Some people know him as Robert or "B," but he was Bob or Dad to me. The following article contains discussions of sexual violence and suicide. 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. I really did find a way to hang up that very heavy coat of abuse and have it be outside of me. Taylor Swifts opening act on her debut album, Trumps Relationship With Jared and Ivanka. After Jan threatened to find her own way there, Mary Ann bought her a plane ticket and sent her to Berchtold. It was so shockingly hard for me. BRIGHAM CITY - Robert Ersol Berchtold, age 69, died Frida, November 11, 2005, in Bunkerville, Nevada. I told my husband about what happened but he doesn't want to know the details. Between 1972 and 1976, he eventually kidnapped and wed her. She loves movie villains (specifically Loki), Bojack Horseman, Harry Styles and writing creative fiction and poetry in her spare time. Born in 23 Oct 1924 and died in 7 Dec 1980 Erie, Pennsylvania Robert F Berchtold Heidi Brewer on the documentary, A Friend of the Family: True Evil. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for A Friend of the Family. After returning to her family, Berchtold kidnapped . And before she and Berchtold were separated, he informed her that the aliens had contacted him with instructions for Jan not to speak of the mission or to have contact with any other men. According to an online obituary, she tied the knot with former Marine James Leslie Wadman in 1988. Jan has since said that meeting me was "validating." 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. He convinced Bob and Mary Ann that his subsequent treatment by a psychologist involved spending multiple nights in bed with Jan. Neither one of us was comfortable with him doing it, Mary Ann says, but it was his therapy., The parental behavior that Mary Ann and Bob freely confess to in Abducted in Plain Sight is so bewilderingly naive that the more salacious and peculiar events Borgman goes on to lay out are almost hard to grasp. I dont know why, but I did.. When Robert Berchtold first moved to town he became extremely close with the Broberg family, but as time went on it became clear that Berchtolds end goal was to get to Jan Broberg. What will I risk to get it? March 21, 2004 -- Actress Jan Broberg Felt says her childhood abductor returned when she decided to share her strange and frightening story with the world. 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. In time, the Broberg children took to calling Robert Berchtold B, and Jan had started to think of him as a second father. He continued to try to terrorize me in the weirdest ways. The twisted tale began in the early 70s in the small town of Pocatello, Idaho. 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. 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. Yet, despite the wealth of content, many viewers continue to have questions over exactly what happened to Robert Berchtold after the traumatic events. Berchtold vanished from their lives, but managed to avoid going to prison. She doesnt recall violent rape but said, I would just look at the leaves If you just look at the leaves, itll be okay.. 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. On the day that I was filmingIm on set and I have a little scene with ColinIm standing there, talking to those two [actors] and all of a sudden, Colin sticks his hand out to Nick and he says, Hello, doctor. And I looked at him and I went, Oh, my gosh, how did you know? [That was one of] my dads funny phrases. As it turned out, Berchtold had helped Jan escape out of her bedroom window that night. I wasnt prepared for people to blame my parents. "I was this special person that was going to have this special child that was going to save the world," Broberg explained. I get to be the examiner. He was a truck driver and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. My little sisters not missing. But what kind of sexual abuse did he go through? What was it like seeing the scenes between Jake Lacy and your character during the kidnapping? Related: Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Sparked An Important True Crime Debate. Jan begged her parents to let her work with Berchtold for the summer. It was a terrifying thought, Jan said. In August 1976, Berchtold convinced Jan to leave her home and come with him, creating the second kidnapping. Photo: Courtesy Jan Broberg. Jan was one of three daughters born to Bob Broberg, a florist, and Mary Ann. He took her inside the motor home and abused her, while I waited outside. 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. I never felt like I needed to be validated. They didnt want to know. In hindsight, I don't think Bob would ever have done anything to Jill. He got very angry. She and her family went on to be manipulated by him for years, even after she was returned home from the kidnapping. 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. At least I can keep telling my story without feeling like hes going to show up or hes stalking me. Because hed showed up [occasionally]. Watching Jake Lacy become Berchtold was seamless. She endured some of the worst imaginable psychological manipulation during her childhood. Bob kidnapped Jan twice, whereas he never kidnapped me. Through therapy, she learned to forgive them for not stopping the years of abuse she endured from B. That doesnt stop me anymore. Where are you in the healing process now? Its very close in every way to how it truthfully unfolded. If she failed to do this, the aliens warned, her sister Susan would be chosen instead, and harm would come to the rest of her family. I knew what he was doing, Bob said. All rights reserved. That is the only reason we told our story. 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. Oh my goodness, Mary Ann replies, in a steady, even tone, as if hes just told her that seasonal allergies might be worse than usual this summer, or that two people brought potato salads to the potluck. I mean, its pretty tough, I feel bad for all of them, she said. That event would set off a series of events for a series of tragic events in the life of Jan Broberg, which she discussed in the documentary Abducted in Plain Sight as well as . If Jan wasnt pregnant and Susan refused to take Jans place, she was going to shoot Susan and then herself. 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. Or, see how Michaela Garechts kidnapping was finally solved 30 years after her death. He became a friend from a stranger and someone the family felt comfortable around. This is happening everywhere right now in 2022. Youve revisited this chapter of your life before in your books, documentary, and speaking engagements. Shes gone., The Brobergs relative calm in the face of their 12-year-old daughters abduction by an adult man is one of the most immediately disturbing elements of the story. Do.. Both parents claimed in the documentary that if they didnt do this, B would expose a sex act that Bob and B engaged in prior to the kidnapping. He found my apartment and called my apartment. Robert Berchtold and Jan Broberg. He anesthetized her with sleeping pills and raped the girl up to maybe 200 times. Not trying to sympathize with him, but just curious about his childhood. People knew, or certainly had surmised, that he was a threat. Everybody gets hurt. We didn't meet in person until we filmed the documentary, A Friend of the Family: True Evil. Yet only 10 minutes of my story made the documentary. Berchtold killed himself in 2005, before being sentenced for simple assault, criminal trespassing, and disorderly conductcharges stemming from that conference where he showed up with the gun. Either it happened to you, Julie, or it happened to somebody close to you. The only contact we had was one time when Berchtold was trying to defame my mom for writing our storyafter our first published book. He told the school that he was CIA, and that they were on the run.. That forever changed my DNA. Today there are specialists and programs designed specifically to deprogram people who have been brainwashed. Although Berchtold feigned ignorance regarding Jans whereabouts, Welsh and investigators knew he was responsible for her disappearance. Find out more about how we use your information in our privacy policy and cookie policy. Jan and her mother, Mary-Ann Broberg, went on to do a tour for the book Stolen Innocence. Listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher or the ABC News app. The 56-year-old actress, who was abducted, raped and abused by family friend Robert Berchtold in the 70s, Speaking to ET Online, Jan explained how her attacker didn't lie with her under the . I mean, Ive been married and divorced a number of times. 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 . Robert Berchtold is an abuser who groomed the Broberg family in order to become close to their 12-year-old daughter Jan. 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. Robert Berchtold sexually abused Jan Broberg for several years and manipulated her and her family. Years later, Bob told me that he gave me the sleeping pill to physically manipulate me so he would be able to have intercourse with me without tearing. I got to have meetings with the art department, the costume departmentI went to the location of the home they found. She divorced him and took her kids and moved., Gail was not featured in the documentary. I didnt want to marry her, Broberg said. 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. Berchtold died in 2005, according to an obituary, which says he was a truck driver. And then he had her wait outside while he abused me. I wanted to play in the dirt and toss a football. Theyre the bravest people I know, willing to try to help the rest of you see what they didn't. The tapes played odd, sexual messages, urging him to imagine being touched and caressed. You mentioned hearing from another woman who had been abused by Berchtold. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. 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. If they didnt, she said, then everyone would know about Bob and Roberts sexual exchange. But now this man she didn't really know could let himself in at any time. With her parents keeping her apart from Berchtold, she feared that she would have no way of completing the aliens mission. and our Heidi Brewer, 52, is a bookkeeper for a construction company in Oklahoma. We watched Planet of the Apes on TV. The disturbing Netlifx documentary, Abducted in Plain Sight details Berchtold abducting Broberg when she was 12 years old. Born May 17, 1930, in Beaver Falls, he was the son of the late . 'Abducted in Plain Sight' on Netflix tells the story of Jan Broberg, a girl who is kidnapped by a family friend named Robert "B" Berchtold in the 1970s. Over the course of the next six months, Berchtold slept in Jans bed roughly four times a week. Now, Jan said, she sees that it was likely because she wasnt a little kid anymore. One of the scenes in Abducted in Plain Sight that best encapsulates the strangeness of its story comes midway through, after the second time a teenager named Jan Broberg has been kidnapped by a close family friend. She had slowly begun to question whether the aliens were real, but a small part of her still believed in them. I can't imagine how many girls there were before Jan, between Jan and I, and how many came after me. After earning the Broberg family's trust with his charismatic personality, Berchtold began grooming daughter Jan (Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey in different time periods) in 1972, and. Kerry Washington Goes for LaughsAnd TruthIn Hulu Comedy. 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. My mother worked two jobs, so there was a lot of time for that. I really see those things as being almost separate. After the first kidnapping, her parents were completely unaware of the sexual abuse. He is survived by his wife,. This kidnapping lasted for approximately four months, until she was rescued again by the FBI. 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