Fritzl case: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 18:05, 28 April 2008
 | This article is about a person involved in a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (April 2008) |
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Elisabeth Fritzl is a 42-year-old Austrian woman who was allegedly imprisoned, sexually abused and beaten by her father, 73-year-old Josef Fritzl, between 1984 and 2008. Austrian police allege he kept her in a cellar beneath his house in a village near the town of Amstetten in Lower Austria since she was 19 years old. She says Josef had abused her from the age of 11. It is also alleged she gave birth to a total of seven children during this time, and that Josef is the father of these children.[1].
Case history
Josef Fritzl is believed to have begun abusing his daughter Elisabeth in 1977, imprisoning her in the cellar of the family home on 24 August 1984. In September 1984 a letter in Elisabeth's handwriting appeared, telling her parents to stop looking for her. In either 1988 or 1989 Kerstin, the first of Elisabeth's seven children, was born in the cellar. Her second child, Stefan, was born around a year later. In May 1993, a nine-month-old baby was found outside the family home along with a note from Elisabeth asking for the child to be cared for, followed in December 1994 by another baby, Monika. Elisabeth's parents became the children's foster carers. In May 1996, Elisabeth gave birth to twins. One died after three days and Josef Fritzl allegedly burnt the body. The surviving twin, Alexander, was moved 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[2].
On 19 April 2008 Kerstin was admitted to hospital with a life-threatening illness. A note from her mother asking for help was found in Kerstin's pocket[3], and the police urged Elisabeth to contact them. Josef Fritzl then released Elisabeth along with Stefan and Felix. On 26 April 2008, Elisabeth and her father appeared together at the hospital where Kerstin was being treated. Josef Fritzl was arrested on suspicion of sexual abuse 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. He was believed to have lured Elisabeth into the basement of the family's home, allegedly drugging and handcuffing her. Police said Fritzl, an electrical engineering technician, had told investigators how to enter the basement prison through a small hidden door, operated by a secret code which only he had known. Fritzl's wife, Rosemarie, had been unaware of what happened to Elisabeth. It is believed she assumed her daughter had disappeared voluntarily because of the letters in her handwriting[4].
See also
References
- ^ Man 'locked daughter in dungeon for 24 years'
- ^ Timeline: Austrian cellar case
- ^ Daily Mirror, 28 April 2008 'Sex slave father confesses to locking daughter in cellar for 24 years'
- ^ Austrian cellar case man admits abduction and incest
External links
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