Austrian Father Who Kept Sex-Slave Daughter in Basement 24 Yrs Used Govt Grant for Dungeon
New details have emerged in the case of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian father who held his daughter captive as a sex-slave for 24 years in a secret basement prison and fathered all seven of her children. How Fritzl was able to get a government grant for thousands of pounds to finance his diabolical dungeon and how his daughter and three of her children locked in a secret room in the cellar failed to raise anyone’s suspicions.
It’s been reported that authorities are looking into whether Fritzl, the father of Elisabeth, the daughter he held captive, plus six other children with his wife, Rosemarie, was convicted of raping a woman back in the late sixties and served time in prison. So far the authorities haven’t disavowed the information but haven’t said it’s true.
Another detail that has emerged is that the Fritzl family home also served as an apartment house to 8 other tenant flats. One former tenant whose flat was directly above the basement and the secret prison, a 42-year-old petrol pump attendant, said that he was “shocked” when he opened a paper and read the news of Elisabeth and her seven children, how he realized “all this awful stuff had been happening in the same house where I used to live”.
The former tenant went on to state that Friztl banned his tenants from going into the basement or the back garden. Alfred Dubanovsky said that he rented the flat directly above the basement for 12 years, that he had moved out last year. He also said that Josef warned the tenants that the basement was guarded by a “sophisticated electronic alarm” and that anyone caught down there would have their lease terminated immediately.
Dubanovsky said that from his window he could look out to the back garden and that he saw Josef use a wheelbarrow to bring food to the cellar… and only at night. Another strange tidbit from Dubanovsky, a grown son of Josef and Rosemarie lived at home but was only allowed to go out one night a week.
Fritzl, a former electrical engineer with a background in construction, had his basement “addition” approved to build in 1978 by the town’s planners.
The Daily Mail is reporting that the secret concrete reinforced door to the basement/dungeon weighed an astounding 660pds and measured 3′ high by 2′ wide. The door could only be opened by remote control and a secret code. Once inside the makeshift prison each door of the five rooms could also be barred or locked.
Fritzl had installed inside the homemade dungeon a refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, stove, tub, shower, and sink as well as a television and radio.
Amazingly authorities discovered Friztl was able to build his mini-prison via a grant from the government that was supposed to be used to build nuclear fallout shelters.
Elisabeth’s oldest child, 19-yr-old Kirsten still remains in critical condition and is undergoing dialysis in the local hospital. It was Kirsten’s illness which lead to the eventual release of Elisabeth, age 42, and her other two children who spent their whole lives in the cellar-dungeon, 18-yr.-old Stefan, and five year Felix.
Elisabeth has been reunited with her other three children, Lisa, age 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, age 12. Those three had been taken upstairs by Fritzl when they were babies and left on the door stoop with a “note” from Elisabeth stating that she was unable to care for them. Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie, Elisabeth’s mother, adopted the three.
When Kirsten became ill Fritzl took her upstairs and pretended she had “shown up”. Elisabeth had placed a note in one of Kerstin’s pockets for the doctors to find imploring them to take care of her daughter. It was when Elisabeth saw a televised plea from the doctors asking for the girl’s mother to please contact the hospital that she was somehow able to convince Fritzl to let her go.
She and Fritzl were detained near the hospital Saturday night, when the police assured Elisabeth that they could keep her safe from her father she finally told the authorities her unbelievable tale, of being drugged, handcuffed, and put in her father’s basement prison at age 19. Of being systematically beaten and raped for a period of 24 years, of bearing seven of his children with him as midwife. Of one baby, a twin born the same time as Monika, dying after childbirth and Fritzl purportedly throwing his body into a furnace.
Elisabeth and her family are receiving counseling while the authorities continue to investigate the case. Fritzl has been placed on a 2 week hold, the charges to be filed against him yet to be determined.
the suspect
New details have emerged in the case of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian father who held his daughter captive as a sex-slave for 24 years in a secret basement prison and fathered all seven of her children. How Fritzl was able to get a government grant for thousands of pounds to finance his diabolical dungeon and how his daughter and three of her children locked in a secret room in the cellar failed to raise anyone’s suspicions.
It’s been reported that authorities are looking into whether Fritzl, the father of Elisabeth, the daughter he held captive, plus six other children with his wife, Rosemarie, was convicted of raping a woman back in the late sixties and served time in prison. So far the authorities haven’t disavowed the information but haven’t said it’s true.
Another detail that has emerged is that the Fritzl family home also served as an apartment house to 8 other tenant flats. One former tenant whose flat was directly above the basement and the secret prison, a 42-year-old petrol pump attendant, said that he was “shocked” when he opened a paper and read the news of Elisabeth and her seven children, how he realized “all this awful stuff had been happening in the same house where I used to live”.
The former tenant went on to state that Friztl banned his tenants from going into the basement or the back garden. Alfred Dubanovsky said that he rented the flat directly above the basement for 12 years, that he had moved out last year. He also said that Josef warned the tenants that the basement was guarded by a “sophisticated electronic alarm” and that anyone caught down there would have their lease terminated immediately.
Dubanovsky said that from his window he could look out to the back garden and that he saw Josef use a wheelbarrow to bring food to the cellar… and only at night. Another strange tidbit from Dubanovsky, a grown son of Josef and Rosemarie lived at home but was only allowed to go out one night a week.
Fritzl, a former electrical engineer with a background in construction, had his basement “addition” approved to build in 1978 by the town’s planners.
The Daily Mail is reporting that the secret concrete reinforced door to the basement/dungeon weighed an astounding 660pds and measured 3′ high by 2′ wide. The door could only be opened by remote control and a secret code. Once inside the makeshift prison each door of the five rooms could also be barred or locked.
Fritzl had installed inside the homemade dungeon a refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, stove, tub, shower, and sink as well as a television and radio.
Amazingly authorities discovered Friztl was able to build his mini-prison via a grant from the government that was supposed to be used to build nuclear fallout shelters.
Elisabeth’s oldest child, 19-yr-old Kirsten still remains in critical condition and is undergoing dialysis in the local hospital. It was Kirsten’s illness which lead to the eventual release of Elisabeth, age 42, and her other two children who spent their whole lives in the cellar-dungeon, 18-yr.-old Stefan, and five year Felix.
Elisabeth has been reunited with her other three children, Lisa, age 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, age 12. Those three had been taken upstairs by Fritzl when they were babies and left on the door stoop with a “note” from Elisabeth stating that she was unable to care for them. Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie, Elisabeth’s mother, adopted the three.
When Kirsten became ill Fritzl took her upstairs and pretended she had “shown up”. Elisabeth had placed a note in one of Kerstin’s pockets for the doctors to find imploring them to take care of her daughter. It was when Elisabeth saw a televised plea from the doctors asking for the girl’s mother to please contact the hospital that she was somehow able to convince Fritzl to let her go.
She and Fritzl were detained near the hospital Saturday night, when the police assured Elisabeth that they could keep her safe from her father she finally told the authorities her unbelievable tale, of being drugged, handcuffed, and put in her father’s basement prison at age 19. Of being systematically beaten and raped for a period of 24 years, of bearing seven of his children with him as midwife. Of one baby, a twin born the same time as Monika, dying after childbirth and Fritzl purportedly throwing his body into a furnace.
Elisabeth and her family are receiving counseling while the authorities continue to investigate the case. Fritzl has been placed on a 2 week hold, the charges to be filed against him yet to be determined.
the suspect
