Allegations of a past sexual assault conviction and a stint in jail are the latest details to emerge in the case of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian father who held his daughter captive in the basement for the past 24 years, fathering seven children.

The Times Online is reporting that Fritzl may have been convicted of sexual assault and arson in the 1960’s and had spent time in prison. Austrian authorities said they were aware of the allegations of Fritzl’s past and were attempting to track them down.

Appearances Are Deceiving

The town of Amstetten is in shock, two years ago they had feted Josef and his wife Rosemarie’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. But those who are older have memories of a different Josef, of warning their children to stay away from the man because of rumors he had spent time in prison for raping a woman.

The woman at the center of the story, Josef’s daughter Elisabeth, claims her father drugged, then locked her into a makeshift prison hidden in the basement behind a secret door back in 1984 when she was just 19. She also claims he repeatedly beat her and raped her. She subsequently delivered seven children, one of whom who died shortly after its birth. Josef allegedly threw the baby boy’s body in a furnace.

Josef, a retired electrical engineer, had the Amstetten town authorities inspect the basement/dungeon a year before he locked his 19-yr-old daughter up in 1984. The plans for the basement expansion were approved by the town in 1978, five years later local inspectors gave final approval after they inspected the premises. Some are now questioning as to why the inspectors were not prescient enough to envision the renovated basement would be used as a dungeon for the next 24 years by Josef to repeatedly rape and beat his daughter and raise three of their seven children.

Josef acted as midwife and delivered all seven of the babies born to Elisabeth. The last child, Felix, is now five. The oldest, Kersten, is 19 and lies in an induced coma at a local hospital. Doctors have been unable to diagnosis what has caused Kirsten to be critically ill and on dialysis.

Kirsten, 19, Stefann, 18, and Felix, age 5, were left with Elisabeth in the small rooms hidden behind a secret door. They had a wash room with a toilet, tub, and sink, a stove, and a small bedroom. The only source of light, a fluorescent strip light. Josef also installed a television and a radio.

The other three children had far different lives than their siblings held captive below. Lisa, age 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, were taken upstairs as babies and left on the door stoop with notes purportedly from Elisabeth stating she was unable to raise them. Josef and his wife, Elisabeth’s mother, Rosemarie, raised the three children, who by all accounts had a somewhat “normal” upbringing. Down below, Kirsten, Stefann, and Felix were left to watch television and wonder if some day they would be able to taste the fruits of freedom, the touch of sunlight on their skin, fresh air, blue skies.

When Kirsten became ill Josef brought her up out the basement and took her to a local hospital. Elisabeth had secreted a note in a pocket of her clothes which doctors found. She asked that they took good care of her daughter. In turn the doctors contacted the authorities and also made a televised plea for the mother of Kirsten to please come and give details which might help them diagnosis what is was that kept Elisabeth’s daughter in critical condition.

Allegedly Elisabeth watched the doctors on her dungeon television plea for her to come to the hospital. Elisabeth somehow managed to convince Josef to let her leave. The police had received an anonymous tip about Josef and Elisabeth. She was still listed as missing on Interpol from 1984. They stopped Josef and Elisabeth outside of the hospital Saturday night and after they gave Elisabeth assurances she wouldn’t have to ever see her father again, the whole story, of Elisabeth being held hostage for 24 years and her seven children was finally revealed.

The police were the first ones to release Stefann and Felix from their home, the dungeon beneath Josef and Rosemarie’s house. This was the first time the two children had seen other people except for Josef, Elisabeth, and Kirsten. The two boys were driven to the hospital and were said to be excited about their very first ride in a car.

Josef has been remanded into custody for the next two weeks while DNA tests have verified that he is the father of all seven children.

Josef is fortunate, at age 73 he faces a stretch in prison which undoubtedly will be much shorter than the 24 yr. sentence of torture, rape, and psychological harm he foisted on his own daughter and the seven innocent children.

In the United States, incest, if determined to fall into the category of rape, was punishable by the death penalty up until 1977. In the 1950’s over 74 men were executed in the state of Texas, 30 of them for rape. This was not men who had also murdered their victims, they were executed for committing rape and in some instances, rape/incest. Rape in Austria is punishable up to ten years. It’s yet to be determined what crimes the authorities will eventually charge Josef.

For now Elisabeth has been reunited with her other children and her mother while the town of Amstetten is left to absorb the fact that, in the case of neighbors, appearances can be very deceiving.

By LBG

Image – Incest
Source – Texas Executions
Source - Times Online – Austria: Incest Father has Sex Assault conviction
Source - Metro – Officials approved Fritzl dungeon in 1983

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