Where's the Westfield 'Watcher'?
The Westfield Watcher, who remains unknown, sent threatening letters to one family after they bought their dream home, and if he/she exists at all, has a grip on our imaginations.
Hyperlocal reporters Lauren Barr and Jackie Lieberman have been on it from Day 1.
"There's a lot of speculation, there are a lot of armchair detectives," said Jackie Lieberman of TapInto Westfield, "All over Westfield, this is what people are talking about who wrote the letters? Who's The Watcher?"
What letters frightened a young family, the Broadduses, into filing suit after scrambling in fear from the home they’ve only just bought.
That home 657 Boulevard sits silent as do local officials, such as Westfield Police, except for one confirmation.
"All he would tell me is that they have three letters, they're the letters that were sent to the family after the closing to the new owners. I didn't get much else out of him," Lieberman said.
So police say the letters are real the ones the Broadduses received from a "Watcher" that refers their children as "young bloods" to things "in the walls" of the house to the rooms the children sleep in.
But the most important letter the one the sellers of the house allegedly got from the same "Watcher" and didn't disclose. According to the lawsuit, there's no sign of it.
The only hint of that letter's existence actually comes from the lawsuit, which uses quotes from the known "Watcher" letters as indication of prior letters sent the sellers -- thin proof at best.
If the previous owners did actually get a "Watcher" letter, again no proof of that, then they wouldn't legally have to disclose it to sell the house.
Under New Jersey law there is no obligation even if someone is murdered in the house, the seller has no legal obligation to tell the buyer that information.
Other states do have laws on the books that require sellers to disclose such information, but New Jersey is a buyer-beware state.
Lauren Barr of the Westfield leader added that she's spoken to members of nearly every family that's ever owned the home for decades, we've spoken to some of those same people, and there's no indication of any legal wrangling, any struggles over ownership of the house, and no static at all.
Barr adds that there are growing indications that the whole "Watcher" situation might possibly have come out of a bidding war that occurred during the last sale of the house.