Did the Watcher Ever Get Caught? The Real Story Behind Netflix Series

Hot on the heels of the success of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Ryan Murphy has dropped his next true-crime series on Netflix, titled The Watcher.

The gripping series is based on the hair-raising true story of the Broaddus family, who were stalked and harassed by an unknown figure, only known to them as the Watcher.

In the Netflix series, Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts bring the story to life as characters Dean and Nora Brannock, and as each episode progresses, the mystery surrounding the Watcher continues to spiral.

Did the real Watcher ever get caught? Newsweek has everything you need to know. Warning: spoilers below.

Did the Watcher Ever Get Caught?

No, unfortunately, the Watcher has never been caught and their identity remains unknown to this day.

In fact, there have never been any arrests made in the case. There were no fingerprints, no digital trial, and no way to place a suspect at the home, leaving the case unsolved today.

For several years, a person known only as the Watcher sent the Broaddus family haunting letters just three days after they purchased their dream home at 657 Boulevard, in Westfield, New Jersey in 2014.

Over four letters, the Watcher included details about the family, including their three young children, leading them to believe the letters must have been coming from close acquaintances or someone in the area.

As a result, they grew increasingly worried for their safety and that of their children.
In the first letter, the Watcher referred to themself as being "in charge of watching" 657 Boulevard and was waiting for its "second coming."

They taunted that there was a powerful force in the walls of the property that wanted "young blood" in reference to the couple's three children.

The Watcher also made the Broadduses sure they were always watching, penning:

"Welcome again to your new home at 657 Boulevard. The workers have been busy and I have been watching you unload carfuls of your personal belongings. The dumpster is a nice touch. Have they found what is in the walls yet? In time they will."

Over the years, they have been several suspects, the majority of who lived on the same street as the Broadduses, but they were eventually all ruled out by authorities.

One of the main suspects in the case was Michael Langford, the family's next-door neighbor. According to neighbors, Langford lived at home with his mother Peggy, and his siblings, who were all in their 60s.

In the New York Magazine article on which the Netflix series is based, neighbors described Langford as "a bit odd" but "harmless" and a "kind of Boo Radley character," wrote Reeves Wiedeman.

When Michael Langford was questioned, he denied knowing anything about the letters. He was brought in for questioning again but there was not enough evidence to name him as the Watcher. When female DNA was found on one of the letters, Langford's sister, Abby, became a person of interest, but the DNA was not a match and she was ruled out.

There was also the suspect known as the "The Gamer." One evening when the police were surveilling the house, a car that belonged to a young woman stopped outside 657 Boulevard. Her boyfriend lived on the same road as the Broaddus family.

When asked by police, she told them her boyfriend was "into some really dark video games" and in one of them, he played a character known as "The Watcher."

The boyfriend agreed to be questioned by police but never turned up for the two scheduled interviews. Because there was not enough evidence, the police could take the line of questioning any further.

When the Broadduses explored plans to sell the home to a developer and their proposal was rejected by the neighborhood planning board, they learned some of their neighbors suspected they had written the letters themselves to get out of moving into the property.

Maria and Derek Broaddus have denied the accusations.

The couple decided to rent out their home to a family, which was when they received their fourth and final letter that appeared to threaten some kind of revenge.

It read: "Maybe a car accident. Maybe a fire. Maybe something as simple as a mild illness that never seems to go away but makes you fell [sic] sick day after day after day after day after day. Maybe the mysterious death of a pet. Loved ones suddenly die. Planes and cars and bicycles crash. Bones break."

In 2019, the Broaddus family sold 657 Boulevard for a $400,000 loss, according to the Union County Clerk's Office. As of October 2022, there has been no news of the Watcher's resurgence.

The Watcher is streaming on Netflix now.