Abducted in Plain Sight has left people with plenty of thoughts.
With the news that the director Skye Borgman is considering making a sequel to Abducted in Plain Sight, it appears that the horrific crimes of Robert Berchtold will continue to be exposed for the world to see.
As stated in the documentary, the incredibly brave Jan Broberg was willing to share her story because she wanted to shed light on how child predators groom their targets.
To her immense credit, Broberg has not let Berchtold’s heinous crimes define who she is and in a recent interview with Vulture, the actress was very candid about what it took to rebuild the relationship with her parents, Mary Ann and Bob.
In case you need a reminder, the documentary tells the story of Jan Broberg, a girl who was kidnapped not once, but twice, in the 1970s by a family friend named Robert Berchtold, who manipulated her and raped her repeatedly.
Aside from sexually molesting and brainwashing Jan, Berchtold also seduced both of her parents, Mary Ann and Bob, to manipulate them into giving him access to their young daughter.
Both of Jan’s parents were also romantically involved with Berchtold and even after he abducted their daughter, they both stayed in contact with him.
The director recently answered some of the big questions that viewers still have about the documentary but Broberg has also weighed in on some of the issues. In doing so, Jan mainly focused on how she managed to repair the relationship with her parents.
“My parents are such good people. We had an ideal childhood up until age 12, when whom we thought was our best friend kidnapped me and brainwashed me. We talked and communicated. My parents listened. There was no question that they loved us unconditionally and that they loved other people unconditionally. Which also made us susceptible, probably, to be manipulated, but those also were the things that saved me in the end,” said Broberg.
She adds: “The same things that can make you susceptible or too trusting or too forgiving — or maybe not as street smart — are also the same things that allowed me to heal. If you don’t trust anybody and you don’t have faith in anything, that seems like an awful way to live. But I think you have to balance that with listening to your own heart and being curious enough to find facts and ask questions and not just rely on somebody telling you what to think or believe”.
With regards to the romantic liaison that Jan’s father had with Berchtold, she thinks that her father viewed the documentary as a cathartic way to openly discuss the guilt that he was feeling.
“My dad passed away in November, but he was ready for the world to know. He said if his experience can help just one other person avoid making the same mistake, it’s worth it. I mean, masturbation is not something to lose your mind over. He felt terrible about doing that. He had no idea what the bigger picture was — it was about him trying to blackmail him. B had a bigger, more sinister plan,” said Broberg.
As we saw in the documentary, Berchtold abducted, raped, mentally tortured Jan but she refuses to blame her parents for not stopping this predator earlier.
“Grooming is a very interesting subject that I think many people do not understand. When you’re in it, when it’s happening to you, you don’t know it. It happens slowly all the time. I don’t feel like people really understand how it happens and they just blame my parents. The reality is that my parents were victims too, and this man was just a master manipulator”.
During the interview, Broberg also talked about the moment that she realised that Berchtold had successfully driven a wedge between her parents.
“There were just so many things that that I wanted to know. What were you guys doing? What was happening here at home? We would have these long conversations and that’s when my mom explained what happened with her. With my dad, it took longer. I didn’t know really anything and neither did my mom, other than my dad had said he did something terrible that he would regret for the rest of his life, but he didn’t want to tell her what it was. He felt so ashamed and terrible about it, so he really did not tell any of the details about what happened that day in that car until years later.”
Broberg also notes that her mother did try to repent and make amends for her behaviour.
After enduring years of horrific abuse, Jan said that counselling, a program called the Landmark Forum, and being active in the church all helped her recover. Broberg also said that her parents were also a source of strength in her mental rehabilitation.
“I’m really grateful that I had parents who listened. My main source of healing was the fact that any time that I did want to say something, whether I was screaming at them or crying hysterically, they just acknowledged, accepted, listened. They didn’t try to defend themselves. They just acknowledged my feelings and listened,” she said.
You can read the whole interview here.
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