What Happened to Jan Broberg's Parents Mary Ann and Bob?

In A Friend of the Family, the impact that Robert 'B' Berchtold had on the Broberg family is explored, particularly the way in which he manipulated Mary Ann and Bob Broberg in order to get closer with their eldest daughter, Jan.

Between 1972 and 1976, Berchtold groomed Jan from a young age and kidnapped her twice, once when she was 12 and a second time when she was 14. During this period he also entered into sexual relationships with both her parents.

As well as the Peacock drama, the Broberg family's story is explored in the documentary Abducted in Plain Sight and in Mary Ann's 2003 book Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story.

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What Happened to Jan Broberg's Parents Mary Ann and Bob?

Jan Broberg has previously said that she hopes that by making A Friend of the Family she can ensure that the public does not see her parents as "stupid or careless" for the way in which Berchtold manipulated them.

Berchtold became friends with the Broberg family once he, his wife Gail and their children moved to Pocatello, Idaho. From then he began to manipulate the family so that he could be close to Jan.

In October 1974, Berchtold kidnapped an underage Jan for the first time on the pretense he was taking her horseback riding. He actually took her to Mexico where he married her; they were there for five weeks.

Mary Ann and Bob Broberg did not call the police straight away as they thought the pair might return as Berchtold said they would; Berchtold's wife Gail also claimed the pair may have had a car accident. When Berchtold and Jan didn't return, Mary Ann and Bob called the police who took their case to the FBI.

In the documentary, Jan Broberg explained that she was made to believe she was given a mission by aliens to have children with Berchtold before she turned 16, and she said it was then that he began to sexually abuse her.

After the FBI found Berchtold and Jan, who was returned home, Mary Ann and Bob dropped the charges against Berchtold out of fear that his sexual encounter with Bob would be revealed publicly. Soon after, Berchtold began to have an affair with Mary Ann, she explained in the documentary.

Jan's parents almost divorced over Berchtold's influence on their life, but they were able to reconcile after Mary Ann stopped her affair with Berchtold.

At that time, Jan began to believe she was in love with Berchtold and wanted to marry him for real. She also still believed she had a mission to have his children before the age of 16.

Berchtold kidnapped her a second time when she was 14 and enrolled her into a school in California under an assumed identity. He claimed he was her father and a CIA agent.

When the FBI was able to retrieve Jan and she later turned 16, she realized that what she had been made to believe was a lie. She told her parents of the abuse she'd suffered at Berchtold's hands.

In 2003, Mary Ann wrote her book Stolen Innocence alongside Jan. While they were on the book tour, the two encountered Berchtold, who tried to sue them and claimed that the book was a lie. Jan went to court to get a restraining order against him that was granted.

Berchtold took his own life in 2005 after he was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm and was found guilty following a physical altercation with bikers at one of the Broberg family's book events.

Both Mary Ann and Bob Broberg appeared in the documentary Abducted in Plain Sight where they spoke of the family's experience with Berchtold.

Bob died on November 5, 2018, in Santa Clara, Utah at the age of 80. Mary Ann, meanwhile, is an executive producer on A Friend of the Family alongside her daughter.

How Jan Broberg Helped Colin Hanks Portray Her Father Bob

Actor Colin Hanks portrayed Bob in the Peacock drama, while True Blood star Anna Paquin took on the role of Mary Ann. Hanks spoke to Newsweek about how he worked with Jan in order to respectfully play her late father.

"She wrote a very nice handwritten note that was waiting for me when when I got down to Atlanta for filming and we texted back and forth a little bit," he recalled. "I asked her some questions about her father, the kind of person he was, any specific traits that she remembers, music she remembers him playing in the household, phrases that he said, because he was a very likeable man.

"And really, that was enough, combined with the fact that she said, 'You're the perfect person to play my father, go, just go and do it. Don't worry too much about that, and we trust you, we believe in you.'

"That was really the biggest gift, I think, that she could have given any of the actors really, it's just that acknowledgment that, 'Hey, you're in the right place, this is who we want. So, go, go tell the story as best you can.'"

Reflecting on the case itself, Hanks said: "There's so much that happened to the family and I think it's very easy to get sort of lost in the dates, and what happened when.

"There really is so much that they went through, and the main thing that interested me is being able to properly explain why the parents made the decisions that they did, it's very easy to cast judgment on them.

"In hindsight, you know, this is 1971 in a tight-knit Mormon community, so there was a lot of education that I had to do in terms of where they were at in their lives at that time.

"And so, for me, the series is really trying to give them the opportunity to be able to explain why they made the decisions that they made—not as an excuse but to give people a better understanding, because I think so many people hear about their story and their main question is, 'Why? Why would you let that happen?'

"And the truth is they didn't let things happen, they were manipulated and preyed upon and, so, I looked at it as our responsibility to try and tell that side of the story."

A Friend of the Family premieres its first four episodes Thursday, October 6, on Peacock. Episodes will air weekly thereafter.