‘Watcher’ turns dream house into nightmare
A newspaper rests unpicked on the driveway of a home, Thursday, June 25, 2015, in Westfield, N.J. Derek and Maria Broaddus said they were scared away from their new $1.4 million home because of creepy letters from a stalker. The couple has sued the sellers for not telling them about a person with a "mentally disturbed fixation" on the house. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
ELIZABETH, N.J. >> A couple who says they were scared away from their new $1.4 million home because of creepy letters from a stalker has sued the sellers for not telling them about a person with a “mentally disturbed fixation” on the house.
Derek and Maria Broaddus said the former owners of the home in Westfield, 25 miles west of New York City, should have warned them of the person who signs the letters as “The Watcher.”
The letter writer claims to have been controlling the house for two decades and that former owners John and Andrea Woods sold it because “it was their time to move on and kindly sold it when I asked them to,” according to the lawsuit filed this month.
“Do you need to fill the house with the young blood I requested?” one letter reads, according to the suit. “Once I know their names I will call to them and draw them too (sic) me.”
The lawsuit also names an insurance company and settlement company as defendants. Officials from the companies didn’t immediately return calls for comment. Contact information for the Woods and their attorneys wasn’t immediately available.
The Broadduses says they would never have bought the house if the sellers had warned them about the letter writer. They are now attempting to re-sell the house “as they are unable to live in the home without extreme anxiety and fear for their children’s safety and wellbeing,” according to the lawsuit.
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The suit says they are having a hard time selling because of the letters. They want the former owners to refund them the purchase price and pay punitive damages.
At a township council meeting Tuesday, Westfield Mayor Andrew Skibitsky pleaded with anyone with information to call the police.
“Our police have conducted an exhaustive investigation into the threatening letters. Our police went the extra measure and left no stone unturned,” Skibitsky said, adding that no charges have been filed.
The Union County prosecutor’s office also is investigating.
“We also would urge anyone who receives correspondence of any nature that they feel is threatening to contact the police immediately,” said spokesman Mark Spivey.
