Meet Jan Broberg, the real double-kidnap victim from ‘A Friend of the Family’

nypost.com:

Abducted in Plain Sight,” told the story of their victimization by Berchtold, a charismatic sociopath who — despite pleading guilty to kidnapping Jan and eventually being convicted for the rape of another child — never spent more than a year in prison.The Brobergs’ story is now explored in a new book, “The Jan Broberg Story: The True Crime Story of a Young Girl Abducted and Brainwashed by a Friend of the Family,” co-written by Jan and her mother MaryAnn Broberg, and in the new TV drama “A Friend of the Family” on Peacock.

Starring Mckenna Grace as Jan and Jake Lacy as her neighbor, it tells the bizarre story of the Brobergs’ torment at the hands of Berchtold, who ultimately killed himself in 2005.According to Jan, now 60, the Brobergs were unprepared for the attacks that came their way after the 2019 Netflix documentary went viral.

Many viewers blamed her parents — questioning how they could buy the idea, for instance, that a grown man, B, was lying in bed many nights with his friends’ preteen daughter for innocent reasons.Jan spoke with The Post about how she and her mother, MaryAnn, wrote their book and served as co-producers of the new series to raise awareness about how to better spot molesters, who are often known to their victims.She also wants to help people understand that B also victimized her parents — whom she does not blame, despite their mistakes.Jan believes her parents failed to protect her because B groomed and manipulated them.

They had never even heard the word “pedophile.”“Think of any community of like-minded people — say, at church, the YMCA, a neighborhood gathering,” she said.