Man keeps daughter captive in the cellar for 24 years

[Schuyler Colfax]

What the ... fuck, what the hell, what the fire truck could have possibly possed anyone to do something so horrible. Oh my god I'm actually gagging. Jesus Christ!!!

[Kitsune]

This is a hard question to ask but I wonder the size difference between her and him......

[CaptainChewbacca]

This is a hard question to ask but I wonder the size difference between her and him......

How is that relevant?

[Sriad]

Hey, a horrible example of human depravity! Let's use this as an excuse to be Internet Toughguys and call for horrific tortures! Boosh!

Waterboarding suspected terrorists for shaky intel is a warcrime and human rights violation, but drawing and quartering a serial rapist for no reason but our own bloodlust and indignation is Woooooo! Or better yet, lock him up with sociopaths who'll do our dirty work for us! Complicity? What's that?

...

Throw away the key to this shit disguised as man's cell, but don't throw away your morals or dignity.

[FSTargetDrone]

Ah, so there was sound-proofing, as I wondered about. And the entrance was apparently well-hidden and the location of the place itself was somewhat away from the main house.

I wouldnt mind seeing how much this guy earns and what his job was. I would expect the amount of effort required in building his 'dungeon' and keeping these captives supplied to be rather expensive. It also indicates a really disgusting element of planning to this guy's actions.
He must have built this dungeon before he kidnapped his own daughter and from the photos linked above. You have sinks, toilets being brought in which would require all sorts of plumbing and additional work.

Your honestly saying this guy manage to assemble an entire dungeon completely on his own without outside help ?
The wife just manged to miss him disappearing into the cellar with all this stuff then the daughter suddenly 'disappears' around the same time a coded door is put in the cellar ?
Still not noticing as the shopping / utility bills start increasing as they supply a family of 9 ?
Not raising a single eyebrow when the daughter supposedly 'drops' off 3 children on the 'doorstep' without any documentation and the wife never seeing this daughter ?
I could MAYBE buy the idea she took the first adoption with that excuse but having it happen a further two times with the last having a space of two years between should really raise red flags. Not just from the wife either unless they were feeding outsiders a different line, in which case this wife obviously had to be implicit in this deception to a degree.

You can say it was abuse from the guy that might have forced her to keep quiet but I find it extremely strange that this guy could exert such total fear all the time for them to be unable to get help. I keep thinking about how this could work and I keep coming to the conclusion it could be a combination of fear and the illness you get when the victim begins to assosciate with their abuser (Cant remember what it is called though).

Yeah, it will be VERY interesting to see how he accumulated all of this stuff. It probably wasn't done all at once and we must assume there was some pre-planing.

Horrifying.

I was listening to NPR's feed of BBC news way early this morning and the presenter was getting almost hysterical when interviewing a local reporter in Austria: "With this incident and the other long-term imprisonment in the country of another woman, do you think this means there is something about Austria that leads to such situation? Does this mark a trend of other similar sitatuions that will be brought to light?"

Now, that's a exaggerated paraphrasing, but he did seriously ask about a connection between Austria itself and these kinds of imprisionments of women.

[Dahak]

She was the mother of the imprisoned daughter. He had 7 kids with her (including the imprisoned one).

I think you mixed something up there - he had 7 children with his imprisoned daughter, not with his wife.

No, I don't.
For instance, from Tagesthemen: "Er lebte mit seiner Ehefrau und sieben Kindern im Haus über dem Verlies. Drei weitere Kinder, die von ihm und der gefangenen Tochter stammen sollen, habe er als Adoptiv- und Pflegekinder in seine Familie aufgenommen".
Or NZZ: "Der rüstige 73-Jährige habe sowohl mit seiner Ehefrau als auch mit seiner Tochter jeweils sieben Kinder gezeugt."

[Keevan_Colton]

Complicity? What's that?

A novel by Ian Banks

Throw away the key to this shit disguised as man's cell, but don't throw away your morals or dignity.

Indeed, though that particular novel is an interesting look at precisely the sort of tough-guy bullshit that you're railing against...I couldnt help but post the link. I think there's a movie version of it too, but I've only read the book.

[Keevan_Colton]

She was the mother of the imprisoned daughter. He had 7 kids with her (including the imprisoned one).

I think you mixed something up there - he had 7 children with his imprisoned daughter, not with his wife.

No, I don't.
For instance, from Tagesthemen: "Er lebte mit seiner Ehefrau und sieben Kindern im Haus über dem Verlies. Drei weitere Kinder, die von ihm und der gefangenen Tochter stammen sollen, habe er als Adoptiv- und Pflegekinder in seine Familie aufgenommen".
Or NZZ: "Der rüstige 73-Jährige habe sowohl mit seiner Ehefrau als auch mit seiner Tochter jeweils sieben Kinder gezeugt."

Yes indeed, he had seven with his wife and another seven (six of which survived) with his daughter.

[Sriad]

Complicity? What's that?

A novel by Ian Banks

Throw away the key to this shit disguised as man's cell, but don't throw away your morals or dignity.

Indeed, though that particular novel is an interesting look at precisely the sort of tough-guy bullshit that you're railing against...I couldnt help but post the link. I think there's a movie version of it too, but I've only read the book.

I have also read Complicity. I got a kick out of seeing it in Hot Fuzz.

[Coyote]

The situation that lead to him being discovered seems to be a bit wierd. He took one of the captives to a hospital after she 'feel unconcious' which would indicate something particularily wrong happened. Perhaps a desperate gamble to try and get this 'message' from the mother out or did this guy go over the top in abuse this time ?.

After getting away with this for so many years, he probably just got cocky and overconfident.

[xerex]

so....guy has seven kids by wife. begins molesting his daughter at age 11. after a few years he realizes that when she grows up he wont be able to control/use her anymore.

so he several months in advance constructs a several rooms under his house/garden--perobably conveted a bomb shelter but still this requires alot of work.

then when his daughter is 18 he imprisons her in the basement. he tells his wife that the girl ran away to join a cult.

wife beleives him. He rapes duagter over the next 24 years. she gives birth to several children some for what ever reason.criteria are brought upstairs and "found" on the doorstep with somestory about the daughter leavingthem there. while others are just left downstairs.

until one gets really sick gets sent to hospital and he gets caught.

is this the scenario ?

[ANGELUS]

This is the link to the article in spanish if anyone is interested (along with a picture of this piece of shit).

On the paragraph before the last one it states that doctors believe the illness the older daughter experimented for what she needed to be taken to the hospital is a "genetical degeneration typical of incest":

El caso salió a la luz cuando la hija mayor, de 19 años, que estaba en cautiverio, tuvo que ser hospitalizada por sufrir una grave enfermedad, que los médicos atribuyen a una degeneración genética típica en un incesto.

This other link leads to the gallery section of the article.

At the bottom note of picture 2 it states that the corridor that leads from the basement to the dungeon is five meters long, and that the dungeon is 60 square meters:

La entrada al sótano donde Elisabeth Fritzl permaneció cautiva estaba muy bien escondida. Un estrecho pasillo de unos 5 metros de largo conducía a la habitación de unos 60 metros cuadrados

At the bottom note of picture 4 it states that the dungeon was only 1.7 meters high:

La vivienda, sin ventanas, sólo tenía 170 centímetros de alto, contaba con un televisor, un reproductor de vídeo y un receptor de radio, además de cocina, baño con ducha y cuatro camas

[Luzifer's right hand]

According the newspaper I read today the 19 year old had seizures and stuff and to take her to a hospital he used the same "the mother dumped her here" excuse as with the other kids.
The asked for the mother to come out on TV because the needed the girls medical history, the mother saw this and somehow convinced her father to take her to the hospital, when they were leaving the hospital they were intercepted by the police and the truth came out.

(In fact people were already condemning the mother for dumping the kids before the rest came out, thanks to "objective" newspapers.)

[xerex]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080429/ap_ ... e_daughter

Leopold Etz, a regional police official, told APA that Fritzl apparently chose which of the children would live upstairs with him and his wife according to whether they were "crybabies."

Officials said social workers made regular visits to the family but found nothing out of the ordinary, reporting that Fritzl's wife was attentive, the three children were doing well in school and clubs, and that all of them played musical instruments.

The case unfolded after the eldest of the secret children, a 19-year-old woman, was found unconscious and gravely ill on April 19 in the building and was taken to a hospital. Hospital officials said the 19-year-old remained in critical condition Tuesday because of the effects of lack of oxygen, and was undergoing dialysis.

Amstetten Mayor Herbert Katzengrueber told the AP in an interview that Fritzl was personable and well-liked, and that the town had honored the suspect and his wife in 2006 for their 50th wedding anniversary.

[Master of Ossus]

[snip]

What a fucking horrible way to ruin so many lives. I suppose pointing out that he did this to his own family is redundant, at this point. What are the worst punishments that the Austrian legal system can apply?

[Mr. T]

[snip]

What a fucking horrible way to ruin so many lives. I suppose pointing out that he did this to his own family is redundant, at this point. What are the worst punishments that the Austrian legal system can apply?

15 years if charged with rape, or 20 years if charged with murder. Although maybe consecutive sentences are possible.

Officials had said Fritzl faces up to 15 years in prison if charged, tried and convicted on rape charges, the most grave of his alleged offenses under Austrian law.

But prosecutors in Lower Austria said Tuesday they were looking into the possibility of charging Fritzl with "murder through failure to act" in connection with the infant death. Murder in Austria is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

AP article

[PREDATOR490]

I find that morbidly amusing that he has kept his daughter prisoner for longer than he can get charged for. Not that a longer charge is really going to work. The guy is already at the point where he might not even live that long and I suspect any prison he gets put in will be a permanant health hazard to him.

[Kitsune]

This is a hard question to ask but I wonder the size difference between her and him......

How is that relevant?

It is a curiosity if she could have forced him to release her.

[Jawawithagun]

An Austrian paper has some drawings of the whole layout online here if anyone is interested.

Here they have a few descriptions of the place.

Both links in German though.

[Big Orange]

Obscene. Completely and utterly obscene.

[[R_H]]

DNA 'backs Austrian incest claim'

DNA evidence supports an Austrian man's confession that he fathered six children by his daughter while keeping her prisoner for 24 years, police say.

Lower Austria police chief Franz Polzer said Josef Fritzl, 73, had completely deceived his wife, his family and the authorities in the town of Amstetten.

Hospital officials meanwhile said Mr Fritzl's daughter and her children had experienced an "astonishing" reunion.

They met at the clinic where they are receiving psychiatric treatment.

Earlier, Mr Fritzl was detained for a further 14 days by a regional court in the provincial capital of St Poelton. On the advice of his lawyer, he did not speak to the examining magistrate.

Reunion

Speaking at a news conference in Amstetten afterwards, the director of the psychiatric clinic at a local hospital said Fritzl's daughter Elizabeth, now 42, had been reunited with five of her six children and her mother there on Sunday morning.

"It was astonishing how easily it happened - how the mother and grandmother came together," Berthold Kepplinger said.

Three of the children were kept in the cellar with their mother and had never seen daylight. The other three were adopted or fostered by Mr Fritzl, after he forced Elisabeth to write letters saying she could not look after them.

The eldest, 19-year-old Kerstin, became seriously ill earlier this month and had to be taken to hospital, where she is currently in a coma. She was imprisoned by Mr Fritzl along with her 18- and 5-year-old brothers.

Police have said their grandmother, Rosemarie, who had seven of her own children with Mr Fritzl, appears to have been unaware of the alleged crimes.

Mr Kepplinger said the family members had interacted very naturally, although he said two of the children who had spent their lives underground had a way of communicating that was "anything but normal".

"The children are quite well, they are under investigation, there is a professional team consisting of psychiatrists, neurologists, psychotherapists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, a whole team is working on this," he said.

"One important thing is not to over treat them."

'Decisive evidence'

Speaking at the same news conference, police officials said their investigations and genetic evidence gathered since Sunday had confirmed statements made by Elisabeth and the confession Mr Fritzl had made during questioning.

"The DNA tests provided decisive evidence that the six children that Elisabeth gave birth to have the same father," Franz Polzer said.

Mr Polzer said that letters which Mr Fritzl had forced Elisabeth to write had played an important part in deceiving his family and the authorities since her disappearance in 1984, when he allegedly lured her into the cellar of their house and locked her up.

The first letter said Elisabeth had run away, joined a religious sect and asked police not to look for her. Others explained why she had left three of the children on the doorstep of the family home over the years.

Mr Polzer said the last two letters Elisabeth was forced to write had provided considerable evidence to confirm her allegations. The second to last was found in the clothes of Kerstin, when she was admitted to hospital on 19 April.

"The letter was written by Elisabeth, who pretends to be very sorry about what had happened to Kirsten and that she is so ill," he said.

"Josef had another letter with him," he added. "In this letter, we find confirmation that his daughter was still missing, had run away, and was living in an unknown area."

Mr Polzer said Mr Fritzl had shown the last letter to police as evidence that he did not know about his daughter's whereabouts, saying he had received it by post.

"In this letter, the daughter says that she sees an opportunity to make sure that within the next six months or so, she could come back to the family, bringing an 18-year-old and 5-year-old son with her," Mr Polzer said.

"The biological tests show clearly that this letter, a normal letter with a stamp, was without doubt created by one Josef Fritzl," he added.

"You can be sure that this man left nothing undone in order to deceive the family, his wife, the relatives, the children and everybody around him.

"He had no scruples to use every possible means to deceive the public and cover up his crime," he added.

Mr Polzer would neither confirm nor deny Austrian media reports that Mr Fritzl had prior criminal convictions or run-ins with the law.

'No sympathy'

Mr Polzer said police investigations at the house were continuing. The cellar where Elisabeth and three of her children were held captive is being searched inch by inch.

Prosecutors have said Mr Fritzl faces up to 15 years in prison if he is eventually convicted on charges of raping and beating his daughter, and sequestration.

They are also considering charges of "murder through failure to act" in connection with the death of one of the seven children he fathered. Police said on Monday that Mr Fritzl had admitted burning the infant's body shortly after it died.

Asked whether Mr Fritzl would plead guilty to any of the charges, his lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, told the BBC:

"He had made... a confession, but I will speak to him about whether this is right or not."

Mr Mayer said his client had not shown any remorse for what he is accused of doing.

"I can tell you that no sympathy is there at all. The print mediums and all the televisions in Austria write that he is a monster, and no sympathy, nothing."

"He looks very sad. It is like he is emotionally broken," he said, adding that his client was receiving psychiatric care in prison.

[Jaevric]

It is a curiosity if she could have forced him to release her.

After 24 years of abuse and being totally reliant on this bastard she's got as bad a case of "Stockholm Syndrome" as a person can get. I doubt after a while it even occurred to her to try.

[The Vortex Empire]

This is a situation in which I would support the death penalty. There's nothing else severe enough.

No. Putting him in general population in prison would be much worse then death, but it would eventually lead to that eventually.

That is correct, but do you really want to spend your tax dollars prolonging the life of this guy?

[Anguirus]

^ Why the fuck not? Probably fewer tax dollars to keep him locked away for the rest of his life, unable to harm his family, than to execute him.

Assuming that you mean actual execution, rather than just shooting him after his guilty verdict, but I understand that's frowned upon in most Western countries.

[Master of Cards]

This is a situation in which I would support the death penalty. There's nothing else severe enough.

No. Putting him in general population in prison would be much worse then death, but it would eventually lead to that eventually.

That is correct, but do uou really want to spend your tax dollars prolonging the life of this guy?

Life in prison is cheaper then the Death penalty, and the guys 73 years old, hes not going to live to a death sentance.