Way more than sick! AMSTETTEN, Austria (Reuters) - A 73-year-old Austrian electrical engineer has confessed to holding his daughter captive in a secret, windowless cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children by her, police said on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT The case, centered on a nondescript two-storey building in the small industrial town of Amstetten, bears chilling similarities to that of Austrian Natascha Kampusch who spent eight years locked up in a basement before escaping in 2006. Some parts of the 60 square meter basement in which the family were kept were no more than 1.70 meters (5 ft 6 in) high and officials said the basement even contained a padded cell. "This is an appalling crime. I know of no comparable case in Austria," Franz Prucher, head of security for Lower Austria told a news conference. Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, says her father, Josef Fritzl, lured her into the basement of the block in 1984 and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her. Three of her children, aged 19, 18 and 5, had been locked up in the basement with her since birth and had never seen sunlight, police said, raising worries about their physical and mental state. The younger two were boys, the eldest a girl. The victims are receiving medical treatment, said police. Three other children -- two girls and one boy -- were brought up by Josef and his wife. As well as confessing to locking up his daughter for 24 years and siring the seven children, Fritzl admitted to burning the body of the seventh child in the heating system when it died soon after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of criminal investigations in the state of Lower Austria. Investigators spent the day combing through the cells where the victims had been held captive. Forensic experts in white uniforms and gloves carried out boxes of evidence from the house which is on a busy street with shops. AUTHORITARIAN Fritzl, whom police described as "dynamic, bossy and authoritarian," had hidden the entrance to the cell behind shelves and only he knew the secret code for the reinforced concrete door, said officials. Photographs showed a narrow passageway leading into other rooms which included a cooking area, with children's drawings on the walls, a sleeping area and a small bathroom with a shower. The victims' only sources of information from the outside world were a television and radio. Amstetten, located in rolling hills about 130 km (80 miles) west of Vienna, is an industrial town of about 22,000 people. The case unfolded when the 19-year-old girl became seriously ill and was taken to hospital, prompting doctors to appeal for the girl's mother to come forward to provide more details about her medical history. Fritzl then brought Elisabeth and her remaining two children out of the basement, telling his wife -- who thought their "missing" daughter had chosen to return home, police said. Elisabeth agreed to make a thorough statement to the police after receiving assurances she would have no further contact with her father, who she said abused her from the age of 11. SHAME The case has raised questions about how authorities and neighbors failed to notice anything unusual in the "house of horrors," not least because officials said Fritzl had over the years built extensions to the secret cellar. "The community of Amstetten should drown in shame ... The neighbors are turning a blind eye," the Oesterreich newspaper wrote in an editorial. The daily Der Standard wrote: "The whole country must ask itself what is really, fundamentally going wrong." Polzer said Fritzl had led a "double life" for 24 years. "He deceived us all," he told reporters. "This man, who already had a family with seven children by his wife, had in this cellar seven more children by his own daughter," he said. Another puzzle is how Josef's wife Rosemarie could have remained ignorant. Police have said they believe Rosemarie did not know what happened to her daughter when she disappeared in 1984. It was assumed Elisabeth had left voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her saying they should not search for her. After Elisabeth disappeared, Fritzl said Elisabeth had joined a sect and that she had left the children on the doorstep. He forced Elisabeth to handwrite letters to prove his claims, said the police. Psychiatrist Max Friedrich, who treated Kampusch, said the children were undergoing tests in hospital, in particular for problems with their eyes and skin due to the lack of daylight and that they would need trauma therapy. "And socially ... the (children) could not develop any sort of sense of community which they would get from going to school or playgroup," Friedrich told Reuters. By contrast, the children raised by their grandparents were integrated into the community, said officials, noting they were members of the police sports club and voluntary fire brigade. Kampusch, who spent her teenage years in captivity, offered to help the victims and told ORF radio she might talk to them. "I can imagine that it is very difficult both for the mother of the children as well as for the wife of the perpetrator to get through this," she said. (Additional reporting by Alexandra Zawadil in Vienna and Reuters Television; Writing by Karin Strohecker in Vienna and Madeline Chambers in Berlin; Editing by Stephen Weeks)
i read that on reuters earlier and wanted to reach through the screen and choke the stupid bastard out.....i have no words.............
I saw that on the news when woke up this morning and it made me sick.....that sick bastard not only robbed his daughter of her childhood with abuse and keeping her in a dungeon like basement with no light and used her as a sex slave. How could a father do such a thing is beyond me....I am confused as how did his wife not know or hear anything either?? I mean he has to take the floor up to go take her food and such?? I know some people pay little attention to small things but I know every inch of my house and he could never had pulled that over on me but I am nosy when it comes to my house. I have to know where everything is and with cleaning I think I would have found his lil dirty secret. I feel for the children too.....good gawd what a nightmare they all lived. I hope with therapy and lots of TLC she can have a life after all this. Can't even imagine the state of mind she must be in to be trapped for so long with no way out......no connection to the world and also all the suffering. Poor girl.... Her father should rot and suffer as he made her and their children. I had to turn it off when they said one baby died and he disposed of it and burned it so there would be no evidence. They will need to give her and all her children much needed mental health to work and sort all through this. Neighbors said he was always nice and so on.....just shows you that you really never know people and what they are capable of. Most serial killers are known to be charming as are sicko's like this man.
all i can say is holy fuck that is the most vile thing i have heard of in a while. He seriously built a "house of horrors". I cannot imagine what would prompt you to do such a thing. And for the wife to play ignorant FUCK THAT. i need to smoke one i'm fired up... DSP
wow, how can anyone even think of doing somthing like that to thier daughter, or anyone for that matter. thats sick.
I'm with you WA, it brings out lots of bad feelings. It makes me want to pull out my sniper gear and go and kill the SOB! guys, I have no tolerance for sick people like that. In my eyes they scumbags like him have no place in this world, get rid of him ASAP!!!
I just CAN'T fathom her suffering I have nothing but sadness and regret as well as hope for a better day for this girl. Another angle, too. I can just SEE someone in Hollywood spinning up the screenplay right now, as we speak. You know its true. The OLDER I get, the more reluctant I am on the death penalty, as I've come to see that the poor can be railroaded into it. This guy has SAID he did it. I could kill him. He lives in Austria, so I don't think they have that option, but I'm not 100% sure on that one.
Ive never heard of children not screaming and crying.. And the wife never heard any of that???????????????????????????? If Austrias prisons are anything like America his ass is grass Child Molesters are Child Abusers are hated by all in prison the death penelty is a easy way out for this sick %&^* Let his ass rot in prison then bury his ass on the prison grounds!!!!!!!!!! Mabye he will like being molested the rest of his life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I heard the mom was out of the picture, or dead? I don't doubt his prison time will be less than rough stuff.
