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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2008 10:28 am

Josef Fritzl's family may set up home close to former dungeon prison
mirror.co.uk
Emily Miller In Amstetten 30/05/2008

The family locked in a cellar for years by their father Josef Fritzl may set up home close to their former prison.

The tyrant's daughter, Elisabeth, 42, is desperate to give a normal life to the children she bore him during the 24 years she was kept in her dungeon.

Kerstin, 19, Stefan, 18, and Felix, five, may get new identities in Austria.

The children taken upstairs as babies - Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12 - need support from friends in Amstetten.

They will also need cash from the Austrian welfare state if they are to rebuild their lives. A source said: "Everything is still very much up in the air but the Fritzls are keen to be close to the rest of the family."

Grandmother Rosemarie, 69, is central to plans after she brought up the three children her husband dumped on her doorstep.
http://tinyurl.com/4jqsqt



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Posts: 1137
PerryPeabody PostPosted: Sat May 31, 2008 7:58 am

Week old story; new factoid:
Incest family: Fritzl wanted cash for cellar kids
Josef Fritzl at Amstetten police station.
© LKA NÖ
AustrianTimes

Austrian police searching through the paperwork kept in the secret office of incest monster Josef Fritzl have discovered he may have released three of the cellar children because of the money he was able to earn from them rather than out of care for their wellbeing.

Earlier reports had suggested that Fritzl had been worried about overcrowding in the cellar but psychologists have suggested his lack of concern over the 24 years his daughter was a prisoner show that it is more likely he was motivated by the money he earned from social workers.

When the first child Lisa, now aged 15, was released, Fritzl arranged an adoption and was allowed to claim €15 per day in childcare benefits from Austrian officials - plus between 100 and 150 Euros a month in family benefits.

But by adopting the child Fritzl missed out on much bigger payments or at least €1000 a month that would have been available had he fostered, so with the next two children - Monika, now 14 and Alexander, now 12 - that he freed from the cellar he did not make the same mistake.

He arranged to foster them, and social workers impressed by his qualifications as a professional engineer and a proven track record with six children of his own readily agreed to his request.

Police building up a profile of Josef Fritzl have already said how careful he was with money, holding back every penny from his wife and children but at the same time spending a fortune on himself for expensive shoes and clothing, luxury holidays and brothel visits and even a hair transplant at a Vienna clinic.

When they turned up for prearranged visits they even recorded how loving he and his wife seemed to be to their three unexpected new arrivals.

What they did not realise was that Fritzl was a convicted sex offender and his records had been cleared as part of an Austrian plan to rehabilitate criminals by giving them a fresh start. And family law expert Michael Stormann from the Austrian Justice Ministry admitted that even if they had known, a criminal record is not necessarily an obstacle to adoption.

He said: "We would look at the offence that had been carried out to decide on whether we thought the child or children in care would be at risk. If the criminal offence was of a sexual nature it would depend on whether the victim was a child or an adult."

Stormann added: "The case of Amstetten adds a completely new dimension and beyond anything else we had ever envisaged as far as the legal situation is concerned."

Stormann stressed that decisions regarding adoptions are predictions - which can be wrong. Adding: "It is not an exact science".

Stormann explains that if there are no parents, grandparents are generally allowed to adopt. Without a reason, it is hard to deny grandparents the right to adopt.

He explains there is no general age limit to adopt in this case.

Usually, adopters are found with the help of the youth welfare organisations. Although there are about 10 to 20 couples available for every child and it seems to have been almost automatic that they had decided to allow Fritzl to keep the children of his daughter.

Is said that every couple that wants to adopt a child is tested in various ways, and then the final decision is up to a court.

Elisabeth Luttner is dealing with the process of adoption. She is co-founder of the children protection organisation "Die Moewe" ("The Seagull"). She criticises the existing law and claims there not enough help initiatives for families and that they are equated with "regular" families.

Especially in patchwork families that are created out of existing families, there is a higher risk for neglect and violence. The past would play a more vital role in such families.

Luttner says that one visit of social workers - which is also announced in advance - is not enough.

Josef Schlögl, head of the local court in Amstetten that approved the Fritzl request, confirmed that Josef Fritzl and his wife had a spotless record in 1993 when he adopted the apparently abandoned daughter of Elisabeth.

Maria Berger, the Austrian Minister for Justice, said authorities were "a bit gullible" dealing with the incest case of Amstetten.

She said that the disappearance of the daughter Elisabeth, who was kept as a prisoner in the basement for 24 years and sexually abused throughout her ordeal, was not adequately investigated.

She admitted that Amstetten officials had been "gullible" when Josef Fritzl claimed that his daughter had run away and was in the hands of a cult.

Today such a case would be more thoroughly investigated, continued Berger.

She also said that in future adoptions would also be more carefully regulated to stop convicted rapists and sex offenders such as Josef Fritzl being allowed to adopt.

Privileged adoptions through family connections will also need a "certificate of good character", she said.

She added that they planned to get police and social workers to monitor playgrounds and other areas where children gathered to make sure convicted offenders were not hanging around there.

Figures for the last year available show that in Austria there were 4,341 foster children in Austria out of a total of 1,7 million children countrywide.

In contrast far fewer children are adopted, last year there were only 140 cases, of which 21 were in lower Austria where Josef Fritzl lived. In contrast lower Austria has 700 foster families caring for 1700 children.
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=6199



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Sat May 31, 2008 8:17 am

Promo for Austrialian TV show:
Fritzl family's confinement 'heartbreaking'
14:00 AEST Sat May 31 2008

Inside Fritzl's dungeon
A computer-generated recreation of the Fritzl dungeon. (60 Minutes)By ninemsn [I don't know how to bring the photo over] [There is also a video: http://tinyurl.com/5khhbu .]

The lawyer representing Austrian woman Elisabeth Fritzl, who spent 24 years locked in a dungeon, says it is heartbreaking that she and her children are still confined

Fritzl has been locked away in a psychiatric hospital since late April, when she was freed from the bizarre cell created by her abusive, incestuous father Josef.

Elisabeth had seven children with her father, three of whom spent their entire lives in the dungeon with her. These children have also been kept away from the public since their release.

Lawyer Christophe Herbst told 60 Minutes the three children — aged five, 18 and 19 — couldn’t wait to get outdoors.

"The small boy said, 'I've never experienced rain on my skin so I would like to experience that'," Dr Herbst said.

"I mean, you must imagine they have always lived downstairs in the dungeon, so they had no opportunity ... to go out of the dungeon."

Dr Herbst said the children had never walked on grass, smelt flowers or seen any of the things ordinary people took for granted.

But despite their continuing lack of freedom, Dr Herbst said he was stunned by how well Elisabeth Frtizl and her children were coping.

"They are well raised, very educated, very polite, so that's really very amazing," he said.

Only three of Elisabeth's children were raised in the dungeon. One child died shortly after birth and the remaining three were brought up from the cellar and raised as "adopted" children by Josef and his wife Rosemarie.

With the help of Austrian police, 60 Minutes has used computer graphics to create an accurate depiction of the dungeon's interior — right down to kitchen tablecloth.

For more on this shocking story, watch 60 Minutes on Channel Nine at 7:30pm Sunday.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=572559

Last edited by PerryPeabody on Sat May 31, 2008 8:43 am; edited 3 times in total



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SavannahStar PostPosted: Sat May 31, 2008 8:20 am

**SuperStar**



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Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
PerryPeabody PostPosted: Sat May 31, 2008 8:32 am

SavannahStar wrote:

Thanks, Savannah.



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:51 am

Austria Stunned by Case of Imprisoned Woman
nytimes.com
By MARK LANDLER
Published: April 29, 2008

AMSTETTEN, Austria — With his Mercedes-Benz and his fine clothes, Josef Fritzl looked every inch a property owner, neighbors in this tidy Austrian town said Monday. Even when running errands, they said, he wore a natty jacket, crisp shirt and tie.


One of the rooms in a concealed area of Mr. Fritzl’s basement, where he is accused of keeping his daughter a prisoner for 24 years.

Mr. Fritzl owns a small apartment building in Amstetten.


A photograph released by the authorities in Austria shows one of the underground rooms where Josef Fritzl allegedly kept his daughter and her children imprisoned for years.

Mr. Fritzl’s apartment house, its back garden obscured by a tall hedge, was his kingdom, one neighbor said, and interlopers were not welcome. On Monday, investigators in white jumpsuits combed the house and garden for clues. The authorities said Sunday that Mr. Fritzl, 73, had kept one of his daughters imprisoned for 24 years in a basement dungeon, where she bore him seven children.

The daughter, Elisabeth, now 42, is in psychiatric care, along with two of her children. Her eldest daughter, Kerstin, 19, who was also kept in the basement and whose illness pulled apart Mr. Fritzl’s secret after he had her taken to a local hospital, was in a medically induced coma and was in critical condition, the authorities said.

The authorities said Mr. Fritzl confessed Monday to imprisonment, sexual abuse and incest. The case has left this town of 22,000 people, 80 miles west of Vienna, in stunned disbelief. Neighbors milled around the three-story apartment building on Monday, watching the investigation unfold and asking how such an atrocity could have occurred in their midst.

“One cannot comprehend the dimension of this,” said Doris Bichler, 34, a neighbor who was walking with her daughter. “Natascha Kampusch was bad, but this is of a totally different scale.” Ms. Bichler was referring to the notorious kidnapping of an Austrian schoolgirl, who was hidden in a windowless cellar for eight years until she escaped in August 2006. Until now, the Kampusch case was considered by many as the epitome of depravity in the post-World War II history of this country.

But as details of this latest case filter out, it seems even harder to fathom than Ms. Kampusch’s abduction, involving nearly a quarter-century of confinement and sexual abuse, and the birth of seven children, three of whom never emerged from the cellar into daylight until last week.

It also raises a troubling question: Why did two such horrifying crimes occur in the same period in Austria, known as a tranquil, picture-book land?

There seems no easy answer — and Austrian officials, while insisting that similar crimes had occurred in other countries, said they were struggling to make sense of Mr. Fritzl’s singular misdeeds.

“He was man of stature,” Franz Polzer, the chief of the criminal investigations unit for the Province of Lower Austria, said at a news conference here, holding up a photograph of Mr. Fritzl, a heavyset, gray-haired man dressed in black.

“He led a double life,” Mr. Polzer continued, “with one family of seven children, with his wife, and a second family of seven children, with his daughter.”

The police described Mr. Fritzl as an authoritarian figure who had brooked no dissent.

Trained as an electrician and an engineer, Mr. Fritzl owns the small apartment building, renting out a few apartments and living on the top floor. Over many years, he built an underground world for his captives in a warren of cramped, windowless rooms. He provided them with food and clothing, bought outside town to avoid suspicion.

Photographs show a miniature bathroom, finished with tile and wood trim on the ceiling. A claustrophobic passageway leads to a bedroom. The chamber was accessible through a four-foot-high door that opened with a remote-control device, for which only Mr. Fritzl held the code.

The police said his wife, Rosemarie, 68, had no inkling of his secret life, believing that their daughter had fled the family for a cult and was unable to take care of her children. Mr. Fritzl forced Elisabeth to give up three of the children as babies, and he and his wife raised them. A seventh child, a twin boy, died soon after being born; Mr. Fritzl told the police he threw the body in an incinerator, the authorities said.

“You have to imagine that this woman’s world fell apart,” a local official, Hans-Heinz Lenze, said of Rosemarie.

At the news conference, officials came under sharp questioning about how the situation could have remained unknown to the authorities. After Mr. Fritzl and his wife began taking care of Elisabeth’s children, social workers visited their home several times.

Officials defended themselves hotly, saying that if Mr. Fritzl was able to keep his wife ignorant of his crimes when she lived upstairs from the cellar, how could outsiders have guessed?

Neighbors expressed similar bafflement.

“You’re amazed that something like this could happen in your neighborhood,” said Günther Pramreiter, who runs a bakery next door to the Fritzls’ building. He said the couple, or their adopted children, came in every other day to buy rolls.

By most accounts, the three children who grew up in the Fritzls’ care were well-adjusted, each learning to play a musical instrument.

Karl Dattinger, 20, a volunteer firefighter, recalls that one of the daughters, Monika, had received a perfect score on a test of fire safety he gave at their school.

Matthias Sonnleitner, who manages a hardware store, said his children had taken martial arts classes with the Fritzl children. Rosemarie Fritzl occasionally came to his store to buy curtains, he said.

Even two of the three children imprisoned in the cellar were surprisingly healthy, if pale, according to the authorities. Elisabeth taught them to speak German, and they had access to a television.

The television played a key role in untangling the case, the police said. After the 19-year-old, Kerstin, was taken to the hospital, authorities appealed for her mother to come forward. Elisabeth saw the broadcast and persuaded her father to release her and the other two children living with her. Officials declined to give a prognosis for Kerstin.

Among people in the Fritzls’ neighborhood, there was a disquieting sense that more could have been done.

“I think the authorities are overworked and weren’t able to follow up every lead,” said Franz Jandl, 50, who owns a shop across the street from the apartment. “For a little country, to have this kind of thing happen a second time is a catastrophe. It’s just very sad.”
http://tinyurl.com/3sms6d



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:32 am

Monster Fritzl DID act alone
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: Today

AUSTRIAN authorities investigating cellar fiend Josef Fritzl - the man who held his daughter captive in a basement for 24 years - have said he acted ALONE.

Prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek said 73-year-old Fritzl, also accused of fathering his daughter’s seven children, did not have an accomplice.

From the start, investigators have said there was no sign that Fritzl had help - even though many have been baffled how he managed to keep his daughter Elisabeth and their children hidden for so long.

Mr Sedlacek said today that forensic experts are still examining the windowless underground rooms where Fritzl held his daughter and several of the children.

Last month cops revealed that Fritzl installed eight doors with sophisticated bolts between his dungeon lair and the outside world.

The monster developed the system to ensure his daughter Elisabeth and her children could not escape.

One door weighed half a ton. Another three needed electronic codes and all had conventional locks as well.

Cops said some of the materials were too heavy for Fritzl to move alone but have now said he did not have outside help.

It is also thought that his captives were forced to help extend their own prison, building further underground rooms.

Fritzl’s family have been receiving psychiatric care under police guard since their rescue in April.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1236465.ece



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:47 am

Cellar monster Josef Fritzl receives hundreds of love letters
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:52 PM on 04th June 2008

Cellar monster Josef Fritzl has been sent hundreds of love letters from lonely women offering him romance.

Some of the women have said that Fritzl, who locked his daughter Elisabeth in a cellar for 24 years and fathered her children, is 'good at heart' and misunderstood.

Fritzl has so far received a mountain of 200 love letters.

Those writing to the 73-year-old former electrician believe that he wanted to keep his daughter out of trouble and so kept her prisoner for most of her life.

Fritzl fathered seven children through his daughter and he is now in Austria's Sankt Poelten prison where he has also received a mountain of hate mail.

So far he has received a total of 5,000 letters.

Elisabeth, 42, is recovering in a psychiatric clinic. Three of her children were kept prisoner in the dungeon with her.

He is due in court again on Friday – when he will almost certainly be sent back to jail to await trial.

Prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek has said that Fritzl did not have an accomplice.

From the start, investigators have said there was no sign that Fritzl had help - even though many have been baffled how he managed to keep his daughter and their children hidden for so long.
http://tinyurl.com/65mkb4



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:29 am

Fritzl held for two more months
news.bbc.co.uk

A judge in Austria has extended by two months the detention of Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter in a cellar for 24 years.

The ruling came during a closed-door hearing in St Poelten, where Mr Fritzl has been held since the end of April.

The state prosecutor's office said more time was required to gather evidence.

Forensic experts are still examining the cellar where Mr Fritzl allegedly raped his daughter, Elizabeth, fathering seven children by her.

On Monday, prosecutors said they believed Mr Fritzl had acted without an accomplice despite the questions which have since been raised by former lodgers in his house in the town of Amstetten.

Evidence hunt

A spokesman for the Lower Austria state prosecutor's office, Gerhard Sedlacek, said Mr Fritzl's lawyer had not contested the extension of his detention at court on Thursday.

The ruling came in a closed door hearing in a court in St Poelten

In Austria, a suspect can be held in custody for up to two years pending trial. No date has been set but Mr Sedlacek said Mr Fritzl was unlikely to be charged for another three or four months.

He said prosecutors were hoping to start interviewing Elisabeth Fritzl and her family in early July, but that the timing would depend on their state of health.

Doctors last month began bringing her eldest child, 19-year-old Kerstin, out of the coma they had induced to help her fight serious infections which may have damaged her brain.

Mr Fritzl's actions came to light when Kerstin became seriously ill in April. She was allowed out of the cellar and admitted to hospital.

Police then issued an appeal to Elisabeth to contact them about her daughter, and later picked up Mr Fritzl and Elisabeth nearby.

Elisabeth told police her father had started sexually abusing her when she was 11. In reported conversations with his lawyer, Mr Fritzl admitted repeatedly raping his daughter in the cellar, saying it had been "like an addiction".

Elisabeth and her children are continuing to be cared for at a psychiatric clinic. Their lawyer has said they are likely to be given new identities and may also consider relocating to another country.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7440471.stm



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:02 am

Josef Fritzl to see 'dungeon family' for first time since arrest
By Andreas Sam in Vienna
telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 2:22PM BST 08/06/2008

Josef Fritzl is to see his "dungeon family" for the first time since his arrest, when his daughter presents evidence on her 24-year ordeal of sex abuse and imprisonment.
Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, will be questioned by a judge, prosecutors and her father's lawyer in a court session which will be beamed to her father via video link.

Doctors treating Elisabeth Fritzl and her children have confirmed that following a month of therapy her condition has improved drastically and that she would be able to give evidence, although it is possible that a psychiatrist would be present during the questioning, which is due to happen in early July.

Her children, aged five to 19, will also be questioned at a later stage.

Fritzl, 73, confessed to imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth in the cellar of his home in Amstetten for 24 years and fathering seven children with her following continuous sexual abuse. One of the children died at birth and Fritzl burned his body in an incinerator.

The family's testimony is necessary for prosecutors to complete their case against him, who is facing a string of charges including manslaughter, rape and incarceration and is expected to appear in court in autumn.

His family will however not have to face him at the hearing and they are expected to give evidence either during pre-recorded sessions or via video conference.

The hearing in the regional capital St Polten's court is expected to be closed to the public.

More than 100 people have been questioned by police and prosecutors relating to the case, most of them relatives, neighbours, friends and work colleagues of the Fritzl family.

Christiane Burkheiser, the prosecutor in charge of the case, has questioned Fritzl two times already, and he is said to be "co-operative".

Fritzl is also being examined by a forensic psychiatrist who is visiting him in prison to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
http://tinyurl.com/4h2ydv



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:37 pm

[I don't know what kind of publication this is.]

Incest father to take part in video link with abused daughter
Allan Hall, Berlin
theage.com.au
June 10, 2008

THE daughter of Austrian incest father Josef Fritzl is to testify to police via video link about her 24 years of rape and imprisonment at his hands.

Elisabeth Fritzl will see her father in his prison cell on a TV screen, and he will be able to make comments about her statements if he wishes.

The testimony of 42-year-old Elisabeth about what she endured at his hands will spare her the ordeal of appearing in court when he is finally charged over her rape and imprisonment. The video sessions are timed for July and police hope this will speed up the legal process to see Fritzl, 73, in the dock this year.

Last week police said they doubted the trial could go ahead within the next two years after they were turned down by doctors caring for Elisabeth and her children in their requests for an interview.

It was also reported that 73-year-old Fritzl had lost weight and his health was suffering in jail. He already has a heart condition and last month was admitted to hospital, fuelling speculation he might try to evade justice by claiming he was too ill to go on trial.

After Elisabeth learned that her father could not be tried until she gave her statement, she insisted on speaking to police and now a series of appointments have been set to take place in early July.

A hospital insider told Austrian media: "She was determined to make sure he did not escape on a technicality or get freed on bail if the proceedings were to drag on too long."

Doctors will be on hand at all times to ensure she does not suffer a breakdown as she relives her years of torment.

The statements will be taken from Elisabeth in a room where she will be connected with a video link-up with her father as well as prosecutors and the defence lawyer. Questions can be asked from prosecution and defence as well as by the judge, and the testimony will then be used when Fritzl goes on trial.

The children who lived with her in the cellar will be quizzed at a later date and may not be included in the trial. Prosecutors have said it is the evidence of Elisabeth that is most crucial to their case.

One of the children, daughter Kerstin, 19, is still in a coma. Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5, were locked in the cellar with her while siblings Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, were taken upstairs by Fritzl as babies and brought up by him and his wife, Rosemarie.

Rosemarie is with Elisabeth and the children in the clinic. It is unclear if she will be called to testify against her husband.

A court spokesman said as a result of the prosecution statements, Fritzl had been remanded until August when he would again have to face another hearing to confirm if he should be further detained.

A psychological profile of Fritzl will be completed shortly before Elisabeth is due to give her videotaped testimony.

Police say 100 people have been interviewed in connection with the case, which was exposed on April 27 when police arrested Elisabeth on suspicion of child abandonment when she visited Kerstin in an Amstetten hospital.

Elisabeth was released by Fritzl as Kerstin hovered close to death with multiple organ failures. She has been on a life support machine ever since.

After she was assured that she would never have to see her father again, she told officers the story of her ordeal, which was backed up when they visited the house where she had been kept prisoner and found her cellar prison.
http://tinyurl.com/4bvfj4



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:57 pm

Fritzl girl wakes from coma and is reunited with her family
By Michael Leidig in Vienna
telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 10:12PM BST 09/06/2008

Kerstin Fritzl, who was held captive by her father in a dungeon in Austria, has woken from a seven-week coma and been reunited with her mother and the rest of her family at a secure medical ward.

Kerstin, along with her mother Elisabeth and two brothers, was imprisoned from birth by her father Josef Fritzl
Doctors were unsure how Kerstin - who had only ever seen her mother Elisabeth and two brothers, as well as her father, Josef Fritzl - would react when she woke from her coma and were keen to make sure the family was reunited as soon as she became conscious.

Kerstin, 19, was allowed out of the dungeon on April 19 after falling gravely ill, triggering a series of events which led to her mother Elisabeth, 42, and two other imprisoned brothers, Felix, 5, and Stefan, 18, being released from the cramped cellar under their home in Amstetten.

She had become desperately sick, probably because she had suffered a life without fresh air, light, exercise or a good diet. In a rare act of mercy, Fritzl, 73, chose to release her and take her to hospital after she collapsed in his underground lair.

Doctors made an appeal on national television to find her mother, who, Fritzl claimed, had run off to a sect. Police visited Fritzl's home and discovered his secret "second family".

None of the three children held underground had ever seen daylight before. They were released to be reunited with their three other siblings - Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12 - who were living above ground after being taken in by Fritzl on the pretence they had been abandoned.

Doctors put Kerstin into an induced coma to allow her to recover and have been preparing for her to wake to an entirely new life.

As soon as it was clear she was awake they moved her as fast as possible to be reunited with her mother and brother's in a special room designed to recreate the cellar environment at the Amstetten-Mauer clinic.

Rumours spread yesterday that she had recovered from her coma and were later confirmed by hospital authorities.

According to the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ORF's Lower Austrian regional studio, the teenager was transferred to her mother's side before the move was made public.

This would mean Kerstin has met her mother Elisabeth for the first time outside the dungeon. There was no further information about her health. She would also, for the first time, be aware that people outside her family existed.

Medics feared Kerstin - the first child born to Elisabeth during her 24 years in captivity - would die when she suffered multiple organ failure and was hooked up to a life support machine. Last month, there were unconfirmed reports she had showed flickers of life and at one point had opened her eyes.

It was also reported that police will quiz Kerstin on whether Fritzl sexually abused her, and will also quiz her brothers about their ordeal underground.

Elisabeth, who had been imprisoned by Fritzl as a sex slave since she was 18, is on the mend with her five other children in a separate clinic near the hospital. Her mother, Rosemarie, 69, has also gathered strength after health problems sparked by the discovery of her husband's "second family". The family recently symbolised Kerstin's presence by circling her name with a heart in a poster of personal messages which was released to the public.

The family are expected to stay in their clinic for several months while doctors and counsellors prepare them for the outside world.
http://tinyurl.com/6jhk9d



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Posts: 1137
PerryPeabody PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:09 am

Another version:

Exclusive: Cellar girl Kerstin Fritzl reunited with mum for first timeBy Emily Miller 10/06/2008
mirror.co.uk

The 19-year-old, who was in a coma for weeks, was moved to a hospital where the rest of her family are recovering.

The last time she saw Elisabeth was in the cellar dungeon where she had spent her entire life.

Doctors were keen to unite them when it was clear Kerstin no longer needed to be kept on an emergency ward.

Apart from her mother, 42, the only people she had seen before were her two brothers Steven, 18, Felix, five, and her jailor father Josef Fritzl, 73. She has never met siblings Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, who were taken upstairs as babies by Fritzl.

The Mirror told two weeks ago how Kerstin opened her eyes as doctors woke her from a medically induced coma. She had been kept sedated since mid-April after suffering multiple organ failure.

She collapsed after getting no fresh air, light, exercise or proper food in the underground lair.

In a rare act of mercy, Fritzl took her to hospital. Doctors feared she would die but she has amazed them with her recovery.

Police are expected to ask her if Fritzl sexually abused her. But they fear he will die on remand before ever standing trial.

Elisabeth, who was imprisoned as a sex slave at 18, is on the mend with the five children at a separate clinic near the hospital in Amstetten, Austria.

They are expected to stay there for several more months while they adapt to the real world.
http://tinyurl.com/5t5q6d



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Posts: 1137
PerryPeabody PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:13 am

Still another version:

Josef Fritzl case: daughter wakes from coma
Kate Connolly in Berlin
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday
June 10 2008

Kerstin Fritzl, the 19-year-old who was born in a dungeon prison and held captive there by her father, has woken from a seven-week coma.

Klaus Schwertner, a spokesman for the clinic in Amstetten in Lower Austria where she is being treated, said : "I can confirm that she has woken up."

He said Kerstin had emerged from the artificially-induced coma several days ago, but still required intensive medical and therapeutic care.

Reports that she had been reunited with her mother and the rest of her family remained unconfirmed this afternoon.

Hospital chiefs are due to give more details at a press conference on Wednesday morning.

Kerstin, who was held in the underground prison by Josef Fritzl, 73, along with her mother Elisabeth, 42, and two brothers Stefan and Felix, was released on April 19 with a serious illness.

Under pressure from his distraught daughter, Fritzl took her to the local hospital where suspicious doctors raised the alarm. Her release was the catalyst which led to the rest of the family being freed from the cellar beneath Fritzl's home at the end of April and to his arrest.

Elisabeth was locked up by her father at the age of 18 in 1984. He sexually abused her and she bore seven of his children, one of whom died shortly after childbirth and three of whom were brought up by Fritzl and his wife in the family home.

Fritzl told authorities his daughter had run off to join a sect and he was allowed to adopt or foster Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, who he said had been dumped on his doorstep.

A specific diagnosis of Kerstin's illness has not been made public, but it has been reported she suffered from breathing difficulties and stomach cramps, probably due to being starved of fresh air, light and an adequate diet. She nearly died from her illness.

Doctors, who started waking her from her coma last month, stressed that an important part of Kerstin's recovery would be her reunion with the rest of her family. It would be a shock for anyone to emerge from a coma after almost two months, but Kerstin will be waking to a completely new life which, psychiatrists say, could be traumatising.

Elisabeth and her children are being looked after in the Amstetten-Mauer psychiatric clinic and being taught to deal with normal life as well as getting used to the sunlight and human contact.

Police are to start interviewing Elisabeth around mid-July.

Special forces have been brought in to guard the family from paparazzi intruders who have tried to enter the hospital grounds in the hope of getting a money-spinning photograph.

Gerhard Sedlacek, a spokesman for the state prosecutor, said today Fritzl may go on trial later this year.

He is being held in custody in St Pölten and is likely to be charged with rape, imprisonment and incest. If convicted, he would face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
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Last edited by PerryPeabody on Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:50 am; edited 2 times in total



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:46 am

Josef Fritzl's oldest child reunited with family - and keen to go to a Robbie Williams concert
Bojan Pancevski in Amstetten From Times OnlineJune 11, 2008

Josef Fritzl fathered seven children by his own daughter after locking her in a dungeon below his house in Austria

The oldest child Josef Fritzl fathered by his own daughter is on the road to a full recovery after being reunited with her family – and the first thing she has asked for after a lifetime of imprisonment in a dank cellar is to go to a Robbie Williams concert.

Doctors treating the Fritzl family have described the “emotional reunion” as well as the dramatic moment when Kerstin, 19, awoke after spending over a month in coma. She is now living together with her mother Elisabeth, 42 and the six surviving siblings, as well as her grandmother and Fritzl’s wife Rosemarie, 68, in a new apartment made available by the hospital they are being treated in.

Kerstin, 19, is the first of seven children that Fritzl, 73, fathered with his own daughter Elisabeth as he kept her captive in a purpose-built dungeon beneath his house in the town of Amstetten for more than 24 years, sexually abusing her for the whole time.

One of the children, a baby boy called Michael, died after birth, leading Fritzl to burn his body in an incinerator. The case only came to light when Kerstin had to be taken to a hospital on April 19, doctors putting her into an artificial coma following a multiple organ failure caused by an unknown illness.

“She opened her eyes for the first time at 9am on May 15 and slowly started showing signs of emotional reaction. We smiled at her and she smiled back. Later I said “hi” to her and she replied with a “hallo”. It was an intensely dramatic moment,” Dr Albert Reiter, who has been in charge of Kerstin’s treatment, told a press conference.

“I am especially proud that Kerstin could walk the distance to her new residence and into her new life, “Dr Reiter said.

Kerstin saw daylight for the first time in her life after she awoke in the intensive care ward of the Amstetten Regional Hospital. According to Dr Reiter, the first wish she made to her carers was to go on a boat trip – and to visit a Robbie Williams concert. “Even immediately after she awoke she would listen to Robbie Williams until 3am. I then would have to intervene, for her to turn down the music and get some rest, “Dr Reiter said. According to him, Kerstin is able to read and write, communicates easily and is on the road to a full recovery.

Kerstin’s mother Elisabeth visited her daughter regularly in hospital but had to be transported in utmost secrecy in order to avoid the attention of the international press. Doctors also insisted on her presence for therapeutic reasons, and claim that her presence alongside Kerstin immediately after she woke had had an “immensely positive effect".

Cristoph Herbs, the lawyer who represents the Fritzls, described the successful family reunion as “miracle” and thanked the medical team for their achievement. He said: “It was a truly touching and happy moment. It was everyone’s – and especially Kerstin’s – great wish to be reunited. It was a miracle.”

Since their reunion, the family have lived in a new residence provided by the Amstetten Psychiatric Clinic where they are being treated. They are undergoing psychiatric counselling and family therapy, while the children are receiving private tuition. Kerstin will now be given a series of vaccinations to boost her feeble immune system and, depending on her wish, she could also be given counselling after preliminary medical treatment. She is currently suffering from so-called Bed Rest Syndrome, a fatigue of the nerves and the muscles flowing a prolonged period of immobility.

Dr Berthold Kepplinger, the head of the hospital where the family are being treated, said: “Kerstin is undergoing physiotherapy to regain muscle capacity. She is also traumatised and will probably need therapy, but we will consult with her on that matter and will not impose any decisions on her.”

It was also revealed that Kerstin had been examined to determine if she had suffered sexual assaults by her father, but doctors could not reveal details of the examinations.

Dr Kepplinger said that the family spoke of their father and that their relationship to him was “largely ambivalent”. He refused to elaborate, and only said: “There is a great ambivalence [regarding the father], especially with the girls. It is slightly different with the boys.”
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:20 am

Fritzl's wife sees dungeon for first time
By staff writers
Daily Telegraph
June 16, 2008 03:20pm

Josef Fritzl's wife visits dungeon for first time
Picks up toys, dresses for children
Items taken to psychiatric clinic where they live

JOSEF Fritzl's wife has made her first visit to the dungeon where her daughter was locked up for 24 years.

Rosemarie Fritzl, 69, went into the cellar complex at her home in Amstetten, Austria, where her daughter Elisabeth bore seven babies to Mr Fritzl, one of whom died, The Sun reported.

Inside she picked up toys requested by six-year-old Felix – one of three children kept locked in the cellar.

Rosemarie has been staying at a psychiatric clinic with Elisabeth and the six surviving children fathered by her husband.

The others are Kerstin, 19 – the eldest who has recently come out of a coma – Stefan, 18, Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12.

Mr Fritzl had allowed the last three to live a normal existence above ground.

Rosemarie spent about an hour in the house and loaded several large suitcases into a red Volkswagen before driving back to the clinic in Mauer, about 8km away, The Sun reported.

A hospital insider told the UK newspaper: “It was mentally quite tough for Rosemarie to go back into the house. It has become something of a symbol of evil for her.

“She is, mentally speaking, shattered by the revelations of what happened to her daughter and the charade that her husband acted out for over two decades.

“But she loves her family and is a selfless person and felt that they needed more personal items.

“She bought dresses for Elisabeth’s daughter Kerstin, who joined the family last week after coming out of her coma.”
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:25 am

Same story, slightly expanded:

Wife of Josef Fritzl returns to dungeon house
By Jeremy Armstrong
mirror.co.uk
16/06/2008

The wife of incest dungeon monster Josef Fritzl has returned home to collect the toys and clothes of the secret family he imprisoned.

Rosemarie Fritzl pulled up in a battered red Volkswagen, with the number plate UU 389 BP, outside the three - storey house in Ybbstrasse, Amstetten, Austria.

The gated garden doors were opened by two police officers who are permanently stationed there to keep ghoulish tourists at bay.

Rosemarie, 67, dressed in beige trousers and light blue top, went inside with a female relative.

The pair left an hour later with several large suitcases and bags.

It was the first time a member of the Fritzl family had been back. Rosemarie plucked up courage to go in the cellar where Fritzl, 73, held daughter Elisabeth, 42, as a sex slave for 24 years.

He fathered seven children with her - one dying as a baby. Kerstin, 19, Stefan, 18, and Felix, five, spent all their life underground.

But he allowed Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, to live a "normal" existence above ground.

Rosemarie collected Elisabeth's clothes and personal effects as well as Felix's favourite toys.

An insider said yesterday: "It was quite an ordeal for Rosemarie to go back there for the first time but she wanted to get the things for the children.

"Mentally it was tough to go back into the house. It has become something of a symbol of evil for her. She was shattered by the revelations of what happened to her daughter and the monstrous charade that her husband acted out over two decades."

Police had given Rosemarie special permission to enter the house, which is still a crime scene.

Gerhard Sedlacek, a court spokesman in Amstetten, last night confirmed no member of the Fritzl family ever wants to return. The house may be razed.

A photographer spotted Rosemarie. He said: "She had to drive past tourists laughing and posing outside the 'House of Horrors'.

"It must have been terrible for her. She hurried inside and didn't look back at all."

The family was rescued in April when Fritzl, who will face trial in the autumn, allowed Kerstin to go to hospital.
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:53 am

Josef Fritzl children allowed to watch Euro 2008 on TV
Sport used for family bonding sessions
mirror.co.uk
By Mark Ellis Foreign Editor
21/06/2008

The children of cellar monster Josef Fritzl are being allowed to watch football on television.

Doctors banned TV fearing the family might be upset by news reports of their ordeal.

But experts have now decided to let them see the Euro 2008 competition as a way of bonding together as a family.Medical chief Berthold Kepplinger said: "The ban is being lifted each time there is a game so that the family can watch together, as one of the exercises designed to help them become a stronger family."

Fritzl, 73, kept daughter Elisabeth, 42, as a sex slave in the cellar in Amstetten, Austria.

He fathered seven children with her, one of whom died.

Some lived upstairs while others were kept in the cellar with their mum.

The family is now living at a psychiatric hospital where they are being prepared to live a normal life.

They saw Austria lose 1-0 to Germany on Saturday.

Fritzl is in jail awaiting trial.

OUT

Austria, the Fritzls' home nation was booted out of Euro 2008 last Monday.
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:10 am

Docs lift TV ban to let Fritzl incest kids watch EURO [and more general (and encouraging) news about the family]:
Austrian Times
Sunday, 22. June 2008 - 18:06

Austrian docs have lifted a ban on the family of incest dad Josef Fritzl from watching live television - so they can watch EURO 2008.

Fritzl was a keen football fan and the entire family grew to enjoy the game as one of the ways to pass the time in the cellar.

Of the above ground family Alexander would often watch matches with his football mad dad Josef.

But although Austria is hosting the Euro 2008 together with Switzerland, the family had been unable to watch the matches as docs had decided not to let them have live TV, in case they saw reports about themselves on TV.

At the time clinic boss Berthold Kepplinger who heads the team helping the family to integrate back into society and with each other said: "We felt it was wise not to let them view the TV coverage as it was felt seeing reports about themselves could cause considerable distress."

Now however the ban is being lifted each time there is a game so that the family can watch the game together, including Kerstin who is also reportedly a football fan, as one of the exercises designed to help them become a stronger family.

"It will take a lot of adjustment but football is something everyone can share and take part in together," said one hospital source.

Christoph Herbst, the victims' lawyer, said: "Lisa, Monika, Stefan, Felix and Alexander are all enjoying doing things together as a family, although they are limited by circumstances, football is one thing they are watching together as they are slowly prepared for a 'normal' life in freedom."

Doctors are keen to establish a strong family routine and have given them a bungalow in the grounds of the Amstetten-Mauer clinic.

Each morning mum Elisabeth - raped and imprisoned by her father for 24 years - makes breakfast while her mother Rosemarie plays with the children, including games of Chinese chequers with Felix, six.

The older Fritzl children are having school classes to prepare them for exams before the summer holidays start, including Stefan who was described as surprisingly advanced given the circumstances. They are training with female private teachers. But in the afternoons, they enjoy their free-time.

The family is also being visited by relatives, most often Elisabeth's sisters. One relative said: "She has children of the same age. They then play for hours and turn the whole clinic into a madhouse."

Elisabeth's oldest son Stefan, 18, spends a lot of time playing computer games as he is fascinated by everything to do with new technology and computers in particular.
http://www.austriantimes.at/index.php?id=6977



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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:51 pm

Josef Fritzl case: daughter not ready for court ordeal, say doctorsKate Connolly in Berlin
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday June 24, 2008

Elisabeth Fritzl, the Austrian woman who was locked in a cellar for 24 years, has refused to testify against the father who imprisoned her, saying she is not yet ready to face him.

Doctors caring for the 42-year-old told Austrian media she needs more time to prepare for the encounter, which will require her to give evidence against 73-year-old Josef Fritzl via a video link.

While she would not be in the same room as him, she would be able to see him and could also face questioning by her father if he chose to challenge or refute her evidence.

The hearing was due to start in a week's time, on Elisabeth's insistence, so that her father's trial could begin as soon as possible. It has now been put on hold indefinitely. Doctors will determine when she is fit enough to testify.

When the hearing goes ahead, it is expected that Elisabeth will give evidence from the clinic in Lower Austria where she is being treated along with her six children, all of whom were fathered by Fritzl during her incarceration.

Doctors will be on hand to ensure she takes adequate breaks and that she is not overwhelmed by the encounter, which will be the first time she has come face to face with her father since her imprisonment ended two months ago.

Her mother Rosemarie, who denies knowledge of her husband's double life, is due to give evidence at the same time.

"A video recording of it will be shown at the main trial, because the victims will not be required to appear in person to give evidence before the court," said Franz Cutka, spokesman for the court in St Polten, where the trial is due to take place.
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:49 am

Josef Fritzl to stand trial by the end of the year
By Rupert Neate
telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 11:22AM BST 25/06/2008

Joesf Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, is expected to go on trial before the end of the year.
Frank Cutka, a court spokesman, said the trial is likely to begin this autumn or winter and preparations are running "at full speed".

Fritzl, 73, has confessed to holding his daughter Elisabeth captive as a sex slave in a windowless dungeon he built beneath his home in the town of Amstetten, west of Vienna.

Austrian prosecutors have said Fritzl should be charged with murder after one of the seven children he fathered with Elisabeth, 42, died shortly after birth in the bunker. He confessed to hurling the baby's lifeless body into a heating oven three days after its birth in April 1996.

The Fritzl family – his wife Rosemarie, 68, his daughter Elisabeth, and her children Stefan, 18, Lisa, 15, Monika, 14, Alexander, 12, and Felix, five, are all recovering and their condition is improving "faster than expected," a hospital spokesman said.

Prosecutors are expected to begin interviewing the family next month according to Austrian public broadcaster ORF. Fritzl remains in detention in St. Poelten.

Acknowledging intense worldwide media interest in the case, Mr Cutka said journalists would be required to accredit themselves for the trial and would be issued "reserved tickets" to cover the proceedings.
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:16 am

Josef Fritzl to be tried before female judge
By Nick Allen
telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 11:19AM BST 27/06/2008

A female judge will take charge of the trial of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian accused of imprisoning and raping his daughter in a secret cellar.

Andrea Humer, 48, is Austria's most senior female judge and will preside over the trial when it starts later this year.

One of her first tasks will be to oversee the taking of a statement from Fritzl's daughter Elisabeth, 42, who was held for 24 years in her father's cellar in the town of Amstetten.

Elisabeth is still too ill to testify and her evidence will be given by video link. She has told doctors she never wants to see her father again.

Fritzl's lawyer will be given an opportunity to ask Elisabeth questions via the video link and footage of the questioning will be presented during the trial.

Franz Cutka, a spokesman for a national court in St. Poelten in the province of Lower Austria, said the trial of Fritzl, 73, is likely to begin this autumn or winter.

Prosecutors say he has confessed to holding his daughter captive and DNA tests show he is the father of six of his daughter's children.

They are expected to begin interviewing Elisabeth and the children next month. They will also interview his wife Rosemarie, 69.

Fritzl remains in detention in St. Poelten, 50 miles west of Vienna.

His alleged victims are receiving counselling.

Fritzl raised three of the children he fathered with Elisabeth above ground and the other three were confined to the cellar.
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:13 am

Fritzl incest victim may sue over media reports
Monday, 7th July 2008
By Allan Hall in Berlin
The Scotsman

CELLAR incest victim Elisabeth Fritzl is threatening legal action against the police and her own doctors after learning at the weekend of the media reports about her plight.
She wrote a letter to authorities stating: "I require that no data or discussions about what took place in the cellar are passed on to any media.

"It must be the task of the state to prevent exposing that which the Fritzls endured. I want to live in freedom with my children."

Isolated from the media storm which broke when she and three of six children she had by her own father in a cellar dungeon underneath his home were freed in April, Elisabeth, 42, now realises the extent of the interest her case has drawn. The authorities have offered new identities to Elisabeth and her children.

Josef Fritzl, 74, is now in jail awaiting trial on numerous unspecified charges.

Eva Platz, her lawyer, said Elisabeth is "horrified" that police and other authorities have released so many details about her ordeal which contravenes Austria's Draconian personal privacy laws.

She said she will take "judicial steps" to prevent any more information about her plight being published.
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PerryPeabody PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:19 am

Dungeon rapist Josef Fritzl hopes to make millions by selling his story to the highest bidder
thelondonpaper.com
Monday, 07 July 2008

Dungeon rapist Josef Fritzl hopes to make millions from his sick 24-year torture of daughter Elisabeth by selling his story to the highest bidder.

Elisabeth – who was systematically raped over two and a half decades - is devastated by the news and has pledged to fight him in the courts.

Her lawyer Eva Plaz said: “It has been bad enough with all the leaks from doctors and police sources about Elisabeth.

“But that her father, who caused all her suffering, means to cash in on her ordeal is sickening.”

The 42-year-old victim is recovering at the Mauer psychiatric clinic in Amstetten, Austria.

A source close to her was reported today as saying: “She is appalled. It is like being violated all over again.

“He will just try to win sympathy. He is a monster trying to present a human face.”

And a publishing industry source, who refused to be named, added: "It is truly dreadful and would be a huge calculated gamble by a publisher.

"But think of the book - it would be dynamite. The only calculation is would the public stomach it?"
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Ber PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:42 pm

I say let him sell the story. The "millions" he makes should mandatorily be given to Elisabeth and the kids....no amount of money will give them back the lives he stole, but it will sure help them live a life so much better than they every known.



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