Elisabeth Fritzl, Natascha Kampusch And Austria
ELISABETH Fritzl was locked in a cellar for 24 years by her father, by whom she gave birth to seven children.
DAILY MIRROR (front page): “SLAVE IN CELLAR FOR 24 YEARS”
Say neighbours of Josef in Amstetten, Austria: “It’s incredible. He seemed such a harmless old man.”
That’s Josef. Or Joseph, as she soon becomes.
Astonishingly Elisabeth, 42, lived with three of the youngsters in the 1.7metre-high dungeon reached through a garage and accessible only by an electronic lock with a special code.
THE SUN: “7 kids by my dungeon dad”
The horror was only revealed after the 19-year-old fell critically ill — and evil Josef was forced to take the girl to hospital.
Doctors found a handwritten note in unconscious Kerstin’s pocket. It was from her mum — begging medics to save her daughter.
DAILY EXPRESS (front page): “Ordeal of girl held in cellar for 24 years”
Elisabeth Fritzl is 42.
Police say she appeared “greatly disturbed”
DAILY MAIL (front page): “GIRL LOCKED IN A CELLAR FOR 24 YEARS”
In the case of Miss Fritzl, she was kept locked in a series of narrow, windowless rooms with ceilings about 5ft 6in high that were accessed by a door hidden behind a cupboard with a security code that only the father knew.
The Mail will not go metric, unlike the compliant Mirror.
She said that on August 28, 1984, when she was 18, he lured her to the basement and drugged and handcuffed her before locking her up.
The following day her parents reported her missing and her details were circulated by Interpol. But a month later it was assumed she had disappeared voluntarily when her parents claimed to have received a letter from her asking them to stop searching.
It was believed she had joined a cult and police stopped looking for her. In fact she was in the cellar and was “continuously abused” during the 24 years, said police.
THE INDEPENDENT: “Austrian ‘locked up daughter for 24 years and fathered seven children with her’”
The case has strong similarities to the kidnap of Natascha Kampusch, a Viennese girl held in a basement for eight years from the age of 10 before she escaped in August 2006.
THE TIMES (front page): “Another story of abuse emerges from Austria”
Between 1993 and 2000, Mr F allegedly maintained an elaborate pretence. On three occasions he claimed that the children of his missing daughter had been mysteriously dumped on him and that she had then disappeared. The three accounted for in this way were formally adopted and allowed to attend school. “Their behaviour was good and their marks were too,” a school spokesman said. The other three, however, were more difficult to explain away – and were condemned to the dungeon.
Posted: 28th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Josef Fritzl, Tabloids Comments (48) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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May 14th, 2008 at 7:35 am
41 Frances
I agree with you. The Mrs probably turned a blind eye. She was seen helping with wheelbarrows of food in the basement.Anyone in their right mind would wonder why.
I, IMHO, feel she knew. Look at accusations against another member of the family.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Was shocked like many to read about the Fritzl case.Still can’t figure out how a man like Josef Fritzl can be punished for his crimes. How do You make a seventy plus man pay for what he’s done. Even the death penalty wouldn’t make a difference to him as he stands at the fag end of his independent life. He’s lived his best years torturing an innocent life and scarring seven more including that of his wife.
And even if he were punished, can that bring back all that is lost, the things that make our lives on Earth so special, like freedom, freewill, sunshine, the bright outdoors,interaction with friends, family etc.
Read about Josef Fritzl’s lawyer planning to plead insanity. What insanity. These are the actions of a cruel and evil mind. One that was fully AWARE and in control of his mind and body.And fifteen years in prison if he is convicted seems like a joke at the end of it all.
My heart goes out to Elisabeth Fritzl and her kids and even her mother. But most to Her. May the Good Lord help them through this difficult time and may the young ones find a normal life one day through healing.
If You’re reading this right now, Please Pray For Elisabeth,that someday she truly finds her place in Paradise and that all the innocent kids do too as well.I don’t know them but through articles and pieces of news I’ve read but from what I know I love them and will pray for them every single night. May The Lord Bless Them and help them find comfort.
AND LET’S STOP USING TERMS LIKE CELLAR MOM AND DUNGEON DAD AND STUFF LIKE THAT. Elisabeth and her kids are just like you and me. Just that we’ve lived all our lives enjoying the freedom, space and natural gifts that God gave us. They were deprived of it all this time.
To me this kind of crime, is worse tham Murder, Worse than a serial killers actions. Reducing seven individuals speciually the four in captivity to vegetables is the most inhuman action I’ve ever heard of.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:37 am
I would hope that the terrible sentence that was put upon Elisabeth would be put upon him - He should be sentenced to a New York prison or the California, Los Angeles prison, and let them rape him everyday as was done to Elisabeth for the rest of his rotten life. He would forever be in hell and then let him be punished in the afterlife as well.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Elisabeth Fritzl life was taken, though she’s alive she is completely broken, she lost her best years of her life .
One of the persons that lived in one of the apartments during twelve years, claimed to heard strange noises in the plumimng system and another neighbour told him that saw Josef Fritzl with bags entering across the garden towards the cellar, therefor, how could no one had the guts or at least curiosity to know more about it or even alerting authorithies for that odd routine of Josef Fritzl.
Justice and and Society failed with Elisabeth Fritzl. I cannot imagine the hell that she had been through. Her daughter Kiersten was born to save her, even so much time after. Josef Fritzl should be locked for the rest of his days in that very Cellar of his one, locked forever to the world, he is a threat to the victims and to society. God Bless all these victims, mother and children.
I fear if Elisabeth will ever recover from 24 years of darkness and hell. I believe her father is one the many evil creatures on earth, . I was also a person that was abused by my father, never got into this extreme situation but a part of me was forever smashed along with a piece of my soul. There’s no forgiveness for such behaviour. Josef Fritzl should have a Setence for life, less than that pay what he took from his daughter.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:55 am
1.We need to change the law!!!- pictures in every newspaper and TV of the pedophil or sexual monster, for always in the police record!
2.Simple Telephon number to the Help LIne for a wictim,
clear information for children what they need to do, hidden massage, easy way to say what was ( or is ) happend if someone force them.
3. Special test for teachers ( about pedophilism)
and education for them (how recognise the sexual abused children).
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Other than the obvious thoughts regarding this case, a few others have come to my mind.
1) Is this unique? How many more cases like this may still exist. Dozens? Hundreds? I think the Austrians, and other authorities should perform inspections of every basement in the country with sniffer dogs.
2) If I was in her situation I would obviously want to contact the outside world. How could I do that? Perhaps a) by sending messages down the waste pipe of the toilet b) by hiding messages in with the food waste and c) by building a transmitter from the TV and radio components. Methods a) and b) would have a low success rate but could be performed daily. There is a slim chance that someone like a sewarage inspection engineer would come across a brightly coloured object with a note attached, even if the wording is made from pinholes in a sheet of plastic. Method c) requires electronic knowledge and knowing morse code.
3) As with the Madeline case, whenever a child goes missing, bloodhounds should be used to try and track the scent in the vicinty. These dogs have an unbelievable ability to track odours.
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:12 am
I hope the 19 year old recovers and gets help as well as the other children. God help them. Elizabeth locked in a cellar 5 ft.6in for 24 years. THINK ABOUT THIS PEOPLE. WE STAY HOME 3 DAYS AND FEEL LIKE THE FOUR WALLS ARE CLOSEING IN ON US. No sentence i can think of is severe enough on earth. BUT god sees and knows all. He will be sentenced one day.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:20 am
I do not believe that Mrs. Fritzl knew nothing about the situation regarding her husband and the children in the basement, also the children living upstairs must have seen suspicious to her. I think the sentence he faces is not severe (long) enough.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:30 am
I am stunned, upset and sad to read this story. Every time I read about it or it comes to my mind I want to cry. Every time I remember that the little kid was happy to be in a car after being held for all his life in the cell, I want to cry.
The Austrian society has failed his own people. This is not only a family tragedy this is enormous human tragedy. There has to be a complete overhaul to adoption laws in the country, and revisit to all unresolved sexual abuse cases
I am lost for words to describe my anger, frustration, and astonishment.
I doubt that his wife did not suspect anything wrong during these years.
I send my prayers to these kids and their mom. I wish them to heel completely.
ed&relaw0325
April 30th, 2008 at 1:39 am
This is such a horrific story and has clearly stunned the world..
What I’m thinking right now is that the rest of their lives should be as comfotable as possible rather than them soon turning into ‘yesterdays news’…
I know money can’t buy happiness but if every person in the world who has been touched by their story was to give a little from their bank accounts, that might help them.
Julie
April 29th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
We’re all sick of hearing these awful stories….in Austria and everywhere else too.
The authorities must now review all alleged repeated adoptions by family members throughout Austria and everywhere else for that matter.
In child disappearance cases the Police should do a thorough leisurely search of a property!!! This should be a basic…
It annoys me that evil bastards like this get to retire to a prison cell, 3 meals a day, warm blankets, watch tv and read at his leisure …it’s hardly a comparable punishment or deterrant!!! He’ll get better treatment than the disgusting way enemy combatants are trated in Camp X ray…
When a crime is so great and the evidence so overwheming, then these people should be thrown in some kind of third world hell of a prison where they’re tortured and humiliated for the rest of their lives. Period.
Put him in a Turkish prison for life…
April 29th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
This is one of the most horrific things I have ever heard of, the man if we can call him that is a sick, subhuman monster who deserves extreme punishment, far worse than he will get in prison.
How he can do this to his daughter and children for almost a quarter of a century is beyond belief, how are they going to adjust now to the outside world and how badly has their health been affected?
This is the second imprisonment of this kind in Austria in the last couple of years, people there need to get a grip and make sure that sick fucks like this man cannot get away these kinds of things for so long. How the hell does knowone notice?
April 29th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
This degree of dominance of the father within the household was regarded as ‘normal’ until quite recently; I supposes it’s a reminder of just how twisted that idea was…
April 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
30 - I thought about what would have happened if he’d died too, doesn’t bear thinking about. Apparently though the note found on Kerstin wasn’t her mother’s idea, he forced her to write it so he could keep up the elaborate pretence of Elisabeth abandoning her children at his door. God only knows why he finally decided to let them go when the doctors appealed for Kerstin’s mother to come forward.
I can completely believe that Rosemarie didn’t know and was forbidden from questioning why her daughter had ‘run off with a cult’, he probably forbade the whole family from mentioning Elisabeth again.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
M and A
Oh I hope a few queens get to him…73 these days is not that elderly.
Poor Elisabeth too
……………………………….
I would just hate him to be killed in prison…. I would like him to have to sit in total silence and deprivation in a sound-proofed cell with no human contact from anyone for the rest of his life.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
32 June - I agree; from what’s been said so far, it sounds like the man was a monstrous dictator - if he was able to keep 4 people subdued and locked away, then he would certainly have also been able to lie sufficiently to his wife to allay suspicions or at least control her to the extent that she would not dare question anything. The photos of the house show what looks like a concrete block, in which case the walls/floors would be very thick - the scumbag must have planned it extensively before he drugged and kidnapped his daughter and he apparently explained away the 3 kids they “adopted” by forcing Elisabeth to write letters saying she couldn’t cope, so the wife knew they were her grandchildren, she just didn’t know who the father was and exactly where the kids had appeared from. It is such a horrific story and makes my skin crawl to think about it, that a human being could be so vile to his own child and grandchildren/children (ye gods) and yet on the surface pretend that everything was normal. No doubt there is more to come out about this case and we should all thank our lucky stars for the care and love of our own parents. Sorry if this post sounds a bit morbid, but the whole situation is unbelievably depressing…
April 29th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Nailalain
Perhaps wait for more facts to emerge before judging Elisabeth’s mother, perhaps she was just so downtrodden and browbeaten into accepting everything he told her?
April 29th, 2008 at 10:03 am
It’s so sad for Elisabeth, she lost everything.. 24 years..locked in the basement? what kind of monster will do this to his own daughter? I think they should also lock him in a small cell. until he dies. The wife does not know what’s happening? I don’t think so.. Or may she’s not a mother at all, How could she not felt something is amiss when suddenly babies are left on their doorstep. Is she not a mother too, does she think that her daughter Elisabeth will just leave her children just like that? Did she just accepted that explanation? I think the 19 year old, 18 year old and 5 years old kids were left to live with the mother because they’re presence would be very difficult to explain. This is really awful. And how in the world did she give birth to her children under that basement?
April 28th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
This whole things makes me cry evertime I read it. When I think that how much life has moved in the last 24 years while Elizabeth and here children have been imprisoned it is truly the most unimaginable cruelty.
I just hope this old man is imprisoned and the prisoners inside take painful revenge every day - he is pure Evil. I don’t think his wife knew - he fooled everyone. Even his other older children - the ones he had with his wife - he fooled them too. Apparently no-one could hear anything from the celler no matter how much you screamed and I a sure they must have done.
I know this this is just truly awful - can’t think of any words to describe it but it could have been worse - because it occured to me that suppose the bastard- at 73 had had a heart attack and kicked the bucket - no one would ever have known that Elizabeth and her children had existed… no food… what a nightmare that would have been. So thankfully it is lucky that Kristen got ill and Elizabeth must had her wits about her to persuade the pig to get the Kristen to the hospital. She must have promised that she would keep his secret if he let them all out. Also she put a note in her daughter’s coat pocket - so she must have kept her head together.
So although this is bad, it could have been much much worse if he had dropped dead - now I say he really should be put in stocks and totally humiliated. He should have to look his friends and neighbours in the eye. That would be punishment.
Now they are released - Let’s all pray that their life will have some normaility. I send them a massive hug xxxxxxx Wish we could do more.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
It makes my heart feel heavy.
I did think that the child that was taken to hospital was suffering from some congenital abnormality due to the nature they were conceived.
How did they all survive under such conditions, what did their day to day life endure? Did they dread the visits from the father figure?
I do not want to try and comprehend what their day to day life endured and I don’t think anyone can. They endured something incomprehensible. With cases in the past death has ended all suffering, in this case they, the victims still have a life to live. What life they have will be credit to the strength they have shown through their ordeal they have endured.
I hope their will to overcome their persecutor will be enough to give them all a good life and enjoy the simple things that we all ashamadley take for granted.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
daughter in hospital is 19 years (has been locked up all her life)
son 18 years (has as well been locked up)
daughter (has been ‘found’ age nine months in 1993, attended public school)
daugher 1994 (has been found, about the same age in 1994)
son 1997, his twin brother died and been burnt by his father
son 5 years (has been locked up as well)
So many victims. It just hurts to think about.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
22
Mic Says:
April 28th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
An absolutely mind-boggling case, this one! It almost defies belief.
Missis_USA; do we know what is wrong with the 19 year old daughter then?
——————–
They probably know by now but they are not announcing it in detail. Probably to protect her rights. But originally on the Austrian news it has been said she suffers from an mysterious illness. That lead them to make DNA tests. Apparently she has been found unconscious with cramings, I think she suffered from a lack of oxigen and it she is on dialyses. So the kidneys are affected. The doctor today said he is not making a prognosis because only God alone knows. Sad.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Matty… I wondered about selection and whether he just kept girl babies…..
I hope he is kept in total solitary in a tiny cell as punishment… I hope no-one gets to him and I hope he is watched constantly so he doesn’t die before his trial. The rest of his life alone in silence would be better than the death penalty IMO.
It seems voyeuristic to to be so interested in something so vile but I really can’t stop thinking about those children, how they are NOW and how they will adjust…..
M and A
Oh I hope a few queens get to him…73 these days is not that elderly.
Poor Elisabeth too
April 28th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
What was the selection process of the children allowed to live a life outside of the dungeon?
Why were some children allowed out and some had to stay, was it the timing of the births or a sex selection process ie boys and girls and their ages?
They reportedly did have access to a TV, what the F++++!
It may have broken the monotany but it also will have given an insight into the outside world that they were seperated from, so cruel, cruel beyond comprehension!!!!
In answer to the death sentence, is this punishment or an easy release from a miserable life confinde to a cell?
If he is not in solitary confinement then if he is not sentenced to death then his punishment on the block in prison will continue day in day out once word gets out what an evil person he is.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Saw the news, he has admitted it, his own flesh and blood, how could he?
April 28th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I thought there was nothing that could truly shock me any more then along comes this old bastard. Can’t think of any suitable word for him really… there isn’t one I don’t think.
I have done very little today except think about those children from the cellar (age 19, 18 5) … how will they ever adjust to life outside of there? It was their world and they must be absolutely petrified right now.
Did they know anything of the outside world? did their mother tell them what she knew about before she was locked in there?
and yet three more of the children he allegedly gave to his wife to raise, saying his daughter had run off to a religious sect and kept bringing the babies to him? so his daughter (the childrens mother) had her babies snatched away from her while she remained locked in the dungeon. The four are allegedly well-adjusted kids, going to school etc etc. How will it affect them when they find out who they really are?
This has got to be one of the worst cases……….
April 28th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
An absolutely mind-boggling case, this one! It almost defies belief.
Missis_USA; do we know what is wrong with the 19 year old daughter then?
April 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
9
matty Says:
April 28th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
There is also the longterm health implications for the children if they were born due to an act of incest. If they are affected genetically will that then affect any children they may go on to have and so on and so on? Very sad
———
That is the reason the eldest daughter has been admitted to hospital in very critical condition. Only God knows if she will survive.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Actually, I find his claim that he did not rape his daughter to be one of the most sickening things of all.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
nosey - we also have incidence where the mother knows but is as evil as the father or vice versa of course, Fred and Rose West.
I am not saying that is the case here and the poor woman has the rest of her life to live with the information she has just been given.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Just read the updated and the father has admitted to everything, what punishment befits such a crime?
I cannot begin to comprehend the suffering Elizabeth and her children have endured.
Elizabeth gave birth and the had three of those children taken away from her to be brought up by a man she knew was evil. One baby is taken away at three days old , dead, to be burned by her father, reportedly. The rest of the children are left with Elizabeth in a windowless dungeon, with no experience of the wonders of the world Elizabeth knew of, birds singing, blue sky, the smell of green grass, the sun shining on your face.