TOO CLOSE TO HOME!

THE HARROWING DOUBLE KIDNAPPING OF JAN BROBERG IS REVISITED IN A NEW CRIME DRAMA

- Gavin Scott

Although it has already been the subject of a memoir, podcast and documentary, the true crime that has inspired nine-part drama A Friend of the Family is one that continues to shock and confound decades after events occurred in the 1970s. At age 12 and again at 14, Jan Broberg was kidnapped by Robert Berchtold, a man she described as a “master manipulator” in a 2019 interview with Vulture.

In 2003, Jan’s mother, Mary Ann, released a book titled Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story, but it omitted important details. The case was explored again in 2017’s Abducted in Plain Sight, but critics felt too many questions were still left unanswered by the movie-length documentary.

With Jan and Mary Ann serving as producers, A Friend of the Family tries to more fully account for the circumstances surrounding Jan’s abductions and Berchtold’s ability to remain involved in the family’s affairs.

BERCHTOLD WAS A TRUSTED FAMILY FRIEND