‘Abducted in Plain Sight’ Is the Most Horrifying Documentary on Netflix

Halfway through Abducted in Plain Sight, the latest true crime documentary to become a Netflix sensation, FBI Agent Welsh recalls a warning he gave to the family at the film’s center. After a close friend abducted their preteen daughter against her will for weeks, he tells her parents in no uncertain terms to cease all communication with Robert Berchtold, the abductor. Exasperated, he then adds an ominous five-word clause to the end of his warning: “Which they. Did. Not. Do.”

Abducted in Plain Sight delivers a specific kind of punch, and rarely does it only come from the predator at the middle of this terrifying true story. Instead, it emerges from the family who willingly turned a blind eye to his actions.

Director Skye Borgman‘s documentary is like a game of trauma one-upsmanship. The film, which was originally released in 2017 and has found new life on Netflix, follows the story of 12-year-old Jan Broberg, a child who was targeted by a predator, groomed to trust him, and was eventually kidnapped by him — twice. Over the course of 90 minutes, the documentary details just how Robert Berchtold befriended the Broberg family with the sole intention of getting closer to the young Jan. It’s an intrinsically upsetting story only made worse through the way it’s told. Every other minute contains another shocking secret from the Broberg family, from the illicit affairs both parents had with Berchtold both before and after Jan’s first kidnapping, to allowing him to spend the night with their daughter. Repeatedly. It’s a documentary that feels more like a horrifying confession than a warning about the monster at its center.

And that, more than anything else, likely explains why Abducted in Plain Sight has become such an overnight sensation. During a time when true crime documentaries are defined by long, highly detailed docuseries like Making a Murderer and The Staircase, Abducted in Plain Sight whips through its story. There’s little to no room for deeper exploration into how these horrific crimes happened. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is never interrogated for knowing that Berchtold was a threat to Jan Broberg while only offering counseling lessons. Our legal system, which allowed a serial pedophile to kidnap the same young girl twice and walk away with minimal jail time, is barely questioned. The Borberg parents and their eerily calm reactions to their daughter’s abductions are never explored further by psychologists. The film doesn’t even elaborate on the other young girls and families Berchtold targeted, groomed, and harmed. It’s a documentary that continuously fails to give any adequate answers for the horrible story it tells. Yet it tells that horrible story chillingly well.

Part of that reality can be blamed on the film’s hour and a half runtime. Every interview included in the final product feels absolutely necessary, even if the final product’s purpose is unclear. But failing to give any explanation for why Berchtold was able to get away with his cycle of abuse other than “it was the ’70s” makes the resulting film feel hollow to the point of being borderline exploitative. Abducted in Plain Sight tackles one of the craziest true crime stories to be uncovered in recent years. However, after streaming this thrilling dive into “what the fuck”-dom, you may walk away wondering why you even watched in the first place. Horror is fine for horror movies; for true crime, documentarians need to dig a little deeper.

Watch Abducted in Plain Sight on Netflix