Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess: The Watcher of 657 Boulevard [New Jersey]

Transcript

A Little Less Mess: The Watcher of 657 Boulevard [New Jersey] · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Well, welcome to a Little Less Mess. I'm Kara, Just Karra.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Little Less Mess. This is our Monday
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: minisode where we step off the Southern porch and travel
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: outside the South to look at some of the weirdest, creepiest,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and most baffling mysteries across the country. Today, we are
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: heading up north to the affluent, picturesque suburb of Westfield,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: New Jersey. But before we get into this week's episode,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: just a reminder that on our schedule, we have this
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: episode that comes out on Mondays where we step outside
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the South, and then Thursdays are for our regular full
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: length cases right here on the main feed, where me
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: and my husband Stu banter and go back and forth
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: and tell you a weekly case of the South. Now,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: if you want to get those episodes early in ad free,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: plus our Friday bonus show Sit and Sippin' and Bullshitting',
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: come join our Patreon family. You can also help keep
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the porch light on by visiting our buy Me a
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Coffee page to treat us to a sweet tea. Now,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: while you're at it, make sure you're following us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and YouTube to catch my dinners each night, I share
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: our weekly or our daily dinners, and I also share
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: weekly true crime documentary recommendations. And as always, the absolute
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: best freeway to support the show is to take a
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: second to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you're listening right now,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: All right, grab your coffee, let's get into it. Westfield
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: is the kind of idyllic American town people dream about
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: moving their families to. It's located about forty five minutes
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: outside New York City, consistently ranked among the safest towns
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: in the state, lined with wide, tree lined streets, historic
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: are architecture, and top tier public schools. In June of
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, Derek and Maria Broadis felt like they had
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: achieved their ultimate dream. Derek had worked his way up
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: to become a senior vice president at an insurance company,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: and Maria was raised right there in Westfield. They were
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: in their forties with three young children, ages five, eight,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and ten. They closed on a gorgeous six bedroom shingle
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: style Dutch colonial home at six five seven Boulevard for
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: one point three million dollars. The house was a local
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: landmark built in nineteen oh five, boasting over thirty eight
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: hundred square feet, grand fireplaces, and a big, welcoming front porch.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Before moving in their furniture and children, Derek and Maria
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: decided to do some basic renovations. They hired contractors to
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: paint the interior, refinished the original hardwood floors, and update
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the kitchen. Three days after closing, on a warm evening
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: in late June, Derek was at the house alone. He
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was helping painters clean up and checking on the progress.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Before locking up for the night. He walked out to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the heavy wrought iron mailbox at the foot of the driveway. Inside,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: among the standard pile of contractor flyers and junk mail
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: set a thick white envelope addressed in clunky typed block handwriting.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: It said the new owner. There was no return address.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: The postmark indicated had been processed at a regional distribution
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: facility in northern New Jersey. Thinking it was a welcome
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: card from a polite neighbor, Derek tore open the flap.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: What he read inside made his stomach drop. The letter
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: was typed on a single sheet of paper. It began
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: with an eerie, polite greeting before deceas into cold, possessive obsession.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: It read, dearest new neighbor at six five seven Boulevard,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood. Six five
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: seven Boulevard has been the subject of my family for
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: decades now, and as it approaches its one hundred and
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: tenth birthday, I've been put in charge of watching and
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: waiting for its second coming. My grandfather watched the house
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties, and my father watched in the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. It is now my time. Do you know
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the history of the house? Do you know what lies
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: within the walls of six five seven Boulevard? Why are
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you here? I will find out. As Derek kept reading,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the letter proved that whoever wrote this wasn't just guessing,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: They were actively observing the house in real time. The
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: writer noted the exact vehicles parked outside and referenced the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: remodeling crews. The letter read, I see already that you
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: have flooded six five I have seven Boulevard with contractors
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: so that you can destroy the house as it was
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: supposed to be. Tisk tisk, tisk, bad move. You don't
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: want to make six five seven Boulevard unhappy. And then
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the letter turned to their children. You have children? See
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I've seen them so far. I think there are three
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: that I have counted. Are there more on the way?
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Do you need to fill the house with the young
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: blood I requested better for me? Was your old house
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: too small for the growing family? Or was it greed?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: To bring your children to me? Once I know their names,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I will call to them and draw them to me.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: The letter ended with a chilling challenge. Who am I?
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: There are hundreds and hundreds of cars that drive by
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: six five seven Boulevard each day. Maybe I am in one.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Look at all the windows you can see from six
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: five seven Boulevard. Maybe I'm in one. Look out out
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: any of the many windows in six five seven Boulevard,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: at all the people who stroll by each day. Maybe
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: I am one. Welcome, my friends, Welcome, Let the party begin,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: signed the watcher. Derek was terrified. He turned off the
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: interior lights, locked the doors, got into his car, and
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: immediately called the police. An officer arrived, read the letter
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: and was visibly disturbed. The officer told Derek, do not
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: show this to your wife, and don't bring your kids
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: here tonight. Derek called Maria, but he couldn't hide his panic.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Soon both of them were at the police station. Detectives
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: immediately began investigating. The first stop was the previous owners,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: John and Andrea Woods, who had lived in six five
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: seven Boulevard for twenty three years and raised their children
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: there before selling to the Broadesses. When police interviewed Andrea Woods,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: she revealed something unsettling. Just a few days before closing,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: she had received a strange, handwritten note signed by someone
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: calling themselves the Watcher. But Andrea said the note was
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: peaceful and nostalgic, thanking them for taking care of the home.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: She thought it was a harmless junk mail and threw
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: it away. In twenty three years, she said they had
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: never received a single threatening piece of mail. The Broadesses
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: halted their moving plans. They kept their children in their
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: old home while contractors finished up at six five seven Boulevard.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Derek installed heavy duty security systems, motion sensors, and high
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: resolution cameras that monitored every angle of the lawn. Two
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: weeks later, the second letter arrived. This letter was exponentially
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: more terrifying. Whoever the watcher was, they had gotten closer.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: The letter proved the stalker had been close enough to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: hear conversations, identified the children's names and see through the windows.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: It read, Welcome again to your new home at six
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: five seven Boulevard. The workers have been very busy and
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I have been watching you unload carfuls of your personal belongings.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: The dumpster is a nice touch. Have they found what
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: is in the walls? Yet? In time they will? The
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: writer then listed the children's names in order of age,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: using their exact nicknames that Maria used when calling them
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: into the house. The letter continued, six five seven Boulevard
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: is anxious for you to move in. It has been
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: years and years since the young Blood ruled the hallways
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: of the house. Have you found all of the secrets
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: it holds? Will the young Blood play in the basement?
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Are they too afraid to go down there alone? I
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: would be very afraid if I were them. It is
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: far away from the rest of the house, and if
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: you were upstairs, you would never hear them scream. The
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: letter continued, noting the exact master bedroom layout. Will they
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: sleep in the attic or will you all sleep on
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the second floor? Who has the bedrooms facing the street?
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I'll know as soon as you move in. It will
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: help me know who is in which bedroom? Then I
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: can plan better all the windows and doors in six
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: five seven Boulevard. Allow me to watch you and track
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: you as you moved through the house. Who am I?
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: I am the watcher and have been in control of
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: six five seven Boulevard for the better part of two
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: decades now. At that point, Marie and Derrick made a
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: firm decision their children would never set foot in that
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: house again. Westfield Police and Union County Prosecutor's Office took
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: over the case. Detectives began looking at who could see
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the house with such precision. Right next door lived the
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Langford family. The matriarch, Peggy Langford, was in her nineties
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and her adult son, Michael Langford, lived with her. Michael
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: was in his sixties, unemployed, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and spent
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: much of his time in inside the house looking out
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the windows. Furthermore, the Langfords had owned their home since
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, which matched the Watchers claim that their
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: father watched the house in the sixties. Police brought Michael
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Langford in for interrogation. Detectives searched his home and scrutinized
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: his typewriter and handwriting, but Langford denied knowing anything about
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: the letters. Investigators found no physical evidence, no draft letters,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and no typewriter ribbon that matched the text. A third
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: letter arrived, mocking the broadesses for bringing in the police.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: It read sixty five seven Boulevard is turning on me.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: It is coming after me. I don't understand why what
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: spell did you cast on it? It used to be
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: my friend and now it is my enemy. I am
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: in charge of sixty five seven Boulevard. It is not
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: in charge of me. I will take its power back.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Desperate for answers, Derek and Maria hired their own private investorators,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: including former FBI behavioral profilers and handwriting analysts. The profiler,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Robert Lenihan, evaluated the letters and concluded that the author
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: was likely an older individual, possibly female, due to antiquated
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: phrasing like MM on the envelope, literary references in erratic pacing.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Then forensics made a breakthrough. The Union County Crime Lab
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: extracted a single strand of viable DNA from the saliva
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: under the seal flap of one of the envelopes. The
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: DNA test revealed a something shocking. The saliva belonged to
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: a woman, investigators went back to the neighborhood. They requested
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: voluntary DNA swabs from women on Boulevard, including Michael Langford's
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: sister Abbey, and several neighboring homeowners. Every single DNA sample
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: came back as a negative match. Six months after buying
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: six five seven Boulevard, Derek and Maria Broadis realized they
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: could never live there safely. The psychological toll was destroying
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: their family. Derek was suffering from severe depression and anxiety,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Maria was having panic attacks. They decided to put the
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: house back on the market. Word leaked to the local press.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: The story exploded globally, becoming a viral sensation, dubbed the Watcherhouse,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: with international news vans parked outside twenty four to seven
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: prospective buyers refused to touch the property. Desperate to cut
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: their losses, the Broadestes proposed a plan to the Westfield
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Planning Board tear down the historic home, subdivide the large
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: lot into two smaller residential parcels, and build two standard
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: family homes to sell and recover their money. The Westfield
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: community turned on them viciously at a heated public planning
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: board meeting packed with hundreds of angry neighbors. Residents accused
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Derek and Maria of destroying the historical integrity of the neighborhood.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Some neighbors openly accused the Broadesses of staging the entire
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: thing as a real estate hoax to get out of
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: a house they supposedly couldn't afford. The planning board unanimously
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: denied the request to subdivide the lot to offset their
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: mounting mortgage and property tax bills. The Broadesses found a
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: brave tenant willing to rent the house with an adult
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: family and an alert guard dog. For two years, things
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: were quiet. Then in February twenty seventeen, two and a
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: half years after the first letter, a fourth and final
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: letter arrived. The final letter was the most venomous of all,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Addressed to the vile and spiteful Derek and his wench
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: of a wife, Maria, it read, you wonder who the
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Watcher is? Turn around idiots. Maybe you even spoke to me,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: one of the so called normal peace people who have
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: no idea who the Watcher could be. Or maybe you
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: do know and are just too scared to tell anyone.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Good move. I watched as you cleared the trees and
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: destroyed the yard. Six five seven Boulevard survived. You'r a
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: tempted assault and stood strong, with its army of supporters
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: barricading its gates. My soldiers followed the orders to a
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: tea and carried out the plan without a hitch. The
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: house will never let you win. The letter hinted at
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: acts of violence and car crashes, ending with you are
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: despised by the house and the Watcher one sleep tight.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: In August of twenty nineteen five, agonizing years after buying
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: their dream home, Derek and Maria Broadus finally found a
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: buyer willing to purchase six five seven Boulevard. They sold
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the home for nine hundred and fifty nine thousand dollars,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: taking an outright loss of over four hundred thousand dollars,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: not including hundreds of thousands spent on taxes, insurance, security,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and private investigators. Derek and Maria handed the keys over
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: to the new owners, along with the note that read,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: we wish you nothing but the peace and quiet we
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: were never able to find here. The new owners moved in,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: and to this day they have never received a single letter.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: The identity of the Watcher remains officially unsolved. The Union
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: County Prosecutor's Office still holds the case open, though it
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: is considered inactive. The female DNA profile on the envelope
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: has never matched any national database or local sample. What
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: is Was it a bitter neighbor obsessed with architectural preservation.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Was it a frustrated local who wanted the house for themselves?
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Or was it someone lurking in plain side on that street,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: walking their dog every day past that front porch. We
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: may never know who was watching, but one thing is
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: for sure. Sometimes the scariest monsters aren't hiding in the woods.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: They're dropping notes. Write in your mailbox and that's it
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: for them this week. Thank you for tuning in to
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: a little less mess. Don't forget to check out our
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: regular episodes on Thursdays. Check out our Patreon, our social media,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: and as always, stay safe, lock your doors and keep
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: that porch light on. Bye everyone. Don't you know it's
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: bad to be super? Stay shots, find mapping else it's working,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: It's great learning. Say this's worry can