Honestly, what else is there to say about Abducted in Plan Sight?
For one, I think this is the most interesting and most disturbing thing I have ever watched. There are tons of cringeworthy moments, but there are also many unanswered questions that leave the viewers scratching their heads and me to believe that the Broberg's are the worst parents in history.
The documentary that landed on Netflix in January has the internet bamboozled with itss unusual tale of an entire family that fell victim to an alluring pedophile in the 1970s. The documentary tells the story of the Broberg family, featuring the daughter Jan Broberg, her parents, Bob and Mary Ann and their neighbor Robert "B" Berchtold.
How the Broberg family manages to fall victim to B's pervertedness takes up only 20 minutes of the hour and a half film, and there are plenty of unanswered questions left at the end. Viewers wonder how B was walking around free after the whole situation, but also how Mary Ann and Bob remained a couple all of it.
To me, it's alarming that the Brobergs felt confident that he wouldn't harm her. It took the Broberg family five days to alert the FBI that their daughter, Jan, went missing with B after he was supposed to take her horseback riding one afternoon.
Mary Ann explained that she waited because of B's wife, Gail, who asked her not to call the police. Mary Ann admitted to being scared because both her and her husband felt there was something odd about all the attention B gave Jan, but still confident enough that he wouldn't hurt her.
Are you serious?
It had been evident that B had been preying on Jan months before he abducted her, and the Brobergs felt confident enough that he wouldn't cause any physical, mental or emotional harm to her?
The Brobergs were part of a close-knit community in Pocatello, Idaho, and they were members of the Church of Latter-day Saints. When the Berchtold's - Gail, B, and their five kids - moved next door, the husbands bonded, the wives got along and the kid's became friends. Jan expressed that everyone got along and it seemed normal.
But as the story goes on, B starts being very attentive to the three Broberg girls, but especially Jan whom though of him as a second father. All the girls thought of him as a fun-loving adult who cared for them. It's apparent at this point B was just inserting himself into their lives. Jan and her sister Karen even shared a bedroom, but B built them a wall in-between giving them each their own bedrooms.
But most importantly, it gave Jan privacy and him easy access.
The Brobergs had no idea that B had been convicted of child molestation and had spent time in prison, or that the Church of Latter-day Saints had rebuked his privileges for his behavior with another child.
In the 1970s there was no such thing as a state or national sex offender registry that publicly available. Around the time of Jan's abduction more than five women had come forward accusing B of sexually assaulting them when they were underage.
Following the abduction the FBI discovered that the Berchtold family RV was missing. Next they found B's abandoned Ford staton wagon where the driver's side window was broken and blood was found on the inside of the car. Footprints that matched B's were also found leaving the car.
When this information was revealed, Mary Ann had to have thought she might never see her daughter again.
They stayed off the radar for 35 days. All the while, Berchtold was busy brainwashing Jan, playing her tapes that would convince her that she was half-alien, and it was her job to save the planet from destruction. He also raped her repeatedly, while convincing her that he loved her and that everything was part of some master plan. He even went as far as to threaten her and her family if she told anybody about anything that had happened.
In Nov. of 1974 B called his brother, Joe Berchtold, and asked him to contact the Brobergs to get their permission for him to marry Jan. B had taken Jan to Mexico (where the federal age of consent is 12) to marry her because in Idaho it wouldn't be allowed. Berchtold's brother alerts the family, and then contacts the FBI to tell them where B was. That is when authorities apprehended him.
Throughout this process both parents had admitted that they believed her daughter was okay, and that B never would harm her. I think that in the back of their minds they knew that B was a predator and that meant no good, but it was hard for them to believe in hindsight. What happens after B and Ann return to the United States takes a turn for the worst.
Because B had brainwashed Jan, she insisted that she wasn't raped. Doctors examined Jan's hymen and concluded that it was intact. Jan explained in the documentary that B was very gentle, and other details I don't want to explain. But it was evident that Jan was far more concerned about what was going to happen her husband over anything else. Either way, their marriage was annulled.
B was convicted on kidnapping charges, but only served 10 days in jail. Bob Broberg stopped cooperating with the case because Gail said she would expose the incident where had a homosexual interaction with B. The Brobergs agreed that their daughter wasn't taken by force and held against her will. They also said that B could have been under the impression that he had the family's consent to take their daughter.
Lastly, B convinced Mary Ann to have an eight month affair with him after he had kidnapped her daughter. That is where I draw the line. B had kidnapped, brainwashed and raped the daughter, been successful in having a homosexual experience with the father, and then slept with the mother.
t's evident that they were fooled by B, but after all that they remained in contact with him.That fact convinced me that the Broberg's are just as terrible as B, and in my mind are the worst parents of all time. End of story.
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