Sad & sick news story of the day: Woman Says Father Put Her in Dungeon

[jon1856]

Woman Says Father Put Her in Dungeon
AMSTETTEN, Austria (April 27) - An Austrian man has been arrested after a woman said she was abused and kept prisoner by her father for 24 years, bearing him seven children, Austrian police said on Sunday.
Police, who were still trying to piece together details of the case, identified the woman as 42-year-old Elisabeth F.

They said she told authorities her father Josef, who had abused her since she was 11, had lured her into the basement of the block where the family lived in Amstetten in 1984, and drugged and handcuffed her before locking her up in a windowless dungeon.

It was assumed she had disappeared voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her saying they should not search for her.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/woman-s...27123809990001

[SigKapSweetie]

This is absolutely horrifying. There are no words.

[christiangirl]

I was about to post this: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/...ptive_daughter I read the entire thing with my mouth open and am now slightly nauseated. What is this crap about the father told the mother that "Elisabeth came back to us?" They were caring for 3 of the children, so it's not like the mother didn't know. That women did not go 20 years without ever going into her own cellar. I want to know what her role was in this.

[jon1856]

Father Confesses to Imprisoning Daughter
AMSTETTEN, Austria (April 28) - Austrian police say a man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.
Police say the man kept his daughter — now 42 — in a windowless cell in the basement of his home.

Earlier Monday, authorities released photos of the cell showing the thick soundproofed door leading to it.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/father-...27123809990001

[RaggedyAnn]

This is sick. I wonder what the jail cells look like in Austria? They should give him home confinement.

[DeltAlum]

"Hans-Heinz Lenze, a senior local official, said the suspect's wife apparently had "no idea" of what went on and was devastated."


Sorry, but what world was this woman living in?

I suppose it's possible she never went to the basement, never missed the food the captives were fed, etc. etc.

But I find it difficult to believe.

The whole story is sad.

[Educatingblue]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

"Hans-Heinz Lenze, a senior local official, said the suspect's wife apparently had "no idea" of what went on and was devastated."


Sorry, but what world was this woman living in?

I suppose it's possible she never went to the basement, never missed the food the captives were fed, etc. etc.

But I find it difficult to believe.

The whole story is sad.

Yeah she is definitely suspicious! This sounds like one of the numerous sexual abuse cases where the mothers turn a blind eye because they would rather know where the husbands were having sex and could control the environment.

[Munchkin03]

Gross gross gross.

I believe there's a special place in hell for women who facilitate--either by letting it go on unchecked, or by turning a blind eye--the brutalization of their own daughters. I hardly think this woman was completely oblivious to what was going on.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Though unlikely, I think it's possible the wife may not have known her husband was doing this. They lived in an apartment complex, and the dungeon was the apartment complex basement...not exactly the type of place people living in apartments hang out in.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Though unlikely, I think it's possible the wife may not have known her husband was doing this. They lived in an apartment complex, and the dungeon was the apartment complex basement...not exactly the type of place people living in apartments hang out in.

For twenty-four years?

As I said, I suppose it's possible, but that still doesn't account for food and money spent to sustain the captives.

Seems like she would have to be pretty dense.

[jon1856]

Chilling Details Emerge in Incest Case
AMSTETTEN, Austria (May 4) - The sister-in-law of an Austrian man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a dingy dungeon and fathering seven children with her said he treated his family like a "tyrant."
In an exclusive television interview with The Associated Press, a woman who identified herself as Josef Fritzl's sister-in-law provided intimate details of the oppression inside the Fritzl home.

The woman, who has pictures of herself with the family, asked only to be identified as Christine R. to avoid public attention and throngs of journalists seeking interviews.

She said Fritzl's daughter Elisabeth ran away from home as a 17-year-old, about six months before police say she was locked into the soundproofed, windowless cellar beneath their apartment.

Christine R. also painted the most complete picture to date of her sister Rosemarie: a woman who against all odds fought to hold together a troubled family, yet never suspected that the cause of so much pain was in her own home.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/chillin...628x1200303535

[Jill1228]

Sorry, but I call MAJOR bullshit on the mother not knowing. One cannot have their head THAT MUCH up their ass.

I hope that castrate that bastard with a dull knife

[christiangirl]

I feel like I'm trapped in an episode of Daria, sitting on a cartoon couch watching Sick, Sad World.

[a.e.B.O.T.]

there goes my sex dungeon fantasies

[jon1856]

VIENNA (Reuters) - An Austrian man who held his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered seven children with her had planned the construction of her basement prison years in advance, police said on Monday.
Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, was kept prisoner in a windowless dungeon under the family home, whose original part was built in the late 19th century while an extension was finished in 1983.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/world...Name=worldNews

Lawyer says Austrian incest father "a broken man"

VIENNA (Reuters) - The lawyer of the Austrian man who held his daughter captive and fathered her seven children said on Sunday his client was "emotionally a broken man".
Lawyer Rudolf Mayer told Reuters Television that it would be hard for Josef Fritzl to get a fair trial in front of a jury because of the massive publicity generated by the case.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...BrandChannel=0

WITNESS: Incest in Austria: a story I didn't want to believe
Sylvia Westall started working as a trainee correspondent for Reuters in London in 2006. Based in Berlin and Vienna for the past eight months, she travelled to Amstetten, Austria to cover the story of Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children by her.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...080503?sp=true