Secrets in the Cellar: A True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World

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The international interest in the case is such that the family cannot leave the hospital in which they are staying. It’s rumored that the first photo event is worth millions of dollars. Effectively, they are still in prison. On 19 March 2009, Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 15 years. [10] He said that he accepted the sentence and would not appeal. [63] Fritzl is currently serving out his sentence in Garsten Abbey, a former monastery in Upper Austria that has been converted into a prison. [64] Government response [ edit ] Bearing her father’s seven children. In 1988, the first child, Kirsten, was born in the cellar with no medical assistance. Elisabeth was all of 22.We’ve always categorically stated that our investigations have so far given us no reason to suspect anyone else. After completing compulsory education at age 15, Elisabeth started a course to become a waitress. In January 1983 she ran away from home and went into hiding in Vienna with a friend from work. She was found by police within three weeks and returned to her parents in Amstetten. She re-joined her waitress course, finished it in mid-1984, and was offered a job in nearby Linz. On 28 August 1984, after Elisabeth turned 18, Fritzl lured her into the basement of the family home, saying that he needed help carrying a door. In reality, Fritzl had been converting the basement into a makeshift prison chamber; the door was the last thing he needed to seal it. [34] After Elisabeth held the door in place while Fritzl fitted it into the frame, he held an ether-soaked towel on her face until she was unconscious, then threw her into the chamber. [34] Shortly afterwards, a 73-year-old man, Josef Fritzl, arrived at the hospital. He told doctors that the patient’s mother was his daughter and that she had run away years ago to join a cult. He gave them a note from her. Translator: The man who claimed to be this young woman’s grandfather said this was the fourth time his daughter, who had disappeared, had abandoned the child with him.

a b "Cellar in abuse case described". BBC News. 5 May 2008. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008 . Retrieved 6 May 2008. A call comes in to 911…. A teenage girl, Kirsten Fritzl, is seriously ill. An ambulance is sent to number 40 Ybbestrasse, the home of Josef Fritzl. At the local hospital, it had been a quiet morning. Monika was born in February 1994. Presumably running out of room in the cellar, Monika was removed as an infant to live with Josef and Rosemarie. The Fritzl’s told authorities that Monika was found in Lisa’s stroller in the vestibule of the Fritzl house. The phone rang minutes later, and Rosemarie answered. It was Elisabeth’s voice on the other side who simply stated, “I just left her at your door.” One of the strangest things about the Fritzl case is the amount of preplanning, not just premeditation, I assume, about what he wanted to do to his daughter, but the amount of planning to enable him to build this bunker, fortify it, make sure that nobody in very close quarters could hear anything in it.His defense lawyer points to his Nazi era childhood. Born in 1935, the Nazis were taking over Austria. Josef Fritzl was brought up as an only child by a strict and cruel mother, a woman he worshiped, telling the Austrian magazine she was the best woman in the world. Elisabeth pleaded with Fritzl to be taken to the hospital. On 26 April, he released her from the cellar along with her sons Stefan and Felix, bringing them upstairs. He and Elisabeth went to the hospital where Kerstin was being treated on 26 April 2008. Following a tip-off from Dr. Reiter that Fritzl and Elisabeth were at the hospital, the police detained them on the hospital grounds and took them to a police station for questioning. a b "The Family Man of Amstetten: Double life of a pillar of Austrian society". The Independent. 27 October 2011. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015 . Retrieved 30 October 2015. You can’t see anything. The neighbor wanted to prune the hedge last year, but Herr Fritzl said no, leave it.