# Abducted in Plain Sight (Netflix documentary) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374 "2019-02-12T00:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/1 "2019-02-12T00:49:43Z")
Some people were talking about it on Facebook a few days ago, so I decided to take one for the team last night, and watched it. Wow. That it involves the kidnapping - TWICE - of an adolescent girl by a neighbor who had a crush on her is the least weird aspect of the whole story. There’s enough material that was just glossed over to make a miniseries, although I’m not sure most people could handle it. AFAIK, it is unrated but should be NC-17 for content, even though it has no profanity or overt violent or sexual content. It really is that disturbing. > **[Abducted in Plain Sight (2017) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3444312/)** > > Abducted in Plain Sight: Directed by Skye Borgman. With Jan Broberg, Bob Broberg, Mary Ann Broberg, Susan Broberg. The twisting, turning, stranger-than-fiction true story of the Brobergs, a naive, church-going Idaho family that fell under the spell... Has anyone else seen it, and what did you think? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/2 "2019-02-12T02:00:15Z")
I saw it. It was very disturbing and the parents… I just can’t imagine being that clueless. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/3 "2019-02-12T04:38:37Z")
I was hesitant to watch it because I don’t usually go in for “real life murder mystery” shows and documentaries. I’m a single woman living alone, I don’t need to scare myself like that! But this one I watched and not only is it not scary (the female child victim is alive and well and interviewed) it’s just…wow. Fucking nuts. This sounds rude to say but it’s a “great story” at least as far as stories go. My jaw fell to the floor at the car ride with the dad and the abductor (you know, two boys) and it didn’t get back up until the show was over. It’s sad to say but I feel these people’s being Mormons helped lead to their naivety. When they said they were Mormons I was like “yeah that totally fits.” I’m also going to keep this in my pocket for when people say “America is getting more violent and scary.” Hey lemme tell you what shit was going down in 1974… ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/4 "2019-02-12T07:12:19Z")
I’d like to know how Jan managed to heal from this (or if she did) and how the other family is doing now. My guess is that they’re reeeeeeeeally messed up. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/5 "2019-02-12T07:57:00Z")
Well, now I really want to watch it, but is it so dark it’ll leave me depressed? I was deeply disturbed and a little depressed after reading John Fowles’ T_he Collector_. Is this movie on a par with that, heebie-jeebie-wise? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/6 "2019-02-12T14:46:55Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Well, now I really want to watch it, but is it so dark it’ll leave me depressed? I was deeply disturbed and a little depressed after reading John Fowles’ T_he Collector_. Is this movie on a par with that, heebie-jeebie-wise? “Heebie-jeebie-wise” is an early contender for Phrase of the Year. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/7 "2019-02-12T15:56:50Z")
I don’t believe them to be as naive as they’re portrayed. I believe the truth is probably more twisted. I mean, the mom still wistfully smiles about their affair in 2018 after everything he’s done. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/8 "2019-02-12T16:46:37Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > It’s sad to say but I feel these people’s being Mormons helped lead to their naivety. When they said they were Mormons I was like “yeah that totally fits.” Yeah, you could see it in a lot of aspects of the story. I read [this interview with the director](https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/abducted-in-plain-sight-director-broberg-berchtold.html) after watching it. > [@](#): > > **You mentioned that their faith opened the door for this to happen, which is something that I mentioned in my review. In what way do you think it did that?** > > I think there are many good things about faith, but with this particular family, they just placed a little bit too much in their faith. This man comes in, and because he’s part of the LDS church, it automatically gives him a stamp of approval. This idea of looking like an upstanding family in the community, giving the idea that nothing’s wrong, I think that was something that the church holds very high. They didn’t want people to know about it so that they could look like that high and upstanding family in the eyes of the church and in the eyes of the community. And that’s all part of what added to the blinders, the denial, and keeping things quiet. Not calling the police or the FBI when they should have, not talking about what was going on, and not accepting that something bad was happening to their daughter because it was somebody else in the LDS church. > **But it’s not like someone in the church was specifically instructing them to do that.** > > Yes, although I do think there were times when, later, they do talk to the bishops a lot. And that’s something that they put a lot of faith in. They were seeking guidance from the church primarily, and then law enforcement secondarily. At one point when Jan was in the Catholic school in CA and she called home, one of her parents asks her if B still wants to marry her, and she corrects them, saying, “I want to marry him!” And their response was just so accepting of that, like they didn’t think anything of all the abuse that must have gotten her to that point of wanting to marry her abuser. Young girls marry older men in the LDS church all the time, right? I mean I’m sure it was out of fashion by then but still, if marriage is God’s will then who is anyone to question two people who want to get married. Yeah, I went to bed feeling pretty gross after watching that. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/9 "2019-02-12T22:14:29Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > I don’t believe them to be as naive as they’re portrayed. I believe the truth is probably more twisted. I mean, the mom still wistfully smiles about their affair in 2018 after everything he’s done. And Mom took that phone call where B told her that Jan was involved in drug dealing and prostitution, and she just said, “Oh, my” and believed it! ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/10 "2019-02-13T02:09:48Z")
Yeah, just wow, that’s a weird family and community. I was glad to see that Berchtold got convicted even though he convinced the victim and her family not to testify against him. I haven’t seen anything in the way of a “making of” background, but the way it’s presented, that was a whole lot of home movies of really mundane daily stuff. I’d like to know how much was recreated and how much was authentic. For example, did the FBI really film themselves opening a storage unit door only discover the RV was gone? If it’s all recreated, they went to a lot of trouble to filter and age the “film” to mimic 1974. It’s a pet peeve of mine about these kinds of shows, such as Dateline or shows on the ID channel; if you’re recreating a scene, be honest about it and admit it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/11 "2019-02-13T03:52:24Z")
29 minutes in, my thoughts: 1. WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK? 2. WAIT! THERE’S AN HOUR MORE OF THIS? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/12 "2019-02-13T04:15:06Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > 29 minutes in, my thoughts: > > 1. WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK? > 2. WAIT! THERE’S AN HOUR MORE OF THIS? You’ll be getting out the brain bleach by the time it’s over, should you wish to watch it to the end. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/13 "2019-02-13T04:31:12Z")
Huh … I hadn’t thought that any of it was real home movies. I assumed it was all re-creation. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/14 "2019-02-13T06:30:32Z")
The home movies that were splotchy and showed their faces were “real”. The ones that was just fuzzy, and didn’t show their faces, were most likely the re-enactments. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2019, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/15 "2019-02-16T05:33:26Z")
Here’s an article from “Vanity Fair” that goes into more detail about some things in the movie, and some things that aren’t in the movie (Jan has a son from a marriage that ended in divorce; the people who would like to take her father out back and shoot him - heard that more than once - are too late, because he died in November) and it does include spoilers, so watch at your own risk if you haven’t seen it yet, and want to. > **[Abducted in Plain Sight: Even More Shocking Details About Jan Broberg’s...](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/02/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-jan-broberg)** > > Filmmaker Skye Borgman on the unbelievable twists and turns of the Jan Broberg kidnapping case, and the pieces of the story that didn’t make it into her documentary, on Netflix. She’s a fairly prominent actress, although I had never previously heard of her, and her IMDB page goes back almost 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abducted-in-plain-sight-netflix-documentary/829374/16 "2019-02-16T05:37:55Z")
Since this website is run by the Mormons, I wasn’t surprised to find his obituary there. > **[Robert Dean “Bob” Broberg (1937-2018) - Find a...](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/194516567/robert-dean-broberg)** > > Robert Dean Broberg passed away on November 5, 2018 at the age of 80 in Santa Clara, Utah. Bob was born December 11, 1937 in Pocatello, Idaho to Paul and Evelyn Petersen Broberg. He graduated from Pocatello High School, class of 1956. After...