If you’re a fan of Netflix’s true-crime content material, you probably bear in mind the kidnapping case of Jan Broberg examined within the 2017 documentary “Kidnapped in Plain Sight.” The character of Jan’s kidnapping, in addition to the emotional turmoil it precipitated the Broberg household, is a harrowing and deeply unsettling story that can make you query who you belief, regardless of how shut or pleasant they might appear.
Following the documentary, Jan’s case is as soon as once more being informed, although this time by a dramatic lens within the Peacock collection “A Buddy of the Household,” starring Colin Hanks, Anna Paquin, and Jake Lacy. Jan, alongside together with her mom, Mary Ann Broberg, served as producers of the collection, which premiered on Peacock on Oct. 6. Forward, learn all about what Jan is as much as at present.
Who Is Jan Broberg?
Born to Robert and Mary Ann Broberg on July 31, 1962, Jan grew up together with her two youthful sisters, Karen and Susan, within the small city of Pocatello, ID. In the summertime of 1972, the close-knit household met Robert “Bob” Berchtold when his household moved in just a few streets away, as reported by ABC Information. The Brobergs and Berchtolds hit it off straight away, as each Roberts had rather a lot in widespread, like their kids being comparable in age and attending the identical church.
Because the households grew nearer, Berchtold slowly began to achieve their belief and have become like a father determine to the Broberg ladies, particularly Jan. In keeping with the Idaho State Journal, Berchtold would commonly cease by their home and bathe Jan with consideration and items. Jan’s seemingly harmless relationship with Berchtold, whom she typically referred to as “B,” would take a darkish flip within the fall of 1974.
How Did Jan Broberg Get Kidnapped Twice?
By October 1974, Berchtold was basically an extension of the Broberg household and was very shut with Mary Ann, Robert, and Jan particularly. When Berchtold approached Mary Ann and Robert someday to ask if he may take Jan horseback driving, the dad and mom agreed to it. Berchtold, nevertheless, had different plans in thoughts. Whereas driving Jan to go horseback driving, he drugged and kidnapped her. When Jan wakened, she was in a motor residence in the midst of the desert (an investigation would later reveal Jan was in Mexico), in keeping with the Idaho State Journal.
Jan was brainwashed into pondering that she was kidnapped by aliens and that she needed to full a “mission” to save lots of their planet by having a toddler with a “male companion,” she informed the Idaho State Journal. Whereas strapped to the mattress, Jan had a tape recorder subsequent to her, and he or she later recalled to the BBC, “The message stated, ‘You’ll go to the entrance of the motor residence and meet the male companion.’ They’d been calling me ‘the feminine companion’ this complete time. I stand up, and who’s mendacity on the little couch of the motor residence? Robert Berchtold.”
5 weeks later, the FBI tracked down the pair and Jan returned residence with out telling anybody in regards to the abuse and the aliens. “My dad didn’t ever let Berchtold again in our home, again into his life,” she defined to the BBC. “He knew one thing was completely fallacious with him. However [my dad] did not know that he’d molested me or raped me as a result of I wasn’t telling.” Berchtold solely confronted a 45-day sentence and ended up serving 10 days in jail, in keeping with Individuals.
Two years later in 1974, Berchtold kidnapped Jan for the second time when she was 14. This time, moderately than spend nearly all of time in his motor residence, Berchtold took Jan to Pasadena, CA, and enrolled her in an all-girls Catholic boarding college beneath a unique title, per ABC Information. She was rescued as soon as once more by the FBI after three months, however this time Berchtold was despatched to a psychiatric hospital as an alternative of jail.
The place Is Jan Broberg Now?
Jan has since been on a therapeutic journey and has sought counseling to rebuild her life, the BBC reported in June 2019. She’s additionally used her story to assist different younger kids, in addition to dad and mom, to search for the warning indicators she and her household as soon as missed. In 2003, Jan’s mom wrote a e-book titled “Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story.” Jan informed the BBC that she hopes different survivors will really feel “empowered to maneuver ahead with their very own life and to repair what’s damaged” after listening to her story. Jan desires individuals to belief their instincts “and hold wanting, as an alternative of turning away.”
Exterior of bringing consciousness to her story, Jan can be energetic within the movie trade. Amongst her many titles, she is an actor, most identified for starring in WB’s “Everwood” as Louise, and now a producer for “A Buddy of the Household.” Referring to the influence of the present, Jan informed “In the present day” in October, “This manner of telling the story permits the viewers to turn out to be concerned — to see themselves — to allow them to cease it in its tracks. In the event that they discover one thing that’s amiss in their very own life — it is not a giant purple flag. It is just a few spidey sense for, you understand, 30 seconds.”
Catch “A Buddy of the Household,” streaming now on Peacock, and watch the trailer for the collection under.
