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.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Hopefully dear ole dad will get a good taste of his own medicine
April 28th, 2008 at 10:48 am
oh yes.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Not just a taste.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
:((((
smileys are not us!
April 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I note that the Times is now reporting that, whilst the father has admitted keeping his daughter and her children imprisoned, he has denied that the children are his.
DNA results will take some days…
April 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
@4: They should get the boys from CSI: Miami involved, they seem to be able to do DNA tests within minutes of finding the crime scene…
April 28th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
What a hideous crime!!!! Lets hope with help and guidance Elizabeth and her children can find peace and enjoy the rest of their lives!!!
And lets hope her father suffers as they did and more!!!
What baffles me apart from how heinous the crime is is how did Elizabeths mother Rosemary not know anything about what was going on, as has been reported?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Giving birth to 7 babies with no medical help and with no support? Terrible.
What now happens to the surviving children? What an awful stigma to have to bear.
This man really is evil beyond belief.
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!
April 28th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
5.
No, not Miami.
Vegas possibly…
April 28th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
matty - unfortunatley some ‘mothers’ have an ability not to see what is under their noses.
Fathers who rape their daughters often have such a ‘control’ over their family that people from the outside can not understand why other members of the family didn’t ‘know’ or didn’t do anything to stop it.
Unless you have experienced that type of control it is impossible to comprehend how this girls mother did not ‘know’.
On a (very much) lighter note - Sunderland are safe
in the premiership for another year… 
April 28th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hi Nosey- Yeh good news Sunderland safe but so are the Toon
I understand situations or I think I do as far as mothers being too scared etc to speak up or break away but it is reported that she actually didn’t know anything about the whole sad affair.
Someone giving birth makes a noise, a baby crying makes a noise, children playing make a noise. Not to mention all the money that would have been needed to feed the concealed family. My mind boggles at the suffering of that girl/woman and her children and the amount of time they have endured such a life.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
this is so disturbing and sad. so many lives are in turmoil and only God knows how all this will turn out. I pray that the family can be well taken care of mentally and physically and become a part of society without too much hardship. The father is a horrible, disgusting being and he needs to be given the death sentence. My opinion is my own but of all crimes committed those done to children and and innocent people with handicaps of such or even animals should never be allowed to be in society. the death penalty is the best way to rid and never worry about that one sick excuse for a person to harm again.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
And what is it you have against the Toon?
As for the wife knowing nothing I certainly find it hard to believe but we don’t know what sort of person she is.
Could the mysterious room reportedly covered in rubber been some sort of sound proofed area?
In the past parents were known to imprison daughters who had become pregnant with illegitimate children, for fear of what the neighbours would say…
April 28th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
i think if they search austria they will find hitler living in a basement.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
chenier 12- I’m a Sunderland supporter so say no more.
Ohh and Mr Matty is a Newcastle supporter so lots of rivalry in our house, what fun as Ade would say
The place in which they were concealed would have to be well insulated to mask the noise of all those people. Also what about all the rubbish generated, how was that removed and disposed of, a concealed entrance maybe. Very busy man and very evil of course providing food, clearing rubbish, supplying clothes etc.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
My point was and still is that unless you have experienced this sort of ‘control’ then you will never understand how she did not know what was going on.
I don’t belive she did know - whether psycologically she avoided ‘knowing’ or whether she genuinely did not know we will probably never know.
The mother is also a victim in this IMO…
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.
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 4:13 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 4:31 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 4:42 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 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 6:57 pm
Saw the news, he has admitted it, his own flesh and blood, how could he?
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 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 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 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 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 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.