Fritzl case
Encyclopedia
The Fritzl case emerged in April 2008 when a 42-year-old woman, Elisabeth Fritzl (born April 6, 1966), stated to police in the town of Amstetten
, Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years in a concealed corridor part of the basement area of the family home, a condominium-style apartment complex built by her father, Josef Fritzl (born April 9, 1935), and that Fritzl had physically assaulted, sexually abused
, and raped
her numerous times during her imprisonment. The incestuous
relationship forced upon her by her father resulted in the birth of seven children and one miscarriage.
discovered outside his house: Lisa at nine months in 1993, Monika at ten months in 1994, and Alexander at 15 months in 1997. When the eldest daughter, Kerstin, became seriously ill, Josef acceded to Elisabeth's pleas to take her to a hospital, triggering a series of events that eventually led to their discovery.
, Austria on March 16, 2009. He was charged with incest, rape, coercion
, false imprisonment
, enslavement and the negligent homicide of the infant Michael. After a four-day trial from which the public and the media were largely excluded, he was sentenced to life imprisonment
.
, Austria. In 1956, at the age of 21, he married Rosemarie, 17, with whom he had seven children: two sons and five daughters including Elisabeth, who was born in 1966. He reportedly began abusing Elisabeth in 1977 when she was 11 years old.
After completing compulsory education
at age 15, Elisabeth started a training course to become a waitress. In January 1983, she ran away from home and, together with a friend from work, went into hiding in Vienna
. She was found by police within three weeks and returned to her parents. She rejoined her training course and, upon completion in mid-1984, was offered a job in the nearby city of Linz
.
-soaked towel on Elisabeth's face until she was unconscious. He threw her in the chamber after the door was fitted.
After Elisabeth's disappearance, her mother filed a missing persons report. Almost a month later, her father handed over a letter to the police, the first of several that Elisabeth was forced to write while in captivity. The letter was postmarked Braunau
. It stated that she was staying with a friend and was tired of living with her family, warning her parents not to look for her or she would leave the country. Her father told police that she had most likely joined a religious sect.
Elisabeth revealed that in her first few days, she banged on the walls and clawed at the ceiling, howling for help. She broke her fingernails and clawed away her skin until blood was dripping down her forearms. Sometimes she pretended she was on a hiking holiday. She picked a spot on a distant mountain she had seen before, plot in her mind how long it would take to get there and then set off. She turned off the lights as she paced the dungeon as she knew the number of steps by heart. After two hours, she turned the strip lighting on, pretending a bright dawn had come up and was reflecting the snow-capped mountain she imagined. When drifting off to sleep she would hum an old Austrian carol "Still, Still, Still."
Over the course of the following 24 years, Fritzl visited her in the hidden cellar every three days on average, to bring food and other supplies. After his arrest, he admitted that he repeatedly had sexual intercourse with his daughter and had done so against her will.
Elisabeth gave birth to seven children during her captivity. One child died shortly after birth, and three – Lisa, Monika and Alexander – were removed from the cellar as infants to live with Fritzl and his wife. The Fritzls became the three children's foster
parents with the knowledge of local social services authorities. Officials said that Fritzl "very plausibly" explained how three of his infant grandchildren had appeared on his doorstep. The family received regular visits from social work
ers, who did not hear complaints or notice anything to arouse their suspicions.
Following the birth of the fourth child in 1994, Fritzl enlarged the prison for Elisabeth and her children from 35 m² (376.7 sq ft) to 55 m² (592 sq ft). The captives had a television, radio, and videocassette player. Food could be stored in a refrigerator and cooked or heated on hot plate
s. Elisabeth taught the children to read and write. At times, Fritzl shut off their lights or refused to deliver food for days at a time to punish them.
Fritzl told Elisabeth and the three children (Kerstin, Stefan, and Felix) who remained in the cellar they would be gassed if they tried to escape. Investigators concluded this was an empty threat to frighten the captives, as there was no gas supply to the basement. Fritzl stated after his arrest that it was sufficient to tell them they would receive an electric shock and die if they meddled with the cellar door.
According to his sister-in-law Christine, Fritzl went into the basement every morning at 9 o'clock, ostensibly to draw plans for machines, which he sold to firms. Often he stayed down there for the night - his wife was not allowed to bring him coffee. A tenant, who rented a ground floor room in the house for 12 years, said he heard noises from the basement but Fritzl said it was the gas heating system.
. The police then reopened the case file on missing Elisabeth. Fritzl repeated his story about Elisabeth being in a cult
, and presented what, he claimed, was the "most recent letter" from her, dated January 2008. It was posted from the town of Kematen
.
The police contacted Manfred Wohlfahrt, a church officer responsible for collecting information on religious cults. Wohlfahrt raised doubts about the existence of the cult. He noted that Elisabeth's letters seemed dictated and oddly written. The news covered some of these issues and Elisabeth watched the story on the cellar television. She pleaded with her father to be taken to the hospital. On April 26, Fritzl released Elisabeth from the cellar along with her sons Stefan and Felix, bringing them upstairs. Fritzl told his wife that Elisabeth had decided to come back after a 24-year absence. Governor Lenze told ORF
that Fritzl had telephoned him and thanked him and the social services for looking after his family during his granddaughter Kerstin's illness. Fritzl and Elisabeth went to the hospital where Kerstin was being treated on April 26, 2008. Following a tip-off from Dr. Albert 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.
Elisabeth did not provide police with more details until they promised her that she would never have to see her father again. Then, over the next two hours, she told the story of her 24 years in captivity. Shortly after midnight, police officers completed the three pages of minutes of the interrogation. Josef Fritzl was arrested on suspicion of serious crimes against family members, facing possible charges of false imprisonment
, rape
, manslaughter by negligence
, and incest
. During the night of April 27, Elisabeth, her children and her mother Rosemarie were taken into care.
Josef Fritzl confessed on April 28, 2008 to having imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and having fathered her seven children. Police said Fritzl told investigators how to enter the basement prison through a small hidden door, opened by a secret keyless entry code
. Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, had been unaware of what had been happening to Elisabeth.
On April 29, 2008, it was announced that DNA
evidence confirmed Fritzl as the biological father of his daughter's children.
Fritzl's defence lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said that although the DNA test proved incest, evidence was still needed for the other allegations: "The allegations of rape and enslaving people have not been proven. We need to reassess the confessions made so far."
In their May 1, 2008 daily press conference, Austrian police said that Fritzl had forced Elisabeth to write a letter the previous year indicating that he may have been planning to release her and the children. The letter said that she wanted to come home but "it's not possible yet". Police believe Fritzl intended to pretend he had rescued his daughter from her fictitious cult. In the same press conference, police spokesman Franz Polzer said the investigation would probably last a few months, as police planned on interviewing at least 100 people who had lived as tenants in the Fritzl apartment building in the previous 24 years.
and installed a washbasin, a toilet, a bed, a hot plate and a refrigerator. In 1993, he added more space by creating a passageway to a pre-existing basement area under the old part of the property, of which only he knew.
The concealed cellar had a 5 m (5.5 yd) long corridor, a storage area, and three small open cells, connected by narrow passageways: a basic cooking area and bathroom facilities, followed by two sleeping areas, which were equipped with two beds each. It covered an area of approximately 55 m² (592 sq ft). The ceilings were no more than 1.7 m (5.6 ft) high.
The hidden cellar
had two access points: a hinged door that weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb) which is thought to have become unusable over the years because of its weight, and a metal door, reinforced with concrete and on steel rails that weighed 300 kg (650 lb) and measured 1 m (3.3 ft) high and 60 cm (2 ft) wide. It was located behind a shelf in Fritzl's basement workshop, protected by an electronic code entered using a remote control unit. In order to reach this door, five locking basement rooms had to be crossed. To get to the area where Elisabeth and her children were held, eight doors in total needed to be unlocked, of which two doors were additionally secured by electronic locking devices.
Owing to their lack of exposure to sunlight, the former captives were extremely pale and could not endure natural light. They were reported to have vitamin D deficiencies
and were anemic
. They were expected to have underdeveloped immune system
s. The clinic head, Berthold Kepplinger, said that the family members needed to stay at the clinic for several months, and that Elisabeth and the three children held captive in the cellar required further therapy to help them adjust to the light after years in semi-darkness. They also needed treatment to help them cope with all the extra space that they now had in which to move about.
In May 2008, a handmade poster created by Elisabeth, her children and her mother at the therapy facility was displayed in the Amstetten town center. The message thanked local people for their support. "We, the whole family, would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for sympathy at our fate," they wrote in their message. "Your compassion is helping us greatly to overcome these difficult times, and it shows us there also are good and honest people here who really care for us. We hope that soon there will be a time where we can find our way back into a normal life."
Kerstin was reunited with her family on June 8, 2008, when she was awakened from her artificially induced coma
. Doctors said that she would make a full recovery.
It was revealed that Elisabeth and her children were more traumatized
than previously thought. During captivity, Kerstin tore out her hair in clumps, and was reported to have shredded her dresses before stuffing them in the toilet. Stefan was unable to walk properly, due to his height of , forced to stoop in the 1.68 m (5.5 ft)-high cellar. It has also been revealed that normal everyday occurrences, such as the dimming of lights or the closing of doors, plunge Kerstin and Stefan into anxiety and panic attack
s. The other three of Elisabeth's children who were raised by their father are being treated for anger and resentment at the events.
In late July 2008, it emerged that Elisabeth Fritzl ordered her mother Rosemarie out of the villa they have been sharing in a secret location set up for them by a psychiatric clinic. Elisabeth Fritzl was upset about "the huge issue of Rosemarie's passiveness during Elisabeth's upbringing — a tortured time when, she says, her father Josef began abusing her when she was just 11 years old."
In March 2009, Elisabeth and her children were forced to move out of the family's hide-away home and returned to the psychiatric clinic where medical staff had started trying to heal the family and unite the upstairs and downstairs siblings during the previous year. She was reported to be distraught and close to a breakdown after a British paparazzo
had burst into her kitchen and started taking photographs.
On March 18, 2009 Elisabeth Fritzl attended the second day of the criminal trial against her father Josef, in preparation for a book she is to write about her ordeal. She does not plan to see her father again.
After the trial, Elisabeth and her six children were moved to an unnamed village in northern Austria, where they are living in a fortress-like house. All of the children require ongoing therapy — the "upstairs" children who learned the truth about the lies that their father told them about their mother abandoning them and the abuse they received from their (grand)father during their childhood, the fact that their siblings were imprisoned in the cellar which none of them knew about at first, and the "downstairs children" for their deprivation from normal development and lack of fresh air and sunshine and the abuse that they also received, as their mother Elisabeth had, from their father/grandfather when he visited them in the basement. All of the children might possibly have genetic problems common to children born of an incestuous relationship. Although Elisabeth is said to be estranged from her mother, Rosemarie — who accepted Fritzl's story about Elisabeth joining a cult and did not pursue the matter further — Elisabeth allows her three children who grew up in Josef and Rosemarie's house to visit their grandmother regularly. Rosemarie lives alone in a small apartment.
In June 2009, an Austrian newspaper reported that Elisabeth Fritzl had begun a relationship with one of her bodyguards, identified only as Thomas W. The couple are living together.
, Federal State of Austria
, to Josef Fritzl, Sr. and Maria Fritzl. He grew up as an only child
raised solely by his working mother. His father had deserted the family when Fritzl was four, and never again came into contact with him. His father, Josef Fritzl, Sr, later fought as a soldier in the Wehrmacht
during World War II
, and was killed in action in 1944. His name appears on a memorial plaque in Amstetten.
After completing his education at an HTL Technical College
with a qualification in electrical engineering, he obtained a job at Voestalpine
in Linz
. In 1956, at the age of 21, he married Rosemarie, 17, with whom he had two sons and five daughters.
In 1967, he broke into the home of a nurse while her husband was away and raped her while holding a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her if she screamed. He also attempted to rape a 21 year old woman that same year, but she managed to escape. Fritzl was arrested and served an eighteen-month prison sentence. After his release, he obtained a job in a construction material firm in Amstetten where he worked from 1969–1971. Later, he became a technical equipment salesman, traveling throughout Austria.
In 1972, he purchased a guesthouse and an adjacent campsite at Lake Mondsee
. He ran it, together with his wife, until 1996.
He retired from active employment when he became 60 years old in 1995, but continued some commercial activities thereafter.
In addition to the apartment house in Amstetten, where he lived, he owned several other properties which he rented out.
in 1967 and sentenced to 18 months in jail. According to an annual report for 1967 and a press release of the same year, he was also named as a suspect in a case of attempted rape and known for indecent exposure
. More than 25 years later, when he applied for the adoption
of one child and foster care
for two others, of children to whom his daughter Elisabeth had given birth, his criminal record was not made available to local social service authorities since it had been expunged in accordance with Austrian law.
Regarding his treatment of the family he had with his wife, he stated, "I am not the beast the media make me to be". Regarding his treatment of Elisabeth and her children in the cellar, he explained that he brought flowers for Elisabeth and books and toys for the children into the "bunker", as he called it, and often watched videos with the children and ate meals with Elisabeth and the children. Fritzl decided to imprison Elisabeth after she "did not adhere to any rules any more" when she became a teenager. "That is why I had to do something; I had to create a place where I could keep Elisabeth, by force if necessary, away from the outside world." He suggested that the emphasis on discipline in the Nazi era
, during which he grew up, might have influenced his views about decency and good behaviour. The chief editors of News Magazine noted in their editorial that they expected Fritzl's statement to form the basis of the defence strategy of his lawyer. Critics said his statement may have been a ploy to prepare an insanity defence
.
Reflecting on his childhood, Fritzl initially described his mother as “the best woman in the world” and “as strict as it was necessary”. Later, he expressed a negative opinion of his mother and claimed that "she used to beat me, hit me until I was lying in a pool of blood on the floor. It left me feeling totally humiliated and weak. My mother was a servant and she used to work hard all her life, I never had a kiss from her, I was never cuddled although I wanted it - I wanted her to be good to me." Eventually, he also admitted he had later locked his mother in her room and bricked up her window after telling neighbors that she died, and kept her locked up until her death in 1980.
In a report by forensic psychiatrist
Adelheid Kastner, Fritzl's mother is described as unpredictable and abusive. Fritzl referred to himself as an "alibi" child, meaning that his mother only gave birth to him to prove that she was not barren and could produce children. Fritzl claims that his pathological
behaviour is innate. He admits that he planned to lock his daughter up during his prison stint for the earlier rape conviction so that he could contain and express his "evil
side". He said, "I was born to rape, and I held myself back for a relatively long time. I could have behaved a lot worse than locking up my daughter." The forensic psychiatrist diagnosed Fritzl as having severe combined personality disorder
and a sexual disorder and recommended that Fritzl receive psychiatric care for the rest of his life.
Recent reports have brought to light Fritzl's premeditated plan to lock his daughter up not for discipline but for his own gratification.
jail. The testimony, which was not made public, was presented at Fritzl's trial in March 2009.
Judge Andrea Humer, who presided over the trial, stated medical experts reported Elisabeth Fritzl and her children were in "relatively good health".
Lawyer Christoph Herbst who represents Elisabeth Fritzl and family, said "fortunately, everything is going very well," as they spend time to answer the hundreds of letters sent worldwide. Felix, Kerstin, and Stefan, brought up underground with their mother, have learned to swim for the first time. And all of Elisabeth's children attended a four-day summer camp organized by firefighters with 4,000 other young campers, in the later part of the summer in August 2008. The children along with their mother also made day trips, including swimming outings, on which care was taken to keep them out of reach of the paparazzi and to protect their privacy.
On November 13, 2008, authorities in Austria released an indictment against Josef Fritzl. He would stand trial for the murder of the infant Michael, who died shortly after birth, and face between 10 years and life imprisonment
. He was also charged with rape, incest
, kidnapping, false imprisonment and slavery
, which carry a maximum 20-year term.
Excerpts of Elisabeth's diary were leaked to the media on March 11, 2009. Prosecutors confirmed that the diary was part of their evidence against Josef Fritzl.
Alfred Gusenbauer
said he planned to launch an image campaign to restore the country's reputation abroad.
, presided over by Judge Andrea Humer.
On day one, Fritzl entered the courtroom attempting to hide his face from cameras behind a blue folder, which he was entitled to do under Austrian law. After opening comments, all journalists and spectators were asked to leave the courtroom, whereupon Fritzl lowered his binder. Fritzl pleaded guilty to all charges with the exception of murder and grievous assault by threatening to gas his captives if they disobeyed him.
In his opening remarks, Rudolf Mayer, the defending counsel, appealed to the jury to be objective and not be swayed by emotions. He insisted Fritzl was "not a monster," noting that Fritzl had brought a Christmas tree
down to his captives in the cellar during the holiday season.
Christiane Burkheiser, prosecuting her first case since being appointed Chief Prosecutor, pressed for life imprisonment
in an institution for the criminally insane. She demonstrated for jurors the low height of the ceiling in the cellar dungeon by making a mark on the door to the courtroom at 1m 74 cm (5 ft 8.5in), and described the cellar as "damp and mouldy," passing around a box of musty objects taken from the cellar, whose odor made jurors flinch.
On the first day of testimony, jurors watched an 11-hour testimony recorded by Elisabeth in sessions with police and psychologists in July 2008. The tape is said to have been so "harrowing" that the eight jurors did not watch more than two hours at a time. Four replacement jurors were on standby to replace any of the regular jurors in case they could not bear to hear any more of the evidence.
Besides the video testimony, Elisabeth's older brother Harald testified, as did a doctor specialising in neonatal medicine and the court psychiatrist. Josef's wife, Rosemarie, and Elisabeth's children refused to testify.
Fritzl's attorney, Rudolf Mayer, confirmed that a disguised Elisabeth sat in the visitors' gallery during the second day of proceedings, at the time her video testimony was aired. "Josef Fritzl recognised that Elisabeth was in court and, from this point on, you could see Josef Fritzl going pale and he broke down," Mayer said. "It was a meeting of eyes that changed his mind." The next day, Fritzl began the proceedings by approaching the judge and changing his pleas to guilty on all charges.
On March 19, 2009, Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 15 years. He said that he accepted the sentence and would not appeal. Fritzl is currently serving out his sentence in Garsten Abbey
, a former monastery in Upper Austria
that has been converted into a prison. He is in a special section of the prison for the criminally insane.
Amstetten, Lower Austria
Amstetten is a town in Lower Austria. It is the capital of the Amstetten District.-Geography:Is geographically located between 48 ° 07 ' N and 14 ° 52 ' E , at a height of 275 meters , has an area of 52.22 km ² , its population in 2001 was 22,595 inhabitants, with a population density of 441 habs...
, Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years in a concealed corridor part of the basement area of the family home, a condominium-style apartment complex built by her father, Josef Fritzl (born April 9, 1935), and that Fritzl had physically assaulted, sexually abused
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
, and raped
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
her numerous times during her imprisonment. The incestuous
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
relationship forced upon her by her father resulted in the birth of seven children and one miscarriage.
Elisabeth Fritzl's confinement
Three of the children were imprisoned along with their mother Elisabeth for the whole of their lives: daughter Kerstin, aged 19, and sons Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5. One child, Michael, died of respiratory problems three days after birth, having been deprived of all medical help; his body was incinerated by Josef Fritzl on his property. The three other children were raised by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie in the upstairs home. Fritzl engineered the appearance of these children as foundlingsChild abandonment
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness. An abandoned child is called a foundling .-Causes:Poverty is often a...
discovered outside his house: Lisa at nine months in 1993, Monika at ten months in 1994, and Alexander at 15 months in 1997. When the eldest daughter, Kerstin, became seriously ill, Josef acceded to Elisabeth's pleas to take her to a hospital, triggering a series of events that eventually led to their discovery.
Josef Fritzl's arrest
Josef Fritzl, aged 73, was arrested on April 26, 2008 on suspicion of serious crimes against family members and went on trial in Sankt PöltenSankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten is the capital city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria. With inhabitants , it is Lower Austria's largest city...
, Austria on March 16, 2009. He was charged with incest, rape, coercion
Coercion
Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
, false imprisonment
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
, enslavement and the negligent homicide of the infant Michael. After a four-day trial from which the public and the media were largely excluded, he was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
.
Case history
Josef Fritzl was born on April 9, 1935 in AmstettenAmstetten, Lower Austria
Amstetten is a town in Lower Austria. It is the capital of the Amstetten District.-Geography:Is geographically located between 48 ° 07 ' N and 14 ° 52 ' E , at a height of 275 meters , has an area of 52.22 km ² , its population in 2001 was 22,595 inhabitants, with a population density of 441 habs...
, Austria. In 1956, at the age of 21, he married Rosemarie, 17, with whom he had seven children: two sons and five daughters including Elisabeth, who was born in 1966. He reportedly began abusing Elisabeth in 1977 when she was 11 years old.
After completing compulsory education
Compulsory education
Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all persons.-Antiquity to Medieval Era:Although Plato's The Republic is credited with having popularized the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought, every parent in Judea since Moses's Covenant with...
at age 15, Elisabeth started a training course to become a waitress. In January 1983, she ran away from home and, together with a friend from work, went into hiding in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. She was found by police within three weeks and returned to her parents. She rejoined her training course and, upon completion in mid-1984, was offered a job in the nearby city of Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
.
Years of captivity
On August 29, 1984, Elisabeth's father lured her into the basement of the family home under the pretense that he needed help carrying a door. The door was the last piece needed to seal the chamber. Elisabeth held it in place while Josef got it into its frame. When it was fitted Josef held an etherDiethyl ether
Diethyl ether, also known as ethyl ether, simply ether, or ethoxyethane, is an organic compound in the ether class with the formula . It is a colorless, highly volatile flammable liquid with a characteristic odor...
-soaked towel on Elisabeth's face until she was unconscious. He threw her in the chamber after the door was fitted.
After Elisabeth's disappearance, her mother filed a missing persons report. Almost a month later, her father handed over a letter to the police, the first of several that Elisabeth was forced to write while in captivity. The letter was postmarked Braunau
Braunau am Inn
Braunau am Inn is a town in the Innviertel region of Upper Austria , the north-western state of Austria. It lies about 90 km west of Linz and about 60 km north of Salzburg, on the border with the German state of Bavaria. The population in 2001 was 16,372...
. It stated that she was staying with a friend and was tired of living with her family, warning her parents not to look for her or she would leave the country. Her father told police that she had most likely joined a religious sect.
Elisabeth revealed that in her first few days, she banged on the walls and clawed at the ceiling, howling for help. She broke her fingernails and clawed away her skin until blood was dripping down her forearms. Sometimes she pretended she was on a hiking holiday. She picked a spot on a distant mountain she had seen before, plot in her mind how long it would take to get there and then set off. She turned off the lights as she paced the dungeon as she knew the number of steps by heart. After two hours, she turned the strip lighting on, pretending a bright dawn had come up and was reflecting the snow-capped mountain she imagined. When drifting off to sleep she would hum an old Austrian carol "Still, Still, Still."
Over the course of the following 24 years, Fritzl visited her in the hidden cellar every three days on average, to bring food and other supplies. After his arrest, he admitted that he repeatedly had sexual intercourse with his daughter and had done so against her will.
Elisabeth gave birth to seven children during her captivity. One child died shortly after birth, and three – Lisa, Monika and Alexander – were removed from the cellar as infants to live with Fritzl and his wife. The Fritzls became the three children's foster
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
parents with the knowledge of local social services authorities. Officials said that Fritzl "very plausibly" explained how three of his infant grandchildren had appeared on his doorstep. The family received regular visits from social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
ers, who did not hear complaints or notice anything to arouse their suspicions.
Following the birth of the fourth child in 1994, Fritzl enlarged the prison for Elisabeth and her children from 35 m² (376.7 sq ft) to 55 m² (592 sq ft). The captives had a television, radio, and videocassette player. Food could be stored in a refrigerator and cooked or heated on hot plate
Hot plate
A hot plate is a portable self-contained tabletop small appliance that features one, two or more gas burners or electric heating elements. A hot plate can be used as a stand alone appliance, but is often used as a substitute for one of the burners from an oven range or the cook top of a stove...
s. Elisabeth taught the children to read and write. At times, Fritzl shut off their lights or refused to deliver food for days at a time to punish them.
Fritzl told Elisabeth and the three children (Kerstin, Stefan, and Felix) who remained in the cellar they would be gassed if they tried to escape. Investigators concluded this was an empty threat to frighten the captives, as there was no gas supply to the basement. Fritzl stated after his arrest that it was sufficient to tell them they would receive an electric shock and die if they meddled with the cellar door.
According to his sister-in-law Christine, Fritzl went into the basement every morning at 9 o'clock, ostensibly to draw plans for machines, which he sold to firms. Often he stayed down there for the night - his wife was not allowed to bring him coffee. A tenant, who rented a ground floor room in the house for 12 years, said he heard noises from the basement but Fritzl said it was the gas heating system.
Discovery
On April 19, 2008, Kerstin the eldest daughter, fell unconscious, and Josef Fritzl agreed to seek medical attention. Elisabeth helped Fritzl carry Kerstin out of the dungeon and saw the outside world for the first time in 24 years. She was then made to return to the dungeon where she would remain for a final week. Kerstin was taken by ambulance to a local hospital (Landesklinikum Amstetten) and admitted in serious condition with life-threatening kidney failure. Fritzl later arrived at the hospital claiming to have found a note written by Kerstin's mother. He discussed Kerstin's condition and the note with Dr. Albert Reiter. Medical staff found aspects of the story to be puzzling and alerted the police on April 21, who then broadcast an appeal via public media for the missing mother to come forward and provide additional information about Kerstin's medical historyMedical history
The medical history or anamnesis of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either of the patient or of other people who know the person and can give suitable information , with the aim of obtaining information useful in formulating a diagnosis and providing...
. The police then reopened the case file on missing Elisabeth. Fritzl repeated his story about Elisabeth being in a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
, and presented what, he claimed, was the "most recent letter" from her, dated January 2008. It was posted from the town of Kematen
Kematen an der Krems
Kematen an der Krems is a municipality in the district Linz-Land in Upper Austria, Austria....
.
The police contacted Manfred Wohlfahrt, a church officer responsible for collecting information on religious cults. Wohlfahrt raised doubts about the existence of the cult. He noted that Elisabeth's letters seemed dictated and oddly written. The news covered some of these issues and Elisabeth watched the story on the cellar television. She pleaded with her father to be taken to the hospital. On April 26, Fritzl released Elisabeth from the cellar along with her sons Stefan and Felix, bringing them upstairs. Fritzl told his wife that Elisabeth had decided to come back after a 24-year absence. Governor Lenze told ORF
ORF (broadcaster)
Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF, is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media...
that Fritzl had telephoned him and thanked him and the social services for looking after his family during his granddaughter Kerstin's illness. Fritzl and Elisabeth went to the hospital where Kerstin was being treated on April 26, 2008. Following a tip-off from Dr. Albert 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.
Elisabeth did not provide police with more details until they promised her that she would never have to see her father again. Then, over the next two hours, she told the story of her 24 years in captivity. Shortly after midnight, police officers completed the three pages of minutes of the interrogation. Josef Fritzl was arrested on suspicion of serious crimes against family members, facing possible charges of false imprisonment
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, manslaughter by negligence
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
, and incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
. During the night of April 27, Elisabeth, her children and her mother Rosemarie were taken into care.
Josef Fritzl confessed on April 28, 2008 to having imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and having fathered her seven children. Police said Fritzl told investigators how to enter the basement prison through a small hidden door, opened by a secret keyless entry code
Remote keyless system
A remote keyless system is a system designed to permit or deny access to premises or automobiles. While the "remote" system is portable and has locking capabilities, the exact phrase "keyless entry" is solely reserved for the numeric dials or keypads that are located on or near the driver side door...
. Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, had been unaware of what had been happening to Elisabeth.
On April 29, 2008, it was announced that DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
evidence confirmed Fritzl as the biological father of his daughter's children.
Fritzl's defence lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, said that although the DNA test proved incest, evidence was still needed for the other allegations: "The allegations of rape and enslaving people have not been proven. We need to reassess the confessions made so far."
In their May 1, 2008 daily press conference, Austrian police said that Fritzl had forced Elisabeth to write a letter the previous year indicating that he may have been planning to release her and the children. The letter said that she wanted to come home but "it's not possible yet". Police believe Fritzl intended to pretend he had rescued his daughter from her fictitious cult. In the same press conference, police spokesman Franz Polzer said the investigation would probably last a few months, as police planned on interviewing at least 100 people who had lived as tenants in the Fritzl apartment building in the previous 24 years.
Dungeon
The Fritzl property in Amstetten is a building dating from around 1890 and a newer building, which was added after 1978, when Fritzl applied for a building permit for an "extension with basement". In 1983, building inspectors visited the site and verified that the new extension had been built according to the dimensions specified on the building permit. Fritzl had illegally enlarged the room by excavating space for a much larger basement, concealed by walls. Around 1981 or 1982, according to his statement, he started to turn this hidden cellar into a prison cellPrison cell
A prison cell or holding cell or lock-up is a small room in a prison, or police station where a prisoner is held.Prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in size with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors...
and installed a washbasin, a toilet, a bed, a hot plate and a refrigerator. In 1993, he added more space by creating a passageway to a pre-existing basement area under the old part of the property, of which only he knew.
The concealed cellar had a 5 m (5.5 yd) long corridor, a storage area, and three small open cells, connected by narrow passageways: a basic cooking area and bathroom facilities, followed by two sleeping areas, which were equipped with two beds each. It covered an area of approximately 55 m² (592 sq ft). The ceilings were no more than 1.7 m (5.6 ft) high.
The hidden cellar
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
had two access points: a hinged door that weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb) which is thought to have become unusable over the years because of its weight, and a metal door, reinforced with concrete and on steel rails that weighed 300 kg (650 lb) and measured 1 m (3.3 ft) high and 60 cm (2 ft) wide. It was located behind a shelf in Fritzl's basement workshop, protected by an electronic code entered using a remote control unit. In order to reach this door, five locking basement rooms had to be crossed. To get to the area where Elisabeth and her children were held, eight doors in total needed to be unlocked, of which two doors were additionally secured by electronic locking devices.
Key events
The key events, in this case, are as follows:| Date | Key event |
|---|---|
| 1977 | Fritzl begins sexually abusing his 11-year-old daughter, Elisabeth. |
| 1981 to 1982 | Fritzl begins to turn the hidden cellar into a prison cell. |
| August 29, 1984 | Fritzl lures Elisabeth, now 18 years old, into the basement and imprisons her. |
| November 1986 | Elisabeth has a miscarriage in the 10th week of pregnancy. |
| 1989 | The first child, Kerstin, is born, and lives in the cellar until 2008. |
| 1990 | Stefan is born. He, too, stays in the cellar until 2008. |
| 1992 | Lisa is born. In May 1993, when she is nine months old, she is discovered outside the family home in a cardboard box, allegedly left there by Elisabeth, along with a note asking for the child to be looked after. |
| February 1994 | The fourth child, Monika, is born. |
| 1994 | After repeated requests by Elisabeth, Fritzl allows the enlargement of the prison. Elisabeth and her children were put to work for years digging out soil with their hands. The prison was enlarged from 35 m² (380 sq ft) to 55 m² (600 sq ft). |
| December 1994 | Ten-month-old Monika is found in a stroller outside the entrance of the house. Shortly afterwards, a phone call is made to Rosemarie, apparently, from Elisabeth. The caller asks Rosemarie to take care of the child. However, it is assumed that Fritzl was able to use a recording of Elisabeth's voice to make the call. Rosemarie reported the incident to the police, expressing her astonishment that Elisabeth knew their new and unlisted phone number. |
| May 1996 | Elisabeth gives birth to twin boys. One dies after three days; Fritzl removes his body from the cellar and cremates Cremation Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation.... it. The surviving twin, Alexander, is taken upstairs when he is 15 months old. He is "discovered" in circumstances similar to those of his two sisters. |
| December 2002 | Felix is born. According to a statement by Fritzl, he kept Felix in the cellar, together with Elisabeth and her two eldest children, because his wife was not able to look after another child. |
| April 19, 2008 | Fritzl arranges for the critically ill 19-year-old Kerstin to be taken to a local hospital. |
| April 26, 2008 | During the evening, Fritzl releases Elisabeth from the cellar along with her sons Stefan and Felix, bringing them upstairs, informing his wife that Elisabeth had decided to come home after a 24-year absence. Later that evening, after an anonymous tipoff during a visit to the hospital, Fritzl and Elisabeth are taken into police custody where she reveals her decades-long imprisonment during questioning. |
| March 14, 2009 | After a 4 day trial in the town of St. Pölten, Fritzl pleads guilty to the charges of the murder by negligence Negligent homicide Negligent homicide is a criminal charge brought against people who, through criminal negligence, allow others to die.Negligent Homicide is a lesser included offense to first and second degree murder, in the sense that someone guilty of this offense can expect a more lenient sentence, often with... of his infant son/grandson, Michael, as well as the enslavement, incest Incest Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step... , rape Rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The... , coercion Coercion Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way... and false imprisonment False imprisonment False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention... of his daughter, Elisabeth, and is sentenced to life imprisonment Life imprisonment Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life... . |
Aftermath
After being taken into care, Elisabeth, all six of her surviving children and her mother were housed in a local clinic where they were shielded from the outside environment and received medical and psychological treatment. A local government official speculated on the need to give members of the Fritzl family new identities but emphasized that it was a choice for the family to make.Owing to their lack of exposure to sunlight, the former captives were extremely pale and could not endure natural light. They were reported to have vitamin D deficiencies
Hypovitaminosis D
Hypovitaminosis D is a deficiency of Vitamin D. It can result from: inadequate nutritional intake of vitamin D coupled with inadequate sunlight exposure , disorders that limit vitamin D absorption, and conditions that impair the conversion of vitamin D into active metabolites including certain...
and were anemic
Anemia
Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
. They were expected to have underdeveloped immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
s. The clinic head, Berthold Kepplinger, said that the family members needed to stay at the clinic for several months, and that Elisabeth and the three children held captive in the cellar required further therapy to help them adjust to the light after years in semi-darkness. They also needed treatment to help them cope with all the extra space that they now had in which to move about.
In May 2008, a handmade poster created by Elisabeth, her children and her mother at the therapy facility was displayed in the Amstetten town center. The message thanked local people for their support. "We, the whole family, would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for sympathy at our fate," they wrote in their message. "Your compassion is helping us greatly to overcome these difficult times, and it shows us there also are good and honest people here who really care for us. We hope that soon there will be a time where we can find our way back into a normal life."
Kerstin was reunited with her family on June 8, 2008, when she was awakened from her artificially induced coma
Induced coma
A barbiturate-induced coma, or barb coma, is a temporary coma brought on by a controlled dose of a barbiturate drug, usually pentobarbital or thiopental...
. Doctors said that she would make a full recovery.
It was revealed that Elisabeth and her children were more traumatized
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
than previously thought. During captivity, Kerstin tore out her hair in clumps, and was reported to have shredded her dresses before stuffing them in the toilet. Stefan was unable to walk properly, due to his height of , forced to stoop in the 1.68 m (5.5 ft)-high cellar. It has also been revealed that normal everyday occurrences, such as the dimming of lights or the closing of doors, plunge Kerstin and Stefan into anxiety and panic attack
Panic attack
Panic attacks are periods of intense fear or apprehension that are of sudden onset and of relatively brief duration. Panic attacks usually begin abruptly, reach a peak within 10 minutes, and subside over the next several hours...
s. The other three of Elisabeth's children who were raised by their father are being treated for anger and resentment at the events.
In late July 2008, it emerged that Elisabeth Fritzl ordered her mother Rosemarie out of the villa they have been sharing in a secret location set up for them by a psychiatric clinic. Elisabeth Fritzl was upset about "the huge issue of Rosemarie's passiveness during Elisabeth's upbringing — a tortured time when, she says, her father Josef began abusing her when she was just 11 years old."
In March 2009, Elisabeth and her children were forced to move out of the family's hide-away home and returned to the psychiatric clinic where medical staff had started trying to heal the family and unite the upstairs and downstairs siblings during the previous year. She was reported to be distraught and close to a breakdown after a British paparazzo
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
had burst into her kitchen and started taking photographs.
On March 18, 2009 Elisabeth Fritzl attended the second day of the criminal trial against her father Josef, in preparation for a book she is to write about her ordeal. She does not plan to see her father again.
After the trial, Elisabeth and her six children were moved to an unnamed village in northern Austria, where they are living in a fortress-like house. All of the children require ongoing therapy — the "upstairs" children who learned the truth about the lies that their father told them about their mother abandoning them and the abuse they received from their (grand)father during their childhood, the fact that their siblings were imprisoned in the cellar which none of them knew about at first, and the "downstairs children" for their deprivation from normal development and lack of fresh air and sunshine and the abuse that they also received, as their mother Elisabeth had, from their father/grandfather when he visited them in the basement. All of the children might possibly have genetic problems common to children born of an incestuous relationship. Although Elisabeth is said to be estranged from her mother, Rosemarie — who accepted Fritzl's story about Elisabeth joining a cult and did not pursue the matter further — Elisabeth allows her three children who grew up in Josef and Rosemarie's house to visit their grandmother regularly. Rosemarie lives alone in a small apartment.
In June 2009, an Austrian newspaper reported that Elisabeth Fritzl had begun a relationship with one of her bodyguards, identified only as Thomas W. The couple are living together.
Biography
Josef Fritzl was born on November 30, 1935 in AmstettenAmstetten, Lower Austria
Amstetten is a town in Lower Austria. It is the capital of the Amstetten District.-Geography:Is geographically located between 48 ° 07 ' N and 14 ° 52 ' E , at a height of 275 meters , has an area of 52.22 km ² , its population in 2001 was 22,595 inhabitants, with a population density of 441 habs...
, Federal State of Austria
Federal State of Austria
The Federal State of Austria refers to Austria from 1934 to 1938, according to its self-conception a non-party, in fact a single-party state led by the fascist Fatherland's Front...
, to Josef Fritzl, Sr. and Maria Fritzl. He grew up as an only child
Only child
An only child is a person with no siblings, either biological or adopted. In a family with multiple offspring, first-borns, may be briefly considered only children and have a similar early family environment, but the term only child is generally applied only to those individuals who never have...
raised solely by his working mother. His father had deserted the family when Fritzl was four, and never again came into contact with him. His father, Josef Fritzl, Sr, later fought as a soldier in the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and was killed in action in 1944. His name appears on a memorial plaque in Amstetten.
After completing his education at an HTL Technical College
Höhere Technische Lehranstalt
Höhere Technische Lehranstalten , also called Höhere Technische Bundeslehranstalten or Höhere Technische Bundeslehr- und Versuchsanstalten are technology and crafts orientated higher colleges in Austria...
with a qualification in electrical engineering, he obtained a job at Voestalpine
Voestalpine
Voestalpine AG is an international steel company based in Linz, Austria. The company is active in steel, automotive, railway systems, profilform and tool steel industries....
in Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
. In 1956, at the age of 21, he married Rosemarie, 17, with whom he had two sons and five daughters.
In 1967, he broke into the home of a nurse while her husband was away and raped her while holding a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her if she screamed. He also attempted to rape a 21 year old woman that same year, but she managed to escape. Fritzl was arrested and served an eighteen-month prison sentence. After his release, he obtained a job in a construction material firm in Amstetten where he worked from 1969–1971. Later, he became a technical equipment salesman, traveling throughout Austria.
In 1972, he purchased a guesthouse and an adjacent campsite at Lake Mondsee
Mondsee (lake)
Mondsee is a lake in the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut and neighbour to the larger Attersee. Its southwestern shore marks the border between the states of Upper Austria and Salzburg, and also between the Northern Limestone Alps in the South and the Sandstone zone of the Northern Alps...
. He ran it, together with his wife, until 1996.
He retired from active employment when he became 60 years old in 1995, but continued some commercial activities thereafter.
In addition to the apartment house in Amstetten, where he lived, he owned several other properties which he rented out.
Criminal record
Josef Fritzl was convicted for raping a 24-year old woman in the city of LinzLinz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
in 1967 and sentenced to 18 months in jail. According to an annual report for 1967 and a press release of the same year, he was also named as a suspect in a case of attempted rape and known for indecent exposure
Indecent exposure
Indecent exposure is the deliberate exposure in public or in view of the general public by a person of a portion or portions of his or her body, in circumstances where the exposure is contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior. Indecent exposure laws vary in different...
. More than 25 years later, when he applied for the adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
of one child and foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
for two others, of children to whom his daughter Elisabeth had given birth, his criminal record was not made available to local social service authorities since it had been expunged in accordance with Austrian law.
Self-portrayal and psychiatric assessment
After his arrest, Josef Fritzl claimed that his behaviour toward his daughter did not constitute rape but was consensual. His defense lawyer Rudolf Mayer forwarded extracts from the minutes of his talks with his client to the Austrian weekly News for publication. According to these statements, Fritzl said that he "always knew during the whole 24 years that what I was doing was not right, that I must have been crazy to do such a thing, yet it became a normal occurrence to lead a second life in the basement of my house."Regarding his treatment of the family he had with his wife, he stated, "I am not the beast the media make me to be". Regarding his treatment of Elisabeth and her children in the cellar, he explained that he brought flowers for Elisabeth and books and toys for the children into the "bunker", as he called it, and often watched videos with the children and ate meals with Elisabeth and the children. Fritzl decided to imprison Elisabeth after she "did not adhere to any rules any more" when she became a teenager. "That is why I had to do something; I had to create a place where I could keep Elisabeth, by force if necessary, away from the outside world." He suggested that the emphasis on discipline in the Nazi era
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, during which he grew up, might have influenced his views about decency and good behaviour. The chief editors of News Magazine noted in their editorial that they expected Fritzl's statement to form the basis of the defence strategy of his lawyer. Critics said his statement may have been a ploy to prepare an insanity defence
Insanity defence
In criminal trials, the insanity defense is where the defendant claims that he or she was not responsible for his or her actions due to mental health problems . The exemption of the insane from full criminal punishment dates back to at least the Code of Hammurabi. There are different views of the...
.
Reflecting on his childhood, Fritzl initially described his mother as “the best woman in the world” and “as strict as it was necessary”. Later, he expressed a negative opinion of his mother and claimed that "she used to beat me, hit me until I was lying in a pool of blood on the floor. It left me feeling totally humiliated and weak. My mother was a servant and she used to work hard all her life, I never had a kiss from her, I was never cuddled although I wanted it - I wanted her to be good to me." Eventually, he also admitted he had later locked his mother in her room and bricked up her window after telling neighbors that she died, and kept her locked up until her death in 1980.
In a report by forensic psychiatrist
Forensic psychiatry
Forensic psychiatry is a sub-speciality of psychiatry and an auxiliar science of criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry...
Adelheid Kastner, Fritzl's mother is described as unpredictable and abusive. Fritzl referred to himself as an "alibi" child, meaning that his mother only gave birth to him to prove that she was not barren and could produce children. Fritzl claims that his pathological
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
behaviour is innate. He admits that he planned to lock his daughter up during his prison stint for the earlier rape conviction so that he could contain and express his "evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
side". He said, "I was born to rape, and I held myself back for a relatively long time. I could have behaved a lot worse than locking up my daughter." The forensic psychiatrist diagnosed Fritzl as having severe combined personality disorder
Personality disorder
Personality disorders, formerly referred to as character disorders, are a class of personality types and behaviors. Personality disorders are noted on Axis II of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-IV-TR of the American Psychiatric Association.Personality disorders are...
and a sexual disorder and recommended that Fritzl receive psychiatric care for the rest of his life.
Recent reports have brought to light Fritzl's premeditated plan to lock his daughter up not for discipline but for his own gratification.
Prosecutor's investigation
In keeping with the agreement that she would never have to see her father again, Elisabeth Fritzl gave a videotaped testimony before Austrian prosecutors and investigators on July 11, 2008. Christiane Burkheiser, a state prosecutor, and Josef’s lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, in an adjoining room took part in the process. Josef Fritzl was not present but remained in the Sankt PöltenSankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten is the capital city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria. With inhabitants , it is Lower Austria's largest city...
jail. The testimony, which was not made public, was presented at Fritzl's trial in March 2009.
Judge Andrea Humer, who presided over the trial, stated medical experts reported Elisabeth Fritzl and her children were in "relatively good health".
Lawyer Christoph Herbst who represents Elisabeth Fritzl and family, said "fortunately, everything is going very well," as they spend time to answer the hundreds of letters sent worldwide. Felix, Kerstin, and Stefan, brought up underground with their mother, have learned to swim for the first time. And all of Elisabeth's children attended a four-day summer camp organized by firefighters with 4,000 other young campers, in the later part of the summer in August 2008. The children along with their mother also made day trips, including swimming outings, on which care was taken to keep them out of reach of the paparazzi and to protect their privacy.
On November 13, 2008, authorities in Austria released an indictment against Josef Fritzl. He would stand trial for the murder of the infant Michael, who died shortly after birth, and face between 10 years and life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. He was also charged with rape, incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, kidnapping, false imprisonment and slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, which carry a maximum 20-year term.
Excerpts of Elisabeth's diary were leaked to the media on March 11, 2009. Prosecutors confirmed that the diary was part of their evidence against Josef Fritzl.
Austria's reputation
Describing the "abominable events" as linked to one individual case, then-Chancellor of AustriaChancellor of Austria
The Federal Chancellor is the head of government in Austria. Its deputy is the Vice-Chancellor. Before 1918, the equivalent office was the Minister-President of Austria. The Federal Chancellor is considered to be the most powerful political position in Austrian politics.-Appointment:The...
Alfred Gusenbauer
Alfred Gusenbauer
Alfred Gusenbauer is an Austrian career politician who until 2008 spent his entire professional life as an employee of the Social Democratic Party of Austria or as a parliamentary representative. He headed the SPÖ from 2000 to 2008, and served as Chancellor of Austria from January 2007 to...
said he planned to launch an image campaign to restore the country's reputation abroad.
Trial of Josef Fritzl
The trial of Josef Fritzl commenced on March 16, 2009 in the town of Sankt PöltenSankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten is the capital city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria. With inhabitants , it is Lower Austria's largest city...
, presided over by Judge Andrea Humer.
In his opening remarks, Rudolf Mayer, the defending counsel, appealed to the jury to be objective and not be swayed by emotions. He insisted Fritzl was "not a monster," noting that Fritzl had brought a Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
down to his captives in the cellar during the holiday season.
Christiane Burkheiser, prosecuting her first case since being appointed Chief Prosecutor, pressed for life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
in an institution for the criminally insane. She demonstrated for jurors the low height of the ceiling in the cellar dungeon by making a mark on the door to the courtroom at 1m 74 cm (5 ft 8.5in), and described the cellar as "damp and mouldy," passing around a box of musty objects taken from the cellar, whose odor made jurors flinch.
On the first day of testimony, jurors watched an 11-hour testimony recorded by Elisabeth in sessions with police and psychologists in July 2008. The tape is said to have been so "harrowing" that the eight jurors did not watch more than two hours at a time. Four replacement jurors were on standby to replace any of the regular jurors in case they could not bear to hear any more of the evidence.
Besides the video testimony, Elisabeth's older brother Harald testified, as did a doctor specialising in neonatal medicine and the court psychiatrist. Josef's wife, Rosemarie, and Elisabeth's children refused to testify.
Fritzl's attorney, Rudolf Mayer, confirmed that a disguised Elisabeth sat in the visitors' gallery during the second day of proceedings, at the time her video testimony was aired. "Josef Fritzl recognised that Elisabeth was in court and, from this point on, you could see Josef Fritzl going pale and he broke down," Mayer said. "It was a meeting of eyes that changed his mind." The next day, Fritzl began the proceedings by approaching the judge and changing his pleas to guilty on all charges.
On March 19, 2009, Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 15 years. He said that he accepted the sentence and would not appeal. Fritzl is currently serving out his sentence in Garsten Abbey
Garsten Abbey
Garsten Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Garsten near Steyr in Upper Austria. It is now a prison.-History:The abbey was founded in 1080-82 by Ottokar II of Styria as a community of secular canons and as a dynastic burial place for his family...
, a former monastery in Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
that has been converted into a prison. He is in a special section of the prison for the criminally insane.
Follow-up
According to The Independent online newspaper, Elizabeth Fritzl and her children are now coping remarkably well, given the difficult lives they endured for so long. According to Fritzl's sister-in-law, Christine, Elisabeth enjoys spending her time shopping, taking frequent showers, and driving. She has just passed her driving test without difficulty. Her relationship with Thomas, one of her bodyguards, is ongoing and he has become a big-brother figure to her children. All of Elisabeth's children have developed normal sibling relationships with each other, and after having trouble dealing with the traumatic events, the three "upstairs" children have begun recognizing Elisabeth as their mother. The children enjoy being outdoors, playing video games, and spending time with their mother and grandmother. Despite their strained relationship, Elisabeth and her mother Rosemarie have begun visiting each other more, and Elisabeth has reportedly forgiven her mother for believing her father's story and not pursuing the matter further.See also
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- Sheffield incest caseSheffield incest caseThe Sheffield incest case concerns the conviction in November 2008 in Sheffield Crown Court of a 54-year-old English businessman who, undetected over a period of 25 years, committed incestuous rape of his two daughters, fathering seven surviving children with them...
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