Fritzl case

The town of Amstetten in Lower Austria

The Fritzl incest case came to light in late April 2008 when a 42-year-old Austrian woman, Elisabeth Fritzl, stated she was imprisoned, raped, sexually abused and physically assaulted by her father, Josef Fritzl, since 1984. Austrian police say her father kept her in a soundproofed cellar extending beneath the family house and garden in a village near the town of Amstetten in Lower Austria for 24 years, where she gave birth to a total of seven children, all fathered by Josef Fritzl, one of whom died. Three of them had been imprisoned with their mother their whole lives - her daughter Kerstin and sons Stefan and Felix, aged 19, 18, and 5 respectively when they were found.

Background

Josef Fritzl

Josef Fritzl (born 9 April 1935, in Amstetten), trained as an electrical engineer. He had seven children with his wife, Rosemarie. Between 1973 and 1996, the couple owned a guest house which Rosemarie managed. Josef Fritzl often worked away from the couple's home, but would return home at night. He owned land around the area in other towns and villages, which he occasionally needed to tend.

Josef Fritzl allegedly spent time in prison for rape in the late 1960s and was suspected of arson on two occasions, but this has not been confirmed by Austrian police.

Case history

Josef Fritzl is believed to have begun abusing his daughter Elisabeth when she was eleven years old in 1977. On 24 August 1984, he allegedly lured her into the cellar of the family home at 40 Ybbsstrasse, where he drugged and handcuffed her, and then kept her imprisoned, and repeatedly raped her, until April 2008. He told Elisabeth that she would be gassed if anything happened to him.

In September 1984, a letter in Elisabeth's handwriting appeared, telling her parents to stop looking for her. In either 1988 or 1989 the first of Elisabeth's seven children, Kerstin, was born in the cellar. Her second child, Stefan, was born around a year later. In May 1993, a nine-month-old baby, Lisa, allegedly left there by Elisabeth, appeared outside the family home along with a note from her asking for the child to be cared for. In December 1994, another baby, Monika, appeared.

According to Germany's Bild newspaper, Elisabeth succeeded in escaping from the cellar on 24 December, 1994. Shortly thereafter, she was found by Josef and forced back into captivity.

Elisabeth's parents became Lisa's and Monika's adoptive or foster caretakers, with the knowledge of the local Social Services department. Officials said that there appeared to be nothing suspicious about the family, and that Fritzl managed to explain "very plausibly" how three of his infant grandchildren had turned up on his doorstep. Amstetten's local governor, Hans-Heinz Lenze, later commented that the children had received regular visits from social workers, who never heard any complaints or noticed anything to arouse their suspicions.

In May 1996, Elisabeth gave birth to twins. One died after three days and Josef Fritzl allegedly burnt the body in an incinerator. The surviving twin, Alexander, was taken upstairs in 1997. A new note from Elisabeth in 2003 stated she had given birth to a son, Felix, a year earlier. He remained with Kerstin and Stefan in the cellar.

The cellar

Josef Fritzl began developing his cellar as living quarters in 1978 under the guise of a nuclear bunker to protect his family. He obtained planning permission from the local authorities, and was granted further official permission to extend it and install running water in 1983. Fritzl extended beyond the approved developments, and insulated the whole cellar with expanding foam. He rented out eight flats in the property, and warned tenants that the cellar was empty, protected by an electronic alarm system, and strictly off-limits – anyone going near it would be thrown out. Local petrol station attendant Alfred Dubanovsky, who had stayed in one of the flats for twelve years, has said he heard noises from the cellar in 1995. He also said he was once introduced to a plumber who was allowed to go down to the cellar.

Investigation

On 19 April 2008, Elisabeth's daughter Kerstin fell unconscious outside her grandparents' home, and was taken by ambulance from the Fritzl residence to the Amstetten Community Hospital (Landesklinikum Amstetten) and admitted with life-threatening kidney failure. In Kerstin's pocket was a note written by her mother asking for help. Josef Fritzl arrived at the hospital and discussed Kerstin's condition and the mother's note with Dr. Albert Reiter. Medical staff found aspects of the story to be peculiar and alerted the Austrian Police. Using the resources of Interpol, Austrian police started an appeal via a public media campaign to find the missing mother to gather additional information about Kerstin's medical records.

Elisabeth pleaded with her father to be taken to the hospital. Josef Fritzl then released Elisabeth from captivity along with her sons Stefan and Felix, claiming that Elisabeth had decided to come back after a 24-year absence. Governor Lenze told ORF that Fritzl had telephoned and thanked him and the social services for looking after his family during his granddaughter Kerstin's illness.

On 26 April 2008, Elisabeth and her father went to the hospital where Kerstin was being treated. An anonymous caller informed the police of their actual whereabouts, which led the police to stop her father and mother in front of the medical building. They were taken to a police station for further interrogation.

Elisabeth did not provide police with more details until they assured her that she would not be forced to see her father again. She then revealed the details of her father's alleged crimes. Josef Fritzl was arrested on suspicion of sexual abuse, incest and abduction. The following day, Elisabeth and her children were taken into care.

On 28 April Josef Fritzl confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a windowless cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children. Police said Fritzl, an electrical engineering technician, had told investigators how to enter the basement prison through a small hidden door, opened by a secret keyless entry code. Concerned with information from Elisabeth and her children that her father had told them that the concrete door was wired to explode, and that poisonous gas canisters were also part of the security system, the police took Josef Fritzl to the cellar door when they first entered the cellar.

Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, had apparently been unaware of what had been happening to Elisabeth. It is believed she assumed, due to the letters in her handwriting, that her daughter had run away from home to join a religious cult.

On 29 April, it was announced that DNA evidence indicates that Fritzl is indeed the father of all of his daughter's children.

Josef Fritzl's defence lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said although the DNA test proved incest, evidence was needed for other allegations. "The DNA traces are clear and this would prove the incest but the rape has not been proven at all, let alone the enslavement and the murder that have been talked about. Nothing has been proven there... From now on he is not speaking to the police. He will not say a single word...We need to reassess the confessions made so far."

Police said on 1 May that Josef Fritzl had forced Elisabeth to write a letter in the previous year, indicating he may have been planning to release her and their children. In it, she wrote that she wanted to come home but "it's not possible yet".

Martina Posch

The body of Martina Posch, a 17-year-old girl, was discovered in 1986 near a lake where Josef Fritzl owned property. Martina had vanished 10 days earlier. Her corpse was found on the shore of Mondsee lake near Salzburg, and she was believed to have been raped. Police are investigating whether Fritzl could be connected to this unsolved crime.

The immediate aftermath

Elisabeth and her children

After being taken into care, Elisabeth and her children were housed in a treatment facility that could be locked from the inside to shield them from the outside world. The authorities proposed changing the names not only of Elisabeth and her six children, but also Elisabeth’s adult brothers and sisters.

Due to their lack of exposure to sunlight, the detainees are extremely pale and cannot endure natural light. The captives all have vitamin D deficiencies and are anaemic. They are likely to have underdeveloped immune systems, although it is yet to be determined whether their immune systems have suffered permanent damage. Due to the low ceilings, the older children walk with a permanent hunch, while the youngest child prefers to crawl, although he can walk. The children communicate with each other through a combination of speech and animal sounds, including growling and cooing, and they appear exhausted after concentrating to make themselves understood. Elisabeth is reputed to appear far older than her 42 years. The oldest, currently hospitalized child has lost most of her teeth.

Government response

Describing the "abominable events" as linked to one individual case, Austria's Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said he planned to launch an image campaign to restore the country's reputation abroad.

Similar cases

• Natascha Kampusch
• Maria K. A 23-year old mentally disabled woman, was locked up for 9 years in a coffin-like wooden chest by her parents in Vienna, Austria. She was released in 1996.
• Marc Dutroux abducted girls, imprisoned them in his cellar, abused, raped and murdered them.

External links

• German News-Special about the Amstetten Incest-Case in German
• "CNN - House of Horror Children Never Saw Daylight"
• Investigation Discovery - "Josef Fritzl Incest Case"
• Spiegel Online - "Austrian Incest Nightmare"
• BBC Profile of Josef Fritzl
• 3D map of the Cellar