What. Did. I. Just. Watch?!
My husband read an article on Vice about the documentary Abducted in Plain Sight and told me we had to watch it on Netflix. I was nervous. The title made it sound like the story was going to be about children who were snatched from right under their parents’ noses, and I was scared I’d be up all night worrying about whether it could happen to one of our kids.
“No,” he said. “This particular situation would NEVER happen to us.” His confidence had me intrigued and his next statement sealed the deal. “Tyra Banks said, ‘I have never IN MY LIFE yelled at a television like I did while watching Abducted in Plain Sight.'” My husband, not one to quote Tyra Banks, seemed to be highly vested in this show already, so I agreed to watch it.
My facial expressions during the viewing looked something like this:
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I went into the documentary totally blind, not knowing anything about the story of Jan Broberg, her family, or her abduction back in the 1970’s. My husband had read some spoilers in that Vice article and admits he wished he hadn’t, so I’m not going to give anything away here.
But I promise you there is no way you will see what’s coming. This story is bananas! If it were fiction, you’d say it was a stupid plot, overreaching and far fetched, but it’s not fake. This sh*t actually happened.
The thing I love about writing for this website is that we focus on supporting other parents, instead of judging them, but I gotta tell ya — It’s really hard not to judge the parents in this story. As one of my friend’s husbands said, “I know this happened in the ’70s when it was a different time, but did people also not have brains back then?” Once you watch the documentary, you’ll understand why that’s a fair question.
On our sister site, Mid-Peninsula Moms Blog, we recently shared a really informative article on practical ways you can help prevent the sexual abuse of your own children. In the meantime, watch Abducted in Plain Sight and take notes on everything not to do.
