All language subtitles for A.Friend.of.the.Family.True.Evil.2022.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-AOC

This is the most terrifying
place I have ever been.

Waking up after being
drugged, restrained,

this was the torture chamber.

There must be a special
place in hell for people

that hurt children.

They're gone.

We don't know where they are.

He's in the motor
home on the run.

Yes, big story.

It was all in the
paper every day.

You had intimate
relations with Robert.

And your husband, your
dad had intimate relations

with Robert.
- Yep.

Yep.

It's insane.

That's what he was after,
to blackmail my parents.

For him to know, gotta
divide those two in order

to conquer my prey.

I was the prey.

There are people who are
going to see this story

and want to shake you.

I feel so responsible
for letting that man

in through our house.

She tells us
this wild story.

She tells us all
about the aliens.

My sister Karen
would go blind.

My dad would be killed.

My sister Susan
would be taken.

He was a master manipulator.

He was the master of
disguise, of deception.

A perfect childhood, and then
right here, it all changed.

You were nearly
2000 miles from home.

Yep.

Nobody had any
idea that he was

terrorizing me in this room.

The same things that happened
to me happened to her.

First time that I think
she's really spoken publicly.

He said, don't tell.

This is our secret.

This is just for us.

Oh, that's creepy.

I can't go back
there yet, though.

I have to give
myself a second.

It was just-- it's
heart wrenching.

She is an amazing woman.

This is the beginning
of the journey to healing.

ANDREA CANNING
This

is the strangest and darkest
story I've ever covered.

It's about a woman
named Jan Broberg.

She's a mother, a
sister, and a daughter,

who can't escape her past.

Starting at the age of
nine, Jan became the target

of a ruthless predator.

He abused her in her
own childhood bedroom.

He kidnapped her
not once, but twice,

taking her all over Idaho,
California, and even Mexico.

He seduced her
mother and her father

and tried to blackmail them.

It was all to get to Jan.

As a child, she was taken.

ANDREA CANNING :
It went on for years.

Jan Broberg,
a Pocatello girl

whose family says she was--

--kidnapped
by a trusted family friend.

ANDREA CANNING
But it's

almost inconceivable that Jan
and her family survived it.

Jan is 60 now and still
dealing with the aftermath

of these horrors.

So she's decided to
revisit for the first time

all those places where
her trauma happened

and to confront her
demon one last time.

That demon's name
was Robert Berchtold.

Everyone called him B.
He called her Dolly.

ANDREA CANNING:
Robert Berchtold

set his sights on
you and really knew

exactly what he was doing.

He had a plan.

Definitely,
I know that's true.

ANDREA CANNING:
That's so horrible.

Yeah, it really is so
hard to talk about almost

because, you know,
you don't really

know how to have the words
when you were that age.

I would call it icky
or the icky stuff.

But I didn't really have the
words or the strength, even,

to call it what it was.

You know?

You don't say, this
grown man raped

my little 12-year-old
prepubescent body, you know?

You don't say those
words until you can.

Which took a long
time to say that.

Took a long time.

ANDREA CANNING:
You were robbed--

Yeah.

Yes.

--of a very important
time in your life.

Yes.

It's like time
stopped for you, almost.

It did, yeah.

I think I grew up in Camelot.

Pocatello was just a
wonderful hometown.

It was so safe.

It was so happy.

It was ride your bikes down
to the local grocery store,

buy some penny candy,
and go to the park.

Nobody worried
about where we were.

It was carefree.

And nobody locks their door.

And we talked at the
dinner table every night.

Our family was--

Communicated.

We did.

We've always talked a lot.

Mm-hmm, yes, we have.

We may talk too much.

This was a tight family.

- Yes.
- Exactly.

Very much.

We knew our neighbors.

We knew the extended
neighbors at church.

And we were well
cared for children,

who had lots of friends and
were part of a community

that my parents
lived in for years.

ANDREA CANNING :
But everything changed.

In 1972, when Jan was
nine, Robert Berchtold

bought the local
furniture store

and moved into town
with his wife, Gail,

and their five children.

The Brobergs met the
Berchtolds at church,

and the two families
hit it off immediately.

In those early years,
everyone thought

B was the nicest guy in town.

People would say he would
do anything for anybody.

Oh, my word, he is so nice.

And he was.

He would go over and fix
the little ladies' toilet

or handle on their door.

Or I mean, he would do things
for people all the time.

I mean, the
neighbors loved him.

The congregation loved him.

The business
community loved him.

We had pillow fights.

And he would jump on
the trampoline with you.

And, you know,
I mean, he was--

as a kid, he just was fun.

ANDREA CANNING :
But looking back now,

Jan and her family say it's
clear that Berchtold was

always plotting and scheming,
even while appearing

to be generous.

Jan and I, we shared a room.

And he said Jan and Karen
need to have their own rooms.

They're getting older,
and they need that.

This room is so big.

We can divide this room.

I'll do it for you.

You know, and I remember
it was a big project.

He brought us all hammers.

And we got to hammer down the
wall and punch the wall out.

You know, he was the hero,
building these bedrooms

for these two girls.

That's why this
is so complicated

because it wasn't like Robert
Berchtold went from 0 to 100.

No.

You know, this was a build.

It was a slow burn.

- To get Jan.
- Yes.

To get you.

That's what he was after.

But the patience.

We did hundreds of
activities with this family.

He always had something
going on that allowed us

and all of the family
to be together.

The things he would
do with me would

be things like compliments.

Jan's such an amazing actress.

Or, oh, my word, I love
what she sang, that sweet

song she sang in church.

He would do things to
build up my confidence.

And he just knew
how to make sure

that everybody felt that way.

Like, he would build
every person up.

So he's
building, building,

building, to the point
where your parents

trust him explicitly.

Totally, and was having
a special relationship

with each one of them.

He was becoming a
best friend over here

and giving my mom compliments.

ANDREA CANNING :
Being the predator he was,

Berchtold might have sensed
Jan's mother, Mary Ann,

was particularly vulnerable.

And as a stay-at-home
mom in a small community,

Mary Ann says she did
feel sheltered and lonely.

He
called me every day.

And I would listen
to his lies.

And he'd flirt with me.

Oh, you're such a
beautiful woman.

He just had a way
about him that he

wanted you to feel good.

He just had a
winning personality.

And I took to that.

He became someone that
I had feelings for.

ANDREA CANNING :
Once in those early days,

she even shared a secret
kiss with Berchtold,

a seed he planted that would
explode into a sordid affair

a few years later.

He was the master of
disguise, of deception.

He was a master manipulator.

The predator isn't just
grooming the child.

They're grooming everyone
around that orbit

to trust them so
that they might

gain access to the child.

ANDREA CANNING :
What Berchtold told

convince Jan's father
Bob to do was diabolical,

a seduction that
Jan says would haunt

him until his death in 2018.

So now, Berchtold
has made Dad--

you know, best friends.

They're super close friends.

So one night, Berchtold
starts telling

Dad about my
miserable marriage

and, like, I haven't been
intimate with my wife

for over a year.

They were driving
up in the mountains.

Yeah, they were
just going on a ride.

And he said, Bob, I just
really need some relief.

Berchtold called
it kids' stuff.

He's like, oh,
Bob, get over it.

It's just kid stuff, you know?

It's just--
please, just do it.

What did happen exactly?

My dad basically
masturbated him.

Why would he do that?

like that.

Because his best
friend is literally

begging him to do it.

And
my dad did it,

and he never forgave himself.

You had intimate
relations with Robert.

And your husband, your
dad had intimate relations

with Robert.
- Yep.

Yep.

It's insane.

All to get to her.

ANDREA CANNING :
Jan vividly remembers

the first time Berchtold
did something to her

that seemed inappropriate.

We had decided
that all the kids were going

to sleep on the trampoline,
all the Berchtold

kids and the Broberg girls.

We all have sleeping bags.

We all pile on the
trampoline at their house.

It was late.

We were all asleep.

And I just remember waking up.

And I knew that
something was wrong.

Like, it felt
like my nightgown

was twisted around me.

And B was not in
my sleeping bag,

but he was right next to me.

And so I'm upset.

I'm a little kid.

I'm like 10 or 11.

And so his wife, who
was such a sweet,

wonderful, angel
person, she just

took me right in her arms.

And Jannie, let me--
what's going on?

And she basically just looked
at him, and she's like,

what happened?

He was like, I mean,
I didn't do anything.

I don't know.

I mean, just was going to
zip up her sleeping bag

and make sure she was warm.

Did Gail believe him?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, she believed him.

Again, so did I.
So did all of us.

The degree to which
Berchtold had a relationship

with both the father
and the mother

and then used
that to manipulate

them to gain
access to Jan, it's

really quite an extreme case.

He was quite manipulative
and pathological.

So I mean, it's not typical
what we generally see

in childhood sexual abuse.

I think it's so
important for us

to recognize that these are
people in our communities.

This is not, you know, the
stranger in the white van.

This is our uncle.

This is our priest.

This is our soccer coach.

This is somebody we
know from church who

is our best family friend.

A friend of the family.

Absolutely.

ANDREA CANNING:
Jan, we're going

to go to different
locations of moments in

this awful history of yours.

Yeah.

The most important
part of it for me,

personally, will be
to go to places where

such unbelievable
experiences happened

and be able to
face them dead-on

as an adult, as the mama
tiger, who takes care

of the little girl that's
still in me, and can say,

I'm here.

We're going to
do this together.

What
is our first stop?

My
childhood home.

ANDREA CANNING
It's

been almost 20 years since
Jan has been to her old home

in Pocatello, Idaho.

She sees the house as a
place where her childhood

happy times were
doomed to disappear

once Robert Berchtold
crossed a threshold.

This is
where the nightmare began.

This is where
the nightmare began, yes.

Oh, wow.

Oh, this is different.

There's our fireplace.

That's the same.

This is where our big
dining room table was.

And, you know, the
piano sat here.

And so this is where Dad
would sit and play the piano.

Mom would be on her guitar.

And the three of
us, and my mom,

too, we all sang around
the piano with my dad.

-Aw.
-Yeah.

ANDREA CANNING:
That's a great memory.

It's a great
memory, actually.

OK.

Wow.

Is this the wall that
Berchtold put right here?

Yes, this is
the wall that he

built in the closet, uh-huh.

So he divided you and Karen.

Yep, he divided this
great, big, huge room.

You know now why he
put this wall in here.

Oh, yeah.

It was all in
part of the plan.

So Mom and Dad are way
on that end of the house.

Nobody's above this room, you
know, sleeping or anything.

It's totally isolated.

ANDREA CANNING :
Jan's isolation

was just the beginning.

Next, Berchtold concocted a
bizarre story he presented

to her parents
and unbelievably

used it to get himself into
Jan's bedroom alone at night.

So after, gosh,
B had been a part of our lives

for over two years, he
confided in my parents

that he was seeing a
therapist for depression.

And he said you have
to have these tapes,

and you listen to them.

And you lay next to a child
of the same sex as the person

that you first remember
having the depression around.

That's what
his therapist had told him.

And I said, he wants you to
be with Jan when she's asleep

and have those tapes played?

I don't understand it.

And he talked to Bob, my
husband, Bob, and said,

you've got to see
if this will help.

I've got to get over this.

I've got to get back to my
own life, my own family.

And we allowed him to do it.

He was, we thought,
our best friend.

And he would never do
anything to harm our child.

It wasn't like
the door was shut.

He wasn't under the covers.

He was on top of the covers.

Mom was coming in through the
door, putting laundry away.

Robert Berchtold
was the ultimate wolf

in sheep's clothing.

Totally.

Around your parents
and your family.

Yeah.

You'd have to imagine your
brother being that predator.

And you would never
see it coming.

It's just that deep.

ANDREA CANNING
Finally,

after more than two years
of charming and seducing

and grooming, the
fateful moment arrived.

Berchtold told
Jan's mother that he

had to deliver
furniture near the ranch

where the families had gone
horseback riding before.

Wouldn't that be a
great opportunity

to take Jan riding again?

Call her naive
or too trusting,

but Mary Ann said something
she regrets to this day.

She said yes.

And off we
went, October 17, 1974.

That day, everything changed.

What is our
next stop on your journey?

We're headed
to Massacre Rock.

ANDREA CANNING :
It was October 17, 1974.

Jan Broberg had just turned
12, and she was excited.

Robert Berchtold had persuaded
her mother to let her

go horseback riding with him.

My dad told him he couldn't
do it, not on a school night.

And my mom was like,
oh, I know, but you

know how persuasive he is.

Just let him take her.

They'll be home before dinner.

He promised.

They'll be home by 6 o'clock.

ANDREA CANNING :
Jan loved Berchtold

like an uncle, and he had
become one of her parents'

closest friends.

He'd spent more than
two years winning them

over and building his trap.

And now he was about
to reveal the monster

he had hidden so well.

As she got into
Berchtold's car,

he gave her a sedative he
said was an allergy pill.

She took it, and they took
off, not to the ranch,

but to a desolate spot
in the desert a half-hour

from Pocatello.

And that's the moment
that my childhood ended.

ANDREA CANNING:
This is the location

where he kidnapped you.

That's right.

That was the spot.

Everything changed
at Massacre Rock.

ANDREA CANNING
Jan

was unconscious when Berchtold
pulled up to Massacre Rocks.

He carried her from his
car into a motorhome

he had parked nearby.

I don't remember this place.

He had drugged me, given
me an allergy pill.

I was so sleepy.

And I don't remember him
taking me out of the car.

But now I can
put a face on it.

Off you went--

Off we went.

--into the motor
home, leaving,

essentially, no trace behind.

Yeah, nobody
could know where we were.

And certainly, nobody was
suspecting him at the time.

We loved this man.

When
she didn't come home,

I remember my dad being
very upset because he

didn't want her to
go horseback riding,

and he told her no.

And he's like, we've
got to find her.

Were you scared?

Yeah, I was scared because
it just was so different.

I wasn't afraid that
he would hurt Jan.

Nobody thought that.

He-- you know.

I mean, we trusted him.

And so you're not
thinking kidnapping.

I mean, that just doesn't
even really register.

MARY ANN BROBERG:
I was frantic.

And I thought there's
something going on.

I don't know what it is.

The next day, we had a
call from the sheriff

in American Falls, who
said we found this car,

and it had blood in
it and on the windows.

And we found Jan's
schoolbooks in here.

Oh, that's terrifying.

Did you think that
Robert Berchtold

had had done anything
to Jan or that they

were both in danger?

That they both were.

If something happened
to her, of course,

it happened to him.

My sweet family that had to
find that car with the blood

on it and all that didn't know
if I was dead in the water,

alive.

It was just-- that's just
really what is coming up

for me right here, like,
what they felt, not

knowing where your child is.

The
police find a lead.

Yeah,
there's a broken window,

and there's blood.

But they said there was
just one set of footprints,

so it looks like
he had carried her.

There wasn't another
person around.

They couldn't find any other.

So my mother called his wife.

And she said, oh, no, I saw
him working on the motorhome

that's in the storage.

He
has another vehicle.

So they
went down and looked,

and it was missing.

The motorhome was missing.

What's the theory then?

Did they have one?

The theory is that
he must have taken her.

I mean, the police is
telling that to my parents.

And they're like, this isn't--

I mean, this can't be real.

And I said, I'm
so angry and so--

feel so terribly stupid that
I would let that man have

any time with my-- with Jan.

I called Gail, and she said,
I don't know what to tell you,

Mary Ann.

She said, he has
five children and me.

Why would he do
something like that?

I don't believe that.

It was a difficult,
difficult situation.

I didn't know how to
feel, except sick.

KAREN BROBERG:
My parents didn't

want it to hit the media.

They didn't want
to hurt his family.

And Gail, his wife,
begged them, please don't.

Please, please don't.

They're going to come back.

Please don't.

ANDREA CANNING :
Police figured out

the crime scene was staged.

They realized this
was a kidnapping.

And Robert Berchtold was now
a 38-year-old fugitive racing

who knew where in a motorhome,
the 12-year-old girl

as his prisoner.

I remember waking up,
and I was in a dark room.

It felt like we were moving.

And I was restrained.

My wrists and ankles were both
held by straps on the bed.

I was so scared, so terrified.

One of
the worst parts about what

happened to you
was that motorhome

that he kidnapped you in.

And you wanted to face
that fear as well.

We can't get the
old motorhome back,

but we found something
that was really close.

Yeah,
I think that's good.

I feel like I need to walk
in there, facing that fear,

facing that terror,
and being able to look

it right between the eyes
and know that I'm in charge.

It'll be good.

Oh, do I really
want to do this?

Oh, man, it's creepy.

What memories is this
triggering for you?

Well, literally,
after I had been

basically incarcerated
in the back half,

there was like a partition.

And that's when I woke up.

That's where I was.

I was on the bed.

I can't go back
there yet, though.

I'll just give
myself a second.

OK.

Yeah, I
think I can go back there.

I'm going to turn around.

I might freak out.

I'm not sure.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, it's so similar with
the curtains, you know?

And it was back there because
I was literally like--

I was literally like on the
bed, like, laying face up.

I'm just going to do it
because you know what?

We're just going to
be done with this.

We're going to literally--

and I could lift
up my head enough,

but because my wrists
are constrained,

my ankles are constrained.

ANDREA CANNING :
When Jan woke up, strapped

to a bed in the back
of the motorhome,

she heard a voice
coming from a white box,

a strange voice, not quite
human, not very friendly.

And it was giving
her a message.

It is time
for your mission to begin.

Like, those kind of
phrases that it would

repeat over and over again.

What did the
voice tell you the mission

was and your role in it?

So I was half from this
planet, planet Earth, and

half from this alien planet.

And I was to have a child that
would save this alien planet

from destruction.

Like, they needed their--
kind of, like, their savior.

And you had to
have the child by 16, right?

Yes,
by the age of 16.

It's
amazing when you think back

to that moment when you
woke up and just that fear

and that, like, wait, one
minute, you're on your way

to go horseback riding,
and the next, you

wake up in this bed,
tied up with alien voices

in your head.

This literally-- this is
the most terrifying place

I had ever been and I
have ever been since,

was in this room.

This was the torture chamber.

I don't know why I want to
cry, but at the same time,

I want to, like, scream.

It's like, somebody help me!

ANDREA CANNING
: 12-year-old

Jan Broberg had woken up
to an absolute horror.

She was shackled to
a bed in a moving

motorhome with alien
voices screeching

out of a nearby box.

Exhausted and scared, she kept
drifting in and out of sleep.

The motorhome rolled on,
and the voices droned on.

Then, on day
three, she woke up,

and the shackles were gone.

The alien voices directed her
to the front of the motorhome

where she found Robert
Berchtold, who had

staged a terrifying scene.

He was laying on that
couch covered in blood.

I thought he was
dead, you know?

And I'm waking him up.

I'm literally shaking him.

Like, B, B, wake up.

Wake up.

We've been taken.

And this is the first time--

That I've seen him, that
I know that somebody is here

that I know, that I love.

Oh, my gosh.

I thought he was
also kidnapped.

ANDREA CANNING
Berchtold

said the aliens had told him
he was Jan's male companion.

And together, they would
conceive the alien savior.

When she shrieked in
horror, he assured

her he was horrified, too.

But the aliens told him if
they didn't have the baby,

they would be vaporized.

Jan's family would be hurt.

If I didn't
accept this mission

and follow their orders, my
sister Karen would go blind.

My dad would be removed--

killed is what I
assumed that meant.

And my youngest sister Susan
would be chosen in my place.

Because he was
so manipulative

and he intertwined
himself within this story

of alien abduction and
that he was abducted, too,

and the two of
them had a mission,

she had no reason
not to trust him.

The FBI come and join
the team searching for Jan.

Yes.

Definitely.

Where do things go?

Nobody had any clue
where he would have gone.

They thought maybe California.

And they all just started
looking for a motorhome.

ANDREA CANNING
The FBI

was searching for
Berchtold and Jan

all over the United States.

But they were gone.

Five days after
he abducted Jan,

Berchtold snuck
her into Mexico.

He thought
it would be better if--

to get us through the border,
if I were a boy, not a girl.

And I just sat over
on the copilot seat

and dressed up like a
boy with a little ball

cap on the whole bit.

And they didn't
have any questions.

Here we are in
Mazatlan, Mexico.

You were nearly 2,000
miles from home.

This is the actual beach
that he brought you to.

Right.

The motorhome was just
parked about a block--

maybe a bit-- like
a block away maybe?

It must have been just
so strange as a child

to go from Idaho, and suddenly
you're transported to Mexico.

Yes.

Transported is a good word.

I mean--

And I felt like
I was already

in another world,
another planet

because of the brainwashing.

And I'm just a kid.

You know, this
was a playground.

And I think, in some
ways, it's a very

romantic kind of place.

You know?
I know.

It's so icky.

But it's right here,
sitting on these rocks,

that he had that
little ruby ring.

And he basically said,
we're going to be married,

and here's the ring.

And now everything will be OK.

ANDREA CANNING:
He's giving you,

like, an engagement ring.

Yeah,
like a wedding ring.

You're an American bride
in Mexico at 12 years old.

Right.

For all
of us, hearing your story,

the most disturbing
part of this

is that this is where
he stole your innocence.

And while you would be a child
here on the beach, you know,

by day, back in the
motorhome, he was raping you.

Yes, exactly.

ANDREA CANNING :
When I visited the motorhome

with Jan, she remembered how
she had to mentally detach

herself from what
Berchtold did to her

when they were in Mexico.

It didn't happen
all at once, but, you know,

the beginning of all
of that was here.

But it was like, in
order to cope with that,

your brain literally has to
go somewhere else when you're

this little tiny
kid body, and you

don't know what's going on.

And you just are--

ooh, now the tears
are just coming out

just because I'm angry,
and I'm just sad for her,

that little girl.

And so I would look up through
the-- see that little vent,

and you could see the
leaves of the tree,

you know, usually,
wherever we were parked.

And I would just
count the leaves.

Because sexual abusers built
this special relationship

with the child, the child kind
of values the relationship,

and they don't
want to lose it.

They don't like
the sexual contact.

But at the same point,
this relationship

becomes important to them.

ANDREA CANNING :
Berchtold called his brother,

who told him the FBI was
looking for him and Jan,

so he instructed his
brother to deliver

a threat to Jan's parents.

Let him marry Jan, or they
would never see her again.

Bob and Mary Ann refused.

I
wanted to kill the man.

My husband said,
calm down, Mary Ann.

And I said, I just
feel like I can't--

I don't know what to do.

Bob said, we
can't do anything.

Let's let law
enforcement do their job

and see what they
can find out.

There was
so much stress and so much

trauma with my parents and
his manipulation of them,

that they were
not functioning.

It was all in the
paper every day.

Big story all across
Idaho and Utah.

It was terrible.

It was really terrible.

It was a very-- it was the
most lonely I've ever felt.

ANDREA CANNING :
But Berchtold's threat was

also the FBI's first lead.

So when Berchtold called
his brother again--

--the FBI was tracing it.

He had
to put more money in

because the payphone ran out.

OPERATOR :
Please hang up now.

And the phone company
could trace how much money it

was for that amount of time.

And so then they
could draw a circle

around this is all the
locations that would cost--

Cost
that much money.

Cost that much, yes.

Could they pinpoint
it to Mexico?

So they knew Mazatlan was
one of those areas, yeah.

That's fascinating.

Yeah.

So they sent out a police
to all those places,

and everybody
looked and they said

there is a motorhome parked--

Well, yeah.

--with that description.

I remember it was
really early in the morning.

I was still asleep.

And all of a sudden, there
was this huge commotion,

this pounding on the door.

And the Mexican police
just raided the motorhome.

All of a sudden,
the door flies open.

And the Federales come in.

They grab them, put
him in handcuffs.

They grab me, and then
they just literally, like,

lift us both out of the--

Wow.

--motorhome into this
small kind of little van.

That is terrifying.

It was terrifying.

And then, you know,
a different language.

I don't know what
they're saying,

but they're yelling
and screaming at him.

And I'm frightened for him.

It's like, I feel
like I should

be protecting him almost.

But I'm so scared.

Just big tears are just
rolling down my face.

You
leave the motorhome,

and you're in a
police vehicle.

I'm in the front seat
between two Federales,

and then Berchtold is in
the back in the middle

between two more.

Did he try to communicate
with you at all?

Yeah, actually, that's
one of the creepiest

memories I have,
was him looking

into the rearview mirror.

And he was looking
straight at me.

His eyes were
piercing, as if he

was trying to telepathically,
like, communicate with me.

And they also had some
twinge of fear, which was not

something I had ever seen.

And if you speak,
then you're thinking--

I'll be vaporized.

I mean, I really
look back at how

terrified the little
Jan was, being

taken, going into a jail.

And when they took me inside--

So they put you--

In a room.

In a room.

But it was a very small,
like, a 6 by 6 foot room.

And I sat on a little chair.

That's all that
was in the room.

And all of a sudden, someone's
there and they're saying,

come on.

Get up.

And they take me
down some stairs

into where there's a
whole panel of cells.

And he's behind bars.

So they brought
you to see him--

Right.

--while he's in the cell.

Yes.

And he had bribed the guard.

He'd given the guard
one of his rings.

And so when I was there, he
told me the things that I

could never talk about,
or we'd be vaporized,

or Karen would be blind,
or Susan would go missing.

The brainwashing continued
even when he was behind bars.

Yes.

Yeah, in fact, it was
such a scary place

to be in, it just seared--

it closed the deal, in a way.

What
was it like for you

when you were
reunited with Jan

after she had been in Mexico?

We were so happy to
see her and to have her

in our arms and
crying, all of us,

in a circle in the jailhouse.

We could walk out and
be out there and free.

Did you ask her, did
he sexually assault you?

No.

ANDREA CANNING:
You didn't ask her?

Mm-mm.

Why not?

Probably wasn't in my
brain to think that he

would ever do that to her.

ANDREA CANNING :
She didn't ask her daughter

about it, but Mary Ann did
ask a doctor to examine

Jan for signs of abuse.

And
what did the doctor say?

He said he couldn't
find any evidence.

I think
one thing people will have

a hard time with is
the fact that Jan's

mom seemed to not know that
any sexual abuse had gone on.

Would you say that maybe there
was a willful ignorance there

that she maybe didn't
want to believe that this

had happened to Jan?

You know, it's hard to say.

I think she wouldn't want her
child to be hurt in any way.

You know, we are looking
at this with the knowledge

that we have today,
and not with what was

going on back in the 1970s.

People didn't know that family
members and friends were

really the sexual abusers.

It was only kind of in
the mid '70s, early '80s

that even the FBI started to
understand that there were

some perpetrators who
used these types of what

they call luring behaviors.

ANDREA CANNING
Robert

Berchtold was
extradited from Mexico

and charged with kidnapping.

He claimed he had
abducted Jan in the midst

of a mental breakdown,
and that when he came

to his senses in
Mexico, he heard

the FBI was looking for him,
so he decided to stay put.

Jan helped his case
by saying he had

never touched or harmed her.

Berchtold made bail
and was ordered

to stay away from
Jan, but he had

successfully brainwashed her.

And she believed the
aliens would bring

them back together again.

I know it's not over, and
I know they're watching me.

And I know that he's going to
find a way so we can meet up.

And you were
willing to do that?

And do his dirty work.

Oh, of course.

It's part of the mission.

I'm not pregnant yet
with the alien baby.

ANDREA CANNING
This headline

must have been a shock to
anyone who opened the morning

paper on January 7, 1975,
just a little more than a

month after Jan had
been rescued in Mexico.

Why wouldn't Jan's parents
want Robert Berchtold

prosecuted for kidnapping?

Because behind the scenes,
through his lawyer,

Berchtold was
threatening them.

He told Mary Ann and Bob
Broberg they were guilty,

too.

Said they knew he had
psychological problems,

yet they allowed him
to get close to Jan

and even lie with
her in her own bed.

He was putting us
all into a situation

where we were the bad guys.

He wasn't.

ANDREA CANNING
No one

knew about Bob
Robert's secret,

that sexual encounter he had
with Berchtold in the car.

Now Berchtold blackmailed Bob
by threatening to reveal it.

Dad had told Mom not a
lot about what had happened

with Berchtold in
the car, but enough

that Mom was like, whatever
happened with Berchtold

in the car, they're
going to blab

that out to the whole world.

The attorney for
Berchtold pretty much

threatened that you
don't sign this paper,

we will go to court to
find you an unfit parent

and have all your kids
taken away from you.

ANDREA CANNING :
And so Mary Ann and Bob

signed an affidavit that said
Berchtold didn't abuse Jan

and incredibly asked
that he not be prosecuted

for kidnapping her.

ANDREA CANNING:
I don't know how

to say this in the nicest
way, but there are people who

are going to see this story
and want to shake you,

that what were
you all thinking?

Come on, what is
happening here?

That's right.

Can I say, too, the whole
community loved this man

and were behind him?

They would say, you're not
going to prosecute him.

He didn't hurt her, right?

He has a family.

He's got five children.

You can't do that.

So there was that
pressure on my parents.

Plus even our own pressure
not pressuring them,

but we loved that family.

We loved them.

OK, this is
stranger than fiction.

Yeah, it is.

ANDREA CANNING
Jan's parents

retracted their affidavit
four days later,

but the damage was done.

Berchtold was convicted
of kidnapping Jan,

but under a plea deal,
spent just 15 days in jail.

He moved his family
to Ogden, Utah.

And soon after, he
and his wife divorced.

Then he began to terrorize
Jan again in the one place

she should have been safe--

back in her childhood bedroom.

So now I've been
home for a couple of months.

I'm down in my basement
bedroom, fast asleep.

And crazy as this
sounds, all of a sudden,

I wake up to the sound
of the alien voices.

The little box
was on my dresser.

You're thinking, this
mission is still on.

Oh, gosh.

The mission is on,
and I have to do

everything they tell me.

I don't want anything bad
to happen to my family.

What are they saying?

You know, keep
yourself prepared.

The male companion
will-- you know.

And obviously, every
single time the box

was talking to me,
then within minutes,

he'd walk through the door.

And he would just
be standing there.

And I always remember he had
his socks on, but no shoes.

Berchtold,
after the voices,

would come--
Oh, yeah.

--walk
into your bedroom?

Oh, yeah, so the
mission could continue.

So that he could literally
rape me in this room.

How
did he get in here?

I
don't know if he

came through the back door.

I think he probably did
that because I think

I would have woke up if he'd
have come through either

of these windows.

ANDREA CANNING
Berchtold

knew these secret nighttime
visits were dangerous.

He was particularly worried
he'd be caught by Bob

Broberg, now a sworn enemy.

Berchtold was sure Mary Ann
still had feelings for him,

so he set out to seduce her
and break up the marriage.

I mean, it seems to
me that your husband was

on the right track
here with saying,

you know, he's dead
to us, essentially.

But not to you.

You were still willing
to communicate.

You're right.

I was.

He called me every day to
tell me he was so sorry.

ANDREA CANNING :
Guided by her faith

and perhaps deluded
by a naive trust,

Mary Ann wanted to
forgive Berchtold.

She believed him
when he claimed

that he had a mental breakdown
and that he didn't abuse Jan,

even as he was
continuing to rape

Jan right under her nose.

His wife called
me often and said,

oh, I miss talking to you,
and asked if I'd come down,

and I did.

And who was in the home?

Berchtold was there.

And I didn't expect
to see him at all

because they had divorced.

But he was there.

And he said, oh, it's so
good to see you again.

We need to talk.

And he said, I'm
in love with you.

And I said, oh.

He said, you are.

You're the only woman I
really think about anymore.

And he said, have
you missed me?

And I said, yes.

He said, come over and
see where I'm living.

And I went over
to his motorhome.

And we sat there and laughed
and talked about the past.

And that's-- it
just went too far.

You ended up
sleeping together?

Yes.

Mary Ann,
so many people are going

to be wondering, after
Jan was kidnapped,

how could you be intimate
with Robert Berchtold?

How does that happen?

He said, Jan came back.

She hasn't talked
about any of that?

And I said, no, she hasn't.

He said, because
it never happened.

I didn't violate her.

He took your
daughter, though.

Yes.

He took my daughter.

So how do you end up
being intimate with him

after something like that?

Stupidity.

Being a stupid woman.

How did you feel the
next morning after this

had happened between you two?

Like a bitch.

A dirty, lying, son
of a bitch, my father

would have called me.

That's honesty.

And that's true.

I felt like I had just
messed my whole life up.

In fact, I said, I'm
going to the river

and drive my car into it.

After that, I just
felt like I was trash.

ANDREA CANNING
After Mary Ann

met with Berchtold
several more times,

he called her husband
Bob and told him

about their sexual encounters.

His plan worked.

Jan's parents separated.

I mean, we've talked about
manipulation, but I mean,

this is like manipulation
after manipulation

after manipulation.

And that's why we
see it for what it was.

We see it for the
master manipulator that

led our pure, beautiful,
moral, religious, faithful,

absolutely wonderful parents
down the road of hell.

ANDREA CANNING :
But within a few weeks,

the Brobergs' faith
in God and each other

brought them back together.

They were once again a
united front, protecting Jan.

So Berchtold turned
to a new tactic.

Jan was 14 now.

So by state law,
if her parents

gave their permission,
he could marry her.

He told Jan to get to work.

It's all about me
pressuring my parents

to just let me marry him.

I'm in love with him.

I want you to
let me marry him.

Your parents are
obviously saying no--

Of course.

--to the marriage.

He's got a hold
of you in some way

that we can't explain to
you, but please know we will

never give you permission.

But he's not accepting that.

Oh, no.

He's just like, we're going
to have to leave again.

Bob and Mary Ann
are in the way.

We're going to have to
figure out what the plan is.

I'm supposed to stage
a fight with my parents

and just run away.

And the plan was that I would
go out the window on my own,

and then I would walk up
to the end of the street.

She
came home and threw

a complete and total fit.

Stormed down the
stairs, slammed

the door in her bedroom,
wouldn't come out for dinner.

And the next morning,
she was gone.

When you woke up and
saw that she was gone--

I knew he was with her.

Really?

You just knew right away?

Yeah, for sure.

There was no surprise.

ANDREA CANNING
The Brobergs

called the police,
but as usual,

Berchtold was a step ahead.

During the night,
he dropped Jan off

with a family he
knew who believed

she was his daughter, then
returned home immediately.

When investigators
arrived to question him,

he said he had no
idea where Jan was.

So they're like, he
couldn't have kidnapped her.

He doesn't have her.

We know he doesn't have her.

ANDREA CANNING
A week later,

when he was sure police had
decided Jan was a runaway,

Berchtold picked her
up and enrolled her

in a Catholic boarding
school in Pasadena

under an assumed name.

She was Janice Tobler
now, and B was her father.

Told
the little sweet nuns

that we had escaped from
Laos and that my mother

had been killed.

And so to please not ask
me too many questions,

but just be really
sweet to me.

And he's a big high-level
government CIA agent,

and that people would
come looking for me

because if they could get
me and torture me, then, for

sure, he'd come to my rescue.

And that's how
they'd find him.

Did the nuns believe him?

Oh, totally.

Oh, absolutely.

And as I'm going
into the school,

coaching me that one of
the aliens is is a nun.

We just don't know which one.

An alien nun?

Yes.

Did you feel like
you had found her?

Oh,
yeah, I knew--

Which one--

Oh, it was Sister Charlotte.

I was scared of her.

Why did she stick out?

She had these
ginormous, big eyes

that looked like this
crystal clear blue color

that I would think, oh,
she's probably one of them.

So you're spending,
what, Mondays--

Monday through Friday
at boarding school?

Monday through Friday.

And it's a boarding
school, so you're

living there the
full time, but he

would come on the weekends.

And the weekends were full
of two and three times a day

of him raping me.

You know, it was just
getting worse and worse.

- Oh, that much?
- Yeah, it was a lot.

ANDREA CANNING :
Berchtold spent

weekdays at his own house.

ROBERT BERCHTOLD
Hi.

MARY ANN BROBERG
Hi, B.

ANDREA CANNING
He would

call Mary Ann with what he
said were messages from Jan.

He didn't know Mary
Ann was recording

the calls, as he
tried to lure her

into his plot to marry Jan.

ROBERT BERCHTOLD :
She loves her sisters.

She loves you, and
she'd like to come home.

She's not coming home
to be a child anymore.

MARY ANN BROBERG She wants to be

a 18 or 20-year-old adult?

ROBERT BERCHTOLD :
Oh, Christ, she is right now.

MARY ANN BROBERG Oh, she is not.

She's 14 years old.

My mom
finally saw through him.

She was done being gullible.

She was done being
passive at all

and hired a private detective.

And she even staked
out B herself.

I was on fire to
get rid of that man.

I guess, it's the
inner self that

says, wake up and know
this man is a criminal,

and he has your daughter.

There's
no way I can leave.

And there's no way
I would have tried.

But he senses how
homesick I really am.

And he lets me call home.

JAN BROBERG Hello, Karen?

KAREN BROBERG Uh-huh.

JAN BROBERG This is Jan.

Jan?

I'm like, where are you?
Where are you?

We need you.
What are you doing?

Where are you?

I can't tell you,
but I love you.

B is coaching
me in my ear to make sure

that I'm saying, once my
mom is on the phone, Mom,

you have to let me marry
B. I'm never going to come

home until I can marry
B. And she's like, well,

is he there?

No, he's not here.

I mean, he's
standing right there.

BOB BROBERG :
Have you talked to B?

JAN BROBERG

BOB BROBERG :
Does he still want you

to marry him and all that?

JAN BROBERG

I really feel like
what I was doing

was literally trying to
make sense of the world I

had to live in.

So because I had to live in
this world of being abused

and raped by this
grown man continuously,

I have to let this be
love, or I won't survive.

ANDREA CANNING :
Investigators finally caught

Berchtold when they
traced a call he made

from a Utah phone
booth to Jan's

boarding school in Pasadena.

They came together
on November 17, 1976.

I remember
they called me out of class.

And there was this
private investigator.

And he said, is your
name Jan Broberg?

And I denied it.

I said no.

My name is Janice Tobler.

And then they're showing me
pictures of my own family

and me in the middle.

Is this you?

And I'm like, no.

No, that isn't me.

She looks a lot like
me, but it's not me.

And eventually, you know,
of course, I had to say yes.

Jan
eventually was brought home.

What was that reunion
like seeing her--

Oh.

--this time around?

She literally walked
in the back door,

closed the door
behind her, and walked

straight down the
stairs into her bedroom

and shut the door.

She didn't even say hello.

It was like my sister
was a zombie, almost.

But she wasn't there anymore.

She was a whole shell.

It was so sad.

ANDREA CANNING
Jan

was home, isolated
and defeated,

but it would soon get worse.

All the crazy sordid
secrets about Berchtold

and the aliens and sexual
abuse that she'd been holding

inside for more
than three years

were about to
come pouring out.

So me and
Caroline, her best friend,

decided we were going
to repaint her room

and change everything
so it didn't

feel like her old bedroom.

As we were doing this,
we moved the pillows.

And I'm like, there's
something crunchy in here.

And so I unzipped the
pillows, and behind

the foam were these letters.

And I started reading them.

And I'm like, who
is Zeda and Zethura?

So that was the day
we confronted her.

And I was like, Jan,
what's going on?

ANDREA CANNING :
After investigators found

14-year-old Jan Broberg in
the Pasadena boarding school

where Robert Berchtold
had hidden her,

he was arrested
again for kidnapping.

But once again, he slithered
and slipped his way

through the justice system.

He spends no time in jail.

You know, he has psychiatrists
and people that confirm

this guy is mentally ill.

And so he gets off on a
charge of mental defect,

and he goes to the mental
institution in Boise.

But he's out in three months.

ANDREA CANNING:
So what happens?

Well, what
starts happening, as I go back

to high school, you go
out, you have your breaks,

and you're outside.

And I get calls
over and somebody

would give me a note.

It would say, go to
this phone booth.

At this time, whether
it was the alien voice

on the other end or
it was Berchtold,

it was somebody that
was telling me what

I was supposed to do next.

You know, sneak
out of the house

and go at this
time of the night.

Go over to the mini
dome parking lot.

I'll meet you there.

I mean, it's really
detailed stuff.

So clandestine.

Oh, it's totally.

Top secret mission of--

Yeah.

--Robert Berchtold.

Exactly.

ANDREA CANNING :
Berchtold lived in Salt Lake

City now, and Jan's parents
were under the impression

he was out of her life.

They were wrong.

From time to time,
Berchtold drove

his old motorhome 2 and
1/2 hours to Pocatello

to rape Jan yet again.

Then,
just around the time

I was about to turn 16, I
wasn't hearing from him.

And I was like,
what's going on?

No more little notes
from Zeda and Zethura,

nothing from him.

And I really just
started to freak out.

You and Jan's best
friend, Caroline,

found letters in her room
that were pretty shocking.

Yes.

They were threatening
letters, and I'm like,

who are these people?

Did you say, who's
Zeda and Zethura?

Yes.

What did she say?

She went ballistic.

You can't know about that.

You can't know about that.

What are you talking about?

And
we're talking,

and I'm trying not to cry
because I don't want to be

vaporized, nor do I
want Susan to be taken,

nor do I want my father to
be dead, or my sister, Karen,

to be blind.

And then she got
down on the floor,

and she started
clawing at the carpet.

And I'm like, oh, my gosh.

It's a breakdown.

Right, and so she
tells us this wild story.

She tells us all
about the aliens.

And we go, OK, Jan,
you got to let it out.

And we got all the details of
them trying to have a baby.

And nothing happened.

I'm sitting there, and I'm
10 seconds into a thought.

Oh, my gosh.

Are they real?

Nothing happened.

Is it possible that
this isn't true?

ANDREA CANNING :
For the first time,

Jan was questioning
the alien story

that had caused her to live
in fear for four years.

She decided to find out
if it was all a lie.

The aliens had also warned
her not to talk to boys.

So she did.

The big test
came in October.

So, again, this
is almost exactly

the date when I was
kidnapped the first time,

four years to the day is
when the homecoming dance,

this dance is happening.

And I decide to say yes
when I'm invited by a boy

to go to my first dance.

And I am shaking.

I am so scared.

I'm like, what if I go
home, and it all is real,

and everybody's vaporized
or whatever has happened?

But when I got home,
get through the door,

start to walk
down the hallway,

my dad goes, oh, Janny.

Oh, did you have a good time?

I was literally speechless.

He's not dead?

From
this moment forward,

you started to heal?

Yep, this is the beginning
of the journey to healing.

It was so scary when it
finally came to that point,

and I had to go.

Now what do I do?

Now who am I?

I was like, do I
have a purpose?

The real digging in for
me didn't really happen

until I went away to college.

So that was kind of
the beginning of my mom

and I literally talking.

Your mom slept with Robert
Berchtold, the guy who--

You know, I was angry.

--ruined your life.

I remember just calling her
at one point and just, yeah,

yelling at her,
just laying it out.

Like, how could you have
not seen through him?

Why did this
continue to happen?

How could this have
continued to happen?

Why would you have
not protected me?

But to my mom's
credit, she said

nothing to defend herself.

She just kept apologizing.

I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

ANDREA CANNING :
And so, Jan set out to make

a new life for herself.

I remember
when Austin was born,

thinking, OK, now
this is my chance.

You know, my chance.

He's going to have the
happiest childhood.

It's going to be perfect.

ANDREA CANNING
But the pain

from all those years of
abuse never left her.

It impacted every
relationship she had.

And inevitably, that
impacted her son.

There is so much change that
happened from the time I was

born until I was 10,
moving across the country,

different states,
different guys, a lot

of marriages and divorces.

Obviously, the first one
was with my actual dad.

The second marriage,
I think I was seven.

The next one, I was
like eight or nine.

The fourth marriage,
my stepdad,

Larry, and he had
four daughters

when they got married.

And, you know, like, that's
all I ever really wanted,

was to have brothers
and sisters, but--

Stable family.

Yeah, yeah.

It was the, here
is the new family,

and then it gets
taken away from me.

It makes me sad.

Like, I wanted that.

But I didn't know
how to do it, not

for myself and not for him.

ANDREA CANNING
Mary Ann

also struggled with
the trauma Berchtold

inflicted on the family.

She tried to overcome
it by writing

a book about it, which she
self-published in 2003.

Her husband wasn't
happy about that.

He didn't want to hear it.

He didn't want
to go through it.

Why are you doing this?

And I said, I'm doing it
because Jan asked me to.

And I said, and she
needs to know all of it.

ANDREA CANNING :
But Mary Ann herself

was still in the dark
about what Berchtold

actually did to her daughter.

Jan had never revealed
that he repeatedly

raped her as a child.

29 years later,
she finally did.

ANDREA CANNING:
How did you receive

this news when Jan finally
starts to open up to you?

I felt responsible that
I hadn't gotten this years

before and that I
didn't understand

what she'd gone through.

So it took many years,
and it hurts her, me.

She had to suffer with
all of that for so long.

It is so important
that a person

feels safe, safe enough
to tell their story.

That's what I'd
like to do today.

ANDREA CANNING
Now

that Jan had found her
voice, she wanted to do more.

She knew that telling her
story would help others.

In March 2004, Jan
gathered up the courage

to tell a group of
university students

about her horrific
experiences.

She hadn't seen or spoken
to Berchtold in 25 years.

And this is when we found
out that Berchtold was

actually living
less than an hour

away from where I was
giving this conference.

And he saw my
picture on a poster

and literally started
calling the university.

This woman's made
up this story.

ROBERT BERCHTOLD :
I think it's a pack of lies.

She brings in to hide
the fact that Jan

went with me voluntarily.

They bring in aliens
and mindwashing.

It wasn't true.

And he literally showed
up in a van with a gun.

Drama occurred right
here on the campus of Dixie

State College
right in the middle

of the Women's Conference.

This man, Robert Berchtold,
was arrested and charged

with simple assault,
disorderly conduct,

and criminal trespassing.

ANDREA CANNING
Berchtold

didn't get past security,
but his sudden reappearance

in their lives rattled
Jan and her family.

When he made bail, Jan filed
to get a stalking injunction

against him.

So does everyone
understand what

the procedure is going to be?

ANDREA CANNING
Three weeks

later, on March 25,
2004, she finally

faced her abuser in court.

Now she was able to say
all those things she didn't

know how to say as a child.

In 1974, at the age of
12, I weighed 68 pounds.

I was 4 and 1/2 feet tall.

I was abducted
by Mr. Berchtold.

What was it like
for you facing

Robert Berchtold in court,
and you had to see him?

I was shaking.

I felt like I was 12.

I felt like I wanted to hide.

I did not act
out of free will.

He kidnapped me.

He manipulated and
brainwashed me.

And he sexually abused me.

I have a fixation for Jan.

I didn't know why, but I did.

And I wanted to be around her.

I haven't had any contact with
her for 25 years purposely.

I've had no
contact whatsoever.

I have with her parents
because the book

that has been written
is a bunch of lies.

Our life has been
a living hell ever

since this book came out.

Mr. Berchtold, is
there any questions

you'd like to ask Ms. Felt?

You know this
is quite a story.

And you have sold
a lot of books

because of this story, right?

He literally said
to the judge,

you know, I guess
it's her time

for her 15 minutes of fame.

And I remember just
turning to him.

At that moment, mama tiger
took over the little girl.

And I just pointed my
finger at him, and I said--

My goal, Mr. Berchtold,
is to educate the public

about predators like you.

That is my goal.

I cannot believe that you
can look me in the eye.

You have no soul.

Jan, I'm sorry that
you feel that way.

And I'd like to
publicly apologize

to you for everything
I have done to you.

I said, if you're really
sorry for your crimes--

You should stand
up, tell the truth,

and serve your time in
jail, Mr. Berchtold.

ANDREA CANNING
The judge

ruled that Berchtold
had to stay

away from Jan and her family
for the rest of his life.

But Jan wasn't done.

I am just curious,
in your mind,

am I the only little
child that you

ever sexually molested?

Yes.

ANDREA CANNING
Finally,

Jan had trapped Berchtold.

She had recently
discovered a police report

with his name on it,
along with the name

of another little
girl he'd abused.

So the little girl in
1986 that you spent a year

in prison for rape of a
child, you're saying you

did not sexually abuse her?

She was 17 years old.

She was 10.

In the written
police report, it

says she was 10 when the rape
began, 17 when she reported.

ANDREA CANNING :
Her name was Heidi.

She was the reason Berchtold
had disappeared from Jan's

life before Jan turned 16.

Heidi has never spoken
publicly about her experience

before, but when Jan reached
out, she agreed to meet.

She was the
little girl right after me.

She was the next one.

There's nobody else
on the planet that

could understand,
you know, what I

went through, except for her.

I am really
anxious to meet her

and just look her in the eye
and tell her I understand.

You file it
away, and you keep

it down because it's just--
it's not part of everyday.

And you try to work through
your emotions, but it's--

you just don't.

You don't have
shirts printed up.

You know, you don't
tote that flag.

You keep it to yourself.

How
did this all start?

He was selling a travel
agency, a franchise.

And Doris, my adopted
mother, reached out to him.

She was interested.

Did she have some type of an
instant connection with him?

Because he certainly ended
up being a part of your lives

for a long time.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

He's good-looking.

He's personable.

He smiles and compliments
and just wooed her.

She let him take me
to meet his kids,

but his kids weren't there.

And we stayed the night.

He wanted me to
take a vitamin.

And I didn't want to take a
vitamin, and he kept pushing.

You need to take it.

How old are you?

It was a few months
after I had turned 10.

And so once I explained to him
that I just could not swallow

a pill, he crushed it
up and put sugar in it,

so I took it and then
woke up in the morning.

A few weeks later, we
went to Ogden again.

And that's when I was--

he didn't drug me that time.

What did he say to you?

That this is what two
people who love each other do.

Did you tell your mom?

Well, no, because
he said don't tell.

This is our secret.

This is just for us.

Do you get to a point where
you feel like you could tell

your mom what was happening?

I finally did.

I think I was
about 17 and 1/2.

So this abuse
had gone on for seven years?

Mm-hmm.

That's a long time.

That's a long time.

What happens inside you?

How do you deal with that?

We have a joke in
the family, you know,

that you're crazy
as hanging out.

And so, you know, you let
it run around the room

and scream and
yell a little bit,

and then you chuck it
back in your pocket

because, you know,
you've got dinner to make

and laundry to do.

So you do cry.

You do let it
out occasionally.

Mm-hmm, yeah, because
you just feel like,

I guess, you weren't enough to
be cared about or loved or--

yeah.

So, Mom, are you ready?

No, I am not ready.

OK.

Anxiety's a little high.

I haven't-- I've been
just getting short

details about what happened.

I've never really had,
like, a long discussion

about any of this.

I think you got this, mama.

Part of me just wants
to turn around and run.

Oh, wow.

Hey.

Hi.

How are you?

Wow.

Do you wanna sit?

Yeah, right there.

How am I?

How are you?

This is a big deal, isn't it?

It is a big deal.

Wow.

You know, it's just
been such a privilege,

I think, for me to be
able to share my story.

And I want this to be
so perfect for you.

I want you to feel completely
loved and completely safe.

And he'd call me by my
name, but he introduced me

as his daughter.

I mean, everybody
knew him as Dad.

I mean, there was,
I think, probably

a couple of years in school
where I was Heidi Berchtold.

And your mom
was fine with it.

I'm guessing she's
thinking that, you know,

it's going to be
a happy family.

Oh, we're going to
be a happy family.

And no idea.

Mm, well, I think she
had to have had an idea.

I remember arguments
where she had asked him.

And of course, you
know, he would say no,

and you're being crazy, but.

Wow.

So did he layer the abuse
with, like, fun things

like he did with me?

Yeah.

I guess, I had to make him
two different people for me.

Most of the time, he was dad.

And dad was great.

Dad loved me and, you
know, complimented me

and did things with me.

You know, you crave
it, as sick as it is.

I understand.

But that's dad.

Well, that's--
it's like a chore.

You got to take out the trash.

You got to wash the dishes.

Let's go have sex with Bob.

Yeah, it's like
you're paying for it.

You're paying for the--

Attention.

Oh.

Mm-hmm.

He talked about you quite
a bit in the beginning.

There was one time we were
at his mother's house.

Had you ever been
in that house?

No.

OK, one of the bedrooms
was kind of like a library.

And the whole wall
was full of books.

And he pulled
this one book out.

And there was a
blue ribbon in it.

And he said that it was yours.

That he had taken it
from your hair. --

And inside this book was there
were two pictures of you,

Polaroid pictures.

Oh, my gosh.

No explanation
what-- who I was

or why he would
show that to you?

Well, you didn't have
any clothes on, so.

I didn't?

Mm-mm.

Was I asleep?

No.

I don't even remember that.

Wow, that is just so--

Mm-hmm.

Ugh, so awful.

I would imagine that would be
scary enough, though, for you

not to ever tell anybody.

Well, yeah, because then
you know that there was

girls that were before you.

And as far as you knew,
nothing ever happened.

So there was no
consequences to his actions.

Right.

So why say anything?

I mean, you not had anybody
in your life to give you

emotional support, a lot of
love, a lot of understanding,

a lot of, like,
the things that I

think every survivor has to
have for them to feel like--

I have the best kids.

Aw.

And they are just my light.

Oh, that makes me so happy.

They're all so wonderful
and so strong and so loving

to me and themselves
and each other.

Well, that's your
support system right there.

Yep, my babies.

Yeah.

That's been the same for me.

It's been my son, who's
been such a huge kind

of cheerleader and supporter.

And he's gone through a lot
because of what happened.

The thing that I
remember most was

when I was going
through my third,

you know, breakdown
of marriage.

And I have no job.

I have no money, nothing.

I'm bawling.

I'm just, like, crying
to God or whatever

the greater being or power--

Somebody.

To somebody.

Somebody, listen.

Yeah, not in the
grand scheme of things,

we don't matter.

That is wrong.

You matter.

How are we going to
wake up the world

to the actual problem?

It is not a scary stranger.

Yeah, it's Uncle Bob.

How do we make it stop?

We have to talk about it.

It's just heartbreaking
that nobody knew what to do.

We now, in hindsight,
know that there

were several other
young girls before me.

And there have been several
other girls after me.

And who knows how many
that we don't know about?

And that's the part that
is just so sickening.

ANDREA CANNING :
To Jan's family and others,

it had been an enduring
outrage that Robert Berchtold

had spent a total of
less than four months

behind bars for
what he did to Jan.

But justice would finally
come for him, though not

in the way anyone expected.

The district
attorney called me,

and he said before
this hits the news,

I want you to know
what happened.

ANDREA CANNING :
In November 2005,

Robert Berchtold went
on trial for assault

and criminal trespassing
the day of Jan's speech.

So now this man, because
of this one incident,

nothing to do with
raping little girls,

but because of
this incident, he

literally was charged
with two felonies

and two misdemeanors.

The clerk will now
read the jury's verdict.

We, the jury duly
impaneled in this case,

find the defendant,
Robert Berchtold,

guilty of the offense
of aggravated assault

by proof beyond a
reasonable doubt.

ANDREA CANNING
Finally,

at the age of 69 and more
than 30 years after he first

abducted and
sexually abused Jan,

Berchtold would face some
serious time behind bars.

Justice, in a way,
had been served.

But before he was
sentenced, Berchtold

managed to escape even that.

After he was
found guilty on all charges,

he left the courtroom,
drives out into a campground,

and that's where he took the
bottle of pills and died.

That day, when he died, there
was overwhelming emotion

that went through my
body, both in tears

and, like, relief and sort
of this anger and rage.

Like, he never had
to pay the price.

It was almost like a release
of any love I had ever felt

for him and the anger I had
ever felt because of him, any

harm he had done to my
personal psychophysiological

self.

ANDREA CANNING :
Robert Berchtold

was gone, unable to
hurt anyone anymore.

But even today, years
after his death,

the pain, trauma, and guilt
he left in his wake linger.

Mary Ann,
have you forgiven yourself?

Because, obviously,
you carried

or are carrying some guilt.

Oh, yeah, I'll probably
have the guilt to my death.

It's like my husband said.

And I feel the same way.

He said, I feel so
responsible for letting

that man ever come in to
our house or into our lives.

And--

Did he carry
that to his death?

Oh, my husband, he did.

So maybe you should not
carry this to your death.

Maybe you should give
yourself a break.

Really?

How do you do it?

We all
know who is to blame,

and it isn't you, Mom.

We literally not only
have forgiven you,

but we want you
to forgive you.

OK, I'll work on it.

Is it
over, or is it never over?

I don't think it's ever
over, but am I doing great?

Hell, yeah, I really am.

I feel like I've
learned a lot.

I don't think it's over.

You know, I'm a
work in progress.

So it's kind of
a lifelong journey.

It is.

I would honestly say that
everybody has a story.

And I feel like the greatest
part of my healing journey

is starting my foundation.

That kind of thing is where
the service to somebody else

to tell your story, and then,
can I give you a safe space,

that's what it's about.

I think that
to have shared in something

in some kind of
trauma that way,

it either breaks
apart a family,

or it brings them closer.

And luckily, we seem
to band together

and have more of that
kind of a relationship.

Berchtold took
a lot from you,

but he didn't
take your resolve.

He didn't take your
love from each other.

He didn't take
your family away.

I mean, you're not
the losers here.

You won.

He lost.

How proud are all of you
of Jan for how far she's

come, for what she conquered,
for where she's at right now?

I think I'm proud.

Thanks.

I'm proud of
all of you guys.

She is an amazing woman.

I think when I
look at these hands

holding each other, it's
a collective pride, right?

It's not-- it's Jan at the
center, but it's all of you,

too.

I'm proud of
all of my family.

It's not easy.

And it's really wonderful
that they feel proud of me.

That makes me feel good.

Nobody's ever asked
them in front of me.

It's really wonderful for
me to feel like, oh, good,

they're proud of me.

I wanted that .