Is John Graff on Netflix's "The Watcher" a Real Person? What We Know About the Killer He's Based On
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Content warning: This article contains spoilers for The Watcher and references to stalking and murder that some may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised.
If you're anything like us, you probably spent the entirety of last weekend binge-watching Netflix's latest true crime show, The Watcher. The Ryan Murphy-produced series is based on the real-life Broaddus family whose chilling case from 2014 is still unsolved. After they were set to move into their new Westfield, New Jersey home, the family started receiving threatening letters from an anonymous stalker who calls themself "The Watcher." To this day, the identity of The Watcher has yet to be revealed.
In the Netflix series, it seems that any of the family's neighbors could be the infamous stalker since the show's writers changed some aspects of the real-life story to bump up the show's suspense. This includes a creepy character named John Graff, who instantly sends chills up anyone's spine. If you're wondering whether or not John is a real person in this ongoing saga, look no further. Here's everything we know about John Graff from The Watcher.
Who is John Graff?
John Graff is a fictional character on The Watcher played by Joe Mantello. On the Netflix show, the Broadduses are known as the Brannocks and they move into "The Watcher" house. Just like their real-life counterparts, the family starts receiving creepy letters from an anonymous source with threatening undertones.
The Brannocks then hire a private investigator named Theodora Birch, who tells them that allegedly, John previously owned the Brannocks' new home where he lived with his wealthy mom, wife, and two kids after being let go from his job. It's revealed that John also received letters from The Watcher and ended up killing his wife, mom, and children.
If that connection isn't creepy enough, John also shows up in different scenes dressed as other people. In episode three, he appears as a building inspector in the Brannocks' kitchen, and in episode seven, he pretends to be part of the Westfield Preservation Society before his real identity is unveiled.
Is John Graff a real person?
John Graff may not be a real person, but he is loosely based on someone who lived in Westfield, New Jersey in the 1970s. Graff's crimes on The Watcher come straight from the real-life murderer, John List. While List didn't live in or previously own The Watcher house in real life, his connection to the New Jersey neighborhood is just as terrifying. The New York Times reports that after losing his accounting job and stealing money from his mother to make ends meet, List killed his own family in their Westfield home.
Per the report, List shot his wife, mother, and his own children when they came home from school. According to ABC News, List killed his family because he "wanted to spare them the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion and to make sure they got to heaven." The former accountant even confessed to his crimes in a letter he addressed to his pastor and then left in the study of his home.
Where is John List now?
After committing the series of gruesome murders in his own home, List made sure that he'd be difficult to track down. Per The New York Times, he had ripped his face out of all of his family photos before running away from the scene. He walked freely for about a month before his family's bodies were found and police found his car at John F. Kennedy airport in Queens, New York. The Times reports that there wasn't any record of him flying anywhere and that his home was eventually lit on fire and destroyed by arson.
However, according to a 2002 report by ABC News, List fled to Colorado, changed his name to Robert Clark, and remarried. He managed not to get caught for 18 years until he was arrested in 1989 after one of his old neighbors recognized him from the TV show, America's Most Wanted. List was sentenced to five consecutive life prison terms in 1990.
Per The New York Times, List died in 2008 at age 82 due to "complications from pneumonia."
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