Austrian Incest Father Charged With Murder

Man Who Held Daughter In Basement For 24 Years Also Let Baby Die, Prosecutors Say

(AP)  An Austrian man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children has been charged with murder, prosecutors said Thursday, contending one of the offspring who died in infancy might have survived if treated.

Josef Fritzl, 73, also was charged with rape, incest, false imprisonment and slavery, said the state attorney's office in St. Poelten, west of Vienna.

"Despite recognizing the baby's life-threatening situation, he deliberately decided not to intervene" and get the ailing infant to a doctor, prosecutors said in their 27-page indictment.

Investigators say Fritzl has confessed to imprisoning and repeatedly raping his daughter Elisabeth - now age 42 - in a warren of windowless cellar rooms he built beneath his home starting in 1984, shortly after she turned 18.

Police say Fritzl told them he tossed the body of the infant who died into a furnace in 1996. They say DNA tests have confirmed he is the biological father of the six surviving children.

The retired electrician is expected to go on trial early in 2009.

If convicted of the murder charge, Fritzl would face life imprisonment. Austria, like other European countries, has no death penalty.

Prosecutors have said a psychiatric evaluation showed that Fritzl is mentally competent to stand trial. They reiterated that stance Thursday but recommended that Fritzl be moved to a special facility for mentally disturbed offenders so he can get counseling.

Under Austrian law, Fritzl has 14 days to appeal the charges. His lawyer, Rudolf Meyer, declined to say whether Fritzl would challenge the indictment and refused further comment.

Prosecutors also said it will be the first time that an Austrian is tried on a slavery charge.

Fritzl imprisoned his daughter and the children beneath his apartment building in Amstetten, 120 miles (75 kilometers) west of Vienna.

Authorities say Fritzl brought three of the surviving six children upstairs to live otherwise normal lives, and claimed to neighbors that his daughter - who he said had run away to join a religious cult - had left them on the family's doorstep.

The three other children remained imprisoned along with their mother until last April, when one of the youths - a teenage girl - became ill and was taken to a hospital.

Officials said it was the first time the three imprisoned children had ever been outside.

Fritzl, the indictment alleges, subjected his daughter to "multiple attacks" and terrorized her with threats that the cramped underground cell was rigged with booby traps to foil any attempt to escape.

Fritzl also threatened to release poisonous gas into the homemade prison, the indictment said.

It said the daughter was completely dependent upon Fritzl for her survival and had no choice but to provide "sexual services," the indictment added.

Police say they have no evidence to suggest that his wife was complicit.

His daughter, the children and Fritzl's wife have been getting counseling at an undisclosed location.

The case drew international attention to Austria, in part because it was reminiscent of another high-profile imprisonment case.

Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped as a 10-year-old while walking to school in Vienna. She was held in a windowless cell for 8½ years but staged a dramatic escape in August 2006 while her captor, Wolfgang Priklopil, was distracted by a phone call.

Kampusch, now 20, is a TV talk show host.

[marbru-2009]

How could his wife not have a clue all these years? Or was she so brow-beaten she was afraid to say anything?

[gop_will_win]

I blame the women in this story. Obviously they caused this entire mess.

[hidegirlgcks]

I just cannot believe that the mother knew nothing about this!! Was the cellar so sound proof that nobody heard anything for all those years? Give me a break. They should give the mother a lie dector test and see how that turns out.

[darkstar864]

There is seriously something wrong with you!! Might explain why you voted for Ossama.

[hidegirlgcks]

wasnt the mother the least bit curious as to why the father spent so much time in the cellar? The mother never ever went in the cellar???????

[hidegirlgcks]

Good morning Autumn987!! Time to take your meds!!!

[hidegirlgcks]

Gop_will_win: How is it the womens fault? Maybe the mother contributed but nobody forced the father to lock his daughter up in the cellar all her life and rape her continuouly!! This man is one sick b@st@rd and!!!

[marbru-2009]

Hey folks, the election is over - can''t we drop all the political stuff and just get on with life.

[gop_will_win]

Gop_will_win: How is it the womens fault? Maybe the mother contributed but nobody forced the father to lock his daughter up in the cellar all her life and rape her continuouly!! This man is one sick b@st@rd and!!!


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Posted by hidegirlgcks
=========================
It just is.

[qdude1]

AUTUMN987 YOU ARE A SICK FREAK

[easeup-2009]

The political stuff never ends...at least for those of us with a pulse.

Posted by POTUS_Obama at 11:11 AM : Nov 13, 2008

A pulse but no brain......how sad.

[violets4me]

I hope they throw him in prison and throw away the key. He is one sick fella!!!

[mumu11]

MS,
First you don''t seem to realize you''re taking a train already rolling, second , your second post lets me think you should take your meds promptly.

The European media have already published the whole story:
Fritzl built himself a "safe" haven under his house, starting when the girl was about 12. He forbade anyone to go there and, since his wife and children feared him -he was abusive- they obeyed.
His oldest daughter had already tried to run away periodically throughout her teen years (because she was being molested but was to afraid to talk about it), so nobody doubted Fritzl when he claimed that she had -once again- run off.
He brought "home" (upstairs) 3 of the children -when they were very young (too young to even remember or recognize their mother when they met her again), claiming she had "dropped" them off on the doorstep at night.
While the mother may probably have known her husband was abusing their daughter during her teens (and been cowed into not reporting it), there is no inkling that she had any idea her daughter hadn''t run away, but was held captive in the bunker under her feet.
With this said, maybe -just maybe- you''ll start commenting on what you know a little about.

[susieq_13]

All I can say is...GOOD! I hope the man rots for what he did to his daughter. I still don''t understand how his wife never knew of their daughter being held in the basement of their own house. I hope that monster of a man gets done to him what he did to his own flesh and blood. Good ridden SICKO!

[jennmarikp]

I really do not understand the point in keeping this man alive. He should receive a death penalty conviction. He destroyed 8+ lives for his own disgusting selfish purposes. What is the point in getting this man counseling? He is a lost cause, lets not forget - all of the damage he did was to his OWN family.

[easeup-2009]

Posted by POTUS_Obama at 12:04 PM : Nov 13, 2008

Only a complete myopic, childish moron would make a story about an Austrian freak an American political forum.

Go seek help.

[easeup-2009]

Yes, George Bush is a sicko!

Oh, and so is this Austrian guy!

Posted by POTUS_Obama at 01:24 PM : Nov 13, 2008

I can''t believe I took the bait.....

I''ll bet you''re gop_will_win''s alter-ego.