AFTER surviving repeated kidnappings 40 years ago, Jan Broberg, whose story was told in the Netflix true crime documentary Abducted in Plain Sight, has helped save her sister’s life.
Jan has been flooded with support this week after she revealed on Instagram that she underwent surgery.
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Jan explained that she had her kidney removed with a very special recipient in mind.
“I wanted to share some wonderful news — I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to donate my kidney to my beautiful sister Karen today,” she wrote in an April 16 post.
Jan shared the caption alongside a photo of her standing by her sister’s hospital bed.
“Any prayers, thoughts, blessings, and positive vibes are greatly appreciated!” she said.
A follow-up post from Jan chronicled her journey at the hospital as she was seen donning a hospital gown and lying in bed.
She said she was nervous but wearing blue brought her comfort with “sunny skies ahead.”
Jan urged her followers to be patient with her for a few weeks and deferred contact to a representative from The Jan Broberg Foundation.
The most-liked comment on the post is from the foundation and reads, “Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you all know the surgery was a success and Jan and Karen are recovering,” and thanked viewers for their comments and prayers.
Jan founded the organization in 2022 as a means to advocate for legislation that holds sexual abusers accountable and to support survivors of childhood abuse like herself.
HORROR KIDNAPPING
Jan was abducted in the 1970s when she was 12 and then again at age 14.
Her kidnapper was her neighbor, Robert Berchtold, who went on to have disturbing relationships with Jan’s mom and dad.
Berchtold — a friend of the family and a charming church leader — managed to slither his way into the family to the point that Jan’s parents, Bob and Mary Ann, were not concerned when they found out their daughter was taken by Berchtold, Newsweek reported.
At one point, he grew close enough to the Brobergs that they referred to him as “B” and even “Dad.”
Despite his familial relationship with the Brobergs, the twisted mastermind managed to turn 12-year-old Jan against her parents, forcing her to have sexual encounters with him.
He manipulated Jan’s parents to allow him to sleep in the same bed as Jan as a form of therapy for him.
He claimed he was abused as a child and it was the only thing that could help him.
Over a period of six weeks, he molested and groomed her, eventually drugging her and taking her to a camper-van in the Mexican desert, 2,000 miles away from her home in Idaho.
I did the worst thing I’ve ever done, as far as breaking the trust and fidelity that I had with my wife.”
Bob Broberg
Originally abducted by Berchtold on the pretense that they were going horseback riding, Jan remained in Mexico for five weeks where Berchtold married her.
At one point, he even convinced Jan that they were aliens who needed to have sex to advance their race.
The Brobergs eventually found Jan in Mexico as Berchtold needed their consent to the marriage in order to reenter the United States.
They refused and Berchtold came back to the US with Jan, where he was charged with kidnapping.
Shockingly, after Jan returned, the pedophile kidnapped her for a second time after her parents forgave him and welcomed him back with open arms.
Jan’s story was brought to light in her mom’s memoir Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story.
Her plight was later immortalized in the 2017 true crime documentary, Abducted in Plain Sight, also known as Forever B, which contains interview footage with Broberg.
FAMILY AFFAIR
The drama mini-series, A Family of the Friend, which debuted on Peacock in 2022, hones in on how Jan’s parents allowed their daughter’s abductor back into their lives.
It also focuses on the strange relationship they had with Berchtold, whom the couple both had sexual relations with.
Bob Broberg said he engaged in “an act of masturbation” with Berchtold one day when he lured him into going for a drive.
Bob said in Abducted in Plain Sight, “I could tell that [Berchtold] was extremely disturbed. He says, ‘Are you free? Let’s go for a ride.’
“He says, ‘I cannot stand my wife, and I need to have sex.’ I could see that he was sexually aroused.
“He says, ‘Oh, think you can give me some relief?’ We were laughing, and he said, ‘Oh, Bob, it’s just kid stuff, and I’ve got to have relief.’
“So, I was dumb enough to reach over and relieve him in an act of masturbation. I did the worst thing I’ve ever done, as far as breaking the trust and fidelity that I had with my wife.”
TORN APART
Abducted in Plain Sight director Skye Borgman said she found out about the sexual relationship between the two men through a “kind of a manifesto that Berchtold himself had written,” Borgman told Distracify.
Speculation persists on whether this was the only sexual encounter the two had.
Meanwhile, Berchtold and Jan’s mother, Mary Ann, began having an affair after Jan returned home following the first abduction.
The affair stopped after Bob and Mary Ann almost divorced.
The two revealed their joint relations with Berchtold in Abducted in Plain Sight and Mary Ann wrote about the affair in her book.
After being charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm, Berchtold took his own life in 2005.
Jan’s father, Bob, died in November 2018 at age 80.
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