WEBVTT - Season 04 Episode 03: I See You (Rerun) 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.920 Hello, it's Richard mc lean smith here. We're Unexplained. Currently 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.560 on a break between seasons, we're taking a look back 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.760 at some of our favorite episodes. In the summer of 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:13.960 twenty fourteen, Maria and Derek Broadus were overjoyed when they 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.720 completed on their dream home, a one and a half 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:21.000 million dollar mansion in the affluent suburb of Westfield, New Jersey, 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.480 in the USA. The couple couldn't have been happier. But 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:30.880 then the letters started to arrive. Back in February twenty nineteen, 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.280 long before it became a hit Netflix show with a 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:40.720 questionable ending. This is Unexplained, Season four, Episode three, I 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:55.680 See You. We open on a pristine, tree lined avenue 0:00:56.120 --> 0:01:00.640 of some affluent North American suburb as a paperboy cycles 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:05.319 merrily along, casually tossing papers towards the grand mansion houses 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.119 that line the street. The camera pans to the left, 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:14.920 centering on one such mansion, its perfectly manicured front lawn 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:20.120 and grand facade, offering up a vision of wealthy domestic perfection. 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:26.080 But as we move in closer beyond the facade, we 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:31.520 find a very different story. In an upstairs bathroom, a 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.840 bedraggled and hair suit. Henry Morrison, early forties and in 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:40.919 casual dress, stands at the sink, staring intensely into the mirror, 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:46.920 his face covered in blood. After removing a pressed and 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.960 clean suit from a pre prepared suitcase, he steps into 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.320 the shower and washes the blood from his face before 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:59.080 shaving his beard and trimming his hair. Moments later, he 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.520 stands once again in front of the mirror, the image 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:08.560 of a calm go getting professional. Soon, the smartly dressed Henry, 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.280 now with a briefcase in his hand, is walking down 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.360 the stairs past a blood stained wall covered in happy 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:21.120 family portraits of Henry with his wife and kids. Finally, 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.800 as he steps down into a large entry hall, stopping 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.000 calmly to write a knocked over chair, we see the 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:33.360 true horror within, ignored by Henry as he makes his 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.240 way to the front door. The floor of the living 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.600 room behind is littered with the blood and bodies of 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:44.760 those same wife and children. Paying no attention to the dead, 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.079 bloodied body of a young girl clutching a teddy bear 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:52.920 in the foreground. Henry lets himself out and closes the 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:58.280 door behind him. Outside, he breaks into a whistle and 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.359 collects the paper from the lawn, then steps into the 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:13.960 quiet of the street and disappears up the road. The 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.679 opening scene of Joseph Ruben's nineteen eighty seventh film The 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.400 Stepfather is widely considered one of the most effective and 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:27.240 shocking in cinematic history. Sadly, it is also loosely based 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:32.520 on a true story. In nineteen seventy one, John List 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.880 was a well respected father of three and church going 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.960 resident in the town of Westfield in New Jersey, USA, 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.680 with a well paid job at Jersey City Bank and 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:47.240 a mansion on the hill to go with it. In 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.680 November of that year, however, unbeknownst to his family, Liszt 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.400 had been laid off and found himself heavily in debt 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.760 after surreptitiously skimming money from his elderly mother's credit card 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:05.200 to pay the bills. Liszt's reaction to his predicament, in 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.240 an all too common act perpetrated by men in similar positions, 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.200 was to murder his entire family rather than reveal to 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.919 them the truth of it all, believing the shame of 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.320 it would have been too much for them to bear. 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.240 After carefully lying the bodies down together, he made arrangements 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.240 to stop the milk and the mail, then packed a 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:35.800 bag and fled. Understandably for a small town like Westfield, 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.159 which prided itself on its reputation as one of the 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:43.200 safest towns in America, the shock of John List's crimes, 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.640 a violent reminder that all is never quite as it seems, 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:52.000 opened a chasm of horror that took many years to repair, 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.400 but as so often happens, no doubt, aided by the 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.520 old List family home being mysteriously burned down the following year, 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:07.000 the events were eventually expunged from the collective memory and 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.960 passed off as an aberration until it was as if 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:15.599 they had never happened at all, and before too long, 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.760 the illusion of pretty perfection was soon restored to the 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:26.200 small but cultured town. Forty years later, however, as the 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:32.960 summer of twenty fourteen approached, all that was about to change. 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:46.920 You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith. Located 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.960 just twenty miles west of Manhattan, the leafy town of Westfield, 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.760 described by the New York Times as west small town 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:59.279 meets urban, was first established in seventeen twenty as a 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:04.120 small village enclave of the much larger Elizabethtown, first founded 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:10.719 by English settlers in sixteen sixty four. Today, Westfield, comprised 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:14.520 roughly of thirty thousand residents, is considered among the most 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:18.600 wealthy in all of the United States, with average household 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:22.479 income coming in at just under two hundred thousand dollars 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:27.440 per annum. Chances of becoming a victim of violent crime 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.760 in the town are listed by the website neighbourhood scout 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:35.120 dot com as being one in six thousand eighty seven, 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.400 compared say, to the town of Bessemer on the outskirts 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:43.600 of Birmingham, Alabama, which the site lists as being one 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:48.760 in thirty four, all of which made it the perfect 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.640 location for Derrick and Maria Broadus, who a few years 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:57.560 previously adjoined the increasing number of affluent young families relocating 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:59.880 to the town as they looked to escape the big 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:05.839 city for a quieter life. In two thousand fourteen, now 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:10.480 with three young children in tow, they were hoping to upsize, 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.920 and after months of searching, had finally found everything they 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:20.440 were looking for. Built in nineteen o five at almost 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.560 four thousand square feet of prime real estate, six five 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:29.120 seven Boulevard was located in a neighborhood described by local paper, 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.920 The Westfield Leader as one of the most beautiful in 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:37.760 all the town. With its grand colonnaded front porch and 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.840 imposing facade, and boasting six bedrooms and three and a 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:46.880 half bathrooms, it was every inch the dream home, and 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:51.400 on June second, two thousand fourteen, after a short bidding war, 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.400 it was all theirs sold for just over one point 0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:02.400 three million dollars. Eager to move in and begin their 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:07.600 new life on Boulevard, the Broadesses immediately set about renovating 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:13.200 the property, employing construction workers to help. On June fifth, however, 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.680 Derrek Broadus was at the property alone, having decided to 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:22.920 carry out some light redecorating himself after work. It had 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.520 just gone ten p m. When Derreck finished up and 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.720 wandered out into the front porch and took a moment 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.920 in the warm summer air to enjoy the serenity of 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:37.640 his new surroundings. As he pictured himself waving neighborly helloes 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:41.239 to pass his by, and his wife and kids welcoming 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.480 him home from work. There was just one last thing 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.880 to do before heading back to the old house. Reaching 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.599 into the mail box, he found the usual bits of 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.760 junk mail and some post for the previous owner, but 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:02.960 then also something else, Julia looking letter made out to 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:10.440 the new owner, with curiously no return address. Derek examined 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.160 the thick black lettering for a moment and then opened 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:15.079 the envelope. 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.240 The letter was dated June fourth, having been written before 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.680 the sale of the house had even been made public. 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.400 Dearest new neighbor at six five seven Boulevard, it began, 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:40.160 allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood. How did 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.920 you end up here? Did six five seven call to you? 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:48.280 With its force within? The house has been the subject 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.360 of my family for decades now, and as it approaches 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.840 its one hundredth and tenth birthday, I have been put 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:59.560 in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming. 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:04.760 My grandfather watched the house in the nineteen twenties, and 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:09.360 my father in the nineteen sixties. It is now my time, 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:13.560 It continued, Do you know the history of the house? 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:18.679 Do you know what lies within the walls? Why are 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:23.840 you here? I will find out. I see already that 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.719 you have flooded it with contractors so that you can 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.120 destroy the house as it was supposed to be. You 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:34.960 don't want to make six five seven Boulevard unhappy. You 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.840 have children? I have seen them so far. I think 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.920 there are three that I have counted. Are the more 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.400 on the way. I asked the woods to bring me 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:51.480 young blood, and it looks like they listened. Was your 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.000 old house too small for the growing family? Or was 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.160 it greed to bring me your children? Once I know 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.640 their names, I will call to them and draw them 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:08.320 to me. Who am I? There are hundreds and hundreds 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:12.080 of cars that drive by the house each day. Maybe 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.600 I am in one. Look at all the windows you 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:20.160 can see from six five seven Boulevard. Maybe I am 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:24.160 in one. Look out any of the many windows and 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.760 six five seven Boulevard, at all the people who strolled 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:33.800 by each day. Maybe I am one of them. The 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.760 boulevard used to be these street to live on. You 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:43.880 made it if you lived on the boulevard. Welcome, my friends, Welcome, 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:59.480 Let the party begin, Signed the Watcher. Derek stood for 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:04.040 a moment in a complete state of shock. Then, remembering 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:08.400 where he was, looked toward the street, scanning hurriedly for 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.920 any sign of a figure lurking behind a tree or 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.760 a face at the window of the houses opposite. Seeing nothing, 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.800 he dashed straight back inside, locking the door behind him, 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.200 then switched off every light in the house before returning 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.800 to the window to check on the street as he 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:33.680 dialed nine to one one. The officer arriving soon after, 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.560 wondered aloud if Derek had any idea why anyone would 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.160 do such a thing. Did he have any enemies perhaps 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:47.280 that he was aware of. Derek couldn't think of anyone. 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:51.800 After suggesting that he moved any construction equipment inside lest 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.240 someone try to throw it through a window, the officer 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.280 could offer little else than to suggest that Derek remained 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:04.640 vigilant and to let them know if anything else occurred. 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.480 That night, as he made his way back to his family, 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.120 Derek went through all the possibilities as to what this 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:16.560 could be. A prank by kids, a disgruntled former owner, 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.559 or was it perhaps even neighbors who had missed out 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:26.120 on purchasing the place themselves. Though he hadn't wanted to 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.280 worry Maria, there would be no hiding this from her. 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.400 That night, the couple did their best to reassure themselves 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.000 that it wasn't anything to worry about, but couldn't help 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:42.840 being drawn to one line. In particular, they read it again. 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.480 I asked the Woods to bring me young blood, and 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:53.400 it looks like they listened. The Woods were the former 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.560 owners of the house. Was it possible that they were 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:09.000 already aware of this before they sold her? The couple 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:13.800 emailed John and Andrea Woods that night. The next morning, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:20.520 Andrea replied though they had experienced nothing remotely like it 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.320 in the twenty three years they had lived at the property, 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.600 she claimed. They did, however, receive a similar letter a 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:32.720 week before they sold the house to the Broadesses. The letter, 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.480 also signed off by the watcher, had made it clear 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.720 that whoever it was, was well aware that a new 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.000 family would soon be moving in, and that the watcher 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.760 believed themselves to be the true owners of six five 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:52.560 seven Boulevard. Stunned and angered by the revelation, with the 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:56.080 sale having already gone through, there was little option but 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.880 to do what they could to find the culprit and 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.760 nip the whole thing in the bud. Later that day, 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:08.440 on Maria's insistence, Andrea and John Wood drove down from 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.480 their new home in Massachusetts to accompany her to the 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:16.960 Westfield Police Department. Detective Leonard Lugo, who was assigned to 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.840 the case, offered to do whatever he could to look 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.280 into it, but, just as the officer had explained the 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:27.640 previous night, in the meantime, with little elves to go on, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.360 it was a case of doing their best to ignore 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:36.120 it and looking out for any other suspicious activity. Just 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.400 as Andrea had suggested in her earlier email, Lugo also 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.880 speculated that the culprit could well be one of their 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:54.920 new neighbors. Maria did her best not to seem too 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.360 awkward as she made small talk with the other guests, 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.320 whilst also keeping an eye on her three young children, 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.600 who were busy making the most of the spacious garden. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.560 Under any normal circumstances, receiving an invitation to a neighbor's 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.720 barbecue would have been something to celebrate, a perfect reflection 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.040 of the general sense of benevolence they had first associated 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:23.800 with the area. Now, however, despite their host's obviously good intentions, 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.400 it had become little more than an elaborate line up, 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.920 as the Broadesses found themselves treating every one with suspicion. 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:35.920 It didn't help that the family was still to move 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.080 in to the property, but it was impossible to ignore 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.920 the sense conjured up by the anonymous letter that they 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:48.440 were still very much outsiders here, something which was especially 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.280 hard for Maria, who had grown up in the town 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.920 across the other side of the garden. Derrick was on 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.240 high alert when he soon found himself talking to John 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.280 Schmidt of two doors down from six five seven, who 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:05.960 inquired if Deryck had yet to have a chance to 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.000 meet the Langforts who lived in the property between them. 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.040 As revealed in an article written by Reeves Wiederman for 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:17.680 The New Yorker magazine, the house was occupied by ninety 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.720 year old family matriarch Peggy Langford, along with a number 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.119 of her children, who were all in their sixties, one 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.800 of whom Michael, was described by Schmidt as somewhat of 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:34.520 a reclusive character. The following day, after Derreck informed Detective 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:39.160 Lugo about his conversation with Schmidt, Michael Langford was brought 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:44.320 in for questioning. However, after denying all knowledge of the letters, 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:50.200 he was promptly released. Despite letting him go, Lugo informed 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.240 the Broadesses that they were unlikely to be receiving any 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:59.160 more letters. Though by no means conclusive, the detective's assessment 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:03.080 offered some relief, and as the days went by the 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:07.479 broadesses tried to focus their energy on completing renovations so 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:11.320 they could finally move in to their new home. And 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:15.119 so it was with a cautious optimism that Maria arrived 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.119 at the house on June nineteenth to check on the 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.200 progress of the works and to pick up any mail. 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.840 But as she pulled the jumble of letters from the mailbox, 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:38.640 Maria's heart sunk. This time addressed directly to a mister 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:43.880 and missus braddus, it read, welcome again to your new 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:48.000 home at six five seven Boulevard. The workers have been 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.320 busy and I have been watching you unload castles of 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:56.240 your personal belongings. The dumpster is a nice touch. Have 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.520 they found what is in the walls? Yet? In time? 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:04.240 Will I am pleased to know your names now? And 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:06.480 the names of the young Blood you have brought to me? 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:12.280 You certainly say their names often. Having claimed to have 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:14.760 seen one of the daughters using an easel on the 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:19.159 back porch, the watcher asked, is she the artist in 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:23.320 the family? It has been years and years since the 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:27.399 young Blood ruled the hallways of the house. Have you 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:31.480 found all of the secrets it holds? Yet? Will the 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:34.480 young Blood play in the basement or are they too 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.800 afraid to go down there alone? I would be very 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.600 afraid if I were them. It is far away from 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:46.280 the rest of the house. If you were upstairs, you 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:50.919 would never hear them scream. Who has the bedrooms facing 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.840 the street? I'll know as soon as you move in. 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:58.240 It will help me to know who is in which bedroom. 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:03.840 Then I can plan better. Who am I? I am 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.320 the Watcher and have been in control of six five 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:11.120 seven Boulevard for the better part of two decades. Now 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.520 the Woods family turned it over to you. It was 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.360 their time to move on and kindly sold it when 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.720 I asked them to. I passed by many times a day. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:29.800 Six five seven Boulevard is my job, my life, my obsession, 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:37.359 and now you are too. Bradha's family, Welcome to the 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.720 product of your greed. Greed is what brought the past 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.159 three families to six five seven Boulevard, and now it 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:50.240 has brought you to me. Have a happy moving in day. 0:20:51.240 --> 0:21:02.119 You know I will be watching. The following day, Derrick 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.359 and Maria led Detective Lugo through to the back porch 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.560 and pointed out the easel that was still set up there. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:14.080 Lugo looked out to the garden beyond, searching for any 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:18.840 clear sight lines from the neighboring properties, since no one 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:22.399 could have seen their daughter painting from the street, either 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:25.720 the watcher lived directly next door or behind the house, 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.800 or they had walked up off the street and observed 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:37.240 her while hiding in the garden. Once again, however, Lugo 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:41.160 had nothing but circumstantial evidence to go on, and though 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:43.800 they had by then established that the letters were being 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:47.679 rooted through a northern New Jersey distribution center, there was 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:51.040 no way to pinpoint the culprit through the letters alone. 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:56.560 Frustrated by the police response, the Broadesses took matters into 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:01.880 their own hands. Webcams were installed and diagrams drawn up 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:05.280 outlining which of their neighbors could possibly have seen or 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:10.719 heard the various incidences referred to in the letters. Some nights, 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.280 Derrick would just sit alone in the house, surveying the 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:20.760 street for any sign of the enigmatic watcher. On July eighteenth, 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:27.200 a third letter arrived six five seven Boulevard is turning 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.440 on me. It is coming after me. I don't understand 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:36.320 why what spell did you cast on it? It used 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:38.639 to be my friend, and now it is my enemy. 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.320 I am in charge of six five seven Boulevard. It 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:47.480 is not in charge of me. I will be patient 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:51.119 and wait for this to pass and for you to 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:55.200 bring the young blood back to me. Six five seven 0:22:55.200 --> 0:23:01.840 Boulevard needs young blood, It needs you back. Let the 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:05.399 young blood play again like I once did. Let the 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:10.399 young blood sleep in six five seven Boulevard. Stop changing 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:14.000 it and let it alone. It cries for the past 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.119 and what used to be in the time when I 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:20.160 roamed its halls. The nineteen sixties were a good time 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.400 for six five seven Boulevard, when I ran from room 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:26.960 to room, imagining the life with the rich occupants there. 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:32.480 The house was full of life and young blood. Then 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:36.320 it got old, and so did my father. But he 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:40.480 kept watching until the day he died. And now I 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:44.159 watch and wait for the day when the young blood 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:55.480 will be mine again. With the arrival of the third letter, 0:23:56.160 --> 0:23:58.399 it was clear that the Watcher was not about to 0:23:58.440 --> 0:24:02.520 go quietly, so the Broadesses decided it was time to 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:06.880 take their investigation to the next level. They began by 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:11.560 hiring a former FBI agent to analyze the letters. Though 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:15.440 such an approach is by no means concrete, their assessment 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:20.200 presented two intriguing notions, one that the writer was more 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:24.160 likely to be female or at least not aggressively masculine 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:28.000 due to the general inoffensiveness of the language, and the 0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:31.760 other being that they were not merely a prankster, but 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:35.400 someone with a genuine sense of resentment toward the new owners. 0:24:36.640 --> 0:24:41.120 A private detective was also hired, but proved ultimately ineffective, 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:45.439 and all the while, the couple found themselves in an 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:51.520 increasingly precarious position. Having already sold their current home, they 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:54.800 had to decide whether to bite the literary bullet and 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.880 move in to their new home or seek alternative accommodation. 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:04.120 In the end, being too afraid to risk their children's 0:25:04.160 --> 0:25:07.480 safety and crippled by the pressure of keeping the truth 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:11.840 about the letters from their neighbours, they decided eventually to 0:25:11.880 --> 0:25:15.080 forego the switch to six five seven and moved in 0:25:15.320 --> 0:25:21.200 with Maria's parents instead. In early December, having run out 0:25:21.240 --> 0:25:25.320 of leeds, Detective Lgo informed them that the police were 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:30.679 ending their investigation by the end of the year. Seeing 0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:34.239 no other option, the couple made up their minds to 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:38.479 sell the house and be done with it all. In 0:25:38.520 --> 0:25:43.200 February two thousand fifteen sixty five, seven Boulevard was put 0:25:43.240 --> 0:25:46.359 back on the market for an asking price just short 0:25:46.400 --> 0:25:50.440 of one point five million dollars, over one hundred thousand 0:25:50.520 --> 0:25:54.320 more than the Broadesses had originally bought it, taking into 0:25:54.359 --> 0:25:59.000 account the recent renovations. Having felt lied to in the 0:25:59.040 --> 0:26:03.280 original sale, the couple also decided to be completely open 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:08.520 about the sinister letters to any prospective buyers. Only there 0:26:08.560 --> 0:26:13.359 was one problem. Rumors about the letters had already begun 0:26:13.480 --> 0:26:18.320 to circulate. Within three months, the couple had dropped the 0:26:18.359 --> 0:26:21.879 asking price by a quarter of a million dollars, but 0:26:22.040 --> 0:26:25.840 it was to no avail. In the end, there was 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:29.720 no need to disclose the letters because nobody made an 0:26:29.720 --> 0:26:35.720 offer and the house was taken off the market. Having 0:26:35.760 --> 0:26:39.520 continued to make mortgage payments, not to mention spending thousands 0:26:39.560 --> 0:26:42.720 of pounds on property taxes for a house they didn't want, 0:26:43.920 --> 0:26:48.840 the couple reached their last resort in June two thousand fifteen. 0:26:49.560 --> 0:26:52.919 They filed a legal complaint against the former owners for 0:26:53.000 --> 0:27:04.640 failure to disclose their awareness of the watcher. Since all 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:08.040 such legal disputes become a matter of public record once 0:27:08.080 --> 0:27:11.920 they are filed, it wasn't long before the extraordinary story 0:27:12.119 --> 0:27:15.320 of the Westfield Watcher was picked up by the press 0:27:15.880 --> 0:27:20.960 and soon after became international news as the Broadesses and 0:27:21.080 --> 0:27:24.879 Woods prepared to battle it out in court. The sudden 0:27:24.920 --> 0:27:28.159 spotlight on the picturesque town and the sinister goings on 0:27:28.440 --> 0:27:33.480 concerning six five seven Boulevard left many residents feeling exposed 0:27:33.960 --> 0:27:37.159 and the local police scrambling to explain why they hadn't 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:43.240 caught the suspect. Yet another, detective, Baron Chamberliss, was promptly 0:27:43.240 --> 0:27:47.400 assigned to look into it again. When a DNA sample 0:27:47.520 --> 0:27:51.520 taken from the envelopes was found to be from a female, 0:27:51.560 --> 0:27:55.560 he turned his attention to Abbey Langford, the Broadess's neighbour 0:27:56.000 --> 0:28:01.720 and sister of Michael Langford. One afternoon Joon, after instruction 0:28:01.920 --> 0:28:05.920 from Detective Chamberlas, a security guard at the local department 0:28:05.960 --> 0:28:10.359 store where Langford worked, waited for the perfect moment before 0:28:10.400 --> 0:28:13.840 secretly confiscating a plastic water bottle she had been using. 0:28:15.200 --> 0:28:18.359 The bottle was in turn tested for DNA, but the 0:28:18.440 --> 0:28:25.199 result wasn't a match. The investigation was back to square one, 0:28:25.480 --> 0:28:31.359 and soon another theory was beginning to emerge. For those 0:28:31.359 --> 0:28:35.120 who aren't familiar with the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, 0:28:35.560 --> 0:28:40.440 directed by Laura Richardi and Moira de Moss, It details 0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:43.440 the trial of two men whom many believe may have 0:28:43.480 --> 0:28:48.320 been wrongfully convicted of murder. Watching as the story progressed 0:28:48.840 --> 0:28:53.680 and the prosecution's case became increasingly problematic, what struck me 0:28:53.760 --> 0:28:58.280 as particularly interesting, almost more than the possible injustice of 0:28:58.320 --> 0:29:01.920 it all, was the forerocity with which many members of 0:29:01.960 --> 0:29:05.400 the local community refused to accept that there was any 0:29:05.480 --> 0:29:10.000 doubt to the guilty verdict. It is a strangely common reaction, 0:29:10.840 --> 0:29:14.320 this compulsion for a community to come together and, in 0:29:14.360 --> 0:29:18.000 the absence of any clear truth, commit to some kind 0:29:18.080 --> 0:29:22.400 of closure, whatever the cost, be it by finding a 0:29:22.400 --> 0:29:26.960 hapless scapegoat who best fits the profile, or by denying 0:29:27.280 --> 0:29:29.800 that a crime was even committed in the first place. 0:29:31.240 --> 0:29:34.200 It is almost as though the continuation of the illusion 0:29:34.800 --> 0:29:38.600 that nothing bad could ever happen, or at the very least, 0:29:39.040 --> 0:29:42.680 finding a way to neutralize that bad thing, is more 0:29:42.720 --> 0:29:47.240 important than getting to the real truth of the crime, or, 0:29:47.280 --> 0:29:50.120 in the case of making a murderer, for many in 0:29:50.160 --> 0:29:53.920 the local community, having somebody locked up for the crime 0:29:54.480 --> 0:29:57.520 and being able to move on from it appeared to 0:29:57.560 --> 0:30:01.360 take precedence over whether the accused were innocent or not. 0:30:02.840 --> 0:30:06.440 In the case of the Westfield Watcher, no doubt scarred 0:30:06.480 --> 0:30:09.960 by the not two distant crimes of John List the 0:30:10.000 --> 0:30:14.920 community prompted for the latter, Driven by concern for house 0:30:14.960 --> 0:30:19.840