Father admits to imprisoning daughter
07:21 AEST Tue Apr 29 2008
3 hours ago
By Veronika Oleksyn and William Kole

PHOTOS: Fritzl's house

An Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a windowless basement cell and fathering seven children with her, three of whom "never saw sunlight" until they were freed over the weekend, police said.

Josef Fritzl, now 73, also told investigators that he tossed the body of one of the children in an incinerator when the infant died shortly after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs.

"We are being confronted with an unfathomable crime," Interior Minister Guenther Platter said.

Authorities said three of the surviving children - aged 19, 18 and five - were confined during their entire lives to the darkness of their cell by the suspect, who Polzer said "managed to deceive everyone" until he allegedly confessed in police custody on Monday.

Police released Fritzl's full name and photograph at a news conference on Monday, after his identity was already widely reported by media.

He was an authoritarian who took care never to allow anyone near the cellar, Polzer told reporters.

The daughter, who is now 42, had been missing since 1984 and was found by police in the town of Amstetten on Saturday evening after police received a tip.

His wife Rosemarie had not been aware of what was going on.

The case came to light when the oldest child named as Kerstin F fell severely ill and had to be taken to Amstetten hospital.

"A 19-year-old girl was dropped off at the Amstetten hospital last weekend," a spokesman for police said.

"The girl is seriously ill and is fighting for her life. A search for the mother, who had disappeared, was launched to get more details about the girl."

Police released several photos showing parts of the cramped basement cell, with a small bathroom and a narrow passageway leading to a tiny bedroom. Investigators said an electronic keyless entry system apparently kept the daughter from escaping from the cell, which was made of solid reinforced concrete.

Fritzl appeared briefly in court on Monday in the city of St Poelten, where he was to be held in pre-trial detention. He faces up to 15 years in prison if charged, tried and convicted on rape charges, the most grave of his alleged offences under Austrian law.

"He admitted that he locked his daughter, who was 18 at the time, in the cellar, that he repeatedly had sex with her, and that he is the father of her seven children," Polzer said.

Three of the surviving children lived with the grandparents and were registered with authorities. The other three apparently were held captive in the cellar with their mother, Polzer told reporters.

Hans-Heinz Lenze, a senior local official, said Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, apparently had "no idea" of what went on and was devastated.

"You have to imagine that this woman's world fell apart," he said.

Authorities said the victims and Fritzl's wife were under psychiatric care in an undisclosed location.

Austrians - still scandalised by a 2006 case involving a young woman who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a basement cell outside Vienna for more than eight years - expressed disbelief at the latest case.

"The entire nation must ask itself just what is fundamentally going wrong," the newspaper Der Standard said in a commentary.

Guenter Pramreiter, who owns a bakery just down the street, said Fritzl and his wife would regularly buy bread and rolls, though never in large quantities.

"They appeared normal, just like any other family," Pramreiter said. "I'm totally shocked. This was next door. It's terrible."

The case unfolded after a gravely ill teenager was found unconscious on April 19 in the building where her grandparents live, and taken to a hospital in the town of Amstetten, about 120 kilometres west of Vienna. Authorities publicly appealed for the mother to come forward to help diagnose the young woman's condition.

After receiving a tip, police picked up the 42-year-old woman - identified as Elisabeth - and her father on Saturday close to the hospital.

Police said Elisabeth appeared "greatly disturbed" during questioning. She agreed to talk only after authorities assured her she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be cared for.

On Sunday evening, investigators had found the area where Elisabeth and three of the children were held captive. Investigators said the rooms were at most 1.7 metres high. The area had a TV and small hot plates for cooking.

In a chronology of events outlined in a police statement, authorities said Elisabeth told them her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11. She told police that some years later in 1984, he sedated her, handcuffed her and locked her in the cellar.

A letter written by Elisabeth had apparently surfaced a month after her disappearance, asking her parents not to search for her.

Sunday's developments recalled another case that shocked Austrians in 2006, when a young woman escaped after being largely confined to a tiny underground dungeon in a quiet Vienna suburb for more than eight years.

Natascha Kampusch was 10 years old when she was kidnapped in Vienna on her way to school in March 1998. Her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, threw himself in front of a train just hours after her dramatic escape.

Kampusch, now 20, issued a statement saying she wanted to contact Elisabeth to offer emotional and financial help.

already 2 threads about it

sammij said:

oh didn't notice , my bad. anyways how r u honey?

missmad said:

sick
i've lost my voice - which is a bad thing for me
but it was nice not really speaking much today, perhaps it's for the best...

i just hope to get better

sammij said:

maybe, try some hot tea with honey and lemon, will get u speaking in no time.

missmad said:

i just poured m'self some! we're on the same wave length thanks luv

sammij said:

ur welcome, this is the first time ive had a convo in a thread , lol, i like.

i sent u 2 msgs about ur pal,not sure if u got them how is he? ( the one that got kicked out by his fam cause he preferred men)

missmad said:

ahh yes, orgnote on it's way

sammij said:

got it hunny bun.

oo some good news: the film competition finalists r announced noon la time april 29th, i changed the title of that film thread to reflect my life atm, the happpy then sad then happy then sad threads lol.