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'Abducted In Plain Sight' Fans Think They Know Why B Married Jan In Mexico

'Abducted In Plain Sight' Fans Think They Know Why B Married Jan In Mexico

Viewers have taken to Reddit to explore the Broberg family's religion and what impact it had on what happened.

Emma Rosemurgey

Emma Rosemurgey

Pretty much everyone who has ever watched Abducted In Plain Sight has been left with about a billion questions and a sense of outrage that such heinous events could be allowed to take place.

The one-off Netflix documentary follows Jan Broberg, a woman who was kidnapped not once but twice by a family friend when she was a child in the 1970s.

Robert 'B' Berchtold brainwashed Jan into believing she was part of an alien family, and that she and B must start a family in order to save her family from peril.

During that time, B sexually molested Jan on numerous occasions, and among other things, took her to Mexico where they got legally married, as the legal age of consent was 12 in the 70s.

On their return home, B's wife managed to convince Jan's parents Bob and Mary Ann Broberg to drop kidnapping charges against him, or she would expose them for BOTH having sexual relations with B.

Jan Broberg spoke candidly about her abduction in the documentary (
Netflix)

While viewers were pretty damn disgusted about the fact the Brobergs agreed to sign the affidavit stating they consented for B to take Jan away, others were left pretty confused about why no one seemed to talk about the fact they got married in Mexico.

It's a difficult concept to understand that the Brobergs were aware of the marriage, yet unaware that there had been any sexual relations between them.

Equally as strange, no one seemed to bat an eyelid at the fact that B was already married to his wife, Gail Berchtold, which means he'd committed bigamy by marrying Jan.

However, one Reddit user put it down to the Broberg family's Latter Day Saint (LDS) or Mormon religion.

"One thing that confused me was how in the world Jan or her parents could take a marriage to B seriously, knowing that a) he's already married and b) marriage means sex."

The Broberg family (
Netflix)

The Reddit user continued to explain that for many Mormons, the concept of marriage is completely separate from US laws, and while LDS doesn't support polygamy (having more than one husband or wife) anymore, it has often been associated with the religion.

"Also, you can pretend that a marriage is platonic. [Joseph] Smith (the founder of LDS) did that a lot. The whole concept of 'sealing' yourself to someone is one big blurred boundary. You can seal yourself to your daughter or your wife, for eternity or just this life. You can be platonic and then suddenly say that God told you to have sex.

"I'm start to get a glimmer of how being married in Mexico might have been persuasive to Jan's family, B's wife, and the LDS community. I mean, it wasn't persuasive, but it's not so far-fetched to me now that B thought it would give him a bargaining chip.

"I wouldn't have been surprised if B succeeded in his quest to marry Jan in the US, then convinced a bunch of Mormons that the aliens had told him he had to have children with a bunch of 12 year olds. Then off they would all go to Mexico to procure 12 year olds for B.

"He really does seem like the perfect cult leader."

Robert 'B' Berchtold with the Broberg daughters (
Netflix)

Another Reddit user agreed that both the Broberg and the Berchtold's Mornon religion could've played a bigger part in the story than the documentary allowed us to believe.

"Does anyone else feel like the documentary didn't adequately get into how Mormonism/LDS played into things?" they asked. "Like how the family's beliefs and perspective was connected to why they might've let this happen and better explain Jan's naivete.

"I watched the entire film wondering how they could possibly explain their behaviors and rationalisations - it wasn't till I came here to this subreddit that I encountered the LDS connections. Seems like a failing on the part of the documentarians a bit?"

Abducted In Plain Sight is available to stream on Netflix now.

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

Topics: TV News, TV Entertainment, Netflix