Josef 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 at a stell factory and later a concrete works - learning skills which would later prove invaluable in building the soundproof dungeon. And then 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 turned 60 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
Elisabeth Fritzl
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.
The Nightmare Begins
The prosecutor, Christiane Burkheiser, told the jury that on August 29, 1984, Fritzl asked Elisabeth, then 18, to go to the cellar under the pretence that she should help him to carry a door into his garage.
But once she was there, he held an ether-soaked cloth over her face to knock her out, then dragged her into the 200 sq ft cellar he had spent months preparing as her prison.
For the first few weeks he kept her in the dark, visiting only to rape her and supply food. "she had the choice, to be raped or to starve"
"He took his daughter downstairs on the pretext he needed help moving a door, and he drugged her and dragged her into the cellar where he tied her up," the prosecutor said.
"On the second day he put a noose around her waist which severely restricted her freedom even in the small room in which she was confined.
"How big was that room? It was 18 square metres – where she spent the next nine years.
He celar measured about 40 square meters and boasted three small rooms, bed, a little kitchen and bathroom area, tiled in white.
The ceilings were barerly 1,70m high and the passageways were just 60cm wide.
"It is virtually the same size as the jury box in which you are sitting."
The Daily Father's Slave
Fritzl, 73, first raped his daughter on the second day of her imprisonment, the court was told, then raped her on a daily basis for years.
"In the first few years there was no communication between Josef Fritzl and his daughter," said the prosecutor. "He came, raped her and left."
"But worse than all these conditions and the rape was the uncertainty. When would he come and when would he go? How long would he say? Would he even come back from his holidays?
"It is this uncertainty which the person suffers from more than anything. Not the rapes or the appalling conditions or the lack of proper food and medicines."
When Elisabeth, now 42, had children, he would simply rape her in front of them, said the prosecutor.
She added: "He turned off the lights to rape her. It was always the same routine. He would come, turn off the lights and rape her, and then leave."
The damp conditions caused mould to grow on the walls, which had condensation running down them. The cellar often had infestations of rats.
In 1993 Fritzl expanded the cellar with two more rooms, including a shower, oven and fridge, doubling its size.
The Downstairs Familly
She said: "There was no heating. No fresh air. Just walls to look at and a door. I have been there twice, it is dark and damp and the smell is unbearable."
"Often the electricity would fail for hours at a time or longer. Sometimes the electricity would be off for up to 10 days. They would be left without any light. There was no flashlight and no candles. With no electricity they had no water and no warm food. Even though there were babies to feed there was no light to do it by."
Elisabeth gave birth to seven of Fritzl's children, without any painkillers or medical help, the court heard.
She was entirely alone when she gave birth to her first child, Kerstin, on August 30, 1988.
"When Elizabeth gave birth it was in a damp cellar on a dirty blanket," said Ms Burkheiser. "She had been given a book about childbirth just two months before. At the last minute she was also given a blanket."
The only equipment she was allowed was a pair of scissors and some nappies.
Fritzl's next visit was not until the baby was 10 days old.
"He was the absolute ruler. He had complete control. He decided what would be eaten and when, what medicines would be allowed downstairs, who could leave and when," said the prosecutor.
"He didn't give them proper medical care, only aspirin and cough mixture."
The next baby, Stefan, was born in 1990, followed by Lisa in 1992, Monika in 1994, twins Alexander and Michael in 1996 and Felix in 2002.
Fritzl was only present at two of the births.
After Lisa was born, the cellar was becoming so cramped that Fritzl decided to move some of the children upstairs. Unaware that their mother was locked up below.
He forced Elisabeth to write letters to her parents, saying she could no longer look after the children, and pretended she had left them on the doorstep. Lisa, Monika and Alexander were "adopted" by Fritzl and his wife between 1993 and 1997.
But still, there's the 'downstairs family', Kerstin, stefan, and Felix, who remained in the tiny prison, and never once seeing daylight and knowing only four other faces in their whole lives. Their only contact with the outside world was only a television or any object that Josef Fritzl brought down to them: a bathroom scale or a mirror, which could entertain them for hours. And sometimes he would bring them pictures of their three siblings playing in the swimming pool in the garden above.
The Murder
On April 28, 1996, Elisabeth gave birth to twin boys, Alexander and Michael, at 6.50pm. Fritzl was present at the birth but there were complications and Michael began having breathing difficulties within hours.
Ms Burkheiser said: "She could see from the start that Michael could not breathe. He was blue and had struggled to breathe throughout his short life.
"Josef Fritzl did nothing to help the baby even though it was quite clear he was in difficulty. By not doing anything it was negligence leading to murder."
Michael died from respiratory failure on May 1, 1996 at around 12.15pm.
Fritzl is alleged to have burned his body in a stove in the cellar the next day and scattered his ashes in the garden.
The "Booby Traps"
Fritzl repeatedly told his captives he had booby-trapped the cellar with gas and high-voltage electricity so they would die if they ever tried to escape.
Ms Burkheiser said: "He told her there was an electric door which would kill anybody that broke the light barrier which surrounded it.
"He added that if the light barrier was broken there was gas that would flood into the room killing everybody.
"There were also three locked doors which Elizabeth would have needed to get through to reach freedom.
"But he did not need to bother – he did not need to bother because she was a broken woman."
When the cellar was later examined by police, no booby traps were found.
The Nightmare Ends
Kerstin Fritzl, Elisabeth's oldest child, one of the three children that spent their life imprisioned below Fritzl's house, became seriously ill in April 2008, dizzy, bitting her lip and tounge and her illness was unknown and need seriously medical care Fritzl showed mercy for the first time by taking her to hospital.
So on saturday, April 19th 2008 Fritzl removed Kerstin from the dungeon for medical help.
Fritzl didn't know that Elisabeth putted a note in Kerstin pocket. the note is:
“Wednesday, I gave her aspirin and cough medicine for the condition. Thursday, the cough worsened. Friday, the coughing gets even worse. She has been biting her lip as well as her tongue. Please, please help her! Kerstin is really terrified of other people, she was never in a hospital.
If there are any problems please ask my father for help. He is the only person that she knows. Kerstin, please stay strong, until we see each other again! We will come back to you soon!”
Doctors were unable to diagnose the cause of her condition, and made a TV appeal for her mother to come forward. Even when Fritzl finally allowed Elisabeth outside for the first time in 24 years, to visit the hospital, she at first said nothing to the police, fearful that her remaining children in the cellar would be killed.
But on April 26, Elisabeth found the courage to tell police of her ordeal and the truth finally came out.
The family was taken to a clinic where they have been receiving therapy ever since.
After her emotional reunion with her mother, Rosemarie Fritzl, siblings and her children, Elizabeth broke out in tears and told her family: "I can't believe I'm free – is it really you? I can't believe I'm out. I didn't think I would ever see you again. It's all too much for me. I don't ever want to see him again."
Elisabeth's sister, Gabriel Helm, 35 spoke to the press and told them that Elisabeth is healthy, chatty and doing very well despide the ordeal, "Every day Elisabeth gets stronger. I can't say what the family is going through. It's more than anyone can believe. It has devite us.. We are working together to support Elisabeth. She is overjoyed to see her children. She told them they were very beautiful and she is spending all the time getting to know them."
Her lawyer, Christopher Herbst told the Telegraph that Elisabeth enjoy the outdoors and feel the rain, "For now they just talk each other, but Elisabeth and her children who lived in the cellar have no concept of time and of the future. Some people who her the story think Elisabeth is like something from a horror film. But rumors that she has no teeth and cannot talk are not true. It's really brilliant how Elisabeth has reacted to the outside world. They are all arther fine. Elisabeth is really an impressive person. She is very strong. she's happy now"
| 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 used 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 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 could not 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 of his infant son/grandson, Michael, as well as the enslavement, incest, rape, coercion and false imprisonment of his daughter, Elisabeth, and is sentenced to life imprisonment. |
Source:
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