I wonder if he abused her at all? The movie includes pictures Berchtold took of Jan as a 12-year-old girl, all straw-colored hair, wide eyes, and freckles. My sister Susan, who is an attorney, called his son Jimmy, an attorney. Related: Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Sparked An Important True Crime Debate. In October 1974, Berchtold offered to pick Jan up from her piano lesson and take her horseback riding. I was making great strides in my life and my career and my familyall the things that I am so grateful for. The day after the series premiered, Broberg says she feels huge relief that a more complete version of the story is available. Because my happy, carefree world changed in an instantand that was the instant when I woke up with my arms and my feet restrained in a dark room and that voice, that was so terrifying. Robert Berchtold was the Broberg's neighbor. "I was this special person that was going to have this special child that was going to save the world," Broberg explained. I was hurt and angry that, after all of that, nothing had really happened to him. So we went out to eat, he took me to a movie,we got some ice cream, then we went back to his empty apartment. I wanted to crawl into the backseat and find the tape recorder and Bob got upset with me. Ad Choices, Broberg, who first shared the true story of her kidnapping in the documentary, Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Fragile Snowflake Donald Trump for Allegedly Trying to Censor Him. Its like a heavy coat that I wore and that was a burden for me until the day I decided I could take it off. Netflix first recounted the harrowing story in the 2019 documentary Abducted in . Then he twisted that into, They want us to get married, and then everything will be okay. Heidi Brewer on the documentary, A Friend of the Family: True Evil. And this 10% experience, you cant let it ruin the rest of your life. He turned sideways and you could almost see him reaching back to start a tape recorder. Which he adds, emphatically, They. When Bob was 3 yrs old his father passed away and in 1939 his mother married Joseph Ersol Berchtold who raised Bob and . Yet only 10 minutes of my story made the documentary. He never brought her home. Its something that happened to them or someone close to themthey had been groomed or conned or manipulated, and could relate. I moved back to Texas to stay with one of my brothers, and my mother stayed in Utah. As Jans 16th birthday approached, Berchtolds contact became less frequent. She endured some of the worst imaginable psychological manipulation during her childhood. But a lot of people just didnt.. Berchtold, who was a local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader, drugged and brainwashed Broberg when she was just 12 years old. This info was at 17 min left in the doc. The cautionary tale Broberg tells about kidnapping today, is that "it's somebody you know, love, and trust, and probably somebody your child knows, loves, and trusts.". My little sisters not missing. She had slowly begun to question whether the aliens were real, but a small part of her still believed in them. . Oh dear. The encounter quickly became sexual. Heidi Brewer met Broberg while filming this documentary. It wasnt until 30 years later, after Mary Ann had published her book Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story, that they heard from him again. That brainwashing, for me, was something that [lasted] a short period of time. It was like he was talking about an ex-girlfriend. I mean, its pretty tough, I feel bad for all of them, she said. Did. Berchtold said he was listening to a series of tapes meant to help curb his desire, but also claimed that he would need to spend more time with Jan to help him get over his obsession. If they didnt, she said, then everyone would know about Bob and Roberts sexual exchange. Berchtold vanished from their lives, but managed to avoid going to prison. We will do a better job. Berchtold, who was now living in Salt Lake City, Utah, had enrolled Jan at an all-girls Catholic school in Pasadena, California. Today, Jan Broberg has a "wonderful relationship" with her parents. But what kind of sexual abuse did he go through? She recently graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a BA in journalism and a minor in film studies. It was so shockingly hard for me. Be the creator of your life. Its a surreal experience. She had me stay the night with a friend and invited her friends over. In January 1974, Robert Berchtold was rebuked by the LDS Church for a relationship with a young girl. Robert Berchtold Wikipedia Bio. Robert Berchtold's childhood The documentary only slightly went into "B's" past. Jan has since said that meeting me was "validating." Jan Broberg: I was very involved. He called me before it came on the news. I think he just knew that I cared about her. It almost feels like this huge burden is lifted off my shoulders by having the story told right. The older sister reached out and found my mother when they saw my book with pictures of him in it. Bob noticed that Berchtold had become sexually aroused. When I first met [Hendrix]. The recording was a message from two aliens named Zeta and Zethra, telling Jan that she was half alien and needed to complete a mission to have a baby with Berchtold before her 16th birthday. So Broberg was thrilled to help reframe her and her parents story in Peacocks new limited series A Friend of the Family, which was created by Nick Antosca (The Act and Candy) and invited Broberg and her mother, Mary Ann, to act as producers. I wonder if he abused her at all? All but 45 days of his prison sentence were suspended, and B ended up only serving 10 days in prison, according to the documentary. 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. Theyre the bravest people I know, willing to try to help the rest of you see what they didn't. By Nicky Idika. After Robert befriended Bob Broberg and his wife, Mary Ann Broberg, he quickly infiltrated their family unit and cozied up to their young daughter, Jan Broberg. They settled in Utah, where . It took Jan years to learn to cope with the damage Robert Berchtold inflicted on her. In one, her underwear is clearly visible. I actually got this little message [from a woman who was] the little girl he abused right after me. A friend sent it to them. In actuality, though, Jan explained that Berchtold had just been careful. After Brobergs first kidnapping, B blackmailed her parents, Bob and Mary Ann, into signing affidavits claiming he had consent to bring their daughter to Mexico. He took us to science-fiction movies. I finally told my mother about the abuse. In hindsight, I don't think Bob would ever have done anything to Jill. He'd told me that he had slept with her, that he had kidnapped her a couple of times, and that he loved her very much. "Many harmed by child sexual assault. Berchtold was a friend of the Broberg family. We didn't meet in person until we filmed the documentary, A Friend of the Family: True Evil. He said he wanted me to take a vitamin. Before we moved to Salt Lake City, my mother had been so overprotective of me that I wasn't allowed to play in the front yard by myself. Truth is, you don't really want to know what happens to Robert Berchtold after the events of the series. She worked as an actress and went on to star in several television shows and movies, such as the canceled show Everwood. "I met my ex-husband and we had kids. Which is how those next four years, as you see in the series, unfold, because I really did think [the aliens] would take [my sister] if I didnt do the mission. With her parents keeping her apart from Berchtold, she feared that she would have no way of completing the aliens mission. Cookie Notice Berchtold was born on February 7, 1936 in Tremonton, Utah. In 1974, he abducted the then 12-year-old, and once again two years later. Robert Berchtold took Jan Broberg horseback riding one afternoon when she was 12 and disappeared with her. With a corresponding friend for every family member, the families quickly grew close to one another, and B became like "a second father" to Broberg. It is a lifelong process. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Robert Berchtold. I looked further and found that his real Dad died when he was 1, and his mother remarried to his Dad's elder brother (common to Mormon faith). The following two years, B kept in contact with Broberg, who said she felt she loved him. B blackmailed Brobergs parents, Bob and Mary Ann, into signing affidavits claiming he had consent to bring their daughter to Mexico after the first kidnapping, according to the documentary. Then, when I was 17-and-a-half, I dated a guy who wanted to have a relationship with me. For viewers watching at home, though, judging the Brobergs is easier, even if its hard to ever feel fully informed, or to believe that the family knew what they were getting into by airing everything so publicly. Berchtold, it transpires, had repeatedly tried to infiltrate other families with young girls, and had been reprimanded by the high council in his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, for doing so. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. It was really when I was 30 years old that I had that aha moment. When Brobergwas 12, Robert Berchtold kidnapped her and played a recording that told that she was half-alien, and that she had to have a baby with Berchtold by the time she was 16 to save the extra-terrestrial species]. Every episode of ABC's award-winning talk show "The View" is now available as a podcast! Generally, I am pretty happy and pretty great about 90% of the time. If she did, he said, her dad would be killed, her sister Karen made blind, and Susan taken in her stead. I was good around adults and I was a people pleaser. But I didnt know what to do in my 20s and 30s and 40s. Does anyone else know anything about his childhood? Jans family waited several days before notifying the FBI, and even after doing so were reluctant to accept that Robert Berchtold had actually done anything wrong. So I felt like I was protecting her from being hurt, by allowing the abuse to happen. My dad isnt dead. He got very angry. My father called the sheriffs department that same night when we didnt show up, she said. Netflix documentary tells the story of how Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice at the ages of 12 and 14 by Robert 'B' Berchtold, a trusted family friend . 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." I said, Did you do some deep dive on my dad that I dont even know about? Hes like, No. He frequently called Mary Ann, confessing his love to her and asking her to meet him in Utah to talk about everything. Robert 'B' Berchtold, her abuser, played by Jake Lacy, had befriended Mary Ann in the church and spent a good two-year time gaining their trust. Robert Berchtold was a well-known American truck driver, media face, retired US Army Officer who served the country during the Vietnam War and was also a convicted criminal suspect who kidnapped a too-young girl Jan Broberg in the 1970s. Filmmaker Skye Borgman on the unbelievable twists and turns of the Jan Broberg kidnapping case, and the pieces of the story that didnt make it into her documentary, on Netflix. I could dig into the pockets. "It's the smokescreen that a master manipulator creates," Broberg warned. By 2003, Jan Broberg had tried her best to move on. We were in a car, and Bob pulled into a random neighborhood. They were just extraordinary. Kidnap victim Jan Broberg, the subject of Netflix documentary Abducted in Plain Sight, said she was groomed by her kidnapper to believe UFOs and extra-terrestrial life were a plausible possibility. Berchtolds wife, Gail, is often referenced in the beginning of. Broberg, now. After all, as profiled in both Netflix's 'Abducted in Plain Sight' as well as Peacock's 'A . In 1976, he spent 10 days in jail after accepting a plea deal based on the first kidnapping, then was sentenced to a mental facility for 6 months. All rights reserved. Jan Broberg is now the executive producer on the Peacock miniseries based on her life, A Friend Of The Family. It was released on October 2022 on Peacock and had its finale on November 10, where Jan Broberg appeared as Dr. Carr, the real therapist the Berborg worked with. I was 9 years old when I first met Bob in 1978. It is made up of one wild story after another about 12-year-old Jan Broberg who went missing when a family friend, Robert "B" Berchtold, abducted her one sunny afternoon in 1974. You mentioned hearing from another woman who had been abused by Berchtold. Robert Ersol "Bob" Berchtold . The twisted tale began in the early 70s in the small town of Pocatello, Idaho. It happened to my whole family, this man was a master and my parents saved my life. But, as Welsh described, they were duped in a terrible, terrible way. The man Berchtold saw was not a licensed psychologist his license had been revoked. As it turned out, Berchtold had helped Jan escape out of her bedroom window that night. Jake Lacy as Bob Berchtold and Hendrix Yancey as a young Jan Broberg in Peacocks A Friend of the Family. Broberg continued to believe the make-believe alien story up until her 16th birthday. I felt she had dismissed me. I guess, in your young head, you think, "This is just the way it is. With her mother, she wrote a book, "Stolen Innocence," about her experiences. Robert Berchtold began taking the Broberg kids to school every day and took Jan on activities including horseriding and family vacations. Berchtold made them believe his therapist had advised him to work through his pedophilia by sharing a bed with Jan. I told my husband about what happened but he doesn't want to know the details. You have a cameo in the final episode. Things That Didnt Make It Into Abducted In Plain Sight, Over the decades, popular culture has created dominant narratives of the Dominican Republic that are most often synonymous with poverty, crime, or state vi, This story contains spoilers for Ant-Man: Quantumania. B took the Broberg children and his own to science-fiction films in the two years prior to kidnapping Jan Broberg. 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. When the BerchtoldsGail, Robert and their five childrenmoved next door, the husbands bonded over being business and family men (so Bob Broberg said), the wives naturally gravitated to each. "That's a story I heard at Christmas time.". Having not wanted to spend an extended period of time in prison, Robert Berchtold died by suicide during November of that year. It tells the story of how the Brobergs' close family friend and neighbor, Robert Berchtold, developed a fascination with then 12-year-old Jan Broberg. She was drugged on numerous occasions; I was only drugged once. Now I do. Berchtold made it clear to Jan that she couldnt talk about any of their sexual encounters to anyone, and she complied since she trusted him. The nine-episode series, which premiered this week, retells the sagathis time making it clear how a family like the Brobergs could have let Berchtold (plus his wife and young children) into their lives and continue to give the neighbor second chances. The kids played together; the parents enjoyed each others company. October 5, 2022. Watch the exclusive trailer for the sharp upcoming series, starring Washington as a single mom whose father (Delroy Lindo) comes to live with her after being released from prison. After the first kidnapping, her parents were completely unaware of the sexual abuse. You can change your choices at any time by visiting your privacy controls. When Jan Broberg shared the story of her stranger-than-fiction kidnapping in the 2017 documentary Abducted in Plain Sight, she did not anticipate the charged response it would elicit. That is my goal.. They were on their feet clapping when the police came in and said, Okay, were going to get you out of this room and away from this window. Jill and I were very close, we were like sisters. Bob kidnapped Jan twice, whereas he never kidnapped me. 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. Jake Lacy in A Friend of the Family (Image credit: Peacock ) In the summer of 1972, Robert Berchtold moved a few blocks away from the Brogberg family in Pocatello, Idaho. The real Bob Berchtold and Jan Broberg as a child. Or, see how Michaela Garechts kidnapping was finally solved 30 years after her death. Yet, despite the wealth of content, many viewers continue to have questions over exactly what happened to Robert Berchtold after the traumatic events. However, the family still wasn't rid of Robert Berchtold. About a month later, Bob took me to Ogden for the weekend to meet his five kids. If you can see yourself in this story, then we succeeded. Broberg told. "But I knew they had been groomed and manipulated too.". The first time Berchtold kidnapped Broberg, he took her to Mexico and married her. Robert Berchtold was born on November 6, 1920, and died at age 50 years old in August 1971. The "alien" voice, which Bob pretended was coming from the car itself, said that I should be listening to Bob and doing as he told me. He had a sick obsession with Jan, which eventually led to her kidnapping when she was only 12 years old in October 1974. I wanted this for a long timeto tell the story in a way that would affect the most change and the most understanding so that people could avoid this happening in their own life or help any traumatized young person get to a healthy, happy place. That is the only reason we told our story. The disturbing Netlifx documentary, Abducted in Plain Sight details Berchtold abducting Broberg when she was 12 years old. 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