Abducted in Plain Sight (2017) User Reviews

Incredible, But Not In A Good Way

[clintstevens · 8/10 · 21 January 2019]

Halfway through this documentary I was convinced it was one of those phony 'mocumentarys'. I still can't wrap my mind around how naive...no, gullible some people can be. My mouth was agape throughout the entire film.

I have so many questions there are no answers for. How can reasonably intelligent parents allow their 12 year old daughter to have 'sleep-overs' with a 40 year old man? How can they BOTH be lured into a sexual relationship with the same man? How can a normal girl believe she has been chosen by extraterrestrial aliens to save their species by having a child with this same man? How can the FBI be so ineffective? How can a powerful church apparently have knowledge of this man's past history and continue to allow it to happen? How can parents permit their daughter to continue to see a man like this, even after he had kidnapped her a first time? How can they be OK with him spending the night 3 or 4 times a week in their home, in their daughter's bed AFTER he had kidnapped her. How can a man sit on camera and calmly say his brother was a pedophile but was also a great car salesman?

The saying 'You can't make this stuff up' applies tenfold to this tale. You will watch this film, shaking your head and wondering how some people are allowed to procreate. I'm still shaking my head.

What did I just watch

[sophie910 · 8/10 · 19 January 2019]

I have never seen such gullible people in my life! And the way the mum still smiles about how she felt about how made her feel after they started their affair was truly shocking!!!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

[SpacemanBob · 8/10 · 20 January 2019]

The story of an abduction or two. Involves a monster, a con artist, a master manipulator, naive parents, and a little girl. If this were fiction I'd have called it far fetched, but this is all too real. It's disturbing, shocking, maddening, and somehow strangely close to physically painful to watch. A well made film, the story moves quickly, there's no filler by any means.

Content vs Quality

[kroniskvaffel · 15 February 2019]

These parents are among the most naive people on earth, but to give a low rating because you disagree with the content is strange. It's like saying Titanic is a terrible movie because the boat sank.

Unbelievably Gullible People

[hlahorner · 7/10 · 16 March 2019]

Wow. Just wow. Like everyone else, I was screaming at the TV because of the utter stupidity of this girls parents. I wanted to reach through the screen and slap them silly. I get they were from a small town and naive, but after he kidnapped her, took her to Mexico and married her (she was 12, by the way) you think they would have wised up. And when she was acting distant and strange, did they seek help? Therapy? No. In fact they let him back into their lives. Those parents were dysfunctional and unhealthy and selfish. At the end of the movie the mother said something along the lines she could help but feel it was all her fault, at which point I yelled at the TV "because it is"!

The story is outrageous and disturbing, but I can't help but feel as a documentary it could have been better. So many unanswered questions. More people should have been interviewed to give other perspectives of this bizarre story. What about the guys wife and kids? Why didn't the church excommunicate him after he kinapped her? A psychiatrist could have weighed in. It would have been interesting to hear the opinions other people in the community had about both families. Was everyone under the spell of this guy? They also glossed over that he had molested other girls. There was so much more to explore.

Ultimately, I recommend it just for the sheer train wreck aspect of the whole thing.

INFURIATING

[Daniela29 · 7/10 · 22 January 2019]

This has got to be the most infuriating documentary I have ever watched! The sheer stupidity of the parents was astounding. I don't know if they were completely idiots or just weak and easily manipulated. I cannot believe the amount of times they allowed that revolting man access to their daughter. The mother was the worst one, engaging in an affair with him after he had already KIDNAPPED her daughter and abused her. The whole justice system was also sickening. Why on earth was he spared so many times and allowed to continue to commit these crimes?! And then to top it all off, he didn't even suffer for what he did. An interesting documentary and different in that you don't often see the families so actively facilitating the abuse, whether this was intentional or not, however it made me so angry!

This shows how some people should not be able to raise children

[Boristhemoggy · 7/10 · 8 May 2020]

A solid, God fearing couple allow a friendly neighbour to befriend their children, ignore him being fixated on one of them, allow him to take her away and have sex with her and marry her when she was 12, then when they get her back they allow him to sleep in her bed for most nights of the week for months. In between raping the child he also has sex with both the father and the mother! To protect their virtue, they lie to the FBI about the child rape so as not to have their own sexual relations with him made public. Honestly, they should be jailed for child endangerment and this is a perfect example of when some people should be sterilised or have their children taken from them. if this was not a true story you would never believe it in a 100 years.

Honestly how is this real

[Calicodreamin · 6/10 · 5 June 2019]

It's pretty incredible how this story unfolds and the cool ease with which everyone discusses the horrors of their child being abducted; not just once, but twice. The parents are so selfish, that they wait a week to report her missing the first time, and two weeks the second!!! Has sex with their daughters kidnapper? Let's him sleep with her alone? Talks about a 40 year old man marrying a 12 year old like it's just today's news? These people are infuriatingly ineffective.

Good documentary though. Just messed up people.

Beyond Stupid Parents

[eric-77327 · 6/10 · 10 February 2019]

The documentary is pretty well made but it is very hard to watch. The parents are the stupidest sheep I have ever heard of. I am not sure if I can recommend this movie because during and after the movie I feel angry and want to slap all the adults in the face. What's the deal with the dad? This dude comes to lunch and says he has problems with his wife so you give him a handy in the car to help him out wtf. Then the mother has an affair with the guy for months after he kidnapped and married her 12 year old daughter. She also seams to still have goosebumps to this day about her affair with him. How can these morons actually agree to tell their story? I don't think they still have a clue how this is basically all their fault. The father is more upset he gave the dude a handy than what happened to his daughter over 200 times.

Fascinating and Disturbing

[julielange-may · 10/10 · 20 January 2019]

As a documentary this held my interest from start to finish. I'm a little surprised that folks would rate it low due to the disturbing content which I found to be honestly and painfully presented in first person by family members. I think it's absolutely credible to present the unbelievable effort that some of these predators make on a long term planning level to entrap their prey. I would have liked to see inclusion of the predator's wife and family but I suspect they are too ashamed even now to come out publicly. In my opinion, Berchtold's wife should have been prosecuted as an accessory to have colluded to keep her husband out of jail and to have turned a blind eye to his activity. I'm glad to have viewed this. I only ran into one person while my daughter was growing up who seemed far too interested in spending his time with pre-adolescent girls. I watched this person like a hawk until my daughter was too old to be of any interest. She also had a gut sense to avoid interaction but not all children are born with that. So I say buckle up, be incredulous about what happened but watch. Don't rate this low because it exposes stupidity. Kudos to Jan's family for sharing what some might take to the grave.

What the hell did I just watch?!?!

[tarasoxfan · 6/10 · 24 January 2019]

By the time I reached the 30 minute mark, if the topic had not been so serious, I would have sworn that I was watching a hoax film. These parents have got to be the most gullible, stupid, ignorant people on the planet. I'm shocked any of their children were lucky enough to make it to adulthood. The serial perpetrator is a piece of garbage who got "lucky" enough to stumble upon the perfect mark. My heart bleeds for the victim. She was let down by every adult in her life. It's a fascinating watch, if only for the unbelievably naive mother and father. I don't know whether to give the parents credit for embarrassing themselves by telling their story or not. I'm still sitting here with my jaw hanging open.

What?!?

[fiftycentqueen · 8/10 · 13 February 2019]

These "parents" have got to be the dumbest, most gullible idiots I've ever seen. Are you kidding me?!?!... This man was seducing the whole family!!! First they gave this man permission to take their kid, then they dont return and these idiot's wait 4 days to call the police!! Omg... They should've been locked up. This is some sick s**t!!!

There has to be more to the story

[merdebrainz · 7/10 · 21 January 2019]

I found this documentary fascinating. I can't say that I enjoyed it (who could enjoy this type of subject?), but it did keep my attention. It was also surprising that the subjects (especially the parents) were as honest about their shortcomings as they were. Still, the whole thing just doesn't seem that believable. It seems like there must be some part of the story we are not getting. And if they were truthful about the horrible things they admitted to already, whatever they are hiding must be pretty bad. I suspect that they may have been pressured by the LDS church to keep things hushed up and to keep the authorities out of it.

I guess I'm glad that the children were somehow able to forgive the parents, but I really don't think that the parents deserved forgiveness. They made so many horrible mistakes and were more concerned about the town gossip and protecting their "reputation" that they literally put their daughter's life on the line. I guess they are lucky that the predator in this case wasn't a killer. It could have turned out so much worse than it did. But, I guess they were easy targets as he was a closet homosexual and she was a sexually frustrated wife of a homosexual. Still, any parent that puts sex over their own kid's safety is a very lousy parent.

And that brother of the predator seems like a lowlife. I have a brother and I love him dearly -- but I'd still turn him in if I knew he was a pedophile and had a child in his possession. I might cover up for him for minor crimes -- but not kidnapping and sexual abuse of a child. What kind of soulless lowlife can just casually mention that he always knew his brother was a pedophile because he molested their sister? If I were the authorities, I'd be keeping an eye on him. Maybe "B" let his brother have a turn when Jan was drugged up. It wouldn't surprise me.

Overall it is interesting, but you'll be angry and horrified that people like this -- predator and parents -- exist in the world. But, it definitely is a testament to the fact that the truth is stranger than fiction.

Terrible Parents

[fransisconunez · 5/10 · 15 January 2019]

Very interesting/disturbing story. It's hard to watch because the Parents are absolutely stupid. No common sense whatsoever. Who allows an adult friend to sleep with their kids for therapy? This documentary made all of us yell (lol) at the TV. I recommend it, but it's definitely going to make you mad.

Made well , but conflicting feelings

[breeanntabish · 6/10 · 20 January 2019]

Jan Broberg was one of the teachers and directors at my cities musical theater classes 2004ish. Because of this I knew she had been kidnapped as a kid , as I think it fueled her into the acting field and thats where she drew her emotion from . Now saying this , i knew she had put together funding and asked for help with a GoFundMe type thing to get this made to share her story ( but I think a book had been made long before ) and it was shown at multiple film festival and got a lot of attention . It is made well don't get me wrong , and it is sad that this happened and should never happen to any child and children are super impressional especially during the time frame this happened . But boy oh boy I don't think any of them realize just how stupid this makes their parents look . They both fell into temptation with this man and cheated , then continued to let the man into her life over and over and over . Then they got the case dropped against this man and continued to let him do things to their daughter because "they couldn't believe that something like this could happen " even with multiple instances of proof **cough cough marrying their daughter in Mexico cough cough ** These people are way beyond being adults and knew right from wrong . The FBI agent had to literally convince them that Jan had gotten kidnapped . She had been gone for 5 days with no word and had to be convinced by the government that she had been taken ... I mean come on ... Usually with kidnapping documentaries it is someone they don't know , they are working tirelessly to get their kid back and want to see the person either dead or in prison forever . These parents waited and waited to call the cops , it's like they wanted her gone , they got the case DROPPED because they didn't want their cheating to come out to the public , and they disregarded the FBIs advice of staying away from the man. If anything it's the parents fault 100000000%%%% and I hope they live with the guilt forever .

How have the parents not been arrested!!?

[ewrw-259-683155 · 23 January 2019]

The parents (dad) are lying, they knew what was happening and because of their part (dirty laundry) they let him get away with it. Disgusting

The dangers of being ignorant and sheltered.

[TokyoGyaru · 6/10 · 5 February 2021]

Good grief, I have been a huge fan of true crime since childhood, and I've watched more documentaries, TV shows, and YT videos than I can count, but I've NEVER seen a family that made me so incredibly apathetic towards them because their level of stupidity and how much they failed their child repeatedly. They are so insulated, ignorant, and full of latent perversions that I couldn't even feel bad for anyone but the victim. They kept that predator around, letting him overstep to a ridiculous degree repeatedly because the parents themselves were sexually attracted to him. They were obvious in their unbelievable justifications and in their lies about being duped. They were not as sick as him, but still suspect. Those red flags were ignored on purpose because, where other people sensed his sickness and stepped away, they instead went so far as to engage with him sexually and literally let him into bed 4 nights a week with their child (among a ton of other things).

These are the type of folks who would think themselves a cut above religiously, people who would look upon others with suspicion who don't look like them, but they let a predator work freely on their child. They even delayed getting the police involved to give him more alone time with her.

The parents are MASSIVE failures in protecting their child. Their own lusts left the door open for her abuse. While I'm sorry for the victim, the whole family was very weird, like the type of people who would be involved in a cult quite easily. The alien story was as weird as it was unsurprising in how easy it was to exploit.

This is just gross and frustrating.

A shocker!

[Majikat76 · 7/10 · 29 January 2019]

Having see so many people just utter; wtf??? I had to take a look and I am in still in shock from this story!

On a psychologically level, I am usually open minded when it comes to understanding why certain actions take place and the main focus here should be the predator himself, so why have I come away with a feeling that I can't shake off from the parents???

What did I just watch!?!

[shanna-nicole82 · 7/10 · 29 January 2019]

This has to be the craziest, most pathetic, and disturbing crime documentary I have ever seen. The parents should have went to jail. As far as story line and documentary format, this was good. It's just super disturbing.

All blame on the parents

[vluckylkv · 7/10 · 14 April 2021]

How on earth a responsibile family would allow their 13 years old daughter to do sleepover with 40 year old man. Her parents are the most gullible and stupid person I have ever seen. And her mom is the worst, she sleep with a man for over a year who abducted her daughter and sexually abused her. Jan would never suffered this much if her parents were little bit responsibile.

INSANITY

[imcmullan · 10/10 · 1 February 2019]

These parents need to do time in prison...I dont buy for one second that the mom didnt known what was going on. She basically was so In love with B that she allowed him to be a predator and prey on her daughter! How can she even believe he loved her after kidnapping her daughter?? Then going back to him after he was sleeping with her husband?? These people are messed up on so many levels. B WAS A SEXUAL DEVIANT...and basically the devil himself in the flesh ...a monster! That poor little girl, she was supposed to be protected by her parents and they pretty much handed her to him on a silver platter. They are all sick .

Some people should not be allowed to breed

[austinbunch · 7/10 · 24 January 2019]

Good documentary. The world is full of stupid people. The parents should be in prison for enabling the perpetrator. They went out of their way to help him achieve his goals right down to getting him off themselves.

I Find it Hard to Feel Sorry For the Family

[garryp01 · 8/10 · 21 January 2019]

This story is so surreal that it almost starts to sound like fiction!

The parents are just stupid. Full on stupid. Mentally incapable of seeing common sense. You tug off a Saville wannabe and don't think that's strange? No you let him be alone with your daughter!

It is a very well made documentary. Kept me hooked because the family were stupid. They make out this kidnaping, kiddy fiddler is some criminal mastermind but it just the parents having no clue on life!

Is this real? Is it a mockumentary?

[mls4182 · 6/10 · 23 April 2021]

I think we all feel sorry for the girl. The parents were so unbelievably stupid. At least the father gave some much needed comic relief. "I need a release. Can you help me" I laughed out loud even as the rest of the story made me want to throw prep. Eaugh this is so gross. Sleeping with both parents to get to the girl. Why is the child actress in the recreation wearing wigs?

Here goes....

[staciarose20 · 5/10 · 27 October 2021]

The entire thing was her parents' fault. No one is this naive! They both had sexual relationships with that man! They knew what he was capable of doing! It's infuriating. I know it was the 70's, but come on.