Where IsAbducted in Plain Sight’s Jan Broberg Now? A Look At Her Life After She Was Kidnapped by Robert Berchtold — Twice

Mar. 15, 2025

Robert Berchtold and Jan Broberg.Photo: Netflix

Back in the early 1970s, Jan’s parents, Mary Ann and Bob Broberg, met Berchtold and his family while attending church in the small town of Pocatello, Idaho. The two families became close, and Jan eventually thought of Berchtold as a father figure — but he had ulterior motives.

Over the course of several years, Berchtold set his sights on Jan, going as far as having separate affairs with her parents to keep her within reach. On Oct. 17, 1974, Berchtold took 12-year-old Jan under false pretenses and held her captive in this RV, convincing her that aliens had given them a mission: to have a child together and save the planet.

Soon after, Berchtold drove Jan down to Mexico, where they wed. While Berchtold was later charged with kidnapping, he continued to manipulate Jan and her parents. She still believed the alien mission was real, and Berchtold kidnapped her a second time on Aug. 10, 1976 to complete it.

In the end, the two were found, and Berchtold was sentenced to time in a mental facility, but it wasn’t the last time their lives crossed paths.

So what happened to Jan Broberg? Here’s everything to know about her kidnapping and where she is now.

Who was Jan Broberg’s kidnapper Robert Berchtold?

Jan Broberg and Robert Berchtold.ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT TRAILER/YouTube

ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT TRAILER/YouTube

Berchtold, a husband and father of five, met the Brobergs in June 1972 when he began attending the same church in Pocatello, Idaho, according to the 2017 Netflix documentaryAbducted in Plain Sight. The Broberg family was involved in the church as devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they invited Berchtold and his family into their home.

Over the next few months, the two families spent time together, with Berchtold earning the nickname “B.” In the documentary, Jan revealed that she considered him a “second father,” sharing that she initially felt safe with him. He made it a routine to visit every night to talk and play games.

“Everybody had a best friend. Between the Brobergs and the Berchtold family, there was a best friend for everyone. We had some of our best family times when we were with the Berchtold family,” Jan said.

What happened in the time leading up to Jan Broberg’s first kidnapping?

A photo of the Broberg family in ‘Abducted in Plain Sight.'.Courtesy Jan Broberg

After their first encounter in church, Berchtold gained the trust of Mary Ann and Bob to get to Jan. From the beginning, the couple noticed Berchtold had a “fascination” with Jan, but he managed to distract them with his charm — even starting separate romantic affairs with them, according toAbducted in Plain Sight.

In doing so, Berchtold was able to spend increasing time with Jan, even giving her a job at his furniture store. She also accompanied the Berchtold family on a trip to Seattle in June 1973. During an appearance on theTrust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and the Abuse of Powerpodcast, she recalled Berchtold convincing her parents for permission and her excitement when they eventually agreed because she had a crush on his oldest son Jerry — but the visit took a turn.

One night, while they were out to dinner, Jan appeared unwell, swaying in her seat while speaking incoherently, she recounted inAbducted in Plain Sight. Berchtold took her back to their motel, where she drifted in and out of consciousness. Afterward, she only remembered waking up and seeing him without clothes.

He told the couple that a part of his therapy to overcome his trauma was to be around a child who was the same age as his abuser while listening to therapeutic tape recordings from his psychologist — and he even encouraged them to call his doctor for confirmation.

Mary Ann and Bob hesitantly allowed Berchtold to spend time with Jan while she was sleeping. He lay beside her for 20 minutes every night for nearly six months, up until the evening before her kidnapping.

What happened during Jan Broberg’s first kidnapping?

On Oct. 17, 1974, Berchtold invited Jan for a horseback riding lesson. As the owner of a furniture store, he was heading to a ranch belonging to a client to take some measurements, she said on theTrust Mepodcast.

Jan, who had previously ridden horses with Berchtold and his son, agreed to join — but since it was a school night, her father said no. When Berchtold later asked Mary Ann instead, she approved as long as Jan was back before dinner.

Berchtold proceeded to pick Jan up from her piano class, and on the way to the ranch, he gave her what she believed to be her allergy medication, according toAbducted in Plain Sight. Instead, it was a sleeping pill, and when she awoke, she was tied down to a bed in the back of an RV.

As she went in and out of consciousness, a tape recording played that told her she was secretly part of an alien race. The voices told her that the aliens had been watching her since she was born, and she now had a mission to help their dying planet. Jan was instructed that a “male companion” was waiting at the front of the RV, and she must bear a child with him before her 16th birthday.

“They said if I didn’t do this, my father and I would be killed, my sister Karen would go blind and my sister Susan would be kidnapped and take my place as the ‘female companion.’ The only thing I was thinking about was protecting my family,” shetold theIdaho State Journal.

Isolated and afraid, Jan believed the story. As she approached the front of the RV, she discovered Berchtold, who had orchestrated a scene to appear hurt and unconscious. When Jan “woke” him, he told her they had been driving when he saw a white flash of light, and the car started shaking.

Why didn’t Mary Ann and Bob Broberg contact authorities right away?

A photo of the Broberg family in ‘Abducted in Plain Sight.'.Netflix

When Jan and Berchtold didn’t return home on the night of the horseback riding lessons, Mary Ann and Bob grew concerned.

That evening, Berchtold’s wife Gail came over and tried to reassure the couple that they would come back soon, according toAbducted in Plain Sight. Mary Ann suggested calling the police, but Gail told her to wait. Since Mary Ann and Bob didn’t believe Berchtold would harm their daughter and didn’t want to upset Gail, they held off on calling the police.

Two days later, Jan and Berchtold still hadn’t returned, so Mary Ann called the FBI. Unfortunately, the office was closed for the weekend, and another day passed before Mary Ann dialed a different number. Upon receiving the message, FBI agents immediately headed to the Broberg’s home — beginning a nationwide search for the little girl.

Berchtold told her that the aliens had visited him, who had warned them not to mention their mission to anyone. If she disobeyed, her sister Karen would go blind, her father would be killed, and her sister Susan would be taken — and she would be “vaporized.” Berchtold convinced Jan to tell her parents he had taken her on vacation and believed they had parental consent.

Was Robert Berchtold charged with kidnapping?

Robert Berchtold and Jan Broberg on the far right.ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT TRAILER/YouTube

After Mary Ann and Bob arrived in Mexico, they flew back to the U.S. with Jan but noticed something was different about her. Soon after, they issued a request to Mexican authorities for the marriage between Jan and Berchtold to be annulled. Jan was also taken to a doctor for an examination, who incorrectly concluded that she hadn’t been sexually abused, according toAbducted in Plain Sight.

Although she returned to school, she says she was concerned about how she would continue the mission with Berchtold. In addition, the FBI warned the Brobergs against spending time with the Berchtold family, but they ignored the advice.

Meanwhile, Berchtold was taken back to the U.S., where he appeared before a grand jury. He was indicted on kidnapping charges. While reflecting on the situation inAbducted in Plain Sight, Mary Ann says Gail came over on Christmas Eve of 1974 and threatened to expose Bob’s affair with Berchtold if the charges weren’t dismissed.

“I was quite shocked. I felt terrible, especially for my husband," Mary Ann recalled. “I just thought, ‘Oh, no. That can’t happen.’ So we signed the affidavits.”

Although the trial was delayed, Berchtold pled guilty to a felony charge of kidnapping in June 1976. He was sentenced to five years in jail, which was reduced to 45 days. After receiving credit for his time behind bars in Mexico and good behavior, he only spent about 10 days in jail.

How was Robert Berchtold able to abduct Jan Broberg for a second time?

Jan Broberg on the left side. ; Robert Berchtold on the right side.ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT TRAILER/YouTube

After Berchtold returned from Mexico, he was released from jail while his trial was delayed. He moved to Utah to work at his brother’s car dealership but returned to Idaho every weekend. During that time, he secretly began seeing Jan, visiting her in the middle of the night and telling her of his communication with the aliens.

“He came in and he would talk about the mission and that the mission was going to continue, and that they were making plans and preparations for us to be together, and just to keep doing what I was doing, and to keep following the rules,” she recounted inAbducted in Plain Sight.

Jan began receiving love letters from Berchtold and willingly wrote back. She even confessed her feelings to her mother, telling Mary Ann that she wanted to marry Berchtold and have children with him.

“I loved him as deeply as I’ve ever loved anyone. My level of commitment and love for him was as profound as anything that I have ever experienced in the realm of real love,” Jan shared. “But it was profound, it was committed, it was in me in every sense of the word.”

During that time, around the spring of 1975, Berchtold also continued communicating with Mary Ann, and they restarted their affair. After Bob found out, they almost divorced but eventually realized that Berchtold was ruining their lives and that they needed to cut him out.

Fast forward, in the summer of 1976, Berchtold bought an amusement park in Jackson Hole, Wyo., while waiting to report to jail. Berchtold convinced Jan’s parents to let her visit, and even though she returned after two weeks, she was unhappy. He also repeatedly called Mary Ann and told her he was going to kidnap her again.

“‘I’ll take her to the jungles of Africa. I’ll take her to South America. You’ll never find us,’ ” Mary Ann recalled inAbducted in Plain Sight. “I said, ‘Leave me alone. Leave my children alone. Stay out of our lives forever.’ And he did not like that, because he didn’t leave Jan alone. And the result was her disappearance a second time.”

What happened during Jan Broberg’s second kidnapping?

On Aug. 10, 1976, Jan disappeared in the middle of the night, leaving behind a note to her family, perAbducted in Plain Sight. In it, she declared she was running away without Berchtold until her family allowed her to live her truth. While she claimed to be leaving on her own accord, it was later discovered that Berchtold had aided in her disappearance.

In the following days, Berchtold contacted the family, telling them Jan had contacted him to let him know she had run away. Despite being increasingly concerned, the Brobergs waited nearly two weeks to contact authorities, fearful of the public’s reaction to a second disappearance. Though Berchtold pretended to be concerned, FBI agents knew he was involved.

Three weeks into Jan’s disappearance, Berchtold began his jail sentence. He only served 10 days behind bars, and upon his release, he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. He kept in contact with the Brobergs while the search continued. In reality, Berchtold had enrolled her in a Catholic girl’s boarding school in Pasadena, Calif., before he began his jail sentence.

Three months after Jan’s disappearance, authorities finally found Berchtold. After monitoring him for several weeks, they discovered that he left the directory open to a page with a number scribbled on it after making a call in a phone booth. They traced the number back to the boarding school and realized Jan was enrolled under an alias.

Berchtold had told the nuns that Jan was his daughter and he was a CIA agent who had escaped from Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. After moving to Utah, Berchtold would visit her on the weekends.

Jan was removed from the school, and Berchtold was arrested the next day for federal parole violation.

What happened to Jan Broberg after the second kidnapping?

Jan Broberg in ‘Abducted in Plain Sight.'.Courtesy Top Knot Films

After the second kidnapping, Jan struggled to assimilate to life at home, and her family says she grew “distant” and “hollow.” When her father’s florist shop burned down, she believed it was a punishment because she hadn’t yet completed the mission.

Jan continued to speak with Berchtold occasionally, but looking back, she says he began to “lose interest” as she got older.

By 1978, Jan began questioning the truth behind the alien story. While at a summer camp in Utah, a boy her age began to show romantic interest in her, and she feared that the aliens would take revenge because it was not a part of the assignment.

When nothing bad happened, she says she had her first thoughts that the whole thing might have been a lie.

Ahead of her 16th birthday, Jan said she was still afraid that her family would be punished for not fulfilling her duties. She even considered killing herself and her sister Susan in a worst-case scenario.

When Jan woke up on her birthday and saw that everyone was okay, she realized the aliens hadn’t been real. Jan eventually told her sister and best friend, who encouraged her to tell her parents.

What happened to Robert Berchtold?

Robert Berchtold.ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT TRAILER/YouTube

Throughout his life, Berchtold allegedly sexually assaulted at least six other children, using “alien psychology” on one of his other victims, according toAbducted in Plain Sightfilmmaker Skye Borgman’s interview withVanity Fair. Of those six assault cases, Berchtold was only found guilty of rape of a child once and spent one year in jail, Jan toldVulture.

Years after Jan’s kidnapping, when she published a book and began speaking about her experience, Berchtold tracked her down. He started going to her events, telling attendees that it was all a lie — and threatening the Broberg family that if they didn’t get rid of the book, he would make their life “miserable,” per the Netflix documentary. Berchtold began posting flyers around town, claiming that he had been given total access to Jan in exchange for sexual favors with Mary Ann and Bob.

Jan filed a stalking injunction, which Berchtold contested. They ended up in court, where Jan had to come face-to-face with Berchtold for the first time in 30 years. She was granted the stalking injunction for the rest of Berchtold’s life.

Where is Jan Broberg now?

Jan Broberg speaks on stage at the “A Friend of the Family” panel during the Deadline Contenders Television event at the Directors Guild of America on April 16, 2023, in Los Angeles, California.Jesse Grant/Deadline/Getty Images

Jesse Grant/Deadline/Getty Images

After experiencing several years of traumatic events, Jan was able to return to a somewhat normal life and finish school. In order to move on, she forgave Berchtold, although it took time.

“Forgiveness is a tricky word. In my mind, not forgiving somebody only puts up the jail cell kind of around you. I figured out that I can live with my tragedy in a way that the tragedy doesn’t run me anymore,” Jan said inAbducted in Plain Sight.

In the early ’90s, Jan began an acting career and has gone on to appear in films and on shows likeEverwood,Criminal Mindsand40,per her IMDb. She also worked at Disney World as a performer for a time, according to theTrust Mepodcast. While she still auditions for various projects, she keeps busy running a theater company in Utah.

According toVanity Fair, Jan also got married and welcomed a son but later divorced.

Jan has chronicled her experience in the documentaryAbducted in Plain Sightas well as the scripted mini series,A Friend of the Family, which she produced, and the documentary,A Friend of the Family: True Evil.

Away from cameras, she makes speaking appearances in the hopes of preventing the same thing from happening to other children. She also startedThe Jan Broberg Foundationto support other adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

source: people.com