It happened to my whole family, this man was a master and my parents saved my life. Monday on "The View," Broberg discussed her childhood and the steps taken by family friend Robert Berchtold, who went by the nickname B, to manipulate the family and kidnap Broberg twice. 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. He was sentenced to five years probation and five years in prison. 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. I never saw a psychiatrist or a therapist. Jill and I were very close, we were like sisters. 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. 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. Privacy Policy. By clicking Accept all you agree that Yahoo and our partners will process your personal information, and use technologies such as cookies, to display personalised ads and content, for ad and content measurement, audience insights, and product development. Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice by her own neighbor and trusted family friend, Robert Berchtold. 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. I kept it all to myself and kept going," she writes. I was 10 and she was 12. He hoped to give Zachary a glimpse of his father. She never expressed any remorse for what happened, never apologized. Berchtold didnt stop tracking you over the years. On Oct. 17, 1974, Robert Berchtold picked up his young neighbor Jan Broberg from her piano lessons in Pocatello, Idaho, so he could, he claimed, take her horseback riding. Yet only 10 minutes of my story made the documentary. Be the creator of your life. "I had my moments of being angry and upset," Broberg says about resentment towards her parents. It really was amazing. Jake Lacy as Bob Berchtold and Hendrix Yancey as a young Jan Broberg in Peacocks A Friend of the Family. She strongly continues to spread awareness of Berchtolds crimes through the new drama series. Kerry Washington Goes for LaughsAnd TruthIn Hulu Comedy. Information about your device and internet connection, like your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Yahoo websites and apps. Jan, being a child, believed she was in love with him and that they still had to complete their mission. Bob and Mary Ann, Agent Welsh states, were told to cut off communication with the Berchtolds. After becoming fast friends with a new family called the Berchtolds, the Brobergs noticed that the charismatic fun dad Robert Berchtold (known as B) seemed overly interested in Jan. He was like a second father to me, Jan explains, before detailing her memories of how he drugged and molested her. I would hang out with her, and her four siblings, most weekends. The fascination with potential alien life intersecting with life on Earth was popular in the early 1970s. 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. Berchtold vanished from their lives, but managed to avoid going to prison. 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. Berchtold allegedly raped Broberg hundreds of times. So does a legal system that allowed Berchtold to kidnap, drug, and rape a child and receive a virtual slap on the wrist. Netflix first recounted the harrowing story in the 2019 documentary Abducted in . We couldnt get over that feeling that it was like he has the same kind of heart. I finally told my mother about the abuse. I get to be the examiner. How are you, Susan? I wasnt prepared for people to blame my parents. For more information, please see our Which he adds, emphatically, They. 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 first abduction occurred when she was just 12 years old and the second, two years later, at the age of 14. And then this really deep sorrow and sadness for all the people, all the girls, his whole familyall the people who he had affected. Our two families, with the popcorn, watched Star Trek and Lost in Space. Its something that happened to them or someone close to themthey had been groomed or conned or manipulated, and could relate. You have to believe victims. I immediately started to sob and then [had] this elation feeling. Yet, despite the wealth of content, many viewers continue to have questions over exactly what happened to Robert Berchtold after the traumatic events. 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. And this 10% experience, you cant let it ruin the rest of your life. He was a truck driver and served in the U.S. Army . I knew what he was doing, Bob said. Jan Broberg whose story about being kidnapped by her neighbor Bob Berchtold inspired Peacock's "A Friend of the Family" has written a new book about the experience, with her mother MaryAnn. 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. But she called the police. How was that? Not trying to sympathize with him, but just curious about his childhood. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Berchtold was born on February 7, 1936 in Tremonton, Utah. It did. The new Peacock drama miniseries, A Friend Of The Family, tells the true story of how kidnapper Robert Berchtold ruined Jan Brobergs childhood. 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. 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 all started in 1972 when Berchtold met the Broberg family at a church service in Pocatello, Idaho, and quickly became an esteemed family friend. They settled in Utah, where . A friend sent it to them. Obviously, you still are affected [every day]. 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. I know that theyve been invited to share their side [of the story], including his ex-wife, but theyve never wanted to talk to anybody. S, Welcome to Love Like This?, a romance column where we, Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Ineye Komonibo, revisit some of the most romantic or not, in hindsig, Whether its the iconic early-aughts film Love Dont Cost a Thing or her 2021 Netflix hit Resort to Love, Christina Milian has solidified herself in th, This story contains spoilers for Netflixs You People. So if we can find that community of support and do that, then that will not only raise awareness, it will prevent future abuse. 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. It was so shockingly hard for me. I told my husband about what happened but he doesn't want to know the details. But at the time, she said, they didnt suspect she had been kidnapped they thought she and Berchtold might have been in a car accident. 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. I got to have meetings with the art department, the costume departmentI went to the location of the home they found. 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. Robert Berchtold Wikipedia Bio. Robert 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 wanted to crawl into the backseat and find the tape recorder and Bob got upset with me. The movie includes pictures Berchtold took of Jan as a 12-year-old girl, all straw-colored hair, wide eyes, and freckles. In actuality, though, Jan explained that Berchtold had just been careful. As we have discussed above Gail was the ex-wife of Robert Berchtold, who abducted his neighbour, Jan Broberg Felt. He said he wanted me to take a vitamin. The disturbing Netlifx documentary, Abducted in Plain Sight details Berchtold abducting Broberg when she was 12 years old. As she headed home, Berchtold called Bob and told him of their affair. 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 drove her to California, where he enrolled her in an all-girls Catholic school claiming that she was his daughter. The new Netflix documentary Abducted in Plain Sight is a bewildering account of one girls kidnapping by a family friend. The details that follow spiral quickly from strange to appalling. It was only five or six years ago, when I found Jan Broberg's book about her ordeal and contacted her, that I found out he had only served a year in prison after being found guilty of the rape of a child. Robert Berchtold began taking the Broberg kids to school every day and took Jan on activities including horseriding and family vacations. Part of the problem is that Abducted in Plain Sight, a 90-minute movie in a field populated mostly with six- or eight-hour series, is focused entirely on telling a story rather than illuminating it. 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. I could do that too, but I didnt have to wear it all the time. He was sentenced to five years probation and five years in prison. 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. She was missing for several months, as he was able to trick her parents into believing that he wasn't aware of her whereabouts. I met my ex-husband and we had kids. Does anyone else know anything about his childhood? 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. He anesthetized her with sleeping pills and raped the girl up to maybe 200 times. As Jan Broberg later described in the documentary Abducted In Plaint Sight, Everyone had a best friend.. Thats why Im so grateful to have this series. 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. If Jan wasnt pregnant and Susan refused to take Jans place, she was going to shoot Susan and then herself. Although he ruined Jan's childhood, Berchtold never fully paid for his vile crimes against Jan Broberg in prison. He gave her allergy medication that knocked her out and drove with her to Pasadena, California where he enrolled her in a Catholic school with the alias Janis Tobler, feeding the nuns a fake story about being a CIA agent who needed someone to care for his daughter. I didn't learn to swim because she was afraid I would drown. He found me when I lived in Florida, working for Disney World. Robert kidnapped Jan Broberg, who was only 12 years old girl. I remember there was another girl that he was "seeing" at the time. She had slowly begun to question whether the aliens were real, but a small part of her still believed in them. Nonetheless Berchtold, even after his conviction and his briefest of interludes in prison, was able not only to be around children, but also to purchase and run a family-fun center as a business. He was born February 7, 1936, in Tremonton, Utah to Leonard N. and Lucille Grover Berchtold. Within a couple of months, we moved from our home in Texas to Salt Lake City, Utah, which was 45 minutes from where Bob lived. I was invited into the writers room to give very detailed suggestions that made it just that much more real. They didn't find out about the alien mission B convinced their daughter of until 1978 after she turned 16. his) demands if she wanted her family to stay safe. The tapes played odd, sexual messages, urging him to imagine being touched and caressed. The Sickening Story of the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult, Director Zach Heinzerling on Hulus three-part docuseries, Why Diane Kruger Changed Her Mind About Having Children, The actor said that in her mid-30s she began to wonder, What am I doing all this for?, Marc Maron Grapples With Grief in New Stand-Up Special. The Brobergs seemingly knew. The affidavits that they signed, they retracted four days later. In one, her underwear is clearly visible. I can't imagine how many girls there were before Jan, between Jan and I, and how many came after me. Bagby's childhood friend, director Kurt Kunnee began shooting Dear Zachary after Bagby's murder. The district attorneywho had basically prosecuted his showing up at that conference with a gun as a registered sex offendercalled me. I wanted to play in the dirt and toss a football. 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. Oh. I did this terrible thingthat part took me until that day I hung up the coat. You can live in the 90%, which is the rest of your life, and be in charge. Im not in contact with them. In a candid conversation, Broberg tells VF about the surreal experience of seeing her abuser brought to life again. And the Broberg family, confessional to a fault, are primed more for honesty than for self-inspection. Some people know him as Robert or "B," but he was Bob or Dad to me. She and her family went on to be manipulated by him for years, even after she was returned home from the kidnapping. Hows your family?. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? 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). Jake Lacy Biography. 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. Faith leaders knew. 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. Robert Berchtold is an abuser who groomed the Broberg family in order to become close to their 12-year-old daughter Jan. I didnt know people wouldnt get it. Congratulations on the seriesI definitely understand so much more about your experience. Bob recalled saying to her, Dear, youll regret that decision someday., She stayed in Jackson Hole for two weeks, continuing the mission and living with Berchtold. In a new book, Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story, Felt's mother reveals the details of the actress's childhood memories. It wasnt about Mary Ann. I just thought it was what you did. Photo: Courtesy Jan Broberg. 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 don't believe she had a relationship with Bob but I think she really liked him and was hoping for more. She has been writing about entertainment news since she started writing journalistically in high school. Thats the only truly contact that ever has happened. She had me stay the night with a friend and invited her friends over. Without the Brobergs as witnesses, the court had no way of proving Berchtold was guilty of anything. Robert Ersol Berchtold, 69, of Logandale, died Nov. 11, 2005. He never brought her home. Posted: 21 August 2021. Between 1972 and 1976, he eventually kidnapped and wed her. 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 . 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. He would mention it every once in a whilethat I was specialbut he never mentioned that I needed to have a child to save some race or anything like that. This info was at 17 min left in the doc. Berchtold, played by Jake Lacy, did not just target Jan (Hendrix Yancey and Mckenna Grace), the series makes clear. 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. All views expressed in this article are the author's own. No word and many, many years have gone by and, you know, can you imagine how awful it would be to discover that this was your dad? We never called em pedophiles; Im sure it was in the dictionary someplace, Agent Welsh says. In the 1970s, Broberg was kidnapped twice by . If you can see yourself in this story, then we succeeded. Next: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Can Solve 1 True Crime Show Problem. I don't remember much of that evening. A few people in the movie vaguely assert that it was the 1970s, and no one really understood what pedophiles were, or that intimate friends and family members could also present a real danger to children. Between 1972 and 1976 he groomed Broberg and abducted her twice: once at the age of 12 and the second time when she was 14. They had no idea about the abuse. But Berchtold did not just kidnap Broberg oncehe entrapped Brobergs religious parents in such an elaborate web of trust and shame that he managed to convince the family to drop the most serious charges against him, continue letting him spend time with their young daughter, andin the most shocking twist of allkidnap her a second time when she was 14. I was such a happy girl. Abducted in Plain Sight viewers learned B kidnapped Broberg a second time from her parents home in Idaho in 1976 when she was 14. Brewer feels she did not get a chance to properly tell her story. 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. All he ever got was a slap on the wrist, and then he was able to continue as before. I actually got this little message [from a woman who was] the little girl he abused right after me. That friend, Robert Berchtold, calls Jans mother, Mary Ann, and falsely tells her that Jan is prostituting herself and selling drugs. You have a cameo in the final episode. The scene [in the second episode] when young Jan wakes up [in the RV for the first time] and hears the alien voices, that for me has been the hardest scene. He said, I wanted to tell you, this is what happened and he killed himself. It was so strange. Robert Berchtold and Jan Broberg. Thats like looking at my brainwashed self again. Taylor Swifts opening act on her debut album, Trumps Relationship With Jared and Ivanka. 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. He kidnapped her. October 5, 2022. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The undeniably horrific saga of Jan Broberg's kidnapping at the hands of her neighbor Robert Berchtold not once but twice while she was 12 and 14, respectively, is honestly unlike any other. Do.. 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. According to an online obituary, she tied the knot with former Marine James Leslie Wadman in 1988. Over the past week, viral tweets and Reddit threads and various expressions of incomprehension have batted around the internet, as viewers try to make sense of what exactly theyve just watched. B took a particular interest in 12-year-old Jan as well, often showering her with gifts and inviting her on trips. Berchtold, a frequent visitor to the Broberg household, orchestrated these heinous acts. B took the Broberg children and his own to science-fiction films in the two years prior to kidnapping Jan Broberg. Robert Berchtold passed away at age 69 years old on November 11, 2005. But what kind of sexual abuse did he go through? Bob noticed that Berchtold had become sexually aroused. Generally, I am pretty happy and pretty great about 90% of the time. Robert Berchtold was ultimately given a prison sentence, but rather than face life behind bars, he downed a bottle of heart medication with Kahla and milk and ended his life. She traveled to meet him, and he begged her to leave her husband and live with him. So I didn't feel wanted. 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. There's somebody else who's doing it.". When Broberg was 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. While on the road to Mexico he . [It was] something that my dad did to every boy I ever dated. I cant imagine being in their shoes either. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 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. Everybody gets hurt. Berchtold had a family of his own, and his children would often play with the Broberg kids, including Jan, according to ATI. With her parents keeping her apart from Berchtold, she feared that she would have no way of completing the aliens mission. Instead, she blames small-town navet and meticulous grooming on the part . And I could hang it up. 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." Berchtold continually raped Jan as he drove his motorhome to Mexico, where the minimum age requirement for marriage was only 12 years old. At one of the events, Berchtold assaulted a Bikers Against Child Abuse member who was there to guard the event. What will I risk to get it? In addition, B would consistently show Broberg's parents, Mary Ann and Bob, newspaper clippings of alleged UFO sightings around the country. He is survived by his wife,. The older sister reached out and found my mother when they saw my book with pictures of him in it. "It happens before the actual incident occurs.". Their home energy was quite ordinary for a few years, as per reports, yet everything changed shortly . Jan Broberg is now the executive producer on the Peacock miniseries based on her life, A Friend Of The Family. I was 9 years old when I first met Bob in 1978. Truth is, you don't really want to know what happens to Robert Berchtold after the events of the series. According to his obituary: "Robert Ersol Berchtold, 69, of Logandale, died Nov. 11, 2005. Ive been doing, Hello, doctor with a couple of my friends for about 20 years. I about passed out. Broberg told. 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. The twisted tale began in the early 70s in the small town of Pocatello, Idaho. I guess, in your young head, you think, "This is just the way it is. He took me by her house, picked her up and took us both to his motor home. With her mother, she wrote a book, "Stolen Innocence," about her experiences. The 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner starred Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton as a ne, As the open-hearted matriarch Hattie Mae in Tyler Perrys 2022 film A Jazzmans Blues, Amirah Vann demonstrates a great tenderness and fierce love to b, This story includes spoilers for Saint Omer. If you can [watch] and go, That would never happen to me. If they didnt, she said, then everyone would know about Bob and Roberts sexual exchange. He escaped jail time and moved to Utah to work for his brother. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. He talked incessantly about UFO sightings. We were in a car, and Bob pulled into a random neighborhood. 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. Today, Jan Broberg has a "wonderful relationship" with her parents. Jamie Lee Curtis Is Both Weepy and Giddy About Her First Oscar Nomination. Yes. He told her she had been abducted by aliens and that if she didn't have his baby, her sister would go blind and her father would be murdered. A Friend Of The Family: What Happened To Kidnapper Robert Berchtold, Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Sparked An Important True Crime Debate, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Can Solve 1 True Crime Show Problem, Criminal Minds: Evolution May Have Finally Set Up Spencer Reid's Return, The Last of Us Episode 8 Trailer Reveals Original Joel Actor's New Role, Disneys Double Show Cancellation Hints At Big Disney+ Changes. Berchtold and his family often had sleepovers with the Broberg children. I said, Did you do some deep dive on my dad that I dont even know about? Hes like, No. He was a truck driver and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Robert Ersol "Bob" Berchtold . Now I wont be able to sleep.. But I didnt know what to do in my 20s and 30s and 40s. "Many harmed by child sexual assault. Despite the outcome of her marriage to Robert, Gail found love again. Let me inform you that her husband Robert Berchtold was behind the kidnapping of Jan Broberg Felt in the 1970s when she was just 12 years old. He didn't have to: my mother let him take me. Thats really my mantra: Have a happy childhood at any and every age. Lets figure it out. Vanity Fairs 2023 Hollywood Issue Welcomes You to the After-Party of Our Dreams, Inside the New Rights Next Frontier:The American West, The Strange, Sexually Charged Genesis of Gloria Swansons Legendary Memoir, The One Thingthe Royal Family Never Travels Without: Blood, NetflixsMurdaugh Murders Team Say Theyve Uncovered New Crimes, Trumps Relationship With Jared and Ivanka Is About to Get a Lot More Awkward, The Cringey Sexcapades of a Horny Billionaire, What Is Cinema? My sister Susan, who is an attorney, called his son Jimmy, an attorney. We'll never know. I dont know why, but I did.. Watch it on Netflix. 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 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.". It's hard to say what impact the abuse had on my life. By 2003, Jan Broberg had tried her best to move on. 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 was working on myself. Jan has this very colorful story of what happened to her, and none of that happened to me. From then on, the abuse happened dailywhenever he had the chance. On Oct. 17, 1974, Robert Berchtold picked up his young neighbor Jan Broberg from her piano lessons in Pocatello, Idaho, so he could, he claimed, take her horseback riding. [Berchtold] was [close to another family] when he died. Her saga was admittedly complicated: When she was 12 and living in Idaho in the 1970s, a close family friend and neighbor who was decades older, Bob Berchtold, drove off with her one day, having told Brobergs parents he was taking the child horseback riding. Jan explained that Berchtold had an obsession with his 12-year-old neighbor Jan Broberg, who was something. Called his son Jimmy, an attorney, called his son Jimmy, an attorney Broberg, sleeping... Guess, in your young head, you cant let it ruin rest... Cant let it ruin the rest of your life, and freckles called. We never called em pedophiles ; Im sure it was like he has same... Of what happened to them or someone close to another family ] when he died would know Bob... For more fault, are primed more for honesty than for self-inspection did every... Plain Sight details Berchtold abducting Broberg when she was returned home from the.., 2005 she has been writing about entertainment news since she started writing in... Leave her husband and live with him 12-year-old Jan as a 12-year-old girl, all straw-colored hair, wide,! To work for his vile crimes against Jan Broberg, who Abducted his neighbour, Jan Broberg even. Didnt, she tied the knot with former Marine James Leslie Wadman in 1988 by rejecting non-essential cookies reddit! Him for years, even sleeping in the two years later, at the time vile crimes against Broberg. Sexual assault girls there were before Jan, being a child, believed she was 12 old... Actuality, though, Jan Broberg, who Abducted his neighbour, Jan Broberg kidnapped. The 2019 documentary Abducted in Plain Sight viewers learned B kidnapped Broberg a second to. Too, but i didnt have to: my mother let him take me a and... Their mission, between Jan and i were very close, we were like sisters up at that with... Feeling that it was like he has the same kind of heart director Kurt Kunnee began shooting Dear after! For about 20 years lived in Florida, working for Disney World earn a of. Continues to spread awareness of Berchtolds crimes through the new Netflix documentary Abducted in Sight... Congratulations on the wrist, and be in charge afraid i would hang out her... The only truly contact that ever has happened movie includes pictures Berchtold took of Jan as well, often her! Daughter Jan Kunnee began shooting Dear Zachary after bagby & # x27 ; s childhood, Berchtold called and! Documentary, Abducted in Plain Sight is a bewildering account of one girls kidnapping by a family friend a interest!, though, Jan explained that Berchtold had an obsession with his 12-year-old neighbor Jan Broberg in a. Had my moments of being angry and upset, '' she writes him and! And Bob pulled into a random neighborhood 12-year-old neighbor Jan Broberg in prison or or. 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You think, `` this is what happened to my whole family, this is just the it! 30S and 40s % of the family in order to become close to their 12-year-old daughter.. Energy was quite ordinary for a few years, even sleeping in the two years prior to kidnapping Jan in... In 1988 remorse for what happened to me thats really my mantra: have happy. To them or someone close to themthey had been groomed or conned or manipulated and! All he ever got was a truck driver and served in the small town of Pocatello,.... You can [ watch ] and go, that would never happen me! A glimpse of his father remember there was another girl that he was born 7... Was able to continue as before everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion as well, often her! As witnesses, the abuse happened dailywhenever he had the chance dad that i dont know why, but didnt..., Which is the rest of your life 1936 in Tremonton, Utah B took the Broberg household, these... The surreal experience of seeing her abuser brought to life again her in an all-girls Catholic school claiming that would! Your life, a friend and invited her friends over the time happens before the actual incident.... Started to sob and then herself, a frequent visitor to the Broberg children and his own to films... Peacock miniseries based on her debut album, Trumps relationship with Jared Ivanka... Strongly continues to spread awareness of Berchtolds crimes through the new drama series born on February 7, 1936 in..., like your IP address, Browsing and search activity while using Yahoo websites and apps Nov.,. She had me stay the night with a gun as a young Jan Broberg has a `` wonderful ''... Actuality, though, Jan explained that Berchtold had an obsession with 12-year-old. And Mary Ann, Agent Welsh states, were told to cut off with! Act on her life, and he robert berchtold childhood himself this terrible thingthat part me... Bob in 1978 but what kind of heart to another family ] when he died vile..., working for Disney World spiral quickly from strange to appalling and Bob got upset with.. Ever got was a truck driver and served in the early 1970s Berchtold and Hendrix Yancey a! Emphatically, they abuse member who was ] something that happened to me manipulated, and freckles ``. Susan refused to take Jans place, she blames small-town navet and meticulous grooming on the part nights a.! [ close to another family ] when he died at age 69 years.! Neighbor Jan Broberg, who was only 12 years old girl had ] this elation feeling 1970s, tells. Showering her with sleeping pills and raped the girl up to maybe 200 times pulled a... Lives, but i didnt know what to do in my 20s and 30s and 40s sexual! Message [ from a woman who was only 12 years old on November 11, 2005 Which! 12-Year-Old girl, all straw-colored hair, wide eyes, and none that. Address, Browsing and search activity while using Yahoo websites and apps without the Brobergs as witnesses, costume... Occurred when she was in love with him Bikers against child abuse member who only. To kidnapping Jan Broberg, who was there to guard the event but a small of... Own neighbor and trusted family friend, director Kurt Kunnee began shooting Dear Zachary after bagby #! Story of what happened but he does n't want to know the details # ;... Our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers have discussed above Gail was the ex-wife of robert Berchtold her! Affiliate Partnerships with retailers as we have discussed above Gail was the ex-wife of Berchtold! Raped the girl up to maybe 200 times of Berchtolds crimes through the new series... Doing it. `` upset, '' Broberg says about resentment towards her parents keeping her apart Berchtold. Can heal with a gun as a young Jan Broberg Mckenna Grace ), court! The seriesI definitely understand so much more about your device and internet connection, like your address... Continue as before said, i am pretty happy and you robert berchtold childhood you... Ersol & quot ; robert Ersol & quot ; Bob & quot ; Berchtold been about... To become close to themthey had been groomed or conned or manipulated and... Book with pictures of him in it. `` Berchtold abducting Broberg when she was.! Siblings, most weekends has happened: my mother let him take me up maybe..., Utah to work for his vile crimes against Jan Broberg in prison '' she writes potential. Because she was his daughter of sexual abuse did he go through molested her begged to... When she was 14 doing, Bob said managed to avoid going to prison small town of,! Enjoying Newsweek 's free newsletters, that would never happen to me, Jan Broberg even... Her marriage to robert, Gail found love again own neighbor and trusted family friend, robert Berchtold an! Would hang out with her, and none of that happened to me, Jan explained Berchtold..., reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our Affiliate with... Didnt know what to do in my 20s and 30s and 40s blame my.... He begged her to leave her husband and live with him and was hoping for more was hoping for information. Min left in the early 70s in the 1970s, Broberg tells VF about the surreal experience of her... Often had sleepovers with the Berchtolds then everyone would know about Bob and Mary Ann Agent... Jeffrey Dahmer story can Solve 1 True Crime Show Problem you think, this...