WEBVTT - S04 Episode 3: I See You 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.080 We open on a pristine, tree lined avenue of some 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:19.160 affluent North American suburb as a paper boy cycles merrily along, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.479 casually tossing papers towards the grand mansion houses that line 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:28.600 the street. The camera pans to the left, centering on 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:34.400 one such mansion. It's perfectly manicured front lawn and grand facade, 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:39.720 offering up a vision of wealthy domestic perfection. But as 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:44.320 we move in closer beyond the facade, we find a 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:49.879 very different story. In an upstairs bathroom of a draggled 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:54.440 and hairsuit, Henry Morrison, early forties and in casual dress, 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.760 stands at the sink, staring intensely into the mirror, his 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:05.160 face covered in blood. After removing a pressed and cleaned 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.760 suit from a pre prepared suitcase, he steps into the 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:12.480 shower and washes the blood from his face before shaving 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:17.280 his beard and trimming his hair. Moments later, he stands 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.560 once again in front of the mirror, the image of 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:26.279 a calm go getting professional. Soon, the smartly dressed Henry, 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.040 now with a briefcase in his hand, is walking down 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:34.080 the stairs, pasted a blood stained wall covered in happy 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:38.800 family portraits of Henry with his wife and kids, Finally, 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.520 as he steps down into a large entry hall, stopping 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.760 calmly to right and knocked over chair, we see the 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:51.120 true horror within, ignored by Henry as he makes his 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.000 way to the front door. The floor of the living 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:57.320 room behind is littered with the blood and bodies of 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:02.520 those same wife and children, paying no attention to the dead, 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.840 bloodied body of a young girl clutching a teddy bear 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:10.640 in the foreground. Henry lets himself out and closes the 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:15.960 door behind him. Outside he breaks into a whistle and 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.079 collects the paper from the lawn, then steps into the 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:31.640 quiet of the street and disappears up the road. The 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.400 opening scene of Joseph Ruben's nineteen eighty seventh film The 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.120 Stepfather is widely considered one of the most effective and 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:44.960 shocking in cinematic history. Sadly, it is also loosely based 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:50.160 on a true story. In nineteen seventy one, John Liszt 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.120 was a well respected father of three and churchgoing resident 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.320 in the town of Westfield in New Jersey, USA, with 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.040 a well paid job at City Bank and a mansion 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.600 on the hill to go with it. In November of 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.840 that year, however, unbeknownst to his family, List had been 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:14.560 laid off and found himself heavily in debt after surreptitiously 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.119 skimming money from his elderly mother's credit card to pay 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:23.359 the bills. Liszt's reaction to his predicament, in an all 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.840 too common act perpetrated by men in similar positions, was 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.280 to murder his entire family rather than revealed to them 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.080 the truth of it all, believing the shame of it 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:39.200 would have been too much for them to bear. After 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:43.080 carefully lying the bodies down together, he made arrangements to 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.400 stop the milk and the mail, then packed a bag 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:54.400 and fled. Understandably for a small town like Westfield, which 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.400 prided itself on its reputation as one of the safest 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.800 towns in America, the shock of John lists crimes a 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.400 violent reminder that all is never quite as it seems, 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.720 opened a chasm of horror that took many years to repair, 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.120 but as so often happens, no doubt, aided by the 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:19.280 old Liszt family home being mysteriously burned down the following year. 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.680 The events were eventually expunged from the collective memory and 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:28.720 passed off as an aberration until it was as if 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:33.320 they had never happened at all, and before too long, 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.479 the illusion of pretty perfection was soon restored to the 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:43.960 small but cultured town. Forty years later, however, as the 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:48.960 summer of two and fourteen approached, all that was about 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:55.880 to change. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McClane Smith. 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.960 Located just twenty miles west of Manhattan, the leafy town 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.840 of Westfield, described by the New York Times as wheret 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:16.359 small town meets urban, was first established in seventeen twenty 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.560 as a small village enclave of the much larger Elizabethtown, 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:27.720 first founded by English settlers in sixteen sixty four. Today, Westfield, 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.960 comprised roughly of thirty thousand residents, is considered among the 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.839 most wealthy in all of the United States, with average 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.760 household income coming in at just under two hundred thousand 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:44.760 dollars per annum. Chances of becoming a victim of violent 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.120 crime in the town are listed by the website neighborhood 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:52.080 scout dot com as being one in six thousand and 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.320 eighty seven, compared say, to the town of Bessemer on 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.720 the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama, which the site lists as 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:05.919 being one in thirty four, all of which made it 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.839 the perfect location for Derrick and Maria Broadus, who a 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.240 few years previously had joined the increasing number of affluent 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:17.000 young families relocating to the town as they looked to 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:21.800 escape the big city for a quieter life. In two 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.360 thousand and fourteen, now with three younger children in tow, 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:30.200 they were hoping to upsize, and after months of searching, 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:36.279 had finally found everything they were looking for. Built in 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.919 nineteen o five, at almost four thousand square feet of 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:44.560 prime real estate, six to five seven Boulevard was located 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.280 in a neighborhood described by local paper The Westfield Leader 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.880 as one of the most beautiful in all the town. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:57.520 With its grand colonnaded front porch and imposing facade, and 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:01.280 boasting six bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, it 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:05.640 was every inch the dream home, and on June second, 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.040 two thousand and fourteen, after a short bidding war, it 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:14.400 was all theirs sold for just over one point three 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:20.360 million dollars. Eager to move in and begin their new 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:25.960 life on Boulevard, the Broadesses immediately set about renovating the property, 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:31.840 employing construction workers to help. On June fifth, however, Derek 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.720 broadus was at the property alone, having decided to carry 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:40.800 out some light redecorating himself after work. It had just 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:45.000 gone ten pm when Derek finished up and wandered out 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.720 into the front porch and took a moment in the 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.040 warm summer air to enjoy the serenity of his new 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:56.920 surroundings as he pictured himself waving neighborly helloes to passers by, 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.360 and his wife and kids welcoming him home from work. 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.680 There was just one last thing to do before heading 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:09.200 back to the old house. Reaching into the mailbox, he 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.320 found the usual bits of junk mail and some post 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:17.560 for the previous owner, but then also something else, a 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:22.480 peculiar looking letter made out to the new owner, with 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:29.200 curiously no return address. Derek examined the thick black lettering 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:41.280 for a moment and then opened the envelope. The letter 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.439 was dated June fourth, having been written before the sale 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.800 of the house had even been made public. Dearest new 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:54.560 neighbor at six five seven Boulevard, it began, allow me 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:58.240 to welcome you to the neighborhood. How did you end 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:02.040 up here? Did six five seven call to you with 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:06.160 its force within the house has been the subject of 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:10.319 my family for decades now, and as it approaches it's 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.720 a hundredth and tenth birthday, I have been put in 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:19.200 charge of watching and waiting for its second coming. My 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.680 grandfather watched the house in the nineteen twenties, and my 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.120 father in the nineteen sixties. It is now my time, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.280 it continued. Do you know the history of the house? 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:36.400 Do you know what lies within the walls? Why are 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:41.600 you here? I will find out. I see already that 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.480 you have flooded it with contractors so that you can 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.880 destroy the house as it was supposed to be. You 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:52.720 don't want to make six five seven Boulevard unhappy. You 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:57.600 have children. I have seen them so far. I think 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.640 there are three that I have counted. Are there more 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.160 on the way? I asked the woods to bring me 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:09.240 young blood, and it looks like they listened. Was your 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.720 old house too small for the growing family? Or was 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:16.920 it agreed to bring me your children? Once I know 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.360 their names, I will call to them and draw them 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:26.040 to me. Who am I? There are hundreds and hundreds 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.840 of cars that drive by the house each day. Maybe 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.320 I am in one. Look at all the windows you 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:37.679 can see from six to five seven Boulevard. Maybe I 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:41.800 am in one look out any of the many windows 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.040 and six five seven Boulevard at all the people who 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:51.400 strolled by each day, Maybe I am one of them. 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.040 The boulevard used to be the street to live on. 0:10:55.400 --> 0:11:01.600 You made it if you lived on the boulevard. Welcome, friends, Welcome, 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:17.240 Let the party begin, signed the watcher. Derek stood for 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:21.800 a moment in a complete state of shock, then, remembering 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:26.079 where he was, looked toward the street, scanning hurriedly for 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.640 any sign of a figure lurking behind a tree or 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:34.520 a face at the window of the houses opposite. Seeing nothing, 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.720 he dashed straight back inside, locking the door behind him, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.960 then switched off every light in the house, before returning 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.520 to the window to check on the street as he 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:52.760 dialed nine one. The officer arriving soon after, wandered aloud 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.800 if Derek had any idea why anyone would do such 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.360 a thing. Did he have any enemies, perhaps that he 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:06.000 was aware thereof. Derek couldn't think of anyone. After suggesting 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:10.200 that he moved any construction equipment inside lest someone tried 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.440 to throw it through a window, the officer could offer 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.600 a little else than to suggest that Derek remained vigilant 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:22.920 and to let them know if anything else occurred. That night, 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.440 as he made his way back to his family, Derek 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.360 went through all the possibilities as to what this could be. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:35.680 A prank by kids, a disgruntled former owner, or was 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:39.040 it perhaps even neighbors who had missed out on purchasing 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:45.120 the place themselves. Though he hadn't wanted to worry Maria, 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.200 there would be no hiding this from her. That night, 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.440 the couple did their best to reassure themselves that it 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.319 wasn't anything to worry about, but couldn't help being drawn 0:12:56.440 --> 0:13:02.760 to one line in particular. They read it again. I 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.440 asked the Woods to bring me young blood, and it 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:11.559 looks like they listened. The Woods were the former owners 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:15.720 of the house. Was it possible that they were already 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:27.240 aware of this before they sold it? The couple emailed 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:32.920 John and Andrea Woods that night. The next morning, Andrea 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:38.680 replied though they had experienced nothing remotely like it in 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.080 the twenty three years they had lived at the property, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:45.280 she claimed. They did, however, receive a similar letter a 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:50.439 week before they sold the house to the Broadestes. The letter, 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.199 also signed off by the watcher, had made it clear 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.439 that whoever it was was well aware that a new 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.760 family would soon be moving in and that the watcher 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.480 believed themselves to be the true owners of six five 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:10.280 seven Boulevard. Stunned and angered by the revelation, with the 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.800 sale having already gone through, there was little option but 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.600 to do what they could to find the culprit and 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:21.520 nip the whole thing in the bud. Later that day, 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.160 on Maria's insistence, Andrea and John Wood drove down from 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.200 their new home in Massachusetts to accompany her to the 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:34.720 Westfield Police Department. Detective Leonard Lugo, who was assigned to 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.560 the case, offered to do whatever he could to look 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:41.000 into it, but, just as the officer had explained the 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:45.360 previous night, in the meantime, with little else to go on, 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.120 it was a case of doing their best to ignore 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:53.720 it and looking out for any other suspicious activity. Just 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:58.120 as Andrea had suggested in her earlier email, Lugo also 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.600 speculated that the culprit could well be one of their 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:12.680 new neighbors. Maria did her best not to seem too 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.640 awkward as she made small talk with the other guests, 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.000 whilst also keeping an eye on her three young children, 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.320 who were busy making the most of the spacious garden. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:28.240 Under any normal circumstances, receiving an invitation to a neighbor's 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.520 barbecue would have been something to celebrate, a perfect reflection 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.800 of the general sense of benevolence they had first associated 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:41.480 with the area. Now, however, despite their host's obviously good intentions, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.760 it had become little more than an elaborate lineup, as 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:51.800 the broadestes found themselves treating everyone with suspicion. It didn't 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:55.120 help that the family was still to move into the property, 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:58.360 but it was impossible to ignore the sense conjured up 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.880 by the anonymous letter that they were still very much 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:07.800 outsiders here, something which was especially hard for Maria, who 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.680 had grown up in the town across the other side 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:15.000 of the garden. Deryck was on high alert when he 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.640 soon found himself talking to John Schmidt of two doors 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.320 down from six five seven, who inquired if Deryck had 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.880 yet to have a chance to meet the Langfords who 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:29.440 lived in the property between them. As revealed in an 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:33.119 article written by Reeves Weedermam for the New Yorker magazine, 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.880 the house was occupied by ninety year old family matriarch 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.480 Peggy Langford, along with a number of her children, who 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:44.480 were all in their sixties, one of whom Michael, was 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:49.320 described by Schmidt as somewhat of a reclusive character. The 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:54.080 following day, after Derrick informed Detective Lugo about his conversation 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:59.360 with Schmidt, Michael Langford was brought in for questioning. However, 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.480 after denying or knowledge of the letters, he was promptly released. 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.159 Despite letting him go, Lugo informed the Broadestes that they 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:13.800 were unlikely to be receiving any more letters. Though by 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:18.800 no means conclusive, the detective's assessment offered some relief, and 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.280 as the days went by, the Broadestes tried to focus 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.200 their energy on completing renovations so they could finally move 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.800 in to their new home. And so it was with 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.520 a cautious optimism that Maria arrived at the house on 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.000 June nineteenth to check on the progress of the works 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:41.600 and to pick up any mail. But as she pulled 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:46.200 the jumble of letters from the mailbox, Maria's heart sunk. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.560 Are you always taking care of your family? Do you 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.720 often take care of others and not yourself? Now it's 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.240 time to take care of yourself, To make time for you. 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.680 You deserve it. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.560 therapist to help you get back to feeling your best, 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.800 to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.600 to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.240 are available seven days a week from seven a m. 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:20.359 To nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed sometimes 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:25.000 maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:27.679 you might be struggling with a personal or family issue, 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:33.440 teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.240 so they make it easy to change counselors if needed. 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:41.399 For free. Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.639 Download the app or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:51.880 Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's tela DC dot 0:18:51.880 --> 0:19:01.440 com slash Unexplained podcast. This time I am addressed directly 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:06.600 to a mister and missus Braddyth. It read welcome again 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.560 to your new home at six five seven Boulevard. The 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.359 workers have been busy and I have been watching you 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.800 unload castles of your personal belongings. The dumpster is a 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.040 nice touch. Have they found what is in the walls, 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:26.199 Yet in time they will. I am pleased to know 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.040 your names now, and the names of the young blood 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:33.280 you have brought to me. You certainly say their names often. 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.320 Having claimed to have seen one of the daughters using 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:41.679 an easel on the back porch, the Watcher asked, is 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.800 she the artist in the family? It has been years 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.439 and years since the young blood ruled the hallways of 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.880 the house. Have you found all of the secrets it holds? Yet? 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.440 Will the young blood play in the basement or are 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.760 they too afraid to go down there alone? I would 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:05.320 be very afraid if I were them. It is far 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.120 away from the rest of the house. If you were upstairs, 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:13.960 you would never hear them scream. Who has the bedrooms 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:17.320 facing the street? I'll know as soon as you move in. 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.520 It will help me to know who is in which bedroom. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:27.240 Then I can plan better. Who am I? I am 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.680 the Watcher and have been in control of six five 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.480 seven Boulevard for the better part of two decades. Now. 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.919 The Woods family turned it over to you. It was 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.760 their time to move on and kindly sold it when 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:46.080 I asked them to. I passed by many times a day. 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:53.159 Six five seven Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession, 0:20:55.359 --> 0:21:00.720 and now you are too. Bradas's family, Welcome to the 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:05.080 product of your greed. Greed is what brought the past 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.520 three families to six five seven Boulevard, and now it 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:13.640 has brought you to me. Have a happy moving in day. 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:25.480 You know I will be watching. The following day, Derek 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.720 and Maria led Detective Lugo through to the back porch 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:31.960 and pointed out the easel that was still set up there. 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.480 Lugo looked out to the garden beyond, searching for any 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:42.240 clear sight lines from the neighboring properties, since no one 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:45.760 could have seen their daughter painting from the street, either 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:49.080 the watcher lived directly next door or behind the house, 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.200 or they had walked up off the street and observed 0:21:53.200 --> 0:22:00.639 her while hiding in the garden. Once again, however, Lugo 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.560 had nothing but circumstantial evidence to go on, and though 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.200 they had by then established that the letters were being 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:11.040 rooted through a northern New Jersey distribution center, there was 0:22:11.080 --> 0:22:14.760 no way to pinpoint the culprit through the letters alone. 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:19.920 Frustrated by the police response, the Broadestis took matters into 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:25.240 their own hands. Webcams were installed and diagrams drawn up 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.639 outlining which of their neighbors could possibly have seen or 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:34.040 heard the various incidences referred to in the letters. Some nights, 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.679 Deryck would just sit alone in the house, surveying the 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:44.840 street of any sign of the enigmatic Watcher. On July eighteenth, 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:50.600 a third letter arrived. Six five seven Boulevard is turning 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:55.120 on me. It is coming after me. I don't understand why. 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.720 What spell did you cast on it? It used to 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:03.639 be my friend, and now it is my enemy. I 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:06.919 am in charge of six five seven Boulevard. It is 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:11.439 not in charge of me. I will be patient and 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.760 wait for this to pass and for you to bring 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:19.159 the young blood back to me. Six five seven Boulevard 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:25.240 needs young blood. It needs you come back. Let the 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:28.800 young blood play again like I once did. Let the 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:33.800 young blood sleep in sixty five seven Boulevard. Stop changing 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:37.359 it and let it alone. It cries for the past 0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:39.600 and what used to be in the time when I 0:23:39.720 --> 0:23:43.520 roamed its halls. The nineteen sixties were a good time 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:46.760 for six five seven Boulevard, when I ran from room 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:50.360 to room imagining the life with the rich occupants there. 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:55.840 The house was full of life and young blood. Then 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.679 it got old, and so did my father. But he 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:03.879 kept watching until the day he died. And now I 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:07.560 watch and wait for the day when the young blood 0:24:08.080 --> 0:24:18.879 will be mine again. With the arrival of the third letter, 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:21.800 it was clear that the watcher was not about to 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:25.879 go quietly, so the Broadestes decided it was time to 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:30.239 take their investigation to the next level. They began by 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:34.960 hiring a former FBI agent to analyze the letters. Though 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.840 such an approach is by no means concrete, their assessment 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:43.600 presented two intriguing notions, one that the writer was more 0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:47.520 likely to be female or at least not aggressively masculine, 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:51.359 due to the general inoffensiveness of the language, and the 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:55.119 other being that they were not merely a prankster, but 0:24:55.280 --> 0:24:58.760 someone with a genuine sense of resentment toward the new owners. 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:04.520 A private detective was also hired, but proved ultimately ineffective, 0:25:05.600 --> 0:25:08.840 and all the while, the couple found themselves in an 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:14.920 increasingly precarious position. Having already sold their current home, they 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:18.159 had to decide whether to bite the literary bullet and 0:25:18.320 --> 0:25:22.320 move in to their new home or seek alternative accommodation. 0:25:24.600 --> 0:25:27.960 In the end, being too afraid to risk their children's safety, 0:25:28.560 --> 0:25:31.200 and crippled by the pressure of keeping the truth about 0:25:31.240 --> 0:25:35.600 the letters from their neighbors, they decided eventually to forego 0:25:35.720 --> 0:25:38.880 the switch to six five seven and moved in with 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:45.119 Maria's parents instead. In early December, having run out of leads, 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:49.400 Detective Lugo informed them that the police were ending their 0:25:49.440 --> 0:25:54.960 investigation by the end of the year. Seeing no other option, 0:25:55.920 --> 0:25:58.320 the couple made up their minds to sell the house 0:25:58.960 --> 0:26:02.959 and be done with it all. In February two thousand 0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:06.840 and fifteen, six to five seven Boulevard was put back 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:09.840 on the market for an asking price just short of 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:14.160 one point five million dollars, over a hundred thousand more 0:26:14.320 --> 0:26:18.160 than the broadestes had originally bought it, taking into account 0:26:18.240 --> 0:26:23.359 the recent renovations. Having felt lied to in the original sale, 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:27.359 the couple also decided to be completely open about the 0:26:27.400 --> 0:26:34.359 sinister letters to any prospective buyers. Only there was one problem. 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:39.320 Rumors about the letters had already begun to circulate. Within 0:26:39.440 --> 0:26:42.760 three months, the couple had dropped the asking price by 0:26:42.840 --> 0:26:46.000 a quarter of a million dollars, but it was to 0:26:46.040 --> 0:26:49.840 no avail. In the end, there was no need to 0:26:49.880 --> 0:26:54.679 disclose the letters because nobody made an offer and the 0:26:54.760 --> 0:26:59.880 house was taken off the market. Having continued to make 0:27:00.000 --> 0:27:03.480 mortgage payments, not to mention spending thousands of pounds and 0:27:03.560 --> 0:27:07.760 property taxes for a house they didn't want. The couple 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:13.399 reached their last resort in June twenty fifteen. They filed 0:27:13.400 --> 0:27:16.919 a legal complaint against the former owners for failure to 0:27:16.920 --> 0:27:28.680 disclose their awareness of the watcher. Since all such legal 0:27:28.720 --> 0:27:32.160 disputes become a matter of public record once they are filed, 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:36.320 it wasn't long before the extraordinary story of the Westfield 0:27:36.400 --> 0:27:40.040 Watcher was picked up by the press and soon after 0:27:40.119 --> 0:27:45.560 became international news as the Broadesses and Woods prepared to 0:27:45.560 --> 0:27:49.080 battle it out in court. The sudden spotlight on the 0:27:49.119 --> 0:27:52.880 picturesque town and the sinister goings on concerning six five 0:27:52.960 --> 0:27:57.960 seven Boulevard left many residents feeling exposed, and the local 0:27:58.000 --> 0:28:04.359 police scrambling to explain they hadn't caught the suspect yet another, detective, 0:28:04.600 --> 0:28:08.200 Baron Chambliss, was promptly assigned to look into it again. 0:28:09.520 --> 0:28:13.040 When a DNA sample taken from the envelopes was found 0:28:13.040 --> 0:28:16.240 to be from a female, he turned his attention to 0:28:16.359 --> 0:28:21.400 Abbey Langford, the Broadest's neighbor and sister of Michael Langford. 0:28:22.800 --> 0:28:28.240 One afternoon, after instruction from Detective Chambliss, a security guard 0:28:28.240 --> 0:28:32.119 at the local department store where Langford worked waited for 0:28:32.160 --> 0:28:36.280 the perfect moment before secretly confiscating a plastic water bottle 0:28:36.359 --> 0:28:40.160 she had been using. The bottle was in turn tested 0:28:40.160 --> 0:28:46.280 for DNA, but the result wasn't a match. The investigation 0:28:46.600 --> 0:28:51.200 was back to square one, and soon another theory was 0:28:51.240 --> 0:28:55.920 beginning to emerge. For those who aren't familiar with the 0:28:55.960 --> 0:29:01.000 Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, directed by Laura Richardi and 0:29:01.160 --> 0:29:05.480 Moira Demos, it details the trial of two men who 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:10.400 many believe may have been wrongfully convicted of murder. Watching 0:29:10.400 --> 0:29:15.480 as the story progressed and the prosecution's case became increasingly problematic, 0:29:16.320 --> 0:29:20.440 what struck me as particularly interesting, almost more than the 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:24.360 possible injustice of it all, was the ferocity with which 0:29:24.440 --> 0:29:28.160 many members of the local community refused to accept that 0:29:28.240 --> 0:29:31.880 there was any doubt to the guilty verdict. It is 0:29:31.880 --> 0:29:36.240 a strangely common reaction, this compulsion for a community to 0:29:36.320 --> 0:29:39.480 come together and, in the absence of any clear truth, 0:29:39.960 --> 0:29:44.720 commit to some kind of closure, whatever the cost be 0:29:44.880 --> 0:29:47.760 it by finding a hapless scapegoat who best fits the 0:29:47.800 --> 0:29:52.240 profile or by denying that a crime was even committed 0:29:52.280 --> 0:29:55.800 in the first place. It is almost as though the 0:29:55.880 --> 0:29:59.880 continuation of the illusion that nothing bad could ever happen, 0:30:00.920 --> 0:30:04.000 or at the very least finding a way to neutralize 0:30:04.000 --> 0:30:07.640 that bad thing, is more important than getting to the 0:30:07.680 --> 0:30:11.320 real truth of the crime, or, in the case of 0:30:11.360 --> 0:30:15.640 making a murderer. For many in the local community, having 0:30:15.680 --> 0:30:18.760