An Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a windowless basement cell and fathering seven children with her, three of whom never saw sunlight until they were freed over the weekend, police said on Monday.
Josef Fritzl, now 73, also told investigators that he tossed the body of one of the children in an incinerator when the infant died shortly after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs, speaking at a news conference in the town of Amstetten.
Authorities said three of the surviving children - aged 19, 18 and 5 - were confined during their entire lives to the darkness of their cell by the suspect, who Polzer said had managed to deceive everyone until he allegedly confessed in police custody on Monday.
Police released Fritzl's full name and photograph at the news conference, after his identity was widely reported by media in Austria and elsewhere in Europe.
He was an authoritarian who took care never to allow anyone near the cellar, Polzer told reporters.
The daughter, who is now 42, had been missing since 1984 and was found by police in the town of Amstetten on Saturday evening after police received a tip-off.
Fritzl appeared briefly in court on Monday in the city of St. Poelten, where he was to be held in pre-trial detention.
He faces up to 15 years in prison if charged, tried and convicted on rape charges, the most grave of his alleged offences under Austrian law, officials said.
Three of the surviving children lived with the grandparents and were registered with authorities.
The other three apparently were held captive in the cellar with their mother, Polzer told reporters.
Authorities said the victims and Fritzl's wife were under psychiatric care in an undisclosed location.
Austrians - still scandalised by a 2006 case involving a young woman who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a basement cell outside Vienna for more than eight years - expressed disbelief at the latest case.
The case unfolded after a gravely ill teenager was found unconscious on April 19 in the building where her grandparents live, and taken to a hospital in the town of Amstetten, about 75 miles (120 kilometres) west of Vienna.
Authorities publicly appealed for the mother to come forward to help diagnose the young woman's condition.
After receiving a tip-off, police picked up the 42-year-old woman - identified as Elisabeth - and her father on Saturday close to the hospital.
Police said Elisabeth appeared "greatly disturbed" during questioning.
She agreed to talk only after authorities assured her she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be cared for.
On Sunday evening, police said investigators had found the place where Elisabeth and three of the children had been held captive.
Police released several photos showing parts of the cramped basement cell, with a small bathroom and a narrow passageway leading to a tiny bedroom.
Investigators said an electronic keyless-entry system apparently kept the daughter from escaping from the cell, which was made of solid reinforced concrete.
Investigators said the rooms were at most 1.7 metres (5 feet 6 inches) high.
The area had a TV and small hot plates for cooking.
In a chronology of events outlined in a police statement, authorities said Elisabeth told them her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11.
She told police that some years later in 1984, he sedated her, handcuffed her and locked her in the cellar.
Police said a letter written by Elisabeth had apparently surfaced a month after her disappearance, asking her parents not to search for her.
Officers say Elisabeth alleged that, during the 24 years that followed, she was continually abused by her father and gave birth to six children.
In 1996, she gave birth to twins, police quoted Elisabeth as saying.
But one died several days later because it was not properly cared for, according to police, who said they are investigating.
Josef F, the alleged abuser, then apparently removed the corpse from the cellar and burned it, the police statement said.
Police said the surviving children were three boys and three girls, the youngest of whom was five.
DNA tests were expected to determine whether Fritzl was the father of the children.
Police said three of the children were registered with authorities and lived with the grandparents.
According to the police statement, the suspect and his wife had told authorities they had found those children outside their home in 1993, 1994 and 1997.
In a letter left with the child that appeared in 1993, Elisabeth had apparently said she already had a daughter and son and that there was no space for a second daughter.
In another letter, she said she gave birth to a new son in December 2002, according to the police statement.
At some point, according to the police statement, Fritzl freed Elisabeth and two of her three children from the cellar, and told his wife that she had come back to them.
But the third child who had lived in the cellar was found unconscious on April 19 in the grandparents' apartment, with a note from Elisabeth asking that she be taken care of.
She was taken to hospital and remains in a very serious condition.
source: newshub archive
