'The Watcher' : Where Is the Broaddus Family Now?

Mar. 15, 2025

In 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus bought a six-bedroom Dutch colonial home at657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jerseyfor $1.3 million with plans to renovate t for their family.

However, before they could actually move in, they began to receive a series of letters from an anonymous stalker who called themselves “The Watcher.”

From what the Broaddus family did with their New Jersey home to their involvement with the Netflix series, here’s what to know about where the Broaddus family is now.

Did the Broaddus family ever move into the New Jersey home?

When it became clear they would not move in, the Broadduses took several steps to recoup their investment, including filing a legal complaint against the previous homeowners for not disclosing similar letters they had received, and trying to sell the home to a developer. N

early three years after their initial purchase, the Broadduses found a family to rent the home, and two years after that, they finally sold the home for approximately $959,000 (a $400,000 loss),according to Zillow.

Eric Liebowitz/Netflix

Was the Broaddus family’s stalker ever found?

The Cutreports that the new owners of 657 Boulevard havenot received any lettersfrom the infamous Watcher.

Where is the Broaddus family now?

According toThe Cut, the Broaddus family did decide to stay in Westfield, as they later bought a second home in the area using an LLC to keep the location private.

Did the Broaddus family approve of the Netflix series?

In 2016, Lifetime released a movie based on their experience calledThe Watcher, which the Broadduses did not approve but also could not halt because of how much artistic license was taken with the plot.

ThoughThe Cutreports that the “Broadduses had little interest in giving someone the right to make a piece of entertainment out of the worst years of their life,” they later came to an agreement with Netflix in 2018. According to Deadline, the streamerwon the rights to the Broaddus family’s storyin a “seven figures” deal.

According to the publication, the Broaddus family “wanted little involvement” in the series, but they did have two requests: “that the show not use their name” (Cannavale and Watts' characters are called Dean and Nora Brannock) and “that the onscreen family look as little like theirs as possible.” They also added that “they wouldn’t mind it if the fictional house burned to the ground.”

The Cutadds that the Broadduses have not seen the show and “don’t plan to watch it,” adding that “seeing the trailer was stressful enough.”

source: people.com