You've probably seen the Netflix series. We're throwing it out. No cult, no tunnels, and no dumbwaiter — despite Chelsea being completely certain there was one, which she admits on mic. What's left is the real case: four letters, a detail about a child at an easel that tells you exactly how close the writer was standing, female DNA on an envelope that never matched anyone, a neighbor who was never ruled out, a door-to-door DNA canvass in 2018, and roughly half a million dollars lost on a house the family never lived in.

Nobody was ever identified. The case has never been closed. Whoever wrote those letters is very likely still living on that street.

Chelsea does the research. Kate goes in cold.

In this episode: all four letters read in full · why security cameras were never going to solve this · the female DNA and what it does and doesn't prove · Derek's Christmas Eve letters · the Robert Kaplow theory, and why it's a theory and not an accusation · everything Netflix invented

Content note: stalking, threats against children.

Sources: Reeves Wiedeman, "The Haunting of a Dream House," New York Magazine / The Cut, 2018 · NBC News · Patch · Union County court filings · Westfield Planning Board records. Full links in the show notes.

Written and produced by Chelsea & Kate for The Half of It.

Executive Produced by Lisa Sydney

Photos, documents, and references connected to all episodes can be found at PumpkinSparklesCreations.com.

The Half of It is hosted by half-sisters Chelsea and Kate, who found each other through DNA and are now making up for lost time — one unbelievable story at a time.