Elisabeth Fritzl Picture
The Fritzl
case emerged in April 2008 when a 42-year-old woman,
Elisabeth Fritzl, (born 6 April 1966), stated to police
in the town of Amstetten in Austria that she had been
held captive for 24 years in a concealed part of the
basement of the family home by her father, Josef Fritzl
(born 9 April 1935), and that he had physically
assaulted, sexually abused, and raped her numerous times
during her imprisonment. The incestuous relationship
forced upon her by her father had resulted in the birth
of seven children and one miscarriage.
Three of the children had been imprisoned along with
their mother for the whole of their lives: daughter
Kerstin, aged 19, and sons Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5. One
child, named Michael, had 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 had engineered the appearance of these children
as foundlings 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
discovery.
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