Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of assault, sexual abuse and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.
Robert Berchtold abducted and sexually assaulted Jan Broberg during the 1970s, starting when Jan was just 12 years old. Berchtold was reportedly a close friend of the Brobergs and almost became a part of their family, to the extent that he was considered a second father figure. The Brobergs and Berchtold were both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This served as a common point for them to bond, BBC reported.
In August 1974, Robert Berchtold fled to Mexico with the Brobergs’ 12-year-old daughter, Jan Broberg. He allegedly drugged her while they were on the way to a horseback riding lesson. She then woke up in a motorhome in Mexico, where someone played out several tape recordings to her. The voices in the recordings told her that she was special and was a scion of a rare alien species.
Robert Berchtold then convinced her that she had to procreate with him to ensure the sustenance of her species. He threatened her that she would be punished if she didn’t comply. He held her there for five weeks and repeatedly raped her. Meanwhile, Bob Broberg and Mary Ann Broberg did not report a kidnapping when Jan disappeared. They trusted Berchtold so much that they thought it would have been a car accident, as per NBC News.
Soon, the Brobergs began getting worried, and the FBI launched an investigation into the disappearance. They tracked Robert Berchtold and Jan Broberg down. They brought them home from Mexico. However, Berchtold managed to avoid charges as he brainwashed the Brobergs. He convinced them to sign an affidavit that stated that they permitted him to take Jan.
Was Robert Berchtold convicted and how did he die?
NBC News reported that Robert Berchtold brainwashed the Brobergs so powerfully that he managed to abduct Jan Broberg once again, in 1976. Even after his return from that abduction, he wasn’t charged or convicted of any crimes, as he claimed he had a mental illness and was detained in a mental institution for around six months. Jan Broberg, meanwhile, hadn’t revealed to her parents what exactly Berchtold had done for a long time after the kidnappings.
Later, many other women came out with their stories and informed Jan Broberg that Robert Berchtold had also abused them. It was in 1986 that Berchtold was found guilty of the rape of a child. However, he only spent one year in jail. Berchtold disappeared after that. He returned only thirty years later when he began to talk and harass Jan Broberg when she went out to events or spoke about her past. When she accused him of stalking, Berchtold was finally convicted of assault, criminal trespassing, and disorderly conduct. However, before he could be sentenced, he died by suicide in November 2005, according to Distractify.
Abducted in Plain Sight is a true-crime documentary film on Netflix that digs deeper into the repeated crimes of Robert Berchtold and how he managed to inflict abuse on Broberg for years together by consistently manipulating her family. It was released on May 26, 2017, and is currently streaming on Netflix.
