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. He doesn't want to think about it. I keep telling Nick we have to do a series number two. Was your deprogramming gradual over the years, or was there one turning point in your life where everything clicked? Robert Berchtold took Jan Broberg horseback riding one afternoon when she was 12 and disappeared with her. "That's a story I heard at Christmas time.". 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. When I woke up and that voice was therepeople often say, How long did it take for you to be brainwashed to believe that [aliens had kidnapped you]. I said, 10 secondswhen I [first] heard the voice [in the RV]. The planting of the seeds is where all of that nefarious grooming and manipulation happened, before that moment. She loves movie villains (specifically Loki), Bojack Horseman, Harry Styles and writing creative fiction and poetry in her spare time. When I was 10, Bob tried to use the same alien story on me that he had used on Jan Broberg [an earlier victim who was abused by Robert Berchtold from 1972-1976. BRIGHAM CITY - Robert Ersol Berchtold, age 69, died Frida, November 11, 2005, in Bunkerville, Nevada. 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. The encounter quickly became sexual. I was invited into the writers room to give very detailed suggestions that made it just that much more real. I could see if the lining was coming out or if I really felt like I needed to put it back on because I needed somebodys empathy or sympathy for what happened to me. You have to have this baby by your 16th birthday. All of that brainwashingI knew that wasnt real when I [later interacted with boys] and had that moment of going, Okay, I havent been vaporized. Was that after the documentary came out? I was such a happy girl. Much of the outrage targets Jans parents, who participated fully in the documentary, and whose behavior in response to Berchtolds prolonged abuse of their daughter strikes many viewers as shockingly inadequate at best. Ive been doing, Hello, doctor with a couple of my friends for about 20 years. I about passed out. In addition, B would consistently show Broberg's parents, Mary Ann and Bob, newspaper clippings of alleged UFO sightings around the country. Its very close in every way to how it truthfully unfolded. So does a legal system that allowed Berchtold to kidnap, drug, and rape a child and receive a virtual slap on the wrist. Not as much as I have been in past years. As Mary Ann described, they got a little too cozy and the first seeds of what would eventually grow into an affair were planted. Berchtold was sentenced to five years in prison anyway but served only 10 days. He took me by her house, picked her up and took us both to his motor home. A Friend of the Family, created by Nick Antosca, is based on the real-life case featured in the 2017 documentary Abducted in Plain Sight . The documentary only slightly went into "B's" past. Thats not in the documentary, Broberg said. Thats when Robert asked Bob to give him some relief. Bob acquiesced, thus cementing Berchtolds hold over them all. He explained to Bob that he had a traumatic childhood, including having sex with an aunt when he was four. He found me at college. What was it like to film that? After returning to her family, Berchtold kidnapped . Watch it on Netflix. 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. With Mckenna, I see all of the emotional intelligence of someone understanding how do you, at age 15, 16, how do you even portray someone thats brainwashed? If she did, he said, her dad would be killed, her sister Karen made blind, and Susan taken in her stead. I did what I was supposed to do. When I went to the premiere with my sisters and mother, they all got to meet Colin Hanks and spent some time with him, a little more than just a hello. When Berchtold asked if he could share a bed with 12-year-old Jan as 'therapy' for overcoming his own childhood abuse, her parents were so brainwashed that they bizarrely let him. Some viewers hit the roof, wondering how any parent could let their kid be taken by the same person twice. From then on, the abuse happened dailywhenever he had the chance. When I would ask Bob about these differences, including why I couldn't have friends over or spend time away from home, he would get angry. She was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by her neighbor and family friend Robert "B." Berchtold when she was 12 and again when she was 14. Jan, now 56,. Jan was one of three daughters born to Bob Broberg, a florist, and Mary Ann. We'll never know. Berchtold allegedly raped Broberg hundreds of times. It all started in 1972 when Berchtold met the Broberg family at a church service in Pocatello, Idaho, and quickly became an esteemed family friend. When Bob was 3 yrs old his father passed away and in 1939 his mother married Joseph Ersol Berchtold who raised Bob and . Wish he had gotten help somehow if he indeed suffered terrible abuses himself. In 1972 in Pocatello, Idaho, when the Broberg family met the Berchtold family at church, immediately the . Jan Broberg is now the executive producer on the Peacock miniseries based on her life, A Friend Of The Family. Grace M. Galarraga is a writer based out of Southern California. I don't remember much of that evening. Every hand goes up. That doesnt stop me anymore. After Jan threatened to find her own way there, Mary Ann bought her a plane ticket and sent her to Berchtold. Meanwhile, her parents blamed themselves for these events. Berchtold had a family of his own, and his children would often play with the Broberg kids, including Jan, according to ATI. She had me stay the night with a friend and invited her friends over. They didnt have to do that, but they did. My mother worked two jobs, so there was a lot of time for that. The new Netflix documentary Abducted in Plain Sight is a bewildering account of one girls kidnapping by a family friend. Which he adds, emphatically, They. They didn't find out about the alien mission B convinced their daughter of until 1978 after she turned 16. I wonder if he abused her at all? Today, Jan Broberg has a "wonderful relationship" with her parents. I was sick to my stomach and felt like throwing up. The series stars McKenna Grace as Jan, along with Jake Lacy as Robert "B" Berchtold, . 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. The Corpsewood Manor Murders: A Story Of Satanism, Sex Parties, And Slaughter, Denver Man Convicted Of Gunning A Woman Down With An AK-47 Because Her Dog Pooped Outside His Home, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. 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 sat down. NetflixJan Broberg works as an actress, known for roles in Everwood and Criminal Minds. 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. It felt like we were meeting dad. As we have discussed above Gail was the ex-wife of Robert Berchtold, who abducted his neighbour, Jan Broberg Felt. But a lot of people just didnt.. I mean, Ive been married and divorced a number of times. He called me before it came on the news. He even showed up at a speaking engagement of yours with a gun. She endured some of the worst imaginable psychological manipulation during her childhood. "When people ask me about the brainwashing, I'm like, 'It took 10 seconds.' There's somebody else who's doing it.". Mary Ann Broberg described Berchtold as having a charisma that Bob didnt possess., Jan Broberg works as an actress, known for roles in. After the first kidnapping, her parents were completely unaware of the sexual abuse. 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 told the Brobergs he needed to sleep in Jans bed. 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., "He was the kind of guy that was just helpful," Broberg said of her initial impressions of B. 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. Robert Ersol Berchtold, 69, of Logandale, died Nov. 11, 2005. The movie includes pictures Berchtold took of Jan as a 12-year-old girl, all straw-colored hair, wide eyes, and freckles. Born May 17, 1930, in Beaver Falls, he was the son of the late . The disturbing Netlifx documentary, Abducted in Plain Sight details Berchtold abducting Broberg when she was 12 years old. And then he had her wait outside while he abused me. B took a particular interest in 12-year-old Jan as well, often showering her with gifts and inviting her on trips. But I know the abuse impacted my relationships. Their home energy was quite ordinary for a few years, as per reports, yet everything changed shortly . Robert Berchtold and Jan Broberg. He brainwashed her with false narratives in order to sexually abuse her. How involved were you with the making of the show? It almost feels like this huge burden is lifted off my shoulders by having the story told right. Theres a lot more to the story. I really believed it. He brought her to California and enrolled her in a Catholic school, posing as her father and a CIA agent, according to the documentary. My little sisters not missing. He never brought her home. That is my goal.. Berchtold vanished from their lives, but managed to avoid going to prison. It was Jan.. Neither one of us were comfortable with him doing it, Mary Ann said, but it was part of his therapy.. I felt she was unaffectionate as a parent: there were no hugs or "I love you"s when I was growing up. Next: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Can Solve 1 True Crime Show Problem. Although he ruined Jans childhood, Berchtold never fully paid for his vile crimes against Jan Broberg in prison. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. . He was born February 7, 1936, in Tremonton, Utah to Leonard N. and Lucille Grover Berchtold. People knew, or certainly had surmised, that he was a threat. And if youre not happy and you need medication or you need more talk therapyyou should get what you need so you can heal. I didnt want to marry her, Broberg said. After a career of playing affable characters, the Emmy-nominated actor discusses his darkest turn yetand what made him feel okay playing a real-life bad guy. In January 1974, just over a year after Berchtold met the Brobergs, he was reprimanded by the High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because of his involvement with another young girl. Jan, being a child, believed she was in love with him and that they still had to complete their mission. Does anyone else know anything about his childhood? I kept it all to myself and kept going. Heidi Brewer met Broberg while filming this documentary. Bagby's childhood friend, director Kurt Kunnee began shooting Dear Zachary after Bagby's murder. They consulted with me constantly. The affidavits that they signed, they retracted four days later. Without spoiling the most shocking ones, they involve multiple confessions of extramarital sexual relationships, as well as an elaborate plot involving aliens that Berchtold used to prey on Jan. Berchtold was arrested for kidnapping, but the Brobergs, under duress, withdrew their most serious charges. 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. I got to have meetings with the art department, the costume departmentI went to the location of the home they found. 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. 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. The story is dramatized. The abuse went on for seven-and-a-half years. 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. The Peacock drama miniseries A Friend of the Family shows how Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice when she was a child after her abductor ingratiated himself with her parents. Now, Jan said, she sees that it was likely because she wasnt a little kid anymore. I had a fixation for Jan. Jan and her mother, Mary-Ann Broberg, went on to do a tour for the book Stolen Innocence. Information about your device and internet connection, like your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Yahoo websites and apps. Her 16th birthday came and went, and when she woke up the next morning to see that everything was fine, she knew the aliens werent real. Ive watched it several times nowThat has consistently been the one [that bothered me]. Thats really my mantra: Have a happy childhood at any and every age. Lets figure it out. He abducts her again in 1976, after she has . In August 1976, Berchtold convinced Jan to leave her home and come with him, creating the second kidnapping. Broberg said he managed to justify it to her parents (and convince them he hadnt abused her) by saying they werent allowed to cross the border to come back to the U.S. together without being married. Despite the outcome of her marriage to Robert, Gail found love again. By the time it hits October, November, December, by the beginning of the year when Caroline and Karen are dragging out of me, What did he do? I knew that that [the alien] part wasnt real. But I could see Bob playing the tape, so I didn't believe him. I wanted to play in the dirt and toss a football. All but 45 days of his prison sentence were suspended, and B ended up only serving 10 days in prison. It was like he was talking about an ex-girlfriend. But, according to Broberg, both parents retracted their affidavits days after signing them. Because maybe if I had known what I know now, what Im trying to tell the whole world now [with the series]that these predators dont stop [on their own]maybe the girls [Berchtold abused] after me wouldnt have [been abused]. Generally, I am pretty happy and pretty great about 90% of the time. Related: Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Sparked An Important True Crime Debate. How many of Berchtolds alleged victims did you hear from? It chronicles the peculiar kidnapping case of Jan Broberg, an Idaho. More than 50 years ago, Jan was kidnapped and abused by a family friend, Berchtold, who had affairs with both her parents in order to cover up his actions. The first time Berchtold kidnapped Broberg, he took her to Mexico and married her. Robert, his wife Gail Toyn Berchtold, and their children moved to Pocatello, Idaho, perhaps in the early 1970s, only to live next door to the equally religious Broberg family. What will I risk to get it? 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