And yet several local families had been troubled enough by Berchtolds attempts to get close to their children that the church intervened. Your family was so close to the Berchtolds for years. So I felt like I was protecting her from being hurt, by allowing the abuse to happen. 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. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Robert Berchtold. They didn't find out about the alien mission B convinced their daughter of until 1978 after she turned 16. 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 . I'd been led up to that moment," Broberg said. Watch it on Netflix. I had never taken a vitamin before and honestly, I just couldn't swallow pills. I get to be the decision-maker of how I move forward. We think hes in the parking lot. Im like, What? I think he just knew that I cared about her. Photo: Courtesy Jan Broberg. In the beginning, he would say, "Do what you're told," and then, when I was 13, he said, "If it's not you, it's going to be somebody else." Mary Ann was involved in an eight-month affair with B post kidnapping while she was still married to Bob, even though she knew he was her daughters abductor. He continued to try to terrorize me in the weirdest ways. NetflixMary Ann Broberg described Berchtold as having a charisma that Bob didnt possess.. Over the course of the next six months, Berchtold slept in Jans bed roughly four times a week. 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. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Theres a lot more to the story. I really see those things as being almost separate. She recently graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with a BA in journalism and a minor in film studies. Shes the one who identified [her mother] in the audience, who she hadnt seen for seven years and wouldnt call mother. Shes like, Shes here, so he must be nearby.. So that's why Im stepping into advocacy with the Jan Broberg Foundation. I wasnt prepared for people to blame my parents. However, the family still wasn't rid of Robert Berchtold. But I didnt know what to do in my 20s and 30s and 40s. Jamie Lee Curtis Is Both Weepy and Giddy About Her First Oscar Nomination. How did you find out about his suicide? In 2005, Berchtold was found guilty of the assault committed during the Stolen Innocence book tour. The twisted tale began in the early 70s in the small town of Pocatello, Idaho. In spite of the fact that Robert (or B) was born on February 7, 1936 close to Tremonton, Utah, he spent the majority of his childhood in the Mountain West region with his mother, several of his siblings, his stepfather, and his stepfather's biological father. These guys were crazy and those stupid people, then we failed. 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. 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. He brought her to California and enrolled her in a Catholic school, posing as her father and a CIA agent, according to the documentary. We were in a car, and Bob pulled into a random neighborhood. 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. 18 months later, while out on bail & awaiting trial for kidnapping, Robert Berchtold abducted Jan for the 2nd time, triggering FBI manhunt. Now I wont be able to sleep.. After years of intense grooming, Jan started to gain romantic feelings towards Berchtold. Set in the 1970s, Robert and Mary Ann Broberg and their three young daughters, Jan, . He even showed up at a speaking engagement of yours with a gun. I was such a happy girl. As a result of his death, many feel that Robert Berchtold never fully faced justice for kidnapping Jan. Later episodes of A Friend of the Family (whose cast includes Colin Hanks) will cover one of the most astonishing facts about this case which is that Jan Broberg was kidnapped twice by Robert Berchtold within a two-year period. "Many harmed by child sexual assault. Today, Jan Broberg has a "wonderful relationship" with her parents. 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. That friend, Robert Berchtold, calls Jans mother, Mary Ann, and falsely tells her that Jan is prostituting herself and selling drugs. The first time Berchtold kidnapped Broberg, he took her to Mexico and married her. He was a truck driver and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Berchtold continually raped Jan as he drove his motorhome to Mexico, where the minimum age requirement for marriage was only 12 years old. It really was amazing. Kerry Washington Goes for LaughsAnd TruthIn Hulu Comedy. He began flirting with Mary Ann, inviting her on a Church retreat in Logan, Utah. 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. In actuality, though, Jan explained that Berchtold had just been careful. My mother had four biological sons and she wanted a girl, so she adopted me. She brought him to the house for dinner and he seemed nice enough. Hows your family?. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. All but 45 days of his prison sentence were suspended, and B ended up only serving 10 days in prison, according to the documentary. Not as much as I have been in past years. After all, as profiled in both Netflix's 'Abducted in Plain Sight' as well as Peacock's 'A . This info was at 17 min left in the doc. The encounter quickly became sexual. I think people get [now how] we were so close to the [Berchtold] family.. I did what I was supposed to do. BRIGHAM CITY - Robert Ersol Berchtold, age 69, died Frida, November 11, 2005, in Bunkerville, Nevada. 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. Bob kidnapped Jan twice, whereas he never kidnapped me. Of course, my insecurities show, and my anger pops out. 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. Not. The 31-year-old Belgian filmmaker tackles the crisis of connection among teen boys in his second film, now an international feature Oscar nominee. 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. The Disturbing Story Of Robert Berchtold, The Pedophile Who Kidnapped And Assaulted His Neighbors Daughter Twice. At home, Jan was distant. My mom was divorced, lonely and didn't want to be alone anymore. 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. Many people did. 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. 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 get to be the examiner. It was an interesting thing. In the 1970s, Broberg was kidnapped twice by . Does anyone else know anything about his childhood? The [A Friend of the Family team] were sensitiveThey wanted it to be told in an honest, complete, and realistic way. Next: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Can Solve 1 True Crime Show Problem. Click Manage settings for more information and to manage your choices. Have you been in touch with them? "It happens before the actual incident occurs.". He talked incessantly about UFO sightings. She never expressed any remorse for what happened, never apologized. Manipulation and grooming are not understood by so many. I was invited into the writers room to give very detailed suggestions that made it just that much more real. Bob noticed that Berchtold had become sexually aroused. 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. She was drugged on numerous occasions; I was only drugged once. Robert E Berchtold of Logandale, Clark County, Nevada was born on February 7, 1936. I was on set. As we have discussed above Gail was the ex-wife of Robert Berchtold, who abducted his neighbour, Jan Broberg Felt. I kept it all to myself and kept going. It was through a course that I did that helped me see that you have the rest of your life. 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. I think that's the sick thing, when you come from a family that walks past and ignores you; it's attention, good or bad. 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. 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. The next time I stayed at his apartment was the first time I didn't get my "vitamin," so I was conscious during the assault. Here is where Borgmans unwillingness or lack of space to parse exactly whats going on feels most acute. 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. It was the thing that kept me obedient.. Meanwhile, her parents blamed themselves for these events. 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. It didn't take long before Bob had his own key and could come and go as he pleased. Without the Brobergs as witnesses, the court had no way of proving Berchtold was guilty of anything. I mean, Ive been married and divorced a number of times. The fascination with potential alien life intersecting with life on Earth was popular in the early 1970s. The Berchtold family also had a baby girl when they met in the Peacock dramatization. He got very angry. The affidavits compromised the FBIs case against B. That was heartbreaking. People knew, or certainly had surmised, that he was a threat. Jan Broberg is now the executive producer on the Peacock miniseries based on her life, A Friend Of The Family. 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. He explained to Bob that he had a traumatic childhood, including having sex with an aunt when he was four. 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. Once that moment happened, I believed it entirely, completely, and I knew [aliens] were watching me. We couldnt get over that feeling that it was like he has the same kind of heart. The result is a documentary that exposes them for public scrutiny without pausing to really interrogate their actions. That was terrifying and surreal because I was finishing a speech for a thousand women and their daughters. At the same time, Berchtold had contrived a story about taking Jan on vacation but getting stuck in Mexico, unable to return unless they got married. Robert Berchtold was born on November 6, 1920, and died at age 50 years old in August 1971. Neither one of us were comfortable with him doing it, Mary Ann said, but it was part of his therapy.. He told the Brobergs he needed to sleep in Jans bed. He, on some other level, was able to truly do what great actors do, which is to figure out what, What do I want? 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