The Berchtold family also had a baby girl when they met in the Peacock dramatization. It didn't take long before Bob had his own key and could come and go as he pleased. I felt she was unaffectionate as a parent: there were no hugs or "I love you"s when I was growing up. I met my ex-husband and we had kids. Netflix first recounted the harrowing story in the 2019 documentary Abducted in . Was that after the documentary came out? I was so involved and so consulted and so cared for. Berchtold continually raped Jan as he drove his motorhome to Mexico, where the minimum age requirement for marriage was only 12 years old. "It happens before the actual incident occurs.". When the Brobergs met the Berchtolds at a church service, it seemed like a match made in Heaven. Once that moment happened, I believed it entirely, completely, and I knew [aliens] were watching me. That womans two daughters had been raped and molested [by him], and they ran away from home. And how will I manipulate everybody in the room [while trying to get it]?. Thats why, she says, they didnt probe more when they knew something had happened. In truth, Berchtold drugged the 12-year-old and staged the scene to make it seem as if the two of them had been captured and taken away against their will. Jan was one of three daughters born to Bob Broberg, a florist, and Mary Ann. [My sister] Karen isnt blind. Jan Broberg's parents and siblings, as well as the law enforcement professionals who worked on the case, recount the unbelievable sequence of events at the heart of this . In a candid conversation, Broberg tells VF about the surreal experience of seeing her abuser brought to life again. I already knew of Jan, before I was an adult, because Bob had talked about her. Ive watched it several times nowThat has consistently been the one [that bothered me]. He said he would abuse his daughter, Jill, if I didn't comply. Vanity Fair: Your story is so complicated, but the show does a great job at laying out this elaborate abduction plan beat by beat to show how Berchtold targeted your whole family. The hope for Abducted in Plain Sight, Borgman and Jan Broberg Felt have both said, is that it helps end the culture of silence around sexual abuse and assault. It was an interesting thing. According to his obituary: "Robert Ersol Berchtold, 69, of Logandale, died Nov. 11, 2005. By 2003, Jan Broberg had tried her best to move on. After picking Jan up from piano lessons and drugging her, Berchtold dragged the unconscious child into his motorhome, bound her wrists and ankles to his bed with straps, and set up a small device to play a recording. Ive been doing, Hello, doctor with a couple of my friends for about 20 years. I about passed out. The Skye Borgmandirected documentary condensed this tale into 91 minutes. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. I never saw a psychiatrist or a therapist. Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice by her own neighbor and trusted family friend, Robert Berchtold. In 'A Friend of the Family,' the Berchtold's had three boys plus a girl Jasper, Joel, Jacob, and Jenny but in real life, they had four boys as well as a girl: Jerry, James, Joseph, Jeff, and Jill. Broberg continued to believe the make-believe alien story up until her 16th birthday. But I could see Bob playing the tape, so I didn't believe him. It felt like we were meeting dad. Some people know him as Robert or "B," but he was Bob or Dad to me. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? I was sitting on the couch, in my pajamas, flicking through Netflix and trying to find something to watch, when I came across the documentary Abducted in Plain Sight and the face of Robert Berchtold: the man who destroyed my childhood. It was a terrifying thought, Jan said. At one point, she planned on buying a gun and explaining to her sister Susan what was going to happen. Privacy Policy. But . Shes the one who identified [her mother] in the audience, who she hadnt seen for seven years and wouldnt call mother. Shes like, Shes here, so he must be nearby.. Its something that happened to them or someone close to themthey had been groomed or conned or manipulated, and could relate. The new Netflix documentary Abducted in Plain Sight is a bewildering account of one girls kidnapping by a family friend. His mother was still alive during the whole ordeal, she would have been 60 years old or so when he abducted Jan, Must have been hard for her witnessing this of her son. The affidavits compromised the FBIs case against B, according to the documentary. Who would know? It was like he was talking about an ex-girlfriend. The Broberg family met the Berchtold family through their church in a small town in Idaho in 1972, according to the documentary "Abducted in Plain Sight." NetflixRobert Berchtold had an obsession with his 12-year-old neighbor Jan Broberg, even sleeping in the same bed as her four nights a week. I think that's the sick thing, when you come from a family that walks past and ignores you; it's attention, good or bad. I was on set. The film tells the story of Jan Broberg, who, as a child in the 1970s, was kidnapped twice and sexually abused by, Still, not everything that happened to Broberg and her family made it into the documentary. I was good around adults and I was a people pleaser. Although he ruined Jans childhood, Berchtold never fully paid for his vile crimes against Jan Broberg in prison. The first abduction occurred when she was just 12 years old and the second, two years later, at the age of 14. All views expressed in this article are the author's own. He told the Brobergs he needed to sleep in Jans bed. "I was this special person that was going to have this special child that was going to save the world," Broberg explained. Faith leaders knew. In the doc, he said he was sexually abused by the "help", didn't feel part of the new family (mother had other children to new husband) and slept in a separate bunkhouse. He escaped jail time and moved to Utah to work for his brother. Broberg was missing for roughly a month during the first kidnapping, during which she was sexually assaulted by B. I never go anywhere [for a speaking engagement] where it didnt happen to somebody in that room or to somebody close to them in that room. It's hard to say what impact the abuse had on my life. And so many adults knew, but nobody did anything. I think he just knew that I cared about her. But this time you were seeing an actor bring your abuser to life, witnessing two actors portray you during this traumatic period, and seeing actors portray your family. Did. After the chaos of the events, she went on to share her story by speaking at various events and warning people of the dangers of others-even those who seem completely trustworthy. I was making great strides in my life and my career and my familyall the things that I am so grateful for. He was raised with half siblings, one of which looked very much like Jan, the "little girl" he said he took care of when his Mother left home when she was sick. For years, actress Jan Broberg kept the story of childhood sex abuse she endured at the hands of a family friend mostly private. If they didnt, she said, then everyone would know about Bob and Roberts sexual exchange. This is the story of Robert Berchtold, the predator at the center of Netflixs Abducted in Plain Sight who groomed and manipulated an entire family. So does a legal system that allowed Berchtold to kidnap, drug, and rape a child and receive a virtual slap on the wrist. He was sentenced to five years probation and five years in prison. Im not in contact with them. I was hurt and angry that, after all of that, nothing had really happened to him. The film implies that the Broberg parents were both brainwashed and manipulated by Berchtold, which accounts for some of their actions, but not nearly all. They didnt want to know. How is this possible? I never in a million years thought this guy was stupid enough to show his face [around me]. SANTA CLARA, Utah (ABC4 News) - Jan Broberg does not blame her parents for her abductions and rape at the hands of trusted family friend Robert Berchtold- even though many who watched the explosive documentary "Abducted in Plain Sight" on Netflix do blame them. Related: Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Sparked An Important True Crime Debate. You mentioned hearing from another woman who had been abused by Berchtold. When Bob was 3 yrs old his father passed away and in 1939 his mother married Joseph Ersol Berchtold who raised Bob and . She worked as an actress and went on to star in several television shows and movies, such as the canceled show Everwood. Firstly Bob and Mary Ann let Berchtold share a bed with their daughter multiple times, knowing that he was being counselled for being attracted to children. They didn't find out about the alien mission B convinced their daughter of until 1978 after she turned 16. The altered state of having been abused and how that affects your psyche and your life and your choices and your thinking and your self-worthIm worthless. Photo: Courtesy Jan Broberg. As she headed home, Berchtold called Bob and told him of their affair. Berchtold would show up to the events and pass out fliers denying anything the Brobergs had to say about him. But I didnt know what was missing in the conversation. He was a salesman and my mother had contacted him about purchasing a traveling franchise. It wasnt about Mary Ann. We think hes in the parking lot. Im like, What? He never brought her home. The children in the clan considered Berchtold a second father, so much so that when he fled to Mexico with a 12-year-old Jan by his side in August 1974, the family was initially unwilling to. I finally told my mother about the abuse. Robert Ersol Berchtold, 69, of Logandale, died Nov. 11, 2005. I did this terrible thingthat part took me until that day I hung up the coat. But six other women came forward with their own stories about Berchtold, and Jan Broberg filed a stalking injunction against him after he was arrested at one of her speaking engagements. Robert Berchtold passed away at age 69 years old on November 11, 2005. The real Bob Berchtold and Jan Broberg as a child. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. 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