Before Robert Berchtold became a part of it, Jan Broberg's life was largely idyllic, according to the Idaho State Journal. Her father was a business owner who ran a local florist shop, and her mother was a homemaker. She and her younger sisters, Karen and Susan, would do all of the things that girls did in those days, such as ride bikes around the neighborhood or buy candy from a local grocery store. "It was pretty much like 'Ozzie and Harriet' or 'Leave it to Beaver,'" Broberg told the outlet, although this was the 1970s and not the 1950s.
However, at some point, the families' lives were upended when Berchtold moved into a home down the street. He, too, was a business owner with a wife and children, and he attended the same church as the Brobergs. The two families became fast friends. "They had all the fun toys we didn't have, like a boat, snowmobiles, a trampoline. A close friendship ensued," Broberg told the Idaho State Journal.
Berchtold took a particular interest in Broberg, and she would later say that he became a sort of second father to her.
