A New Jersey family say they’ve been forced out of their luxury home by a stalker who identifies himself as the home’s ‘Watcher’ in letters threatening their children’s safety.
Maria and Derek Broaddus began receiving letters last month – just days after closing on the $1.3million dream home in the idyllic community of Westfield.
‘Why are you here? I will find out,’ the letter read.
‘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?’
The letter is signed ‘The Watcher’.
It suggests ‘The Watcher’ has been monitoring the Broaddus family – which reports have not named – because he makes reference to their three young children.
‘Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them to me,’ the stalker writes in the first letter dated June 5.
‘I asked the (prior owners) to bring me young blood. And now I watch and wait for the day when they (sp) young blood will be mine again.’
Subsequent letters, reports NJ.com, have been even more threatening toward the couple’s children.
‘Have they found what is in the walls yet? In time they will. I am pleased to know your names and the names now of the young blood you have brought to me,’ one letter reads.
‘Will the young bloods play in the basement. Who has the rooms facing the street? I’ll know as soon as you move in. It will help me to know who is in which bedroom then I can plan better.
‘All the windows and door in (the house) allow me to watch you and track you as you move through the house.
‘I am in charge of (the house).’ The family, who have been too fearful to move into the home, are now suing the previous owners – John and Andrea Woods – on claims they knew about The Watcher and failed to disclose the information.
The lawsuit reads, in part: ‘This action arises out of Defendants’ fraudulent, avaricious, intentional and negligent concealment and misrepresentation of material facts regarding the single family dream home Plaintiffs were purchasing located at 657 Boulevard, Westfield, New Jersey (hereafter “the home”), which defendants, John Woods and Andrea Woods sold to the Plaintiffs on or about June 2, 2014 for the sum of One Million Three Hundred Fifty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Fifty-Seven ($1,355,657.00) Dollars, despite knowing the potential harm that could foreseeably befall the Plaintiffs and their three (3) minor children.’
Naming the previous owners, Chicago Title Insurance Company and even ‘The Watcher,’ the frightened family say in court filings that the previous owners received a letter from The Watcher just days before the closing.
Meanwhile, local authorities and even the town’s mayor have gotten involved. Mayor Andrew Skibitsky said at a town hall meeting Tuesday night: ‘Our police have conducted an exhaustive investigation into the threatening letters. Our police went the extra measure and left no stone unturned.’
No charges, however, have yet been filed.