The source I chose is titled “Abducted in plain sight”. It is a true crime film that was created by Skye Borgman and was released in 2017. The documentary focuses on the real story of Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped twice throughout her life by the same man, Robert Berchtold.
Jan Broberg was born on July 31, 1962, in Idaho, while growing up she had the company of the parents and two sisters as well as a family friend who everyone adored and was referred to as ” B”(Robert Berchtold). In the documentary Jan says that she felt as if Robert was her father, everyone said they had a “special bond” and that the family trusted him so much to the point where they would let Robert sleep in the same bed as Jan, nobody suspected that he had ulterior motives.
One day, when Jan was twelve Robert asked her mother for permission to take Jan horse-riding after school to which her mother agreed. Robert’s plans were different and evil. When he got Jan into the car after picking her up from school, he drugged her and escaped to Mexico with the captive child. Jan says that when she woke up, she was in a dark room with Robert lying next to her, she was confused and when Robert woke up, they would listen to a tape recording that he purposefully made to brainwash Jan into believing that there were aliens that were going to kill her family if she did not have sexual relations with Robert and got pregnant. They called this ” the mission”.
Jan believed they had to assume their role in the “mission” and Robert proceeded to engage in sexual actions with the minor, he raped her for days and she believed they were accomplishing their mission. Robert and Jan got married in Mexico and because he wanted to go back to the United States as a married “couple” he had to ask Jan’s parents approval for the marriage to which they refused and flied to Mexico, they took Jane back to the United States and reported Robert for the kidnapping. When Robert returned to the US he was charged with kidnapping, although he had not been charged for rape as officials could not find the evidence. Robert was sentenced to serve 5 years in prison, but his sentence was reduced, and he ended up serving only 3 months in jail.
After this ordeal Jan’s parents allowed Robert to continue to see Jan after getting out of jail, it was revealed in the documentary that Robert made the way back into the family and engaged in sexual activities in separate occasions with both of Jan’s parents while also raping the little girl when he had the chance. Jan developed Stockholm syndrome and believed to be in love with Robert. Jan was so brainwashed that she wanted to keep seeing Robert and complete their “mission” which is why she left home with him months after the first kidnapping.
Robert kidnapped Jan for a second time, they went to Utah and changed names. He enrolled her in an all-girls catholic school and asked the staff not to reveal any of their information. The FBI found their whereabouts, took Jan to safety with her parents and Robert was charged with kidnapping again. Robert was not convicted this time for the kidnaping and was sent to a mental facility instead. He was released after six months. As time passed Jan realized that the “mission” was not real and although Robert continued to taunt the family, she was ready to move on. Jan and her mother ultimately wrote a book about this story to spread awareness.
After watching this documentary, I could not help but to feel like everyone failed Jan. The documentary shows the truth behind her parents, who failed to report her missing in time and only did so after two whole weeks of the little girl being missing. They kept letting Robert into this little girl’s life after he kidnaped her. They knew the motives behind this monster and did nothing to stop it, if anything they encouraged him by engaging in sexual acts with him. Robert continued raping and brainwashing Jan for years until she developed Stockholm syndrome. The police also failed Jan because they did not find the evidence to charge him for raping a minor, I believe they could have done a better investigation. At one point during the documentary Jan said that Robert raped her in a way in which he would not break her hymen so if anyone did a rape kit on Jan, they would not find evidence enough to charge him. After the second kidnaping Robert was not convicted and instead, he was sent to a mental facility which shows that clearly the system is flawed and, in some cases, unjust because they did not consider him a threat to society even after he raped, brainwashed and kidnapped this child in two different occasions. This documentary does not show a lot about law processes, although it shows that evidence is a very important in legal proceedings, a case could be decided mostly based on evidence which is something I take from this documentary and will probably have in mind in the future as I start my career in the legal field. I recommend this documentary to anyone interested in true crime although it is a very hard case.
