger
In June 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus paid $1,355,657 for what they believed was their dream home at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey. Within days of closing, they began receiving a series of chilling typewritten letters from an anonymous stalker who called themselves "The Watcher."
The Broaddus family never spent a single night in the home. More than a decade later, The Watcher's identity has never been confirmed, and the case remains officially unsolved.
The Watcher House at 657 Boulevard -Creative Commons: Ssmartino
The home at 657 Boulevard is a six bedroom, four bathroom Dutch Colonial Revival home built in 1905, sitting on a wide, tree lined street in one of the more affluent neighborhoods of Westfield, an upscale suburb about 25 miles west of New York City that consistently ranks among the wealthiest towns in the United States.
Derek and Maria Broaddus, a couple with three young children, had been living in a smaller home in Westfield when they purchased 657 Boulevard from John and Andrea Woods in June 2014. The Woods family had lived in the home for 23 years. The Broadduses planned to renovate the home before moving in.
On June 5, 2014, just three days after closing on the home, Derek Broaddus went to check the mail and found a hand addressed envelope marked "The New Owner" inside the mailbox. The typed letter inside began cordially, welcoming them to the neighborhood, but quickly grew menacing. The writer claimed that his or her family had been "watching" the house for generations, and revealed knowledge of the Broadduses' three young children, whom they referred to as "young blood."
"657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now," the first letter read. "My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time."
Three more typewritten letters arrived over the following weeks, each more disturbing than the last. The author referenced specific details about the home and the Broadduses' renovations, and posed questions like, "Will the young blood play in the basement?" and "Who has the bedrooms facing the street?" One letter ended, "You are despised by the house. And The Watcher won."
Out of fear, the Broadduses never moved in. They continued to pay the mortgage and property taxes on the home while living with Maria's parents elsewhere in Westfield.
The Westfield Police Department conducted what they would later describe as an "exhaustive investigation," and the Union County Prosecutor's Office asked neighbors to voluntarily submit DNA samples for comparison against trace evidence on the letters. None of the neighbors' samples matched, and no suspect has ever been publicly identified.
In June 2015, the Broadduses filed a civil lawsuit against the Woods family, alleging that the previous owners had also received a letter from The Watcher just days before closing and failed to disclose it. Andrea Woods acknowledged receiving one such letter but said she had considered it odd but harmless and had thrown it away. The Woods filed counterclaims for defamation. In October 2017, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Camille M. Kenny dismissed both sets of claims.
The Broadduses then attempted to sell or demolish the house. On January 4, 2017, the Westfield Planning Board rejected their plan to raze the home and subdivide the lot into two new properties. They eventually rented the house to a family who continued to receive letters from The Watcher during their tenancy.
After five years of failed efforts to either move in or sell the property, the Broadduses finally sold 657 Boulevard on July 1, 2019 for $959,360. They had taken a loss of nearly $400,000 on the home, not including the cost of renovations, legal fees, and property taxes paid in the intervening years. As a farewell gesture, the Broadduses passed along a copy of one of the letters with a note that read, "We wish you nothing but the peace and quiet that we once dreamed of in this house."
Westfield Police told the New York Post in 2021 that the new owners had not received any letters from The Watcher since moving in. The Broadduses sold the rights to their story to Netflix, and in October 2022 the streaming service released "The Watcher," a seven episode dramatized series by producer Ryan Murphy. After the show's release, the home became a pilgrimage site for true crime fans, prompting Westfield police to station officers in front of the property and barricade the lawn from trespassers.
The home remains a private residence and is not open to the public. Please be respectful of the current owners and the surrounding neighborhood, stay on public sidewalks at all times, and do not approach the home or attempt to interact with the residents.
John List killed his entire family in this house, then disappeared for decades.
"The Crime of the Century" - 1 year old Baby Lindbergh was abducted from this estate in 1932.
Legend has it that demons posessed Ronald DeFeo Jr. to murder his whole family in their suburban home.
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