He was like a genuine member of the family. But to the Brogers, Berchtold wasn't a stranger. Since then, parents have become a lot more wary of strangers and the danger they might pose to children. Maybe that’s because we as a society are much more aware about these things than Broberg’s parents were when the crimes took place in the ‘70s. There’s no reasonable explanation I can think of that would lead me to allow someone who isn't myself or my husband to sleep in my child's bed, regardless of his age or connection to the family. The documentary sends an important message to parents about trust and boundaries. ![]() In Abducted in Plain Sight, Broberg alleged that during her first kidnapping, Berchtold did molest her repeatedly and went on to sleep in her bed in her family home as a form of "therapy." This is a man who was so close to the Broberg family that they trusted him to sleep in their preteen daughter’s bed. Acquaintance kidnappings generally have the largest number of female victims and in most cases, these kidnappings involve some kind of sexual assault. Twenty-three percent were kidnappings by strangers and 49 percent were made up of family kidnappings. The idea that someone already in his life, in my life, could take advantage of him and our family, makes me sick.Īccording to the FBI’s 2017 National Crime Information Center Missing Persons File, 27 percent of the recorded kidnappings of children under the age of 18 that year were considered kidnappings by an acquaintance. As a parent, the thought of my son being taken by a stranger keeps me awake at night. If you haven't watched the documentary yet, it gets even more outrageous than that.īut the big takeaway here is that, as the title of the film suggests, Broberg was taken from her family in broad daylight and with no struggle because she knew and trusted the man who took her. He allegedly used his personal charm to relate to almost every member of Broberg’s family, including her parents, who both admitted in the documentary to having romantic relations with him. They explain that Broberg’s accused abductor, Robert Berchtold, and his own family had grown close to Broberg, her sisters, and her parents in the years leading up to her kidnapping. In the documentary, Jan Broberg and her family describe her abduction at the age of 12 by a close family friend and the years of manipulation and brainwashing that both lead up to and followed the crime. Not just because it tells the story of a frightening child abduction and details the horror the family went through, but because of how it happened. You’ve probably thanked the party gods that you never got sucked into Fyre Festival when it happened, and had a good time sleeping with the lights on after watching The Ted Bundy Tapes, but Abducted in Plain Sight is the Netflix documentary all parents need to watch. If you’re intrigued by this story of abduction, manipulation, and redemption, you won’t want to miss these five books either.It is arguably the golden age of documentaries and true crime miniseries to both entertain and scare the hell out of everyone. I don’t want to give too much else away, but if you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend that you switch your Friday night plans so you can view this true-crime tale. If you can make it through the whole documentary without throwing your remote at the television, I personally applaud you. The most frightening part of the case is how this series of events could have been easily avoided, if the parents had been more aware about whom they had welcomed into their home and lives in the first place. This was only the beginning of Jan’s terrifying saga. Her parents waited five days before contacting the FBI that their child was missing with the family friend (I don’t understand any of their logic in this AT ALL). Jan was brainwashed and sexually abused by Berchtold during this time in her kidnapping. ![]() ![]() Jan, as an impressionable 12-year-old child, believed what she was told to be true and followed the instructions she was given by this psychotic man. These “aliens” spoke to Jan in a recorder (which Berchtold obviously created) and told her that she needed to produce a child with Berchtold or else bad things would happen to her family. Berchtold then staged an “alien abduction” in order to manipulate Jan into thinking he was her protector. The kidnapping tale began when Berchtold decided to take Jan horseback riding one afternoon. Berchtold essentially manipulated the Broberg family and gained their trust so he could later kidnap Jan. ![]() The film revolves around Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped TWICE (she was kidnapped TWICE) by family friend Robert Berchtold (aka “B”) in the 1970s. The true-crime documentary Abducted in Plain Sight has utterly shocked and disturbed anyone who dares to watch it.
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