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A New Jersey couple who thought they were buying their dream home are suing its previous owners, claiming the house has a longtime stalker who writes terrorizing letters and signs them "The Watcher."
"Why are you here? I will find out," one of the letters said.
"I am pleased to know your names now and the name of the young blood [child] you have brought to me," another read. "Who has the bedrooms facing the street? I'll know as soon as you move in … It will help me to know who is in which bedroom, then I can plan better."
In another letter (heard on the TV news this morning, NBC Today show), the stalker talks about things (or people?) hidden in the walls, and eventually the new owners will find them.
The short article states that the new owners somehow knew that the previous owners had been receiving threatening letters in the mail too. But during the sale of the house, the previous owners withheld that information.
I'm left wondering, how did the new owners know that the previous owners were receiving these threatening letters too, if the previous owners didn't disclose that information? So many questions.
I hope the new owners win this lawsuit. That $1.3 million home will be difficult/impossible to sell now that the housestalker has been made known. How horrible of the previous owners to sell it to anyone, especially to a young family with a child, knowing that a terrifying stalker was part of the package.
True, 1.3 million dollars is a huge reason to sell, but is there any other route the previous owners could have taken?
One of the stalker's letters said that the home had been in his/her family for years...so surely this stalker can be narrowed down by investigators.
I'd love to hear the resolution of this story.
I know I am going to hell, but this story made me laugh out loud!
It sort of reminds me of a case that was on Unsolved mysteries years ago. Old couple was harassed for years (assaulted, robbed, creepy phone calls, weird banging outside, creepy notes that indicated he was watching their house). Police never caught that stalker. Maybe they can do better with catching this new one with better forensics now.
Definitely creepy. It seems that it should not be that hard for the police to figure out who the watcher is. Most likely it's a neighbor (or a family member or household help of a neighbor) and in a neighborhood with 1.3 million dollar homes, the houses should be set far enough apart where there would not be that many likely suspects. If by chance it isn't a neighbor, then it would have to be someone who would be spending some time around the house watching. Seems like a set of cameras placed around the house would eventually catch the guy.
If I were the sellers I would not have disclosed a letter I received one week before closing; if this was the first letter received the sellers probably thought it was a weird joke as I would have. Plus as someone else mentioned, stalkers are known for stalking people not houses. I think the buyers don't have a prayer of winning this one unless the sellers had been receiving letters from the Watcher for months or years before the sale. Even then the buyers would need to prove that the sellers should have known that the house was what was being stalked and not them (the sellers).
True, the sellers might not have realized it was the house that he/she was after. Maybe they moved because they thought The Watcher was after them personally.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure stalkers aren't on the list of things that should be disclosed. It's unfortunate, but I don't think the sellers are actually liable.
If they had said: We have been creeped out by a stalker while living in this house, would the buyers have decided not to buy?
And hey, if I could afford a 1.3 million dollar house, I could afford a serious security system and a good private investigator who would not be hindered by due process.
Find the stalker using a private investigator if needed. Inform the stalker you know who he is and where HE lives. Confront the stalker and discourage him from more stalking. A baseball bat delivers a direct and understandable message. A .45 pistol a more permanent one.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure stalkers aren't on the list of things that should be disclosed. It's unfortunate, but I don't think the sellers are actually liable.
Agreed, for all they (the sellers) know "the stalker" could have been an acquaintance who has a personal conflict with the home owner...has nothing to do with the house.
The buyers may have inherited a crazy neighbor with the house, who knows? The seller's would not be responsible for non-disclosure of a "mystery stalker" since they have no idea if it's a neighbor or an old friend. In most states you don't even have to disclose a crazy neighbor...as that crazy neighbor might be dream neighbor according to the next buyer.
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