Robert Berchtold’s death: How did Jan Broberg’s kidnapper die? |All Social Updates

The undoubtedly horrific story of Jan Broberg’s abduction by her neighbor Robert Berchtold not once, but twice when she was 12 and 14 respectively, is, in all honesty, unlike any other case ever investigated. After all, as discussed in the Netflix documentaries Kidnapped in Plain Sight and Peacock’s Family Friend, he brainwashed her, deceived her parents, and managed every aspect of her life. Now if you are interested in learning more about him – with a particular focus on his transgressions, his punishments, his views on them, and the full consequences thereof – we have the essential facts you need for your consideration.

Robert Berchtold

Who was Robert Berchtold?

Robert, his wife Gail Toyn Berchtold, and their children moved to Pocatello, Idaho in the early 1970s. There they made the unfortunate discovery that their new neighbors, the Brobergs, shared the same religious beliefs as they did. They started attending church regularly, having dinner with the family, and even going on vacations together until they basically became entrenched in each other’s daily routines. As a result, they very quickly formed a close friendship. In fact, he eventually managed to get close to both Mary Ann Broberg and Robert “Bob” Broberg, and all three of the couple’s daughters eventually began referring to him as “father,” with Jan being the eldest of the bunch.

Hardly anyone understood, however, that Robert was head over heels in love with Jan. For this reason, he not only persuaded her parents to let him lie in bed next to her, but also kidnapped her in October 1974. Hardly anyone realize, however, that Robert was infatuated with Jan. After convincing the girl’s relatives that he would ride with her, he actually poisoned the little girl before tying her up in his RV and driving her to Mexico in hopes of marrying her. There he subjected her to extensive psychological manipulation to force her to believe that she was a half-alien bound to procreate with him before she was 16 in order to preserve his ability to indefinitely breed her time to sexually abuse.

Five weeks later, Jan was found safe, but Robert was able to get away without serious charges by convincing Jan’s parents, the Brobergs, to sign an affidavit that they had given him permission to travel with their daughter. Therefore, for minor crimes, he was sentenced to five years in prison, which was then reduced to forty-five days, and he ended up serving only ten days in prison before regaining his full freedom. However, the two families continued to communicate, allowing him to virtually kidnap Jan again in August 1976. This time he managed to hide her for four months at a Catholic girls’ school in California.

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How did Robert Berchtold die?

In November 1976, the FBI was the agency that located Robert and Jan, but Robert was able to avoid being charged with first-degree kidnapping a second time by successfully declaring that he suffered from a mental illness at his trial. As a result, although by that time he had already emigrated to Salt Lake City, Utah, he was committed to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, only to be released less than six months later. This was despite the fact that by that time he had moved there. As a direct result, the Berchtolds broke away from the Brobergs; However, it must be pointed out that Robert was in prison for sexually assaulting a child (an unrelated matter) approximately ten years after the fact.

After obtaining a restraining order against him following his appearances at events she attended for her biography Stolen Innocence around 2004, Robert and Jan finally met face-to-face. When he adamantly announced that that her account was full of inaccuracies and lies to market her book, she claimed that “he’s been desperate since our story came out.”

Jan got the restraining order, and she also had the support of Bikers Against Child Abuse; Consequently, an altercation broke out between the two when Robert showed up at an event again in 2005. After showing up at Jan’s event and injuring BACA members, Robert was subsequently arrested and charged with five felonies, including three felonies and two misdemeanors, all of which he was found guilty of. According to the documentary Kidnapped in Plain Sight, the then 69-year-old man decided he didn’t want to serve any more time in prison and committed suicide by overdosing on his heart drug, Kahlua, before he could be sentenced. He died on November 11, 2005.

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